A question most likely to be answered by the BAOR vets out there … I am building a kit of the FV433 Abbot, and plan to incorporate it in a roadside vignette (somewhere in Germany circa. 1990). To place the model in context, I would like to include a road sign pointing to a nearby town. Can anyone suggest an appropriate town?
Paul
I think 3 RHA were over in Barker Barracks in Paderborn during the 80’s and they had Abbott. Any local places around there as they would have gone on road moves. Or you could go for Hohne where they would of gone for live firing or areas around Soltau while on exercises. Pick a few towns from around those areas and you wont be wrong.
Johnnych01,
Thanks for the response. Actually, I have just come across a photo of a convoy of Abbots (early '90s), operating with 27th Field Regiment, RA at Dortmund. ,So there’s another possibility.
Paul
Theres loads mate, 1 RHA were at Hohne on Abbotts as their duty station during the 80’s.
Bear in mind that while the ideal was for the Field Regiments to be geographically located handily to where their parent Division was, that was often not the case. They were scattered throughout the length and breadth of the German piece of real estate occupied by BAOR. This was a vast area; the principal garrisons are shown here:
Units on exercise were not restricted to the training areas/ranges where live firing took place, but could, literally be anywhere in North Rhine Westphalia within the auspices of what were called “443 areas” (coming from the Army Form number for applying to exercise in the German countryside).
I mean study the map, check with Google Earth if you like, but trust me, no one at a model show will be able to gainsay whatever town nameplate you choose.
If you really want to identify a specific town then you’ll have to locate the barracks where a particular Field Regiment was located. Remember, the Field Regiments supported an Armoured Division, so artillery assets were as follows; I don’t know exactly where the Field Regiments were, but these places all had RA units as shown:
1 Div - Bergen-Hohne, Osnabrueck
3 Div - Muenster, Paderborn, Lippstadt
4 Div - Detmold, Gutersloh
If you want to fine-tune further you’ll have to trawl through the barracks listed on this very handy site:
Note that it covers Brit deployments from the immediate post-war; Abbot came into service in the mid-60s and some units will have moved around, so you might have your work cut out.
Brian,
I guessed you would be a reliable source on the subject … much appreciated!
I assume you will be at Yeovil next month. If so, I will catch up with you on the day.
Hopefully, you will have some new items for display. Looking forward to seeing what
you have been up to.
Paul
Roger that Paul; I must just add that the locations I’ve given above are towards the late 80s.
By my standards I’ve been zipping along model-making recently - so there should be at least 3 new models on the table!
See you there.
This also might help a bit; you don’t necessarily need to understand the map symbols; some of the abbreviations are probably indecipherable, but the Royal Artillery units - or rather the ones you’re interested in are identified in abbreviated form as “X Fd Regt”.
Unfortunately however, those regiments with M109 were also named as “Field Regiments” which doesn’t help a bit; hitherto, they’d been listed as “Medium” regiments which made it all clear, but that’s the Gunners for you!
Scary stuff! Now that’s when we actually had an Army😳
And even by then it had been reduced.
Nice to see me on the map as part of 20 Armd Bde though 
And later 33 Armd Bde …
Didn’t we just! Lots of it, punchy good kit, well-disciplined - we all knew where we stood with the old Army Act 55 - as opposed to today’s “Values and standards” imbued, bearded, scruffy fat biffs.
Yeah, I had a word with the Geo boys John; they did this map especially for you(!)
I’d like to say I was on the map too - say HQ 3 Armd Div - but I was in pastures new somewhere else - Oman I think; I eventually got back to the Land of Milk and Honey but not until Jan 91 (at aforementioned Div HQ).
I still miss Germany.
110 %
We would be called dinosaurs now you know😂
Certainly in my case; John pointed out elsewhere on the site that I joined when Centurion was a rank, not a tank. Groan
Romans bah! Boudicca was CIC when I joined😉
Oh yes! Back on whatever thread it was - when John was extracting the urine - I reminded him that it was Queen Boudicca’s head on my LS&GC!
Moi ?? Never
Would that be an old Accurate Armour one? Or is there an alternative now?
Paul usually does 1/72 builds, and he has a go to 3D print company for his stuff, cant remember the name off hand.
The firm does go up to 1/35 scale, but to my eye at that scale some of the printing detail gets a bit to clunky for me… The 1/72 offerings do look very nice though.
