Taylor Barracks

Taylor Barracks is a military installation in the Vogelstang suburb of Mannheim, Germany, operated and administrated by the United States Army, Europe, USAREUR.

History

The original "Scheinwerfer-Kaserne" (Searchlight Barracks) was constructed between 1939-40 as part of the Wehrmacht’s rapid expansion following the Nazi takeover. The unit stationed there during World War II was part of the "Luftwaffe’s Flakscheinwerfer-Abteilung 299" (299th Anti-aircraft Searchlight Detachment) and the installation supported the various searchlight units posted around the city to protect it from bombing. The anti-aircraft artillery units were supported from Sullivan Barracks, then known as "Flak-Kaserne", and home to 1st Bn, 49th AAA Reg. Anti-aircraft positions stretched from the Coleman Army Airfield (then known as Fliegerhorst Kaserne) where two batteries of heavy guns were positioned, around Käfertal to Wallstadt.

The American garrison has its roots with the American occupational forces immediately following World War II. In those days, Mannheim installations were administered by 2nd Military District (renamed Heidelberg Military Post in 1947, Headquarters Area Command in 1952 and in 1965 North Baden Area) that also managed Heidelberg, Worms and Karlsruhe posts.

In January 1948, the 547th and 584th Ordnance Companies were moved to Taylor Bks from Mannheim-Rheinau to operate Heidelberg Military Post Ordnance. In June, the companies were joined to form the 7859th Ordnance Company and over the years this unit was renamed many times becoming the current Maintenance Activity Mannheim.

In Dec 1949, 503rd Engineer Light Equipment Company moved from Berlin to Taylor Barracks. At Taylor Barracks they were involved in German-American friendship projects such as building sports fields etc.. As the Cold War became hotter, they were increasingly sent into the French occupation zone near Kaiserslautern to build various military facilities. One of these was then called Rhein Ammunition Depot, now called Rhine Ordnance Barracks. In 1950 the French zone roads and economy were lagging far behind the British and American zones. The escalation of the Cold War mandated the French zone roads be upgraded. An Autobahn bridge near Kaiserslautern destroyed by German engineers near the war’s end made long stretches of the autobahn useless. The 503rd built a by pass road around the bridge to facilitate traffic movement on the Autobahn. In early 1951, the entire company moved from Taylor to Ettlingen, near Karlsruhe. At this time the 501st & 502nd Engineer Companies were also at Taylor Barracks but the 501st was deactivated in 1950 and in early 1951, the 502nd, a pontoon bridge unit, moved to Phillips Barracks, Karlsruhe.

The 109th Engineer Battalion, a National Guard unit called up during the Korean War, arrived in Germany in June 1951 and was quartered in Taylor Barracks assigned to the 11th Engineer Group. The 109th was in charge of nine bridges over the Rhine river. Standard M2 Bailey Bridges were mounted on M4 floating metal pontoons, with half of the bridge on each side of the river. The bridge halves would swing from each side of the river and when they met in the middle of the river they were fastened together with huge steel pins. Each line company was in charge of three bridges that were spaced at various distances along the Rhine, some as far as 30 miles apart. Their second mission was to destroy all the bridges across the Rhine in case of a Soviet invasion. The battalion was replaced by the 37th Engineer Battalion in 1954. The 11th Engr Grp also developed the Class 100 Heavy Raft for tactical river crossings. The raft was an emergency means of crossing the Rhine River with heavy loads.

As of October 1955, the units on Taylor were 11th Engineer Group (which moved to Tompkins Bks, Schwetzingen, later), 37th Engineer Bn (which was inactivated in 1958), 535th Engineer Co (a bridging unit), 350th Infantry Regiment (which moved to Livorno, Italy, in 1956 to be part of the new SETAF command) and 427th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment (Team 23).