My Father was a Sergeant Fitter (motor mechanic) and arrived with his workshop in Vienna on the 15th August 1945 presumably with his then unit (347 Inf Div Coy R.A.S.C.), He was only there for a short time before leaving for 28 days UK leave on the 7th Sept. On his return he did not return immediately to Vienna but reported back to a CRU based in Treviso where he spent a couple of days before moving via a transit camp at Udine to 2 CRU in Villach. He spent a week or so there before moving via Bruck? back up to Vienna Schonbrunn Barracks arriving there on the 9th Nov. At this time he still appears to have been with 347 Coy but on the 21st Nov his service record shows him struck off strength to 2 CRU, his record recording that he stayed with this unit until his demob on the 25th Feb 1946 although all of his documentation and paperwork for this period is stamped 934 Coy R.A.S.C. (Tpt Austria). As I recall him saying that the workshops were based in the old stable block at the Palace and I have just been fortunate enough to spend the weekend in Vienna I took the opportunity to visit to Schonbrunn and search out the old stable block part of which is now a carriage museum. I took the attached photos of the museum building and adjacent stable block and hope that they may bring back some fond memories for someone. I have to say that it was a slightly odd but strangely pleasant feeling walking in the footsteps of my Father some 70 years before and I am glad that I made the effort. attachment=114511:SAM_0693.JPG] David.
David I also spent time in the Schoenbrunn Palace Barracks as we were doing the Vienna Tattoo in June of 1946 in which we raised over 10,000GBP's ( 400,000 Schllings) to send 2400 schoolchildren to the countryside for fresh air and good food - recall the first thing we did was to remove the corridor door knob in order to escape the NCO's looking for "volunteers" which hampered the search of my brother who had flown up from malta just to see me for the day - landing in the Russian Zone which scared the hell out of them as they thought they were being attacked by a British Bomber… fun days…we wrote a joint letter to our parents which delighted them... Cheers
David Meant to add for you to look up my article on THE VIENNA TATTOO on the BBc People's war pages below.. Cheers
Hi Tom, Have read your article on the Tattoo, sounds typically British "make do and mend" but brilliant as only we can do, wish I could have been there to see it. I have the the following photographs from my Dads collection which show that he also had an enjoyable time in Vienna around Christmas 45. I have no idea who 'Trudy' is in the first picture, thought that she may have been someone he saw in a show but it may be more personal than that. In the second photo my Dad is top left, the chap top right and the one with glasses bottom right are also in various other pictures from his time in Italy. Trudy appears again bottom left of the two females but I have no idea who any of the others are at all. My brother recalls him keeping for many years a copy of the National Geographic magazine which contained an extensive article about Vienna so his short time there obviously made a great impression on him. Our visit to Vienna over the weekend was our fifth time there over the years and we both agree that it is also our favorite city, from its cultural heritage to its many coffee shops.there is just something very special and civilised about the place. David
David you are surely right in thinking that Vienna is a most civilized city - I have only been back three times over the years but when I pass the Rathaus and see the statues of both Geothe and Schiller I know I am back in civilization..and listen to any of Beethoven's works especially sung by Schwartzkopf - Christi Ludwig - Lucia Popp and conducted by Furtwangler - I just don't want to leave and I have to be dragged away from the wine restaurants at Ringling..but anyone can have the Meidlingerhof Hotel at Meidling as it was off limits in the 40- 50's but we had a tour stuck there in 1980 on our way to Oberammergau - it might have been knocked down by now - hopefully…we always appeared to have some young ladies available for swimming - dancing and tennis - never knew all of their names either - didn't seem to matter as we treated them all very well unlike some of our allies…for fun I would walk through thee Vienna woods whistling Beethoven 6th Cheers
