Almost real ???

[Whizz_Bang]

Gents,
Inspired by other posts and a few PM's ....

The most convincing thing you've witnesed ?

Other groups = Summer of 44, Beltring 01. RAMC aid post. about a dozen troops in sick beds, all walking wounded (bandaged heads & hands etc) flies everywhere, 2 surgeons working in a tent with a blooded gown hanging outside the op theatre. Well impressive.

Us = Train to Rothely during GCR last year. A few too many MOPs but the mail cart full off Tommys hurded in, calm yet disturbed on what lay ahead. An image that'll stay with me forever.

[monty]

so i wasnt the only one with a funny feeling in my stomach in the mail car

first battle nerves, too hot, dehydrating and needed a call of nature

a weird feeling indeed

monty

[Max]

Ok it was with Medieval reenactment but it could be done in WW2, or should I say it was done. It was my second event and I'm stood on the side of a small valley at Battle Abbey along with 60-70 other men, behind some trees in the valley bottom the other side of a similar size march out. at this point a priest walks out in front of us and tells us to get down on one Knee, He then gives us our last Rites!!

Thats as real as you ever want it to get.

As to what happen next, we charge down the valley side, smash right through their lines and as I turn round got killed by a member of my own side who didn't know me!

[Whizz_Bang]

Another one.... Mereworth 01. I (as always in them days) a lone Tommy tagged along with some 101st, engage Fritz in thick wood, Its chucking it down with rain & visibility is poor at best, i'm soaked through but keeping the enemy relatively at bay..... My left which i thought was held by the 101 starts making MP40 noises, i'm cut off facing a dozen PanzerJagaer, panic sets in & shouldve bugged out. 2 mins later i'm over run & full of holes ... scared the living out of me !

[Eddie]

Gives you an adrenaline rush just to hear it , Can't wait!

[OLL]

What about the assault on the farm buildings at Hus Bos 1. No gunfire but eerie and adrenaline everywhere!!

[dom]

I think that one was more confusion on the battlefield kind of adrenaline for me Oll. But the most exilerating one for me was Ashby (only Chris can respond to this one!) We were on the search for the enemy on a standard patrol. I was on point when, to my extreme left (90 degrees) we are abushed over a slight depression by Bob and six of his cronies. I, in the heat of the moment, swung round and dropped to the floor on my back and began shooting at them from between my legs. I gave chase after but they had gone. The rush was incredible, as well as the suprise. First ever reenactment, first battle, first engagement. It was an eye opener...

[Guv]

For me the realism comes in 'the moments in-between', the quiet reflections on what may lie ahead.
In the typical 'hurry-up-and-wait' traditions of the British Army its the calm before the storm that I find realistic.

03:15hs HB2 - Wakin' up in the gun-pit, frozen to the bone with my head against the Bren. Pitch black and as quiet as the grave.

Planing a maneuver and then watching it all go wrong as soon as Jerry appears (no plan survives contact with the enemy!).

Stopping for 10 mins to make a brew beside the trail.

Trying to sprint with the correct weight webbing and small-pack on.

Small-talk and bravado before a skirmish.

To quote Oll - I love it!

Guv.

[Hedge]

For me it was Landod last year, picture this:-

Just a handfull of British airborne with no officer and just two NCOs, told to hold a half finished trench system with hill on two sides and a gully to our right and front, with higher ground on all sides.

With nerves and bravado, throwing banter at each other we prepared the position as best we could and recalled meeting a nice bunch of Leicstershire Regt lads just up the valley.

Suddenly we recieve automatic and rifle fire from the ridge in front from two MG42s and numerous riflemen.
Just as quickly, we started to recieve fire from the top of the bank to our left and rear. The CSM quickly realised that the only way out was to go to the front and take out the MG42s. Chosing a rifleman and myself (S/Sgt.) We made our way down into the gully on our right and around to the left hand side of the MG42s. Moving slowly up the side of the gully the rifleman and myself slowly cleared the ridge of enemy.

As we turned to return to our position it was clear that the enemy had got around behind us. We moved of and imediately came under rifle fire, the rifleman caught one as we reached the top of the gully. I turned to help but realised I couldn't, but was just in time to see the last stand of the other lads. However one by one they were gone and then I realised that the enemy had won and I was on my own.

Scary stuff ...... felt very lonely and for some reason quite scared at that point

regards Hedge

[Whizz_Bang]

Ashby 03, along with Dom, we're desperatley short on ammo, Doms on a No4 & i'm Bren gunning, down to the last mag, stuff it, if i'm gonna go i'm going now, running towards the 1st known enemy spot, 2 heads pop up & quickly dispatched, into their pit I can see a whole line of Fritz, running at em full on battle cry I managed to clear the lot without any return fire (speaking to a 'victim' later he said i'd scared the sh1t out of him, a frothing mad Tom charging at him spitting .303) A MM winning action in anyones book.... posthumously mind, as i'm reliving my moment of glory a bunch of Fjr2 decide to have the last laugh..... Oi Tom get yer helmet off !!!!

[monty]

My first blat at Bristol

Given a k98 one end of the bunker complex and told to hold it, in rolls a stick grenade.

I leg it shouting " grenade " (or was it mummy i cant remember ) hiding in the corner of a back room rifle dumped on floor and hands on ears waiting for an almight explosion........

no one told me the fake ones dont explode, ive never had the shakes and been so nervous before

monty

[Tiny]

For me my first blat at Bristol was a very surreal experience for me.

A few valiant tom's defending the entrance to the AA site with only small arms and a Bren to hold off the advancing Germans.

So there I am alone with just my Thompson for protection, carrying out a recce around the perimiter of the site. To my left nothing but fields, on my right a raised bank covered in thick scrub. In the distance I can hear the sporradic exchange of small arms fire, just then I spot movement to my right.
A lone SS scout armed with a K98 is checking the way is clear, so I take cover in the scrub and wait, after what seems like hours red smoke is throw and more SS begin to move out from their cover. They still haven't seen me, so I carefully take aim and empty a magazine into three SS grenadiers, they all go down. At this point I decide not to hang around and continue down the path. After 50 yards around the corner, what seems like the main German force is waiting for me, so I give them a burst from my Thompson and with out looking back make a mad dash back to the gate house.

The gatehouse fell soon after my return due to the overwhelming number of Germans, but not before we had put up a determined stand.

Although I'd done similar things at work, I got a real adrenaline rush from blatting at Bristol, after years of waiting I had finally got to experience a tiny bit of what my Grandfather went through, the fear of not knowing whats around the next corner and the rush when you empty the magazine on your weapon.

[Gordon]

I think my most genuine scary experience was either last bristol - me guv and stu in an aa bunker, when the germans charge, that moment when i stuck my head round the corner just to see the german platoon get down out of the bushes and shout 'alle mann feuen!' (every man fire to you non-linguists )

And even better was the tank at GCR - chris's performance, and me and stu's mad dash back covering each other, i was genuinely panicking - i even got tunnel vision!

hehe... 'tank!!!!! MOVE!!' (as chris grabs men by the webbing and throws them back to our lines)...

[Dave]

Mereworth a few years ago while I was battling with KP1, I was separated from the others in my section and was trying to get back to them when I then saw a tommy aiming his rifle at me in the perfect position to blow me away. A split second seemed like ages where I felt scared sh**less, then I realised he wasn't firing and gave him a burst from my smg and felt relief that I'd been able to fire 1st!! As it turned out after he left the safety catch on his rifle and that was why he didn't fire otherwise I would have been a dead duck!!!

That was the 1st time I met you chris

[Whizz_Bang]

He he, as i'm reading your post Dave i thought thats happened to me..... ah well confusion of battle.