Post by crazydima on May 20, 2009 11:29:14 GMT -5
Tovarischi,
Sorry for the delay in this AAR but my world is a very busy place due to re-enacting multiple time periods, children, work, etc.
The Marion, KY site is awesome! I was nearly killed on my drive down in the terrible storms which hit the region on that Friday but it was worth it. You see 108 MPH winds in Marion, IL started dropping trees on the Interstate and let me tell you that was fun. NOT! Nickolai and his Partner in crime spent two hours cutting their way through roadblock after roadblock of fallen trees on a secondary road. I was lucky, I was able to weave in and out of the fallen trees to get out of my mess.
I want to than Don King and the gang for all of their hospitality at the event. They made it even more worthwhile for the trip. The meal on Friday evening was period and it was awesome. The stories were even better. However, do not believe anything regarding sausage stories. They are all lies. LOL!
We had a little over 20 soviet troops from 5 different units(416th Rifles, 343rd Rifles, 19th guards, 8th Guards and another unit) and about the same number of Germans from various units. The Soviet forces had an 82 mm mortar plus 7 sub guns and assorted rifles. The Germans had 2 or 3 MGs as well as other weaponry.
The site has plenty of acreage and when they say they have trenches and bunkers they mean it. In the 27 years of re-enacting this is one of the few sites which was laid out and set up according to period design and also has good layout for drainage. Even with the record rainfall the vast majority of the trenches were in usable condition free of water.
An ice storm earlier in the year has taken the tops off of many trees and give the look of tree bursts resulting from an artillery barrage. Adds to the overall look of the place as being a battlefield area.
There are hundreds of yards of entrenchments on both sides and what is cool is that they are out of sight from each other with a decent "no mans land" between them to allow for maneuvering. Real barbed wire makes things interesting to say the least. The initial layout for the trenches is a network of interconnecting trenches dug out to a depth of two to three feet deep with the dirt thrown to the front to give a trench of three to four feet without any improvements done to it.
Units who attend the site on a regular basis can request to have a section of trenches assigned to them on a permanent basis. This means that the particular unit assigned to a particular section is responsible for developing it, improving it and maintaining it to their level of comfort. This would include digging them deeper, installing shoring and floor planking, obstacles, etc. Then that section is yours for use when you are on site for an event.
Some of the Soviet and German sections were a darn fine example of well fortified and maintained trenches.
I highly suggest that RKKA units in the region try to coordinate and get troops to attend this event site and take advantage of what the site has to offer. It is truly a unique set up for RKKA forces to use.
Again my thanks to all whom I met at the event for making it such a good time. And my thanks to Nickolai and his Italian rider for making the trip from the Kansas City area.
Sincerely,
Dima
(one who appreciates good fortifications)
Sorry for the delay in this AAR but my world is a very busy place due to re-enacting multiple time periods, children, work, etc.
The Marion, KY site is awesome! I was nearly killed on my drive down in the terrible storms which hit the region on that Friday but it was worth it. You see 108 MPH winds in Marion, IL started dropping trees on the Interstate and let me tell you that was fun. NOT! Nickolai and his Partner in crime spent two hours cutting their way through roadblock after roadblock of fallen trees on a secondary road. I was lucky, I was able to weave in and out of the fallen trees to get out of my mess.
I want to than Don King and the gang for all of their hospitality at the event. They made it even more worthwhile for the trip. The meal on Friday evening was period and it was awesome. The stories were even better. However, do not believe anything regarding sausage stories. They are all lies. LOL!
We had a little over 20 soviet troops from 5 different units(416th Rifles, 343rd Rifles, 19th guards, 8th Guards and another unit) and about the same number of Germans from various units. The Soviet forces had an 82 mm mortar plus 7 sub guns and assorted rifles. The Germans had 2 or 3 MGs as well as other weaponry.
The site has plenty of acreage and when they say they have trenches and bunkers they mean it. In the 27 years of re-enacting this is one of the few sites which was laid out and set up according to period design and also has good layout for drainage. Even with the record rainfall the vast majority of the trenches were in usable condition free of water.
An ice storm earlier in the year has taken the tops off of many trees and give the look of tree bursts resulting from an artillery barrage. Adds to the overall look of the place as being a battlefield area.
There are hundreds of yards of entrenchments on both sides and what is cool is that they are out of sight from each other with a decent "no mans land" between them to allow for maneuvering. Real barbed wire makes things interesting to say the least. The initial layout for the trenches is a network of interconnecting trenches dug out to a depth of two to three feet deep with the dirt thrown to the front to give a trench of three to four feet without any improvements done to it.
Units who attend the site on a regular basis can request to have a section of trenches assigned to them on a permanent basis. This means that the particular unit assigned to a particular section is responsible for developing it, improving it and maintaining it to their level of comfort. This would include digging them deeper, installing shoring and floor planking, obstacles, etc. Then that section is yours for use when you are on site for an event.
Some of the Soviet and German sections were a darn fine example of well fortified and maintained trenches.
I highly suggest that RKKA units in the region try to coordinate and get troops to attend this event site and take advantage of what the site has to offer. It is truly a unique set up for RKKA forces to use.
Again my thanks to all whom I met at the event for making it such a good time. And my thanks to Nickolai and his Italian rider for making the trip from the Kansas City area.
Sincerely,
Dima
(one who appreciates good fortifications)
Vlad, and others, you are probably aware of the sever ice storm that plagued our area at the end of January. Well the upside to that is that our positions look as if we have been under artillery bombardment for a few days with all the tree tops down. The down-side is that there are so many tree tops down that maneuvering around the area "quietly" is almost impossible, and our fields of fire are now full of places for the fascists to hide.