| Original caption: “Scenes at the burning of the camp. The fires were started with flamethrowers.” With the evacuation of all the camp survivors, Belsen concentration camp is incinerated by flamethrowers loaned by the United Kingdom Royal Army 7th Tank Regiment and the 43rd Wessex Division, 129th Infantry Brigade, 4th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry in order to eliminate all traces of disease. When units of the British Army entered the camp on April 15, 1945, they encountered a catastrophe: everywhere they saw unburied corpses and sick and dying prisoners – mostly Jews – living in overcrowded, filthy barrack huts. The soldiers made a heroic effort to bury the dead and move the living to a nearby army base. On May 19, the last of the survivors left the Belsen compound. Immediately thereafter, a Vickers Armstrong Mark II “Wasp” Universal Carrier drove toward the now abandoned wooden barrack huts and used a flamethrower to set all but 1 ablaze. The burning of the last barrack hut happened 2 days later on May 21, 1945, with a bit of media staging orchestrated by the United Kingdom Royal Army Colonel Officer Commanding at Belsen, Colonel H. L. W. Bird (1899 – before 1981). He arranged for a 1933 model of the War Ensign to be nailed to the structure, which carried the Prussian Iron Cross. He also ordered a large portrait of Hitler to be posted on the last barrack as well. Finally, he ordered the erection of a tall stake in front of the barrack hut, 1 which was to serve as a flag pole. The Royal Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU), who had been photographing in Belsen for a month, carefully shot the rest of the scene for posterity. Colonel Bird spoke: “I cannot help felling that in the razing of this pestilence-ridden camp there is a great symbol.” “It is a symbol of the final destruction for all time of the bestial human creed of Nazi Germany: a creed by which criminals tried to debase the people of Europe to their own devilish ends. This moment is the end of the chapter, the pages of which are filled with the vilest story of cruelty, hate, and bestiality ever written by man.” “British soldiers have closed one chapter, and by their great efforts have opened a new chapter in the lives of the survivors.” “I would like to pay special tribute to the British soldier. His great heart, his patience. his sympathy and his sense of humor have always made him the finest ambassador any nation could wish for.” The barrack hut itself was soaked in gasoline and after volley shots fired as a salute to the dead, set on fire. The crowd cheered and the Union Jack floated out from the top of the flagpole. The War Diaries of 7th Tank Regiment record operations at Bergen Belsen: May 22, 1945: “C Squadron despatched one troop of Churchill Crocodile [flamethrower] tanks to Belsen X 4868 to complete sterilization of the ground on which the concentration camp was built.” May 30, 1945: “The two troops of C Squadron returned from flaming the area of Belsen concentration camp X 4868. 25,000 gallons of FTF (Flame Thrower Fuel) were used in the sterilization of the ground.” Charles H. Hewitt (1915 – 1987) – known as “Slim” due to his slender frame – was a pioneering reporting photographer and later television film cameraman. Hewitt was a Sergeant with AFPU during World War II and was present at many of the important offensives of 1944-45. His photographs of the conflict appeared in the international press and much of his war photography is now in the collection of the Imperial War Museums. While stationed at the Belsen camp in 1945, Hewitt came to the attention of Picture Post magazine’s Arts Editor, Edgar Ainsworth (1905 – 1975), who was also there making reportage drawings. After his military service, Hewitt was commissioned by Picture Post for numerous assignments until the magazine folded in 1957. He then made the transition from still photography to film to work for the British Broadcasting Service television program Tonight. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0571.jpg |
| Image Size | 267.29 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1159 x 1227 |
| Photographer | Charles H. Hewitt |
| Photographer Title | Number Five United Kingdom Royal Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 19, 1945 |
| Location | Konzentrationslager Bergen-Belsen |
| City | Bergen |
| State or Province | Lower Saxony |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | Imperial War Museum |
| Record Number | BU 6596 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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