In the Trenches of Newville - WW1 Reenactment, April 2022
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
- Just a good old-fashioned reenactment video from the GWA's annual spring tactical event in Newville, PA. This was my first proper tactical at the site, and suffice it to say it surpassed all expectations. A huge thank you to the men of the 2nd Battalion Border Regiment for putting up with me.
Check them out on FB, here: / 2ndborderregiment
Some time-stamps:
0:19 Walking to the trenches
0:45 Trench work
0:53 Safety briefing
1:20 Receiving rations
1:48 Forming for inspection
2:00 Marching to the lines
3:00 Counter-sniping
3:23 Stand-to, dodging mortars
4:34 German assault begins
6:03 Allied assault begins
7:27 Gas attack
8:05 Taking a German prisoner
8:52 Work party
9:28 Defending the trench
10:02 Aftermath of failed assault
10:16 Dinner
Were y’all firing paintballs/bb’s or nothing at all
@@griffincypert2900 Nothing at all.
@@ChristheRedcoat ok thanks for the clarification. I though so but had no idea
My late grandfather was an enlisted soldier in the Great War and served with the Dorset Regiment, even though he came from south London.
Because he worked with horses, he was tasked with taking munitions by horse and cart to the front. He was gassed and suffered burns to his feet when a cauldron of hot soup spilled over him whilst fetching food for the men. He was taken to the aid station where he was threatened with malingering! He returned to duties.
When he eventually left the army in 1920, he resumed his trade as a costermonger. He was found in possession of an empty Post Office mail sack for which he could offer no explanation as to how it had come into his business. He was sent to prison for 6 months.
I have his discharge papers and some of the mail that he sent home to my Nan. I also have his beaten-up Victory medal without its ribbon. My grandfather died in 1941 as a result of damage to his lungs caused by the gassing. I never met him, but I’m immensely proud of Benjamin Hull.
I have some familiarity with the Dorset regiment - my WW1 impression was originally going to be the 1st Dorsets but that sort of fell apart before it really got off the ground. Thank you for sharing that story.
I reenacted at this event in 2018 for the 100 year anniversary of the armistice. It was a very cool experience, would love to do it again one day.
My grandfather was a marine in WW1. Served with the 5th marines. Was wounded during the battle of Bellau Wood from shrapnel.
See those beautiful Lee-Enflields makes me want to get my M1917 rifle out to the range.
Dewwit
Yeah but it think every one wants a death head hussars load out every thing from the rifel of to the uniform to the hat to the finely polished luger
Did you know that there was an American Civil War veteran who joined the british military and actually got awarded a medal from the queen herself
@@johnballentine6638 I know this reply is a couple days old but would you mind sharing his name with me cuz the story sounds really interesting
@@GuyWithInternet. john William Boucher is his name there is a 6 minute long youtube video abt him on youtube
"Every man thinks meanly of himself for never having been in the army or never having served at sea." Johnson
I was so disappointed I couldn’t make it I had a blast my first time last November can’t wait till the next one
Love the little bit at the end, to me that looks honestly so period
It was a great moment.
Good video! I was at this particular event with the Bavarian Lieb regiment, across the way from the French guys so we probably didn't meet on the battlefield. Still a good vid and hope to see you next time in November!
Yeah, it was pretty quiet in our section for most of the weekend right up until Saturday afternoon when we got surprised by a massive assault, but it was all Austrians opposite from us.
I live an hour away from newville but am 13 and two young to reenact so I hope I can reenact as a German medic at 16 in newville hopefully
Good stuff Chris! Thanks for sharing.
Amazing video, glad to se more videos in this event
Awesome video! Makes me jealous.
My wallet however is happy that I haven't been splurging on reenacting gear 😅
Great footage, I was sad to see it end!
Appears to be about a 9 hour drive for me. Considering I am finally starting to seriously collect and put together CEF kit, this seems like the place to be when its all done, and well worth the travelling. Where can we find out more for the next event? Hopefully I might find some Canucks (or any sort of Canadian unit) around too!
Check out the GWA’s website (great-war-assoc.org). It’ll give you all the information you need vis-à-vis event schedule and available units.
It's very cool to see some of the guys from here in NC there, see a few faces among the groups, especially the fellow at the end on the right with glasses. Most being in the 30 mortar division, next time I get offered it, I got try it out.
What groups exist In nc?
Excellent video! Makes me want to switch out from WWII reenacting.
Underrated vid, I'm only 13 yet I love history, and I especially love WW1.
3:12 surprised to see a Generation Kill reference lol, very good HBO Miniseries
You make a great Tommy! Well
Done, Chris!
Looking forward to November to join you!I'm gonna ask a friend or relative to drive me down to Newville.Great getaway for the weekend
I'm working on getting more reenacting gear so I can do this someday.
That's me at 5:00 getting wasted by some kind of MG nest I didn't know was around that corner. Cheers, lads, keep up the good show. I tried 😂
The video was great the reenactment was especially well done from the trenches to the no mans land. Thanks from someone who loves history 👍
I'm a proud new member of the 63rd Battalion, Drakes! Can't wait for November!
From one BEF man to another, any pieces of sage advice?
I’m still a very green recruit, but here’s what I can definitely say after this event: invest in good puttees.
November can't come fast enough
Facts.
Fascinating to see World War 1 reenactors in the US, didn’t realise it was done. Both my grandfathers were World War 1 veterans, with my paternal grandfather in the Sherwood Foresters. Enjoyable to watch, we’ll done.
This is why every reenactor should have at least two uniforms; one parade, one trench.
Seems unnecessary tbh.
Is that what *they* had though??
Really does seem unnecessary
Huh. It's a relatively common thing in Australia from what I can gather.
We tend to have one nice one for our Ceremonial events (ANZAC Day, Remembrance day etc) and a dirty, "used" one for trench and static displays (ie, the soldiers weren't pristine in the trenches).
Fair dues though, each to their own.
The thing is, you don’t show up to this event and immediately get tossed right into the trenches. You start off behind the lines, and then you do your rotation. Just like it would have been done in real life. And while the soldiers were not in the lines, they would be required to be clean. So it makes way more sense to show up with a clean uniform, and then just wash it after the event.
@@ChristheRedcoat I get the feeling that my mob may simply be organising very difftent events. To that end, I retract the based nature of my initial comment.
I respect you and your work far too much to let this turn into just another youtube bickering thread over somthing so trivial.
In its place, may I offer a sincere thank you for the brilliant work you and your mob do.
I'm gonna be there with the Belgians in November. Hope to see you there!
Great footage Chris, looks like a lot of fun.
Man for that time, those are some clean trenches
What’s crazy about war is one of my family members (not too sure who he is cuz I’ve never met him but he’s one of my moms uncles or something) he served in ww2 but was a photographer, and apparently got captured by nazi soldiers and was sent to a concentration camp. To this day absolutely nobody knows what went on because he has not spoken a word about it. That’s how powerful it was. But everyone knew something terrible happened
if he's still alive, you should try to see if he'll open up.
it's important to preserve stories like his
@@snorf525 well I have a pretty big family so it’s kind of difficult, but there was also a holocaust denier in the family, and when those two met up at a family gathering they started arguing and he said “how can you not believe in the holocaust when I went there myself? I’ll show you the scar on my back to prove it” sure enough there was a huge scar going down his back and he had photos (this was all told to me)
Adorei a encenação muito real, parabéns aos envolvidos, assistindo aqui do Brasil 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
big fan of the one highlander at 6:24
Good video Chris, the the lads looked great " 'Aving anuvver go at them bloody 'Uns!"
The guy with the big white moustache, was that "Old Bill?" :)
"Let me guess, plum and apple jam?"
Nice.
Wearing the gas mask would make me feel like a stud muffin
You know, WW1 reenacting is hard - harder than Civil War/Rev War/Napoleonic. The history of WW1 boils down to one aspect - how to survive crossing No Mans Land to get close enough to throw a grenade at the enemy. Between the frontal assaults, accurate German mortar fire, and machine guns, it is really hard. A rifle platoon does not do well against a machine gun. It is challenging. You really do have to keep moving. In one night assault there was a line of us French firing away behind a low hill, and the German mortar nailed us in two rounds. Yet you cannot blindly rush forward in the face of Germans with rifles and machine guns.
Great Video
I want to do this soooooooo badly but I have very little time to participate and I'm worried about my historical accuracy and where to get things at.
The units have information on what to get and where, and some might even have limited loaner gear.
How many men are on the Entente compared to the Central powers? I know there's and imbalance of english-speaking units but what about on the different sides?
I couldn’t give an exact figure, but I can definitely say the Central Powers outnumbered us by quite a bit.
Nice to see the Irish Guards depicted, I didn't know they would paint hackles on their helmets, can anyone provide me with some evidence for it? Thanks
Very impressive setup
8:05 where are they escorting him too? How do reenactments deal with POWs especially during world War 1.
Back to our lines. Basically they use a “catch and release” style system, where you take a prisoner, escort them to HQ, and then an officer records their info, and then they’re escorted back to no man’s land.
@@ChristheRedcoat Ah that makes sense, that's probably how they do it in any war reenactment from what I see. Thanks, very informative!
Once again this stuff happens close to me and I don’t know about it haha
When I was first going to do WWI I had joined Drakes !
Howdy, looking for references or books on company level tactics for the British military or any military during WW1. Do you have any recommendations?
Cool
Excellent video, old boy!
“We have lost objective butter”
Great game...
Hey, newbie here.
Dumb question, but aren't blanks still lethal at close range? How do you deal with that?
By simply not aiming at people at close range. There’s a strict “muzzles up” policy any time you’re in a trench line.
Even at longer ranges we’re not supposed to aim directly at people, but 45 degrees to the side.
I want to get into WW1 reenactments but I don't know where is the the best place to get uniforms and equipment
When did they get hd Quality cameras in the war
imagine one guy had two lee enfields, one that is great great grandfather used it the war and one being a newer version, the older one still have REAL ROUNDS in them and his one has blanks in. He comes to the reenactment and bring the wrong one and uh... well 💀
Precisely the reason why we obsessively conduct safety inspections every time we’re out there.
5:04 that guy immediately getting shot
how do you know if you have been hit? are the rounds they are using similar to airsoft rifles?
No, they’re blanks. It’s basically just an honor system.
question is this somewhere in america i would love to go
great video, I hope to get my unit out there one day! who where you with?
The Borders
how girls spend their free time "does this boy like me OMG HE TEXTED" how boys spend their free time "WARSAW CITY AT WAR"
Imagine the actual world war 1 granpa shows up
“DARKNESS, IMPRISONING ME, ALL THAT I SEE, ABSOLUTE HORROR, I CANNOT LIVE, I CANNOT DIE, TRAPPED IN MYSELF, BODY MY HOLDING CELLL…..LANDMINE, HAS TAKEN MY SIGHT, TAKEN MY SPEACH, TAKEN MY HEARING, TAKEN MY ARMS, TAKEN MY LEGS, TAKEN MY SOUL, LEFT ME WITH A LIFE IN HELLLLLLLLL”
Does this happen every year? I wanna do this some time
Twice a year, actually. Once in April and once in November.
This is what the Poor Soldiers at the Frontlines saw
Do soldiers at re-enactments use bullets with little caps inside the shells so someone knows when they get hit or is there a script for when you have to die? Or can you just fall over whenever you want?
The latter. No projectiles whatsoever.
@@ChristheRedcoat thanks for the response. I get it now. Just blanks
i'm curious about that barbed wire at 9:08. I doubt it's real due to safety reasons. But what was it actually made of?
It is real, actually. You just have to be very careful around it.
Interesting video how casually every one talked instead of trying to do some fake accent filled with slang, even some American reenactors who do us troops use horrible a new Yorklike accent and awkward slang. really annoying. thanks to all reenactors in the video for not making me wanna die
There are a select few individuals who can make it work, but a vast majority don’t even try to do an accent. Which I’m thankful for.
To get a good idea of WW1 era American slang you'd have to read John Thomason's "Fix Bayonets," a collection of stories of the US Marine Corps in France during the First World War. Thomason was there and reports the speech patterns accurately. Honestly, the slang is a bit archaic by modern standards and most people nowadays wouldn't get it.
There's another fine book printed in the 1970's called "Make The Kaiser Dance," a collection of reminiscenses of WW1 American veterans. Even those old Doughboys and Marines used very little of that WW1 slang by the 70's.
Just to add a bit, American regional accents were fully developed by WW1. Watch old movies from the 1930's ( 1930 is only 12 years after WW1 after all) and you'll find the accents aren't any different from what you'll hear now from people in different parts of the country.
So if you're a re-enactor doing an American serviceman from WW1 use your own voice and manner of speaking, it's OK. Just don't say "Whoa, dude!"
I had no clue newville had these. Are these open to the public to look at?
Unfortunately no.
Are these BFRs or are they capable of live rounds
Some of them are. Mine is not, though - it’s demilled.
@@ChristheRedcoatah okay what regiment are you with? I’m looking at a few of the British ones unsure which I wanna portray yet
i've always wanted to do reenactments, shame i don't have enough to afford the proper gear.
Most civil war units have loaner gear. The Great War Association units have limited loaner gear. Contact a unit and see what they have. I know my WW1 French unit, the 113th Territorial, has limited loaner gear. So no, you do not have to spend $100s to try out reenacting - especially with the US Civil War.
It's a long way to tipperary its a long way to go
Is it true that the US was still using Hardee's Tactics for drilling and troop movements?
I wouldn't know anything about that.
The US Army would be using the "Infantry Drill Regulations, United States Army" of 1911 (which was dutifully "corrected" in 1917) and in terms of drilling from the videos I've seen, they are without a doubt not the same drill, though certainly an evolution of Hardee, though he himself is an evolution of much, much earlier drill.
Cool stuff! What year of WW1 was this reenactment supposed to take place in?
1918
@@ChristheRedcoat Nice. I guess some American units were there since I think the car had U.S. army on it. If so, what U.S. units?
@@bengercak8391 I'm not sure - I'm not familiar with the American units. There were definitely a lot of them, though.
I've always wanted Lee Enfield rifle but I live nowhere near where they were made I'm in a totally different country I bet you can guess it it starts with a u
I was supposed to be there but didn’t have a ride
Ah, damn shame. Welp, there’s always November!
are you allowed to blink when you get killed in reanachments
Nobody is going to be looking at you closely enough to see or care, to be honest.
You were about to let some hun waltz into your hq with a machine gun and mow down General Pershing and his entire staff.
To be fair, it was their HQ, not ours.
Was this in Newville,PA.
Yes.
Thank you for the reply. I did some delivey's in the area . And it is good to see that it is still going strong.
I want to go so bad but I'm 13
Hallo.
Wait arent ww1 gas mask have asbestos
Originals, maybe. These are repros.
@@ChristheRedcoat where to buy repros?
@@ChristheRedcoat for german stormtrooper
Really good one bit of farb is smoking cigarettes when formed up in a group. They generally smoked pipes. Even in my day you could still salute with a pipe in your month but not a cigarette!
I literally stopped bringing my pipe to WW1 events because there are so many more images of lads smoking cigarettes than pipes.
Please don't make the egregious mistake of thinking your personal military experience in much more recent times is so directly applicable to what happened 70 years prior.
First use actual documentation. Pipes are much less common than cigarettes in photos of Tommys.
@@gourdidol the main fault is smoking when formed up in a group not a done thing. The evidence on smoking pipes is from talking to actual WW1 veterans. Admittedly a small sample in the early 1970s and 80s
Okay, but that's notably different from what you said above.
@@gourdidol sorry if I am unclear what have I confused you with? It is probably me not expressing myself well enough
Wolrd War One is when cigarette smoking really became popular with American men. Prior to the war the attitude was REAL men smoked pipes and cigars, cigarettes were considered somewhat effeminate. However, in the trenches cigars were impractical, they weren't easy to store and easily damaged and it took time to smoke one down so cigarettes became the smokers choice. Pipes were a little bit easier to deal with so they didn't disappear like cigars did.
The "farb" would be if the re-enactors were smoking modern filter tips, those didn't come along until after WW2.
Cannot understand the purpose, what is that about, every thing is fake ... but they enjoy playing war , may be like gaming video
“Every thing is fake.”
Yes. It is a reenactment. Astutely observed.
How do we sign up for this do we have to be in service this looks fun
Check out the Great War Association website for info on how to get involved! :)