Forgive me if this subject has already been covered but a long time pet peeve of mine has been the amount of elite units portrayed in reenacting. Waffen SS and fallshirmjager units outnumber the amount of regular generic German Army units perhaps 5 to 1. I don't think thatGrossDeutschland could be considered a generic unit. On the American side it is airborne and Rangers, with British they seem a bit heavy on SAS and other more elite units.
I started reenacting in 1983 with American Civil War and then it was always lop-sided with everyone wanting to do Confederate. I have been to reenactments on the original battlefields where it was a Union victory in 1863 but due to the vast amount of Confederates vs very few Union, they actually changed the outcome so the Confederates would win! Talk about revisionist history.
I began doing WW2 in 1986 and at that time there were no Heer units near where I was living, to do German I had to join one of the 3 Waffen SS units available within driving distance. I haven't done much reenacting in the past few years due to work and getting too old but I have always kept an eye on things and I see that things really haven't changed that much in the last 20 years as far as this subject goes. Several other improvements have been made, the availability of uniforms and equipment, websites, forums, etc but the elite units still are disproportionate.
I recently attended a D-Day memorial reenactment where all of the Germans opposing the beach landing were Waffen-SS, fallshirmjagers and a few gebirgsjagers, no generic Heer troops. Again, revisionist history?
In my opinion, a trully elite unit would be the one that had all of it's members completely outfitted very similarly, as is everything issued from the same depot, everyone in good physical condition, everyone being able to drill with German commands, portraying plain German infantrymen, and be uniformed and equiped to match the time frame of the battle being portrayed.
Am I wrong in my thinking here?
Denny
I started reenacting in 1983 with American Civil War and then it was always lop-sided with everyone wanting to do Confederate. I have been to reenactments on the original battlefields where it was a Union victory in 1863 but due to the vast amount of Confederates vs very few Union, they actually changed the outcome so the Confederates would win! Talk about revisionist history.
I began doing WW2 in 1986 and at that time there were no Heer units near where I was living, to do German I had to join one of the 3 Waffen SS units available within driving distance. I haven't done much reenacting in the past few years due to work and getting too old but I have always kept an eye on things and I see that things really haven't changed that much in the last 20 years as far as this subject goes. Several other improvements have been made, the availability of uniforms and equipment, websites, forums, etc but the elite units still are disproportionate.
I recently attended a D-Day memorial reenactment where all of the Germans opposing the beach landing were Waffen-SS, fallshirmjagers and a few gebirgsjagers, no generic Heer troops. Again, revisionist history?
In my opinion, a trully elite unit would be the one that had all of it's members completely outfitted very similarly, as is everything issued from the same depot, everyone in good physical condition, everyone being able to drill with German commands, portraying plain German infantrymen, and be uniformed and equiped to match the time frame of the battle being portrayed.
Am I wrong in my thinking here?
Denny
, stlll each to their own, as Red Army there is no problem, we are all Heroes.....
In my "career" I have done three units; until 1989 I did US 1st and 3rd Inf Div; then since then British A/B and since 2001 RKKA.
) doing ACW, Span-Am, IW, WW1 and WW2. Although mainstream Civil War reenacting has changed little over the years with a plethora of Berdan's Sharpshooters, Zouaves, Iron Brigade, CS Navy, Marines, 20th Maine, etc. impressions...I am pleased that as the hobby has matured, the "progressives" and more hardcore in that area of reenacting have focused on the common soldier...almost making the portrayal of the common and mundane somewhat elite. How Zen.
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