Most Historically Accurate WW2 Films

[SympathysSilhouette]

Another SPR gem: put your sniper up a belltower and then put a guy with a machine gun next to him so everyone in a five mile radius will immediately spot him.

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Yea, I know.. hollywood. In reality Tom Hanks and his two sections should have just hedged their bets and just blown the bridge. (deny both Allies and Axis of this opportunity). IIRC, he only had about 20 men with 2 x 30 cal. machinegun teams, 1 bazooka, concentrated charges, and Matt Damon's mortar bombs. No artillery or mortar support at all from neighboring units. This is not enough to do anything more than token resistance.

High vantage points like Church towers are good for artillery observers and for recon. Actually firing a weapon from it with the intention of staying there as a strongpoint is the 'height' of foolishness..

[Lkjh]

High vantage points like Church towers are good for artillery observers and for recon. Actually firing a weapon from it with the intention of staying there as a strongpoint is the 'height' of foolishness..

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I didn't need to think; I knew the best practices of the time..had studied it. :-)

Sounds like you really thought this through!

I shall make you chief of my forces

[Lkjh]

Really? What kind of study did you do?

Sounds cool!

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You can kind of see right in this thread, right? I've had past interests in ground warfare. I have books about infantry tactics in WW2.

And it is cool!

Unfortunately, my harddrive broke so I lost all my paintings.

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My favorite war movie and favorite film of all time is Apocalypse Now. I include this because it's a timeless film about human instincts and conflict. I'll write more about this later. If you've never seen this before, I strongly recommend that you watch it soon! This is an iconic piece of acting that takes place in the second half of the first scene (4 minutes in the film). It sets the tone for the rest of the film.

First 9 minutes:

"....every time I looked around, the Walls moved in a little tighter...."

[Lkjh]

You can kind of see right in this thread, right? I've had past interests in ground warfare. I have books about infantry tactics in WW2.

Oh I'm sorry, I misunderstood you a little.

I thought you actually studied this subject at some kind of school/university.

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^

oh,

also, "Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter"

a new German series has come out. This has stimulated my curiosity . Also, the 'good german' schick is probable..

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"Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter" 2013


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It's called 'Generation war' in English and has stimulated controversy among European viewers. Here are all 3 parts with Russian subtitles (but can be translated into English):
 

 

The series tells in three 90-minute episodes the story of five German friends, aged around 20, on their different paths through Nazi Germany and World War II: As Wehrmacht soldiers on the Eastern Front, war nurse, aspiring singer, and Jewish tailor respectively. The narrative spans over five years starting in 1941 Berlin, when the friends meet up for a last time before embarking on their journeys, enthusiastically vowing to meet up again the following Christmas. The story's conclusion is set in a time shortly after the end of the war in 1945/46.

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This miniseries is now freely streamed with English subtitles.  A simple google search will produce it for you.

 

I watched only Wilhelm and Friedhelm's story as the other two stories come across as too far fetched to be real to me.

 

Overall, their story fulfills a cinematic gap in World War Two history:  The experience of invading Russia from the average front line soldier's perspective.  Their depiction is accurate to what is depicted in scholarly accounts, soldier's memoirs, and soldier's diaries.  This part of the miniseries is decidedly educational.

 

I recommend it with some caution.  My main complaint is that both Wilhelm and Friedhelm were re-done with cliched' post-war German idealism.  The vast majority of German soldiers in 1941-1943 did not think like them.  They wanted war, respected their war machine, and were part of the war machine.  It will probably be some time until German or American filmmakers ever make a German war movie where the protagonists are loyal and supportive of their institutional ambition and the crimes that they committed.