"Which battle would you have liked to have been present at?" Topic

Which one battle from history would you like to have been present at, given that you would not be able to change the actual outcome of the engagement?

Would you like to have participated in it or to have observed it?

Many, but will go for Hastings 1066 as a non-participant from behind the Norman lines.

I'm not certain I'd want to be at any and see the carnage for real. My over-active imagination can sometimes make it bad enough. But Waterloo or Austerlitz would be right up there. Some battles from antiquity where we still wonder what really happened, etc.

I've seen plenty of carnage in my job as it is. I guess I'd want to see Platea of any. I think I'd much rather observe than be a participant. Being a participant in any battle would probably suck.

I'd like to be an observer from a low flying but invisible dirigible.

Well, are you just kinda watching or a part of the action.

If I have to be part of the action, then no battles as they are really dangerous places and I would not voluntarily put my life in danger if I have the choice.

If I can just observe, kinda spirit like, I would then want to see:

1) Little Big Horn
2) Picket's Charge
3) Alesia
4) Cavalry charges at Waterloo
5) Dien Bien Phu

Pictors,

observer from a low flying but invisible dirigible

You got that right!!

Jim

None! I'm too tall and would probably bite the dust. If I had to pick, though, I'd probably pick Antietam. I'm all for the dirigible as well.

Steve

Wake Island

Crecy

Hue City

Peking 1900

Inchon

Bunker hill

Saratoga

in fact none

See the battlefield!
But only as a tourist some years later!

July 3 Gettysburg, it had to be quite the veiw

Watching? Wouldn't like to get shot, but I've always been fascinated by battles featuring desperate little groups of men trying to stand up to (seemingly) unstoppable forces, so…

Thermopylae

Teutoburger Wald

The Alamo

Little Round Top (With my homies in the 20th ME)

Wake Island (Good one, Irish)

Stalingrad (prior to Operation Uranus)

Chosin Reservoir

Hill 881 South

I would have said "No thanks" but reflecting on what 14Bore said, I would like to have seen those rebels getting a licking.

The cries and screams of wounded and dying men --disemboweled horses still walking, men with large portions of there bodies burned beyond recognition --??
As a USMC vet with 17 months in Vietnam I will happily be content moving my wonderful little men in their perfect little formations,drums beating,bugles calling, flags flying as they advance to meet the foe --All of them to continue to do so day after day as I relive the days of my childhood and innocence in the safe confines of my back yard.
I can understand a naive desire in wanting to observe an event of ones historical interest -- but trust me -- it will not be like reading an authors account, nor anything like are beautiful little "historical" table tops?
regards
Russ Dunaway

I would like to know what really went on at Towton, but as it happened in a blizzard, no one really knows!

I would just as soon have skipped the ones I actually attended; I have no interest at all in going to any more, even as a tourist.

LT

Tannhäuser Gate

The Battle of Lambeau Field, December 31, 1967.

1st Manassas to see my Tiger Rifles hold the Stone Bridge.

I have no desire to see an actual battle, but I would love to fly over and witness the entire armada assembled for D-Day.

Waterloo. Just so I could win an argument on the Nappy boards for once.

Masada.

Milvian Bridge or Sekigahara.

I think Russ said it best.

C Anders J has a good idea, though. I'd love to be able to fly over Pearl Harbor at 7:45a on December 7th, 1941. Bet I'd cry, though…

I would "like to be present at" none of them. I would like to see what really happened at any and all of them….

The Battle of the Bikini Beach Babes – I'd observe, but happily participate if the opportunity arose!

Shawn.

Jutland…

I agree with Russ. However, if I could take a look before the carnage started, that I could go for! I'd vote for Bosworth, 1485.

An ancient battle, maybe Magnesia. I think we know so little about how those battles were actually fought it would be interesting to see.

Given that there is the potential for me to end up in one still, I'm not sure I really want to. However, there are a couple of WWII Pacific battles and a couple more in Europe, including Stalingrad that it would have been interesting being an observer of.

None, too many wounds to dress. Though would like to be on set when they did Michael Bentine's Potty Time!

Agincourt, I'd like to hear the St. Crispin's day speech.

Hastings… with a sniper rifle to put a round through the Bastard's head when he lifts his helmet…

Hmmm – if I was observing, Austerlitz would be interesting

King Kong vs Godzilla, sitting in a M24 Chafee tank…

Undoubtedly, absolutely: Cephissus
link
Albuera and Waterloo should be very thrilling, Austerlitz very interesting, as would Blenheim…

None.

Roundway Down – I cycle round it most days and I'd love to know what really happened.

However, Russ makes a compelling argument against the whole concept.

Doug

I'll keep my observations to the tabletop and to TV/movies/books.

The Falklands Islands – not the war just the Islands

The Battle of Camlann. Arthur and Mordred's armies slaughter each other almost to the last man. Survivors Arthur and Bedivere stagger off to Avalon. I am left unmolested to loot all those noble corpses…It's a dungeon crawler's dream. Hey, GM, what's my carrying capacity again? Can I catch any of these horses running around loose and load them up? How many horses can I manage at once?

You mean observe as in going to the movies?

The Battle of the Five Armies
The aerial combat above the desert of New Mexico on June 14, 1947. link

I'll cheerfully be the back up for Pedrobear, otherwise either Constantinople 1453 or Actium.

None. But I would like to battle Laurel and Hardy in a pie factory.

Hastings… with a sniper rifle to put a round through the Bastard's head when he lifts his helmet…

Ask and ye shall receive, sort of, virtually, from a certain point of view anyway: link (Raising the Conqueror) ….

@ flooglestreet: then you must have never seen the fair Miss DuBois and the Great Leslie in the royal bakery of Potsdorf. Nothing beats THAT pie fight….

Damn, this may be the first time ever that I agree with Doug!

Daffy, there was the pie fight in Blazing Saddles.

I don't want to see a real battle, either as an observer or a participant. Movies or games are fine, but I'll pass on the real thing.

Quite a few;Belleau Wood,for one. Leuthen,Chickamauga, the Phillipine Sea,Trafalgar,mainly observing. But I would've liked to have been aboard the USN sub that my dad was on during WW2 as a corpsman(medic).