Ian Forsyth was one of the first soldiers to arrive at the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in World War Two and what he saw that day has haunted him for the past 75 years.
“For the first time I realised just how low mankind can sink,” says Mr Forsyth, who is now 96.
Although he was still a young man when he reached the Northern Germany concentration camp in April 1945, he had seen a lot of action.
The 21-year-old, from Hamilton in South Lanarkshire, had fought his way from Normandy in the days after to D-day and through Germany as a tank operator with a reconnaissance force.
Mr Forsyth was just 21 when he arrived at the gates of Belsen in 1945
When he arrived at the gates of Belsen he says he did not know anything about what had been happening there.
“There was a strange smell about the place,” he says. “I asked a gunner what the smell was. We hadn't a clue.”
Mr Forsyth says the soldiers were told “don't open the gates, don't let anyone out and don't feed them”.
“When we got to first part…
