way freight terminal. A train in which about 4,000 prisoners were being transported to the nearby Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was hit. The attack claimed hundreds of casualties, but some of the prisoners managed to escape into the nearby woods. SS guards and Celle citizens participated in the so-called 'Celle hare hunt' (Celler Hasenjagd) The 'hunt' claimed several hundred dead and went on until 10 April 1945 and represented the darkest chapter in Celle's history. The exact number of victims has not been determined. Several of the perpetrators were later tried and convicted of this war crime.
About 2.2% of Celle (67 houses) was destroyed in the Second World War. It was spared from further destruction by surrendering without a fight to advancing allied troops on 12 April 1945.
During the Third Reich, Celle was an important garrison location. Elements of the 17th and 73rd Infantry Regiments and the 19th Artillery Regiment were garrisoned in the town. Celle was also the headquarters of a military district command and a military records office.
The different barracks (including the Freiherr von Fritsch Barracks in Cambridge and the Dragoons Barracks in the city) into the 1990s were used as sites for the British 33rd Armoured Brigade, Celle. The Celle Air Base (Immelmann Barracks) in the District of Wietzenbruch is now the site of the Training Centre of the Army Aviation School. British troops handed over some of the barracks, but one is still used today as a British base (the former von Seeckt Barracks, now Trenchard Barracks). The old barracks are currently being converted to civilian use. The new city hall is in the former Heidekaserne (Taunton Barracks), and the former British Cambridge Dragoons Barracks has now become a youth cultural centre. Trenchard Barracks (former Seeckt Kaserne) is to be closed down in July/August 2012. Since German reunification, Celle has largely lost its role as a major garrison town.
After the war Celle
