WW2 D-Day Reenactment at Conneaut Ohio!

The largest  D-Day (1944) living history reenactment in the country takes place in Conneaut Ohio. Featuring over 1,500 reenactors from across the US and Canada perform a living tribute to the veterans of WWII through dress, mock battles, and living history displays. We had the opportunity to be there this year!

There were many demonstrations over the weekend and the mock battles were superb, especially the beach landing!

Encampments for Allied and Axis forces were filled with relics the reenactors brought to display.

And loved showing how these weapons were used in the day.

You could meet the real men and women that lived through those times too. Last year the Conneaut D-Day hosted over 150 WWII veterans.

Reenacting the capture of the bridge at La Fiére, the Americans gained control of the key crossing of the Merderet River.

Here German light armor advances on the bridge.

And is incapacitated as it nears.

After the battle, a column of German soldiers head back to camp.

There were several "Big Guns" including the feared German 88

and several armored vehicles including a Panzer III, Stug (seen here), M4 and an M4A1.

Also three variants of the M5 Stuart.

Georgie's Gal, a B-25 Mitchell, twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation took part this year. It made several passes over the beach on bombing runs. 

The B-25 was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, although the majority of B-25s in American service were used in the Pacific. The B-25 was named in honor of General Billy Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation.

The Polish contingent brought an artillery piece..

jeep to deploy it...

and a nice sampling of arms.

The US camp held many jeeps, trucks, motorcycles and this M3 Half-track.

There were a couple more participating in the actual landing. One hauling a howitzer.

The German encampment contained its share of armored cars,

transport vehicles of every size...

and many motocycles.

Watch the D-Day Cooneaut site for next years event!!

You can see additional images from this year on Cleveland.com 

Have A Great Battle!!

The Old Crow

Pre-order Warlord Games Pegasus Bridge Battle Set for Bolt Action

Continuing our theme on WWII and the Normandy Beach landings brings us to the new Pegasus Bridge Battle Set for Bolt Action from Warlord Games. The set contains everything you need to recreate the daring raid that paved the way for the Allied D-Day invasion.

In the opening minutes of the Normandy landings, the mission was to capture the Bénouville Bridge and the nearby Ranville Bridge in order to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the beaches, where Allied forces were storming ashore.

180 men, led by Major John Howard, landed close to their targets in gliders. Using the element of surprise, they were tasked with seizing and holding the bridges against the inevitable German counter attack. Bénouville Bridge was later renamed Pegasus Bridge, in reference to the shoulder emblem worn by the British Airborne forces.

Using the contents of the battle set, you can recreate the scene for this pivotal battle. The centerpiece is a laser-cut model of the bridge itself, accompanied by models of the Cafe Gondre, as well as a pill box, a gun pit and even two telegraph poles.

That's not all, a complete set listing includes:
    Laser-cut Bridge
    Laser-cut Cafe Gondres
    Resin Gun Pit
    Metal 5cm KwK 39 anti-tank gun and 3 crew
    Laser-cut Pillbox
    Metal German MG42 MMG team
    2 laser-cut telegraph poles (on the Cafe sheets)
    20 plastic German Infantry and plastic bases
    Major John Howard and plastic base (exclusive new model)
    10 man British Airborne squad and plastic bases
    2-man PIAT team and plastic bases
    Scenario booklet
    Decal sheets for the Paras and Heer

The Ham & Jam! Collector's Edition adds
    20 additional plastic German Infantry and plastic bases
    Marder III Ausf M
    Lord Lovat and Piper Millin metal miniatures
    20 plastic Commandos including weapon sprues
    6 resin sandbag emplacements (two make a single MG pit)
    4 Heer MG42 MMG teams
    6 dead livestock models
    Resin Sandbag emplacement for the top of the control tower
    10 laser-cut telegraph poles
    12 resin Dragon's teeth tank traps
    Pegasus Bridge Osprey book

The battle set will be released early to mid October and will run you 280 USD plus additional shipping costs. The Ham & Jam! Collector's Edition will run you 450 USD plus shipping.

Have a Great Battle!
The Old Crow

D-Day WWII Reenactment, food for Bolt Action?

A recent trip and visit to a D-Day Reenactment stoked the fire for some possible WWII Bolt Action inspiration! The weekend was a great annual event held in Conneaut Ohio, USA. There were over 900 reenactors, plus vehicles, encampments and aircraft.

Visiting the Allied, Axis and French Resistance camps was a real experience. The living history surrounded you wherever you turned.

If you'd like to see more, we've posted almost 200 additional images on our Flickr page

Here in the USA the allied camp was the largest. There were plenty of weapons and ordinance to be viewed.

There were British contingents...

as well as Polish,

and Canadian.

Even the French Resistance had a camp on the hill above the beaches.

The German camp was smaller but did not lack a wonderful display of equipment and vehicles.

The tents were done to a great display of accuracy and detail.

Weapons and personal gear were also plentiful.

The vehicles were a nice addition. Motorcycles, armoured cars, transports, and armor were all present.

Another sweet bonus was a B-25 and 4 P-51 Mustangs.

When the D-Day landing started the B-25 "Georgie's Girl" did several bombing runs The Mustangs also made several passes.

The flyovers continued as the landing craft and soldiers hit the beaches.

The advance was inexorable and the raucous caused by the shear volume of firearms caused many to cover their ears or retreat to a safer distance. Here a P-51 gives air support.

The advance picked up steam as allied armor also hit the beaches. A Sherman, halftrack and armoured transports all took part.

Now as we get the feeling of what a beach landing was like in Normandy, we can get into recreating it in a 28mm scale game of Bolt Action with their "Assault on Normandy" starter set.

For 92.00 USD you get the full-colour 216-page hardback Bolt Action rulebook, 40 multi-pose, hard plastic 28mm miniatures:

20 US Army infantry

20 German Heer infantry

1 hard plastic Ruined Farmhouseand 8 Bolt Action Orders Dice. A very nice set for the price and can be easily built upon with Warlord Games ever expanding selection of troops and vehicles.

Check their website Bolt Action section for the Assault on Normandy set and other deals!

Have a Great Battle!
The Old Crow