Road to Victory 2012: Intro & German Entrenchments

We had a great time last month at this year's Road to Victory military reenactment benefiting the planned Central Florida World War II Museum. The weather was warmer than normal, but clouds and a strong breeze make the day comfortable. There weren't as many reenactors and spectators there on Saturday as there had been last year because just south of us in Saint Cloud was a large ACW reenactment that same weekend. (I wished I could have been at both the same day!) I'm not sure how or why two large events were scheduled for the same weekend, but it seemed to cannibalize the RtV event quite a bit. (To see photos from last year's RtV, check the WWII Reference link in the Archives.)

So What Was Different This Year?
Quite a bit was different, which often is needed to keep everything fresh and fun. I was happy to see a much better food service than last year, with a large area for grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. The funnel cakes were back as well--yum! Still, they need some tables and chairs for folks to eat at. But that is a minor gripe.

On the reenactment side, the ACW fellows were missing from our show, preferring to spend their time down in Saint Cloud, which is understandable. I'm sure the local subdivision didn't miss the ACW artillery setting off the car alarms all day! The M-8 Greyhound was missing, but there were more awesome jeeps than last year.

This year, for a donation, you could have the Germans arrest someone and hold them prisoner for a while. The German officer would suddenly pull up in his motorcycle, accost the accused 'criminal,' toss him in the sidecar, berate him endlessly, and then haul him off to the 'jail' (aka food stand tent), while taking a rather lengthy trip around the reenactment. Sadly, we didn't learn about the motorcycle part until just before the battle, which ended the day for us because rain was coming, otherwise we would have done it.

A few new organizations also set up this year. I'll be posting info about them as well, including photos of a highly-detailed 1/72 Gato submarine. I think you'll like that!

Anyway, I only have a little time this weekend to post something, so onto some photos!


German Entrenchments
When we arrived for the opening at 10am, we popped over to the German encampment, which was much more interesting than last year. Here we see some young Germans digging entrenchments for their machineguns, laying land mines, and stinging barbed wire  Yes, they dug those holes by hand! They didn't use them for Saturday's battle, which was on the other side of the field.