Serving through the German Winter

Lovely evocative memories there guys. Thank You.

The current wintery conditions here are fast approaching German winter conditions..I have never seen anything like this before

Hi Jim, reading these threads has evoked some wonderful memories of German winters especially early 80's. Snow 3 or 4 feet deep outside the singlies block in Winterbourne Bks Munster.
I was going out with a young German girl whose dad worked for the Deutschbahnn, trains always seemed to run on time: snow or no snow. She took me to her local church for Christmas Eve midnight service, and yes the choir sang 'Silent Nacht', candles and gothic architecture-it was breathtaking.
I can recall a festival in February drinking homemade Rumstopft? Fruit licqour it blew my socks off!

Halcyon days!

Stephen

Bloody hell, another shiny arse....

German Winters are nostalgic cos they're in the past - long forgotten the frozen toes, blue fingers and ice cube piss!

Look outta yer window - The Germans have exported their Winters.

I am trying to pop over to Germany to Cologne for the Weihnachtsmarkt (I believe it will be warm & sunny there!!!)

Winter in Witten-Annen 57/58 never been so cold in my life, guard duty on the wind exposed vehicle park so no snow just bitterly cold like to cut you in half, then going on a winter scheme and lying in a ditch in the snow waiting for the Paras' to attack, sleeping or trying to sleep in the back of a three tonner wrapped up in a spare camo net to keep warm, those cobble/block paved roads which were bad enough when wet but when icey WOW!

Cobblestones - I had forgotten about them - I remember being a passenger in a 4 tonner when a lad I was with handbrake turned it.... NOT GOOD!

ah yes, I loved the clatter of the tracks on the cobbles,

Oh yes Steve, rumtopf, now there was a drink. Very warming.

Mikey wrote:

Winter in Witten-Annen 57/58 never been so cold in my life, guard duty on the wind exposed vehicle park so no snow just bitterly cold like to cut you in half, then going on a winter scheme and lying in a ditch in the snow waiting for the Paras' to attack, sleeping or trying to sleep in the back of a three tonner wrapped up in a spare camo net to keep warm, those cobble/block paved roads which were bad enough when wet but when icey WOW!

My early memories of the dreaded cobbles.

In severe frost they used to lift into waves.

Watching a Centurion sliding helplessly through a village, yet hitting nothing.

Tank tracks picking the cobblestones up and throwing them out of the rear.
(Where's my bloody tin helmet !)

Talking about cobblestones reminds me of the following, which I have extracted from my reminiscences on my Family Tree material. "Had a close call though, one day during a “Scheme”. We were travelling in convoy out in the German countryside, in pouring rain. Being the Platoon Mechanic I was travelling in the last truck (in case of breakdowns), when we realised that we were falling too far behind the rest, so my driver ("Scouse" Constantine,I was travelling as co-driver) decided to speed up. We were in a Bedford QL, five tonner, which had a high centre of gravity; the road was elevated and cobble stoned, lined with trees with ploughed fields on either side, about fifteen feet below road level. We must have been doing about fifty, (a phenomenal speed for one of those vehicles) when we saw a VW Beetle overtaking another one and coming towards us. “Scouse” swung the wheel hard over to the left (Remember we were driving on the right) to try to avoid him, lost control, and off the road we went, colliding with three cars in the process. I grabbed the grab handle that was in front of me, on the dash and remember crying out “This is it” (rather dramatic in retrospect.) We literally flew through the air and ended up twenty yards or so across a ploughed field with the truck’s nose buried in the mud, a complete “write off” with a twisted chassis.
I will never forget the silence that seemed to descend then as I sat there in a daze, not really believing that I was still alive. I looked at my driver and was horrified to see blood pouring down his face. He had hit his head on the windscreen wiper motor (no seatbelts in those days), I was completely unharmed, not even a scratch, We struggled back to the road and found that a Don R had returned to the rear of the convoy to see what had happened to us. We were bundled into the back of another five tonner and taken to what I thought would be a BMH, (British Military Hospital). Whilst I was lying in the back of the truck, delayed action shock started to take effect, and everything seemed unreal, so imagine my consternation when, on observing that we had driven between two concrete gateposts, I heard guttural voices and the head and shoulders of two German Wehrmach soldiers in coal scuttle helmets, and with rifles slung over their shoulders appeared above the tailboard. It was surreal, I felt, somehow, that I had gone back a few years, and the war was still on. They helped us to the medical room where I promptly flaked out. We had, in fact, been directed to a German Army Hospital, as it was nearer.

Greetings the Maadone from a not so mild Cornwall.
The little finger on my right hand has turned white; I didnt manage to save the precious contents of a bottle of Grolsch when slipping on my arse outside 33 Ord unit bar winter 84. The glass severed an artery with blood spurting everywhere! The lads laughed and I ended up in BMH Munster being attended to by a gorgeous Wrac nurse, well I think she might have been female?!

A shiny arse who can spill!

Ah Jim: Also Asbach Uralt, or have I got that wrong?

Stephen J

Ah I think you mean QARANC Nurses (Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps) - aka 'The Gray Mafia' not WRAC, Stephen.

I should know as I am married to one. QA Nurses were mainly better looking and not bent!!

On a wintry note. This year is the closest we have come to a 'Dry Cold' and snow bound winter for many a year I think? Be gone by Christmas I think

Seconded !

The QA nurses were much sexier. I think the uniform added to their attractiveness.
Likewise the RAF nurses.

PHWOAAR !

Come come gents..Take the rose tinted glasses off.They all had their fair share of UGLY.The QAs uniform was so thin it was almost transparent.Three weeks in Tidworth gave me ample time to make a study of them

I don't know about "rose tinted glasses" Gordon, sounds like X-ray specs to me !

Thankyou Mike, I sit corrected sir, and give my humblest apologies to your other half!

The more I learn the less I seem to remember

Am under orders as to where to place the lights on the xmas tree: my son is now 5 and knows exactly how and where to hang them!

Merry Christmas to one and all

I would have to agree with you Brum, there was something about the uniform - maybe it was the smell of Starch!! Must be a bit kinky. We now have male members of the QA's, not such a big turn on (for me anyway,but to each his own), the QA working dress nowadays reminds me of a blue BD affair, a bit more functional I suppose. I used to envy those guys in the RAMC stationed at BMHs.

QAs, I had all 4 wisdom teeth out in November 1993 at BMH Rinteln. The QA looking after me told me to 'eat those 4 pieces of toast and you can go home'.

Hell bent on escaping what made Colditz look like Butlins I did so and was promptly driven back to Bielefeld!

Boy did my mouth hurt AND I lost half a stone as the fang mangler managed to "FORGET" a root which subsequently required further treatment to remove but that was completed in Rheindahlen shortly after being posted there.

Themaadone wrote:

Boy did my mouth hurt AND I lost half a stone as the fang mangler managed to "FORGET" a root which subsequently required further treatment to remove but that was completed in Rheindahlen shortly after being posted there.

Rheindahlen. Wonderful times I had there. I was just down the road at Command Pay Office in M-Gladbach, but would often finish up having breakfast in one of the cookhouses on Rheindahlen camp after a heavy night out.

Getting back to the theme of this thread, harsh German winters, I recall being on guard at Imphal Barracks, 0snabrück, in the winter of 1962. We had the new Chieftan tank, under wraps and top secret, parked near the tank sheds on a transporter, with the temperature at minus 20.
I was wearing long johns, combat kit, fur-lined parka, sea-boot socks and ammunition boots, and I had to go out on stag. I had never experienced cold like it. I almost froze to death.
The army very generously issued me with a pick-axe handle with which to protect myself, so it wasn't all bad.

Does anyone remember the jar of mixed antifreeze to -30 which was kept at the guardroom?

Supposedly the unit was supposed to be call out to start the fleet of vehicles if the mixture froze!

alan8376 wrote:

Does anyone remember the jar of mixed antifreeze to -30 which was kept at the guardroom?

Supposedly the unit was supposed to be call out to start the fleet of vehicles if the mixture froze!

When I was at Imphal, the mixture was kept in an empty shell case suspended outside the guardroom. It actually began to form ice, one night, and they had to run the tank engines.

That's right, we had the mixture in one of those big rum jars, on a little shelf on the guardroom wall.

Each battery had a driver on call to start the gun tractors up when the A/F started to freeze.

I don't remember it ever getting that cold but it must've come close to it on some of those nights in Nienburg.

I seem to remember that it was part of the Guard Commanders duties to check it every hour or so which then had to be recorded in the Occurence Book. At the risk of going "off topic" again do you remember looking through the Occurence Book at the entries since you last did Guard Commander? There was some crackers!!

It's remarkable how topics seem to drift in various directions, but getting back to army dentistry, I had my very first filling by an army dentist in Osnabruck (possibly Roberts Barracks, because where I was, Belfast Barracks, I don't think the facilities were there) It was completely successful, relatively painless and lasted more than ten years.

Quote :

It's remarkable how topics seem to drift in various directions

Agreed...But what has army dentistry got to do with German winters???

Strangely i don`t remember ever seeing an army dentist.Saw an RAF one once who was an absolute genius at pain removal.
Sit,jab,pull,goodby.