WWII reenacting experience

Earlier this month, I took part in my first reenactment ever with Dr. Lockhart and his friends and sons.  It was Nov. 8-10 at Old Bedford Village in Pennsylvania.  The theme of the event was Ukraine fall 1944.  The two sides were Red Army (Russian) and Wehrmacht (Germany), we were Russians. There were various scenarios that played out over the course of the weekend.  At one time, the Germans might have the village and we had to go try to take it.  Other times, we were held up in the village and the Germans were attacking us.  I'm not going to get into the specifics of the battles because they were too chaotic to really put into words.

Prior to this, I had never done a reenactment.  I've been to places where people were dressed in period clothing and I've seen reenactors doing static displays, but this was really my first exposure to this sort of living history from the inside.  Going into it, I was unsure of what I would think about running around in wool uniforms shooting blanks at guys dressed as Germans.  But after once I got to do it, I loved it.  It really is a lot of fun.  While I never "died," I did have three "flesh wounds" throughout Saturday's battle.  I got an adrenaline rush when I heard fully-automatic machine guns firing on the other side of the village. 

From a public history perspective, there were both good and bad things about this event.  I'll star with the bad aspects.  The first one was that the event was a "tactical," which means that it is closed to the public.  So in essence the only people who get to learn from it are those who are partaking in the reenactment anyway.  The second point that really grinds my gears are those few reenactors who are very out of shape.  I'm not saying that they shouldn't be allowed to do it, but a 350 pound German officer on a motorcycle somewhat misrepresents the people who fought in the war.  Now for the good.  I now understand a little, a very little bit of what it was like to march back and forth for miles carrying a rifle, helmet, ammo cans, bags and anything else.  Some parts of the day were pretty miserable, but that's just part of the event i guess.

Overall, I loved the event and I had a fantastic time.  When the next event comes up in a couple of months, I will definitely be there.  If you like shooting blanks, eating period food and smelling horrible, then reenacting might be for you.


P.S. I will add some pictures whenever I get a change.