after the second world war, canadian forces and units of the british army of the rhine conducted military exercises on the lüneburg heath from 1945 as part of their occupation rights. there was initially no defined training area. the site of the former german military airfield became reinsehlen camp and was used continuously by british armoured units from 1950. in the early years, the occupying forces continually extended their exercise area until they reached as far as the wilseder berg, but they pulled back again in the late 1940s. from 1948 they no longer exercised all year round, but restricted training to eight months of the year.