British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was the name given to

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

occupation forces in the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, after the First and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

s, and during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, becoming part of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) tasked with defending the

North German Plain The North German Plain or Northern Lowland () is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the north, Germany's ...

from the armies of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

. The BAOR constituted the bulk of British forces in West Germany, and was a part of British Forces Germany (BFG). British Forces Germany consisted of elements of the three service branches of the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...

based in West Germany; BAOR controlled Army units stationed there.

History

1919–1929

The first British Army of the Rhine was created in March 1919 to implement the

occupation of the Rhineland The Occupation of the Rhineland placed the region of Germany west of the Rhine river and four bridgeheads to its east under the control of the victorious Allies of World War I from 1December 1918 until 30June 1930. The occupation was imposed a ...

. It was originally composed of five corps, composed of two divisions each, plus a cavalry division: II Corps: commanded by

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Claud Jacob :*Light Division (formed from 2nd Division): commanded by Major-General George Jeffreys :*Southern Division (formed from 29th Division): commanded by Major-General William Heneker IV Corps: commanded by Sir

Alexander Godley General (United Kingdom), General Sir Alexander John Godley, (4 February 1867 – 6 March 1957) was a senior British Army officer. He is best known for his role as commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and II Anzac Corps during the ...

:*Lowland Division (formed from 9th (Scottish) Division) :*Highland Division (formed from

62nd (2nd West Riding) Division The 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that saw active service on the Western Front during the First World War. History During the First World War the division fought on the Western Front at Bulle ...

) VI Corps: commanded by Sir Aylmer Haldane :*Northern Division (formed from 3rd Division) :*London Division (formed from 41st Division) IX Corps: commanded by Sir Walter Braithwaite and later by

Ivor Maxse General (United Kingdom), General Sir Frederick Ivor Maxse, (22 December 1862 – 28 January 1958) was a senior British Army Officer (armed forces), officer who fought during the World War I, First World War, best known for his innovative and ef ...

:*Western Division (formed from 1st Division) :*Midland Division (formed from 6th Division) X Corps: commanded by Sir Thomas Morland :*Lancashire Division (formed from 32nd Division) :*Eastern Division (formed from 34th Division) Cavalry Division (formed from 1st Cavalry Division) Most of these units were progressively dissolved, so that by February 1920, there were only regular battalions: :*1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment :*4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment :*2nd Battalion Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) :*1st Battalion

Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...

:*3rd Battalion Middlesex Regiment :*1st Battalion Durham Light Infantry In August 1920,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

, as Secretary of State for War, told

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

that the BAOR was made up of approximately 13,360 troops, consisting of staff, cavalry,

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

, infantry, machine gun corps, tanks, and the usual ancillary services. The troops were located principally in the vicinity of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

at an approximate cost per month of £300,000. '' The Cologne Post'' was a newspaper published for members of the BAOR during this period. From 1922 the BAOR was organised into two brigades: 1st Rhine Brigade :*1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers 1922 to 1926 :*1st Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment 1922 to 1926 :*2nd Battalion Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders 1922 to 1926 :* 1st Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment 1922 to 1924 :*2nd Battalion

Royal Berkshire Regiment The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was created in 1881, as the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment), by ...

1926 to 1928 :*2nd Battalion

Royal Welch Fusiliers The Royal Welch Fusiliers () was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the Prince of Wales's Division, that was founded in 1689, shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated a fusilier regiment and becam ...

Nov 1926 to Oct 1929 :*2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment 1926 to 1928 2nd Rhine Brigade :*2nd Battalion

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) was a Light infantry, light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1959. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd ( ...

1922 to 1924 :*1st Battalion

King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) was a Light infantry, light infantry regiment of the British Army. It officially existed from 1881 to 1968, but its predecessors go back to 1755. In 1968, the regiment was amalgamated with the Somers ...

1922 to 1924 :*2nd Battalion

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United Sta ...

1922 to 1925 :*1st Battalion

Royal Ulster Rifles The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an light infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal ...

1922 to 1926 :*1st Battalion Manchester Regiment 1923 to 1924 :*2nd Battalion

King's Shropshire Light Infantry The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in the Childers Reforms of 1881, but with antecedents dating back to 1755. It served in the Second Boer War, World War I, World War II and Korea ...

1924 to 1927 :*1st Battalion Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry 1925 to 1927 :*2nd Battalion

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many war ...

1926 to 1929 :*2nd Battalion Leicestershire Regiment 1927 to 1929 :*2nd Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment 1928 to 1929

Commanders-in-chief

The commanders were: *

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Lord Plumer 1918 to 1919 *General Sir William Robertson 1919 to 1920 *General Sir Thomas Morland 1920 to 1922 *General Sir

1922 to 1924 *General Sir John Du Cane 1924 to 1927 *General Sir

William Thwaites General Sir William Thwaites, (9 June 1868 – 22 June 1947) was a British Army officer who served as commander of the British Army of the Rhine. Early life and education Thwaites was born in Kensington, the son of William Thwaites of Durham V ...

1927 to 1929

Cold War (1945–1991)

Field Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein Kg Gcb Dso 1887-1976 BU10221

The Warrior of British Forces in Germany

The second British Army of the Rhine was formed on 25 August 1945 from the British Liberation Army. Its original function was to control the corps districts which were running the military government of the British zone of

Allied-occupied Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sov ...

. After the assumption of government by civilians, it became the command formation for the troops in

only, rather than being responsible for administration as well. As the potential threat of

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

invasion across the

into

increased, BAOR became more responsible for the defence of West Germany than its occupation. It became the primary formation controlling the British contribution to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, after the formation of the alliance in 1949. Its primary combat formation was British I Corps. From 1952, the commander-in-chief of the BAOR was also the commander of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) in the event of a general war with the Soviet Union and its

allies. The BAOR's 50 Missile Regiment Royal Artillery was formerly armed with

tactical nuclear weapon A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon (NSNW) is a nuclear weapon that is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations, mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territ ...

s, including the

MGM-52 Lance The MGM-52 Lance was a mobile field artillery tactical surface-to-surface missile (tactical ballistic missile) system used to provide both W70, nuclear and conventional fire support to the United States Army. The missile's warhead was developed ...

surface-to-surface tactical nuclear missile. In 1967, the force was reduced in strength to 53,000 soldiers, compared with 80,000, ten years earlier.

Post 1994

With the end of the

, the 1993

Options for Change Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War. Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces ...

defence cuts resulted in BAOR being reduced in size, and in 1994 it became British Forces Germany (BFG). This force, roughly 25,000 strong, was divided between

Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) is a rapid reaction force maintained by NATO. It is capable of deploying a High Readiness Force (Land) Headquarters at short notice for operations and crisis response. History The ARRC was created on 1 ...

, 1st Armoured Division, other combat support and combat service support forces, and administrative elements headed by United Kingdom Support Command (Germany). Garrisons which closed at this time included Soest (home of the 6th Armoured Brigade),

Soltau Soltau () is a mid-sized town in the Lüneburg Heath in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has around 22,000 inhabitants. The city is centrally located in the Lüneburg Heath and is known nationwide especially for its touri ...

(home of the 7th Armoured Brigade), and

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

(home of the 11th Armoured Brigade). Following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the permanent deployment of British Army units in Germany was reduced. The last military base was handed to the German

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

in February 2020.

Commanders-in-chief

The commanders were: *Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery 1945 to 1946 *Lieutenant General Sir Richard McCreery 1946 to 1948 *Lieutenant General Sir Brian Horrocks 1948 *Lieutenant General Sir Charles Keightley 1948 to 1951 *General Sir John Harding 1951 to 1952 *General Sir Richard Gale 1952 to 1957 *General Sir Dudley Ward 1957 to 1960 *General Sir James Cassels 1960 to 1963 *General Sir William Stirling 1963 to 1966 *General Sir John Hackett 1966 to 1968 *General Sir

Desmond Fitzpatrick General Sir Geoffrey Richard Desmond Fitzpatrick, (14 December 1912 – 12 October 2002) was a senior British Army officer who served as commander of the British Army of the Rhine and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe. After his retireme ...

1968 to 1970 *General Sir Peter Hunt 1970 to 1973 *General Sir Harry Tuzo 1973 to 1976 *General Sir Frank King 1976 to 1978 *General Sir

William Scotter General (United Kingdom), General Sir William Norman Roy Scotter, (9 February 1922 – 5 February 1981) was a senior British Army officer who served as commander-in-chief, British Army of the Rhine from September 1978 until October 1980. Early l ...

1978 to 1980 *General Sir Michael Gow 1980 to 1983 *General Sir Nigel Bagnall 1983 to 1985 *General Sir Martin Farndale 1985 to 1987 *General Sir Brian Kenny 1987 to 1989 *General Sir Peter Inge 1989 to 1992 *General Sir Charles Guthrie 1992 to May 1994 (command disbanded)

Garrisons

* Bergen-Hohne Garrison * Osnabrück Garrison * Westfalen Garrison

Notes

References

* * * * * *

External links

*
Royal Engineers Museum
Royal Engineers and the British Army of the Rhine

British Army of the Rhine locations
British Army Locations from 1945
British Army locations from 1945 {{Authority control British forces in Germany A British Army deployments Allied occupation of Germany Military units and formations established in 1945 Military units and formations disestablished in 1994

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

1945 establishments in Germany 1994 disestablishments in Germany Military units and formations of the British Empire in World War II

History

1919–1929

Commanders-in-chief

Cold War (1945–1991)

Post 1994

Commanders-in-chief

Garrisons

See also

Notes

References

External links