Rheindahlen Military Complex
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The Rheindahlen Military Complex is a British forces base near Mönchengladbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was also known as Joint Headquarters (JHQ) and functions as the main headquarters for British forces in Germany. JHQ was established in 1954, centralising headquarters functions which at this time were scattered in several towns in Northern Germany. It was originally the HQ of the Northern ArmyGroup (NORTHAG), 2nd Allied Tactical Air Force (2ATAF), British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) and Royal Air Force (Germany) (RAF-G). In those days Rheindahlen was populated with British, American, German, Dutch and Belgian military personel (and in many cases also their families).
It now houses the HQ of United Kingdom Support Command (Germany) which is the administrative HQ of the British Army in Northwest Europe and the Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps.
In appearance JHQ Rheindahlen is more like a medium-size town than a military base, consisting mostly of administrative buildings, living quarters, schools, shops and other areas typical of civilian towns. For much of its existence there was no security perimeter (though buildings with an actual military function were fenced and guarded). but now it is fenced in with check points at the three exits.
Many facilities exist in the complex. There are a great many shops there as well, such as the NAAFI superstore and the American AAFES. There is a full medical and dental centre, several primary schools, one secondary school, several pre-schools, a travel agents, computer shop, cafes. A number of national UK Organisations work for the community, including Scouts, Home-Start and St. John Ambulance.
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