British Tanks at Cologne Cathedral 1919

A forgotten aspect of the aftermath of the Great War is the British Army of Occupation that entered and occupied Germany from 1919 and remained there for ten years. This first British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was based in the Rhineland around Cologne and included infantry plus all the supporting arms.

This image shows two Mark V tanks of ‘L’ (12th) Battalion Tanks Corps, parked outside the steps of Cologne Cathedral. This unit had served overseas from 1918 and had been one of those selected to be part of the Army of Occupation. The tanks were obviously of great interest to the locals given the number of people who have come to see them!

Another good collection of photographs relating to the 12th Tank Corps in Cologne can be found on Flickr.

01/02/2012 | Categories: BAOR, British Army, Germany, WW1 | Tags: 1919, BAOR, Cologne, Rhine | 1 Comment