I had a grandfather which worked for the British Army in Oldenburg post war approx. 45 - 50 ?. I just wondered if they kept some form of record of those German personnel?. He would have been an administrator of some kind and spoke English.
Welcome to the Forum. Interesting question. My father worked for the Brotish Army in Hannover as a plummer. Stefan.
Carl, Yesterday I visited the national Army Museum and spent time their current exhibition till 2024 on the BAOR. One display showed how many UK civil and military personnel were there, plus German employees. See: Foe to Friend: The British Army in Germany since 1945 | National Army Museum I would expect there are records somewhere in the MoD Archives, most of which if retained will be in the National Archives @ Kew, London. Others can advise on this option.
The man to ask is Historic Steve, whose passion is reflected in this thread: New website - britisharmyingermany.com He was logged on six weeks ago. You can have a 'Conversation' with him via PM only after five posts, so in a moment I will ask him to look at this thread. He may know which units were based at Oldenburg then. You could then see if regimental journals refer to him. Didn't the Federal German authorities take responsibility for German civilian staff pensions? Assuming there were pensions. Have you tried an online search for "oldenburg" + "his name" maybe + "british army"?
Thanks again for the sign post David, enough to get on with for now. The suggestion about FGR is interesting though I have no idea how long he worked in the British Zone, my impression is that it was not a pensionable job more of a role borne out basic familial necessity.
A very difficult task I am not the person for tracing people, Oldenburg had a large number of units passing through, the higher command was as follows: VE Day 8 May 45 – 2nd Canadian Infantry Division with British units under command 26 May 45 – 4th Army Group Royal Artillery 1 Feb 46 – 2th/9th (Highland) Canadian Infantry Brigade of 3rd Canadian Infantry Division (CAOF) (Canadian Army Occupation Force) 15 May 46 – 155th Infantry Brigade of 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division 15 Jul 46 – HQ Royal Artillery 7th Armoured Division 15 Jan 48 – Hannover District There were several minor units including Military Government Detachments, listings of civilians is very unlikely. 969 Pioneer and Civilian Labour Unit redesignated 13 Pioneer and Civilian Labour Unit on 25 Aug 45 may have records, however have been unable to find a reference on Discovery | The National Archives 21st Army Group later British Army of the Rhine (under construction)
Steve / David many thanks to you both for your time and thoughts it was always going to be a long shot. Best Wishes to you both.
My father also worked in Oldenburg for BAOR between 1945 - 1950. He had been a soldier in the 53rd Welsh Infantry.Division In 1948 he married my Mum who was from Oldenburg. I am planning a trip to Oldenburg and am trying to find out where the BAOR barracks were. I have a letter that Dad wrote to his brother from Oldenburg dated 1947 and there is a military address on the letter that is a list of abbreviations (please see attached) that were used at the time but are probably make no sense now. Can anyone with military abbreviation knowledge help? Many thanks. Carl Basson, I hope you find more information on your Grandfather. Funny to think he may have known my Dad!
The place I use to check military abbreviations this time does not help. See: WW2 Abbreviations and Acronyms | Researching the Lives and Records of WW2 Soldiers CCG suggests Civil Coordination Group NCTC no real clues
1001 Military Government Control Commission Germany Headquarters North German Timber Control British Army of the Rhine
By 1946 the Military Government organisation was removed from the BAOR Order of Battle, so have paused my research there. HQ North German Timber Control was in Hamburg by Aug 46 with 10 offices throughout the British Zone, regarding Oldenburg there were numerous military government detachments normally based in Churchill House the former Adolph Hitler Haus, Ratsherr-Schulze-Straße 10, along with other requestioned civilian buildings and not in Barracks. On checking, 1001 Military Government Detachment as at 2 Aug 45 was in Northeim in the south of Lower Saxony, do not have any later information. Hope this helps 21st Army Group later British Army of the Rhine (under construction)
