There will be two reinactment times. Noon and again at3pm. I'll be at the 3pm one. I wanted to go to both,but I have to go to the funeral of my great great aunt during the first one.



[url]http://www.starbeacon.com/subscribed/frmnews.htm[/url]


D-Day event boasts lots of firepower

By MARK TODD
Staff Writer
CONNEAUT - A massive German artillery piece will highlight the third annual D-Day celebration Saturday at Conneaut Township Park.
The 105mm gun, owned by a Columbus man, will be trucked to the park for the event, said John Keaton, the Cleveland man who is coordinating the event.
"This is a completely restored artillery piece," he said. "It has never been seen in public before. People should bring their cameras."
The gun will be fired a couple of times during the day and visitors should be prepared for a sizable boom, Keaton said.
"We had a small cannon here last year," he said. "The (105mm) will be 10 times louder than that one."
Battle re-enactments will be staged at 1 and 3 p.m. Allies will arrive at the beach aboard landing craft provided by the Navy. The German defenders will again be huddled behind sandbags and bunkers constructed on bluffs that overlook the wide beach.
Some 180 re-enactors are expected for the event, compared to the 130 that participated last year, Keaton said. Last year's celebration was held a few days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and participation suffered as a result, Keaton said.
"A lot of guys canceled," he said. "It hurt us big time."
The beach will be strewn with wires and "hedgehogs," metal barriers planted at the water's edge to bottle up invading water craft and vehicles. Pyrotechnic experts will plant smoke bombs and noise-making devices on the beach to enhance the battlefield experience, Keaton said.
After each conflict, the victorious Allies will replace a German Army flag with Old Glory, Keaton said. Participants will set up displays at the park, and the most popular - based on a vote of visitors - will win trophies.
Re-enactors will bring along a wide range of small arms, but organizers are negotiating for the appearance of some bigger ordnance, including heavy trucks and armored vehicles for the show.
Talks are under way, too, with an Ohio man who owns a German fighter plane - built in the 1970s with parts from an authentic warbird.
Conneaut was chosen to host the event because the beach closely resembled the terrain Allied encountered during the real invasion that began June 6, 1944, organizers have said.
Several local organizations are assisting the event, including the Conneaut Board of Tourism, the Conneaut Area Chamber of Commerce, the Ashtabula County Convention and Visitors Bureau, American Legion Cowle Post 151, Fraternal Order of Eagles 408, Elks Lodge 256, Conneaut Port Authority, Pittsburgh and Conneaut Dock Co., Conneaut Township Park and the city of Conneaut.

BTT

btt

I'm going, I meen I was there. Damn am I tired. Second degree burns from contact with hot weapons while in hand to hand fighting with the G.I.'s kind of suck right now.

The battles were good, the wether was good and the crowd was really into it this year.

The first battle the landing craft was caught by a wave and pushed sideways onto the beach and was stuck for 1/2 an hour.  By time those poor guys landed they were in sad shape.It was a little disorganized, but the Americans finally won.

Due to time wasted in the first battle, there was very little time between battles, by time we finnished our interviews with the press, linked up new belts of ammo and grabbed a handfull of rifle ammo we had to go.

We didn't know it at the time, but we blew the blank fire adapter out of the machine gun on our first shot in the second battle so our main weapon was down and we didn't grab enough rifle ammo!  So go the fortunes of war.

We held to the end with our pistols, then taking the G.I.'s hand to hand using their own weapons against them, but couldnot hold them back.  Their fearless determination won the day.

I have to admit, it was real work, the G.I.'s worked harder since they had to run over 300 meters across the beach. But when they got close, it was all over for us, we are considered one of the best "dig your heals in and fight to the end" units, and we definatly brought our "A" game with us, but we were out fought in tough fighting.

When I get pictures or vidio, I will post on this thread or start a new one depending on how long it is before I get them.

Capitalist, nice meeting you, even if it was for only a minute.

The Germans were treated quite well.....except during the battle.  Then we are cheared every time we die.  I hind sight I remember the crowed yelling "kill them!" while in hand to hand fighting.  There are the usual boo's and coments, but it isn't personal, and is all taken in the spirit of the event.  No fealings were hurt, but hey, we are Germans, we are tough enough to handle a few comments!

BTW, the article was incorrect, the artillery peice was 150mm, not 105mm.  Other wise it was a good article.  We had the press with us much of the day.  At first they did not like being there, but after a while they realized what we were there for, education and entertainment of the crowd.  After that they were really receptive to us and were positive about us being there.

WOW What a turn out! I had as much fun walking around between battles and looking over all the old military vehicles and armorments.There were willys jeeps, duece and a halfs,motorcyles,military pick up trucks and artillery pieces. There were lots of tent encampments with displays of weapons,uniforms etc and every one of the reinacters loved to answer any questions you may have had.

During the battle two large landing crafts came up on the beach. The men and vehicles came off and took the beach. All of us spectators were up on the bluff sitting right behind the German MG34's and mortors. Two low flying planes flew low over the beach as the allies attacked in a simulated strafing attack.
When the german offenses were over come, there was a hand to hand battle. The crowd really got into it. When the Germans gave up the people behind me were saying " Shoot Them Anyway". After all was said and done, the children ran down the beach and gathered up all the brass they could find. I'm definately going again next year[:D]

It was nice meeting you obershutze916. I wished I had the time to come talk to you after the battle, but I had to go to dinner with out of town relatives that were in town for the funeral of my great great aunt.
If you guys can go next year. Its definatly worth it.

btt[:D]

I know about those hand to hand battles. I am sore as hell today from fighting that G.I. He put up a heck of a fight before we "killed" him.
What the public didn't see was after we killed him, I asked if he was OK, he asked me to roll him over so he wouldn't have to look into the sun.  I did so and told him that I was going to use him as a human shield.  We all laughed for a second then got back to business.  We mentioned that we were out of ammo and he told us to take his M-1 and use it against his unit.  My friend grabbed the rifle, the G.I. told me where to find his spare ammo, and I spent my time "diging" through his gear finding ammo while my friend shot back.

All the while he was asking how the battle was going.  When I was killed I fell back over the G.I. and he asked if I could shift my weight off his knee. I said "sorry" and moved.  The public never heard or noticed any of this, but things like this go on a lot for the public to mke things look good.  

I was interviewed twice by the local paper as were several other unit members.  I hope they do us well.

Glad you liked it.  It will be an annual event, try to come out next year.  It will only be better.

[url]http://www.3cblueing.com/Wehrmacht/HTML%20Pages/thefront.html[/url]

This is the link to our web site after the political disclaimers.  The opening picture is a new unit picuture we took at the event.  The artilley piece is the one and only (In the U.S. at least) s.I.G. 33 150mm Infantry Support gun.I am to the left by the machine gum.

BTW, the picture make us all look about 40 pounds heavier for some reason.Will post the battle pictures as soon as the come in.

I saw this and new ober would be there.
Have a great time and GET SOME PICS!!!

Ober, You're never far away from  that MG34 are ya[:D]
[img]http://www.3cblueing.com/Wehrmacht/Images/Gruppen/352%20group%20photo%20dday%202002.jpg[/img]

Pics?

Sorry I couldn't make it. My Dad rode up, but got there about 4. He was really impressed with the authenticity of everything. (Correct garands and 03s, the uniforms, etc)

This needs advanced billing for next year. My calendar is already marked!

mjp

i had to miss this event due to my better half making other plans...grrrr!

i was psyched to see ober and his squad in action.

they were a featured unit at this year's bulletfest shoot and impressed the crowd.

pics! more pics!

Capitalist, heck no I'm never far from that wonderfull, piece of workmanship.... I mean that heavy a$$ back breaking.... I mean that cool a$$ toy. I have all the benifits.  I didn't buy it, (I only have to split the ammo cost with two other guys) and I get to use it when ever I want, or say tell the unit commander to leave it at home if I don't want to carry it. Letting loose on that thing gives you enough wood to build the Santa Maria.
To bad the blank adapter is somewhere in the middle of the beach right now.

I will let everyone know about the event sooner next year.  I should have more pictures in a day or so, and if the guy who took the digital camcorder pictures of my position going down in hand to hand fighting sends the pics to me I will get them out.  
(Just for any one who wants to see me and another guy take out a G.I. by hand (he really almost kicked our ass for a minute) then get STOMPED by a swarm of G.I.s a minute later. The camera man told us later he thought we were really trying to kill eachother. All the blood streaming down my left ear helped with that impression.)