Battle of the bulge

[Little Jo]

Hi All

Today here in SA was a stinker of a day. 40+ deg with a Hot North Wind. Just the type of day to stay indoors. To keep cool I cranked up the airconditioner in the home theatre and sat down to watch a movie "The Battle of the Bulge". I had not seen this film for about 20 years and enjoyed it back then. However now that I am involved in Military Vehicle restorations, I have become more critical of WW2 vehicles used in movies. In this movie there are a bucket load of inaccuracies and the more you look, the more you see. Some of the more noticable were.

The American vehicles (jeeps, trucks) in many scenes are painted in German camouflage patterns and colours. If you look you will see the classic red brown/dark green stripes on dark yellow covering them.

None of the German tanks are an accurate representations of German WWII types. They are all post war USA types.

All of the jeeps used by American forces are of post-war design - most probably CJ-3 (M38) models - recognisable by their one-piece windscreens. Some of them were modified to somewhat resemble the WW2 model by moving the spare wheel to the rear, but most of them still have the spare fitted to the side further identifying them as post-war models.

These were only some of the many inaccuracies I noted. The longer I have been involved in WW2 vehicles the harder it is too now enjoy a WW2 movie, because I can’t help checking out the authenticity of vehicles and equipment used.

Some years ago I had the privilege of visiting the WW2 Battle of the Bulge War Cemetery in Luxemburg, where thousands of USA troops are buried and next to that diveded by a hedge, is the German War Cemetery where thousands of German Troops are buried. I found this to be a very moving experience, when you see the thousands of crosses, you can only wonder and think, what a waste of young lives.

At the entrance they have a Sherman Tank on display and inside the cemetery there is a huge map with Blue and Red arrows outlining the Battle of the Bulge. I was there on the day when a bus load of USA Veterans and their wives turned up. There wasn’t a dry eye to be found, including mine.

Cheers

Tony