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Not only are the well-equipped forward elements presented, but the light security elements that form BAOR's vital reinforcements are included as well. Sixteen of the bombers were lost to anti-aircraft fire. [7], The 1993 Options for Change defence cuts resulted in BAOR being replaced by forces roughly 25,000 strong, divided between Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps, 1st Armoured Division, other combat support and combat service support forces, and administrative elements headed by United Kingdom Support Command (Germany). Please subscribe or login. Individual chapters consider British thinking about tactical nuclear weapons, the evolution of NATO strategy, theories of tactical nuclear warfare, nuclear instruction at the Staff College, operational research and war-gaming, and the development of the armys nuclear warfighting doctrine. Meanwhile, the class 40 Bailey pontoon bridge at Xanten was erected by the 7th Army Troops Engineers in 31 hours, and opened to traffic at 16:30 on 25 March. SGT Served from 1967 - 1985 Served in British Army of the Rhine. Originally scheduled to start at the beginning of January 1945, when the ground would have been frozen, Operation Veritable, the 21st Army Group's advance to the Rhine, was delayed for five weeks by the German Ardennes Offensive. The Regiments Depart: A History of the British Army, 19451970. GYM. Its original function was to control the corps districts which were running the military government of the British zone of occupied Germany. Contents 1 History Many had seen hard use in the Ardennes, where they had demonstrated their utility, and large numbers were in the REME workshops. Temperatures were as low as 15C (5F) on 26 January, resulting in firm, frozen ground, but a subsequent thaw caused widespread flooding, and by 5 February a section of the Turnhout-Eindhoven road had become impassable even to four-wheel-drive vehicles. Every available amphibious craft was collected, and they were joined by a Royal Navy contingent of 36 Landing Craft Medium (LCM) and 36 Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) that were transported by road across Holland and Belgium to participate. For nearly 70 years, generations would grow up on bases with special schools, shops, housing and even their own radio station, as parts of the Rhineland became little bubbles of Britishness. 616 Squadron RAF began operating Gloster Meteor jet fighters from Brussels, and they required kerosene. The British Army of the Rhine was born in 1945 out of the British Liberation Army at the close of the war as the military government of the British zone of occupied Germany. [28][29], At the start of January 1945, British bulk storage facilities were more than sufficient to hold the thirty days' reserve of petrol, oil and lubricants (POL) that Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) stipulated should be held, but the American position was not so good. The War Office found that it could provide another two field bakeries from the United Kingdom, along with three field butcheries that were already scheduled to be sent. British Army of the Rhine (post First World War) B.A.F.S.V. Canadian units indented for warlike stores direct to their division's Ordnance Field Park, which carried stocks of spare parts for mechanical transport, small arms, armament, signal stores, and engineering equipment, as well as complete wireless sets and small arms. Nearly 50 engineer companies, together with three road construction companies and 29 pioneer companies, were engaged in road maintenance. Includes a chapter on the creation of the postmodern regimental system between 1945 and 1970 against the backdrop of postwar austerity and the consequent reorganization and amalgamation of many regiments. [30], The two airborne divisions participating in Operation Varsity, the airborne operation supporting Operation Plunder, were initially supplied by the First Allied Airborne Army. The affectionate story of British servicemen and their families who had to make Germany a home from home in the decades after the Second World War. Positioned on the North German Plain, it is the command element of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG). When the flood waters subsided, it was found that the Nijmegen-Cleve road surface had been too badly damaged to use, so the II Canadian Corps and XXX Corps were forced to share the road running south of the Reichswald. [47], The opening of a railway bridge over the Maas at Ravenstein on 4 February enabled the FMCs to be served by rail. While most of its units were British or Canadian, there were also contingents from Belgium, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia and Poland,[1] and the RAF Second Tactical Air Force operating in support also had Australian, French, New Zealand and Norwegian squadrons. Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after World War I, and the other after World War II. The best introduction to the regimental system of the British army. London: William Kimber, 1971. It was estimated that each could carry 7,000 vehicles per day under frozen conditions and 4,000 per day during a thaw. A smoke screen concealed preparations on the west bank of the Rhine. British Army of the Rhine (post Second World War) . [88] Another 2,000 tonnes (2,000 long tons) was obtained from within the Second Army by grounding artillery and armoured units that were not immediately required for the advance. ST. Army Gymnastic Staff AH Army Health . A large force of engineer units was assembled for the operation: 37,000 British and Canadian engineers and pioneers, and 22,000 American engineers. Fifteen minutes after the glider landings, there was a resupply mission flown by 240 Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers from the US Eighth Air Force. By this time a thaw had set in, and the ground was now soft and muddy, restricting off-road vehicle movement. Although only 3,600 tonnes (3,500 long tons) of petrol was lost, POL storage tanks capable of holding 10,000 tonnes (10,000 long tons) were rendered unusable. At the beginning of March 1945, the 21st Army Group had bulk petrol transport capacity of about 2,700 tonnes (2,700 long tons) per day, assuming 80 per cent of the vehicles were running. Ted's Bio; Fact Sheet; Hoja Informativa Del Ted Fund; Ted Fund Board 2021-22; 2021 Ted Fund Donors; Ted Fund Donors Over the Years. The history of BAOR, then, is not simply a history of an army formation. The former held 200 rounds per gun of medium and 250 rounds per gun of heavy artillery ammunition, while the latter held 200 rounds per gun of medium and 150 rounds per gun of heavy artillery ammunition. [91] At Artlenburg, 7th Army Troops engineers constructing a 282-metre (925ft) class 40 Bailey pontoon bridge also came under air attack, and two of its mobile cranes were damaged by artillery fire, but the bridge was opened on schedule at 12:00 on 30 April. British Army Royal Engineers enaged in the building of The Freeman Bridge, The River Rhine, Dusseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Fourteen transport platoons,[53] each of which operated thirty vehicles,[54] were taken from the formations to serve the corps's needs. Successive London governments, though often faced with bitter public and military opposition, tasked the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) to serve as a protecting force while strengthening West German integration into the Western defense structure. Stores still required by the 21st Army Group were moved forward to the new advanced base, and the rest returned to the War Office for disposal. Ammunition expenditure was prodigious, and a system of rationing had to be introduced. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}520734N 84059E / 52.12611N 8.68306E / 52.12611; 8.68306. The United States and the Middle East, 1945-2001, World War II in the Mediterranean and Middle East. 13 Army Roadhead at Nijmegen. Deployed on the European Central Front with its NORTHAG sister formations, BAOR was a significant feature of NATOs forward shield of ground forces to deter or, if deterrence failed, to repel a major Warsaw Pact offensive on the Continent. British army inner german border.jpg 1,941 1,368 . Foster. The 18th Line of Communications Sub Area was formed on 25 April and assigned to the First Canadian Army; the 19th joined the 15th; and the 20th relieved the 4th around Brussels, allowing it to take over the region to the north east of Nijmegen. By 9 February sections of the Nijmegen-Kranenburg road were under 46 centimetres (18in) of water. [6] In 1967, the force was reduced in strength to 53,000 soldiers. [26][27], Finding the additional service and supply units proved difficult, as the Mediterranean theatre had long been short of them. The BAOR was formerly armed with tactical nuclear weapons. [28], It was estimated that seven line of communications sub area headquarters would be required to support the advance into Germany. London: Penguin, 1970. [28][29] The first vehicles to arrive came with only fifty drivers, so a detachment from 141 Vehicle Park was sent to Marseilles from the RMA. Chieftain: The British Army of the Rhine, provides a complete array of British equipment and maneuver units, from Chieftain and Challenger tanks through MCV-80 and Saxon APCs. [44], Thus far in the campaign in North West Europe, XXX Corps had only served as part of the British Second Army, and it found that maintenance procedures of the First Canadian Army differed from what it had been used to due to the fact that the First Canadian Army's operations had been conducted where there had been adequate communications. WW2 MAPS OF BRUSSELS/BRUXELLES 1944 D/DAY ORIGINAL RARE. The second British Army of the Rhine was formed on 25 August 1945 from the British Liberation Army. Store Equipment Fleet (Germany) store of vehicles and other equipment for exercises and operations around Europe. A thematic study on how the British Army imagined the use of tactical nuclear weapons in land combat. 2019 Ted Fund Donors Operational research had shown that the number of guns saturating an area was more important than the actual weight of shells fired. Start reading The British Army of the Rhine for free online and get access to an unlimited library of academic and non-fiction books on Perlego. 1st/4th and 9th battalions of the Seaforths were with the Rhine Army in 1919. [43] The ammunition dumping program was completed by 4 February, by which time 14,400 tonnes (14,200 long tons) of ammunition had been dumped at the gun positions, and 23,100 tonnes (22,700 long tons) at the XXX Corps and II Canadian Corps FMCs. The 21st Army Group asked for four base supply depots (BSDs), six field bakeries, three field butcheries, a cold storage depot and two detail issue depots (DIDs). Three trains a day were run over this route under an arrangement with SHAEF and the American Military Railway Service. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), which was responsible for the northern portions of the central front in West Germany, had been judged to be capable of holding out for as little as two days. 10 Army Roadhead. A double issue of Expeditionary Force Institutes stores was made to all participating units. [87][88] A 300-metre (980ft) Class 9 FBE bridge was built over the Elbe at Lauenburg by the VIII Corps engineers on 29 April. While it was under construction, the engineers came under attack by the Luftwaffe, and 8 men were killed and 22 wounded. The British Army, Manpower, and Society into the Twenty-First Century. The average tonnage on the canal system rose steadily from 27,000 tonnes (27,000 long tons) in January to 35,000 tonnes (34,000 long tons) in February, 48,000 tonnes (47,000 long tons) in March and 56,000 tonnes (55,000 long tons) in April. [6] What followed was a far more rapid advance than anticipated. this page. [63][64] When mounted on the proposed trailer, the 15-metre (50ft) LCM was 4.6 metres (15ft) high, which left only 7.6 centimetres (3in) of clearance under some of the bridges they had to pass under between Antwerp and the staging area around Nijmegen. [43] Over 2.5 million rounds of 25-pounder ammunition was made available for Operation Veritable. The 21st Army Group instead became the British Army of the Rhine in August 1945. . [51] There was also demand for covered accommodation in the 3,300 bivouacs, and 21st Army Group headquarters released 343 huts and 1,600 100-pound (45kg) tents from its stocks, which were delivered to the railheads around Mill and 's-Hertogenbosch. [89][88] The high use of road transport meant that the Second Army was burning 7,600 tonnes (7,500 long tons) of petrol a day, but the supply of fuel caused no problems. [71] The supplies dropped represented a day's supply of food, fuel and petrol for the two divisions. Sirs, Ladies and Gentlemen,Welcome to the website dedicated to the British Army of the Rhine, its locations, and those areas whilst not strictly within BAOR, thatwere vital to the operation of the theatre. Please appreciate that the site as a whole is, and probably always will be, subject to "Work In Progress", "Page Under Construction", "Page Under Revision", etc. Chandler, David, and Ian Beckett, eds. The class 12 Bailey bridge, known as "Sussex", took the XII Corps Troops Engineers and the Royal Navy 43 hours to erect. [82][83], In the XXX Corps area, the engineer units were grouped under the 13th AGRE, under the command of Colonel F. C. [63] Units participating in Operation Plunder were re-equipped before the start of the operation. In turn this demanded a high degree of organisation and professionalism required to utilise the available machines and firepower to best effect. A.G.B. By mid-March POL was arriving at a rate of 15,000 tonnes (15,000 long tons) per day, of which 3,000 tonnes (3,000 long tons) was coming over the Dumbo pipeline. On 16 April XXX Corps sent its road transport back to the Rhine roadhead to collect the ammunition it needed to capture Bremen. A German V-2 rocket scored a direct hit on the British POL installation at Antwerp on 19 January. Four days later the German Instrument of Surrender was signed in Berlin, and the war with Germany was over. It was also feared for a time that the skeleton FMC was in danger of being inundated, although it was sited on high ground. [47] Four main road routes were available for troop movements, utilising road bridges over the Maas at Grave, Mook and Ravenstein. The next major operation was Operation Plunderthe assault crossing of the Rhine on 23 March. Three days later, XII Corps did the same to facilitate the capture of Hamburg, but the expenditure of ammunition at Bremen was not as great as anticipated, and this allowed XII Corps's requirements to be met in full. 167 FMC, established by the XXX Corps which held only petrol, compo ration packs and ammunition. Photo courtesy of RAMC Lab Tech Cpl Peter Elgar 1958. [6], Disbandment of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) and Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) in 1994, following the end of the Cold War and the Options for Change defence review in the early 1990s, reduced the strength of the British Armed Forces in Germany by almost 30,000 with just one division (1st Armoured) remaining by the late 1990s,[7] concentrated in North Rhine-Westphalia. [44] Road maintenance was made especially difficult by the winter weather. Deliveries of ammunition averaged 4,800 tonnes (4,700 long tons) per day, peaking at 9,300 tonnes (9,150 long tons) on 25 March. [60], The engineer units in the XII Corps assault area were under 11th Army Group, Royal Engineers (AGRE), commanded by Colonel R. B. [79] Seven American combat engineer battalions assisted with road and bridge maintenance in the British Second Army area. Large numbers of displaced persons were also encountered, and they were accommodated in special camps. Post war First Corps District administered Rhine Province and Westphalia. BMH Iserlohn was housed in Argonne Barracks which was a German Calvary and Armoured Regiment building from the 1930s. [74], The South Beveland Canal was opened on 19 February to allow inland water transport to reach the Dutch canal system when the western Netherlands were liberated. After an advance which was thoroughly resisted, the British formations, along with the Canadians and Americans advanced into the German counties of Nordrhein-Westfalen, Niedersachsen and Schleswig-Holstein . BAOR is defined as British Army Of the Rhine frequently. [58], The next major operation was Operation Plunderthe assault crossing of the Rhine. Troops met thin resistance as the operation wasn't intended as a surprise . Four days later orders came that disarmed troops would no longer have prisoner of war status, but would be classified as Surrendered Enemy Personnel, and that their own officers would be responsible for their administration. As the Soviet threat increased, so BAOR became less of an occupational army and assumed the role of defender of Western Europe, and as a major contributor to NATO after . Due to changing operational requirements, it was ultimately decided to build only three semi-permanent class 40 bridges, at Xanten, Rees and Arnhem, and two class 70 bridges, at Rees and Arnhem. [70] Of the 610 tonnes (600 long tons) of supplies and equipment dropped, 80 per cent was recovered. [18], Eisenhower ordered Montgomery to resume his preparations for Operation Veritable, the objective of which was to defeat the German forces west of the Rhine. A sweeping review of four hundred years of British army history. Almost all BLA units were assigned to the 21st Army Group, which also included forces from other countries. The class 40 timber pile bridge at Zanten, known as "Dempsey" was built by the 18th GHQ Troops Engineers and was opened on 26 May. Covered accommodation was eventually provided for between 300,000 and 400,000 troops. [101] The vast resources brought to bear was in stark contrast with scarcities of the early war years. Overseas military bases of the United Kingdom enable the British Armed Forces to conduct expeditionary warfare and maintain a forward presence.Bases tend to be located in or near areas of strategic or diplomatic importance, often used for the build-up or resupply of military forces, as was seen during the 1982 Falklands War and the use of RAF Ascension Island as a staging post. Catalogue description British Army of the Rhine [BAOR] Ordering and viewing options This record has not been digitised and cannot be downloaded. What military bases are left in Germany? Dorsten Ammunition Depot munitions storage facility. The Dumbo pipeline was extended from Boulogne to Antwerp in March. [44] For security reasons, troop movements had to be conducted at night. [30], A large force of engineer units was assembled for the operation: 37,000 British and Canadian engineers and pioneers, and 22,000 American engineers. If you can't find it - tell us, if you know something - tell us. [73] XII and XXX Corps each formed a bank control group along the lines of the beach groups that had supported the Normandy landings in 1944, but with the logistical elements restricted to the medical, provost and REME components.

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