on the collar when he delivers his famous line to FDR about an American boy with a bayonet in his belly. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure he didn't have that many stars at the time. In fact, I don't think anybody did.This program is starting to sound like a comedy or errors.
on the collar when he delivers his famous line to FDR about an American boy with a bayonet in his belly. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure he didn't have that many stars at the time. In fact, I don't think anybody did.“This program is starting to sound like a comedy or errors.”
Many other posters have noted the abysmal errors in armament details. One might be prepared to accept the misdepiction of a B-17 or a US-made armored vehicle after German markings were hurriedly applied, but the appearance of troops armed with rifles of their allies (or enemies) was jarring - especially when the footage clearly showed their prop department had plenty of US M1903s and at least some British Enfield variant in the arms locker. And there are quite a few FN M24s, and Yugoslav M48s, on the market that could have done very credible duty as Mauser 98 carbines at least.
More subtle perhaps, but quite jarring to those of us with active duty tours under our belts, was the lack of attention to grooming standards, even when some of the “main characters” appeared in closeup, and not on a grubby battlefield:
Douglas MacArthur and George S. Patton Jr both graduated from West Point; Patton spent time as a VMI cadet before going to USMA. Both were tall and lean and a little vain; it’s tough to accept that they’d ever have appeared in public with days of stubble on their faces, as the series showed. Patton in particular earned his reputation as a fussy martinet demanding stiff grooming and dress standards: many junior troops detested him (see writings of Andy Rooney and Bill Mauldin).
Winston S. Churchill graduated from Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, and was never in possession of a small ego. It’s equally difficult to believe he would have appeared in public in such an unkempt state.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries even the factory workers took more pride in their appearance. Think of the photos of Wilbur & Orville Wright, in coat & tie experimenting with their airplane. Remington factory records and workers’ diaries are well-studded with references to how spiffily the workers dressed, with some entries approximating “never showed for a day of work in 25 years without my cravat”.