The Raging Bull who helped liberate Belsen
WHEN the officers in Charles Wilcox's division began handing out invasion money he knew something was about to happen.

Charles, pictured, had just had his 20th birthday in the March and had no idea what was ahead of him.
He had no idea huge numbers of his division would be lost in fighting or they would be the ones to liberate a concentration camp.
Now at 80 years' old and living in Potten End with his wife Margaret, Charles looks back at the events of the war with the same attitude that he had as a young man.
The men took on responsibilities in horrific environments but they did it because they had to.
One duty Charles took on was the dangerous job as driver for the Sergeant  Major. He explained: “The first one to get killed was the driver operator and I had to take his place. We did it as a matter of course.”
He was a wireless operator for the anti-tank regiment of the 11th Armoured Division who travelled from the Thames around the coast of Kent to back up the men on the front line. Nicknamed the raging bulls they were 15,000 men and 306 tanks strong.
“We knew something was going on because we were given invasion money. We took everything in our stride it was because of our training,” he explained.
“We had no choice: we were called up and that was it.”
Charles described crowds of well wishers standing along the road cheering and showering the men with sweets and gifts as they made their way to East Ham docks.
By this time he knew something big was about to happen but the reality of it was not clear until he was there and nor was the historic significance until years later.
He landed on the Gold beach in France four days after D-Day and had to wait for the rest of the division in a field nearby.
He said: “I wasn't frightened but I didn't like the idea of sitting there all day, I didn't know what to expect so I couldn't be frightened.”
Almost as soon as they landed German E boats attacked them “The beach had been shelled, when you got bombed you just carried on,” he explained.
Their first action didn't come until June, 26 1944 when they tried to cross the Odon and Orne rivers.
Three weeks later their division suffered massive casualties in Caen where there was 735 casualties and 191 tanks lost in two days of fighting.
This did not stop them as they carried on pushing through Saint-Lo, crossed the Seine on August 28 and captured Amiens and Antwerp in a week.
But it is the last phase of their invasion that remains very clear in his mind and that is the liberation of the concentration camp at Belsen.
“We drove up the side of the perimeter and there was survivors, a lot of them rushed to the fence - those that were able to. They were all skin and bone and the smell was terrible.
“We just carried on normally and did what we had to. It was just our job.”