WWII information for son!!

Hi Guy's,
I wonder if you could help?

I'm putting a small tribute to my father on the family website......

My dad is 86 and has never mentioned the war much until recently.
We have seen his medals from the war and one in particular: A Tank!

He was a Churchill Crocodile Flamethrower Tank Driver. He has talked to my
older brother in dribs and drabs. The topics have been about Northumberland
where he was stationed. And a Canadian regiment.... as far as I can gather
he was there with this regiment when they liberated Belson??

He won't discuss what he saw or did but loves it when he comes to visit
and I show him the tanks on the internet.
I'm trying to get some photo's off of him and find out more about what
exactly his regiment did do in the war! (Mainly for his grand children)

I hope someone can help

Tanks in advance ha ha


Cheekyman (Frank)

 

I hope this helps, Was Canadian Army unit at Bergen-Belsen? it lists a couple of Canadian regiments that may have been there.

This part may be particularly pertinent "...The British 11th Armoured Division were the ones involved in the liberation. The liberation occurred on 15 April 1945. They were part of the Allied 21st Army Group which included the 2nd British Army and the First Canadian Army. The 11th Armoured Division were a British only unit but they may have had Canadian soldiers attached as liaison and such....That some Canadian soldiers were at Bergen-Belsen following the liberation is without question; a notable example is the war artist Alex Colville who produced some works based on his experience there. However, when they were there and whether there was any formal task is another question. Of note, Colville got to Bergen-Belsen about two weeks following its liberation and the massive horror of the place was still evident. (This may be purely coincidental, but) Colville had been attached to 3rd Canadian Infantry Division at the time he went to the concentration camp; the North Novas (Laskin's regiment) were in the 9th Infantry Brigade from that division."

Continue through the thread for other bits, but I'd definitely look into the British 11th Armoured Division. Good Luck!

 

Would some non-specific photos of crocodiles in action be of interest?

 

Hi Cheekyman, welcome to this fine forum. I saw you also posted this same post in the information request section.
In a while I will merge both threads into one, so you'll have your answer in onesame section.

 

Hi Guy's,
First of all I'd like to say thanks to you fine gentlemen & lady
for the great reception you have given me....
I'm really sorry for confusing you with the two threads but
it was early morning when I posted ha ha

The photos would be really appreciated Mr Gardner!!

Macrusk awesome info!!

Any more information would be greatly received on how I
could retrieve my dad's war records etc.....

Thanks again, looking forward to the next reply



Cheekyman (Frank)

 

Hi Guy's,
Just interrogated my father tonight ha ha
And have found he mentioned his regiment: 1st Fife & Forfar Yeomanry.
He also listed the 11th Armoured Division and 21st I think?
The Market Garden Operation was part of his manouvers and at the time of Arnham he was in Holland. He fought with the British Canadian Poles and he did help liberate Belsen.
It has really surprised me all of this as I'm his son of 55 and I should have found out sooner just what he went through!!

His memory is failing him now and he couldn't remember names of places etc... I bought him a boxset of WWII DVD's at Xmas and he thoroughly enjoyed them. With him joking
"I might even see myself on the footage!" He did comment to me that he was pleased to fight alongside the Canadians but got rather put out when they were assigned to the
American forces at times? Cos he said (and these are his own words so I'll apologise now to the Americans) He said "They all thought they were John Wayne and ended up shooting
at everything that moved. We were frightened to death when they were around! I remember one of them jumping on our tank and shooting at an attacking aircraft...... crazy man!"

EDIT: Two more bits of info.... (Should have wrote this down!) My father also said that the SS Officers had tattoo's so they could prove that they were who they said they were?
And get this? They had the tattoo's placed under their armpits so when they were stripped to their waists no markings were shown!!!
Also the numbers placed upon POW's (Jews) were not just the number of the prisoner who came in..... It actually told you their gender and where they were from etc... It's actually
the same practice we use to day for checking out goods at the supermarket, you know the bar codes!!!

Tanks again people
Cheekyman (Frank)