On the weekend of October 6, 2012, the 193rd Rifle Division sponsored a 1941 Great Patriotic War event, THE GATES OF MOSCOWÂ at Spiro’s Farm near Gettysburg, PA. The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on the Russian front on a 370Â mile sector west of Moscow during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated the German’s attack on one of their primary objectives during the war.*
Todd Barclay did a nice job of organizing this event, setting up the website and keeping things going. Thanks also to Rich Moran for helping out on the German side.
The weather was great pretty much all weekend. The temperatures were great for all the running around we did in the woods. We had a lot of sunshine with a few clouds at times, but no rain, although, those who stayed over Saturday night experienced a few drizzles in the morning while packing up.
The Soviets had a lot of younger, realitively inexperienced guys and this did make a difference, as the Germans seemed to be much more coordinated. Still Starshina Pepper and Todd did a good job of moving troops around and making the Fritzes pay for the ground they got. I got to make life difficult for the fascists with Comrade Maxim.
Overall, it was a very good event. It was particularly nice to see everyone out in their early war gear, on both sides. I hope this will become a regular, yearly event, as it is centrally located for many folks, early enough in the fall that it isn’t too cold and is different than the usual late-war scenarios we usually do.
*Wikipedia
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