National Service Memories of Osnabruck

5th Royal Horse Artilery at Bournemouth 1948 prior to moving on to Osnabruck,i'm sorry for the blurred images.

Memorial wrote:

Map of Eagle pub top left,route back down Rulleweg to join the main road,South to flats with crater caused by crashed RAF aeroplane,round the back of the buildings,short cut home to Lonsweg,i think.

I have taken out the map to save space on my reply.

Looking at the map, it does seem to be two seperate maps but quite closely connected (if you see what I mean).

Using my map an Google Map, I have made a little more out of it. The Rulleweg you show is Ruller Weg on my map, and Sassnitzer Strasse, changing to Ruller Weg on Google Map. I tilted it about 65 degrees to the right to get a better idea, and I think I might have worked out a route. The note about the Forest and the Camp are in the general direction. If he had turned the other way, your father would have reached the northern end of Mercer/Imphal Barracks.

Is there any memory, on the walk into the town centre, whether he passed any churches, convents, or schools, or crossed water or railway lines?

In the other half of the map, tilting it even further to the right orientates it with my map and Google Map. The Barracks is quite possibly Scarborough Barracks, and the road leading to it is Caprivi Strasse. What is shown as Liensweg is actually Lieneschweg. The Krankenhaus is shown on my map as Frauenklinik, and now seems to be a Music School.

The YMCA and Cinema are still eluding us although there is a photograph of the Cinema on one of the Osnabruck pages on the main site. There are two pencil crosses on my map that could possibly be locations of these, but without definite links I cannot say for certain

Thanks for the interest Paul,


I'll see if my Dad can recall anything else,especially about the walk,every week lately hes remembering a bit more which is interesting.

He says the Colonels house was a school,a large space at the back garden and he could see the Krankenhouse/Frauenklinik.

He says he thinks he visited Heger Tor Wall,and it may have been the location of the German 1914-1918 War Memorial,also Lonsweg looked like a road lived in by richer people,the houses all built in 1800's style.
Also that local Germens craved British cigarettes as the Germen cigs were mainly Turkish tobacco.

He also wonders if Osnabruck had a Steelworks as hes sure he saw railway tracks elsewhere marked Osnabruck.

My Dad also recalls large blocks of 5/6 story flats already built,and was inquisitive to find out from locals why this one block on his way home had been left,with a large crater in the middle,thats when he was told an RAF aeroplane had crashed into the flats and made the crater.

He also recalls a giant Flak tower,about 200 feet high,10 or 15 feet thick concrete,self contained,armoury,kitchen,sleeping quarters and going on exercises at Luneburg and Sennalager,just as the Germens had held their field exercises there.

I'll try to find out more this week,

Not much to add this week,my Dad remembers going to the pub,the Eagle,and walking past fields so leaving the edge of the built up suburbs,large detatched houses.
Him and his mate were caught in a torrential downpour and sheltered in a barn by the road.
In the barn were a couple of German kids who used the opportunity to test out their English on the British soldiers.

I'm thinking Rullerweg is looking good for the location of the Eagle,iv'e sent on the information from here and a number of locations/landmarks and hopefully will get some more memories by the end of the week,thanks for the interest chaps.

Osnabruck did have a large steelworks so its likely the town did produce railway tracks.

As indicated on the map the Eagle was just over from a group of flats, these flats were occupied by british families, they were known as "Kleine Moscow" when my mum and dad lived there in the early 70,s, dad was in 1st RTR, I have fond memories of the 'Eagle' they sold DAB beer and pils, still my favourite german beer! Ian.

Nice one Ian.Maybe Kleine Moscow was the site of the crashed Allied aircraft.

Ian wrote:

As indicated on the map the Eagle was just over from a group of flats, these flats were occupied by british families, they were known as "Kleine Moscow" when my mum and dad lived there in the early 70,s, dad was in 1st RTR, I have fond memories of the 'Eagle' they sold DAB beer and pils, still my favourite german beer! Ian.

That's interesting....I can see it if the group of flats, being occupied by British families, were known as "Kleine London" or some such but how did they come to be known as "Kleine Moscow"?

Maybe now if they are occupied, like the old married quarters in Hemer apparently are, by ethnically German Russians etc. (and not terribly appreciated by the locals, either!); that would make sense.

In my day, for instance, the pub on the corner of Berliner Strasse and Zeppeliner Strasse, next to the Sparkasse, was known as "Little Canada"...I think there was even a sign to that effect. What it became known as once the British moved in, I forget but I seem to recall the owner kept the name. It's gone now.....

Transferred to Married Quarters off Berliner Strasse Hemer regards Steve

Steve !
I lived off Berliner Str Hemer for 5 years and can't recognize that place.
HELP!
(how did "memories of Osnabruck" get to Hemer?)

Hi Brum, Stephen Lock mentioned married quarters in Hemer so through this in...Berliner Strasse is left of the photo then the school...road in front is Zeppeliner Strasse...I lived in Marienburger Strasse off Berliner Strasse 77-78...everything looks almost the same today!

Small world Steve !

I lived in Marienburger str 71-77, in fact when we first moved in it was called "Am Hang". We came back from Ireland and moved to Dortmund in '77.
We nearly bumped into each other !

brum

Could be getting even smaller Brum!
You must be former 2 Fd Regt RA returning from Lurgan/ Long Kesh Jul 77...26 Engr Regt (3 Armd Div Engr Regt from Jan 78) did the same patch Jul-Nov 78...did your tour include Portadown? Cheers Steve...getting a long way from Osnabrück!

yes, Steve that is the place I knew in Hemer as Little Canada. A total dump, by the way LOL

Just so we keep the streams from getting too muddy (my bad...I did introduce "Hemer" into an "Osnabruck" string), you should post this to the Hemer/Iserlohn area.

We used to access this through where the fence displaying "Frische Muscheln" is now. It's cleaned up considerably!

Stephen Lock wrote:

Ian wrote:

As indicated on the map the Eagle was just over from a group of flats, these flats were occupied by british families, they were known as "Kleine Moscow" when my mum and dad lived there in the early 70,s, dad was in 1st RTR, I have fond memories of the 'Eagle' they sold DAB beer and pils, still my favourite german beer! Ian.

That's interesting....I can see it if the group of flats, being occupied by British families, were known as "Kleine London" or some such but how did they come to be known as "Kleine Moscow"?

Maybe now if they are occupied, like the old married quarters in Hemer apparently are, by ethnically German Russians etc. (and not terribly appreciated by the locals, either!); that would make there was an area calledIn my day, for instance, the pub on the corner of Berliner Strasse and Zeppeliner Strasse, next to the Sparkasse, was known as "Little Canada"...I think there was even a sign to that effect. What it became known as once the British moved in, I forget but I seem to recall the owner kept the name. It's gone now.....

Funny you mentioned that Steve, there was a place called 'Kleine London" not too far way. Ian

Well....there ya go, then! LOL

Most cities have a "Little_____" -- Little Italy, Little Kiev, Little Warsaw, etc. although, sadly in some ways, the days of specifically ethnic neighbourhoods seems to be gone, at least on this side of the Great Pond.

Here in Calgary we still have our Chinatown but even it is in decline as "new" Chinese families prefer to live in the suburbs and really only go to Chinatown for special ocassions or to shop...and even at that not much as there are a couple of large modern "Chinese" shopping malls here.

A few other neighbourhoods were, at one time, German, Italian, Croat, Serb, and even French -- and vestiges of those remain -- but the neighbourhoods are no longer ethnic enclaves like they once were.

It's a double-edged sword as when they were ethnic neighbourhoods there was a tendency to ghettoization although certainly not to the degree one saw in larger urban centres in the US (where ghettos pretty much = slum) and certainly a tendency to not assimilate into the main culture.

The upside, for us WASPs anyway, was being able to go down to Little Italy or Little Germany and be in a different atmosphere.

Regarding the British plane that crashed into a block of flats in Osnabruck leaving a large crater well into the late 1940's.

The bomber was a 4 engine Stirling,attacked by fighters and badly damaged by canon fire.

The engineer on board was a fatality,2 of the gunners injured,an incendury in the bomb bay was on fire,one engine alight,bomb bay doors jammed so the pilot could'nt jettison the bomb load.

The pilot told the crew to bail out then set the plane on automatic pilot,when leaving the plane himself the pilot injured his back,ankle and knee before landing in a ploughed field in Haste close to Osnabruck where he was captured by a farmer armed with a shotgun.

So the pilot came down a mile or so from where his plane crashed,no wonder the crash left such a large crater as it was carrying a full bomb load.
The plane had crashed during a mission to Kassel though i'm not sure which of the raids this was,i do know there was a devastating raid on Kassel which left the city still burning 7 days later.

The pilot was taken to Frankfurt for interrogation which was standard procedure where he was reunited with some of his crew,it was thought the 2 gunners were still on the plane which also killed 10 civilians in and around the block of flats.

No reason for posting this pic other than somebody mentioned flats at Kliene Moscow in Osnabruck, I used to live in these flats before moving to a house round the corner, this pic was taken last week when I visited Osnabruck, they are being renovated presumably prior to selling off.

[img]

Yep...those are definitely Married Quarters. I think both the British and the Canadians hired the same architect!

Many see these blocks as ugly -- and they're certainly not prime examples of post-modern architectural beauty, I grant you -- but I always thought them solid, comfortable, and comfortable looking, practical buildings. They are what they are; blocks of flats and quite serviceable with the actual flats , two to a floor, large and bright and also quite comfortable.

A few trees and shrubbery here would do wonders for the aesthetics!

I now live in Fally (in a house thankfully) and the flats up round here aren't too easy on the eye either, however they are functional and serve their purpose. Absolutely no good for kids these days as in my opinion you shouldn't have family's holed up in flats, kids need a safe space to let off steam ie, a garden or is that just the snob in me coming out.

Ideally, yes...but grew up living in flats and I turned out okay (well, except for that thing involving the bank and that other thing involving the police and that other thing involving....KIDDING!!!). As long as kids have a playground near by when younger or a park or a safe neighbourhood and other kids to hang around with, I don't see living in flats to be so horrible for families. Not everyone can afford a single family house with a yard and garden.

The 'up' side of living in a flat, IMHO, is that the kids have to go out and away from the family domicile in order to play or socialize and not go outside into their own yard/garden to do so, which is really just an extension of the house. Kids need to be exposed to situations etc outside of the immediate family in order to not be insular...so long as that exposure is safe and legal and not putting them at any sort of risk, I think it's good.

Even as an adult I've always lived in apartments (flats) and don't particularly care for houses, as such....especially here when so many middle-class suburban houses are far too huge for your typical family (mom, dad, 2.5 kids and the dog/cat)...McMansions we call them.

I've nothing against flats, my first 3 married quarters were flats and my kids spent the first 5/6 years growing up in them, but I have to say they suffer from that lack of space outdoors ie, a balcony on the 3rd floor isn't that safe and you can hardly get your garden furniture out there and the swing and trampoline for the kids, as I say we've had a our share of flats and the kids are none the worse for it but the MoD are now recognising the fact that houses are the way forward thats why more and more new houses are being built in BFG with a view of reducing the flats over time (maybe a very long time as funds like everything else are short).

However, living in flats does foster that community spirit as in the summer the amount of BBQs out the back of the flats are superb with umpteen families bringing out the BBQs, beers and plastic tables and chairs. Mmmmmm I can taste the Brattys and Detmolder now.

Apologies for deviating off topic.

Come on you lot, anyone remember 'Osnabrücker Pills' or the 'Club 99' in the stadt???

Big_Mike

Here in Detmold the forces have left,but the MQs remain in the main occupied as they are mainly houses,which are in short supply elsewhere.I must say I liked living in houses better during my service days,with the exception of a lovely warm flat we occupied when stationed near the east german border at a place called Wesendorf,but outside we had a huge area of grass(mostly snow covered in winter)where our kids could play to their hearts delight.We also had Annaliesa(had a maid in those days)and she loved to play with the kids.But the wives in general hated Wesendorf,so isolated,but Mess life was great,training was first class(we were then a RECCE Regt)and we could excercise to our hearts content!The roads and areas were OURS!!!!
------
Don

Donald
I have memories of Wesendorf but much later in the late 60s home to 226 Sig Sqn when on SDS duties from 1 Div Verden-Aller Comcen in a Hillman Husky...according to the records home to 1 Royal Dragoons May 54 to Aug 57 and known as Combermere Barracks later handed to the Bundeswehr but a corner retained for the Royal Signals...out of sight!
Best regards
Steve