Quebec Barracks in Osnabrück

At the weekend had a friend over from Canada who was formally Royal Signals he was stationed at Quebec Barracks and we drove up from Iserlohn on Sunday the camp is totally empty but a member the Civilian Guard Force showed us around on Friday this week (19 Sep 08) the military will had over to the Stadt and a local German chap has requested that one of the old original single story wooden buildings is retained for a future museum

Never served there but thought would give you an update on the Royal Signals units know the site already has some of the information

1956 – 1959 12 Inf Bde Gp Sig Sqn
1959 – 1961 212 Sig Sqn (Inf Bde Gp)
1961 – 1964 12 Inf Bde Group HQ & Sig Sqn
1964 – 1970 12 Inf Bde HQ & Sig Sqn
1970 – 1977 12 Mech Bde HQ & Sig Sqn
1977 – 1981 5 Fd Force HQ & Sig Sqn
1981 – 1993 12 Mech Bde HQ & Sig Sqn

1993 renamed 4 Armd Bde HQ Sig Sqn (204) see below

204 Sig Sqn was formally Llanelly Barracks in Hubblerath
1957 – 1959 4 Gds Bde Gp Sig Sqn
1959 – 1961 204 Sig Sqn (Inf Bde Gp)
1961 – 1964 4 Gds Bde Group HQ & Sig Sqn
moved to Aldershot Barracks in Iserlohn
1964 – 1968 4 Gds Bde HQ & Sig Sqn
moved to York Barracks in Münster
1968 – 1970 4 Gds Bde HQ & Sig Sqn
1970 – 1977 4 Bde HQ & Sig Sqn
1977 – 1981 4 Sqn 2 Armd Div HQ & Sig Regt
1981 – 1993 204 (4 Armd Bde) Sig Sqn

4 Armd Bde HQ is now 4 Light Bde HQ with the Sig Sqn now stationed in Catterick Garrison with 21 Engr Regt moving to Claro Barracks in Ripon replacing 38 Engr Regt who have moved to Antrim in Northern Ireland

Best regards
Steve

Excellent stuff Steve.

Thank you for the information.

Paul.

Steve wrote:

4 Armd Bde HQ is now 4 Light Bde HQ with the Sig Sqn now stationed in Catterick Garrison with 21 Engr Regt moving to Claro Barracks in Ripon replacing 38 Engr Regt who have moved to Antrim in Northern Ireland

Best regards
Steve

I'll think you'll find that they are now 4 Mech Bde, who took over from 19 Light Bde! Who were up until recently 19 Mech, HTH.

Thanks you are correct Armd to Mech excuse the error
Regards
Steve

I spent three years at Quebec Barracks from 1989 to 1992, I was RAOC attatched to 23 Engr Regt. I quite enjoyed the unit but didn't like Osnabruck much, and her indoors hated the quarters (we lived at Lotte) when that tour came to end we were happy to leave.

I was there when 23 Engr Regt was formed ( 1983-86). We were in Roberts Barracks at first as the KOSB were still in Quebec Barracks. I was canteen cowboy on their last night.
We lived in Dodesheide on the other side of town what a journey that was.
My second daughter was born in the MRS in Belfast Barracks.
Loved Osnabruck.
We went back last year while on holiday and was sad to see what had happened to the place.

Oh and Jim Blakes burgers are as good now as they were then.

Hi Bob, I think the main reason I didn't like Osnabruck much was because I'd spent the previous four years at 5 Ord Bn Paderborn and that spoilt us, me and the wife loved it there, great unit and a great town.

Hi Andrew , I think I passed through Paderborn on a couple of occasions when I was stationed in Detmold( 1976/80) I then went to Hohne ( 1980/83) . I enjoyed Osnabruck because it was so big, the missus wasn't too keen as she grew up and lived in villages/towns. Osnabruck was a bit of a culture shock for her.In saying that we probably made more friends there than anywhere else.My 3 years I spent with 23 were really good though and Osnabruck had plenty to keep the wife and kids occupied.

I don't suppose you knew any of the lads from 4 ADOC did you? I know it's a long shot but you never know.

We would on occasion find ourselves at Hohne (stationed at Soltau at the time) and would usually drop in on the Roundhouse for a pie & pint of milk. I have to say, I thought Soltau was the arse of the world, until I went to Hohne! mind you Fally wasn't exactly shangri la was it. I think the only thing that bit of Germany had going for it was the weekend run to Hamburg.

Btw, what's 74b Deepcut?

I was at Quebec Barracks which was in Atter, outside Osnabrook from April 1954 until January 1956 with 16 Light Anti Aircraft Regiment RA in RHQ troop doing National Service. There were and otherv na also 26, 30 and 32 Batteries. I remember the RSM was RSM Kirk, the CO was Lt Col ERG St. John, the provost Sgt was Sgt Sydall and other names .... I remember the dogs with handlers who patrolled outside the wire, a guy who was brought back to camp having been absent 2 years, court mart/d & was found not guilty as Pt 2 orders had not been issued at the time - he almost got back pay! Happy days ?

How do you find this stuff out, Steve, got a good memory?

Big_Mike

Johnb wrote:

I was at Quebec Barracks which was in Atter, outside Osnabrook from April 1954 until January 1956 with 16 Light Anti Aircraft Regiment RA in RHQ troop doing National Service. There were and otherv na also 26, 30 and 32 Batteries. I remember the RSM was RSM Kirk, the CO was Lt Col ERG St. John, the provost Sgt was Sgt Sydall and other names .... I remember the dogs with handlers who patrolled outside the wire, a guy who was brought back to camp having been absent 2 years, court mart/d & was found not guilty as Pt 2 orders had not been issued at the time - he almost got back pay! Happy days ?

I have lots of photos of RA, that went to Bad Hartzburg winter 55 Did you go, I was the only REME with the team.

My Dad was in Quebec Bks as a Lancashire Fusilier, speaking from A young teenagers point of view Osnabruek was a great posting.

Like Johnb. I was in Quebec Bks from July 1954 until March 1956/. NS of course ! For you later old sweats, we got 4 shillings a day, ( 20p.), we were stopped 3s 6d ( 17.5 p) a week for National Insurance and only paid to the nearest 25p each pay day. The rest went into credits to pay for a battledress burned with a hot iron or a No. 4 Enfield mislaid on Trg Area A at Achmer. That left £1. for fags at 5p for 20 & a plate of chips each night in the NAAFI.

I was in BHQ Tp., 32 (Minden) Bty, we had L60 Bristol Bofors, 40mm., 120 rpm, towed by Fordson 3-tonners. I can confirm JohnB's tale about the squaddy who went AWOL. His battery office never sent in the absentee reports ( 1 for file, 1 to regt., 1 to RMP & 1 to his local fuzz). It happened. An NS soldier got 2 weeks leave in UK twice during his service, a Reg. got 3 weeks at a time. If an NS man joined the regular queue at the Hook of Holland, his leave pass would be stamped for a return boat in 3 weeks. A squaddy from the Outer Hebrides might be delayed by bad weather, an absentee report could be held back to give him the benefit of the doubt. And by then a clerk could be demobbed, situation forgotten. Another lad, a regular bombardier, an ex-boy soldier had a wife who was careless with money. His solution was to move on, try for a Hong Kong posting and dodge the local traders. An ex-boy had the right to move, he made formal application for "......a posting to the East". The BSM knew about his financial problems but had little time for this junior NCO. He spoke with the BC, a posting was granted. His move was out of 32 Bty. into 26 Bty who, as the BSM said, were housed in blocks east of 32's accommodation.

How do we remember it all? Easy! I've an album stuffed with pics, a head full of memories. NS was hated in the main, but I had some good times too, and made some good mates. Seven of us are still in contact and all went back to Quebec Bks before it was pulled down for a more relaxed ego trip. But in the 1950's, a few years after the war, the locals weren't friendly. "Boy soldiers! " they sneered, wondering how the might of the Wehrmacht could have been outsmarted by these spotty faced eighteen year olds. Some of us who
thought about such things wondered too !

Looking at the list of units in Quebec Barracks, there is a considerable gap in the 70ies dates.

I STAFFORDS took over from 1 RRW in 1973 and handed over to 3 PARA. We were equipped with 432s. We belonged to Task Force C, 12 Mech Bde, part of 2 Div.

When the IRA had a go at Quebec Bks. I'd been in the area a couple of days before. Not as a squaddy, those days were long gone, but I was in Germany making one of my frequent get togethers with a German lady I'd met on holiday. We wandered around all over from her split-level bungalow with swimming pool in the Pfalz area, but that's another story. She couldn't think why anybody would want to visit Osnabruck, but gave in. I'd got the tel No. of the REs in residence, spoke with the Adj. He was dubious at first, guarded about an unknown civvy wanting to make a visit, but eventually agreed. I'd be met at the gate and escorted round.

To prove my story of being confined there for two years in the distant past, I insisted that I led my corporal minder to Block 9, my old billet, the old Bty office in Block 23, the NAAFI & the MT sheds. It hadn't changed much, only for the better. Rooms which slept four of us now only had one bed, the once cream walls & green dado were painted over, adorned with a mural. Obviously a microwave oven, a hi-fi & a satellite TV were essential to keep a regular squaddy happy. The regt. square, upon which we weren't even allowed to cast a shadow was filled with Mercs & BMWs of senior NCOs. Lower down the pecking order the Fords, Opels & VWs were transport for the less privileged. Not much chance of footdrill there, then.

I'd expressed surprise at the vehicle entrance behind the POL point & MT shed. Never knew that existed. The corporal indulged my curiosity, let me have a closer inspection.

Two days later, we were back in the mediaeval village in the Pfalz, on the TV there was a report that the IRA had parked outside that rear entrance that I'd found to be so interesting and lobbed a couple of home made mortars at the POL pumps. I expected being dragged in by the Polizei when I booked in at the airport.

I was in Quebec Barracks at the time. Well was stationed there but actually on Adventure Training. It came as a bit of a shock to everyone and it was a lucky day as they somehow managed to miss blowing up the POL point which was very near that back gate. Casting my mind back the one of the guys involved was actually and Ex Engineer from what i remember.

Luckily there were no deaths or major casualties.

You win some, you lose some

We discussed the possible origins of the name Quebec Barracks elsewhere on the site some 18 months ago. Amongst the the options was a Battalionof the French speaking Canadian Regiment de la Chaudiere who were part of the Canadian Army Occupation Force in the late 1945- early 1946 period and were recruited from the Quebec area (Osnabruck was a Canadian responsibility at the time).

However I have now seen the relevent war diaries for the time and it is clear that the Regiment was never in Osnabruck.

This poses the question who did name the Barracks? Our Canadian contributors robustly pointed out that it was most unlikely that an English speaking unit would do so.

A number of new contributors who were stationed there in the early 1950s have joined the site recently, can any one help?

Ref name of Quebec Bks..........

Only a guess, but I always thought they were named after the Battle of Quebec, 1759, famous for General Wolfe, scaling the Heights of Abraham, etc. when the Brits were having a set-to in Canada with the French.

It's logical when you think........ we've a tradition of naming bks. and army establishments after battles ( Waterloo, Imphal, Mons, etc.).

cartav

Thanks for your comments which I agree with in principle

However there is always an exception to the rule and Osnabruck is full of them eg Roberts Barracks, the Sapper bastion-named after FM Lord Roberts one of the more British successful Generals in the Boer War. Scarborough Barracks battles between mods and rockers along the sea front did not start till the early 60s well after the Barracks were named though there is obviously an East Yorkshire connection here.

Anybody know which Regiments had the Battle Honour Quebec? Will then be up to Steve and I to find out if they were ever based in Osnabruck

http://www.army.mod.uk/infantry/regiments/11694.aspx


The Yorkshire Regiment

Kind of sews it up methinks

JPW wrote:

cartav

Anybody know which Regiments had the Battle Honour Quebec? Will then be up to Steve and I to find out if they were ever based in Osnabruck

The Greenjackets had "Quebec" on their battle honours.

There was an RA battery that had it for a battle honour too but I can't recall which

Gordon

If only life was so simple

The names quoted by the contributors are those in use today

What I was looking for were those in use in the period 1945-48

Further to my earlier posting I think the Infantry Regiments with the Battle Honour Quebec were (many have changed names atleast twice since then)

East Yorkshire Regiment
Gloucestershire Regiment
Royal Sussex Regiment
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
The Loyals (North Lancashire)
Northamptonshire Regiment
and Kings' Royal Rifle Corps

Now all we have to do is find out which of these Regiments was first into the Eversburg Lager and renamed it Quebec Barracks (have discounted the Gunners- Woolwich Barracks was clearly their contribution to Osnabruck Barrack names

Have the following on record which may be a clue
Jun 45 – 3rd Canadian Infantry Division CAOF formed in Holland to Germany Jul 45 – HQ Bad Zwischenahn
HQ Royal Canadian Engineers – Bad Zwischenahn
part of was
1 CRE Works – Oldenburg to UK Apr 46 disbanded responsibility to CRE 1st Corps District
1 Works Section – Maple Leaf Barracks Aurich
2 Works Section – Osnabrück
3 Works Section – Osnabrück
The barracks were a POW camp for officers thanks to JPW pointing out Eversburg Lager...perhaps the Canadians named it
Regards
Steve