Updated 12 October 2024

Original Name – Bülow Kaserne

Home to:
HQ Berlin District 1945 (1)
50 Reinforcement Holding Unit 1945-? (2)
1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers 1949-1950 (3)

(1) Forward HQ arrived from Belgium 21 May 45 – Main HQ arrived 30 May 45 – moved to Braunschweig 21 Jun 45
(2) arrived from Belgium 2 Oct 45 – disbanded
(3) arrived from Dortmund 1 Feb 49 – moved to Münster Sep 50

More to follow
Source: 21st Army Group later British Army of the Rhine to Mar 49

Part II

Built – ?
Type – Wehrmacht, unknown purpose e.g tanks
Original name – Bülow Kaserne
History – Home to 1 BR Corps. Now a school and also residential.

Home to:

3H – circa 1951
1 BR Corps

Closed 30 September 1994

A picture of Bülow Kaserne which was named after Karl von Bülow, a German Field Marshal commanding the German 2nd Army during World War I from 1914 to 1918.

Front view from Detmolder Strasse. Former accommodation blocks – The L\H building is the NAAFI (upstairs), Cookhouse (ground floor) and Jimmy Club (Signals Bar) in the cellar. The right-hand building was the telephone exchange and Sigs SHQ, hairdresser, Pioneer Labour Support Unit (PLSU). There was one flat of Sigs living in here.

Block – The gate backs onto Detmolder Strasse

14 Squadron Royal Corps of Transport

14 Company Royal Army Service Corps was retitled for the fifth time in July 1965 becoming 14 Squadron Royal Corps of Transport. Between 1965 and 1992 it provided transport support to Headquarters, 1st British Corps.

During this period, the squadron was equipped with a wide variety of vehicles, ranging from Ford Zephyrs and Austin 1800s in the Sixties and Seventies to VW Passats and Opel Vectras in the eighties and early nineties. Its operational transport fleet numbered over 200 vehicles, ranging from Land Rovers through 4 Box Staff Vehicles – a highly sophisticated Command Post – to AFV 436 tracked vehicles.

Half of the squadron was deployed on Operation Granby, whilst those personnel who remained in Germany were employed on force resupply details. On 2 October 1992 when Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps formed, the squadron took on the role of providing transport support to the new multi-national Headquarters. In February 1994 the squadron merged with 68 Squadron.

Rear View

This is in fact the old A Troop yard of 14 Sqn RCT and housed the staff cars, land rovers and carawagons (modified Land Rovers with offices and beds in the back) for the HQ staff. B Troop did, in fact, have some 436s in their yard, though not this one.

Courtesy of Mr Chris Byers, ex RCT

Front View – former accommodation blocks. The “bratty wagon” would park in this car park at night.

This was my first posting after training at Chichester. I arrived in the January of 1971 and was directed to Block 8. This was the home of 1 (BR) Corps Pro Coy RMP. We had all the block. The company was renamed in, I think, 1973 to 113 Pro Coy RMP. I was reliably informed by one of our ageing German interpreters that Block 8 during the war housed an SS unit and in the cellars where we stored our war equipment was a room with a mortuary table. 113 was later relocated. On entry from Detmolder Strasse into the barracks the block on the left housed HQ Regiment and the block opposite housed the WRAC accommodation and, at the far end, the medical centre. I was posted back to Ripon Barracks in the 80s as staff assistant to the Commander Provost and strangely our offices were located in Block 8 on the second floor which in the 70s was all RMP Cpls accommodation. My Colonel’s office was in fact my old bedroom.

Mr Steve Ketteringham

Former Cookhouse. Above was the NAAFI Bar, known as the Viking Club.

View From Lipper Hellweg

I was saddened to see the dilapidated state of Block 9, Ripon Barracks, Bielefeld as I had happy memories working on the ground floor in the Corps Security Detachment of 54 Security Section between 1984-1986. The office is shown on the photo on the extreme right (below) and the building was surrounded by a 3 metre high chain link fence.

Anon

This, I believe is the old security block where the General would work from. The main HQ was in two buildings known to all as ‘Blocks 8 & 9’ All other buildings were support only. The steps half way down the outside led up to the comcen hatch.

It has now been razed to the ground and was situated just to the right of the picture above.

The Block above was block 9 and was attached by a covered walk-way to Block 8. We moved into these blocks from Block 10 in 1982. Block 9 housed the G2 & G3 Divisions, HQ RAC, HQ Engrs and a few other Arms and Central Services under Capt Fred Stephenson, RAOC (now sadly deceased). Block 8 housed G1, G4 & G5 Divisions and predominantly HQ Arty and HQ RAOC (Sup). I worked initially in Block 10 in G3 Ops then moved to G3 Training on the move to Block 9 working for Major Clive Fairweather KOSB.

The photograph which shows the view from Lippe Helweg, on the immediate right was the old SKC shop where you could buy your televisions or stereos and on the left was the old SKC Globe cinema – which was used as Control HQ during Ex Lion Heart in 1984 – and straight ahead was the drill square where we all had to parade each Monday morning to be inspected by Major Mayne, R Sigs, who was OC of HQ Coy.

As Bryan Baskerville (whom I still remember) states, Block 10 (and subsequently Blocks 8 & 9) were very secure buildings and would have been virtually impossible to gain entry to other than through the main entrance. The War Room in particular, where any meetings concerning Corps tactics were discussed, was equally as secure from the inside and only those with a security clearance of PV(TS) could enter. My personal history regarding Ripon Barracks is that it was my first posting after transferring to the RAOC from 1 RTR in 1981 and I stayed there until I was posted to Dusseldorff in 1985 and lived in married quarters (Am Niederfield) behind Catterick Barracks where 10 Regt RCT were stationed.

Mr David Henley

The following pictures are courtesy of Mr John Leggett

Ripon Barracks SSVC Shop

Fantastic pictures. I was here in 1980/81 and worked in Block 10 which was the main HQ building. I worked in G Int/Sy which was in the attic and more secure than an armoury. We had locks on doors, grills, gates etc. etc. Even locks on locks. HQ 1 BR CORPS was a busy posting.

The pictures show the main entrance. To the left was the accommodation blocks. Mine was a former married quarter block. We had a flat which was divided into a small kitchen, living room, double bedroom and single bedroom which was actually occupied by 4 single squaddies plus an NCO in the bunk (single bedroom). Bit crappy and very dusty and old. Being a former WWII kaserne we had rifle racks in the corridors but these were for Mausers not Lee Enfields or SLRs.

Between our block and the next was a car park where the bratty waggon would stand on an evening. Nice… The cookhouse faced it backing onto the square. The junior ranks club, aka the Viking Club, was upstairs above the cook house. Again a bit manky.

Further round clockwise was block 8/9 compound, with the SKC cinema which I think was called the Globe up near the back gate. Obligatory pub over the road, just outside the gate. Block 10 faced the square. You had to show a special pass to get through the grill into block 10.

Block 10 duty clerk could be a busy shift. It’s where the duty officer was also accommodated. All signal traffic was brought from the Comcen to you including Active Edge signals. Callouts were called from there.

The cellar housed the repro room, post room and incinerator for classified waste. Upstairs were several floors where G Ops, Plans, Training etc were plus the Corps Commander (General Bagnall in my time) and Chief of Staff.

Exercise could be called to deploy on the square or full crash out to Lemgo woods. Others called “Cat Walk” just need us to be able to contact a given percentage of staff in the patch. “Startex and Endex” being the key words here…..

Outside the front gate was Detmolderstr. Further down towards town was Bielefeld Sieker tram terminus where we got the tram to town.

There was an outdoor swimming pool further back up Detmolderstr past Catterick Bks which was good in summer.

In winter there was an outdoor beerfest in the town plus an outdoor ice skating rink.

Seeing those pictures brings back so many memories. I would love to go back and see it all again. It was my first posting out of basic and although I was only there a year, I have fond memories of it.

Bryan Baskerville.

My first posting after leaving AAC Carlisle was HQ 1 (BR) Corps LAD. The picture below is the LAD circa 1970/1971. The LAD is the building at the end of the ‘A’ Troop yard shown in one of the pictures.

It was a really great posting. I did a lot of work on Austin 1800 staff cars and motor bikes; BSA M20 500 Singles, Triumph TRW twins and the BSA 350.

There was a great pub out the back gate called ‘Hans Meir’, which I’m sure that anyone who has been to Bielefeld will remember. Its other great attraction as a young lad was the fact that there were a lot of WRAC posted there!

Steve Jones

Courtesy of Steve Jones