Having watched a bunch, I went to a tactical in Camden Ohio, this was a BSA campground, and it was 1983. We arrived at dark and were shown an unheated building, and slept or tried to on a bare floor. I had brought this bayonet and tucked it in into my sears reproccesed fibers sleeping bag. it was March and very cold, about six degrees farenheit, the sleepng bag was useless, I froze, I couldnt sleep. The bayonet disappeared I never found it again. Not an auspicious beginning to my reenactment hobby. My first shot was at a German about one hundred yards away. Mistake. All I did was let them know we were comming. No, you are supposed to wait until you're close enough to tell him you are shooting him. lol. Later that day, I ripped the entire crotch out of my GI Pants- jamping across a ditch, the wool is eternal the thread holding it together was rotten. no one had a needle and thread or safety pins or spare pants, so I fought the rest of the battle wih my longies showing, but it was a good battle, I learned a lot.
how not to hold a hill top On top of the hill we just climbed, Gregg, our sergeant, told us to take up fighting positions on the face of the hill from which we could see the Germans. WRONG !! a hill top requires a 360 degree perimeter defense fighting positions are to be assigned by the NCOIC ie Greg. Automatic weapons, grenadiers ,and mortars are to be sited in for maximum use of terrain and killing grounds surrounding the perimeter defense. Fall back positions are to be provided. OPS Obsevation posts well forward give us warning that the enemy is comming again all the way around the top. The Germans came up the back side of the hill and had us off in about five minutes. btw the NCO was a civilian with no military training or experience. and I as the newby watched in utter disbelief at this lack of leadership. what was my job in the NG? Annual training field exercises? I did the sector sketches and the range cards and sited in the fighting positions automatic weapons and fall back positiions. in other words i was the ncoic. I also was an OPFOR NCO, so I planned assaults of the positions I had made. later in the same battle I cleared a German group off the top of a hill who did exactly the same mistake. four of us 45th Inf Div. GIs killed them all from behind.
Patton"s description this is what Gen.George S. Patton meant when he said ""hold them by the nose and kick them in the ass""
Re: Patton"s description This is an ancient rule of war that Patton didn't invent, though he definitely had the most eloquent version of the rule. Sun Tzu already noted (about 300 BC) that battles are won by occupying the enemy with a heavy force while outflanking him with a light force. Or by distracting him with a light force's manoeuvers while bringing your heavy forces in position for the kill. What matters, according to Sun Tzu, is that the flexible and the stationary forces should be able to switch roles in the middle of a battle as circumstances dictate.
THE REST OF THE STORY.... Now I go back to the beginning of the Camden Ohio Boy Scouts of America Camp. as we walked along the road which still had some snow in light drifts but he major part of the frozen road was exposed we were tactical. five meters between us in staggerred column on both sides of the road, it occurred to me that, yeah, this is what it must have been like, the enemy is here somewhere were about tofulfill my childhood dream. I am in ww2. this mind set is absolutely essential to enjoying reenactment battles. you must suspend disbelief and transport your mind into the past. All the elements ar here,the land the men the weapons the vehicles. waiting for the first contact with the enemy. all the emotions are there, the feeling of danger and excitement, never mind that the weapons we are carrying tho real are loaded with only blanks.....this is it.
more comparisons I have undoubtredly changed a lot since then. I dont find it as easy to suspend disbelief to get into it. the gunfire doesnt seem as real. i have allowed myself to believe that they are only blanks. The secret life of Walter Mitty has become real life. there are lots of missing faces, there are no large groups of Brits in regular infantry uniforms. Lots of things have changed. I am older and its harder to pretend. but still its the only crap game in town. there is nothing else like it. I have come to the conclusion that i should talk or write a length about battles I have been in in. In the hope that some of my anecdotes or observations will induce or seduce some non reenactors to become reenactors. Or that new units will spring up and make the hobby popular. How about it? are you remotely interested ? you must be or you wouldnt be still reading. Zhukov for one might try it. so might Milton my son might try it again or my step sons. Someone from work may get involved there is no telling what could happen. In any case I am here to answer Q's or help in any way that I can. Kriegs walter Mitty has become the real life of the kriegspfarer, ther are many missing faces. there are no longer large groups
first shot, mine it was while patroling down that road that I saw my first reenactor german and took aim and fired. that shot started a fire fight that has not ended yet. its weird to aim a rifle at anpther human being and fire even if they are only blanks. Often the victim plays out the part of dying or being wounded its strange
after it was all over , I returned to Chicago in this small blue car . six guys with me riding the hump. the tunnel thru which the drive shaft passes in a rear wheel drive front engine car. I was newly married and as on the trip out I was thinking mostly of my new wife and would she tolerate having a husband who was not only a week-end warrior in the National guard AND reenacting a long finished war she knew almost nothing about. Oh, and btw she didnt.
