A dispatch rider interrupted the tranquility of my leave in Berlin with a special communiqué requesting my presence in Luxembourg for a top-secret meeting. Once again, I wearily packed up my gear, kissed the frau "auf wiedersehen" and departed to defend our beloved Fatherland. After a 400 mile trip, I arrived to meet with my fellow Kamerads of the Leibstandarte who had already reserved me a room at our designated Kaseme.

The kommandeurs briefing was not to be conducted until 2300 hours so, in anticipation of things actually following the issued timetable, the men were issued preliminary orders to fall-out for first formation in full battle kit at 0730 hrs. the following morning. Changes to the plan, if any, would be disseminated through the Gruppenführers after the Kommandeur’s meeting. Since many of the men were continuing to arrive throughout the late evening and the event organizers had not issued a final plan, the customary evening barracks inspection was not conducted. Thus, the men were permitted to patronize the many vendors (4 full buildings plus an outside area) to upgrade their equipment.

At 2300 hours, SS-Untersturmführer Woods and I attended the kommandeur’s meeting. This year, there was an actual scenario (one) which was to last all day. SS-Sturmbannführer Bob Martin (9^th SS-Hohenstaufen) briefed that the LAH was to be the northern flank of several SS formations forming a semi-circle to the west of entrapped Allied airborne units. Once these units were eliminated , we were to turn westward and help the Heer units (2^nd Panzer, Grossdeutschland, etc.) defend a north-south road from advancing American armor. Except for a constant stream of questions and comments from the "Polyester Colonel" (a farb, self appointed colonel with a thick accent, unconverted East German uniform, modern day speed-laced US army boots and Foster Grants), the meeting went rather smoothly. No major changes were made to the timetable so the 0730 formation time for the LAH was kept.

That evening, some of the men slipped into a local French town and fraternized with the locals, which resulted in SS-Sturmann Quattlebaum being slipped a "Mickey" by a sneaky partisan. Luckily, his fellow Kamerads saw to it that he was returned safely to the barracks where he became an immediate source of entertainment for the rest of the troops. For punishment, it was recommended that he be posted at the top of the stairs as the night barracks guard, naked except for jackboots and stahlhelm. Although initially humorous, the image was quickly deemed repugnant and the idea immediately withdrawn. Instead, he was wisely moved to a lower bunk to lessen his fall height and to protect his Kamerads in the event his bladder and/or stomach decided to expel something during the night.

After a long day of travel and meetings, I finally retired at 0045 hours.

Reveille was sounded at 0500 hours and some of the men departed for chow. The others began dressing and preparing for another hard day in the field defending the Fatherland. Promptly at 0730, the first formation was conducted with full combat kit as ordered. During the inspection, it was determined that three Soldaten were missing and their Zugführer was questioned as to their whereabouts. As the inspection drew to a close and the unit prepared to move out to the staging area, the three Soldaten suddenly appeared, partially dressed. I informed their Zugführer that I wanted to see them at the staging area. Final headcount: 44 Soldaten.

The Feldgendarmes and Motor Pool personnel were dismissed from the formation to mount their vehicles and the balance of the men were marched to the staging area. The men marched like real Soldaten, in step with their heads held high. The LAH arrived at the staging area exactly at our appointed time (0800 hours) with no other German units anywhere in sight . Later, the other German units began to filter in, but as usual, only the LAH was on station, on time. Because of the mass confusion at the staging area, the safety and authenticity inspection was never officially conducted. Since we already conducted our own inspection and the ammo had been inspected and tagged at Registration, I was not alarmed by the absence of an "official" inspection. During this lull in the excitement, the three tardy men reported to me by the order of the Zugführer. They were dressed down and ordered back to the formation. I later heard rumors that their tardiness was due to a last minute visit to a French house of ill repute!

Since the uncontrolled chaos at the staging area was even beginning to annoy the event organizers, we were ordered to load up in a convoy of civilian and military vehicles to relocate to the spectator area. This resulted in a traffic jam that was luckily not spotted by the Jabos!

Once at the spectator area, the men were organized for the movement to the jumping off positions. At this time, the overall German Kommandeur requested that I take him and three other coordinators in the Kübel to the starting point. He told me to inform the LAH men to move out in our direction in five minutes. This order was given, however, when we arrived at the starting positions, we were relentlessly fired upon by several Allied units who had already established defensive positions there. After several heated discussions, the Allies begrudgingly moved further to the east to their designated positions. Moments later, the LAH and other SS units began to arrive and they were dispersed into combat formation in anticipation of moving out shortly thereafter. After a lengthy delay, we were finally given the order.

As the LAH moved to the east, we met sporadic resistance. SS-Untersturmführer Fraker, recovering from a shrapnel wound to the gonad (hernia operation) and SS-Untersturmführer Woods, with a hairline fracture to his lower leg from being kicked by a sheep, continued to push the men further to the east. As I fought to keep "BUBI" the Wunderkübel upright on the narrow and steep forest paths, a significant battle with British and American units ensued on the northern edge of the line, and after some intense fighting, resulted in a complete German victory over the inept Allies. At this point, an irate British Commando verbally insulted unit members and began throwing rocks. Efforts to resolve the altercation peacefully failed as the scheissekopf worked himself into a fervor. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived, the culprit was nowhere to be found and ‘I was only left with verbal accounts, which I reported to the overall German Kommandeur. This is not the first conflict with this particular individual and it won’t be the last. I promise……

As the lethargic Allied airborne units were withdrawing and wetting themselves in horror from the onslaught of our premiere SS combat division, we turned to the west to assist the Heer units who were unable to stem the tide of advancing American armor. We were assigned the southern flank of the westward push and were to cross the hilltop to the front in an effort to outflank the American armor and infantry who were pushing to the north. At the designated time, the men moved out but with every attempt to become decisively engaged the Allies simply gave up without a fight. Several efforts to provoke action proved fruitless as the Allies had obviously already had their fill and were prepared to return to their snug little beds.

The final scenario encompassed the LAH and several other German formations defending two bridges in a valley to the east of the Allies. During this scenario, the Allies suprisingly made their first real effort of the day to participate in an attack. They moved down the road and met the LAH head-on. After heavy fighting, they made a feeble attempt to outflank us to the south but were quickly caught in the open and shot down like dogs. A concerted Allied push was made at the main bridge with heavy armor, mechanized elements and infantry. As the German units, including the LAH, began to sustain heavy casualties, it appeared as if the defensive line was beginning to waiver. However, it was at this time, 2^nd Panzer, who we thought had retired for the day, commenced an intense counterattack with their Hetzer, Sdkfz-222 and Sdkfz-251 half tracks. The American tanks were trapped by German sappers and destroyed by direct cannon fire from the Hetzer and a Sdkfz with a Pak 75. As the American attack stalled, the infantry was caught in a withering crossfire from the LAH, 2^nd Panzer and Grossdeutschland. The Americans will to fight rapidly decayed and those who were not shot down began to flee in droves. For a change, aggressive Heer units instead of the SS achieved last minute victory.

At the conclusion of this final scenario, the shell-shocked men marched back to the spectator area where they were loaded onto transport back to the Kaseme. At 1600 hours, a final formation was conducted and awards, decorations and three cuff titles were issued. At this time, the men were granted leave by special proclamation from SS-Oberstgruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Josef Dietrich himself!

The Good: 1)  Extremely large turnout. Over 1500 reenactors!

                        2)   The LAH turn out increases every year.

                        3)   Vendors galore!

                        4)   Plenty of armor, Allied and Axis.  Some of the scenes with marching infantry, tanks, and vehicles were

                              right out of the picture books and newsreels.  Just awesome!

The Bad:         1)  One scenario was planned for the whole day. Once it was completed in 45 minutes, the rest of the day 

                             was spent trying to keep everybody occupied with impromptu battles which proved confusing and      

                             impossible to manage

                        2)   The registration hours were sporadic and not in accordance with their own timetable.

The Ugly: 1)  The Allies’attitude toward the whole battle was deplorable.  Most of the guys didn’t want to fight or

                              follow orders. It’s nice to have the armor there but the drivers, commanders, etc. could get a little hair and

                              mustache trim even if they’re more into vehicles than reenacting. They must do Civil War too.

                        2)   The barracks weren’t locked as they were supposed to be and kids were going through them during the

                              battle helping themselves to souvenirs. Fortunately, one of our guys who stayed back chased them out but

                              not before they pilfered some small items.

Overall:         The sheer number of men and equipment make the event enjoyable despite the crummy pre-registration

                        process and pitiful scenarios.  Since it's such a large event with plenty of media and veteran exposure, I would

                        like to see a greater turn out of LAH members.  With 44 soldaten, we were the third largest German unit

                        behind Grossdeutschland (75) and Kampfgruppe whatever (65-70).  It would be impressive (and fitting) to

                        show up next year with 100+ LAH Soldaten.

Dale Taylor

SS-Hauptsturmführer