6469132 Sgt. Michael Lewis

IWM Sound Archive

"It became difficult to bury the dead, the thousands of dead. So a bulldozer was brought in, to bulldoze the dead into a huge pit and the blade sometimes didn't catch the bodies cleanly and they split open. And the smell was terrible. I soaked a handkerchief in petrol and put it over my mouth as I sat in front of the bulldozer and I couldn't stand the smell of petrol. I didn't know whether to try to bear the smell of petrol or take it off and stand the smell of death."