Updated 11 September 2024
Original Name – Panzer Viking Kaserne
Named after General Sir Evelyn Hugh Barker, who served during World War 2 and later went on to become commander of British forces in the Mandate Palestine from 1946 to 1947.
This barracks was home to the SS (replacement battalion) whilst in Nazi hands.
Home to:
5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards RAC
arrived from Münster 22 Sep 48 – moved to UK Aug 51
More to follow
Source: 21st Army Group later British Army of the Rhine to Mar 49
British Army Units 1945 on
Headquarters
20 Armd Bde 1991 – Aug 2001
Regiments
Royal Armoured Corps
8 Royal Tank Regiment 1951 – 1959
17/21 Lancers 1957 – 1960
10 Hussars 1959 – 1964
13/18 Hussars 1964 – 1967
14/20 Hussars 1966 – 1970
Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars 1970 – 1979
3 Royal Tank Regiment 1979 – 1986
5 Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards 1986 – 1992
Royal Dragoon Guards 1992 – 1996 (1)
1 Royal Tank Regiment 1996 – 1999 (2)
Infantry
1 R IRISH 1972 – 1974??
1 Devonshire & Dorset Regiment 1994 – 1998
1 Royal Regiment of Wales 1998 – 2005
1 Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment 2005 – present
Royal Artillery
24 Missile Regiment RA 1962 – 1972 (3)
45 Medium Regiment RA 1972 – 1978 (4)
25 Field Regiment RA Jan 1978 – 1984 (5)
3 Royal Horse Artillery 1984 – 1998
45 Field Regiment RA 1988 – 1993 (6)
Royal Engineers
35 Engineer Regiment RE 1999 on
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
1 (BR) Corps Combat Supplies Battalion RAOC 1970 – 1979
renamed
5 Ordnance Battalion RAOC 1979 – 1993
~
Became part of 6 Regiment RLC in April 1993
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
REME Technical Training School BAOR ? – Apr 1950 (7)
20 Station Workshop REME
57 Station Workshop REME circa 1979
3 Battalion REME – present
(1) Amalgamation of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.
(2) 1 RTR left to for Blighty to become the Army half of the Joint NBC/CRBN Regiment, handing over to 35 Engineer Regiment 1999.
(3) 24th Missile Regiment, Royal Artillery were stationed here from 1962 until they moved to Ubique Barracks in Dortmund in Nov 1972. They subsequently disbanded, and elements of the Regiment joined 50th Missile Regiment, Royal Artillery in Northumberland Barracks, Menden. It should be noted that Barker Barracks had been a single unit camp until the arrival of 24th Missile Regiment.
(4) Arriving from Ubique Barracks, Dortmund. 10 Bty (Blowpipe) joined from 36 Regiment R.A. Prior to the move to Haig Barracks, Hohne, they were retitled as 45 Field Regiment.
(5) Disbanded in Apr 1984 becoming 3 RHA. C, D, J (Sidi Rezegh) and M Bty’s gave up their Independent Swingfire roles to form the new 3 RHA, all 25 Regt Bty’s were disbanded along with M Bty.
(6) After arriving from Kirkee Barracks, Colchester the unit then disbanded and was placed in “suspended animation”.
(7) Departing for Glamorgan barracks, Duisburg.
Barker Barracks was a very large barrack complex and was home to two major units at any one time as well as a number of minor units. I am certain the 14/20th Hussars were based in these Barracks in the late 1960s (my own unit the Munster based 2nd Scots Guards had an operational partnership and we therefore visited the Barracks on a number of occasions. I was present when Princess Anne was first introduced to the Regiment as their Royal Colonel in Chief. Her Staff Car had the number 142 OH, the Regiment had to buy and scrap a London milk float to obtain it!!
JPW
I was posted to the 10th Royal Hussars (POW), Paderborn following my initial training with the 3rd Dragoon Guards at Catterick Camp in February 1960. At that time we were part of the 5th Infantry Brigade, wearing the “Cross Keys” insignia and later changing to the 20th Armoured. As part of Reconnaissance (recce) Troop I was privvy to various excursions around Germany, Holland, Belgium and Denmark, as well as many barracks in other zones. We were part of the largest concentration of troop movements since the end of WW2 in a military exercise code named “Spearpoint” with the object of determining the strength of forces required to deter any aggression from the Soviet Block. It was a period fraught with anxiety and which could easily have led to a third world war.
Ex L/Cpl Kenneth Taylor # 23757032
An 8″ M110 SP Gun of 34 (Seringapatam) Hy Bty, 45 Fd Regt RA firing at Grafenwohr in 1977. The limestone dust played havoc with everything and you can see the clouds rising from the gun chassis as it fires.
10 (Assaye) AD Bty (part of 45 Regt RA) was equipped with Blowpipe (Blowjob, as it was often called), and are seen here on Benbecula at the end of Conversion Training in late 1977, prior to moving to Hohne.
Target Drone being readied for launch for 10 Battery, 45 Field Regiment
Taken at Blowpipe Practice Camp, R.A.R.H. in 1978
Target Drone at launch. 10 Battery, 45 Field Regiment Taken at Blowpipe Practice Camp, R.A.R.H. in 1978
Photographs courtesy of Morris Felton