Just a note from the RFCM group to readers.
I think (?) we all agree that it is right and proper to commemorate the holocaust.
We remember.
No one in my family has any wartime experience of those terrible things.
It must have been hard on those Russian, American and British ordinary soldiers etc who did discover it.
martin :)
I was stationed in a place called Fallingbostel in Germany with 11 Armd Bde for about 6 years. This was about 10 miles from Bergen-Belsen. Liberated by 11 Armd division in 1945 (yes, same formation but then a Bde). Have visited the site several times and it was still eiree in the 90's (last visit). Even the birds didn't fly over it. Only wildlife you would see was ants.
I recall my ex-wife's granny telling us about things at the end of the war. Think she was about 10 or so at the time. All the grown-ups in her village were marched through the camp to make sure the couldn't deny it happened. That episode of Band of Brothers actually happened but it was British troops that found the camp and yes locals cleared it under guard. I am, positive that she honestly didn't know about it even though it was less than 20 miles from her village.
Sad days but should never be forgotten.
Derek
I can't begin to imagine what they saw and experienced.
Heaven forbid it ever happen again to any human!
Quote from: martin goddard on January 27, 2022, 09:39:04 PM
Just a note from the RFCM group to readers.
I think (?) we all agree that it is right and proper to commemorate the holocaust.
We remember.
No one in my family has any wartime experience of those terrible things.
It must have been hard on those Russian, American and British ordinary soldiers etc who did discover it.
martin :)
The BBC program last night about the portrait paintings of Holocaust survivors was really well done. Very moving I thought.
Nick
My late Dad was in the Cameronians, 52nd Lowland Division (he was a driver of a Wasp flamethrower carrier).
His unit liberated a concentration camp which must have been near Bremen or Hamburg.
My mother said it was Belsen, but the unit history gives the name of another camp which I cannot remember.
He never spoke about it.
Neil
Hello Neil
I too would be stunned into wondering "what was going on" in their heads.
martin :)
Quote from: Panzer21 on January 28, 2022, 09:18:03 AM
My late Dad was in the Cameronians, 52nd Lowland Division (he was a driver of a Wasp flamethrower carrier).
His unit liberated a concentration camp which must have been near Bremen or Hamburg.
My mother said it was Belsen, but the unit history gives the name of another camp which I cannot remember.
He never spoke about it.
Neil
Yep that sounds like Bergan-Belsen although there were a few smaller ones in that general area..
Derek
I'd have to find the regimental history (I have a copy somewhere) as I'm sure it gives another name.
I know he ended up in the Hamburg - Bremen area (he mentioned fighting against German " Marines" - Naval troops from the Marine division and brought back a swastika badge with "Bremen and her harbour victims" on it) .
When I was googling it, I saw reference to the camp being burned down by Crocodile and Wasp flamethrowers, so perhaps he was there.
I suspect had I asked when he was alive he wouldn't have said much, if anything.
Neil
Quick search of google didn't show anything on 52 Lowland Div finding a camp but they operated mainly in the Scheldt area along the coast and islands but did spot this
https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1942-1945/liberation-of-bergen-belsen
Derek