The "Y" Services
Who maintain a constant silent watch on the enemies of their country.
Their past and continuing contribution to Britain's operational success in peace and war can never be told in full.

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Military Address: 13th Signal Regiment, British Forces Post Office 40
Civil Address: 13th Signal Regiment, Mercur Kaserne, 5139 Post Effeld, Rothenbach, Deutschland.

The unit served with the British Expeditionary Force in France from September 1939 until final evacuation from Dunkerque in May 1940.

In July 1940 the title of the unit was again changed to No 1 Special Wireless Group. It was stationed in the UK at Harpenden, Hertfordshire, until July 1944.

A small detachment returned to France in July 1944, and by September of that year the whole unit was again on the continent with HQ 21 Army Group in North West Europe serving in various locations in Belgium, Holland and Germany until June 1945 when it arrived in Minden and was redesignated No 1 Special Wireless Regiment.

In August 1946, the Regiment moved to Gluckstadt near Hamburg.It was renamed No.1 Wireless Regiment in 1947 and remained there until February 1950 when it was transferred to Munster.

In 1953 it was decided that the Regiment should move to a permanent location West of the Rhine, and a site selected for the construction of a new permanent Barracks was near Birgelen on the German Dutch border.

Thanks to the drive and determination of Lt Col P W Lonnon MBE and others, the Regiment was able to occupy its new accommodation by May 1955. It was given the name "Mercury Barracks" (Mercure Kaserne). This move was remarkable in that no operational cover was lost during transfer. (I well recall being bussed over from Munster and doing the first evening shift. The Setroom was strewn with cables as the techs worked to complete the installation)
The Regiment was designated 13th Signal Regiment (Radio) on 1 September 1959.

Shortly after the Regiment was established at Birgelen, a detachment, known as Royal Signals Detachment, Royal Airforce Gatow was raised in Berlin. In 1967 the Gatow detachment moved to the Teufelsberg, an artificial feature in the British Sector created from collected rubble from bomb-damaged buildings . There the detachment shared operational accommodation with 26 Signals Unit RAF in an installation jointly run by the US Army and the US Airforce, and in 1970 was redesignated 3 Squadron, 13th Signal Regiment (Radio) This was in addition to other equally important elements situated in Langeleben, Bad Aibling, Herzo Base, and Cuxhaven.

In March 1974, in response to a dramatic increase in operational activity, H Troop of 1 Squadron was formed at Gross Gusborn on the Elbe river in the Dannenberg Salient. H Troop was the first of the Regiment's outstations to close in response to the new political situation in Eastern Europe, with the last soldiers moving out in April 1991.
(See photographs below)

On 2 July 1994, the Regiment was awarded the Fahnenband of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of the important role that it had played in the preservation of freedom.

13 Signal Regiment (Radio) ceased its operation in Birgelen in late 1994 after a period of 40 years, which was also the 60th anniversary of the formation of its antecedent No 4 Wireless Company in 1934.

After disbandment, the Regiment's role was transferred to RAF Digby in Lincolnshire with the formation of an integrated Army/RAF unit based upon the existing 399 Signals Unit RAF.

The camp is now a German Golf Club with only a few buildings remaining.(Officer's Mess vacant but still standing)

This website is dedicated to all who served with the Regiment and to maintaining its family traditions.

Footnote:
(During the years of the Cold War the Regiment played a vital strategic Signals Intelligence role. Increasingly tactical intelligence took on an important role and for the first time in BAOR an entirely new Signal Regiment was formed for tactical electronic warfare (EW). This was 14 Signal Regiment (EW) and formed in 1977, under the astute and able command of Lt Col. I.O.J Sprackling.
Many of its specialist tradesmen came from 13 Signal Regiment (Radio)