Just got back from St Petersburg after an amazing few days and thought I’d show you folks a few pics. To begin with the museums we visted, firstly the siege museum in St Petersburg proper which has some beautiful exhibits including this set of medic’s equipment which has a beautifully embroidered bag:



They also have some very nice firearms including this winter painted maxim:



This rifle appears to have been fitted with a civilian sight (I could be wrong though):



They also have a really nice range of uniforms:




Next for our small part, the re-enactment in the village of Nevskoya. We began before getting kitted out and trying to keep warm around the fire until the battle began:


The battle itself was across an original battle field, the Germans manned their original trenches and put up stiff resistance:

We managed to take the trench in the end:

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

A beautiful armoured train:




Several German Assault Guns:

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

After that the public streamed onto the field and took a lot of photographs of us, this has to be my favourite to come out of the event, comrade Walter:


Then back to the camp for traditional entertainment:


And of course the main occupation of re-enactors, posing:



We also visited the Finnish Artillery Museum on the way home, it is full of excellent displays including the tallest surviving uniform of a soldier in the world:



We then visited the tank mueum at Parala which has at least two totally unique exhibits:

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Enjoyed those Stefan, looked like a brilliant trip. And those are some of the best reenactor shots I've yet seen.
Cheers,
Adam.

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.

Cheers VP, after a couple of weeks I'll see about printing a few of these off, ageing them in PSP and so on. Just shrinking down the images of the memorials now.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Damn, how cold was it?

The last time I was in Parola there wasn't any snow so the outdoor exhibits were visible. But I'm sure it was a good time, you obviously enjoyed it [img]smile.gif[/img]

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It hit -17 during the battle, it was only -8 at Parola though. The exhibition is fantastic, we got on really well with the Russian re-enactors and the sweeds who came with us. Hopefully this summer with re-enforcements from the motherland and Scandanavia we will have numbers on the good side of 50 for an event or two.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Great photos, Stefan...easily the best re-enactment posting we've had on the Forum in ages !

Thanks also for the pics of the armoured train - fascinating : certainly something we don't see in Europe.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

And Finland is in Australasia

Stefan, normally I'd say I'd wish I was there, but at -17C, no thanks!

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Thanx Stefan, Great pics!

After -30 degrees Celsius -17C does not feel that bad, really....

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Now, on a decidedly more serious note, some photographs from the Piskariovskoye cemetary in St Petersburg. As we walked in we were greeted by the sight of 4 soldiers standing honour guard over the eternal flame, they were rehearsing for the comemorations the next day:



The cemetary itself is organised with the graves either side of a central pathway leading down to the main memorial:



No one knows exactly how many people are buried beneath these mounds, estimates for the total population of the cemetary vary but 400,000 seems to be the best estimate making this probably the biggest war cemetary in the world. Each of the mass graves is marked with a stone engraved with a year:



At the far end you reach the memorial which depicts mother Russia as a grieving woman:



And a detail of the memorial behind:



Apparently many of the older local population, a surprising number of whom are survivors of the siege, believe this cemetary is in fact the centre of St Petersburg, having been there I begin to understand why.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

And a few more pics from the battle:


My girlfriend keeping warm:


On of the British SS re-enactors who joined us, good lads who really had a good week:


I have to be the first person ever to manage to cause themselves an injury on the Leningrad battlefields using only their hat:


Now for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAvNCUN3CEY


And an original soviet 42 dated PPSh41 in rag order showing why they made millions of the bloody things:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB-LKeYXw9E

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

These are amazing!!!!
What as trip!!!!

I to have been to the Piskariovskoye cemetery very sas indeed.. It is said that over 20 thousand bodies are in each grave with a total of about 460 thousand victims who remain nameless.

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

I'll be putting more pics up over the next few days including some original winter war photos a friend let me copy.

It was a hell of a trip though, had a great time!

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

The shots of the cemetary are fascinating, I had never seen the marked mass graves before. So unlike the CWGC or Volksbund approach, and I suppose also indicative of the scale and severity of the fighting there.

And now some questions:
Is that Armoured train all intact and original, or any sign of mocking up? Looks good to me but there's so few examples surviving worldwide that I'm intrigued.
And is that bottle-green Stug. a standard post-war Finnish colour? It's making me think of buying a kit.

Looked at the Museum's website but the English Info page is a tad sketchy.

Cheers,
Adam.

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.

The Stug as far as I know is standard post war Finnish scheme, not sure about wartime. The armoured train is (as far as I know) totally intact and original, it is a beaut and no mistake. I seem to remember it actually dating from the civil war (which of course the Reds lost in Finland).

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Excellent pictures !

On the armoured train, what were they used for ? Did they find a place to defend near the tracks and drop off the cars or did they roll up to where they thought the fighting would be next. I just can't figure out their use. Seems like they would be easy to defeat as you could just stay out of range or remove a rail from the track and stop the train.

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Great photos Stefan.
A place I must visit one day.

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I think here´s a couple of pics of Finnish StuG colourings during wartime, which seem like the lower pic in which in Parola the StuG is under some snow:

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Cheers Stefan & Kai, I fancied doing the post-war Stug just because I've never seen one done before, but those wartime Finnish schemes are damned funky aren't they. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Nice shot of a Finnish armoured train during the Winter war, hard to say but it could even be carriages from the same one:

From Tincross Militaria

Cheers,
Adam.

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.