Hugh Llewellyn Glyn Hughes

Hugh Llewellyn Glyn Hughes
Brigadier Glyn Hughes at Bergen-Belsen, June 1945
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Years of service	1915 – 1947
Rank	Brigadier
Unit	Wiltshire Regiment Grenadier Guards
Commands	Royal Army Medical Corps
Battles / wars	World War I World War II
Awards	DSO & Bar MC Croix de guerre

Brigadier Hugh Llewellyn Glyn Hughes CBE, DSO & Bar, MC, Croix de guerre, MRCS (25 July 1892 – 24 November 1973) was a British military officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps and later medical administrator, educationalist and sports administrator. Hughes served in both the First and Second World War and is notable for his role in the care of and rehabilitation of the victims of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Early history

Hughes was born in 1892 and spent the first two years of his life in South Africa, before his family returned to Britain. He was educated at Epsom College in Surrey, and like his father before him, decided to become a medical practitioner, and was accepted to University College Hospital in London.

Military history

First World War

After graduating from College in 1915, Hughes joined the Britsh Army and served in the First World War as a medical officer, first with the Wiltshire Regiment and later with the Grenadier Guards. He was awarded the DSO on the 25 August 1916 whilst a subaltern and within a year had been awarded a Bar to his DSO. His Bar citation reads:

Temp. Capt. Hugh Llewellyn Glyn Hughes DSO RAMC. On four seperate days he showed an utter contempt for danger when collecting and tending the wounded under heavy shell fire.

Hughes was heavily decorated during the First World War, and before its end he was awarded the Military Cross, the Croix de guerre avec palme and was several times Mentioned in Dispatches; he was also seriously wounded on three separate occasions With the end of the war, Hughes returned to his medical duties, but remained in the Army reserve at the rank of Lieutenant.

Second World War

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Hughes was mobilised in 1939 and sent to France with the Fifth Division. After the retreat of the British Army, he spent his time training medical units for units for active service. By 1944 he had been promoted to Brigadiar and became Deputy Director Medical Services to the Eighth Corps and the Second Army and became the Chief Medical Officer in the advance.

On 15 April 1945, while attached to the 11th Armoured Division, Hughes became the first Allied Medical Officer to enter the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen. Hughes took control of the camp and the 4,600 German and Hungarian soldiers placed at his command by the German authorities. Hughes' two main issue were the control of disease and the distribution of good. To aid with the general health of the camp victims, Hughes took control of the local hospital, removing the German patients to treat his new charges. The hospital was later renamed the Glyn Hughes Hospital in his honour. The distribution of rations was a far greater problem, and with only 120 British troops, the German soldiers were ordered to assist in the control of food in the camp. On the first night of the liberation a riot broke out among the inmates over limited rations and the German guards reacted by shooting and killing several of them. To ensure this situation did not repeat itself, Hughes' threatened to execute a German soldier for every inmate killed. In September 1945, Hughes was one of the main witnesses for the prosecution in the Belsen Trial.

With the end of the war, Hughes took up the position as Commandant of the R.A.M.C. depot in Crookham, with his final military post being an Inspector of Training.

Bibliography

• Starmer-Smith, Nigel (1977). The Barbarians. Macdonald & Jane's Publishers. ISBN 0860075524. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)