Serving through the German Winter

As winter yet approaches again, and I am snuggled up next to the central heating, the TV and a glass of beer. My mind wanders back to the winter exercises as an 18 year old REME Fitter, during the sixties, supporting 32 Heavy Regiment RA around Soltau/Luneburg Training area.

I can remember laying there on a rolled up cam net on a camp bed, in a tent, covered in snow, freeeeezing my b****ks off, unwashed, covered in oil, diesel and dirt, thinking (and I can remember exactly what went thru my mind), that the pain on my hips was a certain recipe for rheumatism in my older age. That thought has remained with me, each and every winter until this day as a 62 year old retired Vehicle Fitter.

Against the odds! My worries have not been realised! Yes, I have some traits of growing old like all other 60 year olds, (growing old is not for cisses!). Thanks to my parents genes and a moderate 'life style' I have survived without any big medical problems!

I am sure some of you guys have your own stories to tell of survival in the winters of Germany! How about recording them for posterity!

Alan

I remember seeing a frozen egg for the first time on one exercise (FTX I believe, although it might have been BG training at Soltau). I'd never seen that before. One of the other crews threw an egg at me and it near damn KO'd me. I was expecting it to smash, so you can imagine my surprise when it felt like I'd been hit on the head with a rock. Not that I was keen on being hit with an egg in the first place, frozen or not.

I was never the keenest Chieftain crewman, but I did like being on exercise. Winter time was obviously very cold and colder than what we were used to, but there was something about Germany in the snow that I liked, despite freezing in my driver's cab. The wild life was fantastic. Deer, wild boar (which scared me), owls, in abundance. It was murder getting out of your 'maggot' to stag on at daft o'clock in the morning when in a troop hide in some wood out in the bondu, but when there was full moon and snow on the ground, there was a strange light and you could see quite clearly over quite a distance, despite it being 3am. Getting the double burner and the BV on just after stand to, and standing about smoking and waiting for the water to heat up so that you can have a shave...in -20c. 'Compo' sausages butties (RAOC bread) and a black plastic mug of tea, followed by a Mars bar for breakfast. After 14 days of that, 'endex' and the Sqn smoker. Then it was back to Reinsehelen hard standing (if you were on Soltau) or wherever to meet the Mo-Jo's and their Antars, then the long haul back to camp, where it was like losing a layer of skin when you had your first shower in a fortnight.

German winters appeared to be 'drier' than ours, if you follow me. UK winters are damp and dingy affairs, but German winters were different. One of the things that did make me laugh was Joe Squaddie's off duty winter dress sense. Tee shirt and jeans in -20c and during the summer when it was + 26c....a jersey. The British squaddie was always a victim to fashion.

I too liked German winters. they were at least real winters, with snow and ice. not wet damp affairs like in the UK. your right about them being drier, less moisture in the air. when we lived in moscow winter was regularly -35, but a dry cold we went Brighton one Christmas and at around +4 were freezing.

The best winters I had in Germany were when I was posted to Lahr in the Black Forest. I lived in a village out side of Lahr. Was a member of the local shooting club. In the dead of winter in an early evening we would go for a walk in the forest to a Gasthof deep in the woods, wurst, fried potatoes, hot sweet wine, singing and a walk back under a starlight sky, past deserted vine yards, strange scurrying noises in the bush and an awareness that life was good. Then to drive through the country side and seeing iced up wooden water wheels and the old grand homes covered in snow. It was truly a picture calender come true.. My only regret in being a bit of a piss head and not enjoying it as much as I should have. Ah well what I remember is good.

After a few tours in the West Indies and middle east I am a hot house plant and hate the winter but, as said above German winters were different to the UK ones and, before I had been softened up by Caribbean sun, It was an eye opener. No grit on the roads just fine dry powdered snow, no slush. The German barracks with their Great central heating system were always warm. Exercises in the winter were a different story -15 there felt warmer than -1 in the UK. But as a signaller in the command post I had to endure many cold miserable hours sitting in a huge heat exchanger of a 1 ton armoured. Any tiny bit of heat generated was instantly sucked into the armour plate the inside of which was usually covered in a layer of ice. Even with a greatcoat on and sitting inside a sleeping bag was not enough to keep warm. It was heaven when stag ended and you were able to get out into the snow and walk around to get the circulation going. It always seemed warmer outside than in.

I was part of AMF(L) and did winter exercises in the Artic Circle in Norway which was also a Dry Snow, so being posted to Germany did surprise me the first winter, when it was just as cold with wind chill. In most RAOC supply depots the weather did not stop our day to day work, and more so at Combat Supplies Battalion, when driving the 'Eager Beaver' Fork Lift Truck with no cab, and nothing more than a waterproof at times over our combats.

I was posted back to the UK in 1980 into one of the coldest winters we had known for years. I was on duty one Sunday morning when my wife drove out in our Mini to go to work (she was a nurse) and I told her to be careful, and to come back if the road was bad, but that the duty driver had gone out 5 minutes earlier and not come back, so it was probably OK.

After about 10 minutes I was called to the gate to see Ann return, and ready to tell her how wise she was, only for her to drop of the duty driver who had ditched his car, and turn around to continue to work, which she arrived to safely. The driver got some stick I can tell you.

I remember being at Wildenrath around about 73-74 and it was freezing. Walked through the woods and the trees were covered in snow, real picture postcard scene. This was one time that our eyebrows really iced up. I thought it was only in the pictures that this happened. My wife had a phoney fur coat on and that iced up as well. Amazing stuff.

In Detmold possibly 1976, it rained and then immediately froze. We lived on Poggenpohl, Hakedahl and anyone who has been there knows it is a steepish hill. The road was like glass and we sat in our living room watching the cars trying to negotiate the hill. How none hit the flats at the bottom was a mystery.

I think it was this time that a major exercise was cancelled because it was so cold. Guys were freezing at the controls of 432's etc. Think it was at least 30c below. I was exempt for some reason (probably the birth of my twins) and was very happy not to have had to go.

I thought that after some Canadian winters, Germany would be a stroll. Surprise! I think the coldest I experienced was the winter of 1961-62. It was very damp as well as cold and I almost had to take a hammer to break the ice around my car door.

We also used to do a lot of running around the Arnsberger Wald in our jeeps without windshields. A lot of NAAFI weinbrand went towards keeping the cold away on those occasions.

The one thing that really sticks in my mind is the Christmas seasons. Soest on a quiet snowy evening with the bells chiming was like something out of a story book. You just don't get that kind of atmosphere in modern cities like Vancouver.

I know this is a bit off German winters, but thought I would boast.

CFS Alert. Most northernly permantly inhabited place in the world.Very close to the North Pole. Best six months I had in the army. But then I was the baker.

Quote :

the winter of 1961-62

My first exercise was Jan 62.That`s one i will never forget.I felt really sorry for the hairies who were out in it all day and most of the night,while i was nice and snug in my heated box body.It was a bit of a pain when we had to move and go out into the cold
That was also the first and last time i had a rum ration

loved german winters it must be my swiss parentage,the more snow the better.






now thats what you call snow.

I am right in thinking at one time it was cheaper to use duty free gin from the NAAFI than proper anti freeze from the local garage in ones private car?

JPW wrote:

I am right in thinking at one time it was cheaper to use duty free gin from the NAAFI than proper anti freeze from the local garage in ones private car?

it might well have been cheaper like most things but i dont remember any one using it
in there cars most would have got there anti freeze from the workshops when the reme guy was
busy,it does not bare thinking about a waste of good booze.

German Winters!
I remember (just) being hauled out of a snow drift where I'd decided to spend the night after over-imbibing in (I think) Cafe Schmidt? in Herford. (1957)
I particularly enjoyed the Christmas decorations in the city (evergreens and little white lights festooning the streets long before we attempted to do something similar here in Blighty.)
Also the Bratwurst stall in the street just outside the Gastatte.
Yes, the snow was drier than here.
I eventually was involved in a Chernobyl Charity, and went to Minsk each year for ten years, in the winter ( always in January, as the radiation level was at its lowest level then) and it was impossible to have snowball fights, as the snow was too dry -27%.

Gordon. wrote:

Quote :

the winter of 1961-62

My first exercise was Jan 62.That`s one i will never forget.I felt really sorry for the hairies who were out in it all day and most of the night,while i was nice and snug in my heated box body.It was a bit of a pain when we had to move and go out into the cold
That was also the first and last time i had a rum ration

Hairies = Linemen for the uninitiated.

What would i do without you Teabag

Well thanks for the info there Tbag. I thought putting your hairies out in the cold must be another one of those Scottish customs !

I remember the German winters.
The freezing rain in Nienburg, that made everything look like it was covered in glass.
That one inch of snow that used to fall, only to be blown around for a month by a freezing wind, getting a dirty grey colour.
Sledging with the kids up by the Sorpe See.
Moving around in forests that looked like something from a Xmas card.
The smell of a German Christmas market.
The misery of commanding a Ferret on the long drive to an exercise area.
Sitting in the Irish Ranger's mess, watching the New Year fireworks over Deilinghofen.
Stormy days when you weren't allowed to walk around camp without a steel helmet because the roof tiles were getting blown off.
Those clear sunny days when you could see ice crystals drifting around in the sunlight.
Sliding around in the dark on the roof of a 432, trying to fill up, wrestling with an invisible cam net with hands frozen in diesel-soaked MT gloves.
Excited kids playing in the cellar because it was too wet & cold to go outside.
The snow-covered mountains around Oberammergau.
Beautiful country, no wonder you blokes get nostalgic about it !

Sigh you paint such a nice picture Brum....we don't get snow, but irrate realies and dunnie budgies! (blow flys)

God yes, Ex Ice Breaker '74, a 20 Bde ex. I have never been so cold in my life, they called it off after 2 days because we had so many cases of frost bite. Couldn't start the 432's either, that was fun.

I loved langlauf skiing on senne plains as well, lovely winters perfect snow. Somehow the imbiss was always more cheering in the winter.

I fell flat on my ass one winter walking down from poggenpohl to work, never mind driving.

handler 69 wrote:

Sigh you paint such a nice picture Brum....we don't get snow, but irrate realies and dunnie budgies! (blow flys)

Any joy with brigade uk Troy ? (The belts mainly)

Gordon. wrote:

What would i do without you Teabag

Your avatar looks much better Gordon, the boxing gloves must be working !

During the winter of 70-71 we were deployed to monitor a Squadron night march, in the Hohne area.

My driver and I were doing what all Ferret crews did, leaning on the engine covers, with the engine running, chatting away. When we came to move we found that ice had formed across our backs and arms. God it was cold !

The best of it was, the tanks went on to blunder into the Schwindebeck, (beloved of Recce mechs everywhere !). Next day it looked like the pictures you see of the Tiger tanks in the Falaise Pocket after the Jabos had finished with them.

recce83 wrote:

I thought that after some Canadian winters, Germany would be a stroll. Surprise! I think the coldest I experienced was the winter of 1961-62. It was very damp as well as cold and I almost had to take a hammer to break the ice around my car door.

We also used to do a lot of running around the Arnsberger Wald in our jeeps without windshields. A lot of NAAFI weinbrand went towards keeping the cold away on those occasions.

The one thing that really sticks in my mind is the Christmas seasons. Soest on a quiet snowy evening with the bells chiming was like something out of a story book. You just don't get that kind of atmosphere in modern cities like Vancouver.

Oddly enough, I don't really recall German winters being that terrible or that cold. Here, in Calgary, I have long got used (although never liked) -35C winters....which I loathe with a passion!

When I returned to Soest in 1973, planning on staying forever but of course that didn't work out, I do recall slogging through wet snow downtown looking at flats. I was 20, and despite my affinity for Germany still quite "Canadian" so I was attired in a pair of snug jeans (hey, it was 1973!!) and a totally inappropriate pair of boots so my feet quickly got soaked. I had some sort of sweater and jacket thing going on but it wasn't enough either. Damp, cold,miserable, and still didn't find a flat that day....but I was back in Soest!!!

Like Hardrations, what sticks in my mind is the Christmas season. The Weihnachten Markets with the brisk evening air filled with the aroma of bratwurst and candy floss and frikadellas and roasting chestnuts punctuated by the odd whiff of cigar smoke from a passing "Opa"....

And, yes! I so well remember -- and miss terribly -- the sound of the church bells of Soest chiming on a still winter's night, the snow softly falling, caught in the glow of the gas lamps that were situated all over the inner city. Soest had (let me see if I can count correctly) 6 main churches (Patrokli Dom, St. Petri's across the street, St. Pauli, St. Thomae, the Wiesenkirche over by the duck pond, and the Hohekirche) as well as...hmmm...3 or 4 chapels and when they all tolled at the same time, which they often did, the entire downtown old city would be filled with the glorious sound, reverberating off the sandstone and cobblestones, enveloping you in a total wall of sound. Fantastic!

I also remember going down to the marktplatz by St. Petri's on Christmas Eve and listening to the church choir sing Silent Night as they made their way, with candles, down the onion-roofed spire of the church. Lovely. It's not just the same here at all.

Arriving in Menden (NOT Minden) in February 1958 to more snow than I had seen as an 8 year old in Slough in 1947. In my brand-new SD hat, being pelted with snowballs by the German laundry ladies.
Later, pretending to ski from the back of the camp down to the pub. Happy days!
Locating.