He opened the gates to hell... his mind would never be the same again
manchestereveningnews.co.ukIt was a vision of Hell that even the great Dutch painter of early Renaissance hellscapes, Hieronymus Bosch, would struggle to depict.
An 'unimaginable darkness' met the eyes of one unsuspecting soldier from Manchester who pushed open the gates and walked into an infamous Nazi concentration camps.
In April 1945, the total defeat of Hitler and Nazi Germany in Europe was only three weeks away. The Allied forces were advancing through northern mainland Europe on multiple fronts and the decimated German Army was in retreat.
Herbert Kenny was a young soldier with the British Army and part of the 35th Coy RASC (Royal Army Service Corps). As an army despatch rider with the liberating forces, he was the first man to stumble across Belsen death camp. READ MORE: The Greater Manchester hairdresser who killed more than 200 men and women READ MORE: 'It seems to follow him': The terrifying Greater Manchester streets where families have been forced to flee their homes What Herbert saw that day caused him such anguish that he kept it to himself for 40 years.
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