Bergen Belsen 75 – Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum

The women's camp at Bergen-Belsen, at liberation

19

Jan

Naomi & Arthur: Letters from Liberation A new permanent exhibition opens on 27th January 2024 at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, tells a story of how a small act of kindness can have a life-changing impact. It will focus on two people from different worlds – Arthur Tyler, a soldier with the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, and Naomi Kaplan, a Polish Jew who survived both Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. When the…

26

Jan

OXFORDSHIRE YEOMANRY ‘QUEENS OWN OXFORDSHIRE HUSSARS’ 63RD (OXFORDSHIRE YEOMANRY) ANTI-TANK REGIMENT RA (TA) SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-1945 In 1938 the regiment was converted from its artillery role to that of an anti-tank unit and renamed the 53rd Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery (TA) (Worcestershire and Oxfordshire Yeomanry), the 4.5-inch Howitzer guns were now replaced with two-pound anti-tank guns. The Oxfordshire Yeomanry had two batteries, 211 at Oxford and 212 at Banbury.…

15

Apr

Bergen Belsen – Beyond May 1945 Nic Vanderpeet (SOFO Learning and Outreach Officer) Arthur Tyler, second left, with other men of the 63rd Anti-Tank Regiment (Oxfordshire Yeomanry), near Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 1945. The survivors of Bergen Belsen would continue to live in camps after their liberation in April 1945. Camps were established to house Displaced Persons (DPs). Displaced persons were those who had been deported or sent as forced labour to…

08

May

Having entered Belsen on 15 April 249 Battery were relieved on the 20th of April. From Belsen the battery moved to Celle. Its task in Celle was to establish a camp for newly released Russian Prisoners of War (PoWs) Having been in Celle for just over a week another move was made to Luneberg where the battery would undertake garrison duties in the town. Luneberg would become famous for the…

27

Apr

Bergen Belsen – The Legacy The liberation of Bergen Belsen began on the 15th of April but the legacy of the camp would remain. The Queens Own Oxfordshire Yeomanry (QOOY) were in the camp between the 15th and the 20th of April 1945. Some of the men have shared their stories… Contacting families – Arthur Tyler On display at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum is a piece of paper with…

15

Apr

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp at Bergen Belsen by units of the British Army including the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars (QOOH). Commemoration of the events of the 15th April 1945 ensures that the horrors experienced by those involved, both liberators and liberated are not forgotten and that the lessons of the Holocaust are not lost due to the passage of time. The War…

13

Apr

Operation Plunder started on 23 March 1945. Operation Plunder was a combined operation of amphibious and airborne assaults by US, British and Canadian troops. 249 Battery crossed the River Rhine on the night of 26 March. Between crossing the Rhine and the middle of April the regiment experienced a lot of ‘toing and froing’. Firstly the regiment came under the command of the 6th Airborne Division. Within days the regiment…

26

Mar

C Troop of 249 Battery returned to Mierloo on 8 March. On the 13th the Battery (minus A Troop who had moved the previous day tasked with providing protection for the Royal Artillery 8 Corps Headquarters) left for the German town of Issum. There is little reported in the War Diary between the 9th and the 20th apart from details of moves made by the various batteries of the 63rd…

18

Mar

January 1945 In October 1944, 249 Battery, 63 Anti-Tank Regiment (Oxfordshire Yeomanry), Royal Artillery arrived in France and moved forward into Belgium. The battery’s duties consisted mainly of guarding the flank of advancing troops as they moved into the Noord Brabant region of the Netherlands. In January 1945 249 Battery established their headquarters in the Dutch village of Heusden. As the first Allied soldiers the villagers had seen they were made…

18

Mar

The effects of the winter thaw of 1945 were varied for the men of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry. The roads of Noord Brabant suffered considerable damage and according to the War Diary of 7 February…”All available men from the Regiment were sent on road repairing….road to be repaired was the Deurne to Venray Road.” 10 February ‘C’ Troop of 249 Battery were moved to the Boxmeer area to protect a bridge across…

Category: Bergen Belsen 75

A remarkable story of kindness during wartime forms new display at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum for Holocaust Memorial Day 2024

63RD (OXFORDSHIRE YEOMANRY) ANTI-TANK REGIMENT RA (TA)

Bergen-Belsen – Beyond May 1945

VE Day QOOH

The Legacy of Bergen-Belsen

15th April 1945: Taking Over the Camp

‘Operation Plunder’ – Crossing the Rhine

Into Germany

IN HEUSDEN – More information

THAW POINTS – WINTER 1945