Corps History - Part 18
The Corps and British Army of the Rhine (1945-80)

Division of Germany by the victors - 1945-48

The Commanders-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the occupation Army in each zone were individually responsible for the governance of their zone. Berlin, an enclave in the Russian zone (East Germany), was likewise divided into four zones, each administered by one of the victors (see Part 19).

In 1948 Marshall Aid was made available to West Germany and in the following year political power began to be devolved from the military governments to the newly elected German Federal Parliament, located in Bonn, West Germany. Under these developments, General (later Lord) Sir Brian H Robertson (late RE), the C-in-C of British Forces Germany and Military Governor of the British zone became the first British High Commissioner for West Germany.

Creation of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) - 1945

British Army on the Rhine (BAOR) was formed on 25 August 1945 from 21 Army Group. Its original function was to control the corps districts which were running the military government of the British zone of occupied Germany. After the assumption of government by civilians in 1948, it became the command formation for the British troops in Germany.

As the Cold War (see Part 19) intensified, BAOR became more responsible for the defence of West Germany than its occupation. After the formation of the alliance known as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) (see Part 19) in 1949 BAOR became the primary formation controlling the British contribution to NATO. Its primary combat formation was 1 (BR) Corps. From 1952, in the event of a general war with the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact (formed in 1955), the commander-in-chief of the BAOR also acted as the commander of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) .

The 1993 'Options for Change' defence cuts resulted in BAOR being replaced by the 25,000 strong British Forces Germany (BFG) in 1994.

The Corps in post-war German rehabilitation 1945-50

Immediately after the surrender of Nazi Germany, in the British zone, the Royal Engineers were tasked with the supervision of 'getting Germany back on its feet'. They supervised the reinstatement of public utilities (water and electricity) and the reconstruction of roads, bridges and railways, in many cases using German Army engineer and transportation units. German municipal engineers took on the maintenance of many of the Bailey bridges that had survived the war and began to replace them by permanent structures.

Because there was an urgent need for mapping and survey data to administer the British zone, Royal Engineer surveyors were called upon to assist in the rehabilitation of the German mapping, however by 1948 the German civilian survey and mapping was working essentially under their own management.

Royal Engineer Transportation units were employed re-establishing German railways and ports, and in some cases actually operating them.

Organisation of Field Engineers - 1945-80

Early organisation of the Field Engineers - 1945-52

After the war the Army strength in Germany was rundown as follows:

• December 1945 - Three corps of thirteen divisions.
• 1947 - Three divisions.
• January 1948 - one division (2 Infantry Division).

Such a reduction had obvious consequences on the field units of the Royal Engineers, the squadrons in those divisions which disbanded were mostly placed into suspended animation and their manpower absorbed elsewhere. The some of the units that survived were:

• 2 Infantry Division RE - became 23 Field Engineer Regiment.
• 7 Armoured Division RE - formed 1 Engineer Training Establishment, Hameln.
• 5 Infantry Division RE - reorganised as 23 Field Engineer Regiment
• 30 Army Troops Engineers returned to the UK in 1947.
• 32 Assault Engineer Regiment returned to the UK in 1948
• 29 Army Troops Engineers returned to the UK in 1948

After the Berlin Blockade (1948) (see Part 19) it was apparent that the Soviets posed a threat and in June 1949 the British started to rebuild the strength of BAOR as follows:

• June 1949 - 7 Armoured Division reformed (its first commander was the engineer General Sir Charles 'Splosh' Jones) - 21 Field Engineer Regiment was raised in Holzminden as the Division's engineers, the manpower came from 1 Engineer Training Establishment which was closed.
• Autumn 1950 - 11 Armoured Division reformed - 26 Field Engineer Regiment was formed in Hameln as the Division's engineers. To make room at Hameln 21 Field Engineer Regiment moved to Neinburg.
• April 1951 - 11 Engineer Group was formed to provide engineer support at Corps level.

1 (British) Corps (1 (BR) Corps) was formed in the summer of 1951 by combining the three divisions (2 Infantry, 7 and 11 Armoured Divisions).

Organisation of Field Engineer Units in 1952

In Autumn 1951 a Canadian Brigade Group arrived in Germany to strengthen NATO forces. Its engineers, 58 Independent Field Squadron, RCE was accommodated with 26 Field Engineer Regiment RE at Hameln, but later moved to the Canadian Brigade Group area around Werl and Soest.

Training with Close Support Raft Hameln 1953

Training with Class 9 Folding Boat Equipment Raft Hameln 1953

Organisation of Field Engineer Units in 1960

By 1960 each brigade within the divisions had its own field squadrons and each division had its own field park squadron. Additional support was provided by the Army and Corps engineer regiments within the 11 Engineer Group.

National Service enabled the BAOR field squadrons to have two officers per troop, however by 1962 the last of the National Service soldiers had left and as a consequence the field squadrons were reorganised to accommodate the change. Each troop had just one officer, but the troop sergeant was upgraded to staff sergeant and an extra sergeant was added.

In 1961 the brigade field squadrons reverted to divisional CRE command though many remained dispersed in their brigade areas. They were gathered together as engineer regiments in 1965, the Divisional CREs being the commanding officers of the regiment.

The Light Wheeled Tractor (LWT) was issued to field squadrons in 1961, which helped to speed up many of the engineering tasks in the field.

As the 1960's progressed it was evident that the Warsaw Pact was amassing tanks, which NATO forces countered with their move towards mobility and armoured vehicles. In the late 1960's the field squadrons were equipped with the FV 432 (a tracked armoured personnel carrier (APC)). The vehicle provided greater mobility, as well as, a power source for driving a whole range of electrical tools. It was also adapted as a tractor for pulling the new bar-minelayer.

Armoured Engineers

In September 1957 26 Armoured Engineer Squadron RE, equipped with Churchill Armoured Vehicles RE (AVRE) Arks, Flails, Bridgelayers and No 3 Tank Bridges moved back to BAOR. In 1963 the Squadron was equipped with No 5 Tank Bridge.

Armoured engineer capability was enhanced in 1965 when 2 Field Squadron RE was converted to form 2 Armoured Engineer Squadron RE. In the same year 32 Armoured Engineer Regiment was reformed with 2 and 26 Armoured Engineer Squadrons.

Centurion AVRE crossing an ARK on exercise in Germany - 1970s (Photo: IWM)

Centurion Bridgelayer laying a No 6 Tank Bridge on exercise in Germany - 1970s (Photo: IWM)

Organisation of Field Engineer Units in 1970

Through the late 1950s and early 1960s bridge and ferry development had to keep pace with the rapidly increasing loads, particularly tanks, that came into service to meet the Warsaw Pact threat. At the sametime construction time had to be reduced to match increasing battlefield mobility. A solution was amphibious bridging, which had been was first muted during the Second World War (1939-45), but was not pursued in the 1960s the idea was resuscitated.

Amphibious Engineers

In May 1962 1 Troop, 50 Field Squadron RE was reformed as 23 Amphibious River Crossing Cadre, equipped with seven French EWK-Gillois amphibious bridges for trials. The trials proved encouraging and the Cadre was expanded into 23 Amphibious Engineer Squadron RE in 1963.

However, in June 1962 information came to light that convinced Staff that the German M2 Amphibious Bridging and Ferry Equipment was more suited to British requirements. By 1964 23 Amphibious Engineer Squadron RE was training with M2 rigs borrowed from the Bundeswehr (West German Army).

In early 1970 sufficient modified M2B rigs were available for 23 Amphibious Engineer Squadron RE to be divided into three troops each holding eight rigs. In April 1971 28 Amphibious Engineer Regiment was formed with 23 Amphibious Engineers Squadron RE and two new squadrons - 64 and 73 Amphibious Engineer Squadron RE.

Organisation of Field Engineer Units in 1980

In 1979 3 Division was deployed to BAOR giving 1 (BR) Corps four divisions, shortly afterwards, in 1981, 2 Division was sent back to the UK.

The Combat Engineer Tractor (CET) was brought in service with the field squadron in BAOR in 1978. It was the first such machine since the Second World War to be designed specifically for engineer use. It was capable of performing tasks in close support of mechanised troops. it had a 1.7 cubic metre bucket, was fully amphibious, could carry a rocket-propelled earth anchor and had fittings for towing Giant Viper and laying trackway.

Field Training

First Exercise - 1949 - The first real BAOR field training (exercise or manoeuvres) took place in 1949. The exercise was designed to train for the halting and repelling of a invasion by Soviet forces, a scenario that was to be acted out, until the end of the Cold War in 1991, by successive generations of soldiers in BAOR. For field engineers this generally meant deploying before their parent formation to prepare the obstacle plan, which included laying minefields, preparing demolitions and other works to enable their formation to move and fight in their allocated areas.

Engineer Resources

In 1952 various Royal Engineer stores, workshop and plant park units were formed into the 40 Advanced Engineers Stores Regiment (based Willich near Krefeld) to manage the engineer resources required by the engineer units of 1 (BR) Corps. The regiment came under command of the Chief Engineer BAOR.

By 1960 the Regiment was rationalised to three squadrons: 41 Plant Park Squadron, 21 and 46 Workshop and Park Squadrons. By 1970 the Regiment's title was changed to 40 Army Support Regiment and was further reduced to just two squadrons. By 1980 the Regiment had been disbanded and only 21 Army Support Squadron remained.

Work Services

Barracks - By the beginning of 1950 the Royal Engineer works tasks centred on the housing of British troops which involved the rehabilitation of German barracks, as well as building new barracks. The largest of these projects was the construction of the Hohne Barracks at Lüneberg Heath (the place where Field Marshal Montgomery accepted the German surrender).

Married quarters - The provision of married quarters for service personnel was another works responsibility. By the mid-1950s some 1,100 quarters had been provided by the German authorities under RE supervision and a further 250 quarters were under construction but the demand for housing was increasing. This demand led to the formulation of Operation Build, whereby future married quarters were planned and constructed by the Germans themselves on the understanding that if and when they were not required for British families they would be de-requisitioned and handed over to the local German authorities.

Headquarters BAOR

In 1952 work began on the British Forces Maintenance Area West of the Rhine part of the project included the construction of a joint (Army/RAF) headquarters for BAOR in Rheindalen. Colonel H Grattan (late RE) was appointed Chief Engineer (CE) of this project, the plan was to construct:

• a main office block 300yds long by 180yds wide with three storeys providing 2,000 offices.
• 65 barracks blocks
• over 1,100 married quarters, all heated by district heating.
• infant and secondary schools
• three churches
• two cinemas
• a swimming pool to Olympic standards
• sports fields
• a NAAFI building and shops
• officers' messes with single quarters
• officers' club
• five dining halls,
• clubs for warrant officers and sergeants and for other ranks.

The complex was designed to accommodate over 7,000 British and Allied service personnel and a civilian population (mostly German) of about 2,500 for ancillary services: a township approaching a population of 10,000.

HQ BAOR moved from Bad Oeynhausen to its new HQ at Rheindahlen in October 1954.

Survey

At the end of the war the establishment of the Royal Engineers' Survey branch reflected the monumental task of keeping the fast moving Armies supplied with survey data and maps from Normandy to the Baltic. There were four field survey companies, six general survey sections, five map reproduction sections and four field survey depots. By 1948, these had been reduce to two units:

• 14 Field Survey Squadron RE based at Minden, which after several moves settled in Mönchen-Gladbach in 1958.
• 3 Army Field Survey Depot RE at Bielefeld

Movement Control and Transportation 1945-65

Still under development

Postal

Still under development

History of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vol X and XI (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 1986 and 1993)

A Short History. The Royal Engineers. Compiled by Maj DP Aston RE (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 1993)

Follow the Sapper. Napier G (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 2005)