Bergen-Hohne Garrison

Bergen-Hohne Garrison was a major British garrison in the post-Cold War period, with facilities located close to Bergen at Lager Hohne, at Lager Oerbke near Fallingbostel and at Celle in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was home to 7th Armoured Brigade and most of its subordinate units. It formed a major part of British Forces Germany.

Bergen-Hohne Garrison is located in Lower Saxony
Bergen-Hohne Garrison
Location in Lower Saxony

History

Headquarters, 7th Armoured Brigade at Campbell Barracks
Taunton Barracks (built in 1869 as Heide Kaserne and now in use as Celle Town Hall)
Trenchard Barracks (built in 1935 as Seeckt Kaserne after General Hans von Seeckt)
The Garrison Church

The oldest part of the garrison was Heide Kaserne (named after the Lüneburger Heide heath area) at Celle, a huge red-brick edifice which dates back to 1869 and which became Taunton Barracks after the Second World War.[1] Also at Celle Station, Seeckt Kaserne (named after General Hans von Seeckt) was built in 1935 and became Trenchard Barracks after the War.[2] Meanwhile, just to the north of Celle, Freiherr von Fritsch Kaserne (named after General Werner von Fritsch) was built as a Luftwaffe supply base in the 1930s and became Ironside Barracks after the War.[3] Much of the rest of the garrison was created by the British Army, shortly after the War, by refurbishing two training and transit camps (Lager Hohne and Lager Oerbke near Fallingbostel) which had been established by the Wehrmacht just before the War.[4]

During the Cold War, two separate brigades occupied the bases that later became Bergen-Hohne Garrison: Fallingbostel, Wolfenbüttel and Celle housed elements of 7th Armoured Brigade, whilst its headquarters, signal squadron (207 Signal Squadron) and ordnance company were based in Soltau. Hohne was home to the 22nd Armoured Brigade. Both brigades were part of the 1st Armoured Division, which also included 12th Armoured Brigade (headquartered at Osnabrück) and had its divisional headquarters and signal regiment in Verden on the River Aller.[5]

Some 4,000–5,000 British soldiers occupied the garrison until it closed in 2015.[6] Facilities under the garrison's control included the Bergen-Hohne Training Area.[7] Together with families and civilians, the garrison population varied between about 10,000 and 12,000.

Locations

Locations within the garrison area included:

Hohne Station

The garrison also had quarters and facilities for the families of British forces stationed here including three Service Children's Education schools – Gloucester Secondary School, Montgomery Primary School and Slim Primary School. The station amenities include two swimming pools, beauty and hair salons, medical and dental centres and several shops selling goods from sports equipment, art and crafts, telephones and furniture.[15] The Roundhouse building located in the garrison was used as a ballroom, then as a hospital and finally as a social gathering area. It contained a NAAFI shop.[16]

Fallingbostel Station

Celle Station

  • Ironside Barracks, named after Field Marshal Lord Ironside, having served as an ordnance field park since the late 1940s, was home to 14 Signal Regiment from 1978 until it closed in 1985.[3]
  • Taunton Barracks, named after the town of Taunton, having served an infantry barracks since 1946 and then as an artillery barracks until 1951, was home to 14 Signal Regiment from 1985 until it closed in 1993.[1]
  • Trenchard Barracks, named after Marshal of the Royal Air Force Viscount Trenchard, having served as an infantry barracks from 1956,[20] was home to 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers from 2010 until the Battalion moved the Dhekalia Barracks in Cyprus in 2013.[2]

Garrison command

Officially, the responsibility for Bergen-Hohne Garrison was held by commander 7th Armoured Brigade. In practice, the day-to-day running of the garrison, however, was delegated to the deputy garrison commander in order to enable the brigade commander to concentrate on training his brigade and deploying with it on overseas operations e.g. to Iraq and Afghanistan. The deputy garrison commander had a staff of, mainly non-deployable, officers and soldiers, UK civil servants and locally employed civilians who managed and supported the garrison, its infrastructure and its families. Deputy garrison commanders included:

See also

References

  1. "Taunton Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  2. "Royal Regiment of Fusiliers". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  3. "Ironside Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  4. "A brief history - Hohne camp 1936 to present day". Bergen. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  5. Watson and Rinaldi, p. 105
  6. "German town prepares tearful goodbye to British troops". Space War. 2 November 2010. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  7. "Battlefield Exercise at Schiessplatz, Bergen-Hohne Training Area, West Germany". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  8. "40th Regiment RA". British Army Units 1945 On. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  9. "Caen Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  10. "Campbell Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  11. "Haig Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  12. "Soldiers cycle to new home at North Luffenham". 19 July 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  13. "Glynn Hughes Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 22 October 2015. Source misspells "Glyn" as "Glynn"
  14. Forsdick, G. H. (1999). "Symposium report". Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps. 145: 24.
  15. "Welcome to Hohne Hive". HIVE. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  16. "Round House". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  17. "Lumsden Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  18. "St Barabara Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  19. "Wessex Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  20. "Trenchard Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  21. "No. 54763". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 May 1997. p. 5627.
  22. Gudrun Pieper auf Sommertour: Rund um Oerbke Retrieved 29 Nov 2015.
  23. Jahresbericht 2008 Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, p. 34.
  24. Heide, May 2013, p. 3.Retrieved 29 Nov 2015.
  25. Heide Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, Jun 2013, p.3. Retrieved 29 Nov 2015.
  26. Commander's Monthly Message Archived December 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine at bfgnet.de, 5 Feb 2015. Retrieved 29 Nov 2015.

Sources

52.784°N 9.916°E / 52.784; 9.916

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