A Little Retrospect

Review and Outlook

by Jim Purky


I think that the Seven Years War Association has accomplished many wonderful things over the past seven years and we have also been blessed by an avalanche of wonderful new products such as new figure lines, books, movies and wargame rules sets.

The graphic quality of the Journal was updated significantly, due largely to the availability of publication software, laser printers and scanners. Jim Mitchell advises me that he will probably retain the current format of the Journal, but he would like to embellish the overall appearance by adding a full-color cover and make better use of scanners for things like photographs, historical images and pictures of new figures,etc. I think that Jim's ideas would make a good Journal even better.

Probably the most important thing that we have done is to get Christopher Duffy actively involved with the SYWA. Dr. Duffy has become a regular attendee at our annual convention in South Bend and has improved our understanding of the period and tactics through his lectures and presentations each year. I can remember when a bunch of us would get together at the convention each year and imagine how great it would be if we could meet Christopher and have the opportunity to ask him questions about Frederick the Great and related matters. Our wish came true and we have been most fortunate to be able to renew our acquaintances with Dr. Duffy each year.

I can also remember Ken Bunger and Paul Petri fantasizing about how wonderful it would be to visit Frederick's battle sites in Germany and Poland and to have Christopher Duffy as the tour leader. Once again, our wishes were fulfilled, even better than we could have imagined when Duffy led a group of us (in 1994) to eastern Germany and Bohemia to visit such sites as Lobositz, Pirna, Kolin, Hochkirch and Freiburg, among others.

I have to say that the best battlefield tour I have ever been on was that warm June day at Kolin in 1994. The weather was perfect, we had the field all to ourselves, we had a great lunch on top of the old Swedish works at Krechor and a running, information-packed commentary of Frederick's first great defeat in the SYW. We were fortunate once again in 1998, when Dr. Duffy led us on another tour, this time to Silesia. If Kolin was the most memorable day I've had on a battlefield tour, then Leuthen was a close second. I will always remember the foot tour that we took following the opening attack of the Prussians, walking from Sagschutz to Leuthen village.

Perhaps the best part of both tours was the opportunity to meet SYWA members from the UK, Germany, Sweden, Italy and Australia. Many good friendships have been formed as a result of these tours and I know that I will look forward to seeing many of the same people again, in about three years, when Christopher Duffy plans his next SYWA battlefield tour.

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© Copyright 1999 by James E. Purky

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