Saving Private Ryan - Slightly OT

[gunner]

Another great movie about courage during the war is "Die Brücke" (The Bridge). It is a German made movie from around 1960 about the desperation of the local 'Volkstrum' (old men and boys, some only armed with Panzerfaust or Panzerschreck weapons) protecting a bridge in their town from the advancing allies. Politics aside, these last reserves were fighting to protect their own homes and families.

While a low budget movie, it was gritty and makes you think. I have seen it with English dubbed in and German with sub-titles.

Hi Rangemaster,

the movie "Die Brücke" is a really great movie that makes you think after the sense of war. The first time i´ve seen it was in the 5th class at my school.
Now they made a new movie with the same stuff but it is nothing against the original. I have the Book of "Das Boot" if you like it let me know. It is a bit better than the movie for the reason that you have all the thaughts to read that you couldnt have in the movie. The First movie of " Im Westen nichts Neues" is great stuff in this direction too.

Regards

Gunner

[DaveHH]

SGT Eddie Nunes, Pathfinder 101st Airborne on DDay. Eddie had already received a Purple Heart when he was blown off a mountain by a German Mortar. After DDay he went to the Pacific and was cadre for the new 11th AB Division. There he participated in a jump onto Luzon and then into the bloody fight on Corrigador. After the war he babysat Gen Yama****a (the Tiger of Malaya) on his last night before he was hung. Eddie got to know the Gen and said he was a good guy and shouldn't have been hung, but we won they lost, the Brits wanted someone's head for Singapore. The consensus of opinion across the board by the Americans running the trials was that he had done nothing to deserve hanging, they even flew Yama****a's wife in to testify on his behalf, but MacArthur wanted a winning General removed.

Eddie said that everything was correct in that movie right down to the hand signals they used and the no bearing squeal of the German tanks. He told me that the Germans knew they were coming and had lighted every barn in the area on fire to see things better. And the sky was full of AA just like the movie. He was the last man out of the plane and only 200' up when he jumped, so he was the first to land. Brave men these guys.

[imarangemaster]

History is written by the "winners." As a History teacher, this is sometimes unfortunate. I have read primary source materials from both sides of different conflicts: Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish American War, World War 1 & 2. The story is generally a combination of the two sides...

Some years after the war (when I was a kid) , my father (who served on Iwo Jima) worked with a former Luftwaffe ME109 pilot who emigrated to this country after being released from a POW camp here (he was shot down over the English Channel and picked up by US Navy). They were friends and compared notes sometimes on the war.

One of my favorite lines comes from the first release of All 'Quiet on the Western Front" WHERE THE SOLDIERS COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT WARS SHOULD BE FOUGHT IN A FIELD BY LEADERS IN THEIR UNDERWEAR WITH CLUBS! This would free them men of both sides to continue their lives.

[CrossedCannons]

definitely "OT" but your class might also find motivation in "War Dogs" too. OK so I'm a dog nut

[DaveHH]

in the Großdeutschland Division. He fought in Russia and against the US. When I was first starting out with the phone co as a lineman in 1964, he was getting promoted, 19 years after the war! Boy were those guys ****ed off about that. I guess I would be too. He and I had some wonderful talks about what he saw in that big war. I was lucky to have worked with so many Marines, Army and pilots who fought in the big one. Having a person describe what it was like to participate in a 1000 plane raid on Berlin and have a Me 262 come up after you, or bomb Tokyo in a B29, or be an observation plane over Tarawa directing naval gunfire......I just couldn't get enough.

[autorifle]

[QUOTE=
[LIST][*]The Normandy invasion fleet was the largest armada ever assembled, yet in the opening scene you see only a couple of landing craft. The horizon is empty, when it should have been crowded with vessels from LCVPs up to battleships. It makes it look like the Omaha beach landing was accomplished with a handful of landing craft without any support. Much later on there is a shot overlooking the beach with lots of CGI vessels unloading, but the in the opening scene the sea is strikingly empty.QUOTE]

Actually the landing craft were dropped about ten to twelve miles out. It was about a two hour ride to the beach. You would not have seen the supporting craft from the beach just the landing vessels.

[TerryS]

The gut with the carbine is wearing only a helmet liner and has a cartridge belt.

[Milsurp Collector]

Actually the landing craft were dropped about ten to twelve miles out. It was about a two hour ride to the beach. You would not have seen the supporting craft from the beach just the landing vessels.

Still, there should have been more than 2 or 3 LCVPs visible in the opening shots. At least 5 destroyers came in close to the beach to take out strongpoints.







Watercolor by Navy Combat Artist Dwight Shepler, 1944, showing USS Emmons (DD-457) bombarding in support of the "Omaha" Beach landings, on "D-Day" of the Normandy invasion, 6 June 1944.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Milsurp Collector,

I thought I was being 'nit-picky' but I agree. I figured it was a matter of practicality when I first watched the movie in the theater, but it looked like the whole landing was accomplished with only a couple of Higgins boats. I also noticed the tank traps being backwards - they were meant to tip a tank over. Spielberg is usually better about such details.

Maybe Spielberg wanted to only show mostly the landing craft on purpose, as if from the perpsective of the men aboard (?)
As I said, I thought when I first saw the opening scenes that maybe it was too costly/impracticable to show the plethora of ships and boats and other land craft that should have been in the background......
BUT, as correctly pointed out above, in the later scenes of the beach after the landings when Captain Miller (Hanks) was returning from a patrol and then receiving his orders to go looking for 'private Ryan' there were all manner of other boats in the beach background.

[jmoore]

Perhaps it was a cinematic tool to increase the feeling of isolation of the first men on the beach. Or- It's just a movie- one that progressively goes downhill...More than once I've quit watching after the first bits. -Right around the time scopes get swapped is a good time bail out...