Royal Signals Museum - Postal Covers - AFV 439 in BAOR 1970

British Army of the Rhine 1945 ~ 1994

The British Army of the Rhine(BAOR) was formally established in May 1945, following the defeat of Germany. Its first commander was Field Marshal Montgomery, the victorious leader of the British 21st Army Group, who took the surrender of German forces in NW Europe at Luneburg Heath. Initially an occupation force, until the new Federal Republic of Germany was granted full independence, BAOR with allied forces soon faced a new threat from the East. The presence of some 60 Russian divisions in East Germany could not be ignored.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation(NATO) was formed in 1949 and the field formations of BAOR, expanded to four divisions, were placed under the command of Northern Army Group in the central sector of Allied Command Europe. For the next 44 years 1st (BR) Corps was to remain in Germany, with its line of Communication and supporting troops, holding a key role in the defence of NW Europe.

These were the years of rapid development in the science of telecommunications. Royal Signals in BAOR faced the challenge of meeting an ever growing demand from commanders and staff for better reliability, speed, and security in communications. A new range of signal equipment was gradually provides, beginning with VHF(FM) radios, then the introduction in 1967 of the BRUIN trunk communications system, the fruits of far-sighted planning at the School of Signals in UK. BRUIN was the code word given to the first steps of a revolutionary concept in field communications; an area trunk network of secure speech and telegraph, into which formations and units could connect by multi-channel radios. BRUIN provided only a partially secure and automatic system, but it was the essential lead-in to the present day computer controlled message switching and secure speech network, first introduced in 1984 under the codeword PTARMIGAN.

During the years of the Cold War Royal Signals units in 1st Corps trained with, and deployed their equipment and vehicles among the woods and farms of Northern Germany, putting their skills to the test in the annual cycle of command and signal exercises. Increasing importance was given to electronic warfare(EW). In BAOR for the first time an entire Signal Regiment was formed for tactical EW, 14 Signal Regiment, in 1977.

The end of the Cold War led to the disbandment of BAOR in April 1994, but British troops remain in Germany in reduced numbers, with new tasks, under command of the UK Land Force HQ in England.

The last Commander-in-Chief was General Sir Charles Guthrie, and his Commander Communications Major General John Alexander. Thus ended a chapter in the life of the Royal Corps of Signals, one of the most formative and important in its 75 years of service. There can be few members of the Corps who, in post-war careers, have not served at some time in BAOR.

The envelope date-stamp commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Corps of Signals, as a separate entity from the Royal Engineers, by Army Order 275/276 on 2 July 1920. The envelope design depicts scenes from the life of signallers in BAOR, and also shows the formation signs of 1st(BR) Corps(left to right); HQ 1 Corps, 1st Armd Division, 2nd Armd Division, 3rd Armd Division and 4th Armd Division. To the right of the illustration is the badge of HQ BAOR.