Volume 3,
No 1 Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Spring
2016
Battleground Dispatches
Special Cobra Edition
2
Battleground Dispatches
Table of Contents
Cover Photo: German Assault,
American Armor, Operation
Mountain Victory II
-Inside Cover: Officers, Order
of Battle
-Officers Call
-Editor’s Note
-Unit Pages
- 9th ID
- The British Reconnaissance Corps
- 101st Airborne
- 82nd Airborne
- Kampfgruppe Von Treskow
- Kampfgruppe Von Rybus
-The Hobo Roll
-2nd Armored Breakout 2014
-Operation Cobra
-CMHG Calendar
-CMHG SOP Changes
CMHG Address
Colorado Military Historical Group
PO Box 76422, Colorado Springs, CO. 80970
CMHG Website
http://cmhg.net
Allies
K Company, 39th Inf. Reg., 9th ID David Dantzler
C Company, 504th PIR, 82nd Airborne Div. Ron LiButti
G Company, 327th Glider Inf. Reg., 101st Airborne Div.
Mike Foster
6th Guards Motorized Reg., 1st Guards Moscow Motorized Div.
Jon Ainsworth
The British Reconnaissance Corps Martin Kinney
Axis
Kampfgruppe Von Treskow Scott Chartier
Kampfgruppe Von Rybus
Kurt Septon
The Colorado Military Historical Group is a Non-profit Educational/Historical Organization with
Headquarters in Colorado. The Colorado Military Historical Group is not part of, nor does it approve, support,
or condone any paramilitary, survivalist, extremist or racist group. It does not advocate for political influence
or disseminate political propaganda of any kind.
ATTENTION © All material in this publication is Copyrighted Reprints are by written permission only.
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Battleground Dispatches
Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Officers Call
Commander
Hello CMHG Members!
Welcome to our 6th year as an organization!
We’ve come a long way in that time, and I’m ex-
cited to see where we will go this year.
This is the NEW Battleground Dispatches.
Many thanks to Steven Adams for stepping up to
put together this newsletter. I hope this proves
to be a valuable resource for all of our members.
Please encourage your fellow members to submit
articles, reviews and photos to the newsletter.
Remember, the more you put into it, the more you
get out of it. That said, many thanks also to
Frank Scholer, who was the editor of the original
BD. Frank laid a great foundation on which Ste-
ven can build.
In 2015, we hosted our second national
event, Operation Mountain Victory II. With over
100 participants, and more armored vehicles and
planes than you can shake a panzerfaust at, the
event was a smash hit! Not only that, we’re now
an internationally recognized group! One partici-
pant traveled from Canada to participate. The
event was highly praised, and other reenacting
groups across the country are already gearing up
for our next event. If you haven’t seen the pho-
tos our friend PJ McTaggart took at the event,
you can find those photos on the CMHG web page.
Besides OMVII, the CMHG kept busy this
year, attending 11 events throughout the year.
From memorials and parades to skirmishes and tac-
ticals, our members showed up in force at each
event. Thanks to everyone who participated this
last year! We have a packed event schedule for
2016, with at least one event each month. There
are plenty of opportunities to take to the field
this year, so I hope to see each of you at at
least one event. Many of these events are out-of
-state, and I hope that a handful of CMHG members
can make it to each one. These events are great
opportunities for us to make new contacts and
friends across the reenacting community.
In this issue of BD, you’ll find a list of
the SOP changes voted on at this year’s annual
meeting. We had some great discussion about the
future of the group at the meeting, and I feel
these changes reflect that future.
Thanks,
Sam Iven
CMHG CO
9th ID XO
Executive Officer
No Article Submitted
Executive Officer, CMHG
Ron LiButti
Adjutant
No Article Submitted
Adjutant, CMHG
Matt Burchette
Finance Officer
The financial status of the Colorado Mili-
tary Historical Group is solvent and excel-
lent. Income for the Group includes member dues,
compensation for supporting events with a link to
military history, and donations from the pub-
lic. In return, the Group supports military
charities through out the year, such as The Home
Front Cares, 4ID Museum, Honor Flights, etc. Al-
so, we transitioned from a 501c(4) to a 501c(3),
which better fit our Group's mission.
Finance Officer, CMHG
Jon Ainsworth
Honor and Educate
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Battleground Dispatches
Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Editors Note
Hello CMHG, as the new editor of the
awesome and epic Battleground Dispatches I
wanted to introduce myself to everyone and
to give an idea of what I’m wanting to do
with it. I’m still fairly new re-enacting,
having only done it for about two years now.
I am a history major currently working on
getting a licensure in secondary social
studies education. The main thing is that I
have a love for history, and re-enacting is
a way for me to connect with it. I love
learning about every aspect of soldier’s
lives in the multitude of wars this earth
has experienced, in particular WWII.
As for the newsletter I want everyone
to feel like they own a piece of it. To that
end I want to put out a call to you as mem-
bers of the CMHG to submit your own articles
related to reenacting or WWII. It can be a
review of a movie, a how-to article like
what you’ll find in this edition, an article
about some point or battle from the war,
tips or tricks, or other information that
can help your fellow members improve their
own impressions.
This is what I want to do with this
newsletter, and I’m all of you will help me
out in some way. With that in mind I hope
you enjoy the rest of this, the newest edi-
tion of Battleground Dispatches!
Steven Adams
Editor
9th Infantry
Division,
39th Infantry
Regiment, K Company
Hello King Company! It’s
nice to see Battleground Dispatches back in
print! 2015 was a great year with a lot of
events, and 2016 is shaping up to be just as
busy. Marc England successfully completed
two years as the 9th ID commander and I was
voted in at the annual meeting with Sam Iven
as the executive officer (XO), Mel Romero
1st Squad leader, Lew Ladwig 1st Squad, as-
sistant squad leader, Ron "Beetle" Bailey
1st Squad assistant squad leader, Aaron Can-
ney 2nd Squad leader, and Jared Schroeder
2nd Squad, assistant squad leader. The rea-
son we have two assistant squad leaders in
1st squad, is because Lew will most likely
be gone this summer for work, so Beetle will
fill in as needed. Matt Burchette also vol-
unteered to be the CMHG Adjutant which is a
Staff Position.
For 2016, the CMHG Staff is already
planning events and there should be something
going on every month until the late Fall. In
particular, there will be skirmishes once a
quarter, with a focus on unit training ra-
ther than burning through a lot of blanks. As
Sam mentioned, think of them as reenactor
camping trips! We hope to have another event
this summer supporting the Fort Carson 4th
Infantry Division museum and of course the
big “Tunisia 1943” event over Labor Day
Weekend at Camp Guernsey, WY. Several mem-
bers have been interested in doing a road
trip to events outside our area such as
Rockford or Conneaut so keep that in mind as
well as you plan for days off from work or
school.
Dave Dantzler Cdr, King Co
VAAA-O!
Honor and Educate
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Battleground Dispatches
Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
The British Reconnaissance
Corps
Greetings from the British Reconnais-sance Corps, or The Recce as more commonly known. I would like to explain a bit about our groups impression. While vast and vague, we have found this works for us. We base our impressions on the event scenario. If it is an Italian campaign, we pick an MTO based unit. If it is Northwest Europe, then a unit that served there will be the impression. With that said, we have 3 major im-pressions. We do the 56th, 44th and 6th AARR Recces for most of our impressions. The first two are Italian Front units. Why two? The British Army would pull entire divisions out of line for a couple of months to refit. There are times of the year that they would be in the Middle East vs Italy. The other is part of the 6th British Airborne Division. While some of the unit had glider borne tanks, other elements utilized trucks and jeeps. We, for example, portray a section of the 200 replacements sent into Normandy on bikes and jeeps. The bulk of the glider borne units were delivered over the channel on boats. The Americans were not the only ones hampered by lack of aircraft. This is a little information about the impressions we choose to portray in our unit.
Martin Kinney CO,
British Reconnaissance Corps
2015 was a banner year for the men of
G Company 327th GIR. We brought on 3 new
members, increased our Bivouac equipment,
added several pieces of hard-ward to our ar-
mory and made many new community contacts.
We have also added a new ‘honorary’ member
who has increased our historic 327th GIR bat-
tlefield knowledge tenfold. Kevin Brooks,
the author of “Gliderman: Behind Enemy
Lines” was added to our unit in October.
Kevin’s book is about Don Rich and the rest
of the men of G Company from their days in
training until the end of the war. PFC.
Jack Sherman, our other honorary member and
unit sponsor, is featured prominently in the
book. Kevin has already provided a ton of
maps and other material in which we will be
basing the December Bastogne event we will
be sponsoring. Be ready for scant supplies,
overwhelming German numbers and specific ob-
jectives fellas!
During 2015, we focused on our primary
unit positions, expectations and tactical
squad movements. Our first tactical engage-
ment was at OMVII. While all of our members
have participated in tactical events with
other units for years, OMVII was our first
tactical engagement as a unit. As the Unit
CO I could not have been prouder of what the
327th accomplished during that event. Every
unit member knew his job, was engaged in
communication and never delayed an order
given. Afterwards we identified areas of op-
portunity that will be our training focus
for 2016.
Over the course of the next year, G
Company will be adding several unit training
events in an effort to tighten our battle-
field tactics as well as a few recruitment
events designed to boost our numbers.
Best to all of you and here's to another
fantastic year!
Sargent Mike Foster
G Company 327 GIR
82nd Airborne Division
504th PIR
C Company
Hi guys, just a short recap of the past year and some unit info. The group is at 6 members with Marc England moving over
101st Airborne Div.
327th Glider Inf. Reg.
G Company
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Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
from the 9th ID along with 10+ additional members as a secondary impression. For a smaller sized group we bring most of the CMHGs heavy weapons, at last count we are at
M1A1 Rocket launcher M9A1 Rocket launcher Panzerschreck rpzb 54/1 Panzerpaust 30 M19 60mm Mortar 1919A6 gas gun 1919A4 gas gun (under construction) Assorted small arms, rifle grenades and 4 bc611 radios We also bring four vehicles to the group 1943 MB 1942 WC21 1942 G506 1939 R71 We look forward to another great year with the CMHG.
Ron LiButti CO/82AB XO/CMHG
Kampfgruppe von Tresckow
The KGvT had another good year in 2015. The highlight was Operation Mountain Victory II at Ft Carson. Frank Scholer was the overall German forces commander for the event and spent many hours planning the event, including visits to the proposed training areas, preparing maps and battle plans, contacting the various unit command-ers from around the country and mailing a complete battle plan package to the six unit commanders. We had units from a number of nearby states and a total of about 60 par-ticipants. We had a variety of vehicles in-cluding a number of motorcycles, armor and light vehicles. We received many compli-
ments regarding the battle plan and the exe-cution of the event in general. As usual, everyone expressed thanks to the CMHG for an event well done and plan to attend OMV III.
The unit recently acquired some addi-tional transportation in the form of Frank Scholer’s 1942 Dodge WC52 weapons carrier, which made its first event at OMV II as a capture vehicle. It came in very handy transporting troops during the event as well as performing shuttle service between the MOUT site and the German campsite.
There were a number of local events during the year at the site located just east of Greeley. We had planned more but weather this year didn’t always cooperate so a few had to be cancelled. We had a more extensive display at the second D-Day memo-rial event at Ft Carson, which included a weapons demonstration.
The unit continues to recruit new mem-bers and gained 4 new members in 2015. Our total membership now stands at 9.
Our active duty member, Kurt Scholer, deployed from Ft Hood to Bagram AFB in Af-ghanistan with the 306
th MI Btn as part of
Task Force ODIN. He expects to complete his assignment by July of 2016.
For 2016, the KGvT will be led by unit CO Oberscharfuhrer Scott Chartier, with the assistance of Scharfuhrer Frank Scholer, who will the new XO. Scott will continue with overall unit command while Frank will be as-sisting with communications between the KGvT and the CMHG staff and unit commanders. We will also be updating our unit procedures and standards.
Frank Scholer Scharfuhrer,
Kampfgruppe Von Treskow
Kampfgruppe Von Rybus
The KGvR organized and participated in several training and skirmish events in 2015. Focus has been given to adhering as much as possible to German army squad tac-tics which rely heavily on the MG as the central piece. Training events into 2016 will continue to refine these skills and in-troduce new recruits to period tactics. Dur-ing all events we also strive to foster the living history aspect of the hobby with pe-riod appropriate encampments or bivouacs. Members who choose not to or can't
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Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
participate with a combat impression have the option to stay active by focusing on rear echelon unit duties. High authenticity and camaraderie being the main objectives for all members. January of 2016 brought a change in unit leadership driven by the need to streamline the structure of the group and to foster unity. Under the new leadership structure we appointed one single squad leader and assistant squad leader for all troops regardless of service branch (Heer,
LW or SS). Current leadership as of February, 2016 is as follows: - CO: Kurt Septon (Heer) - Spiess: Andrew Quezada (Heer) - Adjutant: Tad Foster (LW) - Squad Leader: Vincent Mares (SS) - Asst. SL: Ryan Halsey (SS)
Finally, in 2015 the KGvR Panzerfabrik was busy at work building building the new-est addition to the armor pool: the Panzer II Ausf. L "Luchs". The Luchs is scheduled to be field ready by the end of May 2016. 2015 also saw members busy rebuilding the existing Panzer III to now include a period correct suspension with six road wheels. Ve-hicles, men and gear have been used in sev-eral WW2 movie productions based out of Col-orado and Utah."
Andy Quezada Speiss,
Kampfgruppe Von Rybus
Kampfgruppe Von Rybus
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Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
The Hobo/Tanker Roll
The hobo roll was used by infantry and armor and vehicle crewmen.
You'll often see the rolls lashed to the sides or fronts of vehicles. Infan-try would leave the roll behind the lines before moving into a position, and then would send runners to collect the squad's rolls once they've occupied a position.
The roll used all of bedding items issued to a GI. The shelter half has some level of water repellency, and is used on the outside of the roll to keep the wool blanket or sleeping bag inside dry.
GIs would also store clothes, and small valuables in the roll to protect them
from the elements.
1. You'll need your:
shelter half, blanket,
sleeping bag, rope, and
pins and poles.
2. Spread the shelter
half out, and fold your
blanket till its a quar-
ter it's original size.
3. Put your sleeping bag
on top of that.
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Battleground Dispatches
Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
4. Pins and poles go
near the top of your
sleeping bag
5. Fold the triangular ends in
6. Fold one side over
7. Then the other to cover it
8. Roll that thing like
a giant burrito
9. Burrito, er... hobo roll... uh... rolled.
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Battleground Dispatches
Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
10. Run one end of your rope through the loop
11. Wrap up your roll and run the other looped end through it
12. TADA! Hobo roll with a convenient carry handle
Article submitted by Sam Iven
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Battleground Dispatches
Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
Our Trip to Europe with 2nd Armored in
Europe Ltd
In August of 2014 members of the Colo-
rado Military Historical Group went to Eu-
rope to participate in a reenactment event
commemorating the liberation of northern
France by the US 2nd Armored Division. There
were about 150 participants of which about
50 came from the United States. The CMHG
was represented by about a dozen people. We
traveled to Brussels where we all met in
preparation to travel by charter bus to the
jumpoff point of Lihon. While in Brussels,
we stayed at the Royal Belgian Military
Academy. The next day the bus arrived and
everyone loaded their gear. We had our cor-
rect GI duffel bags, uniforms and kit. Most
everyone was going as a foot soldier but I
went as a Stars and Stripes correspondent.
My job was to record the action each day,
interview members of the US contingent and
write a report at the conclusion of the
event in the style of a typical S&S field
correspondent.
When we arrived in Lihon, people were
already setting up camp for a two-night
stay. We got our vehicle assignments, mess
tags and a briefing of how things would be
organized for the duration of the event. I
was set to ride in a few vehicles so I could
interview a broad number of people. I
camped with the two combat photographers who
would be recording the event. While there
was no action at this location, we did par-
ticipate in a parade and wreath ceremony at
the town square, attended by the local dig-
nitaries, French veterans and a small band.
The CMHG provided the honor guard that led
the parade. That evening the majority of
heavy vehicles arrived from England via low
loader trucks. We had about 11 halftracks,
9 jeeps, a number or motorcycles and a few
CCKWs and trailers to haul the gear and mess
equipment.
The next morning we got everything
loaded up and moved out towards the area of
the Somme where we would begin to see action
against the German forces. This was the
first time such an event included German
reenactors and their vehicles, a Stug III
assault gun, a 222 armored car and a few ku-
blewagons. We were also allowed to fire
blanks ammo as part of each day’s events.
The daily action usually consisted of the
Germans setting up an ambush for us along
the way and then having a running battle un-
til the Germans withdrew and we would set up
our camp for the night. Our traveling mess
group provided hot breakfast and dinner each
day and we even had a Red Cross Clubmobile,
complete with very cute “donut dollies”.
Most of the trucks came from the 514th QM
truck regiment from the UK(514th.co.uk).
They have a very large inventory of US WWII
vehicles and are very active at events in
England and on the continent.
The weather at the beginning of the
trip was cool and sometimes rainy so we had
the joy of packing and unpacking wet canvas
each day. But is gave us a small taste of
what living in the field was all about in
WWII. By the end the weather was sunny and
dry so things got much more cheerful. Each
days travel involved driving thru small
French villages and towns, battling the Ger-
mans and being warmly received by the local
citizens. There were some very touching mo-
ments when we part of memorials and met some
US and French veterans. The locals were
both curious and thankful for what we were
doing. We got to visit a number of museums
and battle sites along the way, including
World War I sites. This area of the Somme
had intense fighting in both wars so there
were many military memorials and cemeteries.
Over the course of nearly two weeks,
we went thru and recreated the “liberation”
of a number of cities including Bray sur
Somme, Peron and ending in Cambrei. At the
end of each day, our camp was visited by
many locals. The group had people from many
2nd Armored Breakout 2014
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Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
countries including France, England, Belgium,
Netherland, Poland, Russia and the Czech Re-
public. Someone said that it was nice hav-
ing a large contingent of “real Yanks” at
this event so they could see what we were
like and how we talked.
After the conclusion in Cambrei, we
said our goodbyes to our new friends and
loaded up for the trip back to Brussels.
Some of the others were going on to the
Tanks in Town event in Mons, Belgium and
others headed for home. After Brussels,
about 15 of us rented a few vans and headed
towards Bastogne for another week of sight-
seeing and visiting museums and battle
grounds in the area. We went thru the Bel-
gian Army museum and restoration shop in Ba-
stogne where we saw a number of vehicles in
the process of restoration and got to see a
Sherman tank drive around the yard. We got
to see the actual headquarters of General
McCauliffe where he uttered the famous reply
“nuts”, to the German surrender message dur-
ing the Battle of the Bulge. We also toured
many of the local museums including the 101st
Airborne museum.
The number and variety of US military
vehicles in Europe is truly amazing. And
traveling thru the actual countryside where
so much action took place was a great expe-
rience. One day, when all the vehicles were
travelling together along small country
roads in France I figured the convoy
stretched out almost a mile. It was quite
impressive to look back along the line and
see them all loaded with GIs. This trip was
definitely a highlight of my reenactment ca-
reer. In addition to all the action, I got
to drive a halftrack for the last part of
the trip and when we were in Bastogne I was
able to purchase a 1944 dated US War Office
map of a part of North Germany where my fam-
ily’s farm is located. Last but not least,
much thanks to Dave Dantzler for being the
organizer and ram rod for pulling this all
together for our guys.
Submitted by Frank Scholer
Operation Cobra
So, you are considering going to Eu-rope in 2017? I never realized that a trip like Operation COBRA even existed until I caught wind of “The Pursuit” in early 2013. A trip to Europe where I could ride in half-tracks for more than a few minutes at a time, dig a foxhole and sleep in it, AND fire blanks at REAL Germans? All on the same battle fields where it happened?! Sign. Me. Up.
So, I begin going through all my gear and comparing it to the list sent from the organizers in Europe. I quickly realized there was no way I was going to get all this stuff in one bag, let alone two or even three. I begin to apply a bit of logic to the problem and ask a few questions of the organizers. In the end, I came up with a list that met all my needs, and those of the event organizers as well. After attending the event, I realized I still packed some things I didn’t need.
This article is my “brain dump” for all you new guys that are thinking about go-ing next year. It includes some advice, some tips, and a list of everything I took the first time and what I plan on taking in 2017.
What to expect:
First and foremost this is nothing like you have ever seen in your life. You will be as close to a WWII GI as you have ever come before. You will live in your half-track (or another vehicle depending on what you sign up for) for eight days. You will ride for hours at a time. You will get dusty, grimy, and sweaty. There is a good likelihood that you might even get sick.
At the end of the day, you may be in a field, a city park, or you may even be in the woods in a foxhole that you had to dig after dark with no lights. You might get dinner, or you may need to break out a K Ra-tion because your squad is on OP/LP duty that night and didn’t have time to hit the chow line.
Within days, you will be dirtier than you thought possible, unshaven, and you will not be able to shower. When you do shave, it will be out of your helmet with cold water. I did not bathe for the entire ten-day event. I had the opportunity, I chose not
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Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
to so that my “time warp” was as real as possible. I didn’t die. You won’t either.
Do you have to be Superman for a trip like this? No. Can you sit at your desk eve-ry day for the next eleven months and do this trip? Possibly, but I don’t recommend it. You need to be in some shape to make this trip work for you. When I say “for you” I mean just that. This is not like a reen-actment back in the states. You can’t drive home if you get tired, or it rains, or you get pissed. You are stuck with your squad for the entire time.
You will be running, climbing, crawl-ing, and carrying more weight than you nor-mally do. Do you think your body can handle that for eight days straight? If you are thinking, “well, maybe?” Then you need also to think about getting in better shape. Take up jogging, walk the block a few times each week. Do something. Trust me when I tell you – GET IN SHAPE. You will be sorry if you don’t.
I’m not talking Ronda Rousey shape; I’m just talking “I don’t wheeze when I run 50 feet” shape. You CAN do it. Cut down on the beer, stop eating so much damn fast food, and get your muscles used to being used. That’s all it is.
The other half of getting in shape for a trip like this is mental. First and fore-most you will be part of a squad or crew. You will live with them 24/7 for eight days or more. Your attitude will go a long way in how much fun you have.
You will do KP. Everyone does. You will stand guard. You will stay up all night
looking at empty fields. You will be more tired than you thought possible. Don’t be a huge ass and shirk your duty. Trust me, the other guys will notice and pretty soon you will be shunned. It happened in 2014. Don’t be “That Guy.”
The fact is, this is as close as you will ever come to being a WWII GI without the shooting. If you do jus a little to your physical and mental attributes you will have the most fun you have ever had reenacting. In fact, it might ruin you for other events forever because nothing even comes close.
Tips and Advice (in no particular order)
• Get in better shape. Yeah, I talked about this before. I am mentioning it again. It’s THAT important.
• Check your gear. Are your boots about to come apart? Is that canteen cover ripping? Either fix or buy new stuff before you go. Don’t worry if it’s new looking. It will be a ragged mess in just days. Hell, everyone got new gear at some point.
• Buy the best you can afford. If you need gear for this event, get the best stuff out there. Don’t cheap out. Start buying stuff now, so you don’t outlay a ton of cash right before you go.
• If you need new boots, I HIGHLY recommend that you invest in WWII Impressions boots. Yes, they are expensive but they will last you the rest of your reenacting career be-cause they hold up better than any other boot out there. I know. I have some, and they wore like iron in France and were comforta-ble.
• Break in your gear NOW. This goes mostly for footwear. If your boots are new, wear them – a lot. You don’t want to break in boots when you have no chance to take them off.
• Ask questions! Talk to the guys that went before. Ask them whatever is bugging you or you don’t understand. We had a blast, and we want you guys to have the same experience we did.
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Honor and Educate
• Don’t be a drunk. Like I discussed earli-er, don’t be “That Guy.” Yes, beer is easily accessible in Europe. If you are underage, you can drink in Europe. Don’t be a jerk and get drunk each night. Sure, we all had a beer at some point, but we didn’t get loud and sloppy like some of the others. All that did was make us hate them. Don’t be “THAT GUY!”
• Read the authenticity regulations when they come out. If you think “good enough” will cut it. It won’t. The Europeans are much harder on authenticity than we are. They also have no qualms about pulling you out of a line and calling you on the carpet for some farbtastic thing you have done or are wearing. We saw it happen over the first few days. All of a sudden, farby mustaches disappeared, shirts got tucked in, and phones got put away. If you are a reenactor that thinks “this is good enough” then this trip is NOT for you. Trust me. Either change the attitude or don’t go. If you take the “It’s good enough” attitude with you, you will be sorry you did.
• Learn to use a double edge razor before you go. Trying to shave in the field with a DE razor for the first time will not be fun for you. Start a few months before the trip and get the hang of it first. Look on eBay for razors. They are not that expensive. Be-fore you buy, show me the listing first, and I can tell you if it’s period correct or not. The case and mirror can be had from Service of Supply for about $20. I also rec-ommend a shaving stick over a tube of shav-ing cream. It’s easier to use and easier to carry. Vintage shaving stick holders can be found on eBay as well.
• Don’t waste precious packing space with extra boots, pants, or jackets. Yes, the regulations may say you need two pairs of pants, but I never wore them. Why do you need two jackets? You don’t. Either an M41 or a Tanker. You don’t need them both. If there will be a big parade (I doubt it) then they will tell us about it. Until then, think lightweight.
• This event is shaping up to be even better than 2014. There will be no time away from the “Front.” It will be full immersion the
whole ten days. That means you will want to pack light. Yes, you will have a half track to store stuff in, but you still don’t want to lug two barracks bags overseas. We saw a guy do that and then he had to walk a mile with them both. Yeah, he couldn’t do it. He was out of shape and turned out to be the biggest PITA on the trip. Have I mentioned to NOT BE THAT GUY?!
• Start looking for the correct insignia now for your overseas cap. You can find repro-ductions of the 41st Infantry and the others online, and they are not that expensive.
• Consider taking one shirt that will be for “combat” and one that will be a backup/going on leave shirt. You will have the opportuni-ty to hit the town a few times. I wore the same shirt almost all the time but did change for a night on the town once or twice. It was nice to not smell like a skunk for a few hours!
• Waterproof those boots!! I used Hubert’s Show Grease, and it worked like a charm. You can find that online too. I did it a few weeks before we left to let it soak in. I gave my boats two really good coats and nev-er had a problem.
• Waterproof your shelter half and sleeping bag cover. Trust me on this one. Use a prod-uct called Neverwet. You can get it at Home Depot. Do not get anything else. This stuff is amazing.
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Battleground Dispatches
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Honor and Educate
• If the squad you are assigned to does not have a Facebook page for itself, start one. First Squad (best squad!) did this for 2013, and it helped a lot. We all knew each other before we ever got to Europe. I think it made us a more cohesive squad than any other squad there.
• Don’t waste money on overseas plans for your phone! I did, and I regret it. There is almost no wifi where we will be most of the time and even with data plans, I never real-ly got a signal even in bigger towns. Hell, you shouldn’t be surfing the internet anyway! Just take pictures and Facebook your buddies all the fun when you get back.
• Start saving money now. These trips are really not that expensive, but you don’t want to try and come up with the money all at once a few months before we leave. You can expect to pay between $1,300 and $1,400 for roundtrip airfare. The trip fee is about $600 and that includes food. If you rent a blank firing rifle, you are looking at an-other $200-$300. I recommend getting a real weapon with blanks. It’s just too much fun spraying the French countryside!
• Speaking of blanks, don’t go nuts. The last trip they were about 45 Euro for 100. That’s about $50 a box right now. I went nuts and had over 200 blanks left over that I sold to a Dutch guy for a HUGE loss. I rec-ommend about 300 blanks at the most. You might even be able to get away with a lot less as this trip is a few days shorter than the last one.
• How much should I save? Well, most of the
time we are on the road or in the country-side, so there is not much time for spending money at all. The Euro to Dollar is pretty favorable, so food and drink aren't going to break the bank when we do get to a town. I budgeted $75 a day for the last trip and didn’t come close to spending that. This time I am making it closer to $40 or $50.
• Contacts and eyeglasses. If you have con-tacts, you will NOT want to take them and try and mess with cleaning, soaking, etc. each night. Trust me, your hands will be filthy, you will be tired, and it will prob-ably be dark and you will be under light discipline, so you can’t use a flashlight. Buy a pair of correct WWII glasses instead. The company that made the P3 frames in WWII for the military, Shuron, is still in busi-ness. Go here http://www.shuron.com/ronstrong.htm to see their line. You want the silver cable temple glasses. Yes, gold was available, but silver is by far the most prevalent frame. Do what I did, order the SMALLEST three sizes, try them on, and send back the other two pair. They will do that for you and it’s cheap. Glasses ran small in the 1940s. Unless your face is just huge, you will want either their smallest or next smallest size. That means that you want ei-ther the 40, 42, or 44 for the eyepiece. I got 42, and I could have even gotten a 40. Once you have them take them to any one hour place with your prescription and you are good to go.
• Let’s go back to feet. Make sure you cut your toenails before you leave. Long ones will just be uncomfortable and will wear a hole in your socks. While you are at it, trim your fingernails. You are going to get grimy fast, and short nails will be easier to clean at the mess truck.
By Matthew Burchette
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Battleground Dispatches
Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
CMHG CALENDAR
If you have questions concerning the events in the
calendar, contact your unit leadership for information.
February 19-21
February Immersion Event – Wilkerson Pass
March
11-13: Great War Late 1917-1918 – Erie, KS
April
7-10: Walking Wounded Film Shoot - Wilkerson Pass, CO
22-24: Skirmish - Bennet, CO
May
20-22: Ziel Tobruk – Monahans, TX
20: Achtung Panzer - OR
28: Fort Collins Veterans Plaza – Ft. Collins, CO
June
3: 4th Infantry Division Museum History Day - Colorado Springs, Co
July
16-18: PTO Skirmish – Greeley - CO
21-31: Operation COBRA - France
August
19-21: Conneaut D-Day Landing – Conneaut, OH
September
2-4: Tunisia 1943 – Camp Guernsey, WY
11-13: Rockford WWII Weekend – Rockford, IL
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Battleground Dispatches
Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
SOP Changes
The following SOPs changes were passed by 2/3rds majority vote:
-2.1.1 - General Membership -2.1.2 - Family Membership -2.2.2 - Youth (minors) -3.2.1 - Unit Formation Requests -3.2.2. - Unit Recognition -3.3.3 - Unit Activation Process -4.2 - American Flag Respect -6.4.3 - Adjutant -7.1.5 - Contributions, Donations and Bequests -7.1.10 - Election Results -9.1.12 - Skirmishes
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Battleground Dispatches
Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
February Immersion Weekend
Wilkerson Pass
Elements of the 9th Infantry Di-
vision and Kampfgruppe Von Rybus
take a break in the fighting to
take group photos during the
February Immersion Event held at
Wilkerson Pass.
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Battleground Dispatches
Newsletter of the Colorado Military History Group
Honor and Educate
Steven Adams, new editor of Battleground Dispatches