Searching for George Reginald Day, 15 BOD 1947-1949.

I am looking for any information about my late father's post WWII service in Hamburg Germany. Dad was.born 23/04/1922 and died in Australia 1/11/2006. Notations of the attached photos show dates of August 1947 and September 1948. I do not have any service number detail, need help to load photos thank you

I am posting these photos for Keith Day.

Here is the text to accompany the photos.

I know from the attached photos that my father (B 22/4/1922) served in post war occupation of Hamburg in the British zone. I have been unable to locate any service number nor record of service.
My father did not serve in WWII I think because of a problem with his left eye that gradually resulted in vision going towards the outside instead of directly in front like normal.

I understand he had done some training to be a chef but when we emigrated to Australia in 1952, his occupation was Miller and seemed correct as most of his employment was as a toolmaker.

My father died 1/11/2007 and any information that you can help me with would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Keith Day

Page 2, small photo on its own is probably Luebeck, hut not the Twin Gate Towers.



Other water photos are probably Kiel bridges or maybe Rendesburg

Alan

15 BOD RAOC was located at Glinde,  east of Hamburg at the old Krupps bearings factory.

Keith

Welcome as I said in a similar recent posting this is just the type of challenge that some contributors to this site relish.

Alan is an expert in this field of research with some significant local knowledge but may I offer some additional comment based on the fact that I lived in Rotenburg (25 miles to west of Hamburg) as a teenage schoolboy in the early fifties and passed through the city on my way to boarding school regularly as well as visiting in school holidays. I am also Team Leader for a small group of amateur miltary history enthusiasts based on this site who are currently researching and recording the deployment of the British Army in Germany in the immediate post war period.

I have details of some thirty major units who were based in the Hamburg area in April 1947. These include 14 (not 15) Advanced Ordnance Depot at Glinde as well as two other major RAOC Depots at Fischbek and Osdorf in the western suburbs of Hamburg. In addition there was a very significant RAOC presence in 22 Heavy Workshop REME located in the former Blohm and Voss Seaplane factory at Finkenwerder on the north bank of the Elbe in central Hamburg. There were other smaller RAOC units and detachments too in the area. There are therefore a number of options as to exactly where your father was stationed. Am intrigued by your comment that his civilian trade was quoted as miler on his emigration documents, this indicates that he might have been posted to a REME Workshop at some stage and he retained / requalified as a military Fitter Turner tradesman. The answer is in your father's personal records now held in APC Glasgow, doubtless Alan has advised you privately how to obtain a copy.

Looking at photos (unfortunately some appear very blurred on my computer screen).
Am intrigued by the middle one on the top line of the first page. The white Y within the white circle is the formation sign of 5 Infantry Division which ended the war in the Lubeck area but quickly moved on, the vehicle must have been put into storage for heavy overhaul when time/facilities were available.
The Victory Club, situated on the west bank of the Alster lake in central Hamburg opened in Spring 1946 and was designed to provide a range of entertainment facilities for off duty British Servicemen.

The radio aerial farm could be the Nord Deutsche Radio complex at Bilbeck another outer Hamburg suburb within easy walking distance of Glinde.

The other landscape shots are typical of the wooded pine forests and small lakes of the land to the north of Hamburg city. Agree some may be of the Kiel Canal or the north bank of the River Elbe (the Elbe- Lubeck Canal is a credible option for some and is relatively closer to Glinde than Brundesbuttel and the Kiel Canal.

Looking at the town/river scape photo. I would discount Kiel, no bomb damage/sunken warships, Lubeck, the River Trave is much narrower and Rendsburg, the famous Railway Hoch Brucke dominates the town and the Kiel Canal is much narrower than the stretch of water shown. Have similarly discounted Eckernforde, Flensburg and Schleswig water fronts very familiar to Alan and I. My money is on one of the pleasant outer Hamburg suburbs situated on the north bank of the Elbe such as Blankenese or Bergedorf . Unfortunatelya direct comparrison is virtually imposible because of the way Hamburg has expanded and changed over the years.