A big thank you to everyone who has joined on to our D-Day project so far. There is still a long way to go, so join the TimeGhost Army to finish the job! And do you like the sound of joining us at the Oktoberfest on 01 October 2022? Well joining the TimeGhost Army makes that possible too. TimeGhost Army members can join the auction on our seat at Oktoberfest, and join our other meetups in September. Current members can just follow these links either on Patreon or our website: www.patreon.com/posts/70298303?pr=true timeghost.tv/timeghost-army-meetup-in-normandy-and-munich/ There are also three other chances for you to meet us: - 16 September 2022 at a general meetup in a bar in the vicinity of Colleville sur Mer, Normandy, France - 17 September 2022 at a smaller, more exclusive dinner in the vicinity of Colleville sur Mer, Normandy, France - 30 September 2022 at a smaller, more exclusive dinner in the vicinity of Munich (Bernreid), Bayern, Germany Exact venues will be announced via email to all those who buy tickets once we know how big of a venue we need to book! For any questions at all, reach out to community@timeghost.tv
Are you planning to also do the same sort of coverage of the movie "The Longest Day?" It's always been one of my favorites, but it IS full of theatrical "license."
Can't make it to Oktoberfest. But I am coming to Normandy for both little events! Calling it a lightning recon for a future family trip, so my father doesn't decide to come along. This will be the first alone trip of my life. Show me a good time, guys!
The D-Day scene was filmed on Curracloe Beech in Wexford Ireland. Apparently part of the attraction was the shortness of the beech allowing for better cinematic effect. Soldier extras (German and American) were provided by the Irish FCA (Army Reserves). Extras playing the German machine gunners reported enjoying the excitement for the first morning until they seen how murderous a task they had, effectively mowing down line after line of opposing soldiers. Finding the experience very sobering even when acting. Well done on the WW2 series - I assume at this stage the most comprehensive ever done.
The Defence Forces had a camera team on site, they recorded the Behind the Scenes as a show named "You and what army, Private Ryan?" which then broadcast on RTE. Included footage of a platoon of Americans marching one way, a platoon of Germans marching the other, and the NCOs for both yelling commands in Irish. The video was on the DF's TH-cam for a while, then got pulled for whatever reason.
@@TheChieftainsHatch I enjoy your armor content, im heading to benning to start 19kilo osut in a week, im excited get hands on experience on the abrams
My great-uncle was in Normandy on D-Day (don't know which beach). It was his 18th birthday and he said himself, that he surrendered to the first American he met (so at least I know he was on one of the American ones). He said he felt no compulsion to die on his 18th bday for Hitler. I fully understand...
I was at Normandy 10 years ago. Our guide said that in filming, they actually had German machine guns firing at the scene, but that the noise was so deafening that they reduced it by a factor of 10 in the soundtrack. If true, imagine the volume of the sound during the actual invasion.
even if it was true, it doesn’t make sense physics wise. a soundtrack is always massively reduced as to make an explosion only slightly louder than a door slammed shut. a gun blast is around 160 db and a cinema speaker would be levelled at around 110, maybe 120. so that’s a factor of 100, not 10. even more in a quieter cinema.
@@GBOAC Yes, firing even a small caliber pistol a single time without protection is instant hearing damage, never mind an 8mm machine gun. Even with a crazy home theater setup you will never get close to the level of an actual gun shot and that is a very good thing. I have an 8mm K98 from WW2, I always wear both ear plugs and ear-pros when firing the thing because if one of the ear plugs starts to slip out your ears will ring for the rest of the day from a single shot.
Time Ghost is pure gold. I can't really afford to give you guys much except for sharing the videos of the team and praising them but by god... This is the best documentary series that ever was.
As for the Bangalore torpedo, this quote from "The Big Red One" has always stuck with me: "The Bangalore Torpedo was 50' long and packed with 85 pounds of TNT and you assembled it along the way. By hand. I'd love to meet the asshole who invented it."
The Big Red One scene is not used in the way it was depicted and described the info on Bangalore deployment is incorrect according to the field manual, training in operation and how it was deployed in combat.
That would be Captain R. L. McClintock. The Bangalore torpedo was devised by Captain R. L. McClintock,[1] of the Royal Engineers while attached to the Madras Sappers and Miners unit of the Indian Army at Bangalore, India, in 1912. He invented it as a means of blowing up booby traps and barricades left over from the Second Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War.[2] The Bangalore torpedo could be exploded over a mine without a sapper having to approach closer than about 3 m (10 ft). Wiki
Every 12B MOS knows how heavy a Bangalore is. There's no way they threw them they way the show in the movie. (BTW It's 85lbs overall including the steel case, not 85lbs of TNT). 85 lbs of TNT alone would be... impressive.
The thing I think is most inaccurate is that the film gives no indication of the difficulty of getting through interlocking fields of machine gun fire. The bullets that killed you were quite likely to have been fired by an mg sited some hundreds of yards along the beach and fired in a direction almost parallel to the beach. They would hit you from your side not from your front.
That's what the ideal defensive position should look like. With frontal cover, narrow, oblique, interlocking fields of fire. You cover the front of someone else's position and someone's else cover yours.
The film didn’t show interlocking mg fire from the sides at all because there were none. All the mg positions were placed in the front, ridiculously visible and far too close to the landing troops. The mg bunker didn’t exist at all. While this scene is definitely impressive, it’s VERY inaccurate when compared to what actually happened.
5:39 it's pretty much a universal rule of war movies that distances are shrunk down to about 100 meters. The field between Bois Jacques and Foy in Band of Brothers is a great example.
@@bingobongo1615 it isn’t a technology problem, it’s too much effort to explain to laymen how easily you’re dead from a kilometer away, easier to use instinct they know. Close bad.
Same with games. I remember playing the 1st Medal of Honor game on the PC more than a decade ago and this was quite hard for a first level. If it was realistic, it might have been not that fun.
You should do a review of Come and See it's sometimes described as the scariest movie that isn't a horror, it's based on experiences of a Russia Partisan and is a really well made film. It does seem to have a lot of realism with SS troops using non standard German army equipment. It's main realism is in the physiological effects of war and the general lack of stuff going on, most experuence of war is waiting around with nothing happening
That would be a great movie to review, the sound design is brilliant, the score as well and totally agree it's very realistic in the phycological effects, the way that a recon plane can just fly over head and the amount of dread that instils in you, is so powerful. Yeah also the way most of the war is sitting around being bored, before a short event is very realistic.
Why does everybody on the planet think that they’re the only ones who know about that film like at this point it’s not one of the most notorious war films ever made?
It was authentic enough to made my grandfather, a D-DAY veteran cry. It was of only 3 I had heard of him crying as an adult. He was second wave but still had a hard time getting to the bunkers at the end of the beach. They had to use the bodies of the fallen to absorb incoming fire.
Something that struck me when traveling in Normandie June 2004 was the length of the beach as mentioned, but also the totally insane climb that is point du hoc
Interesting story: Back in my cabbie days in the late 90's, mid 2000's, I had a couple regular fares who consisted of a mother/son duo. Son was kind hearted but completely insane (math professor who went mad) and Mom was an elderly German woman widow. Her late husband was a German soldier who had been captured by the Americans at Normandy at the point of a flame thrower. After the war he brought his wife to America and they had a good life here. I miss that sweet old woman and her son.
One error in this film is that most actors are in their 30s-40s when most soldiers would be young men in their 20s. For example Major Richard Winters was just 27 at the wars end. 1917 got this right, they casted all young people.
Absolutely - and it's not just this film that gets it wrong in that respect I remember correctly Guy Gibson who led the Dambuster raid was 23 little more Children
Well, it was meant to be a giant blockbuster film when it was released - it was a Spielberg production after all, so the "Star Power" was more important. Most of the main cast aside from Hanks were either well-known supporting actors or rising stars themselves. Heck, Vin Diesel had a pretty small role in this, but I'm certain it really helped kick-start his career.
The longest day from 1962 (which has kind of a more accurate Omaha beach sequence) is even worse in that regard, with folks well around 50 in all the commanding roles. John Wayne especially stands out
I'd argue that out of all the errors you could pick on that is the least meaningful especially as a historical detail because quite literally everyone knows that the guys weren't 30-40 year-old but 18-20 and then the obvious technical reason for older actors being chosen is that good actors at a young age aren't that easy to find nor have they made a name for themselves. Then there's the story-telling aspect of having older actors as the veterans of the squad so the difference between the fresh privates and battle-tested but tired men is stark as it was in real-life since combat stress actually ages a man faster along with the usual wear and tear causing them to at least look so.
@@TheSuspectOnFoot Disagree. They could atleast have chosen young extras which dont need to be skilled actors. 1917 did just that. Band of Brothers chose actors based on how much they looked like real people they played. This movie makes it seem like middle aged men did all the fighting. That fat Airborne soldier with the bad ankles they find in Neuville is one of the worst examples. He would never have been an Airborne soldier
When I first saw this I assumed the Czechs they gunned down were Poles, as I recognised several words that might be Polish in what they said and I knew there were a lot of "Germans" in the Normandy fighting who actually weren't. Even the Waffen SS had its share of "looted Teutons". Elsewhere on D Day there were quite a few "Eastern volunteers" surrendering, shouting "Russki, Russki." Later in the campaign a Scottish officer named Borthwick who was his unit's intelligence officer noted that defectors would cross over from the German lines. Borthwick was annoyed by this as they tended to come in before breakfast and he could not eat until after he had questioned them. He said the German 858th Regiment seemed to be a particular source of defectors. The Russians among them could not be questioned properly as he could not understand them, but the Poles sometimes gave good information about German troop dispositions (Borthwick spoke German).
The First Polish Armoured Division had trucks with uniforms and kit and would recruit from Poles captured/deserting etc. These guys had seldom been recruited willingly into the Wehrmacht but obviously already had German plus possibly Polish military training.
@@callumgordon1668 I heard about that. A similar process went on in the east. The Soviet-sponsored Polish People's Army interviewed captured "Germans" to see if they were Poles prepared to cross over and if they did they were handed a uniform and a rifle. My guess is the Germans didn't trust these "looted Teutons", often with good reason, and because they had worn German uniform, they were not entirely trusted after defecting from the Germans either. But all these armies were desperate to restock their depleted ranks. As WW2 progressed all sorts of unlikely material was inducted into one army or another, often unwillingly.
Actually on Omaha beach itself there was a significant amount of "Ostlegionen" and general eastern conscripts. Primarily from the Ukraine if memory serves correctly. 1 battalion was pure Ostlegion, and the 2 divisions were heavily augmented with Eastern conscripts.
@@seventh-hydra The 352nd Division on Omaha was the best of those German divisions engaged on D Day, one reason for the high US casualties, but even it had quite a few Poles or ex-Soviet POWs in the ranks. The 709th (Utah) and the 716th (British and Canadian beaches) had higher proportions of them. Many seem to have fought well if German officers or NCOs were keeping an eye on them, but looked to surrender like these hapless Czechs if no longer watched. Some of the ones who had been Polish citizens in 1939 fought as well as any Germans, however, because they were actually Germans, merely left in Poland as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. From this type, there were at the other extreme Poles who could not even understand simple instructions in German given by an NCO.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Aye, well said. In an account given to the Allies after WW2, Fritz Ziegalmann (Chief of Staff of the 352ID) mentioned that the 716th had an almost disproportionate amount of Polish ethnic Germans, and Russian volunteers. It's a pretty cool homage that they included a reference to it in SPR. While subtle, it just goes to show how chaotic and complex that war was.
Very good review. I do have one comment. As a former soldier I would say that the commander will always give a few words before the assault no matter how much practice the men had.
The most irritating part to me, was how the bullets travel infinitely through water killing more men. While explosions absolutely do kill underwater, someone who is 2 feet below the surface will not be killed by a bullet. Specifically rifle bullets, as we see in the movie, would impact the water at roughly 2000 to 2500 feet per second, the impact against the water at that speed makes the bullet immediately deform and begin decelerating rapidly, it would only take a few inches of water to bring a full power rifle round to a stop which would then sink harmlessly down to the bottom. I once read about WW2 UDT divers conducting pre-landing demo and reconnaissance at sites in the pacific who would swim a just below the surface, and when the bullets hit the water, they would catch them as they slowly sank, bringing them back to the main ship, to sell the deformed enemy bullets to sailors on board. I wouldn't want to be hit by one just a few inches below the surface, but showing guys at the bottom being stitched up is absolutely inaccurate.
Mythbusters did an episode on this exact scene and situation, testing various guns. It all depended on the mass and velocity of the rounds. A standard .50 cal ball round would fragment within 2-3', most others about the same. The .30 cal from an M-1 had the best water penetration and wouldn't break up. IIRC (long time ago) I think their conclusion was that 3' below water surface kept you mostly safe as any rounds still intact would have slowed too much to do any serious injury. But a few inches was not enough barrier; they would mostly still be lethal at 1'. This is roughly in agreement with my evasion swim training that dictated 2-3'.
@@mikearmstrong8483 Excellent information! I would be curious to see the test conducted at say 150-200 yards or even more, to simulate fire from the beaches and positions. The account I read where they caught them in the first few inches, were probably low velocity based on the distance from the beach. 2-3' sounds like a very good spot to stay to avoid those. Though I would not want to be directly under that fire either way..
@@mikearmstrong8483 The mythbusters test is also a little bit scuffed as they didn't take into account how velocity changes at a distance, they just fired into water at near point blank range.
@@queuedjar4578 Very true. But they tested under better conditions than I'm sure any commentors on TH-cam have. It may not be an exact recreation of the landings, but I'll generally go with their results on anything over people's opinions. And in this instance, the experience of my own training of how to avoid gunfire in water.
Watched this film in a near empty theatre on a tuesday afternoon I had just spent a year guiding at Vimy and Beaumont Hamel, and i rarely finished a tour without being affected by the stories I knew this film would leave me in an awful state, but that beach landing just destroyed me. That emotional impact is the real truth of this movie. Details count, but it is the craft of story and emotion that make this a great film.
Yup. It's called artistic license, and it's a real thing that we nerds tend to forget. While you were guiding, did you hear stories from persons who were there at the time ?
Now it should be said that despite the inaccuracies, Saving Private Ryan remains to be one of the greatest war films. Even veterans who were at Omaha Beach said it was the closest Hollywood ever got to depicting the horrors of WW2 combat. A Veterans Hotline was set up prior to the theatrical release of the film, within two days, the hotline was overwhelmed.
@@rambo-cambo3581 a few mistakes?? Gi joe capturing a bridge too far from a platoon of ss tiger tanks, armed with with only a tommy gun and dirty socks. A bit more then a mistake and a slap in the face to people like my dad that actually did these things.
The goal of the movie was to show the horror in pure form and that they did with 100% accuracy I'd say. So I'll forgive a few creative options for the sake of movie making here. For me personally, there is one lin in the movie that makes this the most realistic war/fighting movie of all time: "Gather weapons and ammo!" There are literally thousands of war movies now and in almost none do they actually collect weapons and ammo - even if they are complaining about being low on weapons and ammo.
I wonder if this was a call back to the scene in The Longest Day when that same exact order was given. Mind you they didn't show the graphically destroyed bodies of the G.I.s on the beach who had fallen and were being relieved of their supplies, but Robert Mitchum did order them to "strip the dead" in preparation for endless waves of attacks against the heavily fortified machinegun bunkers to create an exit off the beach.
Damn. I presume my guts would fail me if I had to strip the remaining half of a deceased friend from his equipment. Heavy thanks to all the persons who did so -or worse- so I'm allowed a quiet life. In terms of videogames, I only know Foxhole to stand comparison with this kind of detail. The nightmare of trying to resist an assault if you are deprived from logistics. Also gives you some hints at how you can get mentally stuck while facing heavy fire or artillery bombardment. I guess the only way to put immersion further would be to add some electric pain to the player, each time they die. So you don't forget how costly it is.
Let's forget for a moment the greatest inaccuracy of all, which is the main plot: “A 5-star general worried so much about a mother that he would order a mission led by a Captain to rescue a soldier in the middle of the biggest invasion of all time”. What really bugs me is that the 101st Airborne Division was dropped behind Utah Beach and the Rangers landed on Omaha Beach. There's a very short scene in the movie where they show the rescue team in a Jeep heading inland from Omaha Beach. So this squad would need to cross the American line (please don't shoot in the back), cross the German line (please don't shoot at us, we're just here passing through), go inland, cross the Vire and the Dove rivers, cross the German and American lines again, get out of the Jeep and then start the mission.
Yes. However, the majority of the audience doesn’t know any of this and the movies success is why Band of Brothers got the go ahead so I don’t think it’s worth worrying about.
My great uncle landed at Omaha Beach on D day. He told me that their landing craft turned backwards, as close to the shore as possible so the guys could get out and disperse more so the machine guns couldn't pick out the guys as easily. I know this is true, but I don't know how many others did the same thing.
I don't know how many backed into the beach. There is one clip in this video with the only verified initial assault wave landing footage from all of D Day. It was on Juno beach with the landing craft unloading the men of the New Brunswick North Shore Regiment and they drove straight onto the beach. They ran straight across the beach and past a house, and then turned right and started the war. From what I understand, at the exact moment they were leaving their landing craft other men from their regiment were being blown up by mines just to the sides of what the camera could record. The camera was at the very rear of the landing craft. One of the hairier moments in any man's life! 😮
In our town there was a man who'd been a captain in first wave of D-Day. Later he led a reconnaissance mission into France, and the local museum a display about it. He did not, however, die as did Hank's character. Rather he came back, was a much loved teacher until his death about 20 years ago. He never thought himself a hero, but he was. Often wondered what he'd have thought of Saving Pt. Ryan?
This was truly excellent guys! I can't wait for the D-Day coverage. Honestly you guys could really do this more with other WW2 movies I think (maybe after the normal weekly episodes end in 1945/2024). You guys do really good at it. I know the channel History Buffs already does a really good job at covering history movies but he doesn't just do WW2 movies and you guys are excellent at it as well!
The stuff that happened at Pointe-du-hoc are both interesting and really weird. You guys should do an episode about it! Some of the events were depicted (with some pinch of truth) in Call of Duty 2.
I heard it said that given that Pointe du Hoc was empty, the Rangers went in search of the guns, only to narrowly avoid being targeted by the RAF also trying to attack them. When units were outside their designated areas and information had not filtered through, then friendly fire was a real danger. A UK armoured cavalry unit composed of lawyers that managed a very fast advance in this campaign was then virtually wiped out by allied aircraft
@@wbertie2604 Oh it goes better than that. Indeed Pointe-du-hoc was empty, but temporarily. The germans had moved some of the big batteries to the rear. A group of rangers stumbled upon them by pure chance, with no German around. They apparently blew them up and retreated before the Germans came back. One would wonder the face of the Germans to find a bunch of blown up cannons.
My great grandfather was in 1st Infantry division on D-Day he made it on foot to Paris before being hit by a mortar he lived but had to learn how to walk and talk and everything again he died in 2001
Sledge grew up in my hometown of mobile Alabama. My wife is from Montevallo Alabama, where one day we were eating dinner(8-10 years ago) and her dad informed me that sledges widow was eating a few tables away. Wish I would have gone over to say hello.
The fact, that every single thing has to be nitpicked like this, is a testament to how true the movie is to D-Day. For me, this 15 mnt clip is the closest thing I can watch to have an idea on how D-Day happened.
Also, at one point during the beach scenes there is the obligatory nonsense with a flamethrower getting hit by a machinegun bullet and exploding into an enormous ball of fire.
I remember watching it in the theater and when the d day scene started the volume was so high it was painful. They should really re-release it in the theaters again.
I think you can run a critical eye over any war movie and identify inaccuracies. Ultimately they are for entertainment and only based on fact. The first thirty minutes of this movie are superb though.
@@al488j one movie that rate very high on authenticity is the Danish movie "a war" the main character is the commander of a Danish infantry company in Afghanistan. Only he, his xo and one private soldier are professional actors. The rest of the soldiers are played by (then) current and former soldiers with experience from that warzone. Most of the kit he wear are items that have been used in Afghanistan. So things like uniforms, equipment, weapons handling, communication and so on are spot on. The most obvious inaccuracies are things that cost a lot of money. So the camp is obviously small, there are no APCs and so on. The civilians are played by afghans and even the Taliban you see in the movie was played by person who had seen combat against western troops. When the movie in the later part change to Denmark, a lot of people are still professionals at what ever job they do in the movie, and not actors. But it is in no way historical since the characters and the actual events are all made up.
A couple of years ago (about 2011-13) I met one of the advisers of the movie in Normandy (at the Grand Bunker in Ouistreham). Unfortunately I forgot his name, but he was a member of the Royal Navy and belonged to a crew of one of the assault crafts bringing in men at Omaha Beach.
I recommend the book Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory. By Adrian R. Lewis. It tells the history and the flaws in the planning of the Omaha Beach assault. Very insightful.
Thanks, very glad you liked it! Our main focus in the war, but maybe we can cover other films in the future. Join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of these specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
Having watched and enjoyed History Buff's video on his take on Saving Private Ryan's accuracy previously, will be interested to see the angle on this from the World War Two team. If this is done well, this could form the basis for other similar movies and video games as well, and maybe help the channel grow further with the algorithm hopefully. Of course, this could also be a one-off prelude for the upcoming massive D-Day project.
One of the reasons why the men were throwing up is because IKE and SHAEF thought if the troops ate a good breakfast their spirits would be high. Beans, Eggs, Steak, Donuts, Ice Cream and a lot of other food was served as breakfast on D-Day. But all that food made them bloated and full and they were carrying pounds of gear.
At the same who, who knows how long they'd fight before they'd get a proper meal again? They'd need the strength to fight so they needed energy. Easier to feed them on the ships to then setup mess facilities on the beaches large enough the accommodate the entire force.
A guy I coached baseball with has a father that landed on Juno (he was in a tank, one of the DD tanks). All he had before the landing and during the whole day was this tomato juice/soup that had some sort of chemical reaction where it heated up when they popped the can’s tab. Good ol Art, still living in his own home and still kicking today!
@Retired Bore Well he isn’t my father, he’s the father of a guy I coached with. Though, I do have a great uncle who lost his leg on Juno. Art Boon actually doesn’t seem to mind talking about the war (at least generally) now, as he realizes that sadly, there aren’t many WW2 vets left. Look him up, he was in Normandy and helped liberate the Netherlands
Sometimes also an issue for aircrew, especially in bombers. Unpressurised aircraft on missions, especially longer ones, could wreak havoc on the digestive systems of their crews. Aircrew learned to not eat too much before a mission, especially not items like eggs. Although genuine eggs were something of a luxury in ration-deprived Britain.
One of the arguments among soldiers is whether or not to eat before combat. While there is obviously a need for energy, there is always the possibility of being wounded in the intestines and such injuries are worse in the case of those who have eaten recently. Infection or peritonitis is more likely. "All Quiet On The Western Front" has German soldiers arguing about this.
At the time the film was released I lived in Chicago. The first time I saw it was in a mall mega theater on a Friday night. It was a rowdy crowd and not many were taking the film seriously. A few months later I saw it at a small neighborhood theater on a Sunday afternoon. There was a much older audience. I saw men in their 70’s sobbing during the first segment. That’s when it hit me. That scene might’ve been the ghosts those men were hiding whether they were on Omaha Beach, Anzio, or Iwo Jima.
No. Rommel Asparagus was not to foil paratroopers. It was to prevent glider landings. Not a serious threat to paratroopers parachuting in. A very serious threat to airborne troops attacking by glider.
@@cjcanton9121 It's a huge difference - glider infantry tended to be much better armed as they could bring in more ammunition, heavy weapons such as anti-tank guns, vehicles, first aid stations, rations and long-range communication equipment.
Well unfortunately I'm gonna have to give you a similar copypasta as all the (many!) other comments requesting we cover other movies/tv in similar fashion: Every episode is a great investment of research, time, and money. We do our best to cover the action of this war every single week and to bring you special episodes regularly, but we can't do it without your support! Join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of those specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
I had the privilege of visiting Omaha beach a few years ago. It was low tide as it was on D-Day and I was shocked at the distance that had to be covered from the waterline to the sea wall. Sobering
As a kid I watched the movie and was all "Hell yeah, action, xsplosions and stuff". Now as an adult even though I know it is a movie it hurts to see and imagine the sheer loss of life and terror the men experienced.
I really like the classic Avalon Hill games such as Panzer Blitz, Squad Leader, and Up Front. In a game of Up Front the victory conditions required that my cardboard soldiers charge forward into close combat. The fighting was exciting in the abstract but I had pangs of conscience imagining what would have been desperation in real life.
@@WorldWarTwo Years ago, I was visiting Normandy with a youth group and we watched Saving Private Ryan. After the movie one the caretakers asked if anyone wanted to talk about some scenes, while he seemed quite upset. I never really got it until rather recently why he was upset because "it was a cool movie in my eyes".
It was reported that on the opening days of this movie in the theaters, several WWII survivors of Normandy left the screening, because it was too realistic and reminded them of the horrors they witnessed some decades ago. If that is true, whatever faults or mistakes the movie has, it comes as a testiment of its overall accuracy. Well done WW2, I hope your Normandy endeavour goes better than you expect.
One interesting story about the image of the Asian kid in the German uniform captured on DDay: He was supposedly Korean, conscripted by Japan to fight the Russians. He was captured by the Russians and sent to fight the Germans, He was captured by the Germans, and finally sent to fight the Americans.
@@kotamin6740 mmm I see. However, I still believe his actual story isn't much debated? Also, this story inspires a pretty lit Korean ww2 movie called "My Way." Would recommend.
My grandfather landed on Juno; I have been counting down the days for years to get to the coverage of this battle. If this is anywhere near the quality of the Pearl Harbor specials, you're all going to knock this out of the park. So excited!
@@WorldWarTwo (sorry if this is a repost, I was looking to edit my original comment slightly and couldn't find it) He was in the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division with the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa.
Sometimes the universe alings... Perfect timing Indy & team! I just spend the last 2 days rewatching Band of Brothers and then Saving Private Ryan. Had not even finished wiping my tears when this came up. Thanks :'-)
Very glad you enjoyed it, those are both amazing productions even with any historical inaccuracies. If you'd like us to make more specials like this, join the TimeGhost Army today! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
Great job Indie and crew! One thing that has to be mentioned is that this film won an Oscar for sound editing. The landing made people truly feel like they were there. True, real life noise of war is far louder. But this was one of those movies that first convinced people of the value of 5.1 surround sound systems.
@Adam Dooley The sound really is intense in this scene, with the muffling of sound as we are taken underwater and the fading-out of noise after a nearby blast which I feel like this film popularised across all sorts of media (I'm not a film expert though so perhaps that particular technique was pioneered earlier?)
Awesome special! Will you consider doing maybe a special on the life of Yang Kyoungjong? He's the soldier with a German Uniform and Asian complexity shown at 16:32. The guy has got quite the story.
Captured "Eastern Volunteers" with such features sparked a brief rumour that the Germans were relying on their Japanese allies to man the Westwall. In reality they were usually Red Army POWs who were from Siberia or Central Asia, and who joined the Germans to get out of some two-potatoes-a-week POW camp.
@@kirbyculp3449 there is, it's major action battle scene after major action battle scene. I hear it wasn't the best movie when it comes to plot, but the clips I've seen from the battle scenes are certainly impressive.
What’s crazy is that in the pacific the marines had that exact scene of the D-day landing in the movie whenever they had to capture a new island for mainland Japan so we got a up close glimpse of what it could of looked like. Pure hell
The oddest thing about the film for me was the psychology of the Tom Hanks character and his men. He soliloquizes about losses and how the more men under his command are killed the sooner the war will be over and he can go home. He also decides on a frontal attack on a machine gun with a tiny force, even though that's not his mission, because if he leaves it, others could die. And, surprise, one of his guys dies. Earlier, a guy who ignores orders and picks up a little French girl, because she reminds him of his niece, gets shot by a sniper. Then later, his men resent Private Ryan, because of their losses that HAD NOTHING TO DO with their orders. Then, the Alamo, also outside their mission, gets almost everybody killed. Private Ryan feels guilty because he is somehow responsible for their screw-ups. The only plausible explanation: Miller had battle fatigue and convinced himself that if he got everybody killed, he could go home. His men sensed this but decide to lay a guilt trip on Private Ryan instead of admitting that their lieutenant has lost his marbles.
Such an interesting analysis of this iconic film. Visiting Normandy in person is the best way to understand the colossal task facing these brave soldiers. Hero’s and they will never be forgotten 🙏
Guys. Guys Please, just know, this is the most comprehensive analysis I've watched. And this is only a thank you? You say this is only just a little thanks? Oh, my gosh. I cannot wait. Great job, you are not exaggerating when you say this will be the best coverage. Ever. Of the longest day. I'm almost getting emotional how just awesome this is, and the passion everyone here goes through to provide this knowledge. You are all historical warriors fighting to tell the stories and teach the lessons of those gone. Once again and with pleasure, cheers TimeGhost. Hope this comment reaches you and puts a smile on your face, if not for just a little while.
This comment did reach us, and I can't thank you enough for your kind words. Thank you for your incredibly gracious words, and please stay tuned for all the action til June
The length of the beach and the asparagus standing in the wrong direction always stood out to me. Strangely, I never really figured out the lack of heavy bunkers, despite having actually visited the beach. I guess I figured most had just been destroyed.
I don't know what they would make of it, but I thought Stalag 17, released in 1952, was less about WW2 than about the postwar Red Scare (the prisoners are worried about a traitor in their midst). As to The Great Escape, the need to give American stars a central role compromised the accuracy. However I enjoy both films
They were intended to be replaced, under rapid fire conditions, every 100 to 150 rounds. Some of the other guns (e. g., M24/29) didn't have removable barrels. I'm not sure what they might have had in terms of old MG08/15s (water cooled) or heavy barrel Hotchkiss.
17:53 A paratrooper from the 101st Airborne can be spotted in this picture. He's the one sitting right "underneath" the banner in the right corner, the screaming eagle patch can be spotten on his left shoulder right next to the helmet worn by the soldier standing in front of him. I can't remember his name, but he was one of many who were dropped at the wrong place during the drop at night.
This was such a great video! Though your channel isn't really focused on movie reviews, it would still be cool to see you review the Band of Brothers D-Day episode to give some more attention to the paradrops.
Thanks, very glad you enjoyed it! We definitely have our plate full with coverage of the war, but tell your friends to join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of those specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
Extra barrels for machine guns are changed out regularly. The cool barrel is attached while the hot one is set aside to cool down, and then the process is repeated as needed. I used an M2.
Just finished the video, amazing detail overall, super interesting and informative. One very minor inaccuracy that isn't brought up is the depiction of bullets striking and killing soldiers underwater during the disembarkation. In reality, water really does provide a great deal of protection, as even a high-caliber round rapidly expends kinetic energy in just a few feet of water - a meter or less - to the point of losing all penetrating power. That being said, with all of their gear, the soldiers jumping overboard would be at extremely high risk of drowning, which I believe the full scene does show as well, if I recall. (This is obviously more of a general inaccuracy, not specific to the depiction of D-Day, which is really the focus of Indy's and the team's analysis here.)
An old episode of "Sea Hunt" and Mythbusters have made "Saving Private Ryan" just more background noise to me. In "Sea Hunt," ex-U.S. Navy diver Mike Nelson is underwater, facing off against a thug holding a pistol. The thug fires, the bullet emerges from the gun barrel and falls to the ocean surface after traveling a Meter. In Mythbusters, even a .50"/12.7mm full metal jacket round fired at 30 degrees, hits the water and disintegrates into tiny pieces. Adam Savage had imagined that these military rounds would crack the bottom of the swimming pool; did not happen.
@@Otokichi786 so you're letting some insignificant little things put you off arguably one of the best war movies out there? Must be a party round at your house, if any movie that deviates from reality even slightly gets binned Your loss mate 👍 "Background noise" wow, it's a theatrical release thats over 20 years old, not a documentary 🤣
@@rambo-cambo3581 "Best War Movie"? Hah. For the best in War Horror, "Come and See" (1985) is on another plane of War Is All Hell. When I saw "Private Ryan," it was so full of errors that I almost stopped watching. I stayed until the visit to the hilltop cemetery, which is/was the best part of the movie. It wasn't exactly a waste of time to get there, but "Band of Brothers" was MUCH better.
This is not exactly new news to anyone that has real history knowledge but you all have that certain something story telling that makes it worth hearing and seeing it brought together in a most professional and detailed manner. Thanks. This video and others you made and will make are highlighted on a certain Discord that features a certain computer game that has been around for over a century we proudly call Mud and Blood that is currently available under development on Steam. Sorry if this looks like advertisement but it's hard to resist not mentioning what a lot of dedicated community members from my fellowship have up kept for so very long.
It struck me as odd when I watched it recently how the edit the beach scenes. Often, they change angles and it's obviously a different place or layout of the troops.
When you see it for the first time your brain doesn’t notice that stuff but yeah I watch the movie a couple times a year and after awhile the footage of the beach scene because obviously jumbled in places.
The Question I always had about "Saving Privat Ryan": How likely is the actual premise? Would 3 out of 4 Brothers dying actually have triggered a special rescue mission?
I don't remember where I heard it, but from what I understand while a big mission would be incredibly unlikely, the idea of taking out the surviving brother was a practise the US army did. All citation needed on this tho
VIP special rescue far fetched? Maybe not. The attempted rescue of Patton's POW son-in-law in Tunisia was called Task Force Baum. "The result of the mission was a complete failure; of the roughly 300 men of the task force, 32 were killed in action during the raid and only 35 made it back to Allied-controlled territory, with the remainder being taken prisoner. All of the 57 tanks, jeeps, and other vehicles were lost." - Wikipedia
SPR was losely based on some actual brothers that Warren "Skip" Muck knew from the Band of Brothers. The Neiland brothers I believe that Muck knew growing up in Tonawanda N.Y. Two of the brothers had been killed in action and a 3rd was missing and presumed dead,so the 4th was pulled from the front. The one brother was taken prisoner but survived the war. Skip Muck was eventually killed in the Bois Jacques area in the Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge
@@AstroGremlinAmerican While this happened it is seen as an example, hardly the only one, of Patton's impulsiveness and high-handedness. He later said he should have sent a larger expedition, but that would probably have meant clearing it with Bradley which he probably could not have done.
This is a big problem with all hollywood history films. There are literally millions of true war stories that would make a better movie. But hollywood is cheap and lazy, so they hire writers.
Interesting to know the reality of the attack (not accurate) and what would've gone on (accurate details). As a non specialist, I owuldn't have known, so thank you!!! Seeing the film in a theatre with an audience was a sobering experience. Folks laughed when they saw the seasickness and nerves...when the landing ramp went down and the troops were hit by MG fire...the shock was palpable and never let up for that entire sequence. It's one of the most extraordinary experiences I have ever had in a cinema (only Schindler's List and Terminator 2 rivalled it). I'm enjoying (if that's the right word) the coverage so far and I'm really looking forward to the D-Day coverage. I can't thank you guys enough for your work!!
Thank you Stephen, I appreciate you sharing your experience seeing the film. And thank you for the kind words, please stay tuned as we continue our coverage of the war every wek
Correct.... and Forgotten Hope 2 (a FPS game) also have a very accurate depiction of the Dog Green sector German defences..... and it's free to play. 😊
WW2TV has a video about comparing Hell Let Loose maps and it’s real life counterpart. The host itself lives in Normandy and a historian for D-Day Landings
around 7:20 , The germans DID actually use GREEN tracer rounds for their MG's, so that's not inaccurate at all. In daylight, they look like a yellowish kind of green though, not like green blaster bolts in Star Wars (as you mentioned).
I remember watching " saving private Ryan " when I was on holiday near Lake Zurich ( near Chicago Illinois ) in 1998 .There was an old chap , I guess a WW2 vet , who left the movie theatre clearly shocked at what he had just seen .I heard that in some places , there were even social workers en site , to help movie viewers who were clearly "stunned " by what they had just seen
Thanks James. I suppose we already did spoilers when we announced the D-Day project. But we do like to stay 'in character' as much as possible so we don't break the immersion. Stay tuned, plenty more action to come before June
I once interviewed a Tommy Cosser, a WW2 British Paratrooper for a school project. Tommy had fought during Market Garden and had been selected as part of a team to accept the German surrender at Copenhagen. I was meant to ask him a bunch of lame questions about the homefront during the war which wasn't really relevent anyway considering he was barely here for most of it. Instead he just told me war stories, how he met his wife during the war and the like. He said Saving Private Ryan was the most accurate war film he'd ever saw, and I reckon that must count for something.
Ryan thank you for sharing about him. We definitely can't dispute anything he said, and I think it would be foolish to say the film doesn't depict the war well. This is really just a curiosity, and it's almost inevitable that such a huge production would miss some details, and deliberately make choices as to what is more filmic.
I was 7 years old when 'Saving Private Ryan' was initially released. I'll never forget the first time I watched it. It was with my Dad 3 years later when I was 10. He was right to wait for me to grow and mature before seeing it. I must say, I'll never forget the profound memory that movie has given me. The cruelty that is War is terrible. It breaks the bonds of Mankind with the utmost brutality.
I was double your age when I watched it and still came out of the movie theater traumatized. In fact, it took me a couple months to watch violent stuff again. An by that time I had watched all big war movies of the 80's, but none had come close of SPR. Platoon was the only one that had come close.
I’m the same age as you. And I was not allowed to see this movie until I was 14 or something. And I covered my eyes more then once while watching this movie. Especially the soldier with his guts out and the guy picking up his own arm were quite horrific
I was 6 when it came out. I didn't get around to watching any of it until 10 yrs later while I was in high school. I was watching it with my dad and one of his close friends. They were appalled by the one American soldier who repeatedly refused to kill the German soldier/assassin.
At the time the beach fight was amazing while the city fight was pure Hollywood. Nowadays even the beach scene shows it’s age but it’s still really well done from a dramatic point of view. It’s excellent cinema. It does get key things wrong though (especially the mg placements and scale) but it still holds up. The city battle frankly makes me scratch my head nowadays.
YOU get a copypasta… and YOU get a copypasta! We do our best to cover the action of this war every single week and to bring you special episodes regularly, but we can't do it without your support! Join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of those specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
You picked the invasion apart perfectly!! I knew part of this when you started it!? One thing that is wrong about this movie is mortar's did more damage than the machine guns! The Germans had mortar pits 300 to 500 yards behind the the beaches..... The Germans had designed the trenches and small bunkers similar to the old Hindenburg line from world war 1!!! Because mortar's did more damage than three MG42's because they had them zeroed in on the beach because Romell wanted to save the machine guns for the second line of defense.. Then the last part is that the movie did get partly right was the machine gun nest? It's all wrong when that sniper shoots the sandbags?? German doctrine was not too make a machine gun nest that high only two feet to three feet from level ground....... small targets from the land sea and air.
I read that the opening scenes gave surviving veterans flash backs during the movie. I will allow the producers the license to make the landing just as horrible as it was even if they had to invent things.
This happened to my WWII vet grandfather when he saw this movie. He also had a hard time with Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk movie, saying it sounded exactly like actual war.
The thing I think is super inaccurate about the Czech surrender part is when you look behind them their are America soldiers everywhere the bullets they fired would have travelled straight through and potentially kill a fellow soldiers.
At the 12:32 mark in the video I’ll point out a subtle accuracy that otherwise may be missed. The “shovel head” shape on the bangalores is an actual American military engineer modification used to negate sand. Without this broad nose modification the pointed nose cone of the bang under weight tends to drive it into the sand. Especially when multiple bangalores (10 or more) are attached to create a lane!
I went to visit Omaha Beach in 2019, it's not the easiest beach to invade though and it is very steep to get on the main ground behind those bunkers, the men who survived Omaha Beach were really brave men, not your everyday job what those men had..
Every single one of those men did an everyday job before this conflict All people are capable of incredible acts Im not trying to minimise the bravery of these people, but we remember these soldiers as almost a super human breed that doesn't exist today because of what they did But if God forbid history repeated itself, once again it'd be painters, teachers, fishermen, shelf stackers, parking attendants, everyone from all backgrounds - that'd be expected to do the same again
I just read a book by Stephen A. Bourque about the bomber campaign during D-Day (Osprey Publishing). He writes that the Allied bombers did not achieve the objectives of eliminating the defenses near the beaches. The bombers, which approached at right angles to the beach, dropped the bomb load too late. As a result, the beach defenses remained untouched, while French villages and towns further inland suffered damage. The only beach area where the bombing had the desired effect was at Utha Beach. There the action was carried out by the 9th Air Force medium bombers, not the 8th Air Force heavy bombers. These turned in parallel to the beach for the approach, which allowed the bomb load to be used much more precisely to the target.
We don't typically cover films in this way, so don't expect there to be more episodes like this one. We'll be covering D-Day in great depth next June. Stay tuned til then to see all the action. Here's a preview of our coverage th-cam.com/video/nU4tVyzV8Jw/w-d-xo.html
So true about the size of Omaha Beach. I’ve been there many times and the beach is much much wider so there was no hill over the beach and no pillbox just atop said hill. The pillboxes in Normandy were set further back. I just watched the movie again today and that difference…film-reality jumped out at me immediately. Thanks for pointing this out to those who have never been there
A big thank you to everyone who has joined on to our D-Day project so far. There is still a long way to go, so join the TimeGhost Army to finish the job!
And do you like the sound of joining us at the Oktoberfest on 01 October 2022?
Well joining the TimeGhost Army makes that possible too.
TimeGhost Army members can join the auction on our seat at Oktoberfest, and join our other meetups in September. Current members can just follow these links either on Patreon or our website:
www.patreon.com/posts/70298303?pr=true
timeghost.tv/timeghost-army-meetup-in-normandy-and-munich/
There are also three other chances for you to meet us:
- 16 September 2022 at a general meetup in a bar in the vicinity of Colleville sur Mer, Normandy, France
- 17 September 2022 at a smaller, more exclusive dinner in the vicinity of Colleville sur Mer, Normandy, France
- 30 September 2022 at a smaller, more exclusive dinner in the vicinity of Munich (Bernreid), Bayern, Germany
Exact venues will be announced via email to all those who buy tickets once we know how big of a venue we need to book! For any questions at all, reach out to community@timeghost.tv
Are you planning to also do the same sort of coverage of the movie "The Longest Day?" It's always been one of my favorites, but it IS full of theatrical "license."
I'm excited about next summer, the encirclement and destructionation of Heeres Gruppe Mitte
Is it just me, or is this guy starting to look/seem an awful lot like Rodney Dangerfield?
Can't make it to Oktoberfest. But I am coming to Normandy for both little events! Calling it a lightning recon for a future family trip, so my father doesn't decide to come along. This will be the first alone trip of my life. Show me a good time, guys!
@@ex-navyspook Yes, The Longest Day would be great. Have you read the book on Pegasus Bridge by Stephen Ambrose?
The D-Day scene was filmed on Curracloe Beech in Wexford Ireland. Apparently part of the attraction was the shortness of the beech allowing for better cinematic effect. Soldier extras (German and American) were provided by the Irish FCA (Army Reserves). Extras playing the German machine gunners reported enjoying the excitement for the first morning until they seen how murderous a task they had, effectively mowing down line after line of opposing soldiers. Finding the experience very sobering even when acting. Well done on the WW2 series - I assume at this stage the most comprehensive ever done.
How to give Irish soldiers PTSD without going to war
The Defence Forces had a camera team on site, they recorded the Behind the Scenes as a show named "You and what army, Private Ryan?" which then broadcast on RTE. Included footage of a platoon of Americans marching one way, a platoon of Germans marching the other, and the NCOs for both yelling commands in Irish.
The video was on the DF's TH-cam for a while, then got pulled for whatever reason.
Ben Hur had an extensive stage near Palm Springs. When it burned down it left the palms scorched to this day.
@@TheChieftainsHatch I enjoy your armor content, im heading to benning to start 19kilo osut in a week, im excited get hands on experience on the abrams
@@agtkilo03 Good luck! Don't let the turret monster get you!
My great-uncle was in Normandy on D-Day (don't know which beach). It was his 18th birthday and he said himself, that he surrendered to the first American he met (so at least I know he was on one of the American ones). He said he felt no compulsion to die on his 18th bday for Hitler. I fully understand...
@Retired Bore yeah, imagine the German generals having that much spine in 1939...
@@rlosable why would they do that? they had the same war goals. that is why they tolerated him
@@MrAagaard well, some of them didn't want a new world war. If they had thought about it and figured out the likely outcome...
If there was heavy fighting, I would guess he was on Omaha. If not, Utah.
My great uncle was also there. He observed targets for naval bombardment
I was at Normandy 10 years ago. Our guide said that in filming, they actually had German machine guns firing at the scene, but that the noise was so deafening that they reduced it by a factor of 10 in the soundtrack. If true, imagine the volume of the sound during the actual invasion.
The Omaha Beach scenes were filmed at Curracloe Beach, County Wexford, Ireland so I would take what your guide said with a pinch of tourist salt.
@@davehopkin9502 That's why I said "If true".
Just another day in Ireland.
even if it was true, it doesn’t make sense physics wise. a soundtrack is always massively reduced as to make an explosion only slightly louder than a door slammed shut. a gun blast is around 160 db and a cinema speaker would be levelled at around 110, maybe 120. so that’s a factor of 100, not 10. even more in a quieter cinema.
@@GBOAC Yes, firing even a small caliber pistol a single time without protection is instant hearing damage, never mind an 8mm machine gun. Even with a crazy home theater setup you will never get close to the level of an actual gun shot and that is a very good thing. I have an 8mm K98 from WW2, I always wear both ear plugs and ear-pros when firing the thing because if one of the ear plugs starts to slip out your ears will ring for the rest of the day from a single shot.
Time Ghost is pure gold.
I can't really afford to give you guys much except for sharing the videos of the team and praising them but by god...
This is the best documentary series that ever was.
Except for the one Penultimo is making about you, El Presidente!
You do us a great service by sharing our videos, and thank you for your very kind words
As for the Bangalore torpedo, this quote from "The Big Red One" has always stuck with me: "The Bangalore Torpedo was 50' long and packed with 85 pounds of TNT and you assembled it along the way. By hand. I'd love to meet the asshole who invented it."
The Big Red One scene is not used in the way it was depicted and described the info on Bangalore deployment is incorrect according to the field manual, training in operation and how it was deployed in combat.
That would be Captain R. L. McClintock. The Bangalore torpedo was devised by Captain R. L. McClintock,[1] of the Royal Engineers while attached to the Madras Sappers and Miners unit of the Indian Army at Bangalore, India, in 1912. He invented it as a means of blowing up booby traps and barricades left over from the Second Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War.[2] The Bangalore torpedo could be exploded over a mine without a sapper having to approach closer than about 3 m (10 ft). Wiki
Those devices got men off the beaches.
Imagine doing that with wire cutters and probing.
Every 12B MOS knows how heavy a Bangalore is. There's no way they threw them they way the show in the movie. (BTW It's 85lbs overall including the steel case, not 85lbs of TNT). 85 lbs of TNT alone would be... impressive.
Better than dying on the wire!
The thing I think is most inaccurate is that the film gives no indication of the difficulty of getting through interlocking fields of machine gun fire. The bullets that killed you were quite likely to have been fired by an mg sited some hundreds of yards along the beach and fired in a direction almost parallel to the beach. They would hit you from your side not from your front.
Getting shot from the side seems more scary than getting shot from the front
That's what the ideal defensive position should look like. With frontal cover, narrow, oblique, interlocking fields of fire. You cover the front of someone else's position and someone's else cover yours.
@@yousuck785why It is often what makes an attack go to ground and stall completely - a rain of bullets that seems to be coming from everywhere.
that is basically part of the problem of the opening battle. They tried to cram as much as possible in to one camera shot.
The film didn’t show interlocking mg fire from the sides at all because there were none. All the mg positions were placed in the front, ridiculously visible and far too close to the landing troops. The mg bunker didn’t exist at all. While this scene is definitely impressive, it’s VERY inaccurate when compared to what actually happened.
5:39 it's pretty much a universal rule of war movies that distances are shrunk down to about 100 meters. The field between Bois Jacques and Foy in Band of Brothers is a great example.
Makes sense from a cinematic point of view. The level of absolute terror this scene evokes more than compensates for the inaccuracies.
When SPR was made it made sense but I hope with modern technologies and CGI war movies will be able to move past the smaller scales
@@bingobongo1615 it isn’t a technology problem, it’s too much effort to explain to laymen how easily you’re dead from a kilometer away, easier to use instinct they know. Close bad.
@@bingobongo1615 cgi doesn’t look right. I’d rather have good old fashioned film tricks. It’s a fucking movie, not a live report on the war.
Same with games. I remember playing the 1st Medal of Honor game on the PC more than a decade ago and this was quite hard for a first level. If it was realistic, it might have been not that fun.
You should do a review of Come and See it's sometimes described as the scariest movie that isn't a horror, it's based on experiences of a Russia Partisan and is a really well made film. It does seem to have a lot of realism with SS troops using non standard German army equipment. It's main realism is in the physiological effects of war and the general lack of stuff going on, most experuence of war is waiting around with nothing happening
That would be a great movie to review, the sound design is brilliant, the score as well and totally agree it's very realistic in the phycological effects, the way that a recon plane can just fly over head and the amount of dread that instils in you, is so powerful. Yeah also the way most of the war is sitting around being bored, before a short event is very realistic.
*Experience
Man that movie is intense
ps I think it's still available on here for free
While it's a great film. I'm not sure if it would make for a great discussion video akin to this one.
Why does everybody on the planet think that they’re the only ones who know about that film like at this point it’s not one of the most notorious war films ever made?
It was authentic enough to made my grandfather, a D-DAY veteran cry. It was of only 3 I had heard of him crying as an adult. He was second wave but still had a hard time getting to the bunkers at the end of the beach. They had to use the bodies of the fallen to absorb incoming fire.
Something that struck me when traveling in Normandie June 2004 was the length of the beach as mentioned, but also the totally insane climb that is point du hoc
Interesting story: Back in my cabbie days in the late 90's, mid 2000's, I had a couple regular fares who consisted of a mother/son duo. Son was kind hearted but completely insane (math professor who went mad) and Mom was an elderly German woman widow. Her late husband was a German soldier who had been captured by the Americans at Normandy at the point of a flame thrower. After the war he brought his wife to America and they had a good life here. I miss that sweet old woman and her son.
Thank you for sharing about them here, they sound interesting and I hope they had a peaceful life in the end.
One error in this film is that most actors are in their 30s-40s when most soldiers would be young men in their 20s. For example Major Richard Winters was just 27 at the wars end. 1917 got this right, they casted all young people.
Absolutely - and it's not just this film that gets it wrong in that respect I remember correctly Guy Gibson who led the Dambuster raid was 23 little more Children
Well, it was meant to be a giant blockbuster film when it was released - it was a Spielberg production after all, so the "Star Power" was more important. Most of the main cast aside from Hanks were either well-known supporting actors or rising stars themselves.
Heck, Vin Diesel had a pretty small role in this, but I'm certain it really helped kick-start his career.
The longest day from 1962 (which has kind of a more accurate Omaha beach sequence) is even worse in that regard, with folks well around 50 in all the commanding roles. John Wayne especially stands out
I'd argue that out of all the errors you could pick on that is the least meaningful especially as a historical detail because quite literally everyone knows that the guys weren't 30-40 year-old but 18-20 and then the obvious technical reason for older actors being chosen is that good actors at a young age aren't that easy to find nor have they made a name for themselves. Then there's the story-telling aspect of having older actors as the veterans of the squad so the difference between the fresh privates and battle-tested but tired men is stark as it was in real-life since combat stress actually ages a man faster along with the usual wear and tear causing them to at least look so.
@@TheSuspectOnFoot Disagree. They could atleast have chosen young extras which dont need to be skilled actors. 1917 did just that. Band of Brothers chose actors based on how much they looked like real people they played. This movie makes it seem like middle aged men did all the fighting. That fat Airborne soldier with the bad ankles they find in Neuville is one of the worst examples. He would never have been an Airborne soldier
I know this was made because of the upcoming D-Day project so it’s probably a one off but I would absolutely love to see more videos like this
When I first saw this I assumed the Czechs they gunned down were Poles, as I recognised several words that might be Polish in what they said and I knew there were a lot of "Germans" in the Normandy fighting who actually weren't. Even the Waffen SS had its share of "looted Teutons". Elsewhere on D Day there were quite a few "Eastern volunteers" surrendering, shouting "Russki, Russki."
Later in the campaign a Scottish officer named Borthwick who was his unit's intelligence officer noted that defectors would cross over from the German lines. Borthwick was annoyed by this as they tended to come in before breakfast and he could not eat until after he had questioned them. He said the German 858th Regiment seemed to be a particular source of defectors. The Russians among them could not be questioned properly as he could not understand them, but the Poles sometimes gave good information about German troop dispositions (Borthwick spoke German).
The First Polish Armoured Division had trucks with uniforms and kit and would recruit from Poles captured/deserting etc. These guys had seldom been recruited willingly into the Wehrmacht but obviously already had German plus possibly Polish military training.
@@callumgordon1668 I heard about that. A similar process went on in the east. The Soviet-sponsored Polish People's Army interviewed captured "Germans" to see if they were Poles prepared to cross over and if they did they were handed a uniform and a rifle. My guess is the Germans didn't trust these "looted Teutons", often with good reason, and because they had worn German uniform, they were not entirely trusted after defecting from the Germans either. But all these armies were desperate to restock their depleted ranks. As WW2 progressed all sorts of unlikely material was inducted into one army or another, often unwillingly.
Actually on Omaha beach itself there was a significant amount of "Ostlegionen" and general eastern conscripts. Primarily from the Ukraine if memory serves correctly. 1 battalion was pure Ostlegion, and the 2 divisions were heavily augmented with Eastern conscripts.
@@seventh-hydra The 352nd Division on Omaha was the best of those German divisions engaged on D Day, one reason for the high US casualties, but even it had quite a few Poles or ex-Soviet POWs in the ranks. The 709th (Utah) and the 716th (British and Canadian beaches) had higher proportions of them. Many seem to have fought well if German officers or NCOs were keeping an eye on them, but looked to surrender like these hapless Czechs if no longer watched. Some of the ones who had been Polish citizens in 1939 fought as well as any Germans, however, because they were actually Germans, merely left in Poland as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. From this type, there were at the other extreme Poles who could not even understand simple instructions in German given by an NCO.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Aye, well said. In an account given to the Allies after WW2, Fritz Ziegalmann (Chief of Staff of the 352ID) mentioned that the 716th had an almost disproportionate amount of Polish ethnic Germans, and Russian volunteers. It's a pretty cool homage that they included a reference to it in SPR. While subtle, it just goes to show how chaotic and complex that war was.
Very good review. I do have one comment. As a former soldier I would say that the commander will always give a few words before the assault no matter how much practice the men had.
Was thinking the same thing
The most irritating part to me, was how the bullets travel infinitely through water killing more men. While explosions absolutely do kill underwater, someone who is 2 feet below the surface will not be killed by a bullet. Specifically rifle bullets, as we see in the movie, would impact the water at roughly 2000 to 2500 feet per second, the impact against the water at that speed makes the bullet immediately deform and begin decelerating rapidly, it would only take a few inches of water to bring a full power rifle round to a stop which would then sink harmlessly down to the bottom.
I once read about WW2 UDT divers conducting pre-landing demo and reconnaissance at sites in the pacific who would swim a just below the surface, and when the bullets hit the water, they would catch them as they slowly sank, bringing them back to the main ship, to sell the deformed enemy bullets to sailors on board.
I wouldn't want to be hit by one just a few inches below the surface, but showing guys at the bottom being stitched up is absolutely inaccurate.
Mythbusters did an episode on this exact scene and situation, testing various guns. It all depended on the mass and velocity of the rounds. A standard .50 cal ball round would fragment within 2-3', most others about the same. The .30 cal from an M-1 had the best water penetration and wouldn't break up. IIRC (long time ago) I think their conclusion was that 3' below water surface kept you mostly safe as any rounds still intact would have slowed too much to do any serious injury. But a few inches was not enough barrier; they would mostly still be lethal at 1'. This is roughly in agreement with my evasion swim training that dictated 2-3'.
@@mikearmstrong8483 Excellent information! I would be curious to see the test conducted at say 150-200 yards or even more, to simulate fire from the beaches and positions.
The account I read where they caught them in the first few inches, were probably low velocity based on the distance from the beach.
2-3' sounds like a very good spot to stay to avoid those. Though I would not want to be directly under that fire either way..
@@mikearmstrong8483 The mythbusters test is also a little bit scuffed as they didn't take into account how velocity changes at a distance, they just fired into water at near point blank range.
@@queuedjar4578
Very true. But they tested under better conditions than I'm sure any commentors on TH-cam have. It may not be an exact recreation of the landings, but I'll generally go with their results on anything over people's opinions. And in this instance, the experience of my own training of how to avoid gunfire in water.
That part of SPR annoys me as well.
Watched this film in a near empty theatre on a tuesday afternoon
I had just spent a year guiding at Vimy and Beaumont Hamel, and i rarely finished a tour without being affected by the stories
I knew this film would leave me in an awful state, but that beach landing just destroyed me.
That emotional impact is the real truth of this movie. Details count, but it is the craft of story and emotion that make this a great film.
Yup.
It's called artistic license, and it's a real thing that we nerds tend to forget.
While you were guiding, did you hear stories from persons who were there at the time ?
Now it should be said that despite the inaccuracies, Saving Private Ryan remains to be one of the greatest war films. Even veterans who were at Omaha Beach said it was the closest Hollywood ever got to depicting the horrors of WW2 combat. A Veterans Hotline was set up prior to the theatrical release of the film, within two days, the hotline was overwhelmed.
I took a family friend to see the movie. He had jumped in with the 82nd Airborne that day. We both quietly cried after the first few minutes.
Idk why there's people allowing a few theatrical inaccuracies to ruin this movie for them in this comment section
Their loss
Absolutely, no one can dispute the film's visceral impact on viewing. It does seem to capture the terror and chaos incredibly well.
@@rambo-cambo3581 a few mistakes?? Gi joe capturing a bridge too far from a platoon of ss tiger tanks, armed with with only a tommy gun and dirty socks. A bit more then a mistake and a slap in the face to people like my dad that actually did these things.
@@banzi403it wasn't a slap you're being overly sensitive.
The goal of the movie was to show the horror in pure form and that they did with 100% accuracy I'd say. So I'll forgive a few creative options for the sake of movie making here. For me personally, there is one lin in the movie that makes this the most realistic war/fighting movie of all time: "Gather weapons and ammo!" There are literally thousands of war movies now and in almost none do they actually collect weapons and ammo - even if they are complaining about being low on weapons and ammo.
I wonder if this was a call back to the scene in The Longest Day when that same exact order was given. Mind you they didn't show the graphically destroyed bodies of the G.I.s on the beach who had fallen and were being relieved of their supplies, but Robert Mitchum did order them to "strip the dead" in preparation for endless waves of attacks against the heavily fortified machinegun bunkers to create an exit off the beach.
Damn. I presume my guts would fail me if I had to strip the remaining half of a deceased friend from his equipment.
Heavy thanks to all the persons who did so -or worse- so I'm allowed a quiet life.
In terms of videogames, I only know Foxhole to stand comparison with this kind of detail. The nightmare of trying to resist an assault if you are deprived from logistics.
Also gives you some hints at how you can get mentally stuck while facing heavy fire or artillery bombardment.
I guess the only way to put immersion further would be to add some electric pain to the player, each time they die. So you don't forget how costly it is.
I remember watching this movie as a kid on VHS at my grandpa's house. Those memories just hit different
Let's forget for a moment the greatest inaccuracy of all, which is the main plot: “A 5-star general worried so much about a mother that he would order a mission led by a Captain to rescue a soldier in the middle of the biggest invasion of all time”.
What really bugs me is that the 101st Airborne Division was dropped behind Utah Beach and the Rangers landed on Omaha Beach. There's a very short scene in the movie where they show the rescue team in a Jeep heading inland from Omaha Beach. So this squad would need to cross the American line (please don't shoot in the back), cross the German line (please don't shoot at us, we're just here passing through), go inland, cross the Vire and the Dove rivers, cross the German and American lines again, get out of the Jeep and then start the mission.
Yes. However, the majority of the audience doesn’t know any of this and the movies success is why Band of Brothers got the go ahead so I don’t think it’s worth worrying about.
My great uncle landed at Omaha Beach on D day. He told me that their landing craft turned backwards, as close to the shore as possible so the guys could get out and disperse more so the machine guns couldn't pick out the guys as easily. I know this is true, but I don't know how many others did the same thing.
I don't know how many backed into the beach. There is one clip in this video with the only verified initial assault wave landing footage from all of D Day. It was on Juno beach with the landing craft unloading the men of the New Brunswick North Shore Regiment and they drove straight onto the beach. They ran straight across the beach and past a house, and then turned right and started the war. From what I understand, at the exact moment they were leaving their landing craft other men from their regiment were being blown up by mines just to the sides of what the camera could record. The camera was at the very rear of the landing craft. One of the hairier moments in any man's life! 😮
None at Dog Green and Charlie sectors did this, if you wanted to know
@@garfd were you there?
@@jerryw6699 No but there are detailed witness accounts and objective after action reports that support my claim
@@garfd I really just wanted to know if you were there. I have talked with many that were there.
That D day scene is what got me obsessed with WWII and history in general as a kid.
In our town there was a man who'd been a captain in first wave of D-Day. Later he led a reconnaissance mission into France, and the local museum a display about it. He did not, however, die as did Hank's character. Rather he came back, was a much loved teacher until his death about 20 years ago. He never thought himself a hero, but he was. Often wondered what he'd have thought of Saving Pt. Ryan?
This was truly excellent guys! I can't wait for the D-Day coverage. Honestly you guys could really do this more with other WW2 movies I think (maybe after the normal weekly episodes end in 1945/2024). You guys do really good at it. I know the channel History Buffs already does a really good job at covering history movies but he doesn't just do WW2 movies and you guys are excellent at it as well!
Thank you for your unwavering support, Vinny! And Great suggestion, I know the team had fun making this one.
Love the channel. You should check out the “underground history” channel as well. He visits lots of WW2/Normandy locations with historians.
The stuff that happened at Pointe-du-hoc are both interesting and really weird. You guys should do an episode about it! Some of the events were depicted (with some pinch of truth) in Call of Duty 2.
I heard it said that given that Pointe du Hoc was empty, the Rangers went in search of the guns, only to narrowly avoid being targeted by the RAF also trying to attack them. When units were outside their designated areas and information had not filtered through, then friendly fire was a real danger. A UK armoured cavalry unit composed of lawyers that managed a very fast advance in this campaign was then virtually wiped out by allied aircraft
@@wbertie2604 Oh it goes better than that. Indeed Pointe-du-hoc was empty, but temporarily. The germans had moved some of the big batteries to the rear. A group of rangers stumbled upon them by pure chance, with no German around. They apparently blew them up and retreated before the Germans came back. One would wonder the face of the Germans to find a bunch of blown up cannons.
-Sergeant Randell the guns are gone , they're not here!
= Whaat?
-THE GUNS AREN'T HERE
Kyurae We'll be covering D-Day in great depth next June, th-cam.com/video/nU4tVyzV8Jw/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for the recognition of the Royal Navy driving the Landing Craft.
My great grandfather was in 1st Infantry division on D-Day he made it on foot to Paris before being hit by a mortar he lived but had to learn how to walk and talk and everything again he died in 2001
Thanks for sharing his story @Jonathon Lyles
I'd love to see you guys do this with scenes in the Pacific. That's my favorite series. Sledge's books made such an impact on me.
Join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of those specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
Sledge grew up in my hometown of mobile Alabama. My wife is from Montevallo Alabama, where one day we were eating dinner(8-10 years ago) and her dad informed me that sledges widow was eating a few tables away. Wish I would have gone over to say hello.
The fact, that every single thing has to be nitpicked like this, is a testament to how true the movie is to D-Day. For me, this 15 mnt clip is the closest thing I can watch to have an idea on how D-Day happened.
Also, at one point during the beach scenes there is the obligatory nonsense with a flamethrower getting hit by a machinegun bullet and exploding into an enormous ball of fire.
I remember watching it in the theater and when the d day scene started the volume was so high it was painful. They should really re-release it in the theaters again.
Eisenhower walked out of "The Longest Day" because he was upset at it's inaccuracies. I imagine most WWII movies are littered with errors.
Was Ike actually at the front on D-Day? I didn't know that.
Two movies in World War 2 during the D-day scene
1962: The Longest Day
1998: Saving Private Ryan
@@JSB103 Eisenhower probably knew every inch of that beach from the paperwork alone.
I think you can run a critical eye over any war movie and identify inaccuracies. Ultimately they are for entertainment and only based on fact. The first thirty minutes of this movie are superb though.
@@al488j one movie that rate very high on authenticity is the Danish movie "a war"
the main character is the commander of a Danish infantry company in Afghanistan.
Only he, his xo and one private soldier are professional actors. The rest of the soldiers are played by (then) current and former soldiers with experience from that warzone.
Most of the kit he wear are items that have been used in Afghanistan. So things like uniforms, equipment, weapons handling, communication and so on are spot on.
The most obvious inaccuracies are things that cost a lot of money. So the camp is obviously small, there are no APCs and so on.
The civilians are played by afghans and even the Taliban you see in the movie was played by person who had seen combat against western troops.
When the movie in the later part change to Denmark, a lot of people are still professionals at what ever job they do in the movie, and not actors.
But it is in no way historical since the characters and the actual events are all made up.
A couple of years ago (about 2011-13) I met one of the advisers of the movie in Normandy (at the Grand Bunker in Ouistreham). Unfortunately I forgot his name, but he was a member of the Royal Navy and belonged to a crew of one of the assault crafts bringing in men at Omaha Beach.
Was his name Jimmy Green?
I recommend the book Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory. By Adrian R. Lewis. It tells the history and the flaws in the planning of the Omaha Beach assault. Very insightful.
Thanks for the recommendation
Please TimeGhosrArmy!! Do these again with more war movies!!! This was incredible!
Guadalcanal Diary, 1943.
Thanks, very glad you liked it! Our main focus in the war, but maybe we can cover other films in the future. Join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of these specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
Having watched and enjoyed History Buff's video on his take on Saving Private Ryan's accuracy previously, will be interested to see the angle on this from the World War Two team. If this is done well, this could form the basis for other similar movies and video games as well, and maybe help the channel grow further with the algorithm hopefully. Of course, this could also be a one-off prelude for the upcoming massive D-Day project.
Thank you for always being here Dickson Phua, hope you enjoyed the episode
One of the reasons why the men were throwing up is because IKE and SHAEF thought if the troops ate a good breakfast their spirits would be high.
Beans, Eggs, Steak, Donuts, Ice Cream and a lot of other food was served as breakfast on D-Day. But all that food made them bloated and full and they were carrying pounds of gear.
At the same who, who knows how long they'd fight before they'd get a proper meal again? They'd need the strength to fight so they needed energy. Easier to feed them on the ships to then setup mess facilities on the beaches large enough the accommodate the entire force.
A guy I coached baseball with has a father that landed on Juno (he was in a tank, one of the DD tanks). All he had before the landing and during the whole day was this tomato juice/soup that had some sort of chemical reaction where it heated up when they popped the can’s tab.
Good ol Art, still living in his own home and still kicking today!
@Retired Bore Well he isn’t my father, he’s the father of a guy I coached with. Though, I do have a great uncle who lost his leg on Juno. Art Boon actually doesn’t seem to mind talking about the war (at least generally) now, as he realizes that sadly, there aren’t many WW2 vets left. Look him up, he was in Normandy and helped liberate the Netherlands
Sometimes also an issue for aircrew, especially in bombers. Unpressurised aircraft on missions, especially longer ones, could wreak havoc on the digestive systems of their crews. Aircrew learned to not eat too much before a mission, especially not items like eggs. Although genuine eggs were something of a luxury in ration-deprived Britain.
One of the arguments among soldiers is whether or not to eat before combat. While there is obviously a need for energy, there is always the possibility of being wounded in the intestines and such injuries are worse in the case of those who have eaten recently. Infection or peritonitis is more likely. "All Quiet On The Western Front" has German soldiers arguing about this.
At the time the film was released I lived in Chicago. The first time I saw it was in a mall mega theater on a Friday night. It was a rowdy crowd and not many were taking the film seriously. A few months later I saw it at a small neighborhood theater on a Sunday afternoon. There was a much older audience. I saw men in their 70’s sobbing during the first segment. That’s when it hit me. That scene might’ve been the ghosts those men were hiding whether they were on Omaha Beach, Anzio, or Iwo Jima.
Rowdy crowd? Money back!
No. Rommel Asparagus was not to foil paratroopers. It was to prevent glider landings. Not a serious threat to paratroopers parachuting in. A very serious threat to airborne troops attacking by glider.
not a big diff tbh, both are airborne infantry. I consider this a mispeaking rather than a mistake
@@cjcanton9121 It's a huge difference - glider infantry tended to be much better armed as they could bring in more ammunition, heavy weapons such as anti-tank guns, vehicles, first aid stations, rations and long-range communication equipment.
Thanks Indy for doing this special post on Saving Private Ryan and the D-Day Landing.
I think I can speak for all of us now when I say: please do band of brothers!
Well unfortunately I'm gonna have to give you a similar copypasta as all the (many!) other comments requesting we cover other movies/tv in similar fashion:
Every episode is a great investment of research, time, and money. We do our best to cover the action of this war every single week and to bring you special episodes regularly, but we can't do it without your support! Join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of those specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
I had the privilege of visiting Omaha beach a few years ago. It was low tide as it was on D-Day and I was shocked at the distance that had to be covered from the waterline to the sea wall. Sobering
I’d love to see a movie about the Canadian Juno Beach landing, straight into urban combat.
That would be a Coproduction Between the CBC and HBO If that were a mini series
There is a film called Storming Juno that is quite good
who would want to see a movie about an undefended beach
@@RW77777777 U mean Utah?
Stay tuned, Victoria. We'll cover every angle of D-Day including Juno when we get there in June. Stay tuned til then, plenty more action to come
The band of brothers intro when they are away to jump into Normandy is hands down one of the best intros
As a kid I watched the movie and was all "Hell yeah, action, xsplosions and stuff". Now as an adult even though I know it is a movie it hurts to see and imagine the sheer loss of life and terror the men experienced.
I really like the classic Avalon Hill games such as Panzer Blitz, Squad Leader, and Up Front. In a game of Up Front the victory conditions required that my cardboard soldiers charge forward into close combat. The fighting was exciting in the abstract but I had pangs of conscience imagining what would have been desperation in real life.
Thank you for sharing that reflection. It's not easy for kids to grasp such horror depicted in film as real
@@WorldWarTwo Years ago, I was visiting Normandy with a youth group and we watched Saving Private Ryan. After the movie one the caretakers asked if anyone wanted to talk about some scenes, while he seemed quite upset.
I never really got it until rather recently why he was upset because "it was a cool movie in my eyes".
It was reported that on the opening days of this movie in the theaters, several WWII survivors of Normandy left the screening, because it was too realistic and reminded them of the horrors they witnessed some decades ago. If that is true, whatever faults or mistakes the movie has, it comes as a testiment of its overall accuracy. Well done WW2, I hope your Normandy endeavour goes better than you expect.
Thanks @Mar Ko. And any technical inaccuracies certainly don't take away from the film's power
One interesting story about the image of the Asian kid in the German uniform captured on DDay: He was supposedly Korean, conscripted by Japan to fight the Russians. He was captured by the Russians and sent to fight the Germans, He was captured by the Germans, and finally sent to fight the Americans.
Holy shit... I can't imagine all the things that kid must have seen. Any links/sources about his story?
Ah found it, Yang Kyoungjong! However it's heavily debated whether it's actually him in that photo
@@kotamin6740 mmm I see. However, I still believe his actual story isn't much debated?
Also, this story inspires a pretty lit Korean ww2 movie called "My Way." Would recommend.
But his beach had air support, while Miller's had no planes, not even fighters.
My grandfather landed on Juno; I have been counting down the days for years to get to the coverage of this battle. If this is anywhere near the quality of the Pearl Harbor specials, you're all going to knock this out of the park. So excited!
Minikin, do you know what unit he served with?
And please do stay tuned, there's lots more coverage to come before D-Day
@@WorldWarTwo (sorry if this is a repost, I was looking to edit my original comment slightly and couldn't find it)
He was in the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division with the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa.
Sometimes the universe alings... Perfect timing Indy & team! I just spend the last 2 days rewatching Band of Brothers and then Saving Private Ryan. Had not even finished wiping my tears when this came up. Thanks :'-)
Very glad you enjoyed it, those are both amazing productions even with any historical inaccuracies. If you'd like us to make more specials like this, join the TimeGhost Army today! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
Great job Indie and crew!
One thing that has to be mentioned is that this film won an Oscar for sound editing. The landing made people truly feel like they were there. True, real life noise of war is far louder. But this was one of those movies that first convinced people of the value of 5.1 surround sound systems.
@Adam Dooley The sound really is intense in this scene, with the muffling of sound as we are taken underwater and the fading-out of noise after a nearby blast which I feel like this film popularised across all sorts of media (I'm not a film expert though so perhaps that particular technique was pioneered earlier?)
Awesome special! Will you consider doing maybe a special on the life of Yang Kyoungjong? He's the soldier with a German Uniform and Asian complexity shown at 16:32. The guy has got quite the story.
Captured "Eastern Volunteers" with such features sparked a brief rumour that the Germans were relying on their Japanese allies to man the Westwall. In reality they were usually Red Army POWs who were from Siberia or Central Asia, and who joined the Germans to get out of some two-potatoes-a-week POW camp.
I have read that there is a korean movie called 'My Way'.
@@kirbyculp3449 there is, it's major action battle scene after major action battle scene. I hear it wasn't the best movie when it comes to plot, but the clips I've seen from the battle scenes are certainly impressive.
Andrei stay tuned, more specials to come
@@WorldWarTwo Is it a disguised 'yes' ?
What’s crazy is that in the pacific the marines had that exact scene of the D-day landing in the movie whenever they had to capture a new island for mainland Japan so we got a up close glimpse of what it could of looked like. Pure hell
The oddest thing about the film for me was the psychology of the Tom Hanks character and his men. He soliloquizes about losses and how the more men under his command are killed the sooner the war will be over and he can go home. He also decides on a frontal attack on a machine gun with a tiny force, even though that's not his mission, because if he leaves it, others could die. And, surprise, one of his guys dies. Earlier, a guy who ignores orders and picks up a little French girl, because she reminds him of his niece, gets shot by a sniper. Then later, his men resent Private Ryan, because of their losses that HAD NOTHING TO DO with their orders. Then, the Alamo, also outside their mission, gets almost everybody killed. Private Ryan feels guilty because he is somehow responsible for their screw-ups.
The only plausible explanation: Miller had battle fatigue and convinced himself that if he got everybody killed, he could go home. His men sensed this but decide to lay a guilt trip on Private Ryan instead of admitting that their lieutenant has lost his marbles.
I thought the opening scene fantastic, the rest of the film so-so with motivations and behaviour implausible in places. You mention a couple of them.
@Astro Gremlin Interesting take! Now i want to watch the film again and do a bit of armchair analysis myself 😄
Such an interesting analysis of this iconic film. Visiting Normandy in person is the best way to understand the colossal task facing these brave soldiers. Hero’s and they will never be forgotten 🙏
Obviously it makes sense for Indy to be discussing Saving Private Ryan now, but it somehow feels like an extremely rare crossover event has happened
We've been preparing our D-Day coverage for months and months already, you could call this the opening salvo. 😉
Guys. Guys
Please, just know, this is the most comprehensive analysis I've watched. And this is only a thank you? You say this is only just a little thanks? Oh, my gosh. I cannot wait. Great job, you are not exaggerating when you say this will be the best coverage. Ever. Of the longest day. I'm almost getting emotional how just awesome this is, and the passion everyone here goes through to provide this knowledge. You are all historical warriors fighting to tell the stories and teach the lessons of those gone. Once again and with pleasure, cheers TimeGhost. Hope this comment reaches you and puts a smile on your face, if not for just a little while.
This comment did reach us, and I can't thank you enough for your kind words. Thank you for your incredibly gracious words, and please stay tuned for all the action til June
History buffs can be really proud of his work since he says the exactly same things in his video on saving private Ryan, and he doesn't only do ww2.
That guys stuff is not that good and rather conceited. Just my opinion.
@@joshc1394 he's fair/balanced I liked his "A Bridge Too Far" and "MIDWAY" reviews
Considering TG is short time of research, i can understand. Daily content kills the creator
The length of the beach and the asparagus standing in the wrong direction always stood out to me. Strangely, I never really figured out the lack of heavy bunkers, despite having actually visited the beach. I guess I figured most had just been destroyed.
I wish that “War Against Humanity “ section of your channel would cover the accuracy of films Stalag 17 or my favorite The Great Escape. 👏🏻🖖
Good idea
Don't forget Hogan's Heroes.
I don't know what they would make of it, but I thought Stalag 17, released in 1952, was less about WW2 than about the postwar Red Scare (the prisoners are worried about a traitor in their midst). As to The Great Escape, the need to give American stars a central role compromised the accuracy. However I enjoy both films
My father fought in Yugoslav wars, and said that this movie is a pure gold of realism. Suffering, screams, shellings.
2:17 CANADIANS!
Yes, I have to do that, and I will continue to do that ;)
War is insane, thank you Indy and crew for helping us understand the reality, and the honor you give to those whose served. Awesome Special
Thank you for watching, Zoltan. You honor us with your gracious comment.
Brilliant narration. I think the barrels of the MG42s would have burned through very quickly making reloading awkward
They were intended to be replaced, under rapid fire conditions, every 100 to 150 rounds. Some of the other guns (e. g., M24/29) didn't have removable barrels. I'm not sure what they might have had in terms of old MG08/15s (water cooled) or heavy barrel Hotchkiss.
@@wbertie2604 Thanks so much for the info, changing the hot barrels under combat conditions must have been a nightmare.🤔
Thank you Jason
17:53 A paratrooper from the 101st Airborne can be spotted in this picture. He's the one sitting right "underneath" the banner in the right corner, the screaming eagle patch can be spotten on his left shoulder right next to the helmet worn by the soldier standing in front of him. I can't remember his name, but he was one of many who were dropped at the wrong place during the drop at night.
This was such a great video! Though your channel isn't really focused on movie reviews, it would still be cool to see you review the Band of Brothers D-Day episode to give some more attention to the paradrops.
Thanks, very glad you enjoyed it! We definitely have our plate full with coverage of the war, but tell your friends to join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of those specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
Extra barrels for machine guns are changed out regularly. The cool barrel is attached while the hot one is set aside to cool down, and then the process is repeated as needed. I used an M2.
Just finished the video, amazing detail overall, super interesting and informative. One very minor inaccuracy that isn't brought up is the depiction of bullets striking and killing soldiers underwater during the disembarkation. In reality, water really does provide a great deal of protection, as even a high-caliber round rapidly expends kinetic energy in just a few feet of water - a meter or less - to the point of losing all penetrating power. That being said, with all of their gear, the soldiers jumping overboard would be at extremely high risk of drowning, which I believe the full scene does show as well, if I recall.
(This is obviously more of a general inaccuracy, not specific to the depiction of D-Day, which is really the focus of Indy's and the team's analysis here.)
An old episode of "Sea Hunt" and Mythbusters have made "Saving Private Ryan" just more background noise to me.
In "Sea Hunt," ex-U.S. Navy diver Mike Nelson is underwater, facing off against a thug holding a pistol. The thug fires, the bullet emerges from the gun barrel and falls to the ocean surface after traveling a Meter. In Mythbusters, even a .50"/12.7mm full metal jacket round fired at 30 degrees, hits the water and disintegrates into tiny pieces. Adam Savage had imagined that these military rounds would crack the bottom of the swimming pool; did not happen.
@@Otokichi786 so you're letting some insignificant little things put you off arguably one of the best war movies out there? Must be a party round at your house, if any movie that deviates from reality even slightly gets binned
Your loss mate 👍
"Background noise" wow, it's a theatrical release thats over 20 years old, not a documentary 🤣
@@rambo-cambo3581 "Best War Movie"? Hah. For the best in War Horror, "Come and See" (1985) is on another plane of War Is All Hell. When I saw "Private Ryan," it was so full of errors that I almost stopped watching. I stayed until the visit to the hilltop cemetery, which is/was the best part of the movie. It wasn't exactly a waste of time to get there, but "Band of Brothers" was MUCH better.
This is not exactly new news to anyone that has real history knowledge but you all have that certain something story telling that makes it worth hearing and seeing it brought together in a most professional and detailed manner.
Thanks.
This video and others you made and will make are highlighted on a certain Discord that features a certain computer game that has been around for over a century we proudly call Mud and Blood that is currently available under development on Steam.
Sorry if this looks like advertisement but it's hard to resist not mentioning what a lot of dedicated community members from my fellowship have up kept for so very long.
Thanks Lance. Has that computer game been around for over a century? 😉
@@WorldWarTwo Sorry was intending to say Decade.
It struck me as odd when I watched it recently how the edit the beach scenes. Often, they change angles and it's obviously a different place or layout of the troops.
When you see it for the first time your brain doesn’t notice that stuff but yeah I watch the movie a couple times a year and after awhile the footage of the beach scene because obviously jumbled in places.
7:21 that’s why mortar fire was more deadly than machine gun fire
The Question I always had about "Saving Privat Ryan": How likely is the actual premise? Would 3 out of 4 Brothers dying actually have triggered a special rescue mission?
I don't remember where I heard it, but from what I understand while a big mission would be incredibly unlikely, the idea of taking out the surviving brother was a practise the US army did. All citation needed on this tho
VIP special rescue far fetched? Maybe not. The attempted rescue of Patton's POW son-in-law in Tunisia was called Task Force Baum. "The result of the mission was a complete failure; of the roughly 300 men of the task force, 32 were killed in action during the raid and only 35 made it back to Allied-controlled territory, with the remainder being taken prisoner. All of the 57 tanks, jeeps, and other vehicles were lost." - Wikipedia
SPR was losely based on some actual brothers that Warren "Skip" Muck knew from the Band of Brothers. The Neiland brothers I believe that Muck knew growing up in Tonawanda N.Y. Two of the brothers had been killed in action and a 3rd was missing and presumed dead,so the 4th was pulled from the front. The one brother was taken prisoner but survived the war. Skip Muck was eventually killed in the Bois Jacques area in the Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge
@@AstroGremlinAmerican While this happened it is seen as an example, hardly the only one, of Patton's impulsiveness and high-handedness. He later said he should have sent a larger expedition, but that would probably have meant clearing it with Bradley which he probably could not have done.
This is a big problem with all hollywood history films. There are literally millions of true war stories that would make a better movie. But hollywood is cheap and lazy, so they hire writers.
Barbed wire is also one of the most annoying obstacles to set up.
Loving that kind of spontaneous content!
Thank you Brice!
Interesting to know the reality of the attack (not accurate) and what would've gone on (accurate details). As a non specialist, I owuldn't have known, so thank you!!!
Seeing the film in a theatre with an audience was a sobering experience. Folks laughed when they saw the seasickness and nerves...when the landing ramp went down and the troops were hit by MG fire...the shock was palpable and never let up for that entire sequence.
It's one of the most extraordinary experiences I have ever had in a cinema (only Schindler's List and Terminator 2 rivalled it).
I'm enjoying (if that's the right word) the coverage so far and I'm really looking forward to the D-Day coverage. I can't thank you guys enough for your work!!
Thank you Stephen, I appreciate you sharing your experience seeing the film. And thank you for the kind words, please stay tuned as we continue our coverage of the war every wek
The video game Hell Let Loose has a very good dday map of Omaha. Would be cool to see a comparison to that map vs real life
Correct.... and Forgotten Hope 2 (a FPS game) also have a very accurate depiction of the Dog Green sector German defences..... and it's free to play. 😊
WW2TV has a video about comparing Hell Let Loose maps and it’s real life counterpart. The host itself lives in Normandy and a historian for D-Day Landings
around 7:20 , The germans DID actually use GREEN tracer rounds for their MG's, so that's not inaccurate at all. In daylight, they look like a yellowish kind of green though, not like green blaster bolts in Star Wars (as you mentioned).
It's refreshing to see a historical film review where the reviewer isn't all smug and funny.
We try to keep an appropriately respectful tone, thank you for noticing.
I remember watching " saving private Ryan " when I was on holiday near Lake Zurich ( near Chicago Illinois ) in 1998 .There was an old chap , I guess a WW2 vet , who left the movie theatre clearly shocked at what he had just seen .I heard that in some places , there were even social workers en site , to help movie viewers who were clearly "stunned " by what they had just seen
Once again, great video 👍
Thank you Indy 👍
I always find that part about the tanks funny because in the next shot when Miller is dragging Briggs you see a tank in the background 😅
Bruh it's 1943? Breaking my immersion...
Na seriously good episode guys👌
Thanks James. I suppose we already did spoilers when we announced the D-Day project. But we do like to stay 'in character' as much as possible so we don't break the immersion. Stay tuned, plenty more action to come before June
I once interviewed a Tommy Cosser, a WW2 British Paratrooper for a school project. Tommy had fought during Market Garden and had been selected as part of a team to accept the German surrender at Copenhagen. I was meant to ask him a bunch of lame questions about the homefront during the war which wasn't really relevent anyway considering he was barely here for most of it. Instead he just told me war stories, how he met his wife during the war and the like. He said Saving Private Ryan was the most accurate war film he'd ever saw, and I reckon that must count for something.
He probably meant the blood,guts,horror and gore & the real way battle was depicted. But he wouldn't have known unless he landed at Omaha on June 6th
Ryan thank you for sharing about him. We definitely can't dispute anything he said, and I think it would be foolish to say the film doesn't depict the war well. This is really just a curiosity, and it's almost inevitable that such a huge production would miss some details, and deliberately make choices as to what is more filmic.
I was 7 years old when 'Saving Private Ryan' was initially released. I'll never forget the first time I watched it. It was with my Dad 3 years later when I was 10. He was right to wait for me to grow and mature before seeing it. I must say, I'll never forget the profound memory that movie has given me. The cruelty that is War is terrible. It breaks the bonds of Mankind with the utmost brutality.
I was double your age when I watched it and still came out of the movie theater traumatized. In fact, it took me a couple months to watch violent stuff again. An by that time I had watched all big war movies of the 80's, but none had come close of SPR. Platoon was the only one that had come close.
I’m the same age as you. And I was not allowed to see this movie until I was 14 or something. And I covered my eyes more then once while watching this movie. Especially the soldier with his guts out and the guy picking up his own arm were quite horrific
I was 6 when it came out. I didn't get around to watching any of it until 10 yrs later while I was in high school. I was watching it with my dad and one of his close friends. They were appalled by the one American soldier who repeatedly refused to kill the German soldier/assassin.
Wow. So many years later, and this is the first time I'd heard the Czech translation.
At the time the beach fight was amazing while the city fight was pure Hollywood.
Nowadays even the beach scene shows it’s age but it’s still really well done from a dramatic point of view. It’s excellent cinema.
It does get key things wrong though (especially the mg placements and scale) but it still holds up. The city battle frankly makes me scratch my head nowadays.
Nice touch showing the picture of Yang Kyoungjong. I don't know if his missfortune gives for a video, but it had to be the heck of a ride...
Thank you Jesús
You guys should do Band of Brothers next!!!
YOU get a copypasta… and YOU get a copypasta!
We do our best to cover the action of this war every single week and to bring you special episodes regularly, but we can't do it without your support! Join the TimeGhost Army today and help us make more of those specials! www.patreon.com/join/timeghosthistory
Fantastic video anything with Indy I’ll watch he’s the absolute best! Nice change of pace from the weekly episodes too.
Thank you, very glad you enjoyed it!
You picked the invasion apart perfectly!! I knew part of this when you started it!? One thing that is wrong about this movie is mortar's did more damage than the machine guns! The Germans had mortar pits 300 to 500 yards behind the the beaches..... The Germans had designed the trenches and small bunkers similar to the old Hindenburg line from world war 1!!! Because mortar's did more damage than three MG42's because they had them zeroed in on the beach because Romell wanted to save the machine guns for the second line of defense..
Then the last part is that the movie did get partly right was the machine gun nest? It's all wrong when that sniper shoots the sandbags?? German doctrine was not too make a machine gun nest that high only two feet to three feet from level ground....... small targets from the land sea and air.
Mikael Thank you, very glad you enjoyed the episode
Thank you for this comparison. I've always wondered just how accurate it was
Thanks for watching, Mark. Glad you liked it
I read that the opening scenes gave surviving veterans flash backs during the movie. I will allow the producers the license to make the landing just as horrible as it was even if they had to invent things.
This happened to my WWII vet grandfather when he saw this movie. He also had a hard time with Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk movie, saying it sounded exactly like actual war.
When I saw “Fury”, there was a scene that I could relate to that was forgotten for fifty years. Luckily my combat expenses didn’t produce any PTSD.
Who ever had Tom Hank's warring nice bright sniper target bars had no idea that nobody would go into combat dressed like that
The thing I think is super inaccurate about the Czech surrender part is when you look behind them their are America soldiers everywhere the bullets they fired would have travelled straight through and potentially kill a fellow soldiers.
They would have travelled through and possibly killed friendlies. Battles do result in such chaotic situations.
At the 12:32 mark in the video I’ll point out a subtle accuracy that otherwise may be missed. The “shovel head” shape on the bangalores is an actual American military engineer modification used to negate sand. Without this broad nose modification the pointed nose cone of the bang under weight tends to drive it into the sand. Especially when multiple bangalores (10 or more) are attached to create a lane!
Great detail, thank you
I went to visit Omaha Beach in 2019, it's not the easiest beach to invade though and it is very steep to get on the main ground behind those bunkers, the men who survived Omaha Beach were really brave men, not your everyday job what those men had..
Every single one of those men did an everyday job before this conflict
All people are capable of incredible acts
Im not trying to minimise the bravery of these people, but we remember these soldiers as almost a super human breed that doesn't exist today because of what they did
But if God forbid history repeated itself, once again it'd be painters, teachers, fishermen, shelf stackers, parking attendants, everyone from all backgrounds - that'd be expected to do the same again
I just read a book by Stephen A. Bourque about the bomber campaign during D-Day (Osprey Publishing).
He writes that the Allied bombers did not achieve the objectives of eliminating the defenses near the beaches. The bombers, which approached at right angles to the beach, dropped the bomb load too late. As a result, the beach defenses remained untouched, while French villages and towns further inland suffered damage.
The only beach area where the bombing had the desired effect was at Utha Beach. There the action was carried out by the 9th Air Force medium bombers, not the 8th Air Force heavy bombers. These turned in parallel to the beach for the approach, which allowed the bomb load to be used much more precisely to the target.
band of brothers would be amazing awell
We don't typically cover films in this way, so don't expect there to be more episodes like this one. We'll be covering D-Day in great depth next June. Stay tuned til then to see all the action. Here's a preview of our coverage th-cam.com/video/nU4tVyzV8Jw/w-d-xo.html
So true about the size of Omaha Beach. I’ve been there many times and the beach is much much wider so there was no hill over the beach and no pillbox just atop said hill. The pillboxes in Normandy were set further back. I just watched the movie again today and that difference…film-reality jumped out at me immediately. Thanks for pointing this out to those who have never been there