Bunde - WW2

Which Division and/or Brigade finished the Second World War in Bunde?

Secondly, anybody have any idea which (if any) South African units may have been in the same area at the same time?

Paul.

I always believed it was a Canadian unit, the Royal Canadian Hussars (17 Duke of York's Own) .. but I could be wrong ..

Len (Ciphers)

Paul wrote:

Which Division and/or Brigade finished the Second World War in Bunde?

Secondly, anybody have any idea which (if any) South African units may have been in the same area at the same time?

Paul.

Paul

don't know if this helps but I have photos of my uncle who was in the 2nd Battalion South Staffs1st Airlanding Brigade with CCG on his sleeve taken in Bunde and at his wedding - a goup photo in uniform also taken in Bunde and dated 6 April 1946.  Have tried downloading photos but ran into problems and don't know if they have downloaded.

Aliphil

Ali

Welcome and thank yu for your input

2nd Battalion South Staffordshire were indeed part of 1st Airlanding Brigade at Arnhem but the Brigade were never based in Germany. After Arnhem they returned to the UK to reorganise and after the German Surrender in May 1945 moved to Norway to assist with the Liberation and where they disbanded.

2 SOUTH STAFFS, according to my notes, moved to Brunswick in December 1945 as part of 17 Infantry Brigade of 5 Infantry Division.

Would be very interested in seeing the photo of your Uncle and his friends. If he has CCG Shoulder flashes I suspect he may have voluntarily transferred to the new organisation as what would be called now a MOD Civil Servant (they continued to wear Army style battle dress for a time). The team have not yet identified an Army unit based in Bunde in 1946 but we do know that it was a satellite CCG location for the main Army Headquarters in nearby Bad Oeynhausen

(Cuxhaven Steve is our real expert on this area of Germany and may be able to confirm my thoughts)

Welcome Aliphil

Nothing further to add to JPW's notes, only have the Control Commission for Germany stationed in Bünde, post May 45 the area would have come under 3 Inf Div to Aug 45, then 52 (Lowland) Inf Div to Mar 46, then 7 Armd Div until Sep 47.

Paul

at last the photos I referred to in my last post.

My uncle was a lagger by trade and although intelligent had left school at 14 so won't really have seen him as a civil servant or volunteering as one and nothing of this has come down via the oral history.  I be interested to know what he was doing or likely to have been doing in Bunde.

Aliphil

Here you go aliphil ...

a better photo to remember your uncle by

Len (Ciphers)

Ciphers
Thank you for the photo. It is obvious that Ali's uncle was employed in a CCG sponsored establishment at the time of the photograph

Ali
It will take some significant reserch to establish which CCG unit was based in Bunde and exactly what duties he was employed on. Late 1945/early 1946 was a time of major transition in BAOR and especially the CCG. The SOUTH STAFFS may have been ordered to provide a number of soldiers on detachment to Bunde to carry out a number of low level routine tasks under the supervision of the local CCG hierachy

Thank you ciphers for the restored photo - very kind and a very nice surprise.  

Also thank you JPW for your additional info.

I do have a friend that knew another South Staffs veteran who was posted to Germany at the end of the war rather than being posted to Norway because of injuries making him unfit for duty in Norway. It has started me thinking that it would be interesting to try and find out where he was stationed and if my friend can throw any light on what he did. I will ask.  

aliphil