BAOR TRAINING CENTRE 1945/46

Spent a most enjoyable and productive day in the Library of the Imperial War Museum in London seeking more information for Steve's /my project. Detailed results will appear in due course but I came across one gem which does not easily fit into the framework of our researches

The BAOR Training Centre was set in the Paderborn area up to provide a Centre of Excellence equivalent to the current Warminster and the various individual Arms schools where specialist individual and collective courses were run to retain and enhance operational skills and experience. This was clearly in contrast to the various centres spread throughout the British Occupation Zone design to ease the return to civilian life of the Hostilities Only Service personnel awaiting return to the UK and demobilisation Some of these have been identified by Steve.

An outline organisation and location is as follows (many place names will be familiar 65 years later)

Headquarters Bad Lippespringe

Sennelager 1
School of Infantry
War Dog School (RAVC)

Sennelager 2
CMP Training School (RMP)
P and RTC School (APTC)

Panzer Viking Barracks Paderborn (future Barker Barracks?)
School of Operational Air Support
School of Hygene
Technical Traing School (REME)

Schloss Neuhaus
Infantry Demonstration Battalion

Schlangen
Demonstration Battery RA

Bad Driburg
School of Administration
School of Military Intelligence

Lippstadt
4 (Training) Brigade RASC
Responsible for following
Clerical training
Supplies (Rations, POL)
Transport

Comment
1. It would appear that certain capbages ran a separate centre of excellence elsewhere in BAOR ie Royal Armoured Corps
Royal Artillery (near to a major Range complex?)
Royal Engineers (Hameln- there was a significant concentration of Sapper units in the area)
Royal Signals

2. We have debated elsewhere on the site who is the longest serving unit in BAOR. The clear winners are the RAVC at Sennelager though the unit title may have changed there has clearly been a continuous Vets presence for the past 65 years

Help wanted
Any additional information would be most welcome

In addition there was The University of BAOR located at Gottingen but little else is known about its role, staff and students. More details would be appreciated

Schlangen

Great work JPW
Knew some of this from the Polar Bear News as 49 (West Riding) Inf Div took over the Paderborn area from 52 (Lowland) Inf Div when they moved north to take over from the Canadians in May 46…still unsure of the Div HQ location but know HQRA was in Bad Lippspringe from my notes after a 'speed read'

33 Rhine Army Trades Training School – Stanislaw Camp near Nienburg

BAOR Railway Training School – Detmold

BAOR Physical and Recreational Training School – Sennelager

BAOR Training Centre – Bad Lippspringe
Commandant: Colonel McDonald

BAOR Agricultural Training College – Ostinghausen near Soest
Commandant: Major CA MacKillop

From RE notes
Dec 47 – 7th Armoured Division RE formed 1 Engineer Training Establishment – Hameln
Commander: Colonel RPG Anderson

Seems the RA set up training units in Schleswig-Holstein...this need more research...also have some detail on the Rhine Army College at the University of Göttingen in the Polar Bear News that will dig out

Cheers for now
Steve

Steve

Thank you for the kind words

The Gunner training units in Schleswig Holstein could include

1. A short lived Amphibious Warfare Training Centre at Eckenforde

2. A Training/Depot Regiment based in the now infamous Leicester Barracks Husum

3. An Anti Aircraft Training Centre based on the former Wehrmacht Ranges at PUTLOS on the Baltic Coast north of Lubeck, east of Kiel (this was expanded in the 1950s to include a new NATO facility at nearby Todendorf)

Suspect the Field Artillery Centre of Exzcellence was in the area of the Munsterlager Ranges near Soltau, a location familiar to many on this site

I think my father did an infantry course at Sennelager 1 School of Infantry during 1946. If you want to see a group picture go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/27913545@N06/
My father was in the 1st Battalion the Royal Norfolk Regiment. The others in the photo are from different regiment. There names and units are written on the back.

Hope this is interesting.
Cheers
Bill Smith