The Victory Show - 3 & 4 September 2011

After-Action Report - The Victory Show

On the weekend of 3 and 4 September 2011, members of GI 44-45 recreated the build-up to the assault on the Azeville Battery by the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division on 7 June 1944. The Regiment was originally tasked with assaulting the guns on the evening of 7 June, but was pinned down by the defences at the Battery and thus retreated to hedgerows in the surrounding areas. This formed the basis of the GI 44-45 display, seeing members of the group holed up in their foxholes as they were some 67 years ago.

Attendance was great for this event, with a total of 11 members present, as follows:

• Dean Badham-Spalding
  
• Ian "Murph" Brophy
  
• Richard Cammack
  
• Andy Dean
  
• Sam Harris
  
• Tony Maddison
  
• Ben Major
  
• Chris Major
  
• Adi "Rizla" Marsden
  
• Dan O’Dwyer
  
• Tony "Jam Jar" Robertson

The display attracted a lot of public interest, particularly on the Sunday, with a number of members of the visiting public unable to comprehend the fact that we had indeed slept in the foxholes. Thankfully, the rain held off and we were able to put on a very good recreation of the 4th during its time in the hedgerows of Normandy.

On both days, GI 44-45 participated in the public battle. The event organisers kindly supplied our members with a fully operational M1919A4 .30 calibre Machine Gun which was operated by a team of three for both public battles. The public battle provided the ideal opportunity for us to get up close and personal with some very rare WW2 armour. Alongside us in the Halftrack (which was our main mode of transport onto the battlefield) was Jim Clarke’s excellent M4 Sherman, and also an M24 Chaffee, M8 Armored Car, plus lots of other small softskin vehicles and Halftracks. Each battle lasted around 20 minutes, and was very well received by the spectators.

All in all a great weekend was had by all members of the group, and this is definitely one to mark on the calendar for next year.





Private O'Dwyer spends some time reading one of many GI Stories waiting for news of the attack.









Grabbing some downtime before the unit moves off to the attack.



Proof that Pvt. O'Dwyer really does dream about cup cakes!













More to follow!

Nice one Ben, love the one of Dan and the cupcakes.

More Pics. on the way to you Ben.

Brilliant- that one of the cupcakes is a corker. I know where that is going top feature!!!

Excellent stuff Ben!!! Love it!

Great pics boys . Sorry I had to miss it . Looks like it was a great event love the Cup cake pic sperb. Its a heluva war

Great shots looking forward to seeing soem more!

really great pics, at least im not sat there in my sling, after my impromptu dive into the foxhole when not being fired at.

Oh boy, can't wait to be back to Europe . You guys did a great job over there !! Nice tribute to the 4th ID with the trip to Normandy and this display at the Victory and of course all the research carried out to make such high quality impression !!

Bravo bravo !!

Pat

The video of the GI 44-45 .30 cal. team, courtesy of Tony:



Cheers,
Ben.

No sound on the video Ben? Or is it just my computer?

Nice photos though, looks like it was a good event.

Joe

No, Joe when Tony sent it through to me there was unfortunately no sound.

Thanks for your kind words,
Ben.

Great Pictures Ben!

Dixie Dean

sorry about the video having no sound

not too sure what happened with it

I'll try to get it sorted for next time

Nice one, many thanks.

Just a thought, looking at some pictures of other groups a lot of them are going into aging and B&W, we moved onto color some time ago could you select one of the pics. Ben and have a go at 'touching it up' for comparison purposes?

Great lot of pictures guys!!! seems you had a good time

Great event guys, thanks for having me! heres to the next one!

Ben, I've posted a copy of your report on WW2 forum, and also US Militaria forum.

Cheers

Thanks - saw the one over on the USMF.

Cheers,
Ben.