Millendreath Holiday Village has just successfully hosted an international 'war games' the first time such a venture has been held in Cornwall.
Club manager Christopher Sobey has spent the last 14 months helping to organise the event after he was contacted by Dominic Fielder of the Plymouth War Games Club who was looking for a suitable venue to stage a re-enactment of the 1943 Russian tank battle in Kursk.
More than 60 players, some from as far away as the USA, Canada, Holland, the Irish Republic and a German veteran from the real battle, enjoyed a challenging six days, using ten scaled down versions of the battle field, culminating in a final on the Saturday night. Many of the players, who mainly enter the war games on the internet, had been preparing for a year for the once in a lifetime experience of being able to use the 576 square feet of accurate model terrain.
Mr Sobey, who plays chess, said the whole experience was fascinating. 'They used strategy, nerve and brain power and worked out what would have happened if different tactics had been adopted. They were way beyond me, it was very impressive'.
Pictured above: a 1943 Russian tank battle at Kursk re-enacted by Ron Leacey, who painted all the models and commanded the the Germany 57th Infantry Division, Dominic Fielder, organiser of the encounter and commander of the Russian 6th Guard Army, and Colin Bradbury, commander of the 106th Division of the German Army.