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Hanau Engineer Depot
Engineer Division, European Command
Looking for more information from military/civilian personnel assigned to or associated with the U.S. Army in Germany from 1945 to 1989. If you have any stories or thoughts on the subject, please contact me.

Depot History (1946-1952)

599th Engr Gp

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Depot History

Hanau Engineer Depot, 1948

HHC, 599th Engineer Base Depot, Hanau, 1950
1950
(Source: STARS & STRIPES, June 16, 1950)
The Hanau Engineer Depot celebrates the Corps of Engineers' 175th anniversary on June 16 with a review of 1,000 troops at the depot and an open house at the 508th Engineer Depot Company.

Units attached to the depot are:
7742nd Engr Base Depot Augmentation Det
7743rd Engr Base Depot Rebuild Augmentation Det
Hq & Hq Co, 599th Engr Base Depot
87th Engr Service Co
507th Engr Heavy Shop Co
581st Engr Maintenance Co
508th Engr Depot Co
80th Engr Base Depot Co
20th Labor Supervision Co
517th Labor Supervision Co

Company sign at Pioneer Kaserne, Hanau (Wayne Rhine)

Possibly Bldg #2, Pioneer Kaserne, where the 587th Engr FM Co personnel were billeted.
Sign over the entrance in the middle reads "304th ORD HV MAINT CO" (Wayne Rhine)

The MP Building (Bldg #1) as seen from the 587th Engr billets (Wayne Rhine)
1952
(Source: Email from Wayne Rine, son of Jules Rhine, 587th Engineer Field Maintenance Company)

Jules Rhine at Pioneer Kaserne, Hanau		   My father, Jules Rhine, was in the 587th Engineer Field Maintenance, stationed in Hanau, Germany. While he didn't talk about his service very much, he did take many photos. Some I have scanned.

My parents were married on June 11, 1952, in August of 1952 when he received the call to service. As you can imagine Mom was not very pleased.

He was in service from September 1952 to September 1954, and spent 18 months in Hanau, Germany. (Webmaster note: th 598th was billeted at Pioneer Kaserne and worked at Hanau Engineer Depot.)

While over there he started a "photography club". He got his film from the Air Force. And he used the excuse of needing to drive over and get film to avoid some duties. Well that is what he told me.

Since the film was from the Air Force, it was large format for photographing land from a plane. That is also why all his photos are black and white.

After getting the film he had to cut it to size for his camera.

I have attached the few photos he has of military buildings. He liked to visit the Zoo. Will look for more photos.
1954
(Source: STARS & STRIPES, July 1, 1954)
In 1945 the US Army took over a former German Army engineer depot and bridging school near Hanau to make it their main engineer supply point in the US Occupatopn Zone in Germany.

After the end of WWII in Europe as the US Army redeployed most of its units back to the US, engineer units from all over Europe turned in their equipment to the depot prior to redeployment. By 1947 more than 175,000 tons of material was being stored, classified, reconditioned and re-issued as the depot performed its supply mission.

The Hanau Engineer Depot served as the hub of the Army's engineer supply system in Europe from 1947-1952. At its peak, the depot was staffed with 1600 military personnel and employed over 3,600 civilians. Storage capabilities included 420,000 square feet of covered warehouses and another 2,500,000 square feet of outside open storage space.

In line with the plan to move all depots behind the Rhine River, the decision was made to close the Hanau Engineer Depot once the newly constructed Rhine Engineer Depot (Kaiserslautern) was ready. In 1952, the Hanau depot became a sub-depot of the Rhine Engineer Depot. In late 1953, the Hanau depot began shipping all of its remaining stocks to the Rhine Engineer Depot and the new Com Z engineer depots at Toul and Chinon in France.

The final closing of the Hanau depot was announced recently by USAREUR. As of July 1, there is only a small skeleton crew of 3 officers, 12 enlisted men and 41 civilians working at the depot.
 
If you have more information on the history or organization of the Hanau Engineer Depot, please contact me.
 
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