February 2011

WWII - Elbe River Event, February 19, 2011, Old Bedford Village, Bedford, PA. regardless of the weather as usual. They still
have several buildings available and are currently accepting pre-registrations. As we speak, we have a few more in attendance this year

than last at this time. Just as a reminder, please bring PLENTY of ammo. Attached is the link for registrations and such..  www.freewebs.com/elbe1945 For any questions, call: Roger Bombard at: 703-431-6843.

March 2011

WWII - Spring 1945 Tactical event. March 11,12,and 13. Newville GWA site. Sponsored by 193rd Rifle Division and Fusilier Regiment Nr. 90 re-enacting units. Russians should contact Jason Brown at: jasonbrown193@yahoo.com or for general information, contact John Niemiec at : ostfrontjohn@verizon.net Germans contact Joe Murray at: ct1407@msn.com

Timeline – Military Through the Ages, March 19 and 20 at Jamestown Settlement, Jamestown, VA.  http://www.historyisfun.org/calendar.htm

January 25th through the 28th saw me once again trekking up to Fort Indiantown Gap for the annual Battle of the Bulge reenactment/ living history extravaganza/militaria vendor mall. As usual, it was a large affair with a lot of activities for the WWII living historian. This year, for the first time, I got there on Tuesday and stayed until pack-up time on Sunday morning.  Once again, I was with the Volkssturm and the German hospital. In an event which is full of excellent barracks displays, the hospital is, in my humble opinion, quite amazing. Peter and Kate Gentry have an astonishing array of period equipment and frankly look ready to do an actual surgery if the need arises!

This year, one of our VS members was knowledgeable in the field of radiology and was able to give a mini-workshop to the hospital staff in the 1940′s X-ray equipment which was there. We also had the services of a number of wonderful young ladies portraying helferin or nurses. These personnel took great care of me when I appeared at their facility with a ‘head wound’ for the benefit of the spectators. Also, once again, we were awarded the title of  Best Axis Barracks.

There are always some great impressions at this event and I made an effort to get pictures of as many as possible.  While the reenactment of the Battle of the Bulge is the main activity of the week, there is always a lot else going on as well. Many reenactors attend the event but do not go out into the field for the battles. There are a number of living history scenarios which are on-going during the week, as well as various social activities. This is, after all, a good opportunity for a lot of folks to see one another for perhaps the only time all year.

As you can see from the pictures, we had a bit of snow during the week. This caused difficulties for those coming in while the snow was falling, but for those of us already there, it just added to the atmosphere. The barracks are warm, there are hot showers and we had plenty of food, so I found the snow quite pleasant. It helped that the weather had cleared up by the time I left for home on Sunday.

Since I didn’t go out in the field, I can’t comment on how the battle reenactments went. I am sure they were cold and the snow and ice had to make the footing treacherous…definitely a young person’s game. I did make it to the French cafe and a number of parties (not to mention the great shopping)  and I had an excellent time. I am already looking forward to next year.  If you are a WWII reenactor and have not made it to this event (FIG or The GAP, or whatever you want to call it) you owe it to yourself to attend. It is a great event and kudos to the WWII Federation for putting it on.

The title says it all. March 20-21 was a great weekend for the annual Military Through the Ages event at Jamestown Settlement. Despite having been out at Newville the previous week and dreading the 7-hour drive, I still felt compelled to attend. I’m glad I did. This was even better than last year. I don’t know if there were more Living History displays this year, but it seemed like it. There were certainly some that I hadn’t seen before. The warm, sunny weather was icing on the cake.

With the recreated Jamestown Settlement as a centerpiece, the living history groups are spread out across the grounds of the museum. Near the Jamestown palisade, there was a substantial Viking encampment. Across the road was their likely nemesis, the Emperor Charlemagne’s troops. I asked one of the guardsmen if the Vikings were a problem and he felt confident that they could handle them.

The Middle Ages encampment included camps from the Hundred Year’s War, the Hussite rebellion and the War of the Roses. It occurred to me that the fifteenth century would have been a miserable time to live. Moving on, there were German mercenaries contemporary with the Jamestown folks and a little later, a couple of groups of privateers. Both crews assured me (tongue in cheek)  that they were not pirates, but honest subjects of the Queen, sailing under letters of marque. A little further down the road were the Sea Rats, who are unabashedly pirates and one of my favorite groups.

Then I came upon a group of Scots who were taking part in the ’45, or the Jacobite Rebellion. While Bonny Prince Charlie was no where to be seen, his loyal followers had a quite nice set-up. Moving into the late 18th century, there were groups representing the British crown and the American colonists. The Continental Army had nice display with a curious field piece which featured a full-sized carriage with a rather small gun. Not being well-versed in the artillery of the period, I was impressed.

The War of 1812 was represented and there was  substantial American Civil War section. As I remember the Union Army engineers won a couple of awards and the Union Navy (USS Aristook) to0k home the reenactor’s choice award. The British army at Roarke’s Drift rounded out the 19th Century.

WWI was represented by the Salvation Army’s Doughnut Dollies as well as the German, American and French armies.  In the postwar period, the Irish-English war of 1920 – 21 was represented by the Irish Republican Army and their opponents, the Black and Tans. Great Display!

WWII saw the Brits at Dunkirk, the German army, our late war Red Army group, British paras of Operation Market Garden and two American GI groups. The Twentieth Century was rounded out by the Vietnam camp which was bigger and more impressive than last year. These guys are mostly Vietnam veterans as well, so this is a particularly poignant display.

The 193rd Rifles won third place for best uniforms in our division, which is an accomplishment given the competition. Being invited to MTA is an honor, so just being here implies that you are good. The final parade of all the units which precedes the honors presentation, serves as the finale of the weekend. This gives everyone a chance to get a good look at the participants in their respective units.

As I have said before, if you haven’t been to this event, you owe it to yourself to go. There are some other timeline events around, but this one is definitely a biggie!

For a real living history experience, it would be hard to beat the Tank Farm event.  RKKA reenactors usually don’t get to play with the big toys, like the Fritzes and the G.I.s. Here we not only got to be tank riders on a real T-34, but we had another one as the backdrop for our camp for the weekend. The same was true for all the other participants. Even a miserable drizzle off and on all day Saturday , ending in a downpour( which soaked many of the reenactors’ displays) late in the afternoon, failed to ruin the weekend. It helped that Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day with blue skies and moderate temperatures.

If you have never heard of the Tank Farm, its real name is the ‘National Museum of Americans in Wartime’, located on Aden Road near Manassas, VA. While this a regularly scheduled event, I have never been able to attend before. I must say, that I don’t intend to miss another.

The weekend schedule consisted of various activities including visits by VIPs, informational presentations and vehicle and helicopter demonstrations (the Vietnam display had a Huey land in their area). As the museum has a large number of functioning vehicles, the weekend had rarely a dull moment.

The museum has had some fascinating guests over the years.  I was interested to note that the T-34 in which we were riding had ‘Mikail Kalishnikov’ written on the side of the turret in Russian. As this is not something you would have seen written on a WWII period tank, I inquired about it. As it turns out, the famed weapons designer was a guest speaker at the museum a few years ago. Since he was a tanker in the Red Army during WWII, they painted his name on the tank and gave him a ride. As the story goes, during the war, his tank was hit by German fire and he was severely wounded. While recovering in the hospital, he began thinking on an idea for a new rifle. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The museum treated the reenactors like royalty all weekend. We were provided lunch on Saturday and Sunday as well as breakfast on Sunday and a mixer on Saturday night which featured beer and sausages. (As we walked out of the rain and into the shop for the mixer, I spotted the weiners on the grill and noted to my comrades that the ‘wurst was yet to come…’ Sorry!)

We had good crowds of spectators both days, but special kudos go to the large number of folks who stood out in the rain Saturday to watch the demonstrations. Some of them had umbrellas, but many were just getting wet. They all seemed to love the show.

Reenactor units which I noted in attendance were:

Soviet – 193rd Rifle Division

Treity Vzvod

33rd Guards

American – 29th Infantry Division

British Commonwealth – 1st Airbourne Division

15th Scottish Reconnaissance Rgt. Living History Assn.

German – 3te Kompanie, Infanterie Rgt. 226 (IR226) 79th Infantry Div.

SS Fallschimjager Battalion

I’m not sure what Jerry Smolkin’s Afghan-Soviet group is called, but they do a fantastic job and looked great deploying out of the BMP!

Also, the US Marine Corps Historical Company and the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter #617 had excellent displays.

I’m sure that I’ve missed someone and I apologize in advance, but I don’t know all the folks who were there and was so busy with our camp, that I didn’t get to circulate as well as I would have wanted.

The museum is eventually planning to relocate, as I understand it and will hopefully be able to get more of these wonderfull vehicles under roof when they aren’t out running around a course. You can help support the museum by  becoming a member and/or volunteering if you are in the area. If you can’t do either of these, it is just a great place to visit. Please check out their link:

http://nmaw.org