Alafoss

ALAFOSS

This was the first location of Brigade HQ in Iceland and housed the Brigadier, his staff and the supporting troops, as well as huts used for vehicle maintenance, recreation and dining. 143rd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, were also based here - or at least the Regimental HQ and some of the guns were. The first photographs set out below were taken in 1940/1941 and are from the collection of the author's late father, who was a member of the Transport Section and generally drove the Brigadier on his various visits to Brigade locations and to meetings at Iceland Force HQ, as well as to exercise locations.

The second group of photographs were kindly supplied by Paul Hymers, son of Sgt Hymers of 143rd Field Regiment and were generally taken over the winter of 1941/2.

The later photographs show the village in 2010. At the time of our first visit to Iceland some years earlier, several of the HQ huts, including one which had been the Transport sleeping quarters, were still standing - a fact which amazed my father! By 2010 the space was occupied by a small housing development, including a childrens' playground. I hope the Brigade staff would have been pleased to see, as we did, swings and roundabouts in use on what had been their HQ area in 1941.

Brigadier Kirkup with Humber Snipe staff car April 1941

L/Cpl Dixon with Humber Snipe staff car April 1941

Brigade HQ staff January 1941

Brigade HQ Transport Section 1941

Alafoss seen in winter from a high vantage point

Alafoss taken from Helgafell

Nissen Huts at Alafoss in Winter

JLD Hills near Alafoss

JLD Buildings on original Camp Area

JLD Housing development 1

JLD Housing development 2

JLD Main street Alafoss - 1

JLD Main street Alafoss - 2

A link to a Website with a brief description of the history of the village can be found here.

A short Wikipedia article can be found here.

To contact the author by e-mail with any queries, or to send information - click here.