Only the British. . . . . . . . . . . .
 

Its only a few hours (for me) to the 150th anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, MLU has dealt with this before but suffice to say it was a cock-up of grand proportions and fairly decimated the 4th and 13th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, and the 8th and 11th Hussars.

At this moment a small army of correctly period uniformed re-enactors, with period tentage and cooking facilities are encamped on the original battlefield and complete with the necessary horses.

The charge will be re-enacted tomorrow but without the original carnage thankfully and I have to record that it was not I, but Mrs. Notton who watched the scenes on the national news tonight and remarked that only the British would do this; would we ever see the French re-enacting Waterloo or Agincourt, or even our indigenous large population of Wehrmacht re-enactors travelling to Falaise to re-play the events of the pocket.

How strange that we would actually celebrate in detail a resounding defeat, perhaps me and that frightfully nice Mr. Raywinning-Suntonball should organise a similar grand-scale Operation Jubilee re-enactment?

R.

Never say never

Don't know if it still goes on but Waterloo used to be re-enacted on the original battlefield every 5 years.

While have never been to see it myself those who I know who have taken part say that it makes the victory over the French seem even more impressive as they are always significantly out numbered by French re-enactors.

"....and remarked that only the British would do this"
 

You might be forgetting the Australian and New Zealand regard for Gallipoli, and although this wasn't our "cock-up" to begin with, it was far from a victory in any sense. The commemoration services at dawn each April 25th see thousands of Aussies and Kiwis fly a third of the way around the world to Turkey just to attend the ceremony.

Re: "....and remarked that only the British would do this"
 

Quite so Tony, but that wasn't the point.

Do the Aussies and Kiwis dress up in period gear, fly a third of the way round the world and re-enact the battle?

I think not.

I think they attend to pay their respects for their fallen and attend the ceremony.

This is not what I was referring to as a strange British trait.

R.