British Forces Germany Book Project

British forces will have rebased out of Germany by 2020, earlier if conditions permit. The current GOC BFG would like your support for a project to remember our time in Germany.

The rebasing will bring to an end the longest overseas deployment for the British Army since India in the 19th and 20th Century.  About 2 million British citizens have passed through British Forces Germany in its 70 year history; either as soldiers, airmen, National Servicemen, civil servants or family members with an estimate of some 200,000 being born in either the British Military Hospitals or local German clinics.

The deployment is one of reconciliation and integration, reconstruction and democratization and I believe deserves to be remembered.

The current GOC, Maj Gen Henderson would like to to construct a book; heavy on pictures rather than prose.  The aim is for it to be theme based, for example exercises, adventure training and sports, education and so on.  We will continue to develop these.  The timescale is from 1945 until perhaps 2014 with a publishing date in late 2014.

We would want to make the book affordable, but if it did make a profit this would be donated to charity.

The whole project will stand or fall by the pictures in the book.  We are making an appeal for individuals or organisations to donate pictures showing activities during the British presence in Germany.  In order for them to be useful they would need to be:

• Digital, Negative or reasonable print (we might be able to restore to an extent)
• Interesting.  
• Supplied with information (when, where, who, what)

Many photos on this site are like that.  If individuals were willing to alow them to be used I would ask them to send me a copy and any information known about them to hinton.geoffrey@gmail.com

Regards

Geoff Hinton