VERDALA PALACE
MULTI PERIOD RE ENACTMENT
It all started on the morning of Saturday 24th of September when members of Malta Command began to arrive at Verdala Palace Grounds. At the same time, members from the Legio Fretensis, Show of Arms, HRGM and Kampfgruppe Sud had already started setting up their encampments.
Work started immediately as we unloaded our camp equipment and began setting up our sleeping quarters, followed by the kitchen tent, machine-gun emplacements and weapons display area. The next task was roping off certain areas, and adding camouflage to give the place a more military look.
It was soon time for lunch and our group's catering section provided us with an excellent 'ftira' to keep us going for the rest of the day. Soon after we all changed into our uniforms and spent the rest of the afternoon rehearsing for the next day's events. The evening unfolded into a social gathering as we all grouped up around our now famous chicken stew and some wine which we devoured in true military style!
Sunday morning brought with it beautiful sunshine, very reassuring considering that the weather forecast had predicted rain! Under strict orders from our Captain, we all did our utmost to look as best as we could in our uniforms and following a healthy breakfast we all headed to our posts in preparation for the public. Just before this we had a surprise attack from our neighbouring Germans, who tried to attack us from behind some bushes! Little did they know that the British soldier is always on the alert!!
The day started officially with a flag up ceremony which we attended with all the other groups. Following this, the programme of events started with displays being held by each group every hour.
There were mixed feelings amongst ourselves whether people would attend this event or not due to the fact that there were a number of other important events going on at the same time elsewhere. However we soon saw the result as hundreds of visitors swarmed through the gates all equipped with cameras and anxious to ask all sorts of questions.
It was noted that whereas the younger generation were only interested in the various weapons we had on show, the older visitors were very curious to learn about the daily life of the soldier, with a particular interest to what they ate and how they spent their days.
The much awaited time for our main performance had arrived and thus we quickly changed into our Dennison Smocks for Operation Ladbroke. The battle took place in our WW2 area and as the place was overwhelmed with people waiting to see us, we were unable to drive our jeep through the crowd!
The battle depicted a patrol of glider-borne soldiers from the 1st Btn. Border Regiment, being engaged by a patrol of German soldiers from the 15th Panzergrenadier Division defending the East of Sicily during the Invasion of 1943.
The battle was fast paced, with explosions going off in both directions. However when one of our lads got hit, our officer in command let off a smoke screen to cover our tactical retreat.
Following the battle, which drew loud rounds of applause, we all changed back into our RMA uniforms and gave a performance of very accurate rifle drill.
This was the last display for the day, so we all mustered for the ceremonial flag down which was the official closing of the day of events.
