Updated 3 September 2024
Landkreis Plön was the responsibility of the following higher formations:
8th Corps
8th Corps District 11 Jun 45
Guards Division 6 Apr 46
Hamburg District 31 Dec 46
2nd/16th Independent Parachute Brigade Group was responsible for Schleswig Holstein from 12 Mar 48 – relieved by a Norwegian Army Brigade Sep 48 to Apr 53
No major units recorded
Requisitioned civilian accommodation
HQ 6th Guards Armoured Brigade 1945 (1)
4th Battalion Armoured Grenadier Guards 1945 (2)
4th Battalion Armoured Coldstream Guards 1945 (3)
3rd Battalion Armoured Scots Guards 1945 (4)
261 Forward Delivery Squadron RAC 1945 (5)
63rd Anti-Tank Regiment RA 1945 (6)
144 Battery – 146 Battery – 249 Battery – 251 Battery
7th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany’s) 1945 (7)
HQ 8th Corps District arrived 1945-1946 (8)
1st East Riding Yeomanry RAC 1945-1946 (9)
4th Armoured Brigade 1945-1946 (10)
3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) RAC 1945-1946 (11)
44th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment RAC 1945-1946 (12)
271 Forward Delivery Squadron RAC 1945-1946 (13)
HQ Guards Division 1946-1947 (14)
(1) arrived from Lübeck 8 May 45 – area Plön – Connaught Barracks 12 May 45
(2) arrived from Lübeck 9 May 45 – Schloss Salzau north of Pöln – redesignated 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards 19 Jun 45 – moved to Mechernich south-west of Euskirchen 20 Jun 45
(3) arrived from Lübeck 8 May 45 – Eiderstede Bordesholm west of Pöln – pm Stadtkreis Kiel – Kirchbarkau 10 May 45 – Schloss Bothkamp both west of Pöln 12 May 45 – redesignated 4th Battalion Coldstream Guards 19 Jun 45 – moved to Monschau south-east Aachen 20 Jun 45
(4) arrived from Lübeck 10 May 45 – Lütjenburg and Helmstdorf both north-east of Plön – Ascheberg west of Plön 18 May 45 – redesignated 3rd Battalion Scots Guards 19 Jun 45 – moved to Billiger Wald south-west of Euskirchen 20 Jun 45
(5) arrived from Lübeck 8 May 45 – area Plön – Güterbahnhof (Goods Railway Station) Plön 13 May 45 – Connaught Barracks
(6) arrived from Lübeck 12 May 45 – School Laboe north-west of Plön VC672445 – moved to Kiel 29 May 45
(7) arrived from Kiel 24 May 45 – School Laboe north-west of Plön – moved to Bad Kleinen north-east of Schwerin 9 Jun 45
(8) from Molfsee south-west of Kiel 11 Jun 45 – Schloss Plön – relieved by Guards Division 6 Apr 46 – disbanded 5 Jun 46
(9) arrived from Netherlands 15 Jun 45 – Kurpark Laboe north-west of Plön – suspended animation 1 Mar 46
(10) arrived from Halstenbek north-west of Hamburg 18 Jun 45 – Plöner Chaussee Ascheberg west of Plön – relieved by Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons) RAC 3 Mar 46 – disbanded 11 Mar 46
(11) arrived from Elmshorn north-west of Hamburg 18 Jun 45 – Gut Lehmkuhlen north of Ascheberg – moved to Schleswig 1 Mar 46
(12) arrived from Uetersen north-west of Hamburg 18 Jun 45 – Gut Schönweide north-east of Ascheberg – less Battalion 5 Oct 45 – disbanded 18 Feb 46
(13) arrived from Tornesch north-west of Hamburg 18 Jun 45 – Preetz north-west of Ascheberg – disbanded 3 Mar 46
(14) arrived from Bad Godesberg 6 Apr 46 – Am Bootshafen Plön – Connaught Barracks 6 May 46 – relieved by HQ Schleswig-Holstein Sub Area 31 Dec 46 – disbanded 10 Jan 47
Squadrons/Batteries/Companies were at various locations
More to follow
Source: 21st Army Group later British Army of the Rhine to Mar 49
Part II (amended)
The small picturesque medieval market town of Plön, a town of about 13,000 inhabitants, is in Schleswig-Holstein and is is situated midway between Lübeck and Kiel. It is the administrative centre for the surrounding prosperous agricultural (mainly dairy farms) Kreis (County). The actual town is surrounded by hills and lakes, hence the alternative name for the area of Holsteinische Schweitz (Holstein’s Little Switzerland). The town is also dominated by an imposing 17th century castle, one of the former residences of the Dukes of Schleswig Holstein.
In 1937 the German Navy purchased a large farm and adjacent land on the shores of the Grosser Plöner See for the creation of an initial training establishment for recruits for the increasing numbers of Kriegsmarine warships based in Kiel. In 1940 its role changed and it became the training centre for submarine crews destined for the U Boat fleet based mainly in occupied France. A secondary role was to provide Rest and Recreation facilities for the survivors of the Battle of the Atlantic. Some sources claim that early development of the rocket systems ultimately known as the V1 and V2 Flying Bombs was carried out in the area.
In April 1945 Hitler, by then besieged in the Führer Bunker in Berlin, appointed Grand Admiral Doenitz as his Deputy and Successor. Doenitz established an alternative Government and military Headquarters in Plön but was forced to move further north to the Flensburg area to avoid capture by the units of the advancing British 8th Corps immediately prior to the German Surrender.
Their replacement was the Royal Navy, HMS Royal Alfred, Headquarters of the Flag Officer (subsequently Senior Naval Officer) Schleswig Holstein responsible for the overall command of the many RN establishments operating throughout Schleswig Holstein and the Western Baltic waters. In June 1946 the Royal Navy returned to Kiel.
The Barracks was officially renamed Connaught Barracks after the Duke of Connaught a distinguished Guards Officer, The Guards Division disbanded in January 1947 but a small Headquarters renamed Headquarters Schleswig Holstein Sub Area remained, this too moved in February 1948 and the site was quickly adapted as a secondary boarding school for the children of Servicemen and Entitled Civilians stationed throughout BAOR.
King Alfred School Plön, probably in its time the most successful of all the BFES Boarding Schools, was home to some 4,500 pupils and staff and closed in July 1959 due to ever increasing costs, declining demand for boarding school education and its relative isolation from the future 1 (BR) Corps major Garrisons. The pupils for the future Windsor Girls School used the facilities for the Autumn 1959 Term whilst work to convert the former Newcastle Barracks Hamm was completed.
In 1960 the site was handed back to the German Federal authorities and Bundesmarine in particular. It was named Marine Unteroffizier Schule (MUS) and reopened in its original role as the major Training establishment and Centre of Excellence for the German Navy, a function which continues to this day.
JPW
Establishments known to have been based in the town include
HMS ROYAL ALFRED June 1945 – June 1946
King Alfred School May 1948 – July 1959
Windsor Girls School September – December 1959