Ferrets in the Berlin Brigade 1977-1980

[Knox Herndon]

I served as a Chaplain in the US Army and was assigned to the Berlin Brigade from 1977-1980 when the Cold War and the Wall were daily reminders of how great our Liberties were.
I am planning to pick up a Ferret and would like to find out the correct Vehicle markings for the British Berlin Brigade. I was the Chaplain for two Infantry Batallions and I also covered the largest US "Tank Company" in the Army. I loved working along side of our British Counterparts. Those were good years and very sharp soldiers amoung all the "Allies." Any information on the markings would be greatly appreciated. I know they had a "circle" that had "Berlin" in the center but I can't remember the colors.
Blessings,
CH (LTC) (RET) Knox Herndon 770-719-2365 USA

[Nick Balmer]

Hello,

You can find a copy of the badge you are looking for if you go to the following URL.

http://history.farmersboys.com/Posti...lin%20DERR.htm

I am afraid my IT skills were not up to copying it across.

There is a museum in Berlin on the Allied Forces there after 1945 that you might like.

http://www.alliiertenmuseum.de/en/0.php

Are you considering painting your Ferret in the Berlin Urban Scheme with all its blacks greys etc. in squares?

Regards

Nick Balmer

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Knox,

This site http://www.ferretscoutcar.info/ might be of help as well.

Regards,
Hanno

[dougiebarder]

Have a look at :-
http://www.emlra.org/articles/berlin%20brigade.htm
It's a landrover site,but it look's to cover all sort's,and there are plenty of link's to look through.

[Knox Herndon]

Originally posted by Nick Balmer
Hello,

You can find a copy of the badge you are looking for if you go to the following URL.

http://history.farmersboys.com/Posti...lin%20DERR.htm

I am afraid my IT skills were not up to copying it across.

There is a museum in Berlin on the Allied Forces there after 1945 that you might like.

Regards

Nick Balmer

[Knox Herndon]

Hey Nick,
No I am not using the "Urban Camo" pattern on the Ferret. My dates with the US Berlin Brigade were 77-80 and they were not using that pattern to my knowledge. It appears from the info you sent me that they Brilts rotated units in and out every three years. Is this correct? If so I need to know what British unit was there during my time there.
Knox

[Nick Balmer]

Hello Knox,

I am not sure of the actual durations units spent in Berlin, but you are probably about right at 3 years.

I am afraid that I don't know enough about these rotations to be able to help you with the names of the units in Berlin at the time you were referring to.

The following website is devoted to Post 1945 British Army operations.

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/main/index1.html

You might find that by emailing them, they can put you in touch with servicemen who served in Berlin who can help.

It cannot of been a lot of fun realising that your role was to act as the first Speed Bump in the way of the Red Army.

Regards

Nick Balmer

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by Knox Herndon
If so I need to know what British unit was there during my time there.

Hi Knox;

What your looking for is which 'Squadron', and from which 'Armoured Regiment' was with the British Berlin Brigade during that time frame. The Berlin Brigade was made up of 3x Infantry Battalions, 1x Armoured Squadron (that would have been detached from it's parent Regiment) and Admin/Log support elements. The Brigade itself was a separate entity and not part of the BAOR. With the amalgamations of British Armoured Regiments since that time, its a bit hard pinpointing an exact 'Squadron' ID for that period, unless you can dig up an Orbat for the Brigade covering that period.

Cheers

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by Knox Herndon
Any information on the markings would be greatly appreciated. I know they had a "circle" that had "Berlin" in the center but I can't remember the colors.

Hi Knox;

The British Army Berlin Brigade crest:

Cheers

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by Knox Herndon
If so I need to know what British unit was there during my time there.

Hi Knox;

Did a bit of digging and found the ID of the parent regiments for the squadrons that were there before and after your time frame of 1977-80, but haven't pinpointed the squadron ID for 1977-80. Anyways, this is what I found:

"B" Squadron, 5th Royal Innikilling Dragoon Guards 1974-1977
"?" Squadron, 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards 1980-1983.

Cheers

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by Knox Herndon
I served as a Chaplain in the US Army and was assigned to the Berlin Brigade from 1977-1980

Knox;

Thought you might find this of interest, the British Infantry Battalions that were component parts of the British Berlin Brigade 1977 - 1980:

1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards - Jul 79 - Apr 81
1st Battalion, Welsh Guards - Jul 78 - Jul 79
2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment - Aug 78 - Jan 81
1st Battalion, The Green Howards - ? 1976 - Sept 78
1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Wales - May 75 - May 77
1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Rangers - Jul 79 - Nov 81
2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment - May 77 - Jul 79
3rd Battalion, The Royal Green Jackets - May 75 - Mar 77

Cheers

[Knox Herndon]

Mark you our amazing with your research abililties. After reading your list of the British Batallions, all of these Unit names flooded my memory.
While we were there, the Russians invaded Afganistan and we were already showing our ID cards to go to the "bathroom" and after te Ruskies invaded, security tightened soo much that if you "changed your mind" you had to show your ID card again!
We seriously thought we were next in line for sure but thanks be to the Good lord and the steadfastness in standing up to the bullies, we with all the Allies, prevailed. I seriously didn't beleive that in my lifetime we would see the wall come down.
Mark is there a way to find outif any of these units had sand and green for their camoflaged Ferrets? I want very much to do that paint scheme however I also very much want it to be historically correct. I noticed thgat one of the units was the "Parachute Regiment." I was also a paratrooper with 156 jumps. I was the Jump School Chaplain at our parachute school at Ft Benniong, Ga. I then went to teh 82nd Abn Div at Ft Bragg NC. My father was the first US Army Glider Chaplain with the 88th GIR.
How can we find out if any of these units had the sand and green paint Scheme? Maybe I will just go ahead and do the Airborne Parachute Regiment. I also went over to England to Aldershot and jumped and got my British Wings. We jumped from an old "Barage Balloon" attached to a military truck with a winch with a cable that was attached to the ballon. It was some serious FUN! Then we went out and did some more jumps with the British Red Devils into a postage stamp sized soccor field.
I proudly wore my British wings on my class A Uniform along with my American Jump Wings. Those were good days.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help. Yo have made my day just reading the names of these Proud Brtish Units again.
Blessings, Knox

[Nick Balmer]

Hello Knox,

The sand and green painted Ferrets were virtually all based at the enormous Suffield Battle Training area in Canada.

This training arear is known as BATUS. The following URL has details and photos of a BATUS Ferret..

http://www.ferretscoutcar.info/membe...tus/batus.html

I don't think any sand and green Ferrets would have been used in Germany in the period you speak of.

The Ferrets in Germany would have been Deep Bronze Green in the main or the black & green scheme otherwise so familiar on British vehicles.

Sand and Green Ferrets served in action in Sharjah in 1962, and also in Oman.

I too am a great fan of the sand and green schemes. Recently I have seen several Warriors in the UK in sand and green. I beleive they are used on Salisbury Plain and possibly elsewhere as OPFOR units.

Regards

Nick Balmer