Past Events, January - June 2014
Operation Parker Force and Holiday Party
Georgetown, Texas
24-26 January 2014
After having gotten back from the graduation ceremony about half an hour late, we had myself, Toby, Al Olson, and David Gordon at the house. Instead of jumping straight into the terrain board exercise, we had a meeting for a while to discuss where we are and where we need to go, and how best to get there.
The decisions we made were that we will hold the training exercise at Van on the weekend of 8th February, as planned, but now with the date firm as confirmed with Mike Gilbert. Local Germans from the old 45th group will be with us as well for the training, and we'll do some tactical exercises with them. Our future schedule depends so largely on developing a relationship with the Kampfgruppe Steiner guys, that we'll be basing our reenactment dates that we'll be holding events in coordination with when they're available and not involved with other events. I've started talking with Andrew Haynes, and they're very interested in working with us.
We'll start attending other club events, including TMHS stuff if we're invited (and I'll ask them), and start attending things like Waxahachie to get more exposure and recruiting opportunities.
If we do the Orne Bridgehead event at Van this Spring, it will be around the end of April or beginning of May, depending on the KG Steiner schdule. If they can't make it, we'll tentatively hold it next reenacting season after this summer, in coordination with KG Steiner.
I've decided as of this morning, partly based off our meeting, to not take the other job with the county. I'm selling David Gordon my Dingo, so it's still in the family, and he'll be getting it up and running and out to events. I'll use the money for funding the tank restoration and to ensure I'll have the financial freedom to work on other projects, because I simply can't get all this stuff done with a full time regular job too. This also keeps me free to work on Skip's T-16 carrier, so that will come up to the front burner as well. Skip has a 6 pounder antitank gun he'll be towing with the his T-16.
On a side not, Stan Moore, who is the friend of mine you may know from reenacting russian and whatnot, has asked me to help him sail his boat to Puerto Rico, so selling the Dingo and not taking another county job frees me up for that as well, and you know if you've been here to my place sailing is the other hobby I have besides this one. Details are being worked out, but tentatively we'll be leaving end of February or early March, and depending on whether he launches her in Galveston or Miami will depend on how long the passage takes and how long I'll be out of the net regarding our club. It will be between a couple of weeks and several weeks depending on whether we leave from TX or FL.
So after the meeting, which ended around 1500 hours or so, we conducted a limited operation for Parker Force, with an advance out of the airborne perimeter and occupying Cagny. There were two contacts along the way, both with half tracks from 21st Panzer recce battalion. The first contact was not acted on, as the troop of half tracks didn't spot our tetrarchs, and continued along their route toward Troarn. The second contact was made with a troop of half tracks coming straight up Route Lion that ran head on into the point of the 18 tetrarchs of A Squadron. The half tracks backed down below the crest they had just topped, and set up an ambush position ahead of A Squadron. A Squadron commander deployed on line, and advanced onto the waiting half tracks, well aware of their presence. Speed in removing them to take Cagny took priority over trying to circumvent them. In the melee, one half track was destroyed for the loss of one Tetrarch, and the germans withdrew through Cagny to a ridge beyond, and Parker Force occupied Cagny without further incident. The training points of the exercise were using wireless procedure, exercising command and control, conducting battle drills at troop and squadron level, and ensuring the actions of the leaders involved kept to the commanders intent of the operations order. It was also useful for brushing off the dust of not having done anything on these matters since August. I was particularly pleased that during the back brief of the operations order from the leaders involved, the mission was clearly understood, compared to our first attempt at this during Operation Garden Gnome.
Due to the delay starting the exercise because of the need for the meeting, we stopped at around 1700 or 1800 to finish cooking the supper for the party. We had traditional Irish fare, which I think everyone enjoyed, and washed it down with paddies, guinness, bass, and newcastle. Al made the comment to Matt (who arrived that evening) after dinner when he asked about the cake, that it had more whiskey in one slice than he had in his glass he was drinking out of.
The party coninued on after supper, and I finally went to bed at 3 AM. We started stirring at 0900 on Sunday, and after breakfast of egg and sausage Mcmuffins, (they're irish, they've got a Mc in them) we walked around the property, talked about training opportunities using the property and the creek bed, toured vehicles and boats and whatnot, and then called it a weekend.
So I had a good time, I hope everyone else had a good time, and for me, the most important part was the meeting, to determine so many critical issues for determining the direction we need to go, and how to to get there.
Thanks to everyone who came, and "AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!"
Georgetown, Texas
24-26 January 2014
After having gotten back from the graduation ceremony about half an hour late, we had myself, Toby, Al Olson, and David Gordon at the house. Instead of jumping straight into the terrain board exercise, we had a meeting for a while to discuss where we are and where we need to go, and how best to get there.
The decisions we made were that we will hold the training exercise at Van on the weekend of 8th February, as planned, but now with the date firm as confirmed with Mike Gilbert. Local Germans from the old 45th group will be with us as well for the training, and we'll do some tactical exercises with them. Our future schedule depends so largely on developing a relationship with the Kampfgruppe Steiner guys, that we'll be basing our reenactment dates that we'll be holding events in coordination with when they're available and not involved with other events. I've started talking with Andrew Haynes, and they're very interested in working with us.
We'll start attending other club events, including TMHS stuff if we're invited (and I'll ask them), and start attending things like Waxahachie to get more exposure and recruiting opportunities.
If we do the Orne Bridgehead event at Van this Spring, it will be around the end of April or beginning of May, depending on the KG Steiner schdule. If they can't make it, we'll tentatively hold it next reenacting season after this summer, in coordination with KG Steiner.
I've decided as of this morning, partly based off our meeting, to not take the other job with the county. I'm selling David Gordon my Dingo, so it's still in the family, and he'll be getting it up and running and out to events. I'll use the money for funding the tank restoration and to ensure I'll have the financial freedom to work on other projects, because I simply can't get all this stuff done with a full time regular job too. This also keeps me free to work on Skip's T-16 carrier, so that will come up to the front burner as well. Skip has a 6 pounder antitank gun he'll be towing with the his T-16.
On a side not, Stan Moore, who is the friend of mine you may know from reenacting russian and whatnot, has asked me to help him sail his boat to Puerto Rico, so selling the Dingo and not taking another county job frees me up for that as well, and you know if you've been here to my place sailing is the other hobby I have besides this one. Details are being worked out, but tentatively we'll be leaving end of February or early March, and depending on whether he launches her in Galveston or Miami will depend on how long the passage takes and how long I'll be out of the net regarding our club. It will be between a couple of weeks and several weeks depending on whether we leave from TX or FL.
So after the meeting, which ended around 1500 hours or so, we conducted a limited operation for Parker Force, with an advance out of the airborne perimeter and occupying Cagny. There were two contacts along the way, both with half tracks from 21st Panzer recce battalion. The first contact was not acted on, as the troop of half tracks didn't spot our tetrarchs, and continued along their route toward Troarn. The second contact was made with a troop of half tracks coming straight up Route Lion that ran head on into the point of the 18 tetrarchs of A Squadron. The half tracks backed down below the crest they had just topped, and set up an ambush position ahead of A Squadron. A Squadron commander deployed on line, and advanced onto the waiting half tracks, well aware of their presence. Speed in removing them to take Cagny took priority over trying to circumvent them. In the melee, one half track was destroyed for the loss of one Tetrarch, and the germans withdrew through Cagny to a ridge beyond, and Parker Force occupied Cagny without further incident. The training points of the exercise were using wireless procedure, exercising command and control, conducting battle drills at troop and squadron level, and ensuring the actions of the leaders involved kept to the commanders intent of the operations order. It was also useful for brushing off the dust of not having done anything on these matters since August. I was particularly pleased that during the back brief of the operations order from the leaders involved, the mission was clearly understood, compared to our first attempt at this during Operation Garden Gnome.
Due to the delay starting the exercise because of the need for the meeting, we stopped at around 1700 or 1800 to finish cooking the supper for the party. We had traditional Irish fare, which I think everyone enjoyed, and washed it down with paddies, guinness, bass, and newcastle. Al made the comment to Matt (who arrived that evening) after dinner when he asked about the cake, that it had more whiskey in one slice than he had in his glass he was drinking out of.
The party coninued on after supper, and I finally went to bed at 3 AM. We started stirring at 0900 on Sunday, and after breakfast of egg and sausage Mcmuffins, (they're irish, they've got a Mc in them) we walked around the property, talked about training opportunities using the property and the creek bed, toured vehicles and boats and whatnot, and then called it a weekend.
So I had a good time, I hope everyone else had a good time, and for me, the most important part was the meeting, to determine so many critical issues for determining the direction we need to go, and how to to get there.
Thanks to everyone who came, and "AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!"
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Left: The results of a brief engagement between 6th AARR tanks and 21st Panzer recce half tracks. A one for one trade, and the germans are pushed back through Cagny. Near right: Parker Force occupies Cagny, and begins digging in and spreading out of the town. Far right: 21st Panzer recce elements watch Parker Force in Cagny. What happens next?
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Museum of the American GI, Open House
College Station, Texas
22-22 March 2014
First off, thanks so much to Kevin, Pete and David for making the display at Brent's such a success. The education program for the school kids on Friday went great, with alot of interaction and questions from the students. The BBQ fundraiser was delicious, and hitting the sack on Friday night was something I was really looking forward to, as I was ready to crash by 9, but waiting so I wouldn't wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning.
Today was very successful, as we have some very enthusiastic potential recruits, and for a change, most of them are younger people wanting to do something besides spend life on a cell phone. Pete is our new ambassador to Germany, as before I got off my butt to go start talking to the germans looking for cannon fodder, Pete was already talking them into coming to Van for Orne Bridgehead. There are five guys from the Wiking Division as well as some Gebirgsjaeger from the division that was flown into Crete to reinforce the Fallschirmjaeger during the invasion.
David brought his freshly painted and overhauled jeep, and it's beautiful. He also brought cased displays of personal kit, 2" mortar with various rounds, various grenades and hand guns. Kevin brought the Compo crates he's made, and they're beautiful too. Excellent workmanship. Pete brought Mk 2, 3 and 5 Stens, gas bren, and I brought a Vickers, Bren dummy with tripod, 3" mortar, bomb carriers, PIAT, mess gear and drop containers and panniers and other odds and ends. I also brought the Operation Varsity diorama, the Van terrain board, recruiting flyers, and we had bivi tents, airborne wall tent and bell tent set up.
In general I'd begin the briefing of the various groups on Friday, doing an overall explanation of all the stuff on display, and then they'd divide into smaller groups to ask questions t weapons or gear or diorama, etc, with all of us answering specific questions or demonstrating gear and whatnot. Pete had to leave early to work on Skip's K Gun to get it ready for Weldonkrieg this weekend. Today, it was individuals, families and small groups touring on their own, and all of us were manning the line giving talks across the display as people arrived at the different sections. The diorama was a big hit with lots of people, and it's a great tool for explaining how airborne operations worked, and the history of the unit we portray in particular. People spent alot of time looking at eit, and it generated alot of excellent questions, which led to more questions about things like air dropping supplies, bomber tug aircraft, lend-lease equipment, the role of glider pilots, you name it. I talked so much today I'm hoarse. The museum fed us lunch and breakfast today, and would have fed us lunch, but we were so busy with the event that we worked right through it. I figured it was probably 11 am and found out it was already after 1 in the afternoon, and before I knew it it was time for the reenactment to start, so when the crowd moved up the hill, we broke down, packed up, and were on the road before any rain hit, which I encountered on the way home.
So with a little luck, we'll hear from some of the potential recruits, and see some of these german reenactors this fall at Orne Bridgehead. We have their contact info and they have ours.
DEFINITELY worth doing again in the future.
College Station, Texas
22-22 March 2014
First off, thanks so much to Kevin, Pete and David for making the display at Brent's such a success. The education program for the school kids on Friday went great, with alot of interaction and questions from the students. The BBQ fundraiser was delicious, and hitting the sack on Friday night was something I was really looking forward to, as I was ready to crash by 9, but waiting so I wouldn't wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning.
Today was very successful, as we have some very enthusiastic potential recruits, and for a change, most of them are younger people wanting to do something besides spend life on a cell phone. Pete is our new ambassador to Germany, as before I got off my butt to go start talking to the germans looking for cannon fodder, Pete was already talking them into coming to Van for Orne Bridgehead. There are five guys from the Wiking Division as well as some Gebirgsjaeger from the division that was flown into Crete to reinforce the Fallschirmjaeger during the invasion.
David brought his freshly painted and overhauled jeep, and it's beautiful. He also brought cased displays of personal kit, 2" mortar with various rounds, various grenades and hand guns. Kevin brought the Compo crates he's made, and they're beautiful too. Excellent workmanship. Pete brought Mk 2, 3 and 5 Stens, gas bren, and I brought a Vickers, Bren dummy with tripod, 3" mortar, bomb carriers, PIAT, mess gear and drop containers and panniers and other odds and ends. I also brought the Operation Varsity diorama, the Van terrain board, recruiting flyers, and we had bivi tents, airborne wall tent and bell tent set up.
In general I'd begin the briefing of the various groups on Friday, doing an overall explanation of all the stuff on display, and then they'd divide into smaller groups to ask questions t weapons or gear or diorama, etc, with all of us answering specific questions or demonstrating gear and whatnot. Pete had to leave early to work on Skip's K Gun to get it ready for Weldonkrieg this weekend. Today, it was individuals, families and small groups touring on their own, and all of us were manning the line giving talks across the display as people arrived at the different sections. The diorama was a big hit with lots of people, and it's a great tool for explaining how airborne operations worked, and the history of the unit we portray in particular. People spent alot of time looking at eit, and it generated alot of excellent questions, which led to more questions about things like air dropping supplies, bomber tug aircraft, lend-lease equipment, the role of glider pilots, you name it. I talked so much today I'm hoarse. The museum fed us lunch and breakfast today, and would have fed us lunch, but we were so busy with the event that we worked right through it. I figured it was probably 11 am and found out it was already after 1 in the afternoon, and before I knew it it was time for the reenactment to start, so when the crowd moved up the hill, we broke down, packed up, and were on the road before any rain hit, which I encountered on the way home.
So with a little luck, we'll hear from some of the potential recruits, and see some of these german reenactors this fall at Orne Bridgehead. We have their contact info and they have ours.
DEFINITELY worth doing again in the future.
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In the photos are shots of the camp and display area as set up on Thursday night after arrival. On Friday and Saturday, the displays were filled out with small arms, mortar and PIAT rounds, rations and cooking gear, personal kit, grenades, 2" mortar, parachutes and other items. Members in uniform manned the displays to brief the various groups.
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Left: Manning the weapons display, stens and enfield on the table. Right: Museum of the American GI fundraiser BBQ. 6th AARR members and family members posing for the shot. Far right: Waiting for the mess line to open. It was worth it.
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Weldonkrieg
Weldon Spring, Missouri
28-30 March 2014
Al and I got to Weldon at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon on Friday, and linked up with Smeado, who was commanding the british forces. I was the sergeant major for the british forces, and second in command. Skip arrived shortly after. Al and I set up our tent, and did some socializing and shopping in the vendor room. Mostly german and GI stuff, but I did pick up a war-dated brit jerry can and another wooden .303 ammo box to put gas-gun stuff in for the third gas bren gun. After getting all our gear set for the next day, and making plans with Smeado, we went to an Italian restaurant for supper and got a motel room, as it was frigging cold, there was only one other tent pitched in the british area and no-one in sight, and the forecast changed to rain from midnight through 5 am, so caution overcame valor and glory.
On Saturday morning, I hit the breakfast bar before Al, and there was another reenactor there, and so we sat down to eat together, and it ended up being Steve Smith from Arkansas, the guy who supplies our gas gun guts for our weapons, so I figure fate put us there together. We talked and exchanged notes and he wants to get with Pete to see how he managed to gas up a bren gun, so he can gas up his BAR.
Upon getting back to the krieg, we roused the brits over to the briefing area, and went through the mass formation of all the reenactors for the briefing. Although there were 100 fewer there than pre-registered, there were I believe between 250-300 total, and it was more WW2 reenactors at an event than I've seen in a long time.
We then went to our camp, and assembled the british. I got head counts of who from what units, divided everyone into sections based on what units they were from, briefed them on our training we were about to do, and then commenced training. We drilled in the deliberate assault, how to take casualties and maintain the offensive, and how to do section battle drill by establishing base of fire and bounding the rifle sections, how to assault by sections, use of smoke, etc. The training paid off HUGELY during the fighting.
After I finished the training, I handed the company off to Smeado, who gave a quick talk to the men, then handed them back off to me. We tested weapons, worked bugs out of jeeps and equipment, tested our wireless commo within the company and on the battalion net, formed into column in our four jeeps, and moved to the jump-off location.
On our first contact with the enemy, the battle drill training immediately went into play, and by our second or third engagement, to our great joy, we were working like a machine, with bren team setting base of fire, rifle sections deploying to flanks and bounding to assault positions on the enemies flanks, using smoke for cover. It really was something to see, and I personally had three occasions where germans came up to us to complement us on how well we maneuvered and how much they were enjoying fighting us. My favorite magic moment was about half way through the first scenario. I had brought my hunting horn with me, and found out Smeado can actually blow it the way Major Howard (Anthony Hopkins) blows his in "A Bridge Too Far". So I handed it off to him for leading the men. We had come up against a german position, and the shit hit the fan. Base of fire was set, the sections flanked to the left and right of the german position, smoke was thrown, and I yelled "BULLETS BULLETS!" signalling the assault to go in, and as we charged forward into the smoke and fire, as I was blasting away with my sten, I heard "WHOO-OO-OO WHO-OO-OO WHOO-OO-OO" from the horn as we charged in for the kill. Absolutely my magic moment for the weekend. We pulled it off text-book and it was perfect.
After capturing the airfield, we moved to CP 13 to get ready for the next scenario. We brewed cuppa and had lunch from our 24 hour rations, had an O group for the next scenario, and then geared up to go. Unfortunately, the only forces we met were the americans closing in from the other side of the bag, with no germans in the bag, as they never moved into the bag in the first place. We still don't know what happened.
The third scenario was moved straight into since the second scenario didn't actually happen, and the culmination of the day was a knock-down fight for a concrete building facility, with the armour coming into play, smoke, repeated assaults, and then after it was all clear, we gathered together for our group photo before hitting the road.
After breaking camp, while Al and Skip loaded the jeep, I handed out about 70 flyers for Orne Bridgehead to germans and british, and had some very good interest drummed up for the event. 1st Canadian Para from Nebraska said they definitely want to come, some of the germans said that it was feasible, and whomever shows up, I am quite certain some of them will be people we worked with this weekend from both sides.
The british reenactors went out of their way to come up to us after the event to tell us how much of a difference our leadership and training made for them and how much they appreciated it. Weldonkrieg definitely put us on the map as a club to the other reenactors in the region.
On the way home, after dropping off Al in Dallas, I got a call from Joe Crabtree. He does Brit with Lance Vargas, who owns the Cromwell, and although we were supposed to link up at the event, he couldn't get away from his duties working on a kubelwagen and motorcycle combination, so we didn't get to meet up. So he called me to let me know what happened, and we talked for about half an hour on the phone. They are really looking forward to working with us, especially after seeing us in action this weekend. We talked about logistics and locations and distances, and what we came up with for a rough plan, would be that we concentrate on doing two major events together a year, with us bringing our tank and stuff to Van, and them bringing the dingo and their light stuff to Van in the fall, and then in the spring they'd bring their tank and stuff to Weldon, and we'd bring our lighter stuff to weldon, so that neither of us has to deal with bringing a tank a long distance either way. So that's the tentative strategy for now.
It also works well with all the stuff Al and I talked about on the way home after the battle. Bringing the locust to Weldon would require two solid days of driving both ways hauling the locust behind the 5 ton. Bringing carriers or dingos is a one day drive behind a civilian truck or suburban. Whereas Van is MUCH more open for maneuver and tank-friendly than Weldon, it's smaller, so Weldon is more a road network through woods with the occasional open field, so armour there is more of a battering ram for the roads. A dingo would stand up to anything at Weldon other than the Stug that showed up. Carriers would stand up to any small arms fire, and would be ideal for all the breaks and small meadows you encounter when off the roads. Lance and Joe are only 30 minutes from Weldon, so the Cromwell would provide the battering ram. Joe said that with the Cromwell, Dingo and Humber scout to man, and right now only him and Vance available to crew anything, they are welcoming us to come up and provide crews for Lance's armour, so we would only need to bring one or two vehicles if any at all depending on how many of us go to Weldon.
When we do Van, that would be the opportunity for us to make a max effort on getting our own armour out, and Lance and Joe would bring their lighter stuff down like the Humber and Dingo.
I think that's the annual strategy we ought to shoot for. Max at Van in the fall, max at Weldon in the spring, and then other events like Tobruk that we'd go to that other people are running in between, and maybe a smaller Van battle or a Zavalla that we'd host in between Orne Bridgehead and Weldonkrieg.
Weldon Spring, Missouri
28-30 March 2014
Al and I got to Weldon at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon on Friday, and linked up with Smeado, who was commanding the british forces. I was the sergeant major for the british forces, and second in command. Skip arrived shortly after. Al and I set up our tent, and did some socializing and shopping in the vendor room. Mostly german and GI stuff, but I did pick up a war-dated brit jerry can and another wooden .303 ammo box to put gas-gun stuff in for the third gas bren gun. After getting all our gear set for the next day, and making plans with Smeado, we went to an Italian restaurant for supper and got a motel room, as it was frigging cold, there was only one other tent pitched in the british area and no-one in sight, and the forecast changed to rain from midnight through 5 am, so caution overcame valor and glory.
On Saturday morning, I hit the breakfast bar before Al, and there was another reenactor there, and so we sat down to eat together, and it ended up being Steve Smith from Arkansas, the guy who supplies our gas gun guts for our weapons, so I figure fate put us there together. We talked and exchanged notes and he wants to get with Pete to see how he managed to gas up a bren gun, so he can gas up his BAR.
Upon getting back to the krieg, we roused the brits over to the briefing area, and went through the mass formation of all the reenactors for the briefing. Although there were 100 fewer there than pre-registered, there were I believe between 250-300 total, and it was more WW2 reenactors at an event than I've seen in a long time.
We then went to our camp, and assembled the british. I got head counts of who from what units, divided everyone into sections based on what units they were from, briefed them on our training we were about to do, and then commenced training. We drilled in the deliberate assault, how to take casualties and maintain the offensive, and how to do section battle drill by establishing base of fire and bounding the rifle sections, how to assault by sections, use of smoke, etc. The training paid off HUGELY during the fighting.
After I finished the training, I handed the company off to Smeado, who gave a quick talk to the men, then handed them back off to me. We tested weapons, worked bugs out of jeeps and equipment, tested our wireless commo within the company and on the battalion net, formed into column in our four jeeps, and moved to the jump-off location.
On our first contact with the enemy, the battle drill training immediately went into play, and by our second or third engagement, to our great joy, we were working like a machine, with bren team setting base of fire, rifle sections deploying to flanks and bounding to assault positions on the enemies flanks, using smoke for cover. It really was something to see, and I personally had three occasions where germans came up to us to complement us on how well we maneuvered and how much they were enjoying fighting us. My favorite magic moment was about half way through the first scenario. I had brought my hunting horn with me, and found out Smeado can actually blow it the way Major Howard (Anthony Hopkins) blows his in "A Bridge Too Far". So I handed it off to him for leading the men. We had come up against a german position, and the shit hit the fan. Base of fire was set, the sections flanked to the left and right of the german position, smoke was thrown, and I yelled "BULLETS BULLETS!" signalling the assault to go in, and as we charged forward into the smoke and fire, as I was blasting away with my sten, I heard "WHOO-OO-OO WHO-OO-OO WHOO-OO-OO" from the horn as we charged in for the kill. Absolutely my magic moment for the weekend. We pulled it off text-book and it was perfect.
After capturing the airfield, we moved to CP 13 to get ready for the next scenario. We brewed cuppa and had lunch from our 24 hour rations, had an O group for the next scenario, and then geared up to go. Unfortunately, the only forces we met were the americans closing in from the other side of the bag, with no germans in the bag, as they never moved into the bag in the first place. We still don't know what happened.
The third scenario was moved straight into since the second scenario didn't actually happen, and the culmination of the day was a knock-down fight for a concrete building facility, with the armour coming into play, smoke, repeated assaults, and then after it was all clear, we gathered together for our group photo before hitting the road.
After breaking camp, while Al and Skip loaded the jeep, I handed out about 70 flyers for Orne Bridgehead to germans and british, and had some very good interest drummed up for the event. 1st Canadian Para from Nebraska said they definitely want to come, some of the germans said that it was feasible, and whomever shows up, I am quite certain some of them will be people we worked with this weekend from both sides.
The british reenactors went out of their way to come up to us after the event to tell us how much of a difference our leadership and training made for them and how much they appreciated it. Weldonkrieg definitely put us on the map as a club to the other reenactors in the region.
On the way home, after dropping off Al in Dallas, I got a call from Joe Crabtree. He does Brit with Lance Vargas, who owns the Cromwell, and although we were supposed to link up at the event, he couldn't get away from his duties working on a kubelwagen and motorcycle combination, so we didn't get to meet up. So he called me to let me know what happened, and we talked for about half an hour on the phone. They are really looking forward to working with us, especially after seeing us in action this weekend. We talked about logistics and locations and distances, and what we came up with for a rough plan, would be that we concentrate on doing two major events together a year, with us bringing our tank and stuff to Van, and them bringing the dingo and their light stuff to Van in the fall, and then in the spring they'd bring their tank and stuff to Weldon, and we'd bring our lighter stuff to weldon, so that neither of us has to deal with bringing a tank a long distance either way. So that's the tentative strategy for now.
It also works well with all the stuff Al and I talked about on the way home after the battle. Bringing the locust to Weldon would require two solid days of driving both ways hauling the locust behind the 5 ton. Bringing carriers or dingos is a one day drive behind a civilian truck or suburban. Whereas Van is MUCH more open for maneuver and tank-friendly than Weldon, it's smaller, so Weldon is more a road network through woods with the occasional open field, so armour there is more of a battering ram for the roads. A dingo would stand up to anything at Weldon other than the Stug that showed up. Carriers would stand up to any small arms fire, and would be ideal for all the breaks and small meadows you encounter when off the roads. Lance and Joe are only 30 minutes from Weldon, so the Cromwell would provide the battering ram. Joe said that with the Cromwell, Dingo and Humber scout to man, and right now only him and Vance available to crew anything, they are welcoming us to come up and provide crews for Lance's armour, so we would only need to bring one or two vehicles if any at all depending on how many of us go to Weldon.
When we do Van, that would be the opportunity for us to make a max effort on getting our own armour out, and Lance and Joe would bring their lighter stuff down like the Humber and Dingo.
I think that's the annual strategy we ought to shoot for. Max at Van in the fall, max at Weldon in the spring, and then other events like Tobruk that we'd go to that other people are running in between, and maybe a smaller Van battle or a Zavalla that we'd host in between Orne Bridgehead and Weldonkrieg.
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Above: Charlie Company, composed of 6th AARR, 7th Parachute Battalion, and 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. Left, Head of the column, Captain Smead, the Company Commander, with Sten Mk V standing to the right of the lead jeep. Right: British jeep column, Skip's K Gun jeep to the front. Below left to Right: Al manning the K Gun and the rest of the column jeeps from front to rear.
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Motorpool Work Weekend
Georgetown, Texas
11-13 April 2014
Kevin got here yesterday afternoon, and we started knocking stuff off the goal checklist. By about 4 pm today, we had finished almost everything off the checklist that I'd hoped to get done by tomorrow afternoon. The one exception was finishing the new decking on the equipment trailer, and the only reason we didn't finish was wearing out the two 3/16 drill bits I had on hand drilling pilot holes for the decking screws. So Kevin is on his way home for some quality time with the boss. I'm sitting here freshly showered and worn out.
We moved the CMP out of the way of the tank garage, and put it over to the west side of the driveway. We put Myrtle Agnes in the west portable garage. We moved the tank into the main garage, and got the engine deck off, and slid under the tank hull to get it out of the way. We put the jeep into the portable next to the main garage. We moved Bren Carrier #2 from the quonset hut into the portable behind the main garage where the hull and large components will get sand blasted. And on top of all that, we did a full up display and tour for the Austin Area Car Collectors Club, with weapons and equipment displays, terrain board and diorama displays, handed out flyers for Orne Bridgehead and 6th AARR recruiting flyers, and even attempted to fix the timing again on Myrtle Agnes. The suspect component is now the condenser. One of the Model A experts in the tour said it's probably the problem, and a second opinion concurred.
Before Kevin got here yesterday, I also isolated another leak in the air system for blasting, sealed the leaks around the window and purged the blasting cabinet and blaster of sand and replaced it with glass bead, and got started on blasting flimsies and rusty .303 metal ammo chests. As happy as I was with my upgrades for sand blasting, switching to bead knocks the hell out of the sand.
Thank you so much again Kevin!
Georgetown, Texas
11-13 April 2014
Kevin got here yesterday afternoon, and we started knocking stuff off the goal checklist. By about 4 pm today, we had finished almost everything off the checklist that I'd hoped to get done by tomorrow afternoon. The one exception was finishing the new decking on the equipment trailer, and the only reason we didn't finish was wearing out the two 3/16 drill bits I had on hand drilling pilot holes for the decking screws. So Kevin is on his way home for some quality time with the boss. I'm sitting here freshly showered and worn out.
We moved the CMP out of the way of the tank garage, and put it over to the west side of the driveway. We put Myrtle Agnes in the west portable garage. We moved the tank into the main garage, and got the engine deck off, and slid under the tank hull to get it out of the way. We put the jeep into the portable next to the main garage. We moved Bren Carrier #2 from the quonset hut into the portable behind the main garage where the hull and large components will get sand blasted. And on top of all that, we did a full up display and tour for the Austin Area Car Collectors Club, with weapons and equipment displays, terrain board and diorama displays, handed out flyers for Orne Bridgehead and 6th AARR recruiting flyers, and even attempted to fix the timing again on Myrtle Agnes. The suspect component is now the condenser. One of the Model A experts in the tour said it's probably the problem, and a second opinion concurred.
Before Kevin got here yesterday, I also isolated another leak in the air system for blasting, sealed the leaks around the window and purged the blasting cabinet and blaster of sand and replaced it with glass bead, and got started on blasting flimsies and rusty .303 metal ammo chests. As happy as I was with my upgrades for sand blasting, switching to bead knocks the hell out of the sand.
Thank you so much again Kevin!
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Muster Day
Camp Mabry, Texas
25-27 April 2014
David's jeep and bell tent and my CMP were dropped off and in place Friday night. 1st Para was also set up Friday night and spent the night. On Saturday morning we all got there fairly early, got our meal tickets and participant packets, and took in the new exhibits at the museum, which has improved greatly since last year. It's more like a real museum now and less like a warehouse full of stuff.
The battle briefing and walk through was at 1100, and went until 1215. We were then cut loose for an hour and ate lunch. At 1315 we drove the vehicles to the far side of the battlefield on the other side of the pond and parked them on the edge of the woods. We gathered at the edge of the pond to simulate coming off the beach at Salerno.
The engagement was supposed to be kicked off by a star cluster going off in the air, which didn't, then a rush forward in the smoke, which was partial, followed by a bangalore torepedo blowing a hole in the wire, which didn't go off, and a rush forward with a pole charge into the very cool fake bunker, which also didn't go off. Then we moved forward in rushes to a row of dragon's teeth and then a sandbagged trench and some bushes, which provoked a german counterattack with infantry, a Kfz 251 half-track, a Stug III and a Hetzer. That in turn provoked a counter-counter attack by the US Armour with a Sherman, a Chaffee, and a Stuart, along with the US Airborne forces. In spite of the failures, it was fun, although we need to work on fire and movement discipline. To be fair, we didn't do any training prior the event, but the plan was so simple I didn't think we had to. Bottom line is whomever is in charge, you don't do anything until you're ordered to, not just charge off because you see the guys near you charge off.
Everything that went wrong on Saturday regarding the battle went right on Sunday. The star cluster worked, the smoke was pretty intense, the bangalore and pole charge both blew up, and people moved when ordered to. The tank engagements went alot better as well, as during the lulls in the infantry fighting, the tanks were fully visible engaging each other, bounding forward and backward and whatnot. Even though we had fewer people on Sunday for the battle, it actually was a much better show.
As for our unit activities, We had Pete, David G, Kevin, myself and Niall, David's daughter's boyfriend. He was awesome, as he is not only from Scotland, but he also plays the bagpipes, and played before and after the battle on both days. He said he'll but e at Van in September, so with a little luck we'll have a piper out there. 1st Para also had five out there, for a total of 10 brits, all airborne. On Saturday after the battle we set up a display with the CMP, 3" mortar, vickers gun, bren gun, sten, Enfield no 4 mk 1 and PIAT. Kevin and I manned the display, gave short lectures and demos, answered questions, and encouraged interaction and questions, letting people take photos manning the vickers and whatnot. On Sunday we did the same thing in the morning, along with David and the jeep, and we found the perfect spot for it. We set up at the end of the parade field right near the entrance under some trees. So we catch the crowd as soon as they come into the event, and have shade so we're not out in the sun. We're right near the food vendors and have port-a-johns very close. David also discovered an ice machine inside the museum, so we have access to free ice for the WW2 cooler, which made a huge difference on Sunday.
The food situation is much better than last time I was there, year before last. Then, we had tickets that were good at just a mexican food trailer that was at the bottom of the hill at the battlefield, and it only offered a couple of options. Now, they give you four tickets, for all three meals on Saturday and Breakfast on Sunday, and you can use them at many food vendors up on the main parade field. I had Chik-Fil-A on Saturday afternoon, a full BBQ Brisket plate for Supper at the Buffalo Soldiers' place, breakfast tacos any way you wanted them on Sunday for breakfast, and more Brisket and ranch beans loaded with meat from the Buffalo Soldiers' for lunch on Sunday. They really do feed you well now.
The CMP and jeep ran like champs all weekend, although we learned that even though you don't think you're going to put on many miles at a show battle, it behooves you to bring a jerry can full for a backup just in case. Neither of us ran out of fuel, but we cut it close. It's also a great thing having more than one vehicle at any event, as you can knock out multiple tasks at once, and if anything goes wrong with one vehicle, you have the second handy to deal with support.
On Saturday night, David hosted us all to a slumber party at his house, and we got to check out the progress on the Dingo. It really looks alot different with the armour off the frame. We took much needed showers, had liquid refreshments, got treated to pizza, and watched "Theirs is the Glory". If you get a chance to enjoy David and Page's hospitality, just remember one thing: bring your own coffee.
Also on Sunday, along with the possibility of maybe getting a recruit out of the display, I also handed out every one of the "Orne Bridgehead" flyers to german reenactors. Neil Gillbanks, who is one of the Stug Crew and an old friend, was pretty psyched about Orne, and said the guy who owns the Stug is looking for a tactical to bring it to, and we talked about the possibility of paying stipends for owners of armoured vehicles to help them out with costs of bringing them to Orne.
So the weekend was a great time, a great success, and we have a solid plan for where to set up and what to bring for next year. What more can you ask for?
Camp Mabry, Texas
25-27 April 2014
David's jeep and bell tent and my CMP were dropped off and in place Friday night. 1st Para was also set up Friday night and spent the night. On Saturday morning we all got there fairly early, got our meal tickets and participant packets, and took in the new exhibits at the museum, which has improved greatly since last year. It's more like a real museum now and less like a warehouse full of stuff.
The battle briefing and walk through was at 1100, and went until 1215. We were then cut loose for an hour and ate lunch. At 1315 we drove the vehicles to the far side of the battlefield on the other side of the pond and parked them on the edge of the woods. We gathered at the edge of the pond to simulate coming off the beach at Salerno.
The engagement was supposed to be kicked off by a star cluster going off in the air, which didn't, then a rush forward in the smoke, which was partial, followed by a bangalore torepedo blowing a hole in the wire, which didn't go off, and a rush forward with a pole charge into the very cool fake bunker, which also didn't go off. Then we moved forward in rushes to a row of dragon's teeth and then a sandbagged trench and some bushes, which provoked a german counterattack with infantry, a Kfz 251 half-track, a Stug III and a Hetzer. That in turn provoked a counter-counter attack by the US Armour with a Sherman, a Chaffee, and a Stuart, along with the US Airborne forces. In spite of the failures, it was fun, although we need to work on fire and movement discipline. To be fair, we didn't do any training prior the event, but the plan was so simple I didn't think we had to. Bottom line is whomever is in charge, you don't do anything until you're ordered to, not just charge off because you see the guys near you charge off.
Everything that went wrong on Saturday regarding the battle went right on Sunday. The star cluster worked, the smoke was pretty intense, the bangalore and pole charge both blew up, and people moved when ordered to. The tank engagements went alot better as well, as during the lulls in the infantry fighting, the tanks were fully visible engaging each other, bounding forward and backward and whatnot. Even though we had fewer people on Sunday for the battle, it actually was a much better show.
As for our unit activities, We had Pete, David G, Kevin, myself and Niall, David's daughter's boyfriend. He was awesome, as he is not only from Scotland, but he also plays the bagpipes, and played before and after the battle on both days. He said he'll but e at Van in September, so with a little luck we'll have a piper out there. 1st Para also had five out there, for a total of 10 brits, all airborne. On Saturday after the battle we set up a display with the CMP, 3" mortar, vickers gun, bren gun, sten, Enfield no 4 mk 1 and PIAT. Kevin and I manned the display, gave short lectures and demos, answered questions, and encouraged interaction and questions, letting people take photos manning the vickers and whatnot. On Sunday we did the same thing in the morning, along with David and the jeep, and we found the perfect spot for it. We set up at the end of the parade field right near the entrance under some trees. So we catch the crowd as soon as they come into the event, and have shade so we're not out in the sun. We're right near the food vendors and have port-a-johns very close. David also discovered an ice machine inside the museum, so we have access to free ice for the WW2 cooler, which made a huge difference on Sunday.
The food situation is much better than last time I was there, year before last. Then, we had tickets that were good at just a mexican food trailer that was at the bottom of the hill at the battlefield, and it only offered a couple of options. Now, they give you four tickets, for all three meals on Saturday and Breakfast on Sunday, and you can use them at many food vendors up on the main parade field. I had Chik-Fil-A on Saturday afternoon, a full BBQ Brisket plate for Supper at the Buffalo Soldiers' place, breakfast tacos any way you wanted them on Sunday for breakfast, and more Brisket and ranch beans loaded with meat from the Buffalo Soldiers' for lunch on Sunday. They really do feed you well now.
The CMP and jeep ran like champs all weekend, although we learned that even though you don't think you're going to put on many miles at a show battle, it behooves you to bring a jerry can full for a backup just in case. Neither of us ran out of fuel, but we cut it close. It's also a great thing having more than one vehicle at any event, as you can knock out multiple tasks at once, and if anything goes wrong with one vehicle, you have the second handy to deal with support.
On Saturday night, David hosted us all to a slumber party at his house, and we got to check out the progress on the Dingo. It really looks alot different with the armour off the frame. We took much needed showers, had liquid refreshments, got treated to pizza, and watched "Theirs is the Glory". If you get a chance to enjoy David and Page's hospitality, just remember one thing: bring your own coffee.
Also on Sunday, along with the possibility of maybe getting a recruit out of the display, I also handed out every one of the "Orne Bridgehead" flyers to german reenactors. Neil Gillbanks, who is one of the Stug Crew and an old friend, was pretty psyched about Orne, and said the guy who owns the Stug is looking for a tactical to bring it to, and we talked about the possibility of paying stipends for owners of armoured vehicles to help them out with costs of bringing them to Orne.
So the weekend was a great time, a great success, and we have a solid plan for where to set up and what to bring for next year. What more can you ask for?
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Left: Elements of 6th AARR and 1st Para being briefed on the scenario prior to the battle. Right: a shot of part of the audience. Below Left: 6th AARR and 1st Para members on the 'beach head', waiting to go over the top. Below Center: 6th AARR's 1944 Chevy CMP 15 cwt lorry parked behind the battlefield: Below Right: CMP along with an M5 Stuart, and just visible to the left of it, an M24 Chaffee light tank.
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Left: American airborne troops and armour move up onto 6th AARR's right flank during the battle on Sunday. Between the Stuart and Sherman tanks is a knocked out german Sd. Kfz. 251 armoured halftrack. Right: Trooper Daughtie of the 6th AARR rests in the back of the captured german halftrack as the Americans take up the advance after the capture of the beach head.
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June 13-15 2004
"Battle of Crete" Reenactment
Parsons, Kansas
Adriana and I got to the site at about 6 pm on Friday, and Smeado and I did a terrain walk around the site to go over plans and placement of equipment and whatnot. Then Kevin and I unloaded and set up the mortar and vickers gun and emplaced field phones and ran wire for the locations for the left flank, center for the CP, and right flank with mortar pit. After commo checks, we laid out the field kitchen and rations, and went back to the barn to help Adriana set up the Kafe. Pete was working on weapons all this time, and Susan helped with the Kafe as well. I think Muddy was pretty busy absolving reenactors of their sins.
After a last best estimate of attendance numbers with Smeado, the plan was that I'd pick up all the fresh rations first thing in the morning and then bring them out to the site to start breakfast. We all had supper at a Chinese buffet, and then called it a night.
I got up promptly at 5:30 on Saturday, got dressed up, and went to the Walmart in Parsons to pick up the rest of the rations. I got asked twice while there if I was doing Boy Scouts today. Can't figure that one out at all. We got to the site, and Adriana opened the Kafe so that the germans could get something to eat. No-one made a move, so she closed back down and came out to help with the mess line for the UK. While heavily into helping me run the mess line, we got a call wondering why the Kafe wasn't open, so off again she went to open up the Kafe.
Breakfast was served to the allied forces consisting of hot fresh scrambled eggs and porridge, along with oranges from local groves, and coffee and tea with sweet milk and brown sugar. Everything for the authentic mess line went pretty well, except that about 40 minutes after I left the house to go to the event, I realized I left all my original brit issue pots and pans at the house, so I had to borrow civilian pots and pans from family in Dallas as we passed through.
As happened in the real battle, the men of the 22nd Battalion at Maleme were in the middle of breakfast when the gliders started landing, and it was quite amusing to watch Smeado try to motivate the New Zealanders to go man the battle line instead of getting back in the mess line for seconds.
Since bubba ain't that much of a fool, I made sure my mortar and vickers were positioned closely to the mess line with as much concealing foliage as I could get on the edge of an air strip, so while the last of the troops were scoffing down eggs and porridge, I manned the mortar and awaited the first calls on the land line. Smeado called in some ranging shots on a suspect area near TRP 2, and after he was satisfied registering the mortar, we awaited first contact. It wasn't long in coming, and all I can tell you is that from then until after the second attack by the germans capturing the airfield, I was busy firing on targets being called in by OP 1 and anyone else calling them in on the phone, running over to the Vickers gun a couple of times when the germans showed themselves close enough, mocking german POW's, getting my head bandaged by Zorba the Greek when the mortar tube tipped while moving it and clocked me in the head, and just generally having a really good time.
I know Pete was on the right flank with the Bren most of the time, and Court and Kevin were on the Vickers on my left. I think Hellar's vickers was in the trenches, and I don't know where Skip's bren was employed, but I think most of the heavy firepower at the airfield was from 6th AARR. Once the guys got used to using the field phones to communicate, it didn't take long for the wire traffic to help improve our picture of the tactical situation, and OP 1 in particular did a great job of directing mortar fire onto indirect targets.
At the final collapse of the defense at the airfield, the germans over-ran us, and captured not only the New Zealand forces, but also our mess line as well. Everyone was run through the mess line, both allied and german, and fed a meal of canned fish, fresh bread, fresh cheese, apples, and coffee and tea. You often can't tell how a new twist is going to go, as when I fed russians at the events I ran, everyone got the same exact thing. This time, I decided to offer a choice in main course, and had enough canned fish to feed 50 people, the original estimate of the participants. Half was tuna, and the other half a mix of herring in mustard sauce, smoked kippers, smoked oysters, and octopus in garlic sauce, all of which would be appropriate fare having been acquired at local canneries. Well, I figured the tuna would be gone and there would be a bunch of herring and whatnot left over, but the only thing left was tuna, only two people opting for the tuna instead of the more 'exotic' fare. Also, true to UK spirit, I was a bit surprised that the tea to coffee concumption was about 2 to 1. Everyone took a rest after eating, which also is accurate to the fighting dieing down in the real battle in the early afternoon with both sides dehydrated and needing rest. Particularly in the Prison Valley and Galatas sectors.
Since I had to make the decision before the event to not bring the CMP, and then after getting to the event finding out the ground had dried plenty well enough to support vehicles, Ken didn't have to shuttle stuff with his tractor, and I was able to move stuff with the suburban instead. Although the going was done, I did have a couple of instances of slipping and areas I couldn't negotiate with the suburban that would have been no problem at all with the CMP. Well, at least next time I know what to expect, and you can expect the CMP to be there next year.
We loaded up all the gear to move it to the trenches, and the battle moved off into the woods in the direction of the trenches. I and Adriana and Court were up at the barn, taking a break before setting up the mess line to get ready for the evening meal, when we had a runner come to the barn to let us know group photos were being taken. So we went to the trenches, and everyone was gathered. We had a little pow-wow, and since the germans had run out of ammo, at I believe around 3 pm, it was decided to fore-go the evening and night fighting. Kind of hard to do with one side having no ammo. Smeado ran a quick AAR and asked for sustains and improves for the next event, and got some good feedback from the masses. I plugged Orne Bridgehead and got more interest drummed up for September.
So with that, the battle for Crete was ended, and everyone un-assed the AO.
For our (6th AARR) sustains and improves, right off the bat, in the sustain department, you guys and gals kicked ass on preparing for this event and busting your ass laboring at the event to help make it a success. Everything from Pete doing his gas-gun magic and constant work on them at the event itself, tweaking them and keeping them going, to Kevin making those beautiful compo crates and sparing no sweat setting up mortar, machineguns, field phones and wire, unloading and loading vehicles, anything that needed to be done. And to Adriana and Susan for all the work put into their civilian impressions, feeding soldiers, and supporting their local priest and partisans. Muddy, you looked great, and operated great.
Other sustains - The overhauls I did on the field phones last year had them working flawlessly the whole time. The mess system is right on track, whether we do a mass feeding off the B echelon truck RACC style, or RASC tail-gate style, with the crews cooking their own rations. This time we did it RACC style, and it was relatively easy to handle the 18 allied participants for the hot breakfast using only 4 of the 5 stoves. The getting of motorized vehicles into operation really proved itself by the lack of bringing it to this battle. Pete really could have used a jeep dealing with the machineguns and all their gear, and the mortar and field kitchen equipment would have been so much easier to deal with if the CMP had been there. Yeah, the jeep isn't a period correct vehicle for Crete, but it would have been much better shuttling stuff around in it than in modern pickups and suburbans. I can beat the crap out of my jeep. I scarred up the paint on the suburban horribly moving it around the back side of the event to try to keep it out of site of the participants. Like Pete said at the event, moving that gas bren around is a young man's game, and alot of us no longer fit that definition. The cafe concept: Although Adriana barely made enough to cover her expenses, a big part of that was not knowing how many people would show up, and the event ending at 3 pm instead of running late into the night. The concept is right (Thank you Page Gordon for the idea!), and I think I might even put blank ammo on her menu, since this isn't the first battle I've been involved in where the participants ran out of ammo half way through the event. Also things like bug repellant and ear plugs and sunscreen and those things that people are always forgetting to bring. We're talking about her running "Cafe Gondre" for Orne Bridgehead out of the bunk house at Van.
Improves - Mortars: we really need a minimum of two people on a mortar. I got clocked in the head trying to re-orient the tube out of it's mechanical azimuth when I picked it up by the bipod and the tube, at extreme elevation, tipped and hit me in the forehead. Not a big deal, as it only tipped a foot or so, but if the whole weight of the assembly came down onto someone's foot, or they were for some reason with their head low in the path of the falling tube, they could be seriously injured. Also in the mortar improves is that down the road we need to test out alternatives to the film cans, because I have about enough for a year or more, but that will go by quickly. The wind got so strong that even the wind resistant Coleman lighters had problems lighting fuzes toward the end of the morning. I need to come up with some kind of wind-guard to hang off the mortar yoke to make lighting easier.
Machineguns: Like the mortars, we really need a two man crew minimum because of the weight and all the bottles and whatnot. Someone can get injured, or the delicate equipment damaged with one person trying to do the whole job. Next time, if we don't have enough people, we can always press gang a couple of the unaffiliated people ahead of time when we get to the event.
Transportation coordination: I'd really like to have more cross-talk before we head to an event or back. If we at least firm up what times we're going to be on the road and what routes we're taking, we'll better be able to coordinate helping each other if someone breaks down on the way there or back or needs help with other problems. This was kind of an every-man-for-himself move.
Command and Control: This was Smeado's event, and I just concerned myself with mess lines, mortar fire, and making sure you guys had what you needed to do whatever Smeado needed you to do. We didn't really need any command within the few of us that were there, but I think I should have at least done a couple short pow-wows so we're at least tracking what we're doing for someone else's big picture in that kind of a situation. Not a big deal for this one, but if there had been more of us there, it might have mattered.
Those are the things off the top of my head. If you all have some points, please sound off! Thanks again for everything you all do to make it happen!
"Battle of Crete" Reenactment
Parsons, Kansas
Adriana and I got to the site at about 6 pm on Friday, and Smeado and I did a terrain walk around the site to go over plans and placement of equipment and whatnot. Then Kevin and I unloaded and set up the mortar and vickers gun and emplaced field phones and ran wire for the locations for the left flank, center for the CP, and right flank with mortar pit. After commo checks, we laid out the field kitchen and rations, and went back to the barn to help Adriana set up the Kafe. Pete was working on weapons all this time, and Susan helped with the Kafe as well. I think Muddy was pretty busy absolving reenactors of their sins.
After a last best estimate of attendance numbers with Smeado, the plan was that I'd pick up all the fresh rations first thing in the morning and then bring them out to the site to start breakfast. We all had supper at a Chinese buffet, and then called it a night.
I got up promptly at 5:30 on Saturday, got dressed up, and went to the Walmart in Parsons to pick up the rest of the rations. I got asked twice while there if I was doing Boy Scouts today. Can't figure that one out at all. We got to the site, and Adriana opened the Kafe so that the germans could get something to eat. No-one made a move, so she closed back down and came out to help with the mess line for the UK. While heavily into helping me run the mess line, we got a call wondering why the Kafe wasn't open, so off again she went to open up the Kafe.
Breakfast was served to the allied forces consisting of hot fresh scrambled eggs and porridge, along with oranges from local groves, and coffee and tea with sweet milk and brown sugar. Everything for the authentic mess line went pretty well, except that about 40 minutes after I left the house to go to the event, I realized I left all my original brit issue pots and pans at the house, so I had to borrow civilian pots and pans from family in Dallas as we passed through.
As happened in the real battle, the men of the 22nd Battalion at Maleme were in the middle of breakfast when the gliders started landing, and it was quite amusing to watch Smeado try to motivate the New Zealanders to go man the battle line instead of getting back in the mess line for seconds.
Since bubba ain't that much of a fool, I made sure my mortar and vickers were positioned closely to the mess line with as much concealing foliage as I could get on the edge of an air strip, so while the last of the troops were scoffing down eggs and porridge, I manned the mortar and awaited the first calls on the land line. Smeado called in some ranging shots on a suspect area near TRP 2, and after he was satisfied registering the mortar, we awaited first contact. It wasn't long in coming, and all I can tell you is that from then until after the second attack by the germans capturing the airfield, I was busy firing on targets being called in by OP 1 and anyone else calling them in on the phone, running over to the Vickers gun a couple of times when the germans showed themselves close enough, mocking german POW's, getting my head bandaged by Zorba the Greek when the mortar tube tipped while moving it and clocked me in the head, and just generally having a really good time.
I know Pete was on the right flank with the Bren most of the time, and Court and Kevin were on the Vickers on my left. I think Hellar's vickers was in the trenches, and I don't know where Skip's bren was employed, but I think most of the heavy firepower at the airfield was from 6th AARR. Once the guys got used to using the field phones to communicate, it didn't take long for the wire traffic to help improve our picture of the tactical situation, and OP 1 in particular did a great job of directing mortar fire onto indirect targets.
At the final collapse of the defense at the airfield, the germans over-ran us, and captured not only the New Zealand forces, but also our mess line as well. Everyone was run through the mess line, both allied and german, and fed a meal of canned fish, fresh bread, fresh cheese, apples, and coffee and tea. You often can't tell how a new twist is going to go, as when I fed russians at the events I ran, everyone got the same exact thing. This time, I decided to offer a choice in main course, and had enough canned fish to feed 50 people, the original estimate of the participants. Half was tuna, and the other half a mix of herring in mustard sauce, smoked kippers, smoked oysters, and octopus in garlic sauce, all of which would be appropriate fare having been acquired at local canneries. Well, I figured the tuna would be gone and there would be a bunch of herring and whatnot left over, but the only thing left was tuna, only two people opting for the tuna instead of the more 'exotic' fare. Also, true to UK spirit, I was a bit surprised that the tea to coffee concumption was about 2 to 1. Everyone took a rest after eating, which also is accurate to the fighting dieing down in the real battle in the early afternoon with both sides dehydrated and needing rest. Particularly in the Prison Valley and Galatas sectors.
Since I had to make the decision before the event to not bring the CMP, and then after getting to the event finding out the ground had dried plenty well enough to support vehicles, Ken didn't have to shuttle stuff with his tractor, and I was able to move stuff with the suburban instead. Although the going was done, I did have a couple of instances of slipping and areas I couldn't negotiate with the suburban that would have been no problem at all with the CMP. Well, at least next time I know what to expect, and you can expect the CMP to be there next year.
We loaded up all the gear to move it to the trenches, and the battle moved off into the woods in the direction of the trenches. I and Adriana and Court were up at the barn, taking a break before setting up the mess line to get ready for the evening meal, when we had a runner come to the barn to let us know group photos were being taken. So we went to the trenches, and everyone was gathered. We had a little pow-wow, and since the germans had run out of ammo, at I believe around 3 pm, it was decided to fore-go the evening and night fighting. Kind of hard to do with one side having no ammo. Smeado ran a quick AAR and asked for sustains and improves for the next event, and got some good feedback from the masses. I plugged Orne Bridgehead and got more interest drummed up for September.
So with that, the battle for Crete was ended, and everyone un-assed the AO.
For our (6th AARR) sustains and improves, right off the bat, in the sustain department, you guys and gals kicked ass on preparing for this event and busting your ass laboring at the event to help make it a success. Everything from Pete doing his gas-gun magic and constant work on them at the event itself, tweaking them and keeping them going, to Kevin making those beautiful compo crates and sparing no sweat setting up mortar, machineguns, field phones and wire, unloading and loading vehicles, anything that needed to be done. And to Adriana and Susan for all the work put into their civilian impressions, feeding soldiers, and supporting their local priest and partisans. Muddy, you looked great, and operated great.
Other sustains - The overhauls I did on the field phones last year had them working flawlessly the whole time. The mess system is right on track, whether we do a mass feeding off the B echelon truck RACC style, or RASC tail-gate style, with the crews cooking their own rations. This time we did it RACC style, and it was relatively easy to handle the 18 allied participants for the hot breakfast using only 4 of the 5 stoves. The getting of motorized vehicles into operation really proved itself by the lack of bringing it to this battle. Pete really could have used a jeep dealing with the machineguns and all their gear, and the mortar and field kitchen equipment would have been so much easier to deal with if the CMP had been there. Yeah, the jeep isn't a period correct vehicle for Crete, but it would have been much better shuttling stuff around in it than in modern pickups and suburbans. I can beat the crap out of my jeep. I scarred up the paint on the suburban horribly moving it around the back side of the event to try to keep it out of site of the participants. Like Pete said at the event, moving that gas bren around is a young man's game, and alot of us no longer fit that definition. The cafe concept: Although Adriana barely made enough to cover her expenses, a big part of that was not knowing how many people would show up, and the event ending at 3 pm instead of running late into the night. The concept is right (Thank you Page Gordon for the idea!), and I think I might even put blank ammo on her menu, since this isn't the first battle I've been involved in where the participants ran out of ammo half way through the event. Also things like bug repellant and ear plugs and sunscreen and those things that people are always forgetting to bring. We're talking about her running "Cafe Gondre" for Orne Bridgehead out of the bunk house at Van.
Improves - Mortars: we really need a minimum of two people on a mortar. I got clocked in the head trying to re-orient the tube out of it's mechanical azimuth when I picked it up by the bipod and the tube, at extreme elevation, tipped and hit me in the forehead. Not a big deal, as it only tipped a foot or so, but if the whole weight of the assembly came down onto someone's foot, or they were for some reason with their head low in the path of the falling tube, they could be seriously injured. Also in the mortar improves is that down the road we need to test out alternatives to the film cans, because I have about enough for a year or more, but that will go by quickly. The wind got so strong that even the wind resistant Coleman lighters had problems lighting fuzes toward the end of the morning. I need to come up with some kind of wind-guard to hang off the mortar yoke to make lighting easier.
Machineguns: Like the mortars, we really need a two man crew minimum because of the weight and all the bottles and whatnot. Someone can get injured, or the delicate equipment damaged with one person trying to do the whole job. Next time, if we don't have enough people, we can always press gang a couple of the unaffiliated people ahead of time when we get to the event.
Transportation coordination: I'd really like to have more cross-talk before we head to an event or back. If we at least firm up what times we're going to be on the road and what routes we're taking, we'll better be able to coordinate helping each other if someone breaks down on the way there or back or needs help with other problems. This was kind of an every-man-for-himself move.
Command and Control: This was Smeado's event, and I just concerned myself with mess lines, mortar fire, and making sure you guys had what you needed to do whatever Smeado needed you to do. We didn't really need any command within the few of us that were there, but I think I should have at least done a couple short pow-wows so we're at least tracking what we're doing for someone else's big picture in that kind of a situation. Not a big deal for this one, but if there had been more of us there, it might have mattered.
Those are the things off the top of my head. If you all have some points, please sound off! Thanks again for everything you all do to make it happen!
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Top Left: The New Zealand and Greek armies, along with a local defender. Top center, the local Cretan militia. Top right: The fallschirmjaeger invaders. Left upper and lower: Sgt Welch being bandaged by a local after somehow hitting himself in the head with a 3" mortar, and firing the mortar at the landing German airborne soldiers. Right: Local Cretan volunteers help with the mess duties to get the armies fed breakfast.
Bottom left to right: New Zealand troops confer with a local parisan as to the location of pockets of German fallshirmjaeger. The mortar pit recieving targets over the land line from OP 1. New Zealanders manning one of the Vickers guns in defense of the airfield take a short rest while maintaining vigilance in between german attacks. Captured German Fallschirmjaegers can be seen being interrogated in the rear. |
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Left: Troops and locals rest in the woods after the loss of Maleme Airfield. Right: "Kafe Adriana" operating out of a barn behind the front line, serving authentic Greek chicken salad sandwiches, hummus with pita, baklava, tea and coffee.
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