Former Barracks of B.A.O.R today!

[quote="Shelldrake
The Barrack Blocks in Lippstadt were of a different construction to the ones in Paderborn, Brum. IIRC Barker Barracks accommodation was on three floors with a small attic space, the Bty Bars were produced by knocking 2 large barrack rooms into one. When I lived in, in '64, all barracks rooms were of a standard layout, each occupant had a bed, a metal bedside cabinet, a metal locker and a floor mat. Were were also provided with a table and 4 chairs for letter writing etc, any other personal items (if you had any) had to be locked away. The rules were relaxed when the "Wirtschaft Wunder" took off, the Germans were disposing of their furniture to the bulk rubbish by the house load, which was our cue to go round the German areas with a Bedford to collect their unwanted "Moebel"! We could have a new 3 piece suite every month, we even had "Best Barrack Room" competitions. Happy days![/quote]

Oops ! Sorry mate, I'd assumed you were talking about Paderborn.

None taken Brum, I was with 42 for 7 years before joining 24.

brum wrote:

Anybody notice, in the Hohne pics, three kameraden sat together, they're wearing puttees...........

Confirm HOHNE Brum.......... Maybe they are in the far distance or they've got up & marched off, but I can't find them. I suppose there must have been a jackboot shortage........ and didn't the Wehrmacht resort to something like our gaiters in the later stages of WW2 ?

Another oops! moment ! Didn't realise the "next" slot gave more pics of the same
location, thought it took you down the menu. Dammit! I'll be all day going through the rest now, but it's interesting stuff.

cartav wrote:

brum wrote:

Anybody notice, in the Hohne pics, three kameraden sat together, they're wearing puttees...........

Confirm HOHNE Brum.......... Maybe they are in the far distance or they've got up & marched off, but I can't find them. I suppose there must have been a jackboot shortage........ and didn't the Wehrmacht resort to something like our gaiters in the later stages of WW2 ?

Another oops! moment ! Didn't realise the "next" slot gave more pics of the same
location, thought it took you down the menu. Dammit! I'll be all day going through the rest now, but it's interesting stuff.

Just had a look, they're still there mate. Artillery types, I think.
Type in the full address that John Boy gave us and keep clicking "next" at the bottom.
It's interesting how one of the WW2 blocks has had a equine-looking mural painted on the gable end.

[quote="brum"][quote="cartav"]

brum wrote:

Anybody notice, in the Hohne pics, three kameraden sat together, they're wearing puttees...........

Beat me to the draw Brum ! Half way through when your last arrived, tried to engage brain this time before pushing keys..............

Came to the same conclusion. The trousers these lads are wearing are tight around the knee, they're jodhpurs or something similar, artillery for the use of with all those horses they had as prime movers. Nasty smelly things, need attention at both ends. prefer a Quad any day !

burgess720 wrote:

Hi all,


3 of us shared a toilet, cookhouse was on the other side of Saturday teatime. Always kippers on toast, I was ok I loved them

Yes happy days; cant remember really complaining about anything

Tony

What ? What ? No complaints ? Not even with three at once on the toilet ? Take this man's name !!!!! Not fit to call himself an NS man, sign him on at once !

Happy Days indeed Tony ! Especially when we're looking back & not looking forward to a distant demob !. ''

And was the rest of the interior of Roberts Bks in the 1950's the same as the later descriptions ? i.e small rooms for those without tapes, or just one big
area for all to kip in ?

David

I see both Sheldrake & Brum mention bty. bars in the blocks............ this is a new one on me, never had anything like that, just the NAAFI booze outlet 400 yards away, beyond the Regt square. ( gave you chance to walk it off on the way to kip). So who ran the bty. bar ? One squaddy who could be trusted with strong ale & cash, or what ? And another Canteen Cowboy on duty to chuck 'em out and lock up?

And a separate set of accounts to audit I bet........ I hated counting the bottles &
doing that.


NAAFI Quebec Bks Osnabruck 1956

cartav wrote:

I see both Sheldrake & Brum mention bty. bars in the blocks............ this is a new one on me, never had anything like that, just the NAAFI booze outlet 400 yards away, beyond the Regt square. ( gave you chance to walk it off on the way to kip). So who ran the bty. bar ? One squaddy who could be trusted with strong ale & cash, or what ? And another Canteen Cowboy on duty to chuck 'em out and lock up?

And a separate set of accounts to audit I bet........ I hated counting the bottles & doing that.

David, Bty Bars were normally run by a volunteer (evenings/weekends only), a SNCO was normally appointed on a 6 monthly duty to audit the bar weekly, and the whole lot was overseen by the Battery Captain. A percentage of the profits went to Battery funds - easy!



Battery Bars came into being in Germany in the early 60s, I think the idea was to prevent any "Incidents" downtown. Don't think it was very successful.

I was one of the team that got 76 Bty's bar going in, I believe, '62.
(Willy Fitzsimmons NCO i/c painting !).
Paderborner brewery provided all the beer mugs, illuminated signs and other bar-related kit and it all looked pretty good.
NAAFI's nose was put out of joint a bit, especially when we started doing NAAFI breaks in there too.
"Incident" reduction could well have been the reason why we were allowed to set the bars up, certainly the Cameronians were getting in the papers a lot at the time.
It was a long walk into Paderborn and the locals at the time weren't overly fond of us, so the bar was quite popular.

Even longer walk back!! Paderborn was the first German town in which I served where local hostelries put up "Out of Bounds" signs.

brum wrote:

........ long walk into Paderborn and the locals at the time weren't overly fond of us, so the bar was quite popular.

And I thought those of your era were all luvvy-duvvy with the locals ! I've said before that we weren't welcome generally in late 1950's Germany and, when we had word of our return to UK in March '56, everybody was looking forward to a joyful "Welcome Home, Brave Lads !" As it turned out, the licensed trade in Salisbury were just as wary of squaddies as their opposite numbers in Osnabruck. Soldiers can be trouble, wherever they are. Check out Kipling & ".....we serve no Redcoats 'ere !"

[quote="cartavSoldiers can be trouble, wherever they are. Check out Kipling & ".....we serve no Redcoats 'ere !"[/quote]

Not forgetting . . .
""There was a row in Silver Street - they sent the Polis there,The English were too drunk to know, the Irish didn't care"

brum wrote:

.....I don't remember parquet floors, I'm pretty sure they were floorboards which we had to "dry scrub" every morning.

Can't comment on the flooring to which you refer, but the decks in the Sennelager block we kipped in en masse, with raucous snoring to disturb the light sleepers, were topped with floor boards. Huge things, something like 38mm thick and with the appearance of timbers nailed down before Kaiser Willie's lot went on the march westwards in 1914, probably even before the 1870 nastiness.

The boards are remembered well. We tried lift a section to recover a trigger
spring ( I think it was ) for a Bren when it escaped from the spare bits bag. Inevitably it had rolled into the only crack which was visible nearby a keen- as- mustard squaddy who was examining the contents of the satchel whilst the rest
had packed in being soldiers for the day to seek entertainment in three card brag schools or scribble notes to far away loved ones. If the barrack block hasn't been pulled down, the spring must be still there.

cartav wrote:

brum wrote:

........ long walk into Paderborn and the locals at the time weren't overly fond of us, so the bar was quite popular.

And I thought those of your era were all luvvy-duvvy with the locals ! I've said before that we weren't welcome generally in late 1950's Germany and, when we had word of our return to UK in March '56, everybody was looking forward to a joyful "Welcome Home, Brave Lads !" As it turned out, the licensed trade in Salisbury were just as wary of squaddies as their opposite numbers in Osnabruck. Soldiers can be trouble, wherever they are. Check out Kipling & ".....we serve no Redcoats 'ere !"

They had signs up 'out of bounds' on the outside walls to 'guesties' to British troops in Celle up till 1976.

We used to get a 'cloggie' mate to get us in.

Where these signs ever taken down across BAOR ?

Not BAOR but the same...This is an RAF one

[quote="pete26"]
They had signs up 'out of bounds' on the outside walls to 'guesties' to British troops in Celle up till 1976.

We used to get a 'cloggie' mate to get us in. [quote]

Er........ Sorry ! Misread this in the early morning gloom.... Thought it said
" doggie mate " and imagined it must have been a job for Brum & Fido.

So for the uninitiated, like me, what's a doggie mate ? An MSO I might guess, but wasn't such an escort in bother with the locals ?

Dutch! (clogs) FFS.

[quote="cartav
So for the uninitiated, like me, what's a doggie mate ?
[/quote]

Should've gone to Specsavers mate !

[quote="cartav

"and imagined it must have been a job for Brum & Fido".

[/quote]

"Fido" Sir ?
Let me check back . . . Lord, Cariad, Pen, Karl, Timba, Mac, Murphy.
No, no Fido.
Prepare to be torn apart at the RAVC Centre at Melton Mowbray, Sir !
(If they still exist, of course !).

My avatar ? "Lord", a nasty piece of work !

I believe that it's now known as the Defence Animal Centre, Brum. Got to change with the times!! Maybe Cartav is getting confused with "Dogging" - entirely different kettle of fish altogether.

Wrexham Bks Mulheim & Lanelly Bks Hubbelrath are still there. I have Google earth photos if interested.

HOBART DETMOLD
There would appear to be some anomaly in the record of Units in these barracks in the early 60s.
I was REME attached QOH from 60 until 64. First with C Sqn in Fallaise camp Aden in 1960, then with the Regt in Munster Gremendorf 1961-62. The Regt took over from 3 RTR in Hobart in late 62 and stayed until it's move to Catterick in late 1964. I was Sgt Fitter with Recce Troop, Tail End Charlie in my Ferret on Exercise and Border Patrols. My MQ was 60 yards behind the Guardroom and we were kept awake every Saturday night by the "drunks" shouting and howling in the Cells. I remember that we had many Fijians posted in. They were great Fighting Soldiers. i cannot recall any other Cavalry Units in those Barracks at the time, 3rd Carbs were down the road a bit. Geoff Martin.