The Texas Military Historical Society visited Brown County this past weekend to stage a reenactment of the Evacuation of Messina (Sicily), 1943 tactical scenario.
Their scenario was as follows:
Allied forces have established several beachheads and Montgomery and Patton’s have broken out! American and British troops are pressing the German troops back. The German High command has deemed it necessary to evacuate as many troops as possible before loosing them. A small force of Heer and Fallschirmjager are left as delaying forces to give the Axis forces time to evacuate
the island. The evacuation was a successes with the last German troops evacuated on August 17, 1943.
PLAN OF ACTION:
Unit commanders and NCOs rule the day. Lots of responsibility left up to them and how they would do things! Tactical maneuvering and well executed ambushes will rule the day. Regroup and do it all over
again! Lots of trigger time. Try to get yourself out of sticky jams! Just have fun! Axis forces will scout and probe to judge the Allied advance along the road. (If there are enough Allied forces two roads will be used.) Axis units will set up in ambush at various locations along the roads to delay Allied advances towards Messenia. The Germans will have Panzerschreks, Panzerfausts, Teller mines, 20MM and 105’s and their typical combat cunning to slow the advance of the Allies.
Allies will scout, probe and advance using any tactic to attempt to halt the evacuation and secure as many prisoners as possible. They will expect ambush, mines and small squad attacks.
Boundaries are 50 meters from each side of the east road.
David Kumhyr from the Texas Military Historical Society said they had 23 Allied reenactors in total. Several from the Texas 36th Division from the Austin Texas Military Forces Museum, and a contingent from the Free French Forces the remainder from other units such as the 101st Airborne.
He said that there were several Axis units fielding about 25 people. “Someone has to play the bad guys”, Kumhyr explained. The majority were from the 2nd Fallschirmjager Regiment. Other units were the 275 Infantrie Division, 167 Volksgrenadiers and 2nd SS 3rd Regiment.
Besides setting up a period encampment, the group tried to recreate the actual conditions as closely as possible. Several old vehicles were used in the reenactment.
On the Allied side they used several Jeeps, some mounting machine guns (with blanks!). On the German side they had a ’40 German Ford transport truck, a Kublewagen, 2 BWM motorcycle & side car combinations, a Kettenkrad (motorcycle with tank tracks) and a Schwimmwagen (amphibious car).
Kumhyr also said, “The event was graciously hosted by Pat and Wanda O’Bryan who generously allowed us use of their land.”
The Texas Military Historical Society (TMHS) is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to preserving and experiencing the period of 1939-1945. It is in that idea that the Society was formed to promote and strengthen the World War II reenacting hobby. Their purpose is to portray, present and recreate the diverse groups of combat soldiers that fought in the conflict.
For more information about the group with upcoming events, visit their website at
