The concept is interesting and Phil Ward’s knowledge of the military is undeniable. The story revolves around Lieutenant (he gets promoted during the course of the book) John Randall, who does such a bang-up job of leading a small force of British troops slowing the German advance on Calais during the British retreat to the Channel in May 1940, that he is selected to head up an ultra-secret Raider unit.

The book goes into great detail describing the various stages that this fictional unit goes through as it develops into a fighting force. Apparently this is the first installment of a planned series about this outfit. As it is, there is a dearth of actual combat in the book, since so much time is spent on all the various machinations the principle characters go through to obtain weapons and improve their logistics. I guess the bulk of the fighting will take place in subsequent volumes. However, as I got into this book, I found that I had difficulty sticking with it. I kept wanting them to go shoot some Krauts and when they did, it was almost an anticlimax.

The characters were also a bit of a problem. They reminded me of one of the old propaganda movies made during WWII. Among the main characters, all the men are either handsome and brave or are comic relief while the women are all spunky and beautiful. None of these characters ever seem to be lacking a snappy comeback.  The author also has a maddening habit of constantly referring to characters, with few exceptions,  by their full titles…Captain Randall, Lady Jane Seaborn…etc. Until of course, when Jane Seaborn joins the Royal Marines (!!!) and becomes “Captain Lady Jane Seaborn.”

Another issue is that of outright mistakes in the factual material. One of the ‘colorful characters’, Geronimo Joe, who is leading his Wild West Show in a tour around Britain, states that Randall got his battle experience fighting Huk guerrillas in the Philippines. The problem with this, of course, is that the Huk rebellion did not start until 1946…six years after the events depicted in the book takes place. Also, the characters mouth way too many cliche’s. I know that people do that in real life, but it is just as annoying when it really happens.

In short, this is not a work of war fiction that is going to take its place alongside The Thin Red Line, The Winds of War, or for that matter, The Killer Angels. Still, if you don’t need your fiction to be particularly literary, then you might like it. Just don’t expect a lot of shooting until the next installment.

If you’ve ever watched the History Channel for 12 hours straight you’ll soon discover that approximately 450,000 years ago aliens from Nibiru, the Anunaki, landed on Earth looking to mine gold to repair their atmosphere.  They used genetic engineering to make a race of “workers” which is different from slaves because they gave them mathematics, education, and some really cool building techniques.  But the aliens were undecided about what they should reveal and unrest soon led to members of the higher council issuing out specific information to certain individuals and that became the stories of legend in all ancient cultures.  As of present their Visa has expired and they can only observe discreetly behind fast balls of light.

Fast forward to Atlantis where all of this information was stock piled until the great cataclysm that destroyed the island which led to some people making it off the island to establish civilizations in the Americas and Egypt.  The Egyptians kept the knowledge in the hands of the powerful in order to rule and keep the masses ignorant.  This lead to specialized societies/cults/guilds that eventually became the masons.  The masons protected the knowledge and the treasure and were a powerful force for thousands of years.  An off branch of the masons became the Knights Templar who traveled to the Holy Land to retrieve artifacts.  This is also part of the Arthurian Legend in a non-Monty Python sense.  The Knights Templar protected treasure, knowledge, and pilgrims and eventually threatened the Catholic Church and a very insecure French king.  They either tried to bribe the church or were the envy of the powerful.  I’d like to point out that Nostradamus predicted all of this before his actual birth.  The Knights Templar took the treasures/sacred artifacts from the Holy Land and deposited them at St. Clair Castle in Scotland and later moved them to North America in 1362.  The final resting place of the ark of the covenant, holy grail, crucifixion cross, etc is either in the Money Pit on Oak Island, Illinois, or Wisconsin.  At this point the Knights Templar joined forces with their old allies the masons and became a Satanic cult with the purpose of establishing a utopian society in the New World.  They laid dormant until the American Revolution, which was actually a cover to find the lost Templar treasure by the British.  George Washington found the Templar treasure and that was what enabled him to win the American Revolution against great odds.  Since then the power and secret knowledge has passed down only to the elite, rich and powerful families in the U.S. with the purpose of uniting the world under one leader, the antichrist.

This disturbance in dark matter and dark energy (turns out it’s dark matter and dark energy that binds the galaxy together not the Force but you can call it whatever you want) has lead to Aliens from all over the galaxy to investigate our doings which backfired on the aliens because we have really smart reverse engineers that can’t talk about their work and always have to be video taped in shadow.  As of now aliens, or Extraterrestrial Biological Entities as they prefer to be called, are working with our government in secret.  They get to abduct so many humans for experiments and we get access to their technology and text books.  By the way you can pick up some very high quality ancient alien artifacts from your local pawn stars and have them shipped anywhere in the world including the ice roads of Alaska.  Who knows the next tree you cut down in Washington could have some valuable clues as to whereabouts of the Lindberg baby, Amelia Airheart, and Adolf Hitler.

Justin Eubank

I attended the Ike Farm WWII Weekend on September 18. This was the first time in several years that I had gone and pleasantly, it seemed that it had grown since the last time I was there, although, it may just be that I can’t remember that much about the last time. There were two Red Army groups in attendance – the 193rd and an early war group headed up by Mike Thompson. For those that are unfamiliar with the event, it is held on the Eisenhower Farm, which is administered by the National Park Service in the Gettysburg area, and is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield Park.

Like most WWII living histories, this event features displays from a variety of Allied and Axis reenactor units. It offers the additional advantage to be on the grounds of a historic site and participating reenactors can tour the Eisenhower home at no cost. Additionally, if one wishes to tour the Civil War battlefield, this is easily accessible as well.

I was only at the farm for Saturday, as I had committed to attend the Russian Mosaic Festival in Philadelphia the next day. Still, I had a very nice time and got to see some old friends and renew contacts while I was there.

This is a pleasant, laid-back and  reenactor-friendly event which is generally well-attended by reenactors and the public alike. It is likely that I will go back next year.

(P.S. One of the most fascinating aspects of this event was meeting German Veteran Wilhelm Leibig. Herr Leibig was a crewman on a Tiger I in the Grossdeutschland Division on the Eastern Front. As an 18-year old, his first action was Kursk!  Amazingly, he survived the war without even a wound and surrendered to the Americans at the very end of the war. He had pictures of himself in his panzer uniform and also a picture of many of the men in his unit sitting posed between two Tiger I’s. He was accompanied by his wife and they were both very outgoing and friendly and hardly looked their age. They expressed a great deal of interest in our Red Army display. The Leibig currently reside in North Carolina.)

In my haste to get this out, I neglected to note that this was submitted by Nick Korolev (Very sorry Nick!) ed.

The Hampshire County Heritage Fest takes place every 2^nd weekend in September. The Civil War living history and reenactment part of this fun festival has only been going on for a few years, but this year was bigger and better than ever. The weather was perfect – cool and sunny with a thunderstorm, thankfully only on Saturday night. This was a free event with water, hay and wood provided and a wonderful free chili dinner on Friday night for all reenactors at the fire station in Romney. The Union was camped out at the historic Fort Mill Ridge and the Confederates at Sitar Farm near the railroad and new bridge construction.

Richard “Byrdie” Byrd with 30 years of experience in reenacting was the reenactor liaison for this event, and outdid himself arranging logistics, setting up the Union camp space, making sure waivers were signed and helped organized the planned scenarios with the historical society and festival planners. This year he also came up with the same rules followed at the big events to insure gun safety and the rigorous following of planned scenarios to keep everyone safe and on the same page to curb any problems with the “yahoo/cowboy” faction that often shows up at small and medium events. These rules were distributed at both camps and strictly enforced by Union commander, Steve Reincke and Confederate commander Jason Studantwalt with the result of a pleasurable safe event for the public and the reenactors alike.

I arrived late Friday morning to help with registration in the Union camp and camped out in my car for the weekend not feeling like setting up my tent after a long previous weekend of working at Lost River State Park as naturalist and major bout during the week of fall cleaning and yard work at my house which I have on the market. For the weekend, I was working on the staff of cavalry commander, John Brindle, with a rank of second lieutenant, doing public crowd control at the first scenario and camp watch for the second scenario so I did not bother with bringing weapons except for a side arm. We had artillery in camp at the fort, but the mounted cavalry never showed for the event. Because of the drought in the area, the Romney Fire Department left a big yellow 2,000 gallon portable open reservoir container at the edge of our camp in the parking lot and each fire pit had to have a bucket of water in reach. There must have been a slow leak in the reservoir for the water kept slowly going down without anyone using it. This became an instant camp joke – we attributed it to the very thirsty invisible cavalry horses. The only real weekend problem for both sides was yellow jackets and hornets which resulted in several people being stung.

At the first morning’s assembly we had a moment of silence to honor those who perished in the 9/11 attack. After weapons inspection, Saturday’s scenario was a recreation of the Confederate attack on the fort and the Union defense. Our troops, that totaled 30, manned the trenches with the artillery firing along side. The scenario of two attacks by the 70 Confederates that showed was done in company groups that was followed by a third and final mass attack with them taking heavy casualties followed by their retreat. It went off very well despite a small fire in the leaves that was quickly extinguished.

Some of the troops left before Sunday’s battle which resulted in an approximate count of 17 Union and 58 Confederates. The Potomac Eagle, with passengers aboard, was a last minute change in a planned scenario to take place at the Sitar Farm. This new scenario, based on a historic incident, had the Union on the train that was raided by the Confederates in an ambush started by artillery followed up by infantry. The Union troops left the train to fight, were defeated and those still left alive ended up prisoners. Though I was watching the Union camp, which was open to the public, I was told the members of the 1^st West Virginia cavalry made a gallant suicide charge in the end and the scenario, though short, went well with no “yahoo/cowboy” incidents.

All units involved were asked back for next year’s festival. It is an enjoyable event in a town that really appreciates the efforts of reenactors to bring local Civil War history alive.

Nick Korolev

My family and I decided to have a mini-vacation since we had done no other traveling in 2010.  What better place to get some quality family bonding time than Gettysburg, PA.  None of us had been there since the new visitors center had opened in 2008.  I’d heard many good things about the new facility and couldn’t wait to see it.

Our first stop, upon arriving in Gettysburg, was the visitors center.  It was situated away from the main parts of the battlefield in a secluded area, but not too far.  Landscape nearby was left as natural as could be and could still accommodate parking and visitors.  Signage was well organized and things easy to find.

The exterior of the building was stone and glass.  Several post looked like hand hewn logs.  The middle area, accommodating the Paul Philippoteaux cyclorama painting, was built to resemble the cyclorama buildings of the 19th century.

We entered the facility via the main entrance and found it spacious and well organized.  After a quick trip to the easily found restrooms, we purchased tickets for the video and cyclorama.  Tickets were $10.50 per adult, $6.50 for 13-18 year olds.  Discounts are offered to “active duty” military personnel.  The film and cyclorama run every half hour from 8am to 4:30.  After a short wait in line we were ushered into the theatre.  Special seating for handicap was in the rear, all others were asked to descend the steps and take seats.  The screen was arced and large.  Seating was arranged to make the film easily viewed by all.

The film was excellent.  Hosted by everyone’s favorite sergeant-major, Morgan Freeman.  The explanations given for the start of the war were unbiased and tried to show both sides.  Reenactors used in the film were, unlike yours truly, young and slim, adding to the accuracy thereof.  The sound quality was unbelievable.  After explaining Lee’s artillery bombardment of 3 July 1863, the sound system was kicked into overdrive.

After the video we were ushered into the hall and directed to an escalator.  We were taken directly into the cyclorama.  The cyclorama had been completely redone to its original quality as it had been displayed in Boston in the 1880s.  The 14 feet of missing sky was back.  The viewing platform was raised higher than the 1963-2005 facility.  The diorama foreground was back.  Between the viewing platform and painting was dirt, grass, equipment, roads and more.  Things were matched so well, it was hard to tell where the diorama ended and the painting began.  Wheel tracks lined up perfectly.  A figure, drawing water from a well, had originally been painted to have the third leg of the well’s tripod be actual wood extending into the diorama.  It was restored.  The tripod had had just two legs for over 40 years.  The only bad thing was we did not get to spend near enough time viewing.  We were ushered out and back to the lobby.  There are also special events called “an evening with the painting”  in which you can spend an hour and a half with a paining expert.  These are only held on certain days, about twice a month.

After exiting we looked at a small area concerning some of the history of the painting.  There had been five versions, one each in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Wake Forrest.  Gettysburg houses the Boston version, the only one known to still exist.  Each version had subtle differences.  Gen. Armistead is incorrectly portrayed on horseback in the Gettysburg painting.  In other versions Philippoteaux corrected this mistake.  Other cycloramas of other battles also existed in the 19th century, but with the invention of the moving picture show, the cycloramas soon fell out of favor, were neglected and lost.

We then showed our tickets once again to gain access to the museum.  The museum was a series of rooms that wound to and fro.  The rooms were themed on Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.  It was well organized as well.  Civil War buffs will recognize some of the displays from the old museum, but there was plenty of new displays as well.  There was an interactive touch screen for kids next to a set of equipment that could be lifted to feel the weight a soldier carried.  Near the end of the museum were photos of hundreds of soldiers, North and South who had served at Gettysburg.  For fun, I thought I’d see if I could recognize any faces.  I couldn’t believe it!  At the bottom, on the Confederate side was Upshur County’s own Col. John C. Higganbothom.  It was the charcoal likeness his sister had draw after his death at Spotsylvania.

We then visited the very well stocked book store.  Be careful, you could spend a bunch of money in there.  I did purchase a $20 book on the cyclorama’s history and restoration.  All profits go to preservation efforts at Gettysburg.  Photography is allowed in the lobby, but not in the museum or cyclorama.  The museum also has a sizable restaurant.  We didn’t eat there but it looked very nice.

I then drove my family around the battlefield, being careful not to spend too much time there before getting them to the tourist shopping areas.  We saw the old museum has been razed.  There is no longer evidence of its existence.  The old cyclorama is fenced in and scheduled for destruction.  This should give Zeigler’s Grove a far more authentic look.

This proved to be one of the best outings I’d ever had with my family.  God has certainly blessed me with a wonderful family.  I highly recommend the new Gettysburg visitors center to all Civil War enthusiast.  I also recommend it to all Americans, enthusiast or not.  This is a portion of our common history we should all know.

Submitted
Matthew P. Gillespie
3 August 2010

I received this email from Liz Cook regarding an internet site which allows viewers
to watch documentary films for free. I checked it out and it looks fascinating. There
may be something there that interests you:





Hope this email finds you well.  As you can see from my email, I work for SnagFilms, an
online library of free documentaries for anyone to watch and share on their own sites
with their readers. We are about a year and a half old now and have expanded our library
to 1000 so far. One of the films I have come across recently is the film,
"Darkon." The film follows warrior knights, role-playing gamers whose
live action battlegroundis modern-day Baltimore, Maryland, re-imagined as a
make-believe medieval world named Darkon. These live action gamers combine the physical
drama of historical re-enactments with character-driven storylines.

It has done very well on our site and I wondered if you think your readers would be
interested in this film as well.  Again, it is free to watch and embed on sites. Thanks
very much for your time in advance, I really look forward to hearing your thoughts.

http://www.snagfilms.com

If you haven’t seen the movie, it involves a German plot to kidnap U.S.  Army major, Jeff Pike (Garner,) and fool him into thinking that the war is over, so he will reveal the Allied plans for D-Day. I’m not giving anything away, because this is revealed in the first 20 minutes or so of the film. The dramatic tension is created by the question of whether Pike will figure out what is going on and what will happen if he does. It is a tight, suspenseful story with some interesting twists and is well-acted by a strong cast. Garner is at the top of his game and Taylor’s German doctor is a suprisingly complex character. Interestingly enough, John Banner (I know nothiiiinnnng!) shows up in a small, but important role as a Volkssturm gruppenfuehrer which is quite reminescent of his Sgt. Shultz character.

I really liked this film. I think that Jim Garner kind of gets overlooked in conversations about dramatic actors these days, but he always gives solid, understated roles that never fail to deliver. (I just watched him again  in The Great Escape this weekend and he still manages not to get lost in a very stellar cast.) You may want to pick this one up.

http://www.amazon.com

http://www.netflix.com

http://www.amazon.com

Civil War

Civil War Reenactors and enthusiasts might enjoys these deals from Amazon:

The Civil War – A Film by Ken Burns
Amazon has Ken Burns’ The Civil War for $50.99.  Normally it’s $99.99. This is a great film that I would daresay redefined the documentary style of film-making.

Gettysburg (Widescreen Edition)
If you were holding out for a great deal on 1993′s “reenactor classic” Gettysburg is available for on $5.49 and in Widescreen!

World War II

The War – A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
Another great Ken Burns film is The War – A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Amazon also has it for $50.99.  It’s regular price is $129.99, so this is an even better deal!

Sergeant York (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The 1941 Gary Cooper classic is on sale for a mere $8.99. Normally it is $26.

Empire of the Sun (Snap Case)
One of my personal favorite movies, Empire of the Sun, featuring a very young Christian Bale is on sale for half-price at $6.99.

The Wild West

Deadwood: The Complete Series
If you’re like me and can’t get enough of Al Swearengen swearin’ up  a storm, you definitely need to snap up this great deal on the complete Deadwood series. It’s $97.49 where it’ll normally set you c**ks**kers back $179.00.

Blu-Ray Movies

If you have a Blu-Ray player, there are also some really great deals.  Here is a link to the Blu-Ray discs that might be of interest to reenactors: Amazon.com Blu-Ray Cyber Monday Deals

I noticed they had The Searchers [$7.99] (which probably looks AMAZING in Blu-Ray), Valkyrie [$14.99], The Last Samurai [$10.99], Alexander, Revisited – The Final Cut [$7.99], Wyatt Earp [$7.99], 10,000 B.C. [$14.99], Gettysburg: The Battle and the Address [$6.49], How the West Was Won (Blu-ray Book) [$20.49], Lonesome Dove (2-Disc Collector’s Edition) [$11.99]

These are only deals I found for Cyber Monday, but I am sure there are lots of other great gift ideas for reenactors.  What do you want for Christmas?

In 2001, the BBC released this entry in the “Reality” genre,  which featured a British family , the Hymers, who were picked to relive the WWII years in an English house which had been remodeled and furnished as a house in that particular London neighborhood would have been in 1939. The experiment was to last for 9 weeks and took the participants through an accelerated verision of the war ending with V-E Day in 1945. I had seen parts of the show when it first came out and thought it would be interesting to watch it again, all the way though. So, I located it on Netflix and ordered it.

The introduction to the show outlines the process of advertising, interviewing and finally, picking the folks who become the wartime family. It also shows before and after shots of the house which is retrofitted to the proper configuration.

The family consists of a husband and wife and their grown, divorced daughter and her two young sons. The husband is a history buff with a serious interest in the war years. It wasn’t much of a surprise then, that he would be serious about the project, but watching the rest of the family adjust to life in the early forties provides most of the drama.

The creators of the show went to great lengths for realism and assembled a team of historians and   other experts to enforce rationing and blackout curtain regulations on the home. They even send the family a bomb shelter kit, which is later wired for sound to simulate the noise of air raids when the family are inside of it, having responded to the warning sirens.

While this sounds like it might be a little hoky, it actually comes off pretty well. I found that it was handled as well as it could be expected to be. I also found that the family grew on me and I became quite interested in what eventually happened to them.

This is pleasant viewing and you might even learn a bit about the British homefront during the war. I recommend it. There are also several shows in a similar vein (1900′s House, Frontier House). If you haven’t seen any of these, they offer something a bit different to the history addict.

http://www.netflix.com

http://www.amazon.com