Was Canadian Army unit at Bergen-Belsen?

[susseddm]

This is a fascinating interview, thank you for posting it. I sent you a message privately.

I would be most interested in reading his memoir when you get it.

Thanks again.

 

[IanGMclean]

Hi all ,my late father :- BF Mclean served with the 131st city of glasgow R A under the 15th Scottish Division. I know that for a couple of days he was attached to a Canadian Regiment based at Celle .
He told me that he and others from the Canadian reg and possibly other regs were chosen randomly by the powers that be to go as witnesses to Bergen Belsen.
I do not know the Canadian reg , or whether their visit was the day of liberation or a couple of days after , but they were told not to give any of the survivors food , but cigarettes were ok, other than that my father never said any more.

Ian

 

[IanGMclean]

Hi all ,i have been reading  all these posts with great interest , My father was with the 131st City of Glasgow R A. At some stage he was attached to a Canadian regiment for a couple of days ( i think they were stationed at Celle ? ) He was one of a group including the Canadians who were sent to Belsen as witnesses only.
I am unsure as to whether this was on the day of liberation or afterwards , but they were pre warned of the horrors and told to only give the survivors cigarettes and no food. My father who passed away last year did not speak much of the war , so at present i have no detail. However i have recently sent of for his service records and these may help , i will post again when i can .

 

[susseddm]

Is there anyway to know what regiment? There were RCAF squadrons in the area. But, that was the air force, not the army.

 

[IanGMclean]

Hi all,its been a while but i have received (finally) my late fathers service record,which does not help at all.
However,some more info has surfaced.I now know that my father was billeted for half a day with some Canadians at Celle,he and five others were asked to go as witnesses to Belsen on the day of liberation for only a couple of hours , they were asked not to feed or give drinks to the inmates , but could give cigarettes.
I have now traced some film footage ,showing my father and 5 others , which in all hope should include canadians.its not very clear but could possibly be cleaned up by someone more knowledgeable than me.
I found it via Wikipedia and clicked on an external link called :- Frontline Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp,the link will open up and you need to look for :- Memory of the Camps and the  Witnesses to Belsen.Its narrated by the late British Actor-Trevor Howard.
Look for the section in the movie where Trevor asks 'where are the parents of these children' there is a pause and you see some germans dragging bodies along the ground as Trevor says 'Here' and  shortly afterwards he says 'Or Here' In the foreground you will see a soldiers rifle and bayonnete,but in the background their are six soldiers,one in a kilt holding his rifle horizontally at knee level and 5 others , who all look like they are only their to watch and do not look dressed the same? My father is the shorter of the six,third from the right. Hopefully someone will be able to get the image sharper and more detailed so that the six can be recognized properly.

All the best  Ian