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    British soldiers?


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    Dear Friends.

    Have bought some Austro - Hungarian military photos and this one was between them. are these british soldiers? there is something written on the building, the second word is Barracks but cant read the first one... where can it be? Germany?

    thanks for help

    Ivan

    angl1.jpg

    Edited by Iver
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    Hello!

    I can recognize an "y" at the end of the 1st word.

    Here is a list of the closed british barracks in germany:

    https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_geschlossenen_britischen_Militärstandorte_in_Deutschland

    Here is a list of the present barracks:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Army_installations#Germany

     

    Maybe: Llanelly Barracks in Düsseldorf-Hubbelrath:

    onlineImage.jpg

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    BUT!

    As bigjarofwasps said, the 8th army fought in Itala, later in Austria...

    What about the 8th army signals in Austria?

    http://baor-locations.org/Austria.aspx.html

    http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?f[0]=agentString%3ABritish Army%2C British Troops Austria&query=

    Edited by The Prussian
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    Thanks  GreyC!

    But how does it fit with 8th army?

    Note the 8th army was dissolved after armistice! They served in Italy and came straight up to Austria.

    I can´t see a link to Düsseldorf, i.e. Germany, but the barracks name would fit wonderfully...

    http://baor-locations.org/LlanellyBarracks.aspx.html

    Edited by The Prussian
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    Hello Simon!

    That was my thought too.

    The key could be the date of the photo. Because of the quality I assume, it was taken in the early 50s.

    The 8th army had nothing in common with Germany.

    Do you have any ideas of formations with that cross? The colour could be bright red, green or blue too

    Here I´ve got a table of british patches on the continent and overseas. (post ´45; book from Guido Rosignoli: Rang- und Ehrenabzeichend der Armeen seit 1945)

    The allied command in Austria had a yellow cross too. The British Rhine Army had red or blue crosses.

    Maybe reinforcements from England stopped in Düsseldorf on their way to Austria?

    Please not the patches of the britush 8tzh army. They had not a straight top-line, but a "curved" one.

    https://www.google.de/search?client=firefox-b&tbm=isch&q=patch+british+8th+army&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiAsJ3srPTVAhXRZ1AKHdGLDSIQvwUIIigA&biw=1680&bih=886&dpr=1

    Maybe a polish unit???

    http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/polish-armed-forces-west-polskie-si-y-zbrojne-na-zachodzie-1939-1947/3-dsk-1st-battalion-434567/

    Scannen0001.jpg

    Edited by The Prussian
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    Hello!

    Do you read "Meidling" Barracks? To me it´s Llanelly. Or did the 12th Lancers stop there for a meal on their way to Austria?

    But as far as I know, the 12th Lancers fought in Italy 1943,and they were justt a short time in Austria (1945)

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    On 26/08/2017 at 19:25, The Prussian said:

    Hello Jeryy!

    But what about the fact, the 8th army was dissolved after armistice?

    Perhaps you misunderstood my post, but it is not 8th army, it is British Troops in Austria, (as I posted) and the Occupation Forces were mostly made up of ex 8th army soldiers so they used a very similar badge, in fact they are hard to tell apart.

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    • 3 weeks later...

    Hello everyone,

    The shade of the battledress uniforms seems very dark to me, so I am guessing they are dark blue and that the shoulder title in the picture (blue on red?) reads "M.S.O" for Mixed Service Organisation, a post-war BAOR unit driving lorries, pulling guard duty etc. and initially issued with old BDs dyed a dark brown-blue before they had their own uniforms designed. Many MSO members or "mojos" were Displaced Persons, e.g. former Polish or Yugoslavian soldiers who preferred to stay this side of the Iron Curtain (this might explain why the picture wound up among others from Austria-Hungary). Typical formation signs worn by the MSO were the different British Army of the Rhine variants, in this case it might be Rhine District (BAOR) - a dark blue cross and a yellow shield.(identical to "Hamburg District" in post #14).

    Just my two cents,

    Cheers from Shanghai,

    Robert

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    Hi Andy,

     

     I am referring to information gleaned from "Badges on Battledress", by Lt Col Howard Cole, published in 1953, page 30. Most BAOR formation signs were based on that worn by 21 Army Group (blue cross on a red shield) and had some additional symbols added - with the exception of Hamburg District and Rhine District, which Cole describes as blue on yellow. I do seem to remember the blue/red ones being worn in BAOR, but am still looking for a reference on these.

     

    Best

    Robert

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