'The Relief of Belsen' Ch4 last night.

It specifically stated in the film that it was a Panzer training regiment, not guards, though they must have been aware of what was going on up the road. Considering what the British had found in the main camp, I would have assumed that feelings would have run high and the whole lot would have recieved more than a good kicking, to show them in the film continuing to shoot inmates under the noses of the British is laughable.
The next concentration camp my old man’s lot came across was treated rather differently, they did hang around, the SS guards and commander were rounded up and they were given a pretty good sorting out before being left to rot in their own punishment cells.
Sorry, I thought the whole programme was an insult to what it represented.

Nevertheless, the shooting incident is recorded. From “After Daybreak” by Ben Shepherd:

“Over the next 24 hours the British rewrote the truce with the Germans and begain to redefine their task at Belsen. Much of their behaviour was irrational, fuelled by rage. For example when Kramer warned….if inmates were allowed access to open spaces rioting and disorder would follow, the British ignored him and there were indeed disturbances. When however these inmates were shot at by German and Hungarian guards, the British were revolted. By the second day the Germans had been disarmed”.

Certainly elsewhere the inmates and liberating troops did give the German guards a much harder time with beatings and summary executions recorded, and this may well have happened at Belsen as well (*) but owing to the existence of the local truce there was a different set of circumstances.

I struggle to see it as an insult. The situation at Belsen was a disaster already unfolding and though the British struggled to contain it, that is hardly surprising given the circumstances.

* From http://www.scrapbookpages.com/BergenBelsen/BergenBelsen05A.html

In answer to my question about whether the British liberators had killed any of the Hungarian soldiers, who were sent to the camp to help with the transition and were promised that they could return to their lines after six days, Alsen wrote the following, based on what his father Lt. Lawrence Alsen had told him:

Yes, some of them were shot out of hand for mutiny. A burial detail of Hungarians refused to handle the dead bodies. One officer refused to obey the order saying it was contrary to the Geneva Convention. The captain in charge immediately told them they were under martial law and any refusal was mutiny. The officer still refused and so did four of his men. The captain drew his revolver and cocked it, pointing it at the officer’s forehead. The officer still refused and the captain shot him dead. The other four attempted to rush the captain, a somewhat foolish attempt against 8 loaded sten guns in the hands of men itching to use them. All five ended up in one of the grave pits. The officer then reported what he had done to the Colonel who told him not to worry: “You’ve just saved the hangman a job.”

In response to my question about whether any of the SS guards had died from typhus after being forced to handle the dead bodies with their bare hands, Niall Alsen answered as follows, based on what his father Lt. Lawrence Alsen had told him:

That report is true. They were also made to live in one of the huts in the same filthy conditions as the Inmates and fed the same basic rations; that could also be the reason so many contracted Typhus. However, there are suspicions that two of the more sadistic guards were thrown into one of the huts by British troops for a lark; they were kicked and punched to death. (Death by natural causes?) My father said it was very difficult to control the men from meting out summary justice; perhaps it would have been better if that had happened.

Although Camp 2 was indeed a Panzer Training School, by the time of the liberation of Belsen there was no Panzer Regiment there – it housed about 15,000 male inmates from other camps.

There were a few SS still at Belsen after the British took control, mainly clerks and other second line staff who were put to work moving and burying the dead until being sent to a POW camp. The other German troops included about 800 Wehrmacht left behind after the truce and Hungarian troops who had been on guard duties at the camp.

They were camp guards, not a Panzer regiment and it did happen. Naturally there was a degree of licence but overall I thought it covered the facts well and did not sensationalise. This sort of history re-enactment is not eveyone’s cup of tea, but I thought it was one of the better of the genre.

It specifically stated in the film that it was a Panzer training regiment, not guards, though they must have been aware of what was going on up the road. Considering what the British had found in the main camp, I would have assumed that feelings would have run high and the whole lot would have recieved more than a good kicking, to show them in the film continuing to shoot inmates under the noses of the British is laughable.
The next concentration camp my old man’s lot came across was treated rather differently, they did hang around, the SS guards and commander were rounded up and they were given a pretty good sorting out before being left to rot in their own punishment cells.
Sorry, I thought the whole programme was an insult to what it represented.

Panzer units..

There was a Panzer training camp half a mile away.Can,t find anything yet on who was involved.Dig some more.A good report on the release
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/330/7498/1030.pdf

I thought it was good.

I didn’t see which aircraft attacked the camp, and I didn’t record it so couldn’t look back but IMHO there was more than a little bit of storytellers licence.
Although covering a very important piece of the war, it was the biggest heap of tripe I have ever seen, and could not watch to the end….

I cannot believe the Panzer divison would have been left to return to the front. Maybe that is based on fact though? I will be happy to be corrected!

Regards,
Scotty

They were camp guards, not a Panzer regiment and it did happen. Naturally there was a degree of licence but overall I thought it covered the facts well and did not sensationalise. This sort of history re-enactment is not eveyone’s cup of tea, but I thought it was one of the better of the genre.

I didn’t see which aircraft attacked the camp, and I didn’t record it so couldn’t look back but IMHO there was more than a little bit of storytellers licence.
Although covering a very important piece of the war, it was the biggest heap of tripe I have ever seen, and could not watch to the end….

I cannot believe the Panzer divison would have been left to return to the front. Maybe that is based on fact though? I will be happy to be corrected!

Regards,
Scotty

a cheap film made to shock and sensationalise the whole concentration camp scenario not good television at all and an hour too long 😎 😎

I didn’t see which aircraft attacked the camp, and I didn’t record it so couldn’t look back but IMHO there was more than a little bit of storytellers licence.
Although covering a very important piece of the war, it was the biggest heap of tripe I have ever seen, and could not watch to the end….

I cannot believe the Panzer divison would have been left to return to the front. Maybe that is based on fact though? I will be happy to be corrected!

Regards,
Scotty