Mons Barracks
Built - 1934/35
Type - Artillery/Armour.
Original name - Artilleriekaserne Schulstrasse to 1937
Renamed - Winkelman Kaserne from 1937 History - Renamed Winkelman Kaserne after German Artillery Sergeant of WW1.
Used by Tank Regiments until end of WW2
HQ 1st Corps District Signal Regiment 1945-1947 (1)
2nd Infantry Division Engineers May 47- Jul 48 forming
23rd Field Engineer Regiment RE Jul 1948-Oct 1948 (2)
1st Bn King's Oct 1948-1951
(possibly The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment were here before moving to Goslar Jul 52)
1st Bn Royal Leicestershire Regiment Nov 52-1955
1st Bn Worcestershire Regiment 1955-1956
1 Bn Queen's Royal (West Surrey) Regiment 1957-1959
1st Bn The Green Howards (Alexandra’s Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment) 1959-1963 (3)
1st Bn Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret’s Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment) 1964-1967 (4) (5)
3rd Bn The Royal Green Jackets (The Rifle Brigade)1967-1968
Handed over to Canadians in 1968
Handed to Bundeswehr in 1971
(1) The REME LAD for this unit was located in the brickworks that were to the north-west of Argonne Barracks.
(2) Consisting of 2, 5, & 38 Field Squadrons along with 21 Field Park Squadron, moved to Gordon Barracks, Hameln in December 1948. Further details can be found here (3) The Regiment were in Mons Barracks Iserlohn from June 1959 to February 1963 as part of 5 Bde.
(4) Arriving from Aldershot Barracks, Iserlohn. Transferred from 5th Infantry Brigade Group to 4th Guards Brigade Group.
(5) 1st RHF was granted the "Freedom of Iserlohn" in Feb 1967, the first British Regiment to be granted the honour in Germany. During their tour in Deilinghofen (1979 - 1984) they were invited to march again through Iserlohn, and did so in line with their "Freedom", with Bayonets fixed, Drums beating, Colours flying..
Note:
5th Infantry Brigade moved to Tidworth to become part of 3rd Infantry Division in May 1964.
4th Guards Brigade Group moved from Llanelly Barracks Hubblerath to Aldershot Barracks Iserlohn May 1964.
Originally built by the Nazi's prior to WWII, Winkelman Kaserne had been created as a flak kaserne to accommodate those troops whose task it was to defend the Ruhr Valley from the Allied Bomber raids. On 16 April 1945, Iserlohn capitulated to the Americans to prevent its destruction. On becoming part of the British Sector the barracks were renamed Mons Barracks, after Mons, which was the site of the first battle fought by the British Army in World War I. It was handed over to the Canadians and christened Fort Qu’Appelle in 1968.
Handed back to the Bundeswehr in 1971, the Barracks were used by Fallschirmjägerbataillone (Paratroopers) until the 1990's when the Barracks were converted for civilian use.
Photographs connected to Mons Barracks can be found here.