JHQ Rheindahlen

JHQ (Joint Headquarters) Rheindahlen was a military base in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany active from 1954 to 2013. It functioned as the main headquarters for British forces in Germany and for the NATO Northern Army Group. Latterly it was also known as the Rheindahlen Military Complex.

Overview

In 1952, work began on the British Forces Maintenance Area West of the Rhine. Part of the project included the construction of a joint British Army and Royal Air Force headquarters for the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in Rheindahlen. Colonel Henry Grattan was Chief Engineer of the construction project. ^[1]

The plan was to construct:

• A main office block 300 yards long by 180 yards wide with three stories providing 2,000 offices
• 65 barracks blocks
• More than 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, sergeants and other enlisted ranks
• Two messes for civilians contracted to the Ministry of Defence

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 Rheindahlen in October 1954, centralising headquarters functions previously located across several towns in Northern Germany. It was originally the HQ of the Northern Army Group (NORTHAG), Second Allied Tactical Air Force (2ATAF), British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) and Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG). In those days, Rheindahlen was populated with British, American, German, Dutch, Belgian, Australian and Canadian military personnel (and in many cases, also their families).

During the 1990s and 2000s, JHQ housed the Headquarters United Kingdom Support Command (Germany), later Headquarters British Forces Germany, which was the administrative HQ of the British Army in Europe. It was also home to the Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps(HQ ARRC), which relocated to Innsworth in Gloucestershire in 2010.

In appearance, JHQ Rheindahlen was more like a medium-size town than a military base, consisting mostly of administrative buildings, living quarters, schools, shops and other areas typical of civilian towns. For much of its existence, there was no security perimeter (although some buildings were fenced and guarded), but later permanent vehicle check points were established at the three main entrances and other vehicular access points were barricaded.

Facilities in the complex included a NAAFI superstore, a full medical and dental centre, several primary schools, one secondary school, several preschools, a travel agent, two post offices and cafes. Organisations represented in the community included the Scouts, Air Training Corps, Home-Start and St. John Ambulance.

HQ British Forces Germany moved to Bielefeld in July 2013. Almost all of the soldiers and their dependents had left the base by August 2013.

The Rheindahlen military complex was handed back to German federal authorities on 13 December 2013.^[2]

Bombing

Thirty-one people were injured on 23 March 1987 after a 300 lb car bomb exploded near the officers' mess.^[3] The IRA later stated it had carried out the bombing.^[3]

See also

• British Army of the Rhine
• Windsor School

References

Coordinates: 51°10′35″N 6°19′18″E / 51.17639°N 6.32167°E / 51.17639; 6.32167