Posts Tagged German Reenacting
Gap – 2012
Another January, another Gap. It is always one of the few things to look forward to during the deep winter… not that this has been much of a winter. Friday, I ran into a little falling snow on the way, but that quickly dissipated. The skies on Saturday were mostly clear and while walking [...]
Events for the New Year
As we enter a new year, let’s take a look at some of the upcoming events for the next couple of months: January 2012 WWII – Battle of the Bulge Reenactment, January 25 – 29. Ft. Indiantown Gap PA. Contact: http://www.wwiifederation.org/index.html February 2012 WWII – Elbe River Event, February 25, 2012, Old Bedford Village, Bedford, [...]
Mission to Moscow II
The next stop on my trip to Moscow was the Central Armed Forces Museum, which is also known as the museum of the Soviet Army. The former is probably now more accurate, since there are exhibits from the post-soviet period as well as sections being developed that cover the whole history of Russian arms back [...]
Mission to Moscow
Always on the lookout for something new to do, I spent the last two weeks of November in Moscow, Russia. Needless to say, there is some history there. One of my stops was at ‘Victory Park’ which commemorates the victory over Nazi Germany in WWII. Unfortunately on the day I was there, the main museum [...]
Great War Association Event – November 2011
GWA events are always a hoot and this November was definitely worth the price of admission. When I arrived at Newville on Friday afternoon, the parking lot was full of more cars than I could remember seeing there. With a forecast of good weather for the weekend, a good turnout was probably a sure thing. [...]
Book Review – “Those Who Dare”
A few months ago, I received an email from a publisher’s representative asking if I would be interested in getting an advance copy of a new book about WWII. Naturally, the prospect of getting something for free caught my attention and I replied that I would. After some wait, I got the book and dug [...]
Ike Farm 2011
On the weekend of September 17th, I had a lot planned. Some friends had asked me to accompany them to an airshow at Martinsburg in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. This was an opportunity to visit some good friends and take in an attraction that I had not seen before. As anyone who watches [...]
New Oxford 2011
The following is an account of the ‘Liberation of New Oxford’, which occurs concurrently with the Ike Farm living history. Another bravura effort by our tireless Bill Donegan: Linda and I found another great WW2 event just 9 miles east of Gettysburg. It is New Oxford. The scenario is Alsace being first deserted by German [...]
Tank Farm 2011
The Virginia Museum of Military Vehicles ( aka ‘The Tank Farm’) in conjunction with the American Wartime Museum, held its annual open house August 19-21 at its site near Nokesville, VA. This is an amazing event for no other reason than that it features so many vintage military vehicles in running condition, many of which [...]
D-Day Ohio 2011 report
Our correspondent, Bill Donegan reports on the recent D-Day reenactment in Conneaut, Ohio: We had a meeting of paradigms this past week-end at D-Day Ohio, Conneaut, for sure. First we had invited our friends from the Reading Air Show, Dave and Lois Nowack, to attend. Dave was one of the downed US airmen trying to [...]
Remagen Reenactment – 2011
Bill Donegan (aka. Helmut Heudlass) reports from the front at Tidioute, PA on this past weekend’s reenactment of the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge by American forces. I was wounded on the eastern front and was sent to Remagen to the hospital to recuperate. When released from krankenhause I was permitted to stay [...]
Rowlesburg Volume II
Patricia Patterson is one of our most creative and original contributors. Here are her musings on the Rowlesburg event. I was thinking about the standard AAR template, and then ever the curious researcher, I read a variety of reenactor AAR’s just for grins. I read some of the past AAR’s, some of my own, many [...]
2011 WORLD WAR II LIVING HISTORY WEEKEND
This report by our correspondent, Matt Gillespie, is the first in a series of impressions on last week’s Rowlesburg WWII living history weekend. Not many would know or even believe that tucked away in the mountains of Rowlesburg, WV would be such a high quality museum as well as a high quality living history. [...]
Reading Volume II
The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum’s WWII weekend is one of the two biggest events that I attend annually. There aren’t a lot of shows that offer such a combination of lot’s of WWII aircraft, reenactors and militaria vendors. Unfortunately, the show has been increasingly mired in complaints from the reenactors about their treatment at the [...]
First Report from Reading
The following is a review of last weekend’s Reading Airshow by our correspondent, Mike Momot: Hello all, Richelle did a wonderful job with the registration process. I felt this worked quite nicely. It certainly would have been better to have later registration hours Thursday and Friday nights for those coming from far away, [...]
GWA Spring Event
It’s spring, 1918 and on the killing fields of France, the armies are stirring in the mud and filth of the trenches. The Kaiser’s forces prepare for an offensive that will strike a decisive blow and divide the allied lines. The western allies including the new American troops and the hardened veterans of the Russian [...]
Military Through the Ages 2011
This year, I attended my third ‘Military Through the Ages’ at Jamestown Settlement. For those of you who have not attended this event, it is a high-quality, prestigious time-line event. Since it takes place in the environs of the reconstructed Jamestown Settlement and museum, it is doubly interesting. As usual, there were a wide variety [...]
Newville Eastern Front Event 2011
On March 11-12, 2011, the 193rd Rifles and the German WWI group, Fusilier Regiment Nr 90, sponsored what has become an annual event at the GWA site at Newville. This time, it was a spring 1945 scenario. For those of you have never been there, the GWA site is an amazing place. No other reenacting [...]
Meeting at the Elbe – OBV 2011
The 2nd Gebirgs once again hosted their Elbe River event at Old Bedford Village on the weekend of February 19, 2011. This is always a well-run and fun event and this year was no exception. The event commemorates the meeting of Soviet and American troops at the Elbe River near Torgau, Germany in April, 1945. [...]
Uncle Luck — One of Our Correspondents is Published
If you are passing by the local newstand this week, you might check out the latest issue of “America in WWII” magazine. Our intrepid traveling correspondent, Bill Donegan has an article published in the latest Issue. Titled “Luck Was On Our Side,” the article recounts the adventures of his uncle, Lester L. Call, who served [...]
Report II from FIG/GAP 2011
The following is Bill Donegan’s report on this year’s FIG event from the perspective of the German chaplin: Report from FIG/GAP 2011 I was glad to have been at the GAP again this year. I am glad also that it was not too cold. I wish to thank Pete and Kate Gentry, and Brad and [...]
Upcoming Events – February and March
Things have been slow on the blog for the last month or so, due to real-life job responsibilities and a lack of events to cover. Hopefully that will be changing now. With FIG over, the reenacting season is starting to crank up. Here are some events coming up in the next couple of months: February [...]
GAP 2010
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 [...]
A Reenactor on Film
It is always cool when knowledgeable living historians get to work with a film project and are able to help the producers ‘get it right.’ The following is a conversation that Bill Donegan had with Reenactor par excellence, Jenna Onuska on the Wehrmacht forum regarding a film project in Maryland: Jenna: My 15 minute claim [...]
Old Bedford Village – East Front Tactical 2010
The annual Fall Eastern Front event was held at Old Bedford Village on the weekend of November 12-14. This year offered an interesting change from the usual format. Rather than just a series of firefights between the combatants, this year involved a day-long scenario in which German units (in this case, Grossdeutschland and 11th Panzer) [...]