I am getting confused as I had forgotten that there were 2 Schumanns.
The one I used was upstairs and slightly looked down on by quite a lot.The Bar was on the lefthand side and there were seats on the right. Not many Squaddies used it but the 3 tonner used to call there!
Hi, I'm new to this site but have been in contact with Tom Neal and Paul. I was I Corps and was at Langeleben from Feb 57 to June 57. Big Schumanns had 2 bars, the main one downstairs and one used almost exclusively by us squaddies upstairs. Little Schumans was slightly better class, halfway down the mainstreet with a bar and bamboo partitions, which sometimes fell over when walked through by said squaddies. The Deutchers Hous ? was where people partied with their respective girlfriends, or other peoples respected girlfriends, as some were very generous with their affections. To the work. I could only just remember the morse code, but so much was given away by procedure, how our friends operated, who called who, the frequencies used and in what order, and very importantly, the operators ear. I was attached to A Watch and at one time we had a very small but unidentified network butting in on our drinking time. Having worked most of the time at Birgelen I had been involved in such networks. Without identified callsigns or frequency, although the frequency was very close to a network in Noth Germany, it looked like one of these networks. Eggy Beaver( I can't remember his name) and Colin Davidson, very good ops, said, it wasn't. We argued for a number of days until we cracked the callsigns, using previous Nov keys. I thought I was right but they still said , no. Then we caught the network working at the same time as the mystery one. The ops ear had proved itself, they were right. Later identified as a shadow practice network.
I'm not quite sure of what you want on this site but my memories are more of the "social" side of Langeleben. _________________ Birgelen, June 55 to Nov 57. Langeleben, Feb 57 to June 57. With A watch. I Corps
Good afternoon John and welcome to our 'umble abode. Thanks for clarifying upstairs Schumanns' for me. All the time that I spent there yet could not completely recall it.
For me, it was my distribution point for cigarettes, although getting a few pfennigs less there was never any hassle and if it wasn't safe to produce them your were soon given the 'nod'. It was also the meeting place for a number of the Boarder Crossers who made a good living at it smuggling both ways - goods and people.
I hope that you get all of those photos that you have been sending onto the official album - they are so good!
I wouldn't be surprised if your arrival provokes a response from Gordon too, he has been ominously quiet.
As far as the 'Living History ' is concerned it is really what you want to write about Langeleben, the I Corps, training and what we were supposed to be doing day in and day out! We have mentioned such things as E type callsigns and B sticks and the world has not collapsed around us. Not surprising as MOrse Code has disappeared fro the Un iverse except for a few fanatics. I vcan let you see what others (and I) have written but ithas to be personal . Characters you came across. Did your Service lead to anything of interest after demob? Heck I am almost writing it for you.
The Living HIstory entries which are sticky are for viewing but not for alteration only comment and addition.
As I said ... Welcome!
Hi John,
Nice to hear from you again as it has been a while since we were in contact directly. Eggy was Dave Beavers a good friend of myself and Jeff Pearce. Most of the photos I have on this site were taken at upstairs Schumans and although I went downstairs a couple of times we were never welcome there.
Tom
Type B and E callsigns. The B were in use when I first went to Birgelen. they were 3 letter callsigns and we were equiped with wooden slide rules to identfy them. I believe we could forcast who would call who 3 months in advance. Soon after, probably about Aug or Sept 55, our friends changed to 4 letter callsigns, E, which was a bit mean of them as it took about 2 months to sort them out. After that we had to wait for the beginning of each month, about 2 hours into it, before we understood them and then we could only forcast for that month. It made more work all round which was not very considerate. _________________ Birgelen, June 55 to Nov 57. Langeleben, Feb 57 to June 57. With A watch. I Corps
Not sure about the date when E Type calls came in but B Type were definately still being used mid year in 56. When you entered the letters onto the B Stick you then read off a number which gave the book of the callsign and even now I can remember that 17 and 21 were two of the required books that we covered.
Tom
Weren't B type alpha - numerics?
When I went to Langeleben in Apr/May 1955 E types were well under way and B types were just for the minor networks.
Something happened after I left, John, if you could forecast a month ahead, Every night we had a scramble to get those 10 numbers in place to break the callsign system. Having seven would guarantee the numbers were correct and we would rush our findings off to the Regt and the Americans. I never let them beat me! I had some damned good Ops and Bob Wells. What more did one want? I loved that shift even though it ruined one's drinking!
this brings back memories!
E type callsigns were recorded on A3 pages with in the main empty rectangles. By May 1955 very few had been recovered and authenticated so had to write our discoveries in the boxes and I think we detailed them on the logsheets which went to GCHQ. I have a sneaking suspicion that they did not hold us in the highest of regards since when new pages were issued they often omitted our 'discoveries'.
Presumably enough must have been recovered eventually to work out the mathematics.
If I recall correctly the changeover followed the crossing over of two I Corps members.
I would love to know if there was ever a full book published and if E type callsigns went on and on or were superceded
John,
I have just spent 1/2 hour talking to Bill Taylor and sent him your best wishes. He says that he recalls you. His tel. no. is 01942 831552. I forgot to ask his permission to pass this on but it is in the directory anyway!
He has some photos which sound very interesting and I'm trying to get him to arrange for his son to scan them for the site. He sounds very well.
Writing up the history (it's 124 A4 sheets already without including the photos), I asked myself what did we do for amusement in the early days.
No TV, nearest cinema Braunsweig, no books to read. Basically it seems we might have walked - mainly to get to a source of beer'
John Fortey raised the possibility that we lived life to the full knowing the Russians were in spitting distance and could come whenever they wanted to. Were we that philosophical and existential?
We did have a darts board and a snooker table eventually (October 55) but I suppose at the end of the day we spent a hell of a lot of time just "Pit-bashing". I haven't used that expression for many years.
Any ideas??????
Although we knew that the Russians were just over the hill so to speak I do not think that in my time we even gave it a second thought.
We did have a darts board and a small snooker table and I know that some of the drivers used to play chess. Yes, really.
The lads I used to go around with Geof Pearce, Eggy Beavers et al used to go for long walks on our days off and although we nornally ended up in a bar somewhere we did get a lot of exercise.
We also listened to the radio a lot, in particular AFN which had a slot every afternoon called 'Sick Buddies' which was for servicemen in hospital and it was all Country music which I liked.
Some of the lads also played for the local football team and we used to go to matches to support them.
There was also the local swimming pool in Königslutter which was open air and quite good in summer.
Tom
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