Feldgrau.net

If I had a dime for every stupid act committed by the germans in movies, I would be a rich man.

1. Combat! Television Series
2. Saving Private Ryan (Frontal Assault on SS MG squad, City fighting scenes, germans love to send their tanks as Recon!).
3. Hart's War
4. Kelly's Hero's (Probably one of the worst ones, well, at least for the germans).
5. Bridge at Remagen (Spelling might not be correct).
6. The longest Day
7. That one movie with Harrison Ford...what's it called, their in Yugoslavia.
8. A Bridge To Far (Sorta Half and Half, still some dumb scenes, germans cant shoot worth crap).
9. Any of the really old war movies
10. Operation Daybreak (Really, I was cheering for the Czeck assassins, I kept saying, come on, keep rolling in)
11. Bulletproof Monk (NOT A WAR MOVIE, BUT THE FACT THAT GERMAN SOLDIERS WHERE IN THE BEGINNING OF THE FILM, AND THE FACT THAT, MY GOD, IT WAS ONE OF THE STUPIDEST SCENES AND SITUATIONS I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A MOVIE).
12. So much more, so much more!

DrCruel wrote:.

German soldiers weren't especially good. Their doctrine was. US tactical doctrine was terrible, and even worse in practice - Gwynne Dyer quoted a figure done by US Army researchers during WW II, that found that only 15%-25% of US soldiers in a firefight would so much as shoot their weapons, let alone engage the enemy. Of these, 9 out of ten shots were not even fired at any discernable targets - just cover fire, or to make noise. By contrast, virtually all German soldier would engage the enemy - because, instead of engaging the enemy directly like his US counterpart, a German squad-level NCO would go from man to man and direct their fire. Likewise Germans always aggressively patrolled their area, no matter how weak their manpower was; Americans rarely did. Again, an NCO issue and a matter of employed doctrine.



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its also my understanding that the germans made the MG the focus of squad doctrine..they understood that a crew served weapon performed better under combat stress becuase you had a partner to "help you" pull the trigger..the remainder of the squad besides a couple to feed ammo to the MG was aligned to protect the MG,with the squad second in command in charge of this half dozen or so...on another note,about BoB,quote "elemenst of the 1st and 6th SS panzers divisions have broken through in the ardennes"

Rob S. wrote:

But one thing we can't dismiss is that despite knowledge of the impending loss the Germans managed to pull off quite a fight. I believe your accusations are unfounded considering you already admit to the fighting skill of the average American GI.

Just to be able to launch an offensive on the scale of the ardennes counterstroke after 5 years of war was quite an accomplishment...and they did achieve some measure of success with 5th panzer army actually reaching the Meuse.

Hello Gentlemen,

I am always looking for historic accuracy when seeing films on this war and for that matter any other war. It always annoys me when Napoleonic War films usually show the French as inept in the same way that most WWII films show the Germans. Victors write the history books and tell the final story of thier heroic efforts to win the last war so its not surprising that films tend to sell better when the winning side looks bright to be superior.

That said my personal favorites are A Bridge Too Far, which gives the Germans a far portrayal as able fighters with some chivalrous moments being displayed in this film which would never make it into the final cut of others. The BBC series A Piece of Cake, did a good job too even though the only German I recall seeing was a downed airmen. The overall truth about the airwar in the first year of the war was well told. I also liked The Enemy Below once again because the Germans were depicted as human beings who cared about their comrades as much as anyone else fighting on either side did and refused to descend into the usual one dimensional cardboard cutouts of "nazis" without any feelings or concern for anyone that so many movies love to focus on.

Chaplain

I will tell you why they portray them badly, it's quiet easy really. No one likes them, I have no problem with the whermacht or any german regular forces (Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine etc...) However most people are un-educated, they think they were all banner waiving, nazi skin-heads. Most were the same as the allied soldier, they believed in something and they fought for it, as, if not more, feircly than the allied soldiers did.

I too have seen the same kind of descrimination against police officer's, I don't know how many of you have seen any movies like "the Fast And The Furious" From a police stand-point, I would say they portrayed them just as the Germans would have been in a WW II film. POlice couldn't drive, they didn't do their job, they were highly un-proffessional... the list could go on and on. The truth is that the movie makers cater to the masses... they tel the audience what they want to hear and show them what they want to see.

I wouldn't take anyhting that hollywood does in representation of the Police or the Germans for a grain of salt.

infantryscout wrote:Battle of the Bulge with Henry Fonda is the worst!!!

With this, I heartily agree. About the only saving grace of this travesty is that I learned the words and tune of the "Panzerlied" from it!

Yours,
Paul

People seem to forgot in Saving Private Ryan about the halftrack which is detroyed by Ryan (with Bazooka). They SAY that the germans have been scouting with halftracks over the past few days.

Bugger, this is a tough one...but I'll draw up a list.
1. Thin Red Line: I saw this in Basic Training and I fell asleep
2. Saving Private Ryan: Well the opening was good! But I believe that SMG's were used...Longest day had the defenses better.
3. A Bridge Too Far: Quick Draw at 75 meters...bloody "stormtrooper effect"
4. The Longest Day: Too many big names who can't get killed
5. Harts War: Grief Kommando's were too good, other than that, another court movie
6. Kellys Heroes: Well it was a comedy, right?
7. Indiana Jones: Need I even say anything? Good against gurillas, but not he Jones's!
Well that's about all I can think of and add commentary, but others could be The Big Red One, and Patton. I'm not going to mention Enemy at The Gates since it didn't have too many Germans in it.
I haven't seen BOB so I can't judge that one, most of my military buddies think it's "all that," but I can't say

OK Ok.. hmmm The BEST movie to portray german soldiers, in my opinion, was Stalingrad. Needless to say that I bawled my eyes out when Fritz died...

I would like to say something about the BoB.
first,I am not sure whether a Panther will retreat and run over his own soldiers while facing inferior Shermans...perhaps you will think that Panther is inexperienced. But I saw some other supporting tanks also 'like Stug IIIGs' and it's pretty odd.

Second,why the hell do the American tank reinforcements arrive so fast?I can't remember clearly but I am quite sure that they arrive at a time which is a bit late.'After the Fallschirmjager and SS supports attack Carenten first'

Third,during the Battle of the Bulge, it's very clear that the 101st DOES NOT process any anti-tank weapons in the scene and they are being charged by some Stug IIIGs and a horde of german Landsers,so I don't really understand why after some time they still managed to hold their line without any casualties 'all the main characters are still present'

Fourth, It's really impossible to see a single G.I. running across an area filled with German Landsers Tigers and Mark IVs and I do not see the reason of why the Mark IV crews abandon their vehicle when they see that single G.I. 'Perhaps lack of fuel?'. But it's damn strange that Tigers and Mark IVs cannot defend the town against an American Infantry-only assault.

Generally, BoB is another movie made by Steven Spielberg ,and he made the germans dumb in every of his movies.
but anyway,I don't like it.

and one more thing,about the Battle of the Bulge movie,those Tigers are not really Tigers,I think they are some kind of British tanks 'look like Centurions,not sure'

I think they used M26 Pershings as Tigers and M24 Chaffees as Shermans. Can't think of too many movies that accurately portray the actual tanks employed, but then I give the moviemakes slack since the real things are either in museums or were melted down long ago to make pots and pans... I just purchased "Die Brucke" on DVD, but you can clearly see that the American tanks are just shells mounted on top of Volkswagens.

thx Patrick
by the way,is your picture a Wespe or Marder II or Marder III
I have difficulties to distinguish between a Wespe ,a Panzerjager 38t and Marder II and Marder III
they all look nearly the same.

They were U.S. M-47's (the first of several models to be called Patton Tanks). The U.S. tanks were Chaffees which were WWII U.S. light tanks but not many if any were in unit hands during the Battle of the Bulge (too early).

Hi

It's supposed to be a Wespe - I'm sure someone with a younger set of eyes will set me straight if its not!