On Saturday, with the weather staying fine and the heat and humidity of earlier in the week tempered a little, we decided to head off to Kent for the Military Odyssey living history event. The show is held at the Kent country show ground in Deitling but for various reasons we haven't been to this show for a couple of years. Odyssey is a multi period event with everything from Cowboys to Vikings to Napoleonic and WWII groups showcasing their geekdom.
Another excellent living history event and a wide variety of groups make this a very family friendly day out. The show continues today (a public holiday here in the UK) but if you can't make it this is well worth putting in your diary for next year.
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| The group Regia Anglorum practising a Saxon shield wall. |
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| And attacking a palisade... |
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| 30-40 reenactors put on an excellent display of battlefield tactics |
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| And the defenders showed how to send attackers packing! |
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| This was by far the best display group at the show...they even had a full sized longship on its own beach. |
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| A large Tipi typical of those used by the Plains Indians of North America. |
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| A Greek/Trojan helmet from the collection of The Hoplite Association |
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| Me and a very nicely restored M18 Hellcat...can I take it home please? |
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| M35A1 Quad .50 Cal 2 1/2-Ton Gun Truck belonging to the Rolling Thunder Vietnam re-enactment group. |
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| In the trading hall there were even a few models on display. |
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| Back outside I find a BMW R75 motorcycle and sidecar. The owner is in the process of restoring it so its not complete yet but he did say it was a wonderfully comfortable ride. |
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| Sd.Kfz. 251/7 Pionierpanzerwagen - This was an assault engineer vehicle which had fittings to carry bridge ramps on the sides (one can be seen on the ground beside the vehicle). |
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| An Opal Blitz. These iconic vehicles can be seen being used throughout the war. |
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| A replica Sturmgeschütz part of the Second Battle Group display |
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| An excellent display of LRDG Jeeps, part of the Desert Rats Living History Groups display. |
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| Stripped down for desert running - The drum on the front is a water condenser for the radiator. Earlier cooling systems allowed boiling water to evaporate through a vent on top of the radiator. This device collected the steam, allowing it to be condensed back into water and returned to the cooling system...ideal for those long drives in the desert! |
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| An SAS Jeep bristling with machine guns including a twin lewis gun. These were easy to maintain, quick to reload and could even be demounted and carried if necessary. |
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| An American Civil War group leaves the battlefield... |
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| Looks like the Confederates won that round... |
Good to see Regia still going strong. (I used to belong) so this was a must attend show for me. But all that is long in the past.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is funny that in Re-enactment there is always more Rebs than Union, so some Rebs always have to fight on the Union side!!!!
That shield wall demo looked nifty.
ReplyDeleteI didn't manage to go this year, and your report was a great way to make up for not managing to get there.
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Bob
Seems to be a wonderful event, spectacular pictures!
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff was there on Saturday to some nice photos i missed the viking shield wall so good to see your pictures Cheers S
ReplyDeleteIt's strange I used to be a Spanish Civil War reenactor and we did this event. You mentioned geekiness but some of the public were really quite scary. The bizarre and sometimes disturbing questions I have been asked in the past were really quite worrying.
ReplyDeleteamen to that!
DeleteCool looking "time line" event as we call them in my neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteTotally awesome! Great photos of an excellent event. Top stuff! Cheers
ReplyDeleteGood piccies.. Just a thought... why do all German WWII re-enactors have to be SS...?? B.t.w - weren't "Second Battle Group" the twassocks that appeared at Salute those years ago??
ReplyDeleteYep they are known for being Neo Nazis. Horrible people mostly. The older generation of the public at Detling told us they cannot look at them without anger. One brave old lady roundly had a go at them in front of everyone. They sell Hitler speeches and mugs and other rubbish.
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