Sunday, June 13, 2010

D-Day 2010

Well, it was a whole week ago, but this year's anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces invaded franceland because franceland decided it was a good idea to avoid war by not fighting Adolf Hitler, was a fun one. The highlight was having the opportunity to watch a reenactment of Allied forces attacking and capturing a German gun emplacement at the local military base/museum. It took a bit on account of slow internets, but here are photos!

"German" forces march in front of the audience before the battle.

All their equipment was authentic from World War II.

It's a BMW! This reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

This really makes me want to get to work restoring my Jeep, which is 1943, like this one.

The German 75mm anti-tank gun fires at Allied troops.

Allied troops fire back, and destroy the gun.

The main gun down, Allied forces advance on the "German" forces taking cover behind these fortifications.

Allied soldiers flank the German position, and bring out shotguns for close-quarters combat.

Pistols are also good for close-quarters.

Take no prisoners! I mean, totally take prisoners. They might... know stuff. (They did the re-enactment twice that day, and after the second one the Allies shot all their prisoners just for fun.)

This guy is cleaning and maintaining the German MG34 machine gun, the predecessor to my favorite machine gun, the MG42. These are very finely machined, making them not the most reliable in the field. The MG42 was almost the same gun, but much less precisely machined, making them less likely to jam in the heat of battle.

They were firing blanks, of course.

Yeah, I totally got to heft the MG34! Sadly, I didn't get to fire it.

The soldier/actors after the battle, posing for a photo.

They gave rides in the BMW. I didn't go on one, but couldn't resist this photo. They really made this guy's day!

It's the fat cigar that really makes this photo.

During the second reenactment, there was a flyover by authentic WWII era A-10 "Warthogs".*

There were quite a few old vehicles at the museum, but of course the 1943 Jeep is my favorite.


*Haha, had you going. "Warthogs" aren't from WWII; they're quite modern, and the flyover was unrelated to the reenactment.

4 comments:

Cassie said...

This was a fun day! I can't believe all of that old stuff that they have and that they still use it all. And yes, the "warthogs" are so cool but too bad they didn't take part in the re-enactment on that day! That would have been cool but kinda scary at the same time.

Anonymous said...

Great pictures, Dan. You have an old jeep?

Professor Chaos said...

Thanks, Scott! I love my new camera. Technically, my dad has a '43 Jeep, but the deal is that if any of us puts in the time and money to restore it, we can have it so long as if we sell it it goes to a family member. I have plans for that Jeep, haha. Here it is in the condition it is in currently near the end of this post from two years ago:

http://darkcenteroftheuniverseblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/rexburg-air-show.html

Anonymous said...

Wow, I love your photos of the air show! Pretty amazing that a small airfield in Rexburg has attracted so many spectacular planes, especially the Mustangs. Your jeep definitely needs work but is very cool, too! Sometime in the future I'd like to get an old project car or truck to work on and tinker with-I think it's a great hobby (albeit expensive). I see it not only as restoring an old vehicle to working order but restoring a small piece of history as well.