Pages Menu

Categories Menu

Posted on Sep 19, 2005 in Front Page Features, Stuff We Like

Military Odyssey, 2005

Armchair General

The rattle of machine gun fire drew me to my final battle of the day – a full-blown armoured encounter between a German column and some advancing American troops. Here we see the German soldiers defending their position against long-range cannon fire from approaching Tanks.

Thumb_Detling_160.JPG Thumb_Detling_162.JPG

US soldiers poured down the hill as advancing armour provided them with covering fire.

{default}

Thumb_Detling_163.JPG Thumb_Detling_164.JPG

The Germans found themselves assaulted on two sides and tried desperately to hold fast.

Thumb_Detling_165.JPG Thumb_Detling_166.JPG

But they didn’t stand a chance – the Allies had air power in their favour, and planes made pass after pass to dislodge the German positions.

Thumb_Detling_159.JPG Thumb_Detling_161.JPG

With the armour having done its job, the humble US Infantryman took centre stage as Squads began to advance using cover where they could, or brute force and volume of fire where they could not.

Thumb_Detling_167.JPG Thumb_Detling_168.JPG

Light armour brought up the rear to cover the advance.

Thumb_Detling_169.JPG Thumb_Detling_170.JPG

One Squad readied a Bazooka to fire at one of the few remaining German half-tracks. Only to be told rather comically by a GERMAN Officer that they couldn’t fire from there as they were too close to the observing crowd. Yes, it really happened, I only wish I’d caught it on camera, but I wa laughing too much to take a picture.

Thumb_Detling_171.JPG Thumb_Detling_172.JPG

Having been told the best position to fire at the German armour by the German Officer, the Bazooka team moved forward and took aim once again. BOOM! It’s a hit!

Thumb_Detling_173.JPG Thumb_Detling_174.JPG

Smoke poured from the Half-Track as the American troops made the final push to seize the position – this battle was all over.

Thumb_Detling_175.JPG Thumb_Detling_176.JPG

And so ended my time travelling for the day.

In all, I actually thought Detling was even better than its larger cousin at Beltring – the layout was more conducive to getting around to see all the sights, and it seemed a generally "friendlier" environment, especially for families. Paved roads around the show ground also helped and the whole atmosphere was one of fun. I’d thoroughly recommend a visit to next year’s show.

A J Summersgill

andrew@armchairgeneral.com

To view the complete set of images from my visit, go to the ACG image gallery here.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15