Royal Naval Section Research Branch Minden BAOR 1 - 1947-9

Has anyone any knowledge of this section and what it did.

I have copy of 'Memo' dated Oct 1949, advising Dr. Michael Pfauter , a German National, that his services could not be retained due to financial difficulties .The reference is 18/18/605 and it is signed (unreadable) Commander (E) RN.

I am helping Dr. Pfauter's son, trace his family's removal from Berlin to Minden by order of RN in 1947. Before 1945 Dr Pfauter's company was situated in Chemnitz and made machine tools for the production of gears. Following his move to the west the company restarted near Stuttgart, with the Chemnitz plant being taken over by the East German government.

From checking on Google.

It appears it was an establishment or part of Shore Based Ship, HMS Albert, Berlin. I suspect Minden was a detachment of Berlin??
Admiralty: Office of the British Naval Commander in Chief, Germany.

Sorry, thats all I can establish!

Alan

Mariet

I am trying to establish brief details of the Royal Navy presence in Germany in the immediate post war period but there is little detailed information available on the internet. I have however been fortunate to be put in contact with a number of individuals who have kindly shared their knowledge

The principle Royal Navy Headquarters in Germany was not in Berlin, though there was a significant presence in that city (HMS Princess Irene) linked to the four power Control Commission Germany. The main RN Headquarters (HMS Royal Henry)was near Minden in a requisitioned Paper Factory, convenient to the equivalent British Army Headquarters in Bad Oeynhausen and the RAF in Bad Eilsen and in subsequent years linked to Headquarters Control Commission Germany (British Element)

This had a number of titles
1 Headquarters Allied Naval Command Expeditionary Force (May-July 1945
2 Headquarters Commander in Chief Royal Navy (Germany) (July1945-?? 1946)
and finally Headquarters Flag Officer British Naval Forces (Germany). The majority then moved to Hamburg in Spring 1947 following the rundown of the majority of the RN presence in West Germany and the completion of the Naval part of Operation Eclipse.

The key to your query is the composition and role of the individual Naval Parties which provided the manpower and specific operational expertise appropriate to each location. I have not had the time or opportunity to investigate these details (there is virtually nothing available on the net) but in outline

Naval Party 1749 was responsible for HQ ANCXF

Naval Party 1813 was in Berlin

and particularly relevent to your project
Naval Party 1820 based in Minden,
who inter alia provided the British Naval Gunnery Mission (this may have been a cover for for other activities but bearings do have an important factor in the design and manufacture of all gun platforms). The document I have states that in September 1947 this unit was transferred to CCG control as the Royal Navy Section within the Research Branch of the Economic Division. Further financial cutbacks could have resulted in your friends father being made redundant in 1949.

I have yet to establish exactly where details of Royal Navy Naval Parties can be found, options include The Government Archives in Kew or the Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth.

I hope this information is useful

Thank you very much. I will pass this information onto my friend who now lives in Santa Barbara and I will try to follow up on the information you have provided.

My friend's father and his family were brought to Minden by the Navy from Berlin in Feb 1947. The family business of building gear cutting machines had been in Chemnitz from where they had gone to Berlin (British Zone) to escape the Russians.

My husband remembers, that when he was an engineering student in the early 1960's, seeing a copy of a document (a Navy report he thinks) which made reference to the transfer of the family and the company's technical information to the west. Sadly the college has not retained its old documents, because 'they are are not relevant to today's courses'.