大象传媒

I was in the 43rd Wessex Infantry Reconnaissance Corps. After extremely hard fighting we were right in Germany. From Celle we made our way to Belsen.

We were part of the advance entry into the camp. Two tanks were in front of our armoured car. As we approached I saw a wrought iron gate with the German Eagle on it. As a blacksmith I stopped to look at the fine workmanship.

Then we entered. I glimpsed a uniformed figure who was Herr Kramer. The place looked to us like a hospital.There were brick buildings separated by long gaps. Everything was extremely clean. There were people sitting there in striped clothes. They were just sitting and wandering around, and seemed to ignore us. I got on the intercom to my comrades. We thought it was some kind of asylum.

We kept going. The complex went much further than people usually imagine. It extended to around 11 miles. The concrete road turned to dirt after about three and a half miles. The dirt turned to mud. Now there were wooden buildings. After around six miles there was a terrible smell. I wanted to go back but we went on. The smell got worse and worse. In the distance we saw cattle waggons. We couldn't make out clearly what was in them. The stench now was vile, vile. We could make out something like heaps of flesh. We guessed that they were sheep carcasses left to rot.

We couldn't stand it any longer. Without getting closer up we drove back. We didn't know what was really causing the smell.

They hanged Herr Kramer, the camp commander.

Reproduced with Jack Baily's permission by Ipswich Museum.

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