History from May 1945 to March 1949 (under construction)

Headquarters staff were billeted here in 1949. The Barracks were a very nice block of flats on either side of Ratzeburger Allee, a cul-de-sac off Reichstrasse, Westend, Charlottenburg. I recall there was a Signals unit on the other side of the Reichstrasse. HQ BTB was in the Kaiserdamm and could catch the U-Bahn to get to work (free to uniform). By the way, there was no Berlin legend on my division flash, known to the troops as the ‘flaming a**ehole’. To us it represented the black hole of Berlin surrounded by the Red Army. Remember the blockade was in full swing at this time. We had to be flown in to Gatow from Hanover.

The above and all photographs, courtesy of Mr John Tracy