Barrosa Barracks

This was also a barracks in Hemer. Was it just a section of Peninsular? Ocuppants started with 1 Royal Irish Rangers in August 1970 and ended with 3 Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in July 1992. Anyone remember the name?

freemil wrote:

This was also a barracks in Hemer. Was it just a section of Peninsular? Ocuppants started with 1 Royal Irish Rangers in August 1970 and ended with 3 Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in July 1992. Anyone remember the name?

The barracks were located in Deilinghofen, a few kilometers east of Hemer, out towards the Hoennetal and the Menden turn-off (turn left to Menden, turn right to go along the Hoennetal towards Beckum, Sans Souci, Balve etc).

In Hemer itself it was only the Married Quarters. Other barracks were, of course, located in Iserlohn, a few kilometers on the other side of Hemer.

One of the confusing things here, both with the Canadians as well as the British, is "Hemer" was used as the central HQ, the central hub, for that region (as was Soest, for that matter).

Now, given the urban sprawl of this region, even back in the 70s (I can only imagine it is worse now), it is difficult to dileanate where "Iserlohn" ended and "Hemer" began, or where "Hemer" ended and "Stephanopel" or "Westig" began, or where "Stephanopel/Westig" ended and "Deilinghofen/Apricke" began.

Mind you, back in my day (Oy...waaaaay back in my day LOL), there was a fair bit of open country between Hemer-Stephanopel-Westig and Deilinghofen, where the camps were.

Nevertheless, the two camps tucked in behind Deilinghofen and below Apricke are frequently referred to as being "in" Hemer.

At any rate, I was there when the Irish Rangers were in Hemer. If I remember correctly, the barracks they were out of were Barossa. Right next to Peninsula (sp?). These were known as Fort Prince of Wales and Fort MacLeod under the Canadians...I forget which Fort became which barracks now, however.

Stephen Lock wrote:

freemil wrote:

This was also a barracks in Hemer. Was it just a section of Peninsular? Ocuppants started with 1 Royal Irish Rangers in August 1970 and ended with 3 Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in July 1992. Anyone remember the name?

The barracks were located in Deilinghofen, a few kilometers east of Hemer, out towards the Hoennetal and the Menden turn-off (turn left to Menden, turn right to go along the Hoennetal towards Beckum, Sans Souci, Balve etc).

In Hemer itself it was only the Married Quarters. Other barracks were, of course, located in Iserlohn, a few kilometers on the other side of Hemer.

One of the confusing things here, both with the Canadians as well as the British, is "Hemer" was used as the central HQ, the central hub, for that region (as was Soest, for that matter).

Now, given the urban sprawl of this region, even back in the 70s (I can only imagine it is worse now), it is difficult to dileanate where "Iserlohn" ended and "Hemer" began, or where "Hemer" ended and "Stephanopel" or "Westig" began, or where "Stephanopel/Westig" ended and "Deilinghofen/Apricke" began.

Mind you, back in my day (Oy...waaaaay back in my day LOL), there was a fair bit of open country between Hemer-Stephanopel-Westig and Deilinghofen, where the camps were.

Nevertheless, the two camps tucked in behind Deilinghofen and below Apricke are frequently referred to as being "in" Hemer.

At any rate, I was there when the Irish Rangers were in Hemer. If I remember correctly, the barracks they were out of were Barossa. Right next to Peninsula (sp?). These were known as Fort Prince of Wales and Fort MacLeod under the Canadians...I forget which Fort became which barracks now, however.

I really enjoyed my time in Hemer (Dec 89 - Jul 92), my Regt (3RTR) were the last occupants of Peninsula Bks, which was formerly Fort Prince of Wales! My MQ on Breslau Str bang opposite the school, IMHO it was located in Westig. On the odd occasion I would walk to work threw the Felsenmeer (Sea of Stone/rock), which was very pleasant!!!

freemil wrote:

This was also a barracks in Hemer. Was it just a section of Peninsular? Ocuppants started with 1 Royal Irish Rangers in August 1970 and ended with 3 Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in July 1992. Anyone remember the name?

Peninsula and Barrosa were two separate areas. The total area of the two barracks was roughly a semi-circle, and were divided by a fence that was in a straight line as far as I remember. There was at least one gate in that fence, and the only time I remember it being open was during 2 Fd's first tour to Belfast.

The L.A.D (in my time) of 2 Fd Regt R.A. in Peninsula was up against part of the fence and faced onto what I believe was the Gym in Barossa.

As I am reasonably sure Stephen (Lock) will confirm, the Camp areas were seperate in Canadian times as well.

Paul.

I've just been researching 2 Battalion Light Infantry's stay in Hemer. They were an airmobile battalion with 6 Airmobile Brigade. Their dates are:

Peninsula 11/84 to 03/88
Barrosa 03/88 to 03/89

They moved from one barracks to another around the time 6 A/M Bde disbanded. This is confirmed by The Silver Bugle - their regimental magazine - Autumn 1988 issue.

At Barrosa they remained the only airmobile battalion in BAOR.

I've been trying to distinguish the two barracks on Google Earth!

freemil wrote:

I've just been researching 2 Battalion Light Infantry's stay in Hemer. They were an airmobile battalion with 6 Airmobile Brigade. Their dates are:

Peninsula 11/84 to 03/88
Barrosa 03/88 to 03/89

They moved from one barracks to another around the time 6 A/M Bde disbanded. This is confirmed by The Silver Bugle - their regimental magazine - Autumn 1988 issue.

At Barrosa they remained the only airmobile battalion in BAOR.

I've been trying to distinguish the two barracks on Google Earth!

Well this is how they were split in 89-92!

Soprano, may I pick your brain please?

How do you add lines, script, etc to the Google sattelite photos?

Paul.

Paul wrote:

Soprano, may I pick your brain please?

How do you add lines, script, etc to the Google sattelite photos?

Paul.

First I save the pic (File-Save-Ctl+Alt+S) to my own account and use a programme called 'Zoombrowser' which is a bit like 'Paintshop', you can do all sorts paint, add text etc!

Paul wrote:

freemil wrote:

This was also a barracks in Hemer. Was it just a section of Peninsular? Ocuppants started with 1 Royal Irish Rangers in August 1970 and ended with 3 Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in July 1992. Anyone remember the name?

Peninsula and Barrosa were two separate areas. The total area of the two barracks was roughly a semi-circle, and were divided by a fence that was in a straight line as far as I remember. There was at least one gate in that fence, and the only time I remember it being open was during 2 Fd's first tour to Belfast.

The L.A.D (in my time) of 2 Fd Regt R.A. in Peninsula was up against part of the fence and faced onto what I believe was the Gym in Barossa.

As I am reasonably sure Stephen (Lock) will confirm, the Camp areas were seperate in Canadian times as well.

Paul.

Yes, the two camps/forts/barracks in Deilinghofen were side by side but separate. I don't recall a gate between them, but it wouldn't surprise me. Even though different outfits and regiments were rivals, the bottom line was we were all, at least technically, on the same side!!! Although the odd bar brawl might make one question that LOL, so yeah, there may well have been some sort of connecting gate between Fort Prince of Wales and Fort Macleod.

Great pic, Soprano...and, yes, this is how the two Canadian forts were also divided.

The barracks you all know as Barrossa faced onto the road to Apricke, the little village up on the hill behind the forts. Well, not "faced" as the main gate was on the south end and the road to Apricke ran along the east part of the barracks.

When my family was first in Germany and the Hemer area (circa 1959-1962) I started school in one of the barrack buildings facing Apricke Weg. If memory serves, it was the northern-most one, but perhaps not. If not then it was the one just across the way on the south end. I only spent maybe 6 months attending school there, maybe a year, before being moved to the school in the PMQs where I did Grades 1 and 2 and part of Grade 3 before returning to Canada.

When we returned to Germany in 1969 I was entering Grade 9 (approximately equivalent to 4th Form, I think) and I again attended the school in the Married Quarter area of Hemer only in the high school part, not the elementary school section. It was odd as I still had memories of the time I went to elementary school here and, given the amount of moving around all army families do, it was a unique experience to be in a setting that held memories of an earlier childhood.

just a quick note about the pic above, the garages to the left of peninsula were built in the late 1980's for the royal tank regiment. 2LI moved from there to the next door camp which we called corruna bks. the ammo compound is seen at the top of the corruna bks, whilst based there from 1984-89 we were part of 6 airmobile brigade although we only ever did one complete battalion lift and we had to use US black hawks and German jolly green giants as well as RAF chinnooks and pumas. (the US crew dropped a few underslung loads, including a landrover into the ammo compound) The living quarters in peninsula bksin the google pic above have been demolished, if you look at the pic just to the south of the ammo compound there is a hedge/fence line with a small white hut. my block backed onto that hut, i have a pic somewhere of me posing in front of the hut.
ray

Kind of late adding to this subject.

But there was always a gate between the two camps (Fort Prince of Wales & Fort McLeod) it was at the back end of camp just in line with the last barrack block in Fort P of W's. At least it was in 64-69. I only ever saw it used once, and that was for an exercise where the British supplied a helicopter to practise lifting 105 mm guns and for some reason it was done just inside the fence on Fort McLeod's side.