Re-enactment photos

[Sasha]

He wouldn't, he'd point it out to the SNCO who would beat seven shades of sh*t out of the soldier for getting him into trouble with the officer.

It ain't like Hollywood the officer walks along the line and the SNCO follows him. Anything he doesn't like he points it out and the SNCO deals with it not the officer. That's how real armies work.

 

[ulysses89]

the German army was very strict about facial hair...the only exception is the gebirgjagers..they could have short beards or goatees...and those photos of Germans with beards in Stalingrad...were they captured? or maybe they lost their supplies and had to rough it...and for the russian army...i am not sure, but i have seen photos of men with full beards...maybe they were cossacks...

 

[Hans_klempner]

When your encircled by a million russians, have no food, and freeze almost to death. The priority is not shaving.

In combat things can slip, but still can't grow a santa claus beard. In extreme situations though, you are happy to be alive.
On leave, or on training! You are kicked in the ass if you have missed a shave on 1 day. Or theres dust on your boots, or some minor things.



My grandfather told me this.

 

[Mauser98k]

I'v been reenacting for quite sometime, and doing ww2 airsoft when there aren't any events. I'll try to get some pics one day.

 

[Sasha]

and for the russian army...i am not sure, but i have seen photos of men with full beards...maybe they were cossacks...

Red Army regulations were for soldiers to be clean shaven.

The only exception to this was soldiers over 50 years old (yes there were some I have an ID book in my collection of a guy who was born in 1893 and called up in 1943) who were permitted to grow a beard.

 

[Panzer Meyer]

Its interesting that my countrymen (Czechs) are so much into re-enacting. I was visiting my family about 2 years ago, and my dad knows Frantisek Horvata, the guy that runs one of the re-enactment groups. I have some pictures of him showing me all they got, and it is impressive to say the least. The thing is, they get it very cheap, they all have someone that knows someone and they get this stuff, quickly and easily for a very low cost.
They got flametrowers, mortars that work, artillery guns that works (blanks) and so much more...


Next time I go, I make sure its when they are re-enacting so I can take part.

 

[{1.SS}Faust]

On the facial hair thing:
http://www.lostbattalions.com/FarbFiles.html
Be quiet.

As for reenacting, I reenact with a 4th Infantry for vietnam and am working on my gear to join a 2.SS Deutschland group in my area.

 

[Sclass12]

 

[Feldwebel Crin]

I just recntly joined the 8 & 18th Luftwaffe Field Division.We're named that because on the Eastern Front events we are the 8th, and on the Normandy events we are the 18th. http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=16&groupid=276306&ck=

 

[hayu876]

Interesting phenomena this reenactment business. It is a paradox that I am both interested and still unsure about joining such a group. How strict is discipline in such a group?

 

[Demjansk]

hayu, I'd imagine that it varies a lot on the group and the personalities of the members. If you're unsure, see if you can find a group that will let you use loaner gear for an event or two so that you can determine if the hobby and the group is a match for you. Reenacting is expensive enough that you shouldn't jump into it unless you're relatively sure.

Here's my group, taken this last weekend. We're a subset of a larger group that normally does American infantry. (I'm the one in the front row with the cigarette.)

 

[RedGuardist]

Wow! Herman G

 

[Demjansk]

Wow! Herman G

 

[Oldih]

http://www.etulinja.net/s.php?galleria=1

http://www.etulinja.net/s.php?galleria=2

Some nice re-enacting photos there.

Wow! Herman G

 

[RedGuardist]

Suicide bomber dog! http://www.etulinja.net/images/galleries/1/images/27_loppukevennys.jpg


I didn

 

[Demjansk]

Suicide bomber dog! http://www.etulinja.net/images/galleries/1/images/27_loppukevennys.jpg


I didn

 

[Oldih]

Oldih... I agree with you. It should be a goal for reenactors to keep the physical appearance in line with what the norm was in WW2. It gets to be a touchy subject after a while, because there are a lot of the younger set in reenacting that decry everyone over 25 as "inaccurate" and/or over their high school weight as "inaccurate". Personally, I'll take a heavy set guy with his head screwed on right to a picture perfect weenie. Heck, I'm one of the slimmer guys in my unit, and I'm self-conscious about my weight.

Indeed often largomania is more or less funny problem with re-enacting. I can personally tolerate somewhat this general largomania, but again it is sometimes situation related.

One example is myself. My body mass index is roughly 27.2 (and I have been losing weight for over an year, it was above 35 once), and if you look at me you can notice immediatly that I am not exactly the smallest or thinnest person around (and my chest is larger than my waist, so I don't have sumo wrestling problem), yet I can still run and move and actually 'play' war with all gear on and such. So I might be bit farby, yet still not farby

The big problem is that when those people with size many X's on their size labels come to play, they make it look bit silly; E506th or WSS members (they seem to be the most popular) with such large waists that makes even sumo wrestlers green come in play... now, that's just plain wrong. Not to mention they seem to risk asphyxiation if they even try to perform some basic movements. And then as you mentioned - weenies are one big problem also.

And that authencity thing I mentioned was just to give out the point that if you want to be 100% authentic it would be bit funny, as if your body mass index is 20 or below, you are considered as underweight and health officials go frenzy from this. Not that I would be against authencity, but to some extent I can tolerate some larger re-enactors as long as they can actually perform some basic stuff and does not run out of breath just by taking few steps with their gear on.

Now, if you really want to talk about authenticity, there's the issue of the ratio of E/506 reenactors versus everyone else - but that's a rant for another day.

How about WSS then?

 

[Demjansk]

The puking chickens have a special place in my heart given how much they dominate the politics of our club. I'm eagerly looking forward to going to the first event I've ever been to in a couple of months that ISN'T part of the friggin' Bandwagon of Brother's timeline. My primary impression is American MTO infantry. We're playing around in terrain that looks like this:

...pretending that we're in Bastogne, D+whatever, etc. It was rather therapeutic to shoot at them for a change a couple of weeks ago.

I'm not as actively annoyed with the WSS. Yet. The fact that regular Heer is the overwhelming minority amongst the German side is more than a little bit odd.

 

[Oldih]

I'm not as actively annoyed with the WSS. Yet. The fact that regular Heer is the overwhelming minority amongst the German side is more than a little bit odd.

Personally, I would not mind WSS to some extent and same with 101st AB, but when it comes to the _most_ popular WSS units (12th WSS division and such) or E506th, either I am the one having misconception or nearly half of the people are simply so large that it feels a disgrace for the people who were actually in the war.

Even though that kind of stuff can be sometimes very hilarious

 

[Demjansk]

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree to some extent. Personally, I feel that having so many people out there portraying the "trendy" units made popular by the movies is a disgrace to the memory of the soldiers of every other unit.