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ULTIMATE EVENT "Operation Czech Fury 2015" in the Czech Republic is recruting for US participants now!


hbtcoveralls
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willysmb44

Great video, but anyone not realizing that these hand-to-hand fights were staged might have some seriously scary opinions of the hobby.

Don't get me wrong, I get it, as would most people here, but I can imagine someone not in the hobby thinking we fix bayonets and really beat the heck out of one another, including fist fighting...

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hbtcoveralls

Most of the battles depicted were in fact done for the public. The theatricality was added by the participants. The worst casualty in any of the battles was yours truly who twisted an ankle trying to escape after being captured in Kaspery Hory. Ed's greater work will be geared toward a greater explanation of the event, this teaser is mostly for us but was too good not to share. The way I look at it is that CW re-enactment battles and videos of CW battles feature hand to hand or even mounted saber rattling if the history and script calls for it, and the majority of people understand that we're not actually running each other through with swords or coming to blows any more than we're shooting each other. No different, Ed was in the middle of the action and shared what he captured. Plus Ed is a film student and his editing was far better than normal.

Tom Bowers

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Tom, the footage looks awesome! I love the parade scene because except for a couple guys everyone CORRECTLY is wearing the light shade wool trousers with their class A uniform. You guys rock!

 

There's only one small detail that I couldn't help but notice but can't likely be fixed. Everyone's combat uniform looked too clean! :-)

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A few guys were wearing the heavier weight wools, yes, Juan, as their Light Shade trousers weren't good enough for the parade by that point.

 

As for the dirtiness of the combat uniforms, it depends on when in the week the photos were taken - we started out on Friday as 4th Armored, which lasted until the next Thursday (by which point we were rather dirtier), and then transferred into 16th Armored, which was newly-arrived, hence why dirty Tankers Jackets were replaced with cleaner M43's (for example). Vehicle re-marking and patch changing were done in the field to suit too, of course.

 

As we all know too, no matter how dirty you are in reality, in photo you seem to somehow look cleaner! :)

 

Cheers,

Glen.

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hbtcoveralls

of course, those of us of the Cavalry reconnisance officer class managed to keep up appearances.... yeah right my 43 field pants were ready to stand up on thier own when we got to Pilsen and I could change for my wools. It's funny we do look cleaner than we really were mainly because we only had a couple days of rain and there wasn't as much mud as there could have been. But it was the filth that the photos don't capture and so we weren't "over the top" muddy like Fury, but there was plenty of dirt all around. We were also all wind whipped and sunburned and I think everybody had chapped and cracked lips. It was cold enough also that I wore GI long underwear almost the whole time. Didn't see a shower until Saturday in Pilsen either (had to clean up for the parade on Sunday). Cleaning up and parading like proper GIs just shows how serious we are. Not only did we do combat in the field but then were able to change and make a respectable appearance for the parade. We even cleaned all the vehicles off before the parade!

Tom Bowers

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hbtcoveralls

One other thing I should like to mention is that this wasn't a big budget movie shoot, we all purchased and brought our own uniforms and equiptment for this event. That makes the parade photos even more impressive. 2nd Armored in Europe the best there is.

Tom

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One other thing I should like to mention is that this wasn't a big budget movie shoot, we all purchased and brought our own uniforms and equiptment for this event. That makes the parade photos even more impressive. 2nd Armored in Europe the best there is.

Tom

 

Absolutely right! Very impressive.

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willysmb44

2nd Armored in Europe the best there is.

 

I sure can't argue with you there. The shots you've posted of them over the years have been some of the most impressive I've seen since getting into the WW2 portion of the re-enacting hobby in the late 1980s!

 

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I know that weapons are much more tightly controlled in Europe than in the US. How common are blank popping reenactments in Europe?

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hbtcoveralls

It depends on where in Europe. There are several held each year. Different countries have different standards for deactivation so that in many European countries, rifles and or blank only weapons are available with special licensing requirements. Even in countries where live weapons are almost unavailable, tactical re-enactments still take place by hiring blank weapons and ammunition from armorers who also do movie and stage work. For the last three 2nd Armored in Europe events we've started to move toward hiring blank weapons instead of using exclusively deacts. It's not cheap (around 150 euros for the week and around 1 euro per round) but the results are worth it.

Tom Bowers

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willysmb44

Pals of mine in Europe have told me the Czech Republic has very friendly functional weapons laws, allowing private individuals to even own automatic weapons. A German friend of mine swears that going to the CR to do events is a common thing for groups in Western Europe, for that reason and that towns have a more "Old World" look as the area wasn't blasted during the war the way countries to the West of there were...

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hbtcoveralls

Pals of mine in Europe have told me the Czech Republic has very friendly functional weapons laws, allowing private individuals to even own automatic weapons. A German friend of mine swears that going to the CR to do events is a common thing for groups in Western Europe, for that reason and that towns have a more "Old World" look as the area wasn't blasted during the war the way countries to the West of there were...

All very true, the area is fantastic as it wasn't blown away and rebuilt. The firearms laws are among the most favorable in Europe, although there are surprising issues that pop up. We had trouble importing the blank weapons from the company in Holland due to the fact that they were "modified" from their original configuration (the blank adapting) which made them somehow different under the law than similar live weapons. Also, although we didn't pursue it I was assured that we could have temporarily imported our own weapons from the US for the event. It was easier to hire them in the end.

Tom Bowers

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willysmb44

Also, although we didn't pursue it I was assured that we could have temporarily imported our own weapons from the US for the event. It was easier to hire them in the end.

 

Smart move, Tom. I know of a horror story that happened at the last Waterloo re-enactment to a group of 'British' re-enactors out of the US. They brought crates of muskets and the paperwork signed off by the Belgian government allowing them for a certain timeframe for the event. But some low-level functionary refused to release them and several pals of mine didn't see their rifles for many months after they'd gone home after the event. In the end, they each paid far more than new ones would have cost and never had them in hand for the re-enactment itself. Some had to use what amounted to glorified cap guns from a Russian group who'd shown up with extras, just in case.

 

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audacia cum prudentia

OUTSTANDING AS ALWAYS, PEOPLE FROM SO MANY COUNTRIES WORKING TOGETHER, AS EQUALS TOWARDS A COMMON AIM, oops caps sorry

 

If you are from the USA and want to come on an event - and no serious re-enactor or vehicle owner can't possibly NOT attend an event in all serious, contact TOM BOWERS, co-ordinating and attending these events on behalf of the US based participants since 1997 !

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audacia cum prudentia

A small selection of photos from the Czech trip, none of these are posed, they are just taken as they happened at some point on the 200 miles we moved through the Czech Republic

post-7941-0-93190300-1432669480.jpg

post-7941-0-62773300-1432669516.jpg

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audacia cum prudentia

Whoa, these could have been taken right out of a History Channel WWII in HD documentary!

Thanks Juan,

 

 

It's a long way, it's not cheap, but how much do you spend on 5 x 2 day events in the USA and what do you get out of those compared to 1 x 10 day all immersive event in the ETO ? Seriously, if you have an interest in WW2 US kit and vehicles, you need to do at least one of these once, I invite anyone to add me as a friend on facebook : john Hayworth and I'll link you to our stuffpost-7941-0-68747400-1432897187.jpgpost-7941-0-31823100-1432897227.jpg

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