12 Ordnance Company - Quebec Barracks (Osnabruck) 1987-1989

I had moved my personal household belongings up to Osnabruck 3 weeks before starting work, this would enable me to get settled in my married quarter well in advance, all I needed to to do now was set up a bank account, the pay sergeant Stu Russell said there was no Spaarkasse branch in the area (I later found out this was Boll**ks) and would have to go with the Commerze Banks (Army Bank), ok so I went ahead with it, gave him my details so my pay would go to new bank, just a slight snag, Stu gave the pay office in UK the wrong account number. This was the last thing I needed, it took 3 weeks to sort out, causing lots of problems (thanks Stu) for nothing. I had been warned off that the OC Major Tim Cross might want me in work before my leave finished so kept clear of camp (Quebec Barracks), 12 Ord had not long moved there from Scarborough Barracks near the centre of Osnabruck and no longer had the luxury of such a large real estate, so things may appear a bit squashed after re location.

My first day and I bump into someone I detested already, he had been my boss in Hong Kong (I'll just call him GOPWO) he was the Admin Officer, bit of a brown nose'r to get through the ranks, however, the OC Major Tim Cross (Timbo) was great, looked after the lads, and they all respected him, even if he did arrange church parades on exercises out in the middle of nowhere. I also knew CSM McGrath, I worked with Paul at 3 BAD and we got on well, he was ex Irish Guards, keen as mustard and very fit, we did meet again in Corsham HQ for 9 Ordnance Battalion where Paul was the RSM.

Shiny 12 Ord Coy - Scarborough Barracks - Tim Cross - Best OC

Major General Tim Cross

12 Ord had a reputation as the "Shiny 12" for it's technical ability and standard of fitness, everyone had to pass their Basic Fitness Test in under 10 minutes irrespective of age, no problems there then. The Sergeant's Mess was a mixture of all cap badges so became the Garrison Mess, the functions were generally very good, but on one occasion (Summer Ball) where we were in tented eating area's outside the mess and the heavens opened up, what a disaster.

What really p*ssed me off was before another Summer Ball an American military jet crashed in southern Germany, all mess functions were cancelled, nothing to do with us, a signal was sent to all units, non of this or that and no playing happy music in case it upset the locals, especially "Those magnificent men in their flying machines" and NO, I'm not making this up, it did happen, only us British could go along with something as ridiculous as that. Imagine the uproar caused, relatives coming over from the UK, new dresses for the wives (Couldn't possibly wear the same one twice!), hair do's, babysitters, what a shambles, and not our fault. The Raffle (Draw) still went ahead though at lunchtime in the mess, but not to be outdone, the roller drum with the tickets inside broke apart, unbelievable!. I couldn't win a kiss in a brothel!!.

There was one officer who arrived just before me, nicknamed Tweeky (after Buck Rogers in the 25th Century) but looked and acted like Edmund Blackadder, he and me instantly disliked each other, just as well Tim Cross (Timbo) was there, he kept this selfish little hitler in check, bit of a petrol head in more ways than one. Our married quarter was in a small place called Lotte, it was clean but the area was gloomy, situated near a small village where the locals tended to avoid us, unfortunately we had some bad elements on our patch. Osnabruck was the largest military garrison in Germany, far too many soldiers, and far too many disagreements with the local population, spoiling it for the rest of us, so I tended not to venture downtown very much.

Not so Shiny 12 Ord Coy - Quebec Barracks - Kerr - Worst OC

We had some real funny characters in 12 Ord, and some right tossers too, at all levels, however, life was just dandy until Timbo (Tim Cross) got posted, then everything went downhill including the moral, the new OC a former staff officer didn't have a clue how to run a unit, he was more concerned about image, thought he was God. He was tidying his garden of Autumn leaves, piled them up and poured some flammable liquid on, no luck it wouldn't light, he turned away, then back again, Wumph!! flash burns to his face. We asked him to do the honours on Guy Fawks night by lighting the camp bonfire, unfortunately he declined the offer, pity really, he was a flaming nuisance. The shiny 12 was by now just a fading memory.

I found that some individuals here (of all ranks) were too full of their own self importance, brown nosing up to people like tweaky / gopwo, undermining authority and prone to sticking knives into backs. Things got much worse under the new OC, with him, tweaky and gopwo the moral had sunk lower than whaleshit, I should've moved sooner when manning & records (Major Brian Downs) asked me to transfer to Commando Ordnance Squadron, but we live and learn. I soon learned that taking work home and popping into work on saturday mornings was not appreciated by the so called hierarchy, especially at home!!, there were at least 12 marriage breakdowns, 2 potential suicides, and later one rising star did top himself, albeit after he was posted out. The shiny 12 ??, living off past reputations, I found out afterwards (late 1989) moral had slumped even further, no surprise there then.

As the OC wasn't that popular, one Wednesday afternoon (Sports afternoon), he called everyone back on parade, just scanned at the faces on parade, said nothing then left, apparently someone had left him a pressie on his desk, a used condom!!, my suspicions were that one oif the Orderly room staff had done the biz.

However, one thing sticks out, the unit had a camper van and caravan for hire, one was based on camp, the other at Lake Dummer (How Apt!!), anyway some of the lads plus myself were tasked with retrieving the contents, then later making any repairs prior to hiring it out. On our second trip to the site my driver said he knew a shortcut so I said ok go for it, except his cunning plan went the wrong way delaying us, so he toe ended it resulting in this nice traffic policeman waving to us (Speed Trap), he said we weren't going slow enough, how slow DM 40 slow. But our unfortunately my driver had no money resulting in me paying from the wives club sponsorship money I had on me at the time, when we eventually arrived at the campsite I couldn't find the caravan, looked everywhere, checked with the site office, no luck. I reckon because it was in such a state (Mildew & Fungus) the site owners conveniently re located it in the local Muldi Pony (Rubbish Tip). So I decided to head back to Osnatraz, I tried explaining to GOPWO what happened, but was by this time in hysterics, all that messing about, wrong way, speeding fine & lost caravan it was all too much.

One highlight of my time in Shangri - La (Osnabruck) was when 12 Ord played 12 Armoured workshops footy team at home (Quebec Barracks), where Tam whom I knew in the Falklands was their team captain. He was very competitive and aggressive in his manner screaming at his players to get stuck in, however, when he went to tackle one of our players (Corporal Davidson) slipped on the ball, somersaulting and accidentally kicking Tam in the face. Well, Tam went berserk throwing off his glasses and false teeth, he grabbed Davidson by the throat screeching "I'm gonna F**king kill you, you bas*ard" in a broad jock accent, when all the fun died down (no one got sent off) no further action was taken. But Davidson was not happy, the GOPWO and Tweeky tried to brush everything under the carpet (so much for loyalty), pity Timbo was away at the time he would have done something, so our lad reported being assaulted on the sports field by someone who should have known better. The military cops (115 Provo Coy - Roberts Barracks) had half the unit down at the nick in the cells making eyewitness statements, the cops couldn't believe what happened even if it wasn't the first time Tam had come to their notice, it was a pretty bad state of affairs when people of all ranks watching & playing suddenly became deaf, dumb and blind, what a bunch of invertebrates. I did meet Tam later at the Garrison Mess xmas ball, he said "That bastard and the cops tried to have me up on assault charges", I thought to myself are you Fuc*ing joking!!!.

Alan Somerton took over from Paul McGrath as our CSM, good lad, but was very wary of Kerr, not so much as what he said, but what he didn't say, Alan did manage to escape to 4 Petroleum Depot at Warendorf, only snag was Tweaky got promoted as new OC at the same unit, so I immediately informed Alan on the good news, Alan pretended not to be unhappy with a nervous laugh, I learn't sometime later that the moral at 4 Pet Depot sank to an all time low, sh*t happens.

As time went by more of my time was demanded by 12 Ord, the unit even took on extra work of a sister unit in Celle 11 Ord Coy, supporting not just 12 armoured, but 22 armoured brigade too, meaning less time for home and family life, taking work home and popping into work at the weekends, I defy anyone to leave work issues at work, this did affect my home life. I handed over the the married quarter, and moved into the garrison mess. However, some nice people didn't like the way the mess looked and 6 weeks later (June 19th 1989) planted 6 IED's around the building (300 lbs semtex), these guys certainly did their homework, apparently it was easier to bomb us than Hobbart Barracks in Detmold, luckily only one device detonated (our uninvited guests didn't have time to prime the other devices), time to be moving on I thought. Stu Russell (Pay Sergeant) was always going on at the troops about insuring their kit, (civvy & military) just in case, but guess who's bunk was badly damaged in the explosion? go on have a guess, why our friend Stu of course, this resulted in all his music cassettes, video equipment, tele and the rest of his belongings being lost to the tune of DM 5000 (un insured!), oh dear how sad never mind, I was all choked up about that, honestly I was!!!.

At that time Stu had also been looking after 2 hamsters for a friend (yes he did have one!), the SIB military police found one (a hamster not a friend) looking the worse for wear, then later the 2nd one, both had miraculously survived this horrific ordeal (great!!) until Stu disposed of them in a hissy fit stamping on them "Fuc**ng things". I was later informed Stu had transferred to the Intelligence Corps!!, knowing my luck he'll now be working for Xafinity pensions provider (God help us). The following week good old seamus (OC) took us on a squadded training run out of camp, all wearing 12 Ord sweatshirts, the RSM SIB couldn't believe anyone could be so stupid, so much for security, but we're talking about a former staff officer here!!. I don't know who decided it, but my actions in the terrorist incident was mentioned in my confidential report, it certainly wasn't from 12 Ord, that must have stuck in kerr's craw, me being praised from much higher authority, I relished in the look on his face when asking me to sign my 2066 (Confidential Report).

I later had a look around the garrison mess annexe to see the handywork of our irish friends, they (PIRA) were unlucky considering what could have happened, some of the rooms were now one, WO2 Dinger Bell (2 Field Ambulance) was a very strong character, but seeing what was left of his room and personal belongings he was a changed man, as were a few others. I never personally got to thank the next to useless guard commander (23 Engineer Regt) for being so bloody incompetent. I witnessed a couple of lads who'd lost it, aftershock I think, no counselling for them. However, on 28th June 1996 paddy (PIRA) were back, they tried to hit the fuel pumps near the rear gate, they could've done their homework properly, the officers mess was yards away!!. Mortar Attack - (Another view of the Barracks).

So not long after I'm posted to UK for obvious reason's, I'm off to 90 Ordnance Company (9 Ord Bn) in Tidworth, not the nicest of area's but it would be to a unit I'd been with before (81 Ord Coy Aldershot), at least some things were looking up at last. On leaving Quebec Barracks (July 3rd 1989) I drive past the company office and wave farewell, giving a 2 fingered salute in the direction of the OC's office, good bloody bye, this unit was the worst posting I ever had and very nearly my last!! see below photo of the Garrison Sergeants Mess annexe and nearby workman's hut or what was left of it.

A Northern Ireland man has gone on trial on charges of attempted murder over an IRA bomb attack on a British army base in Germany in 1989. Leonard Joseph Hardy, 45, from Antrim, is also charged with deliberately causing an explosion at Quebec Barracks in Osnabruck. (Sergeant's Mess Annexe) Mr Hardy was arrested in the Spanish resort of Torremolinos and extradited to Germany. No-one was injured in the attack on the British army base in June 19th 1989. The trial took place in the 4th Higher Regional State Court in the central town of Celle. German prosecutors claimed he was one of at least five IRA members that planned to place the bombs around the base. They said the suspects were disturbed by a workman at the base, meaning only one bomb went off, causing damage put at £75,000. also disturbed by a Staff Sergeant I know personally!!. Four people implicated in the attack were convicted of attempted murder in Germany in 1995 and jailed for between 9 and 12 years. They NEVER served that time, I Know!!.

Courtesy of the Bundeskriminalampt (BKA) Viesbaden

Now posted to 90 Ordnance Company in Tidworth (Formerly known as 81 Ordnance Company 6 Field Force - Aldershot) my old unit.

History of Quebec Barracks

"As I slide down the bannister of life, I'll always remember 12 Ord Coy as the splinter in my Arse"!!!

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