de Agent_Griff » Lun, 15 Mar 2010 10:33
Well, before apologizing for the delay, I wish to give you a translated version of what was posted on our site about the aforementioned re-enactment event in Hungary. Indeed, it was somewhat related to the battle of Stalingrad, more specifically we re-enacted the battles at the bend of the river Don where a lot of Romanian, Hungarian, Italian and German soldiers fell in battle. Here follows the translation:
The "Traditia Militara" Association (that would be us) participated during the 28th and 31st of January, 2010, for the third consecutive time, in the Commemorative Don Tour March, organized in Hungary by MATASZ, the association of retired Hungarian army personnel. This was the 10th edition of the prestigious event. Besides numerous Hungarian re-enactors, the event was also graced by the presence of 6 Italians, 3 organizations of retired German soldiers and 6 members of the "6 Dorobanti" association from Romania (our good colleagues without whom the event would not have been the same).
This is how the event went:
28 January: Arrival at Héreg. Evening ceremony in the town's central market-square; Our group had the honour of firing an honour volley. Dinner then took place, followed by lights out at 1030 hours.
29 January: Wake up call at 0530 hours, followed by breakfast then a march to the town of Bajna. A ceremony then took place at the local cemetery and at a monument in the town's central square. We had lunch at 1200 then we returned to Héreg, marching a grand total of 25 kilometres in that day. Lights out occurred at 1030, just like the previous day.
30 January: Wake up call at 0530 followed by breakfast then a march to the town of Baj. We had lunch, then we marched to the town of Tata. At 1600 hours there was a ceremony in the central square of the town, followed by a march to the mess-hall. Dinner was had at the mess hall then we went to our dormitories. Lights out occured at 0200.
We returned to our own country on the 31st of January.
We slept on the floor in an events hall, with the exception of the last night which was spent in an officers' dormitory. The food was mainly made up of gulash (a Hungarian speciality), meat and cabbage or beans cooked in a pot, with the exception of the last dinner (the last supper :P) in which we were served with soup, schnitzel with potatoes, rice and salad. Right delicacies they were.
All of the ceremonies were honoured with the presence of local administrative, military and clerical authorities to the highest level. There were also marching bands and church quires to honour us, along with a numerous audience, as per the usual.
Abundant snow-fall prevented us from travelling certain portions of the march on foot on the 30th, so to combat these changes of weather a part of the trip was made on period military trucks. All members of our association marched the entire distance there was to march on foot. Sadly, the absence of the second Romanian group from some portions of the march on the 30th led to this group having difficulties in reinserting itself into the formation for official ceremonies. Thus, some annoyances were had with one of the German groups due to the way our colleagues reinserted themselves into the formation but all conflicts were amiably resolved after apologizing repeatedly to our German comrades. The commanders of both Romanian groups are mainly responsible for the peaceful conflict resolution.
That's about it. I hope reading this is as pleasurable to you as writing it was to me.