We had an email sent to us with this query, can anyone help? Info on the actual memorial rather than the battle, please. I am trying to find out why the townspeople of RETHEM (GERMANY)on the river ALLER erected a war memorial to commemorate the fighting that occured there APRIL 1945 . The 53rd Welsh Div and the 4th Batt Welsh Regt in particular playing a major role in this action Please help if you can Many Thanks
It would be worth clicking the KONTAKT button on the left of this link to send an email and ask for information from Town Hall. Samtgemeinde Rethem (Aller) - Niedersachsen
To the South-east the 6th Battalion had reached the banks of the River Aller. Beside Rethem church there lay a wrecked road bridge. The Germans had lined up a batch of Welsh prisoners against a wall there and mowed them down with automatics. One of the Welshmen had fallen with the rest only pretending to be dead and then had the good fortune not to be finished off with those not quite dead by a pistol shot in the head, so he was able to reveal the foul crime, which the bodies later confirmed. SOURCE: 7th Battalion The Cameronians Multiple Sclerosis Research Initiative
Phil, that massacre NEVER TOOK PLACE!!! Read No Triumphant Procession by John Russell, pages 109 -112. There was an enquiry into it and the Welsh prisoners were well treated. What's that got to do with a memorial anyway?
What's that got to do with a memorial anyway? Grumpy, it was a possible that the memorial was to those murdered, but I stand corrected
owen..bit of an ask..but im sure many of us are gripped by this now..you havent got those pages to hand have you...if i buy any more books this month ill be sent to the shed.
owen ..dont divert yourself mate..youve given me a good days reading to do..no need to go off onto battle..im reading up now ..ta
owen..bit of an ask..but im sure many of us are gripped by this now..you havent got those pages to hand have you...if i buy any more books this month ill be sent to the shed. Just quickly, some 15 POWs were taken , one escaped, heard a captured Bren being fired, and screams. He got to British & said there was a massacre, his sworn testament published in Illustrated London News. There was an investigation said nothing happened , POWs treated well & taken to hospital. A released officer , one of the POWs, said they had been well treated & correctly by the Germans. The Bren being fired was indeed a captured one as the Germans had been shooting injured pigs stuck in a burning barn. It was suggested the chap who saw the massacre was suffering from Battle Exhaustion and was 'seeing things'.
Thanks for the added info..ive been reading up and visiting sites on this. thanks again. The memorial is pretty recent I take it. I sent an email to the town mayor from tourist site requesting info..dont know if there will be any response though.
Do we know to whom the memorial is dedicated? If it was erected by the townspeople, I'd have thought it would probably be for the locals, possibly for the defenders but surely not for the 'liberators'?
Hello, is this topic still hot? If so I can give information and send a picture from the memorial plate. I live near Rethem. (<3km) Greetings, Alex
