This event is a mobile one, it is a column made of vehicles, so you need a historical vehicle. Our little group prevently found four seats on a camion but a nice gentleman (Mario, thank you again!) offered us a passage with his jeep, a Ford GPW. It is a replica of the car of the commander (general Arturo Scattini) of the Gruppo di Combattimento Friuli, that fought during the 1944-1945 years in this area. The specific white livery is distinctive of the command role.
A little problem with the klaxon. And the possibility to view the motor.
Here a post on a forum with the official presentation of the refurbished jeep to Mario’s friends.
We travelled to Cesena, a town near our base. We were welcomed by the mayor and an elder partisan.
After a lunch for 350 seats, we parked in Pinarella di Cervia and prepared a more choreographic entry in Cervia, with people dressed as Germans (and who speak German, they are very pro!) who waited us and after fled to the sight of tanks (two Sherman and other vehicles). I was on the jeep, at the end of the column, so I couldn’t see the action, I have to wait for the release of the official dvd of the event to understand what happened.
More videos. I saw a lot of people who took photos and films of us. The availability of mobiles with great cameras turned people in media producers. Here the entry in Pinarella di Cervia parking. You can see me while I’m using my mobile on a camion. And finding on my video who is filming me.
Half an hour after we left. And some tanks were with us.
Here we were in Cervia, in the main phase of the event, with more audience, more reenactors who reached us, another authorities speech, displays. And a lot of chatting with other people: locals and lovers of reenactment. It is not only a show with strange people dressed as military troops, but the opportunity to confront ourselves with other people, and to know more on history, personal history and passions.
Fuel of a different kind.
Heavy steel…
This one was a rattletrap used as artillery target, now reconditioned after a lot of hard work. Probably it is the only exemplar of marching AB 40/41/43. This one is the last type, the AB 43, built in North Italy under German occupation for RSI forces and also known as Panzerspähwagen AB43 201(i).
Later we reached a huge restaurant with more than 500 seats. At the end we finally fell asleep. The day after there was a long trip along the Via Emilia but we went back home, with a stop. More on a next post.
We were 350 people dressed to war (but only for love of history) and with a lot of vehicles. We based ourselves in Cervia. A bus service collected us along the road from the hotels to concentrate in a municipal deposit. It was strange to see a bus full of people with helmets and automatic weapons. Here the start of the event in the morning. Later I’ll show you when we started to move to reach Cesena and Cervia city centres.
A column is a long strip made of vehicles and people that move at the velocity of the slowest. Often we were stopped by something but we didn’t know what. A boring thing. It is not lack of organisation, it is the reality of a large amount of troops that have to travel. As the logistic problem to find an area to park all this. And the queue to the petrol pump. I heard that to start a Sherman you must consume 20 litres. We had to collect money for the fuel, because these old cars have a high necessity of it. Moreover, when a vehicle is out of order, the first thing to do is to throw out it off road. We were not so cruel, but I saw some blocked in the rear for mechanical problems. The column march towards glory consuming itself…
This is the biggest WWII reenactment event in Italy, Colonna della Libertà (Liberty Column), an opportunity to celebrate the official day of the end of the war in Italy with a military column constituted by military vehicles and troops of that historical period, with a prevalence of jeeps and other Allies materials.
Every year a different location. This year, for the first time, I had the possibility to participate with my friends to the event, but only for the 28th of April, a column visit to Cesena and Cervia. We had Italian uniforms of the South Reign, the part of Italy that after the end of the Italian nation, the infamous 8th September, passed to Allies side. A nice gentleman from Verona offered us a passage on his jeep. Here you can see a video about our trip along the column. More on next posts.
If you want to know more on this event you can examine the official programme.
This is my new 1/6 action figure that I received for Christmas from Renato. In these months I bought some specific pieces for it to realise a Folgore fighter for the Regio Esercito side in 1945. It is almost done. And my father fixed its feet because their joints were broken. Here you can see the surgical operation. Next time I will show the complete model.
Today I’m on the road for Cervia, to meet a celebration of the date of the end of WWII here in Italy, the 25th of April 1945. I’m going to participate as reenactor of the Folgore. In these months I built, with the help of Renato (and with my mother), a uniform like that dressed by this action figure. It is a version of English Battle Dress with Italian badges. You will see more when I come back.
Another view on the Roma’s dies natalis. This time it is a full video!
I own a great mobile, a Sumsung Wave, with a great camera. I took some photos and some videos. I thought that those images could be over my personal interest, so I showed them to you on this blog. Then I had these small videos but I didn’t know what to do with them. So I bought an app for my iPad, the Avid Studio one, and within an hour I created a video. It was intuitive and simple. In the future I will took more videos for my blog. Enjoy the legionaries march!
Another set of photos from the Roma’s dies natalis. This time I show you a gladiator procession, the “pompa magna”. Some are spectacular others are not so philologically exact but the spirit is all.
In the afternoon some fights were played in the arena but I preferred to fight at home, playtesting the rules for retiarii vs antiretiarii. Ferrum et Gloria is a priority!
A lot of years ago (2765 to be exact), the 21th of April, a groove around some hills was traced to mark the territory of a new founded city. That city is my home.
In this date there is a celebration with a reenactors march around the Palatinus and the Capitolium to homage our ancestors. It isn’t a political moment but a festival for who is interested in ancient Roman times. And an occasion to make an holiday under our Sun and among our past glories (at present we don’t have actual beautiful things to admire, sorry). I suppose this is the largest event for this type of reenactment. This year we had guests from a lot of places, as Germany, Czeck Republic, Slovakia, France, Nederlands, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, United Kingdom, Georgia and obviously from every part of Italy. We are all sons of Roma.
I took some photos to show you the manifestation at its start on the site of Circus Maximus. I concentrate myself on legionaries but there were a lot of other people, this is only a fragment of the event. Enjoy.
