9 - Belsen, “My Crucifix”

Summary

London Base

Allied plans for the occupation of Germany and Austria meant that Squadron Leader (S/L) Thompson was briefed about conditions he was likely to encounter—and about war crimes. Disarmament detachments searched for scientific weapons, while military medical teams wanted to know what research the Germans had performed during the war. In October 1944 the RAF asked the Canadians to provide an air disarmament unit, and Canadian units were transferred en bloc to the British to disarm the Luftwaffe. The RAF 84 Group was nominally British but staffed by Canadians. Its mission was to search for German radar, jet-engine technology, and other secret equipment, and to investigate missing aircraft. Thompson joined the 84 Group to assess German oxygen masks and Luftwaffe procedures for offsetting decompression sickness.

S/L Thompson arrived at Greenock, Scotland on October 13, 1944. After passing through the Personnel Reception Centre at the sedate south coast resort of Bournemouth, he worked at the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine at Farnborough. Moving to the RCAF Headquarters at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, he gathered records to document the medical work of the RCAF overseas. The British extracted “embarrassing material” before handing over information to Thompson on the RAF collaboration with the RCAF.

Thompson then went back to “school” He attended the Control Commission School (Air) with a group of thirty-seven other RCAF officers from March 14 to 27, 1945. The school was at Stockleigh Hall, Prince Albert Road, Regent’s Park, in central London. The course covered the military organization of Germany: the character and psychology of the German and Austrian peoples, and a history of the Nazi Party and the German police.