A Photograph and Christmas Card from Bergen Belsen 1948.

Another posting, possibly not relevant to this topic, but I am struggling to find the correct one. I was looking up "Carl" Giles (the cartoonist) on Wikipedia. It states that he was attached to the Coldstream Guards, as an artist, when they relieved Bergen-Belsen. Were the Guards there? My (possible faulty) information was the the camp was staffed by 8th Hussars/Welsh Fusiliers/RAF Regiment (including Michael Bentine)

Son of Fred

There is no easy answer to your question as a number of individuals of various Regiments have claimed to have been the First into Belsen

Like most of the amateur Researchers/Contributors to this site my interest starts from VE Day (8 May 1945) but I have done a small amount of additional background reading.

My thoughts are,from the limited information I have, is that a Squadron of the Special Air Service Regiment were probably the first British unit to become aware of existence of the Camp but as the 8 Corps advance Screen they had other priority operational tasks and lacked the resources to make any effective contribution to any medical plan. 29 Armoured Brigade of 11 Armoured Division (including the 8th Hussars) were definitely in the area very briefly but their operational priorities were elsewhere. 63 (Oxfordshire Hussars) Anti Tank Regiment of the Divisional Artillery probably provided the first Guard Force to identify and then imprison the SS Guard Force The real priority was to create an effective medical plan to rescue the desperate inmates and a huge number of British RAMC and Regimental Orderlies were drafted in to try and alleviate the suffering. 113 (Durham Light Infantry) Light Anti Aircraft Regiment also replaced the Oxford Hussars. There were also a number of Sapper units involved in construction tasks or creating mass graves to bury the many unidentifiable dead bodies

Regarding the Coldstream Guards involvement, I think we can discount the 1st and 5th Battalions (sometimes known as the Coldstream Battle Group) of the Guards Armoured Division . They were further north in the Bremen area heading for Cuxhaven. 4th Battalion Coldsteam Guards part of the independent 6th Guards Armoured Brigade just might have been involved. I think there is a short history of the Brigade in the military library in Aldershot , I will check the contents when I am next in the area.ST

This very comprehensive website may be of interest:

http://www.bergenbelsen.co.uk/

JPW wrote:

Son of Fred

There is no easy answer to your question as a number of individuals of various Regiments have claimed to have been the First into Belsen

My thoughts are,from the limited information I have, is that a Squadron of the Special Air Service Regiment were probably the first British unit to become aware of existence of the Camp

I arrived in Germany in the glorious summer of 1959.
I went, one day, with a sizeable party of men, who all wanted to have a look at Belsen.
In charge of us was a captain RA who gave us a talk before we set off.
His story was that he'd been with a group that was tasked to find the Belsen camp. Naturally they first went to Belsen village to make enquiries but were met with shrugs from a bunch of people who professed to know nothing. By this time they could smell the camp and soon after they found it.
Before the group could get close they were warned off by the prisoners because of the presence of typhus.
With murder in their hearts they returned to the village and gave those that they could find a good kicking.

While on a course in Liverpool, in the 80s, I told a bunch of blokes the above story. When I'd finished, one Scouser said "I didn't want to interrupt you there but my Dad told me exactly the same story that you've told us".

My wife's father was in the Pioneer Corps and his job was to go with evacuees from Belsen, on special trains that took them to Switzerland.(I never knew that that happened).

How many people saw the ASTRA Chanel 'ARTE' this evening about the showing of film of Belsen and the British soldiers arriving? The film included much unseen footage, including Hitchcock's and Dimbleby's roles in the films and BBC Radio transmission of events to give maximum effect.

Included in the programme transmission were nearly two hours of films and interviews depicting how the Concentration Camp's filming was recorded by British/American and Russian troops who first arrived at the many KZ Camp locations.

One scene quite amazingly, shows the many British troops and armoured cars speeding off past the camp without stopping. As one person quite correctly said earlier in this thread. "We still had a war to fight!"

Hi Shelldrake,

Yes, that's the film. Seems it was a French Arte. A very good doco

alan8376 wrote:

Hi Shelldrake,

Yes, that's the film. Seems it was a French Arte. A very good doco

Yes, an eye opener, Alan8376!