U.S. ARMY INSTALLATIONS - GIESSEN
 

MAPS
Installation Maps - early 1980s

1. Giessen Army Depot, 1982 (221 KB)

2. Pendleton Barracks, 1982 (137 KB)

3. Rivers Barracks, 1982 (157 KB)

4. Schloss Kaserne, 1982 (178 KB)

5. Ayers Kaserne, 1982 (178 KB)

6. Ray Barracks, 1982 (185 KB)
   

early 1970s

Topographical maps of Giessen and surrounding area.

Click on the thumbnail to view a larger format of the same map.

Click here for a list of the installations.

Giessen (412 KB)

     
prob. early 1970s 

Topographical maps of Friedberg and surrounding area.

Click on the thumbnail to view a larger format of the same map.
 
 
 

PHOTOS
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Giessen Kasernes

 

A. Verdun Kaserne

B. Verdun Kaserne

C. Verdun Kaserne
 

D. Artillerie Kaserne

E. Artillerie Kaserne

F. Standortlazarett
 

G. Berg Kaserne


H. Berg Kaserne

I. Berg Kaserne
 

G. Berg Kaserne





 

1. Aerial view of Giessen Quartermaster Depot, May 1950 (KB)

2. Aerial view of Verdun Kaserne, May 1950 (KB)

       
       
Butzbach      

1. Aerial view of Schloss Kaserne, May 1950 (KB)
     
       
     
Friedberg      

A. Watturm Kaserne

B. Watturm Kaserne

C. Watturm Kaserne
 

1. Aerial view of Watturm Kaserne, May 1950 (125 KB)

2. Inside Main Gate of Watturm Kaserne, about 1950 (200 KB)

3. 14th A/C motor pool on Watturm Kaserne, about 1950 (79 KB)
 

4. Main Gate of Ray Barracks, 1963 (81 KB)

5. Aerial view of Watturm Kaserne, 1950 (188 KB)

6. Ray Barracks, 1962 (131 KB)
Click here to supersize
 

7
. Ockstadt AAF, 2004 (96 KB)

8
. Ockstadt AAF, 2004 (88 KB)

9
. Ockstadt AAF, 2004 (72 KB)
 

10
. Ray Bks, 2005 (222 KB)

11. Ray Bks, 2005 (260 KB)

12. Ray Bks, 2005 (231 KB)
 

13
. Main Gate Ray Bks, 2005 (KB)

14
. Brigade Hqs Bldg (KB)

15
. Parade Field (KB)

16
. Ray Bks, 2005 (KB)

17
. Bldg #3620 and Old Stone Tower (KB)

18
. Former 1-36th Inf barracks (KB)

19
. Darryl Seibert, 2005 (KB)

20
. O' Club (KB)

21
. Looking northwest from the PX (KB)

22
. Looking northeast (KB)

23
. PX Bldg in background (KB)

24
. Bowling Alley (KB)

25
. Friedberg Community Center (KB)

       
Kirch Göns      

1. Main Gate, Ayers Kaserne, late 1950s (81 KB)

2. Barracks, late 1950s (KB)

3. Wainright Theater, late 1950s (KB)

4. Fountainier EM Club, late 1950s (KB)

5. Main Gate, Ayers Kaserne, 1963 (53 KB)
     

6
. Construction site (KB)

7
. Old barracks buildings (KB)
   
       
       
Marburg      

1. Aerial view of Tannenberg Kaserne, June 1947 (195 KB)
Click here to supersize (403 KB)

2. Aerial view of Tannenberg Kaserne, May 1950 (158 KB)
 
       

HISTORIES & MISC. INFORMATION
 
HISTORY OF THE GIESSEN INSTALLATIONS

Source: Giessen Military Community Information Guide, March 1982
GIESSEN ARMY DEPOT    
WWII Built in the 1920s as an airfield, during WWII a Luftwaffe bomber group operated from the airfield. Towards the end of the war, the installation became a school for Luftwaffe technicians and mecahnics. A few fighter planes remained until the end to defend the airfield.
June 15, 1945 The 56th Quartermaster Base Depot arrived in Giessen and set up operations at the site of the present depot. The base was a shambles, having suffered heavily from bombardment during the final year of the war. Only eight of the original 51 buidlings were in good condition. Twenty-eight buildings required extensive repair and the remainder were destroyed.
July 1, 1958 The depot is designated the Army Quartermaster Supply Center, Giessen. This reorganization brings supply control, procurement inspection, depot operations and maintenance activities under one command.
1962? The Center is redesignated as Army Quartermaster Depot, Giessen, with its functions changed to depot supply and maintenance.
January 1, 1964 The Depot became an immediate subordinate command of Headquarters, USACOMZEUR.
May 1, 1964 The Depot was redesignated as Army General Depot, Giessen.
February 1, 1966 The designation of the installation was changed yet again to Army Giessen Support Center.
December 1, 1967 The Support Center merged with Hesse District (See Project CORD in "A Brief History of the Area Commands")
July 1, 1969 The merger was dissolved creating two separate units. One was the Giessen Army Depot and the other the Support Activity Giessen.
1971 Giessen Army Depot is phased out and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) takes over the storage facilities..
RIVERS BARRACKS    
WWII During the war the installation, built originally for German Signal units, was known as Verdun Kaserne.
July 29, 1950 The post was renamed Rivers Barracks in honor of Staff Sergeant Rubin Rivers of Company A, 761st Tank Bn.
PENDLETON BARRACKS
WWII The installation, built in 1934, serves as a German Wehrmacht post for artillery units.
post-WWII The post is named Pendleton Barracks in honor of SSG Jack J. Pendleton, Co I, 120th Inf Regt, 30th Inf Div, who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.
SCHLOSS KASERNE    
WWII The Schloss serves as a training facility for German infantry.
1945-1950 The installation serves as a Displaced Persons camp.
1951 The 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Inf Div, takes over the installation upon their arrival from the US as part of the troop augmentation program.
June 1956 36th Armd Inf Bn of the 3rd Armd Div replaces the 22nd Inf Regt as part of Operation Gyroscope.
August 1972 2nd Bn, 3rd FA move into the kaserne.
1982 Schloss Kaserne is the oldest kaserne in the Federal Republic of Germany currently in use.
RAY BARRACKS    
WWII The installation is known as Watturm Kaserne and is occupied by two German infantry battalions.
1945 The first American units occupy the kaserne. Various units use the kaserne during the years following the end of WWII.
February 13, 1953 The installation is renamed Ray Barracks in honor of 1st Lt Bernard J. Ray, Company F, 8th Inf Regt, 4th Inf Div, who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.
June 1956 Combat Command C of the 3rd Armd Div move into the kaserne.
AYERS KASERNE    
WWII The area on which the kaserne is located served as a recovery field for the German Luftwaffe. The entire base was demolished, except for one bunker.
1952 The present US installation was constructed as part of the major construction efforts under the US Army troop augmentation program of the early 1950s. The new installation is named Ayers Kaserne in honor of SSG Lovall E. Ayers, Company B, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Inf Div, killed in action in WWII.
May 12, 1956 Combat Command A, 3rd Armd Div is stationed at at Ayers Ksn.
October 1, 1963 CC A is reorganized and redesignated as 1st Brigade.
     

 
(Source: Email from Bill Miller, Marburg, 1946-49)
I was assigned to the 3rd Replacement Depot in Marburg, Germany in the Fall of 1946. My assignment to the Depot came about by a stroke of luck and being in the right place at the right time.

I disembarked the ship at Bremerhaven and boarded a troop train to the Replacement Depot at Marburg. Upon climbing down from the train, I came face to face with a S/Sgt. that was a couple of years ahead of me in High School in Winnsboro, Texas, where we had played football together on the Winnsboro High Team. He was part of the Cadre at the Replacement Depot, and he informed me that he was going back to the States in a few days. He asked me if I would like to be assigned as permanent party in the Depot. I said sure, and he arranged for an interview for me. I was accepted and remained assigned to the Depot untill I was sent back to the States in Feburary, 1949 for discharge.

I worked my way up through the ranks to become the Sgt. in charge of the Troop Movement Section of the Depot. It was our job to provide the transportation to their barracks for the troops that arrived in Marburg by troop train, and then to transport them back to the trains when they were assigned to units all over Germany, France, and Austria. Sometimes we ran convoys of trucks to transport large assignments of troops to the same place. 

The Depot also processed and assigned Officers up through the rank of Lt. Colonel. My rank was S/Sgt, but  when I was in charge of a convoy of Officers to transport them to their new assignments, the passenger seat of the first truck at the head of the convoy was mine. Most every time when I would complete calling the roster and loading the convoy of Officers, I would find an Officer in my seat when I was ready to move out. About the only trouble I every had when I told them that was my seat and they would have to sit in back, was with mostly Lts. I've had to tell them that my CO was a Full Colonel and that he expected me to command the convoy from the front seat.

I also was there in Marburg for almost all of the Berlin Airlift. We ran convoys of troops to the airport at Frankfurt to ship to Berlin. I remember we had to give each soldier a copy of their orders written in Russian in case their plane went down in Russian territory. Our planes had, to the best of my knowledge, a 20 mile wide corridor to fly in going in to Berlin, and if they strayed too close to the boundary line, Russian fighter planes would threaten them.

The activity going on around the airport at Frankfurt was something to behold. A solid stream of planes landing and taking off, loaded with men and material to keep the civilian population of Berlin alive. My brother and I have had some good talks about the Airlift, because he was an aircraft mechanic at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station and it was their job to do the maintance and overhauls of the aircraft taking part of the airlift. It has always been a source of regret on my part because I never made a trip to Berlin on one of the planes, even though I could have I'm sure if I had asked for permission to do so.

While working at the Depot, I had the opportunity to meet several Celebrities. Lt. Patton, son of Gen. George Patton, was one of them, as was the Hangman of Nuremburg, M/Sgt. Woods. Lt. Patton went on to become the Commanding Gen. at Ft Hood Texas.

While stationed at Marburg, I met a nice German girl named Elizabeth Blad or Bladd, I'm not sure. I think she lived on Begen Strasse. Would anyone know how I could locate her? My name is Bill Miller, and I could go on forever, but I'll quit here. Thanks.

 
 
Tannenberg Kaserne, Marburg

Main gate area of the kaserne, probably after the post had been vacated by the US Army and turned over to the newly formed German Army.

 
Related Links:
3rd Armored Division Association (in Friedberg, Butzbach and Kirch Göns from 1956 to 1992)
4th Infantry (IVY) Division Association (in Friedberg, Butzbach and Kirch Göns from 1951 to 1956)
22nd Infantry Regiment Society (Schweinfurt, 1951; Giessen, 1952; Friedberg, 1953-1956)
202nd Military Police Company - information page on the Military.com website
Ayers Kaserne - "the Rock" - in Kirchgöns - very nice page with great photos of "the Rock" as it looks today. Authored by Alex Leib and hosted by www.lostplaces.de.
USAREUR News Release - Telephone switch at Ray Barracks closed down.