D-Day, 6 June 1944, marked the start of the Allied invasion of Normandy, the greatest amphibious operation in history. Immerse yourself in their stories and follow their evolution from conquerors and occupiers to allies and friends. As it drove into Germany, the British 11th Armoured Division occupied the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on April 15, 1945, following an April 12 agreement with the retreating Germans to surrender the camp peacefully. On 14 November 2014, 7th Armoured Brigade, the famous 'Desert Rats', held their last parade as an armoured brigade ahead of their transformation into 7th Infantry Brigade, with 640 soldiers marching through Bergen. Status coordinate No status yet. 15th Scottish Division Mobile Bath Section. Initially, 7th Armoured Brigade was formed in 1938 and served with 7th Armoured Division all through the Desert campaign during World War Two, before leaving in 1942 after El Alamein. Attempts were made to clean up the camp by burying bodies and implementing a form of quarantine to prevent the further spread of disease among the weakened population. As well as appearing in the national press and passing as gossip, it featured in 'Soldier' magazine. The Desert Rats, led by Gen. Allen Francis Harding , were especially noted for a hard-fought three-month campaign against the more-experienced German Afrika Korps, led by Gen. Erwin Rommel (“The Desert Fox”). Veteran BBC journalist Richard Dimbleby, accompanying the troops, produced a radio report based on what he saw. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. index.htm: 7th Armored Division Association Home Page (2021-01-11) /docrep: 7th Armored Division Document Repository (2021-01-11) ... Five Photographs of Belsen Concentration Camp by 31st Tank Battalion Men (3/5/2012) Accounting for WWII Unknowns eto-unks.htm: Unknowns of the European Theater in World War II (2021-01-11) eto-unks-forms.htm: Forms for Remains (11/6/2017) eto-unks … La 7e Division blindée britannique (7th Armoured Division, en anglais), est une formation de l'armée britannique. The 7th armoured division was one of a trio of follow up divisions for the Normandy landings. 1576 Heavy Artillery Platoon R.A.S.C. Their initial role was to participate in operations Perch and Goodwood, in support of the push for Caen. In … Five photographs taken by these men were published in volume II of the "Lucky Seventh", compiled in 1986 and copyrighted in 1987 by the 7th Armored Division Association. No shots would be fired in its vicinity. 7th Armoured Division (UK) moved the Tilbury. Many were suffering from typhus, dysentery and starvation. British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen on 15 April 1945. Desert Rats Memorial, 7th Armoured Division, Thetford Forest, Norfolk, ... BERGEN-BELSEN concentration camp inmates on 15 April 1945 when it was liberated by the British 11th Armoured Division United States US Army 2nd Armoured Division 502 Military Police Battalion Jeep. The Division was formed in response to the unanticipated success of German panzer divisions.It was responsible for several major victories in Normandy after D-Day, and it participated in the rapid advance across France, Belgium, and the Netherlands and the Rhine crossing. Mai 1946 / Martin Niemöller. American troops with the 42nd Tank Battalion drive along the fenced-in perimeter of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. On 16th February 1940, the Mobile Division became the 7th Armoured Division and at about the same time the famous Jerboa Divisional Sign appeared. More than a million British soldiers have lived and served in Germany over the past 75 years. With a distinctly British camaraderie (although with members from many countries) we are a relaxed friendly unit offering a realistic and competitive gaming experience. Europe Tilbury, United Kingdom. In fact, the Army rations had a negative effect on the weakened prisoners - their malnourished bodies could not cope as the food was so much richer than what they were used to. I have tried to include as many as possible with as much information as possible, but I apologise is I have omitted any. Royal Tanks] at work spraying the fouled ground of the Belsen … 7th Armoured Brigade’s commander, Brigadier James Woodham, called it an occasion ‘to celebrate a fantastic history that has been based here in Germany since the end of the Second World War and to thank our German hosts who have been so fantastic at looking after us’. The 9th Armored Division served on occupation duties in Germany throughout the summer of 1945. Tilbury. They had crossed the River Weser on 5 April with 270 tanks and were closing on the city of Lüneburg, aiming for the River Elbe and advancing across the woodland and heather of the Lüneburg Heath. John Darby is inside a Sherman tank, travelling in the opposite direction with the British Army's 11th Armoured Division. The 11th Armoured Division, known as The Black Bull, was a British Army division formed in 1941 during the Second World War. Many had been marched from camps further east and then simply dumped at Belsen by their captors. These were from 63 Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Richard Taylor. Up to 50,000 British, American and German soldiers were stationed there and it became the largest military training area in Europe. Find the perfect 11th armoured division black & white image. Huge collection, amazing choice, 100+ million high quality, affordable RF and RM images. On 14 November 2014, 7th Armoured Brigade, the famous 'Desert Rats', held their last parade as an armoured brigade ahead of their transformation into 7th Infantry Brigade, with 640 soldiers marching through Bergen. National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, London, SW3 4HTRegistered Charity Number: 237902. We heard about atrocities, which are bantered backwards and forwards, but we didn’t realise really what it was, and then it was just after that, that all the rest of it came about, other camps just like Belsen. Although 7th Armoured Division was not engaged in Market Garden, 1/7th Queens were involved with Guards Armoured Division in keeping the Nijmegen road open from 24th September 1944. On 21 May 1945, once the last prisoners had been moved and the last casualty buried, the camp accommodation huts were burned to the ground. The 31st Tank Battalion Unit History for May 1945 contains the following remark: A number of officers and men during the remainder of the morning paid informal visits to the concentration camp at Belsen now under control of the British. City|Area. It lasted for the next 70 years. - second part - third part (each about 8 minutes). The 22nd Armoured Brigade assigned a combat mission to defend the town of Oosterbeek - Operation launch date being 23 September, 2018. Additionally, there was a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp attached, the inmates of which were also in an appalling state. Among the occupants of Bergen-Belsen by the time that 7th Armored Division arrived there was a large contingent of Hungarian Jewish women who had earlier been held at the concentration camp at Walldorf, Germany -- just south of Frankfurt and just north of the Frankfurt Airport. Some claimed it was only propaganda, and fake news. The 'Desert Rats', who had been headquartered in Germany since 1945, left for the UK the following year when Bergen-Hohne finally closed. 14th Cav Gp: 18 Dec 44-1 Jan 45: Engineer. No need to register, buy now! "First time @NAM_London today. The Camp was liberated on 15 April 1945 by the British 11th Armoured Division and soldiers discovered roughly 60,000 starved, and ill prisoners inside. (Click here for details and ordering information.) Only do this if these links relate to the wiki subject. There were 20 nationalities altogether, in the most horrific conditions. Status coordinate No status yet. During 1944-45, the Allies endured months of fighting against a determined enemy. They were utterly unprepared for what they found. As it drove into Germany, the 11th Armoured Division occupied the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on April 15, 1945, pursuant to an April 12 agreement with the retreating Germans to surrender the camp peacefully. Simply enter your email address below to start receiving our monthly email newsletter. Market Garden remains one of the Second World War’s most famous battles. SSW of Bayeux. The 7th Armoured Division liberated Stalags XIB and 357 near Fallingbostel ... who treated many of the sick and starving at Belsen, 1945 (NAM) On April 15, the first British troops entered the camp. This page is provided to as a point of reference for the war diaries or histories of units that served in the 7th Armoured Division and/or the 4th and 7th Armoured Brigades. Thoroughly enjoyed it. In the spring of 1945, Allied armies began their final advance into the heart of Nazi Germany. The site of the camp is now a memorial to those who died between 1940 and 1945, 2018, Second World War They later moved to Berlin with the rest of the Division and took part in the victory parade in July 1945. Despite being experienced soldiers familiar with the horrors of war, they had never encountered anything like this. Together with a loudspeaker truck from the Intelligence Corps commanded by Lieutenant Derrick Sington, a journalist in civilian life, they made their way down roads that led away from nearby villages and deep into the woods. This article supplements the 7th Armoured Division article by providing order of battle information for the division through various periods of the Second World War as the organization of an armoured division was changed by the War Office. Worse still, 13,000 corpses lay around the camp, unburied and rotting. Reconnaissance, including Special Air Service patrols and groups from 20th Armoured Brigade, had verified the camp’s presence. Thank you! They served as 7th Armoured Division's Armoured Reconnaissance regiment for the rest of the war, liberating the POW camp in Belsen before ending the war close to Hamburg. They were executed in Hamelin in December 1945. Despite still being at war, the British took on the humanitarian crisis. An 11th Armoured Division Challenger tank carrying infantry after crossing the Weser, 7 April 1945. Skip to content Search. The 7th Armoured Division liberated Stalags XIB and 357 near Fallingbostel ... who treated many of the sick and starving at Belsen, 1945 (NAM) On April 15, the first British troops entered the camp. This is a 8 minute video about the British liberators, with interviews and background information [Note that the date of liberation is erroneously given as April 29.] In fact, the women were used as laborers to work on repairing and extending runways at the airport. Nevertheless, there were so many dead that the cleanup was still going on 2 weeks later when 7th Armored Division arrived and took the photographs shown above. 7th Armoured Division (UK) liberation of Stalag 357. After the battle of El Alamein, 131st Brigade became the Lorried Infantry Brigade of 7th Armoured Division ('The Desert Rats'). War Diaries. Within four weeks, 28,900 people had been moved. 23 p., as quoted in Reden 1945-1954. The truce was accepted, and on 12 April a 48-square-kilometre exclusion zone was placed around the camp, and the area declared neutral. 45-54, 87ff, with modification of bracketed remark) - also see, British, in safe suits, loading bodies on cart (typhus and lice were rampant). Date 1944-05-03. 11th Armoured Division. After a night move, and an unprecedented advance of 60 miles in one day, the Division liberated Amiens on 1 September. Home; Maps; Timeline; Images ... 11th (British) Armoured Division Mobile Bath Section. The Centaurs were not used in combat except for those fitted with a 95mm howitzer, which were used in support of the Royal Marines during the amphibious invasion of Normandy. The same day, it captured General Eberbach, commander of the 7th Army (Wehrmacht). My division was the first to enter Belsen concentration camp. Soldiers and civilians watch the burning of Belsen's huts, 21 May 1945. A sign erected by the British at Belsen's entrance, May 1945. 27th Armoured Brigade - Attached to the 79th Armoured Division from 8 September 1942 until 20 October 1943. His plan was to declare it an open area, thereby avoiding any fighting that might allow the inmates to escape and spread disease to soldiers of both sides as well as local civilians. Yet back in Britain, and even among some sections of the Army, there was doubt that what had been reported from Belsen was true. This is the first part of a longer presentation, that is cut off abruptly at the end. That was awful... There’s no doubt that after seeing something like what had gone on in Belsen, it does stay in your mind and never goes away.’, Female prisoners after their liberation, Belsen, April 1945. The Division then proceeded to attack at a blitzkrieg pace, moving first toward Berlin, and then following a southeast course, paralleling the border between Germany and Czechoslovakia. At a time when British soldiers were increasingly coming into contact with local Germans, it undoubtedly affected interaction. They had been taken away, or the remains of them. The camp itself became a memorial, and a site often visited by British soldiers stationed in Germany. Division HQ 4th Canadian Armoured Signals 7th Armoured Division FELIXTOWE Landed on GOLD Beach after D-Day ANNEX A: Task Organization to Operation OVERLORD 7th Armoured Division MajGen G.W.E.J. The division’s primary offensive combat power was provided by its tanks and armored vehicles. The British Army link to that area, which had begun in tragedy 70 years earlier, was brought to an end in a state of friendship. Then, in September 1941, 7th Brigade (Guards) was transferred to the Guards Armoured Division, and the following November 37th Infantry Brigade Group HQ joined 3rd Division and was renumbered 7th Brigade with the following composition: 7th Infantry Brigade. The "prison camp" - now nearby - is Bergen-Belsen, near Hannover in Germany. The 7th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army that saw distinguished active service during World War II, where its exploits in the Western Desert Campaign gained it the Desert Rats nickname. It tried 44 men and women who had worked at Belsen. When the 11th Armoured Division entered the camp, its soldiers were totally unprepared for what they found. Hits 1,014. British soldiers and locals watch the burning of Belsen, May 1945. But it was not simply a case of handing out the food. After service in Burma, following the retreat into India, the Brigade returned to the Middle East in 1943 serving in Iraq and Egypt. 203d AAA AW Bn (SP) 12 Aug 44-9 May 45: Armored. His entire archive is being sold at auction by his son. Sergeant Owen Smart recalled: ‘Before we entered the camp I had never heard of Bergen-Belsen. The 79th Armoured Division was first raised as a conventional armoured division, with one Armoured Brigade, one Infantry Brigade and supporting arms. 1900s On 12 April, a German emissary was brought into the corps headquarters to negotiate the terms. In early April 1945, General Sir Evelyn Barker’s VIII Corps was advancing north-eastwards across Germany towards the Baltic. The 42nd was part of the 7th Armored Division, which was the only American unit attached to the British Second Army, the unit that liberated Bergen-Belsen. Mar 15, 2014 - A Cromwell tank and Challenger tank of 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars, 7th Armoured Division, surrounded by German civilians outside Dammtor railway … Combat Interviews of the 7th Armored Division: The 7th Armored Division Goes Back: St. Vith 20-23 January 1945. Originally formed in November 1937 as the Mobile Division, it saw extensive service during the Second World War, was disbanded afterward, was reconstituted in 1976, and remains in service today. Female SS guards bury their victims at Belsen, April 1945, Medical kit used by Major John Grice to treat Belsen inmates, 1945. File; File history; File usage on Commons; Size of this preview: 617 × 599 pixels. The Germans, and the Hungarians they were employing, would remain only to guard the camp until the British arrived. There were more than 60,000 emaciated prisoners in desperate need of sustenance and medical attention. In September 1944, the Allies launched a daring airborne operation to cross the Rhine and advance into northern Germany. 1944-1945 . 7th Armored Division never went anywhere close to this camp. The brigade was presented with a 'Fahnenband' by the local German military commander on behalf of his nation, marking a long period of friendship. Notes: Remarks: Stalag 357 was a prisoner of war camp for Allied airmen and similar POWs; originally in Germany, it had been relocated in 1944 to the vicinity of Bergen-Belsen. Fallingbostel, Germany. Belsen was not a death camp like those the Red Army discovered on their advance from the east. Here I became guilty in my very personal responsibility and I cannot excuse myself, neither before God, nor before humanity. The Desert Rats : 7th Armoured Division, 1940-1945 (London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991) xvi, 284 p. Patrick Delaforce. It was the first concentration camp encountered by the British and instantly influenced attitudes towards the local Germans. 1575 Light Artillery Platoon R.A.S.C. Eleven of the defendants were sentenced to death, including commandant Josef Kramer, head female guard Elisabeth Volkenrath, and camp doctor Fritz Klein. -- German Pastor Martin Niemöller in 1946 - he himself was eventually arrested by the Nazis and spent 4 years in the Dachau Concentration Camp (source: Die politische Verantwortung des Christen im akademischen Stand : Vortrag gehalten auf Einladung der evangelischen Studentengemeinde vor Studierenden der Philipps-Universität zu Marburg an der Lahn am 4. British 7th Armoured Division, 1940-45 (London : Osprey, 1977) 40 p. [Vanguard series ; 1] Robin Neillands. After the Munich Agreement, the division was formed in Egypt during 1938 as the Mobile Division … Originally composed of the 29th and … Advancing to Lens, then Tournai, the Division was then committed to the fight for Antwerp, which it liberated on 4 September. After the war, the British were faced with the task of administering and rebuilding their occupation zone. Limited amounts of milk, sugar and water were given, either by medical volunteers from Britain who had arrived on 29 April, or by those internees strong enough to feed themselves and others. The Hungarians and SS guards still on the site, along with other German prisoners of war, were made to help. Two days later, it tried to establish a bridgehead over the Albert Canal, but the attempt failed due to intense enemy fire. Alternative Title: 7th Armoured Division Desert Rats , byname of the 7th Armoured Division , group of British soldiers who helped defeat the Germans in North Africa during World War II . Bergen-Belsen. Only after he threatened to resign did they relent. Despite these efforts, a further 14,000 people died after the camp's liberation. As well as many Jews, the camp contained a cross-section of those the Nazis deemed inferior and enemies of their state. On 15 April, three days after the truce, and with strong German resistance continuing in the area around the neutral zone, the first British troops entered the camp. It was just too far beyond comprehension. Date 1945-04-03. Among the British troops closest to this area were the soldiers of 11th Armoured Division. While the armoured regiments of the latter two divisions were equipped with M4 Shermans, the armoured regiments of the 7th Armoured Division were equipped with Cromwells. During its history the 7th Armoured Division many different units served with the Division and its Brigades. It was deployed to Egypt in June 1942 but never operated as a complete formation and was disbanded in January the following year. I didn't recognize him when he was put in the camp as a Communist, nor did I recognize him, when he was murdered as an incurably ill person, nor did I recognize him when he was gassed and burned as the poor victims of his own [Jewish] people. The 11th Armoured Division, known as The Black Bull, was a British Army division formed in 1941 during the Second World War. Both brigades took part in the Salerno landings of 1943 and fought together in Italy until 131st Brigade was recalled with the 7th Armoured Division to England to take part in the Normandy landings. On liberating Belsen, ... forming part of 1st Armoured Division and the home for the 7th Armoured Brigade (Desert Rats) from 1947. 155 Detail Issue Depot. The simple statement on a closed grave 'Approximately 1000 persons Buried Here, April 27, 1945' gives some indication of the condition in which the camp was found. Following their victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, the Allies were faced with administering a country in ruins. The camp was liberated on April 15, 1945, by the British 11th Armoured Division. Throughout this time, the Army also had to organise the burial of those prisoners who had died of disease or starvation – 15,000 in total. CCA 9th Armored Division was relieved by other American units on 12 May 1945 and returned to Germany to rejoin their parent division. The 1st Armoured Division is an armoured division of the British Army, currently the only British division to be stationed in Germany. Regimental History: In 1693, Colonel Conyngham raised a Regiment of Dragoons in Ireland. The Guards Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army during the Second World War.The division was created in the United Kingdom on 17 June 1941 during World War II from elements of the Guards units, the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards, Welsh Guards, and the Household Cavalry.. We did not recognize the Lord Christ when he came into our lives in the form of a suffering brother. 14 Amplifying Unit, Intelligence Corps. Foe to Friend. Br 4th Armd Brig (Br 7th Armd Div) 30 Oct 44-31 Oct 44: CC B (9th Armd Div) 22 Dec 44-7 Jan 45: Cavalry . 11th Armoured Division (UK) Liberartion of Bergen Belsen 11th Armoured Division (UK) Liberartion of Bergen Belsen ... British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen. Major Winwood, Josef Kramer's defence, addresses him at the trial, September 1945. After that, they would be allowed to march back to their own lines with their weapons. There was great suspicion that the locals in towns like Bergen, only a few kilometres from Belsen, must have known what was happening there, despite their protestations to the contrary. Aiding the living was a major task. It occupied the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on 15 April 1945. I didn’t see anything of the inmates in the prison really. Bergen, Lower Saxony Anne Frank Celle Bergen-Hohne Training Area Margot Frank. The Round House there, which would become so significant for the British after the war, was used as a hospital. Initially, his superiors in London refused to believe it and would not broadcast it. They later moved to Berlin with the rest of the Division and took part in the victory parade in July 1945. British 7th Armoured Division, 1940-45 (London : Osprey, 1977) 40 p. [Vanguard series ; 1] Robin Neillands. 7th Armoured Division. Darmstadt: Stimme-Verlag, 1958, pp. City|Area. But the scale of the atrocity still horrified those who saw it. The 8th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army during the Second World War. I knew nothing of what had been going on. Personnel serving in the British occupation zone were able to watch the trial from the public gallery. The Division was formed in response to the unanticipated success of German panzer divisions. The armored division was authorized 195 M-4 medium tanks mounting either 75mm or 76mm guns, 77 light tanks, fifty-four self-propelled artillery pieces and 466 half-tracks. 8th Armoured Division; 8th Armoured Division insignia. One of the signs was soon stolen. These photographs may be viewed below. They served as 7th Armoured Division's Armoured Reconnaissance regiment for the rest of the war, liberating the POW camp in Belsen before ending the war close to Hamburg. When the 11th Armoured Division entered the camp, its soldiers were totally unprepared for what they found. 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards; 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own). Fallingbostel. Later, a special military tribunal was convened between 17 September and 17 November 1945 in Lüneburg. Thousands of bodies lay unburied around the camp and some 60,000 starving and mortally ill people were packed together without food, water or basic sanitation. It was not re-discovered until 1972 but now has markers along a walking route, which includes the excavated kitchen area, where women were brutally beaten in the kitchen basement area. But since they did cross paths with the occupants of this camp and since Frankfurt Airport is a major destination for arrivals from the United States, you may want to consider visiting this camp if you fly into or out of Frankfurt. Among the occupants of Bergen-Belsen by the time that 7th Armored Division arrived there was a large contingent of Hungarian Jewish women who had earlier been held at the concentration camp at Walldorf, Germany -- just south of Frankfurt and just north of the Frankfurt Airport. Bucknall ordered the 7th Armoured Division – the famous ‘Desert Rats’ – to swing west around the resilient German defensive line at Tilly-sur-Seulles. As part of this, they maintained a military presence at Bergen-Hohne, on the doorstep of the Belsen camp. File:A Comet tank of 11th Armoured Division passes the camp gate at Bergen Belsen concentration camp, 15 April 1945. By the end of 16 April, 27 water carts had been provided, along with enough food for an evening meal, all delivered by VIII Corps. On 2 October 1945, the division embarked on ships and set sail for the United States. Be the first to hear about our latest events, exhibitions and offers. Elsewhere some elements of the Division became involved with the efforts to clear up the Concentration Camp at Belsen, which had been liberated by 11th Armoured Division, fighting on the 7th Armoured … 30th Armoured Brigade. 'But to me the name Belsen after that was shocking. This is a 1.5 minute silent video clip, showing conditions in the camp and the British after recently arriving and seeing all the unburied bodies. 7th Armored Division Trains; 129th Ordnance Maintenance Battalion; 77th Armored Medical Battalion; Military Police Platoon; Band [page 482] ATTACHMENTS Antiaircraft Artillery. Germany British soldiers had a leading role in this, helping to hunt war criminals, rebuild industry and help displaced persons. A soldier guards SS members as they collect the dead, April 1945, SS guards forced to bury their victims at Belsen, 24 April 1945. “Bobby” ERSKINE 22nd Armoured Brigade Brig Robert “Looney” HINDE 4th Bn, County of London Yeomanry LtCol Lord Arthur CRANLEY The surviving internees were stabilised, deloused and moved to the nearby tank training barracks at Bergen-Hohne, which became a Displaced Persons (DP) camp. British soldiers supervise the distribution of food to camp inmates, April 1945. 100% (1/1) 30 (Lowland) Independent Armoured Brigade 30th Armoured. This is a 7 minute silent video clip (with added musical background), showing the first cleanup of bodies in the first of the mass graves that held tens of thousands of bodies. On the way it did release several men that had served in the Division, from a POW camp at Fallingbostel. Word of Belsen quickly spread around the wider Army. Civilians, including the local council of the city of Celle, were also forced to visit the camp and see it for themselves. The British found around sixty thousand prisoners in the camp, most of them seriously ill. Thousands of corpses lay unburied on the camp grounds. On April 26, 1945, the 11th Armored Division crossed the border into Austria, reaching Linz on May 4, 1945. Emergency medical aid was organised under the direction of Brigadier Glyn Hughes. Guards Armoured Division: 1st Armoured Division: 2nd Armoured Division: 6th Armoured Division: 7th Armoured Division: 8th Armoured Division: 9th Armoured Division: 10th Armoured Division: 11th Armoured Division: 42nd Armoured Division: 79th Armoured Division Sergeant Ronald Jenner, of the 7th Armoured Division, fought in North Africa, the Middle East, Italy, France, Holland, Belgium and Germany. After this failure, 11th Armoured had to cross much further to t… On the division's line of advance lay a camp at a place called Belsen. Word had arrived that the Germans were looking to call a local truce. Here are some links to information about this camp. But the horror of what was endured at Belsen will never be forgotten. While many soldiers had expressed sympathy for the plight of ordinary Germans as they moved through their shattered towns and cities, Belsen led to a hardening of feeling. Jump to navigation Jump to search. 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Was a British Army Division formed in response to the unanticipated success German...