= DEFENCE AND WW2 =

Friday, 15 October 2010

Leopoldsburg Belgium re-enactment

Camp Leopoldsburg

Belgium.

Re-enactment.

Sunday, 3 October 2010

Impressive warning from concentrationcamp survivor Don Bamberg.

After surviving 11 German concentrationcamps
Don Bamberg received a letter, written in a camp
during the Second World War.

PUTTEN

Remembrance of the deportation

Hundreds of people young and old came
to the remembrance park with the statue
The widow of Putten.

On 2 oct 1944 the Germans arrested 600 men in the village Putten after a attack by resistance fighters on German soldiers.

552 of them did not survive.

On saturday 2 oct 2010 i was invited to this remembrance in the small village of Putten and was suprised by the enormous number of people, young and old, which came to this remembrance in the rain.

It was very impressive and this shows that the interest for our history is allive, which is important to learn from the mistakes from the past and to remember the victims from war and terror.

After the remembrance the concentrationcamp survivor Don Bamberg signed his new book.

The room was crowded with hundreds of people.

First there was a speech from a ex-Whermacht soldier which fought east of Berlin in

the Second Wolrd War and told that he was wrong during the war and was ashamed of himselve and asked for forgivving. He is now active in an initiative to remember the victims from the KZ Engehafe in Germany, where also people from Putten died.

Carl Osterwald

Ex-Wehrmacht soldier asked

for forgivving.

Its important for the youngest generation after the war to learn about the past and the mistakes which where made. The impressive words from Carl Osterwald are important to understand what happened.

Let us forgive but never forget.

The presentation of the book :
Don Bamberg Dossier NN.
Lost in Hitlers Third Reich.

In the speech from Don Bamberg was a important message to be heard :
It can happen again !
If a great man which survived 11 concentration camps during the Second World War warns us, we must be on alert !
He sees connections in times from the past and what is happening now.
He gave us a quote from Bertholt Brecht :
Der Schoss ist fruchtbar noch, aus dem das kroch !

With lots of thoughts on my mind i drove home in my car after an impressive evening starting with the remembrance and finished with historical words from a great man, and with me the book he wrote signed with his name.

On the left the old book from 1985 (incompleet version).

On the right the new compleet version.

Wednesday, 29 September 2010

SS Concentrationcamp Vught Netherlands.

SS - Concentrationcamp

Vught.

During the Second World War, the German SS had one concentrationcamp outside Germany under direct supervision from the ss headquarter in Oranienburg.

The Concentrationcamp Vught.

Netherlands

The Germans called it :

Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch.

Guard tower with double electrified fense.

In januari 1943 the first prisoners came and were ordered to do construction work to finish the buildings and fenses from the camp.

The bad conditions, lack of food and proper clothing and torture from the sadistic guards hundreds of the new prisoners died.

Inside a reconstructed barack, at the end
the primitive sleeping facilities.

With 2 persons in one "bed", in overcrowded
barack without proper heating.

In the period jan. 1943 and sept. 1944 a total of 31.000 people lived in this camp. With 12.000 Jew's there are also arrested members of the resistance ,gipsy's, homosexuals, etc.

421 children, women, men died in the camp.

329 prisoners were executed outside the camp.

On 6 and 7 june 1943 a total of 1269 jewish

children with one of their parents were

transported to deadcamps.

They died in the gas chambers in Sobibor Poland.

The monument for the children on transport to the gas chambers.

For burning the dead body's in the camp.

Outside the oven, where the ash was dumped.

Meeting and interview with Holocaust survivors.
Very impressive to meet and talk with them.

Let us never forget what happened here.

In remembrance of the victims

and with deep respect

for the survivors.

Tuesday, 28 September 2010

THE M1 CARBINE .30 inch. HISTORY AND USE .

Top : sharpshooter Karabijn Dutch Army.
The star is lower classed for first class shooting (Dutch Army)

With 6.332.000 produced Carbines, the M1

was one of the most succesfull hand

weapons in use during the

Second World War.

What made this Carbine so usefull and popular ?

The carbine design was intended to fill the gap between the pistol and the heavy rifle for second-line troops like drivers and mechanics.

But after time it was also popular with front-line troops.

It all started in 1940, the Winchester design was the winner of a competition with the idea of a gas operated self loading carbine in the calibre

7.62 mm, 0.30 inch with a firing range of 100 m. The ammunition was half pistol and half rifle design but had one main drawback, it proved to be underpowered.

This lack of stopping power was popular in later use by the policeforce in dense area's like airports and city centres with low risks for people near the target when the cartridge was fired.

Dutch national police (Rijkspolitie) with M1 Carbine.
Also used for firing teargas rifle grenades
with special equipment.

The M1 Carbine was light (2.36 kg) and easy to handle. Just what a tired soldier needs when he travels true the jungle, here the name jungle carbine came in use.

The Germans also liked the carbine and they used captured weapons with their troops and gave it the name Selbstladekarabiner 455(a).

High quality parts which are easy to change.

After the Second World War the carbine was not long in use with frontline troops, but with the Dutch 543 Signal Bat. it was in use untill 1993.

Fire exercise at 100 m. shooting range Gilze Rijen

Special versions :

M1A1 = Folding stock for Airborne use.

M2 = Automatic version with fire switch and 30 rounds magazine.

(the M1 basic had a 15 rounds magazine).

M3 = Night vision version (infra red) only 2000 build.

A strong combination with both the same 0.30 inch ammunition.
Top : M1 Carbine with 30 rounds magazine.
Low : Ruger Blackhawk
For civillian use.

Monday, 27 September 2010

World War Two Re-enactment, THE BEST PICTURES.

WORLD WAR TWO

RE-ENACTMENT

THE BEST PICTURES.

In most cases the playing like soldiers

is not my cup of tea.

But sometimes when specialists

come in action it gets

my attention !

When the re-enactment is placed in a important historical background on the same place as the historical events happened in the past and you can see that every detail is carefully managed then you can see that its

living history at its best !

The M.W.O the highest medal
for bravery in action.

On the 10 th. of may 1940 the young 2d. Lieutenant Georg Maduro deserved the highest military order for his brave action against the invading German Paratroopers which landed near The Hague. Near to the military airport Ypenburg he orginised the local defence and made a plan to attack the German paratroopers.
His action had a great succes and this story was the format for a serious re-enactment at the place where it all happened, the landing paratroopers in the fields and the counter attack on the villa Dorrepaal.