Post by crazydima on Apr 26, 2010 15:18:33 GMT -5
Tovarischi,
Wow! What a wild weekend! I mean it in a good way too.
First off I would like to thank all of the RKKA Frontoviks who braved the weather and attended the event at Jefferson Barracks. We had folks from all over. Katya and the clan from Indiana, Our folks from Illinois, Iowa, Don and the boys from Kentucky and Dennis with the Missouri folks were represented in the ranks. Thank you!!!!
I had a lot of great training exercises planned for the event but those plans were washed away. LOL!
Tovarisch Barnes of the 343rd picked out a very good site for the Soviet camp. Thanks to his efforts we avoided getting flooded as well as avoided getting overwhelmed by mud. Rain would be the watch word for the rest of the weekend. Urrraaah!
The soviet camp looked awe inspiring. It consisted of 7 Soviet squad tents, 1 wall tent, 2 dining flys, 2 bicycles and the Model A truck(nick named Gazeeka). Compared to the GI camps ours appeared sparse but it had the proper Soviet look to it with old cook pots on the fire, Frontoviks wandering around and rain coming down. If anyone has any good overall photos of the camp please email them to me.
We had 19 Frontoviks in attendance during the weekend from 3 different units. Those units were the 19th Guards, 343rd Rifles and 416th Rifles.
Friday night found us wondering around the US camps linking up with old friends and enjoying the spaghetti meal provided to the re-enactors. Then rain for Officer’s call and battle briefing took place at 7:30 and the usual grand plans were laid out phase by phase. However, due to a series of SNAFUs our hopes of a two part battle with the Soviets starting in defense did not come to fruition. As usual we would be part of the East Meets West assault force against the Germans. Little did we know what Mother Nature had in store for us. Rain.
A real treat was when Yuri broke out his captured German entertainment radio and we listened to our glorious leader Stalin urges us to continue on to victory. It is a repop but it is the best repop I have ever seen. The detail is superb! Dima Likey!
Saturday morning we awoke and began our routine of breakfast and preparing our weapons and equipment for the upcoming S &A formation. We were on time and on line for S & A formation while the majority of the units were not. After standing on line for nearly 15 minutes without being inspected yet I went to find someone to inspect us. I found one of our unit members, Anthony Noce, who was portraying Airborne Officer and was assisting in inspection. He looked us over and much to my surprise tried to gig tow of our Frontoviks over hair which is too long. Huh? One Frontovik gigged was Tovarisch McCall who portrays a Cossack and so I had to remind Noce of this fact. The other Frontovik gigged was Tovarisch Lopez for long hair which I did not agree with at all and I voiced my displeasure with Noce’s decision. He stated that he was just enforcing the rules. Tovarisch Lopez dutifully complied and had his hair trimmed back in camp.
We were loaded up on a truck ready to go to the field like sardines but then we were not allowed to depart due to MPs who were sending the Germans out first. Doh! So we unloaded and waited. Then we loaded up again and then made it to the field. The battle started and our forces did our part but the Germans had folks out of position and made our original plan null. None the less we pressed on and adjusted our plan of action. Watching the Stug III come on to the field was cool.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon consisted of rain and more rain which wiped out any and all training plans I had formulated. So we ducked rain drops and exchanged stories. Big thanks to Tovarisch Barnes and his crew for having all sorts of period cuisine ready and on a table for consumption. The sausage and breads and salty cheese were awesome!!!
The other forces on the field were a bit confused when we hit the field for the Saturday afternoon battle wearing our plasches. Rain! They had never seen that before and they had trouble identifying who we were. With the wind blowing and our troops running it looked as though we were flying onto the battlefield. LOL!
Late Saturday afternoon was great with a wonderful pot of Borscht cooked to perfection. Big thanks to Tovarisch Blackwell for his efforts in bringing and cooking the ingredients. Also big thanks to the folks of the 19th Guards for assisting him in the preparation of the wonderful meal.
Then the storms hit!!! Can we say severe! Tornado warning and sirens!! Do not fear Tovarischi for Mother Nature is the friend of the RED ARMY. Our squad tents handled the high winds with no trouble and we were on high ground so we did not flood. The fascists and Ameereekanets did not fare so well. They experienced collapsing tents and flooding in tents between 6 to 8 inches. I am so proud of my 11 year old daughter Rebecca for being such a trooper during the storms. She is a brave girl.
Saturday evening found some of us going to the big band dance while others watched Soviet propaganda movies in camp. I hear it was very motivating. At least that is what the Kommissar said. The dance was a good time with great music and lots of swing dancers and wonderful 1940's outfits.
Sunday morning found us in more rain but in good spirits. We cooked breakfast and cleaned up to get ready for S & A formation.
Interesting to note that only two units were on line for S & A that morning. The Soviets and part of 2nd Rangers. Once again we did our part and was there and on time. We returned to camp and prepared for the Sunday battle.
Tovarisch Barnes fired up the truck and loaded up the brave Frontoviks to drive them to the battle site. Tovarisch McCall and I mounted our bicycles and rode out to the battlefield. Upon arriving at the battlefield there were plenty of spectators already there and so we proceeded.
The plan was for the Soviets to start the battle by sweeping in through the buildings and drive the Germans until a stall point. Then the Americans would come in to finish the job since there were no Brits or anyone else left on site to help. Well the German commander cam over in his cute Kuble in a huff and proceeded to demand that the Russians serve on the German side to help even out the numbers since most of the Germans left and those who stayed had little ammo left. I politely informed him that we would not be blackmailed into doing anything and that his lack of troops and ammo were not our problem. I stated that if our Frontoviks voted yes to help then that would be fine. So the German officer asked in a nice manner and our boys agreed. So now we were foreign volunteers. Thus we fought the GIs and gave them a taste of the upcoming cold war!
We returned to camp and in the rain began to break down our camps and say our goodbyes. Then we fired up and headed for home in the rain. We arrived home around 7:00PM in the rain. Imagine that.
We should be proud of our ability to handle the weather and maintain a presence at the event and follow the rules. While others tore up their camp areas with wheel ruts we kept our camp in good order.
The organizers sought us out during the event and apologized for the SNAFU on the battle planning and stated that they want to work directly with us to plan out and implement an Eastern front public battle for the 2011 JB event. Our efforts have paid off and all of you should feel very good about this development. It all starts now and if we continue to put forth the effort we will get results.
Again my deepest thanks to all of you who made the effort. It paid off more than you think!
Sincerely and respectfully,
Dima
Wow! What a wild weekend! I mean it in a good way too.
First off I would like to thank all of the RKKA Frontoviks who braved the weather and attended the event at Jefferson Barracks. We had folks from all over. Katya and the clan from Indiana, Our folks from Illinois, Iowa, Don and the boys from Kentucky and Dennis with the Missouri folks were represented in the ranks. Thank you!!!!
I had a lot of great training exercises planned for the event but those plans were washed away. LOL!
Tovarisch Barnes of the 343rd picked out a very good site for the Soviet camp. Thanks to his efforts we avoided getting flooded as well as avoided getting overwhelmed by mud. Rain would be the watch word for the rest of the weekend. Urrraaah!
The soviet camp looked awe inspiring. It consisted of 7 Soviet squad tents, 1 wall tent, 2 dining flys, 2 bicycles and the Model A truck(nick named Gazeeka). Compared to the GI camps ours appeared sparse but it had the proper Soviet look to it with old cook pots on the fire, Frontoviks wandering around and rain coming down. If anyone has any good overall photos of the camp please email them to me.
We had 19 Frontoviks in attendance during the weekend from 3 different units. Those units were the 19th Guards, 343rd Rifles and 416th Rifles.
Friday night found us wondering around the US camps linking up with old friends and enjoying the spaghetti meal provided to the re-enactors. Then rain for Officer’s call and battle briefing took place at 7:30 and the usual grand plans were laid out phase by phase. However, due to a series of SNAFUs our hopes of a two part battle with the Soviets starting in defense did not come to fruition. As usual we would be part of the East Meets West assault force against the Germans. Little did we know what Mother Nature had in store for us. Rain.
A real treat was when Yuri broke out his captured German entertainment radio and we listened to our glorious leader Stalin urges us to continue on to victory. It is a repop but it is the best repop I have ever seen. The detail is superb! Dima Likey!
Saturday morning we awoke and began our routine of breakfast and preparing our weapons and equipment for the upcoming S &A formation. We were on time and on line for S & A formation while the majority of the units were not. After standing on line for nearly 15 minutes without being inspected yet I went to find someone to inspect us. I found one of our unit members, Anthony Noce, who was portraying Airborne Officer and was assisting in inspection. He looked us over and much to my surprise tried to gig tow of our Frontoviks over hair which is too long. Huh? One Frontovik gigged was Tovarisch McCall who portrays a Cossack and so I had to remind Noce of this fact. The other Frontovik gigged was Tovarisch Lopez for long hair which I did not agree with at all and I voiced my displeasure with Noce’s decision. He stated that he was just enforcing the rules. Tovarisch Lopez dutifully complied and had his hair trimmed back in camp.
We were loaded up on a truck ready to go to the field like sardines but then we were not allowed to depart due to MPs who were sending the Germans out first. Doh! So we unloaded and waited. Then we loaded up again and then made it to the field. The battle started and our forces did our part but the Germans had folks out of position and made our original plan null. None the less we pressed on and adjusted our plan of action. Watching the Stug III come on to the field was cool.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon consisted of rain and more rain which wiped out any and all training plans I had formulated. So we ducked rain drops and exchanged stories. Big thanks to Tovarisch Barnes and his crew for having all sorts of period cuisine ready and on a table for consumption. The sausage and breads and salty cheese were awesome!!!
The other forces on the field were a bit confused when we hit the field for the Saturday afternoon battle wearing our plasches. Rain! They had never seen that before and they had trouble identifying who we were. With the wind blowing and our troops running it looked as though we were flying onto the battlefield. LOL!
Late Saturday afternoon was great with a wonderful pot of Borscht cooked to perfection. Big thanks to Tovarisch Blackwell for his efforts in bringing and cooking the ingredients. Also big thanks to the folks of the 19th Guards for assisting him in the preparation of the wonderful meal.
Then the storms hit!!! Can we say severe! Tornado warning and sirens!! Do not fear Tovarischi for Mother Nature is the friend of the RED ARMY. Our squad tents handled the high winds with no trouble and we were on high ground so we did not flood. The fascists and Ameereekanets did not fare so well. They experienced collapsing tents and flooding in tents between 6 to 8 inches. I am so proud of my 11 year old daughter Rebecca for being such a trooper during the storms. She is a brave girl.
Saturday evening found some of us going to the big band dance while others watched Soviet propaganda movies in camp. I hear it was very motivating. At least that is what the Kommissar said. The dance was a good time with great music and lots of swing dancers and wonderful 1940's outfits.
Sunday morning found us in more rain but in good spirits. We cooked breakfast and cleaned up to get ready for S & A formation.
Interesting to note that only two units were on line for S & A that morning. The Soviets and part of 2nd Rangers. Once again we did our part and was there and on time. We returned to camp and prepared for the Sunday battle.
Tovarisch Barnes fired up the truck and loaded up the brave Frontoviks to drive them to the battle site. Tovarisch McCall and I mounted our bicycles and rode out to the battlefield. Upon arriving at the battlefield there were plenty of spectators already there and so we proceeded.
The plan was for the Soviets to start the battle by sweeping in through the buildings and drive the Germans until a stall point. Then the Americans would come in to finish the job since there were no Brits or anyone else left on site to help. Well the German commander cam over in his cute Kuble in a huff and proceeded to demand that the Russians serve on the German side to help even out the numbers since most of the Germans left and those who stayed had little ammo left. I politely informed him that we would not be blackmailed into doing anything and that his lack of troops and ammo were not our problem. I stated that if our Frontoviks voted yes to help then that would be fine. So the German officer asked in a nice manner and our boys agreed. So now we were foreign volunteers. Thus we fought the GIs and gave them a taste of the upcoming cold war!
We returned to camp and in the rain began to break down our camps and say our goodbyes. Then we fired up and headed for home in the rain. We arrived home around 7:00PM in the rain. Imagine that.
We should be proud of our ability to handle the weather and maintain a presence at the event and follow the rules. While others tore up their camp areas with wheel ruts we kept our camp in good order.
The organizers sought us out during the event and apologized for the SNAFU on the battle planning and stated that they want to work directly with us to plan out and implement an Eastern front public battle for the 2011 JB event. Our efforts have paid off and all of you should feel very good about this development. It all starts now and if we continue to put forth the effort we will get results.
Again my deepest thanks to all of you who made the effort. It paid off more than you think!
Sincerely and respectfully,
Dima
