Military Re-enactment

It was probably about 7 years ago when first heard of "Living history" and "Reenacting".  There was a military open day at a local museum and, being interested in military history as a teenager, I went and had a look. Of course I was a big fan of the HBO series "Band of Brothers" at the time, and that chance to get up close and personal with men wearing the same uniform was exciting for me. I managed to get the chance to talk to some men who reenact the US 82nd Airborne as well as their German counterparts the Fallschirmjägers. We talked for quite a while about the equipment and weapons, and I got a real interest in the hobby and asked them how to join. At the time I was too young, but I did start reading up about it and in 2011 I finally had the time (and money) to join the hobby.

Reenacting is not cheap. They tell you that right in the beginning and it's very true, however it can depend on what time period you reenact and what army. For example a Soviet conscript rifleman kit (what we call our equipment and uniforms) and rifle can cost you all in all about $700 while an 1809 Napoleonic era British line infantryman can cost you up to 3 grand!. Of course you don't just go out and buy everything. Some research needs to be done, (lots of it) and asking others in the hobby what to get is a real help. (It's better to do it once than to having to buy other equipment again).

Having had an interest in the desert war, I naturally joined the German Afrika Korps (21st Panzer Division) unit based in Auckland, New Zealand, and at my first event pretty much borrowed all the gear from the unit commander. Living history is mainly divided into two parts, the public side and the private side. 

The public side of the hobby is teaching the public about history, or being used in documentaries or films. Now what a lot of people don't realize is that if you go to a military show, ANZAC parade, an RSA evening or an airshow and see all these reenactors with all their gear, vehicles, horses, tents and weapons on display (as well as shooting in mock battles with lots of ammunition), none of it is funded. We don't get paid to be there, the event organizers don't buy us food or pay for the truck transport for vehicles (an example being for one show we brought with us our German army Steyr truck and the cost to bring is was $1000 for the weekend!!).

The reason we are there is because we enjoy it, and we love getting people interested in history. This hobby lets us do it in a way like no lecturing room can; from a child getting to wear a real helmet to his dad struggling to hold up an MG34 machine gun as mum takes a photo of them posing. We bring history alive for them and they realise that history isn't just some black and white photo, but it's touchable and all around us.

Now as I mentioned earlier there's the other side of reenacting. The private side. Of course we don't just do the hobby for other people, but it's for us as well and the best way to do it is tacticals. Tacticals are about as close as we can get to what life could be back then. A tactical is when several units get together for a weekend (after much planning and notifying local police that there isn't a war breaking out!) and for 24 hours leave the 21st century and fight in fields and forests.

My first experience for this was 3 years ago as a German soldier. We were given an hour in the 2km x 4km forestry location to find ourselves a good base position and dig in before the British and Americans joined. The day was spent preparing positions and sending out combat patrols. But it's at night where it gets interesting. In the dark you're freezing, sitting in a hole, no fires allowed so you're eating cold rations, and in the distance you hear gunfire and see flashes from rifles on the hills nearby as night patrols engage each other.

It's there where most reenactors get what we call "seeing the white elephant" a term to describe those few seconds or minutes where you really feel like you are back in time and actually there. It's at tacticals where you realise just how horrible it must have been for men who were doing what we did for two days for months or years. Here is a video of one such tactical done in the States by some Vietnam reenactors.

Reenacting has been around since the 1970s, but it really took a boost in 2000 and has been growing ever since. So far it's estimated that internationally the hobby contains more than 100,000 people from all walks of life, mechanics, politicians, doctors, students and more who do all kinds of era and periods from the Roman ages to modern day Vietnam (my main focus being WW2 Eastern Front, though I do WW1 every now and then too). 

Another way that my hobby contributes to history would be the reawakening of lost skills, be it cooking over open fires, blacksmithing (as there are no online vendors, Roman, medieval and Viking era reenactors must make all their clothing and armor themselves) playing old instruments, riding horses (and shooting from them) and so on.

Yes, it's an unusual hobby, but it's one I'll do for many years, it's a fantastic experience, and I really recommend it to anyone with an interest in trying out life in the past.

Richard 

Bio:

My name is Richard and I'm a former student of Tony's. I'm a reenactor with a passion for WW2 and WW1 history as well as a budding historic firearms collector. I'm an encyclopedia of military machinery and weapons from the Napoleonic era to the first half of the 20th century as well as a student in gunsmithing and weapons restoration. 

My other interest are naval history of the Napoleonic era as well as the history of aerial warfare.

Richard