This was my first FIG and second event as a reenactor (FJ). The barracks thing was neat, the battlefield was neat (BIG!), and having 1800 reenactors and lots of vehicles there was neat. Having nimrods there that don't take hits when sprayed with multiple submachineguns was NOT neat, but I was warned ahead of time that would happen.
The coolest part of the battle for me was the beginning. I was laying in wait for the GIs behind a stack of logs, and wouldn't you know - a squad walked up within 50 feet of me and kneeled down to talk about what to do next. For 30 seconds I had the LT in the sights of my K98, waiting for my friend to start blasting with his MP44. That never happened, and all of a sudden one of the GIs noticed something move behind me. He pointed and I "shot" the LT. My buddy fired one shot from his mag and the second jammed. Oops. Because of the intense Garand fire in addition to a BAR blasting in our general direction, I pretended to catch one in the head and fell backwards. The GIs walked past me and I waited a minute to get up and fall back so they could see me. When I got up, nobody had taken a hit
even though it was obvious somebody's brains had to be airing out. I was quite pissed. That would happen the rest of the day but some guys on both sides did a nice job. I also tried to keep it in my mind that most people never realize that they walked right into somebody's fire and just keep on going. The ones that did notice and didn't bother "dying" ruin the battles. (Example: several guys in the back of a truck get sprayed by a MP40 gunner who jumped out from behind a tree 5 feet behind them; they stop shooting, smile, and start shooting again 10 seconds later)
Now I can't wait to go back in March. That one is supposed to be much better (and I had lots of fun at this one!).
Craig
The coolest part of the battle for me was the beginning. I was laying in wait for the GIs behind a stack of logs, and wouldn't you know - a squad walked up within 50 feet of me and kneeled down to talk about what to do next. For 30 seconds I had the LT in the sights of my K98, waiting for my friend to start blasting with his MP44. That never happened, and all of a sudden one of the GIs noticed something move behind me. He pointed and I "shot" the LT. My buddy fired one shot from his mag and the second jammed. Oops. Because of the intense Garand fire in addition to a BAR blasting in our general direction, I pretended to catch one in the head and fell backwards. The GIs walked past me and I waited a minute to get up and fall back so they could see me. When I got up, nobody had taken a hit
even though it was obvious somebody's brains had to be airing out. I was quite pissed. That would happen the rest of the day but some guys on both sides did a nice job. I also tried to keep it in my mind that most people never realize that they walked right into somebody's fire and just keep on going. The ones that did notice and didn't bother "dying" ruin the battles. (Example: several guys in the back of a truck get sprayed by a MP40 gunner who jumped out from behind a tree 5 feet behind them; they stop shooting, smile, and start shooting again 10 seconds later)Now I can't wait to go back in March. That one is supposed to be much better (and I had lots of fun at this one!).
Craig
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