UK troops 'to return from Germany' (From Gazette)

UK troops 'to return from Germany'

3:33am Thursday 10th November 2011 in National News © Press Association 2011

Hundreds of British troops are to return home from Germany in January, it has been reported.

Under the Strategic Defence and Security Review, half of all 20,000 UK troops in Germany will be back by 2015 and the remainder by 2020.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that an announcement is due to be made about the pullout of UK forces, who have had a presence on the Rhine since 1945.

According to the Daily Telegraph, 1,800 troops will leave by January and another 8,200 by 2015.

The first unit to move will be 43 Close Support Squadron of the Royal Logistics Corps, which will go from Gutersloh in Germany to Abingdon in Oxfordshire, it was reported.

Under the changes, 2nd Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment will reportedly go to former RAF base Cottesmore in Rutland, which closed earlier this year.

Personnel from 7 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) will also go to Cottesmore.

The MoD is also expected to announce what will happen to main UK bases in Germany, with British facilities in Celle and Munster to be handed back to the German authorities.

The Rheindahlen Military Complex is to close, and Waterbeach Barracks in Cambridgeshire will be sold. The MoD is also expected to outline a restructuring of the hierarchy of the Army's regional brigades and divisions.

This includes the closure of regional headquarters in Edinburgh and Shrewsbury, whose work is to be taken over by a new HQ in Aldershot.