Re-enactment is a way of life for many. There are all sorts of re-enactment groups that occur throughout the UK from Boots and Saddles Western re-enactment, through the various ages of Saxons and Vikings, Medieval Battles, Dark Ages, Tudors, Normans and Crusaders and of course WWI and WWII. Whilst research for this blog we have also found groups for the American Civil War, Spooks and Sacrifice and Pirates! You name it, there are groups to re-enact their events!! Try Historic UK for more information… History UK

Of course, the re-enactments that we get involved in are WWI and WWII based and the events that we have visited in the past couple of months are: Wickstead at War, The Bosworth Show, Tanks, Trucks and Firepower and The Victory Show.

The Victory Show happened this past weekend, the 5th-7th September and, as always, was a fabulous event. We left base at Armourgeddon on Friday morning taking with us a Pak 40, an M8, our Sherman Tank and a Dodge Weapons Carrier.

The Pak 40 is a German 7.5mm anti-tank gun developed in 1939 until 1941 by Rheinmetall. Used primarily during the Second World War, the Pak 40 formed the backbone of the German anti-tank guns for the latter part of WWII.

The M8 Light Armoured Car or Greyhound as it was nicknamed, was a 6×6 armoured car produced by the Ford Motor Company, used by US and British troops in Europe and the Far East during WWII and through to the end of the conflict. The M8 can still be found in action in many third world countries today.

Regular visitors to our blog will know all about our Sherman, but click through to the Sherman Blog to read more on our favourite tank.

The Dodge Weapons Carrier is a member of the Dodge WC series, with a range of light military trucks produced by Dodge during WWII. The series included telephone installation trucks, ambulances, reconnaissance vehicles, mobile workshops and command vehicles. Think M*A*S*H style ambulance and you wont be far off.

We headed off to Foxlands Farm, Cosby, to help transform this quiet corner of rural Leicestershire into 1940s Western Europe for the weekend. Friday was a School Day where over 1000 children from around the region visited with their schools to experience life in the trenches and to see much of what they study in their history books come to life.

Once all were in place, over 60 re-enactment groups were in situ with rare vintage military vehicles packing the display fields, over 60 stalls surrounded the battle fields and an air display entertained the crowds including the legendary P-51 Mustang, a Spitfire, Hurricane and a B-52 Mitchell bomber. This 9th year of the Victory Show included a poignant parachute drop to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

For fans of Kelly’s Hero’s, we had an additional thrill with our battle re-enactments this year with ‘Oddball’ making an appearance. With an uncanny resemblance to the film’s character played by Donald Southerland, our Oddball was a very popular addition to the display!

What made the weekend all the more exciting was that a Sky TV crew who are making a series to be aired later in the year followed us throughout. We have been working with them for the last 6 weeks and, as ever are sworn to secrecy about the content, but as soon as we can, we will tell you all about it!

We also had a live interview on BBC Radio Leicester whilst perched on a tank-interesting place for an interview! But we did have a slight set back with our Sherman. We were one told by a visitor over the weekend that the two biggest concerns that he and his fellow soldiers had in the mornings were the Tiger Tank attacking and starting up the Sherman. Well, we learnt first hand why that was for the Sherman. An oil leak meant a bit of swift management of a fire extinguisher was required but no one was hurt and the Sherman is still in one piece ready to face another show another day!

With next year as the 10th Anniversary of this event, it is already hotting-up to be one of the most exciting weekends of our calendar. Hope to see you there!