Updated 11 June 2024
Requisitioned civilian accommodation
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BHQ 4th Battalion (Hallamshire) York and Lancaster Regiment 1945 (1)
4 Company 9th Fusilier Battalion Belgium Army 1945 (2)
RHQ 622nd (7th Battalion Queens Royal West Surrey) Infantry Regiment RA 1945 (3)
RHQ 624th Infantry Regiment RA 1945 (4)
BHQ + A Company 4th Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borders 1946 (5)
HQ 7th Armoured Division 1946-1948 (6)
HQ Hannover District 1948 (6)
(1) arrived from Netherlands 23 May 45 – moved to Arnsberg 4 Jun 45
(2) arrived from Wallenhorst north of Osnabrück 13 Jun 45 – moved to Emden 27 Oct 45
(3) arrived from Bersenbrück north of Osnabrück – disbanded 28 Jul 45
(4) arrived from Dissen south-east of Osnabrück 14 Jul 45 – disbanded 28 Jul 45
(5) arrived from Halle north-west of Bielefeld 15 May 46 – moved to Versmold south-west of Bad Rothenfelde 7 Jun 46
(6) arrived from Itzehoe 1 Jul 46 – Kurhaus named Command House Parkstraße 1, – Hannover District formed from 7th Armoured Division and 5th Infantry Division 15 Jan 48 – disbanded 13 Feb 48 – Hannover District to Trenchard Barracks Celle 15 Feb 48
More to follow
Source: 21st Army Group later British Army of the Rhine to 1 Mar 49
72 Section SIB HQ Haus Erna Bad Rothenfelde
1953 Courtesy of Mr C T Shuter
I was called up on 1st November 1951, posted to 1 Training Regt, RAOC, at Parson Barracks, Aldershot. After personnel selection, I was recommended for Military Police, and posted on 14th November 1951 to Inkerman Barracks, Woking, the Depot and Training Establishment of the Royal Military police. After 20 weeks training, I was posted to 1 Corps Provost Company at Bad Rothenfelde. In December 1952, I went on a Special Investigation Branch training course at Woking, and after a short time at SIB HQ in London, was returned to Bad Rothenfelde where I became a sergeant investigator with 72 Section SIB.
In October 1953 the section was moved to Roberts Barracks, Osnabruck, from our HQ at Haus Erna in Bad Rothenfelde.
72 Section are still stationed in Roberts Barracks, having been there for the past 54 years.
Bad Rothenfelde housed 1 Corps Provost Company, I remember 101 provost Company were at Bielefeld, I can’t remember the name of the barracks.
I know that 2 Infantry Division Provost Company were at Dusseldorf.
6 Armoured Division Provost Company had a section at Munster, nearly next door to the Church Army bookshop and cafe, quite near to the cathedral.
1 Corps Pro Coy had the job of securing Corps HQ and the many senior officers therein although most of our time was spent signing routes and convoying Corps HQ vehicles all over the British sector of Germany on exercise. The function of 1 Corps was at that time to coordinate the efforts of the British and Canadian armies in their efforts to stop the Russian hordes from reaching the English Channel.
72 Section covered an area from the Baltic in the north (we had a one man detachment at Oldenburg) to the Dutch border at Appledorn, and took in such places as Osnabruck, Munster, Minden, Essen, investigating all serious crime and all sudden deaths including fatal traffic accidents.
I was demobbed on 26th November 1953.
As MP’s our kit comprised 2 battledresses, 2 peaked caps, 2 sets denims, 2 sets white webbing ( belt, gaiters,crossbelt, pistol holster, ammunition pouch) 2 pairs ammo boots, as a motor cyclist I also had 2 pairs of jodhpurs, 1 pair long legged DR boots, and 1 crash helmet) We also had large and small packs with the webbing straps to support them, boot brushes,button stick, mess tins, knife fork and spoon.
We spent an inordinate amount of our pay on white blanco, boot polish and brasso. Everything we owned had to fit into our one black kit bag.
I Corps Pro Coy was equipped with BSA 500cc motor cycles, Wilys jeeps, and several 15cwt trucks of various makes.
During an exercise in 1952, one of our NCOs spotted a Russian Military Mission vehicle in a restricted zone (we were expecting an airborne drop, the biggest since the end of the war, and a large area had been placed out of bounds for the Russians). The car was followed but lost, and we spent a very uncomfortable 2 days without sleep looking for it. We never found it, but the powers that be decided that a number of RMP NCOs should go to Wolfsburg, collect new Volkswagens, and deploy outside the Russian Military Mission building in Bad Salzuflen. Every time a Russian vehicle left the building, it was followed by a pair of MPs in their spanking new VWs, to wherever they went. Most of the time, it was straight to the border with the Russian sector, at which point the Russians waved goodbye, and the MPs sat and waited for them to return. It was one of the silliest exercises I has ever come across, and I can’t remember how long it went on for.
72 Section SIB had Volkswagens, Wilys jeeps with metal winter canopies, a Canadian Chevrolet 15 cwt, and the OC had an Opel car.
Our OC was a Captain, we had a WO2, and 8 sergeants. We employed 2 civilian interpreters who accompanied us on investigations, 2 typist/ interpreters who worked in the office, 2 housemaids who cleaned the building, and a civilian cook who did her best to poison us with her awful food. I seem to remember that we obtained our basic foodstuffs from the RASC in Bielefeld, and our more luxurious items like booze and cigarettes from the NAAFI at Herford. Spirits cost seven shillings and sixpence a bottle, and best cigarettes cost one shilling for 20. Beer, which was awful Watneys Red Barrel was about ninepence a bottle, but not much was drunk, gin was the favourite tipple in our mess.
Mr C T Shuter
HQ 1 Corps Provost Coy, Bad Rothenfelder 1952
Courtesy of Mr C T Shuter