Filming at Pippingford Park

August 2002

This was a small ( micro ) budget amateur film being shot at Pippingford Park in East Sussex. This was at the same location where the TV mini series “ Band of Brothers “ was filmed. The producers explained that the film was to be shown at various film festivals around the world in the hope of getting backing for a bigger production. The SBG has done much work like this in the past ( all free of charge of course, we’re good like that aren’t we ) so as there was 4 or 5 SBG members living locally we offered our services for a days filming.

 As it happened some 20 SBG attended on the day and the script was adjusted accordingly to make full use of our presence and kit. Many members travelled long distances and the later producers contacted me to say “ Please give your members our greatest thanks, they were so authentic that they scared the s**t out of our actors. The uniforms and kit worn and supplied by the SBG were superb and added a new aspect to the film “. I must also thank those members (namely Uscha. Ihssen, Strm. Ostmann and Richard Underwood) that bought along many props but Strm. Böckmann really went for it and bought along a whole car load of weapons and equipment including MG42 and Lafette, period gramophone and a whole host of other goodies. Thanks also to Oscha. and Helferin Kragowitze who also made a special trip to the farm to pick up the groups original radio and other sundry items. We also had approx. 5 new members in attendance who had made great efforts to get their kit ready in time and the extra numbers were much appreciated. It also gave them a chance to meet some of the old sweats and get a feel for wearing the uniforms and re-enactment before attending a full on event.

 This site was familiar to some of us as Uscha. Schiller and Obergren. Sandig have used this land on army manoeuvres and myself and Uscha. Ihssen visited the site last year with Meyer to screen it as use for future private re-enactments. Richard supplied the German uniforms for band of Brothers so he too was on old ground.

The producers had hoped to get the use of the repro Tiger and the Half track ( both used at the War & Peace show ) but unfortunately the Tiger was booked up at the last moment. However, we did have the use of the Half track and this was put to good use all day. These vehicles are owned by Richard (?) who owns 250 acres of Pippingford Park ( the other 750 acres being owned by the army as MoD land ) and we have done much work with him in the past. The site itself is excellent with much woodland, rivers, streams, islands and mini dams and we hope to get the use of this site for a private re-enactment sometime next year.

However, for this days filming we were using the small collection of period European looking buildings that were used in the “ Band of Brothers “. The story line that we were involved in had the Yanks approaching the village unaware that they were occupied by a small force of Waffen - SS at camp. As the yanks approached up a ravine a German guard ( Strm. Köhlborn ) was spotted and taken out by their point men. This alerted the Germans in the buildings who then opened up with an MG42. Eventually the Germans are beaten back and eventually killed or routed. However, as the Yanks occupy the buildings a larger force of W-SS with a Half track are already on the way to the village to meet up with their comrades.

As the Half track enters the town its comes under fire and is eventually taken out. We were also treated to some real Yank after the battle atrocity scenes where one GI in particular took it upon himself to finish off the wounded W-SS Grenadiers with a Colt .45 and Grenadier Theismann was the last to receive a bullet in the head as he painfully crawled for cover. It was a long day, filming started at 9am and carried on until 6pm but the weather was excellent, everyone enjoyed themselves and the opportunity to take photos ( some wearing Richard Underwoods original uniforms ) for various magazines was fully exploited. Once again, thanks to all those that attended and when a copy of the film is finally released I shall make sure that everyone gets a copy.

The Yanks finish off the wounded Germans !........