Updated 26 June 2024

Original name – Flak Kaserne later Camp 10 – side by side with Camp 9 Moore Barracks

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69th (West Riding) Field Regiment RA 1946-1947 (1)
273 Battery – 448 Battery – 189 Battery
40th Field Regiment RA 1947-1954 (1)
78 Battery – 109 Battery – 129 Battery

(1) arrived from Dortmund-Hörde 21 Jan 46 – redesignated 40th Field Regiment RA 1 Apr 47 – moved to Egypt Oct 54

More to follow
Source: 21st Army Group later British Army of the Rhine to 1 Mar 49

Part II

45th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery 1954-1958
14th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery 1963-1967 (1)
19th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery 1967-1974
26th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery 1974-1984 (2)
5th Regiment, Royal Artillery 1984-1993

Closed 22 December 1993

(1) In 1967 the Regt went to Weeton Camp, Blackpool prior to splitting.13th Battery departed for Sharjah, the then Persian Gulf. This left HQ, 1st (Blazers) and 5 (Gibraltar) Battery heading off to Malaya (Terendak).
(2) The regiment was equipped with the Abbot 105mm SP Gun followed by a short period with the M109A1 and finally with the FH 70 towed gun before our move back to Thorney Island in September 1984,during our 10 years in Dormund the Regiment also completed2 successful tours in N Ireland.

One man’s story of his time in West Riding Barracks can be found here.

Some history can be found by clicking here.

The photo above shows the entrance to the Flakkaserne, which later went on to be the West Riding Barracks.

Courtesy of Creedo

Flakregiment 4, Luftwaffe.

Courtesy of Creedo

Here the troops of Flakregiment 4, Luftwaffe, can be seen posing for a pre-war, regimental photograph. Many years later, the men of T (Shah Sujah’s Troop) Battery, 12 Lt. Air Defence Regiment RA, would feature at exactly the same spot (Block 16 circa 1975).

Courtesy of Creedo

Courtesy of Taff Morgan, RA

Bunkers in West Riding Barracks

I served in Dortmund as follows:

1976-81 – 12 (Lt) Ad Regt RA; T Battery; Tp Comd: Tp; CPO; BK
1981-84 – 22 AD Regt; 53 Battery:BK; 11 Battery: BK very briefly

I was particularly interested in the mention of the famous tunnels. I was involved in investigating these. It was probably 1979. The people involved apart from myself were, as far as I can remember: Sgt John Barnes – Barney; Lt (or Capt?) Bob Delaney (BK T Bty?); 2Lt Greg Butt, Tp Comd in T Bty.

We did much exploring on the surface, and some digging, but did not come up with any evidence to suggest a tunnel between West Riding/Moore Barracks and Napier. The most interesting finds were when we explored the bunker which lay opposite the guardroom, by the gate of West Riding Barracks.

The bunker as seen from outside

It seems to have been an air defence control bunker. The interior had been completely burned out and the floor of the main rooms were buried in debris, which explains why such interesting relics could be found so long after the end of the war.

Although the interior was completely burned out we found evidence of a ground glass plotting map with grids and even red and blue traces on them which rubbed off – perhaps the last raid?

We found chest microphones which were standard issue for auxiliaries in these types of bunkers, and spot projectors which would be directed on the ground glass screen to show friendly and enemy aircraft to the fighter controllers.

The only evidence of a tunnel was found shortly after the IRA bomb wrecked 26 Regt’s officers’ mess which lay outside the camp. In the basement we found a walled up passage, which was probably opposite the bunker. We were not of course allowed to break down walls but we thought this would allow staff to reach it without coming to the surface. This tunnel would have been only 20 metres long.

Bunker Corridor

There was a report in the BAOR newspaper (Sixth Sense) about our activities, and we were invited to Cologne for an interview on BFBS radio which Barney and myself attended.

We invited the old comrades association of Flak Regiment 4 to the barracks, and we had a really interesting day finding out what had changed since the late 1930s (in fact very little). They couldn’t tell us anything about the bunker because it was not there when they left for France in 1940.

Bunker Main Hall

I have been told a scarcely believable story about this bunker. A couple of prisoners named ‘Boddy’ and ‘Sole’, escaped from the guardroom at West Riding Barracks and were never seen again (!).

Images and text courtesy of Mr Paul Mitchell