British visits Kutenholz: Memories of fallen uncle in war

British visits Kutenholz: Memories of fallen uncle in war

with a broken heart and a piece of metal in hand that was once part of a tank, Britin Rose Askew is in Kutenholz. This rusted fragment reminds her of her uncle Anthony Taylor-Hurst, who died as a 19-year-old Wehrmacht soldier on May 1, 1945 near Kutenholz. In the last days of the Second World War, when the British tank was on the way to Stade, German soldiers ignited a mine triggered by remote ignition. Five British soldiers, all young and full of life, lost their lives on this fateful day. For the first time, Rose and her husband Chris visited the scene for the first time, accompanied by a British television team, which shoots a documentary for the “Remembrance Day” of the Commonwealth countries.

a moving search for traces

The story of Anthony Taylor-Hurst sounds like a fate novel. The life of the young soldier was brutally ended just eight days before the Wehrmacht surrendered. Rose Askew, who had always believed that her uncle had fallen in France, had been looking for traces. Supported by local researchers from the region, including Debbie Bülau and Frank Hoferichter, she discovered the tragic circumstances of his death. The group had searched for members of the fallen on social media and thus reached Rose from Mansfield in Mittelengland, which now made its way to northern Germany to understand the last steps of their uncle.

The trip first led them to the Kutenholzer cemetery, where memorial steles stand for the fallen soldiers. "It was important to the Askews to visit the steles of the German soldiers," reports Debbie Bülau. "They are also victims of the Nazi regime and deserve sympathy." Then they went to the meadow, where the tank drove over the mine. Rose was allowed to take three fragments of the tank with him - one and one for herself and at all for their siblings, who could not travel along for health reasons. The next day they visited the Becklingen was Cemetery, where Anthony Taylor-Hurst found his last rest. There they were welcomed by representatives of the Royal British Legion Bergen-Hohne with music and standard, which the family touched deeply and thanked them for memorial work in the region.