Berlin marriages

> My parents who were both in the British Army at the end of WWII were
> married in Berlin in August 1946 at the Garrison Church of St. George.
> The original building was destroyed during the War and was not rebuilt
> until 1950. My enquiry is, where would the wedding have actually taken
place. Has anyone got any ideas.
>

Welcome

Members of this site love this type of challenge

What Regiment/unit was your father serving in when he married? Similarly your mother?

With this information it should be possible to identify which area(s) of Berlin they were living in. There is evidence that throughout BAOR in the immediate post war era many units used local Churches (sometimes renamed to a familiar Anglican name) for Church Parades/Services etc.

My father was in the Royal Artillery (prior to being posted to Berlin) and my mother was in the ATS. From my parents Marriage Certificate the records where held at the GHQ 2nd Echelon and their residences at the time of their wedding was HQ Brit. Trps. Berlin Camp Coy for my father and HQ Brit. Trps. Berlin Coy ATS for my mother.

I have photocopies of my parents service records which are very difficult to decipher, what with different handwriting and the thousands of abbreviations.

According to my father's service record on 9.5.46 he was posted to 90 FLD HQ Trps Berlin and on 17.5.46 to X(i) B List and my mothers's service record states she was in ATS Admin.

I hope this will help

Regards

British Troops Berlin – HQ Lancaster House Fehrbelliner Platz 4 in Wilmersdorf the address for this period of time

If you paste the following into Google "kirche in der Nähe von Wilmersdorf, Berlin" you will get a list of churches

GHQ 2nd Echelon was in Brussels until June 1946 and moved to as yet unnamed barracks 8 miles from the centre of Hamburg reported to have 2000 soldier clerks in tents a short distance from the camp while the barracks were being renovated

Hope this helps
Regards
Steve

Also found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._George's_Anglican_Church,_Berlin

From 1945 to 1954 the Lutheran congregation of Melanchthon Church on Wilhelmstraße, close to the Smuts Barracks, also hosted the British garrison church community.

To carry forward the options

Lancaster House was/is Wilmersdorf Rathaus. Smuts Barracks Spandau is some distance from there, I believe one or both of the bridal pair were probably accommodated in Mackenzie King Barracks prior to their marriage which was much closer to Lancaster House. The Barracks was named by the Canadian Infantry Battalion who took part in the Final VE Victory Parade in July 1945 and were briefly based in the City.

Steve and I have barely scratched the surface of the story of the British Army in Hamburg in Summer 1945. The main British Military Headquarters were in the International Hotels along the banks of the Alster but with satellite sites elsewhere in the City suburbs. Options for the tented camp appear to be either adjacent to Phillips Barracks (Osdorf/Blankenese) or Adams Barracks (Rahlstedt). Answer is somewhere in the Kew Archives but to date I have not looked in 21 Army Group files but have cocentrated on other series relevant to my particular interest/research

Hi, sorry for the delay in getting back to the forum.

I have found a photograph from the celebrations of my parents wedding showing the outside of a building.
On the side of the building is a sign "MARLBOROUGH CLUB". Does this shed any more light on my enquiry?

Thank

I suspect the Marlborough Club must have been an All Ranks Social Centre probably run by NAAFI.

It may take some time to identify the exact location and these are not always recorded in the official War Diaries (or similar documents) of the era

I always thought the 'Marlborough Club' was an RAF thing?

Alan

I believe you are thinking of the Malcolm Clubs which were named after the first winner of the VC awarded to a member of the Desert Air Force and were to be found on many RAF Stations.

There is a brief explanation on Wikipedia

I stand corrected! Thanks....