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British Army Of The Rhine 1945

British Army Of The Rhine 1945

Posted: 12 Jul 2015 6:37PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Mounsey
Hi

My wife's grandfather, Major William Henry Mounsey of the Royal Engineers was posted to the British Army Of The Rhine in September 1945. That much I have found out from his military records. But there seems to be no information about his time in BAOR. The records appear to be lost. Does anyone know if this is really the case or are they restricted. And is there anywhere to find out about what BAOR were doing in 1945 onwards.

Thanks

John

Re: British Army Of The Rhine 1945

Posted: 13 Jul 2015 1:34PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 13 Jul 2015 1:44PM GMT
The units which comprised BAOR were doing lots of things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Army_of_the_Rhine

http://baor-locations.org/historybaor.aspx.html

Is there no unit or location information in his record for his time in BAOR, not even a BFPO number. ?

http://baor-locations.org/BFPO.aspx.html

"The records appear to be lost" Were you told that by an official source, or is that just your assumption. ?

Otherwise, since you seem to have obtained his service record, ( and presumably you obtained it from the Ministry of Defence MOD, which is the only current source ), how could his service record be missing if you have a copy of it. ?

Millions of service records from that era are complete, although their content is often sparse, but with that number of records, it's always possible that a page from the record could have been mislaid or misfiled over the years.

Your information doesn't give any biographical dates or service dates about him other than thefact that he was posted to BAOR in September 1945.

You said "his military records". What military records. ?

Does that mean his Army service record. ? Let's assume that it does.

You don't say when or from where his service record was obtained, or who obtained it.

If his service record was obtained recently from the MOD then it should be complete.

There are only two deliberate reasons why it might not be.

1) There was some security aspect applicable to his military work in BAOR.

2) He died less than 25 years ago and the MOD didn't regard the recent applicant as being one of his next of kin, and the next of kin didn't give their written permission for the applicant to be given his full service details.

If reason number 2 is applicable, then the MOD will withhold the units in which he/she served,
the dates of that service, and the locations of those units, and the ranks in which the service was carried out, and details of campaign medals awarded.

If none of the above applies and you still believe that his service record is incomplete, then you should apply to the MOD via their service record applications complaints procedure.

You can do that by contacting... MOD Information Rights team, 1st floor, Zone N, Main Building,
Whitehall, London, SW1A 2HB ... Email: cio-foi@mod.uk

If you're still dissatisfied with their response, you can then appeal to the Information Commissioner under section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.
http://tinyurl.com/q77w52z

Re: British Army Of The Rhine 1945

Posted: 13 Jul 2015 8:44PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi

Thank you for your response.

The records I have are the army service records obtained from the MOD. They were requested by my mother-in-law who is the next of kin.

The records are in two parts. The first covers a period of being part of a reserve through working for Great Western Railway in Liverpool through to being called up in 1940 to being commissioned in 1941. This includes a period with Armoured Trains.

Following the commission William Henry reached the rank of Major in May 1944 having never left the UK. In Sept 1945 he embarked for NW Europe and that is where the records end. There is a stamp on one of the documents saying GHQ 2nd Echelon British Army Of The Rhine.

There is nothing giving a date of his discharge. He was able to use his rank of Major after his service completed.

John
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