Reinsalen

I well remember Reinsalen. It was night fighter base in WW 2 for the Luftwaffe so we were told. I remember it was a main unloading site for tanks. There were 2 PMQ's one for the Camp CO a WO 1 and another one for some one else. It consisted of groups of shower points/toilets and kitchen quonset huts, where units would set up under canvas. We would have to man the camp switch board which still had eagle/swatiska markings. Sheep would roam the area. It was about 80 Km's from Hamburg. I have some pictures but need advice on how to post them. I was RC Sigs attached to 1 SSM Bty RCA, ( Honest John Rockets) 4 CIBG. 64-68.
Hardrations

Remember Reinsalen ..place where I did my upgraders course as a REME Recy Mech..Recy camp called Sampson's Pride..pulling wrecks out of valleys ditches and ponds in sub zero temperatures!..great memories...up to ya chest in ice cold water puting chains on vehicles that were bogged down..lived in the nissen huts round the airfield..showered for as long as the water ran hot..lol..then off to the bar to abuse the American troops who were there as 'guests'..good fun..boy did they get suckered into suffering for the pleasure of drinking with the elite Army!..party tricks included the 'spoons'..very painfull...if you were an American..there was a Burger Van that use to turn up nightly..supper time..Egg Bangos, chips and Burgers..tasted alot better than what the slop jockeys were trying to feed us after ahard dayz work!..Used to draw straws as to who would drive the Chiefy ARVs back from the trainign area..short straw got the drive..and the rest of the crew would lay on the back decks with the heat coming thru all the way back..use to get covered in oil..but it was alot warmer that driving!..good fun and great memeories.

Wasn't it spelt Reinsehlen?

It was spelt Reinsehlen , I lived there in one of the 4 houses set aside for British Forces between 1970 and 1973. As a kid it was great fun wandering around in unlimited space and I once "raced" a visiting Harrier when it was taking off in none V/STOL mode.... I lost. I will one day go back and get some pics and write a few things for this site when I have done it.

steve_graham wrote:

It was spelt Reinsehlen , I lived there in one of the 4 houses set aside for British Forces between 1970 and 1973. As a kid it was great fun wandering around in unlimited space and I once "raced" a visiting Harrier when it was taking off in none V/STOL mode.... I lost. I will one day go back and get some pics and write a few things for this site when I have done it.

I'll save you a trip! The place is now being used as some sort of Youth Adventure Centre and Hotel (see link), what made my mate (see pic) and me laugh was the kids rafting in the tank washdown slurry tanks! I wonder if any of them went down with any skin complaints!!!



http://www.campreinsehlen.de/index.php?idcatside=1&lang=2&sid=50946b1ef96aea82ae59adfebdcb71ae

Back in the early 60s a bunch of us, being bored, went off exploring the Reinsehlen area.
In the woods that surrounded the place we found a big building, (I seem to remember there were other, smaller ones too.). Looking inside we found that the building had been a cinema and looked like it was from the WW2 period. Although there no seats to be seen there was a stage and the walls were lined with pine panelling, like most buildings from the Hitler period it was well built.
The fact that there was a sign over the entrance saying "Kino" was another good clue.
Anybody else remember it ?

I haven't really got anything to add about Reinsehlen Camp, other than we once set up our signals kit there to test it out and familiarise people with Clansman. Posted down the road at Soltau at the time, as far as I can remember that was the only time I visited Reinsehlen Camp.

Tbh I'm not surprised it's gone, BFG is rapidly closing down, bloody sad if you ask me. It looks like lads who join the army these days can look forward to spending most of their time in the UK, that wouldn't have done for me at all. I feel privileged to have spent ten years in Germany. Happy days.

Here is a picture of our quarter(1970-1973) Wohnhaus 8 https://archiv-wintermoor.de/umzu/barrl/offizierssiedlung-reinsehlen . The windows have been changed, the garden looks different and the corrugated steel garage has also gone. Most of the large trees came down in the storm at the end of 1971. Behind the house I had some goalposts set up and also played a lot of cricket in the summer with Dad's friends who used to come up from Soltau camp. It took a whole weekends work to cut the grass. A troop or squadron summer ball was held there with BBQ pits dug for roasting whole pigs as we easily had enough space.

From the satellite picture I think they were numbered clockwise starting with our quarter. Baarl 11 was reserved for the Camps RSM and Barrl 9 for the local RMP Sergeant. Houses 8,9, and 11 were identical. House 10 was supposed to be for the CO of the camp but most of the time it was occupied by a Corporal and his family as nobody wanted to live that far out. House 10 had 5 bedrooms, a small swimming pool and was the only one at the time with a proper prepared garden with bushes and flowerbeds

Very interesting, in the million years (on and off) that I spent in Reinsehlen I never knew that MQs were situated there, I thought that the Camp Staff (is that the correct designation?) commuted from Soltau.

If you drove north on the B3  until you saw a big wooden sign that said "Reinsehlen Camp" on the corner  and turned left there onto a smaller road  you would, after about 1km, arrive at the Bahnhof Barrl where there was that big concrete thing that allowed tanks to drive onto the train.
The quarters were set back about 150 meters from the small road about 300 meters from the B3 on the right hand side. The RSMs wife was the only other person I used to know that worked there and she operated the camp's telephone exchange during the day.

Steve

Thank you for this posting

A real blast from the past- brings back many happy memories of "summer miltary camping holidays" in the area throughout the nineteen sixties.