A series from German perspective that is really recommendable is "Generation war", a German mini series of three episodes. Apart from that "Stalingrad" (1993) for the eastern front and "Das Boot" for the U-boat war are incredibly good movies.
Der Hauptmann, Der Fuchs ,Hunde wollt ihr ewig Leben ,Der Untergang ,Rommel ,Die Grünen Teufel von Monte Casino,Der Transport ,Die Brücke gibt einige gute Filme.
Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron is great too. Basically a brutal survival movie about the battered and retreating German army after their defeat at Stalingrad. Very historically accurate portrayal of German and Soviet equipment especially for the time aside from some minor inconsistencies. The casting tends to give you whiplash though since the German protagonists are a mix of American, German, and British actors lmao.
Another fascinating video, thank you. I'm retired now, but during my plumbing career in the early 2000s I had the good fortune and indeed honour to work for several WW2 veterans. One unassuming old chap had a few paintings of gliders on his flat wall. He showed me his photo album. If the British used gliders there, he was there. He flipped past the photo of him at Buckingham Palace. He'd been captured and escaped and now his son was a senior RAF officer. He was proud of his son, yet uncomfortable talking about his own service. Another chap had been in submarines for the whole war. I was nearly in tears when he told me. Just how brave can someone be? I took out another fellow's bath (I had to break it up to get it out) to replace it with a shower. The shower that arrived had a load of missing parts and it took the useless suppliers three weeks to supply the right bits. The chap stoically put up with it and was just happy once it was finally done. I also worked for his daughter. Only after she let me know he'd died several years later did she mention he'd landed in Normandy on 6th June 1944. I hated charging these men, whose bootlaces I was not fit to tie, to do anything. We owe them everything, but now they're nearly all gone. I'm so glad we have people like Mark to help keep their memory alive.
I had the good fortune to meet a veteran of the Dieppe landings in 1988. I remember him saying, when they got to the beach everyone already knew there was no chance. He was a mine sweeper. He was supposd to clear the beach. As soon as they realized the morters were zeroed in on the landing craft he and others threw all the equipment overboard and sprinted for cover. He was captured and force marched to the prison camp. I remember him saying men were so tired they would throw away their toothbrushes and any little items because they did not have the strength to hold them. Greater meen I have never met.
Agree completely about "Band of Brothers." One of the best tv series ever, not least because it is a true story in which the producers tried harder than usual for Hollywood to adhere to the facts. The creators deserve extra points for going the extra distance to accurately portray German armor and other equipment.
The Blithe part I’m pretty sure I heard most of them thought he was dead until he showed up to a reunion. Dike I don’t know why they portrayed his character like that
Mark I very much appreciate all of your work! My uncle was in the I&R platoon of the HQ company of the 12th Infantry Regiment, part of the US 4th Infantry Division. His regiment was the second wave landing on Utah Beach. He continued with the I&R platoon until he was scouting for a hidden pill box during the Hürtgen Forest campaign when he was nearly killed by a mortar round on November 17th of 1944. He laid in the shell hole created by the mortar that nearly killed him with compound fractures of both legs, his left arm, and other wounds for nine hours before his men could get to him. He had only one good arm and his M1 carbine to defend himself with during his wait for help. Afterwards he was triaged as unlikely to survive so he was ignored for days before the doctors realized that he wasn't going to die and started to treat him. Thankfully he survived and lived many years after the war.
When you consider the amount of captured and abandoned armor at the end WWII, its unfortunate that the vast majority of it ended up being scrapped. Pictures of Tiger 1s and Panthers headed for scrapping is maddening.
The French did try to build up their armoured forces post-war with captured Panthers, but by 1950, they were getting rid of them due to poor reliability and a lack of spares. (Both Mark and Lazerpig have mentioned this in some of their videos) Ironically, the most long-lived German Tank was the Panzer IV, which was still being used in combat by the Syrians in 1973.
I usually click 'like' while Mark's theme music is playing because I know that I am guaranteed a fascinating insight into whatever subject Mark is covering. 😀👍
Being an old paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division, 3/325 (1974-77). I have watched this show approximately 8-10 times and never tire from watching it. Along with The Pacific I have the utmost respect for our WWII Veterans. I have yet to see the newest WWII show on the Army Air Corps and hope to see it soon when it shows on a channel or streaming platform that I have. Great episode!
Rodney, Unauthorized History of the Pacific War Podcast YT channel do reviews of each episode of 'Masters Of The Air'. I recall that the main criticism is of the portrayed CGI air action and that the end of war B-17Gs as shown don't have chin turrets.
Thanks mark! I thought you were going to do that series a discredit. You again just pointed out the facts, and gave credit where it was due! Love your channel!
You could do an entire series on bad fake tanks in movies and TV shows. A good example is a M7 Priest dressed up to look like a Tiger in the 1960s sitcom Hogans Heroes.
@@tripwire3992 13 y.o. me didn't think it was funny, I was looking forward to seeing King Tigers in snowy Belgian forests and what did I get? M48 Pattons trundling over not-very-snowy Spanish plains!
@@projektkobra2247 The supposed Panther which was a not-very-convincing Leopard with some sheet metal or plywood gubbins added. Not so much a Leopard or a Panther. More of a Leper.
Great video Mark , i once worked with a man called Arthur Sawyer ex para who served in the Remagen drops when he watched this series he told me it was ok only thing missing was the smell of rotting bodies and burning fuel
@@projektkobra2247It was an accident, but fortunately the guy was okay. This is from an article from a few years ago in American Cinematographer: "In one gripping vignette made from a low angle a German soldier is knocked down by a Mark IV tank and run over. "The second unit was responsible for this shot," says Koenekamp. "Actually, the man fell down accidentally. He was not a stuntman but a Spanish soldier. Apparently, he stopped to cock his rifle and the tank hit him enough to knock him down. The tank kept going but the treads somehow managed to miss the man by inches. He got a torn jacket and was very lucky."
Spiers running right through the town leaving the German troops aghast. The soldier picking up the nurses headscarf in Bastogne. The theme tune. The latter now being stuck on my mind at the moment. Which is all good.
Literally was only watching the Market Garden episodes last night and was trying to identify which were real and fake vehicles! Thanks Mark for another great video!
Great work as always, sir. It's about time that you review those classic war films, "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy" and "Wake Me Up When the War is Over." Cheers, Mark!
You are the one pushing a “narrative”… “The Pacific” (2010) was equally “accurate”. “Fury” (2014) had more accurate vehicles (including a real running Tiger). “1917” (2021) included a Mk V tank replica. “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022) followed the source material closely…
@TaxationWithoutRepresentation, ah but they do. Not the same genre but if you like history then watch Wolf Hall & its sequel, The Mirror and the Light. Of course they have something in common, the great Damian Lewis.
Lucky day for me when I get to be of the first few viewers of Mark’s newest video! Thank you Mark for all your amazing work!! I have been able to tell so many super cool and intriguing stories to family, friends and coworkers!! Keep it up good sir and Godspeed!
Mark, you may or may not be interested in a synopsis of my story. According to a story shared with me, Band of Brothers began as couple of people interviewing (my source was one of those two interviewers) surviving local residents and former soldiers they could find from Camp Toccoa (GA US) at Currahee Mountain (about a 40 min. drive for me). They had an older VHS (I believe) camcorder recording stories as a gift for a former Army officer from the camp. Apparently, the older officer was in poor health, so the recordings happened over a short period of time with little or no editing. Only two copies of the tape were made, with one going to the older officer. When the latter "faded away," (Gen. D. MacArthur 1951) family or friends found the tape and played it for others. According to my source, there is somewhat of a gap in the story from the time the old officer died and the video ended up in Tom Hanks' hands; however, there was someone in the chain of possession who thought it was an interesting format and passed it along to someone in the film industry. If I sound rather vague it's because I am vague concerning this story. My part of the story came from a chance meeting at the Currahee Military Museum. The gentleman I talked with was one of the videographers of the VHS tape and we had similar backgrounds of being born after the war but interested in the experiences of family and friends during the war. One example was the body of FDR passing slowly through N. Georgia on its way back to Washington. Similarly, my mother and two older siblings stood by the tracks in Brookhaven, GA (suburb in N. Atlanta, well south of Toccoa) as the train (I hesitate to call it a funeral train) with FDR's body slowly passed through. My brother, who is still living, tells me that the coffin was sitting in the train where it could be seen and flanked by military guards or escorts. I'm grateful for having these stories passed down to me -- including meeting one of FDR's embalmers (another story itself) -- but I wish I'd done a better job of documenting this one as carefully as I document information for my area of historic studies. I do not want to spread incorrect information and suppositions, so I have withheld much of this story. Worse yet, I'm writing this from memory instead of going into documentation I do have. But, I'll stop here, stop the long comment and stop fanning the flames of speculation. If you are interested, I'm sure we can work out a way to share more details and expand on other stories via snail mail, email, phone, Zoom et al. There are no expectations of fame or monetary rewards on my part, just a lifelong student of history who believes the real stories told and the tellers of those stories should be preserved for future historians.
I've seen Band Of Brothers many times. If it's on TV when I am flipping channels, I watch it. Spielberg and Hanks went above and beyond for this show and that's why it will live on for many years.
Watching Band of Brothers now with my 12 year old son - I agree Dr Felton, this is the best mini series ever produced - I appreciate the attention to detail in the series, so my son can appreciate it as well! Thanks for sharing those details!
How was Ford ambivalent exactly? Ford had Factories in Germany, France, the Netherlands, France, Greece and the Soviet GAZ-AA and AAA were all 1932 Fords. Is he ambivalent because somebody passed some urban legend on the Internet? Bomber Command and the 8th Air Force bombed the shit out of the Koln Ford factory. Probably by B-24's made at Fords Willow Run factory ironically.
General Motors also provided Opel lorries and cars to the Hun and Bedford lorries and Vauxhall cars to the British . Nothing political about this, just the then neutral American companies making a few bucks out of the war. After Pearl Harbour I don't suppose that Opel paid their profits back to head office in Chicago but the Vauxhall Bedford group did.
Since Ireland was pro axis though officially neutral, I imagine those two men, if they made it through the war, received their pensions. I know that those who went and fought for the British did not.
@@LeveretteJamesClifford1955 This statement completely ignores the 50,000 Irish that were allowed to join the British Army and the 245,000 that were issued travel documents to work in the UK.
Dave, you should start your request for something completely different than what you just watched with a "Thank you" to Dr. Felton--for what you did just watch.
All the Tiger tanks in the film were T-34s with visual modifications to make them look like Tigers by the skilled Yugoslavian production crew. At a time when "German" tanks were repainted M-48s, they did a pretty good job.
@@mrbig4532 Nope, look again. T-34 in disguise. While well done especially for the time, it falls short in believability in comparison to the Tiger in SPR. It's most obvious when viewed from the side. The Kelly's Heroes Tiger's proportions are off, it looks short and stubby. It feels as if the added prop 'shell' on the turret was done in actual realistic size, making it appear too big when paired with the hull. As there's only so much you can do to bulk up a T-34's hull and still keep it believable as a Tiger (e.g. the width of hull and the running gear is what it is), I have hunch the prop guys working on SPR might have made the turret shell a bit smaller than a genuine Tiger turret, so overall the resulting prop tank looks better proportioned.
I was very impressed with the "fake" armor in "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers." As someone who had seen German tanks depicted by M26's and M41's, and M46's in various movies. I'm glad the producers made the effort to at least look the parts in both movies. They set a standard I hope other movie producers follow. Also, I heard a movie critic say whenever you watch a war movie involving tanks, one of the bad guys will always get run over by the tank during a battle scene. It's almost a trope.
I have been wondering about the authenticity, or not, of the German vehicles in the aforementioned productions for over 20 years and now thanks to Dr. Felton, everything is revealed.
6:23 - "During the battle, the German force was also reinforced by two Tiger Is from Panzer-Ersatz-und-Ausbildungs-Abteilung 500" - source? As far as we know, all 14 tanks in Panzer Kompanie 'Hummel' (Hauptmann Hans Hummel) from this Abteilung went to Arnhem and there was no need to split them up - Panzerbrigade 107 was already a powerful armoured force with 36 Panther tanks in its Panzer-Abteilung. Kompanie Hummel was mobilised at the armour depot in Paderborn on Monday 18 September and entrained for Arnhem, but due to blocked rail lines had to detrain in Bocholt and continue the remaining 80 kilometers into the Netherlands by road march, with only two vehicles reaching Arnhem on 19 September without breaking down. The rest of the Kompanie joined them early on 21 September and crossed the now retaken Arnhem bridge with Kampfgruppe Knaust to take up positions in a blocking line north of Nijmegen. I'm afraid Tigers at Nuenen is an American fantasy. References: German Armoured Units at Arnhem - September 1944, Marcel Zwarts (2001) Operation Market-Garden Then and Now (vol 1 & 2), Karel Margry (ed.) After the Battle Magazine (2002) Retake Arnhem Bridge - An Illustrated History of Kampfgruppe Knaust September to October 1944, Bob Gerritsen and Scott Revell (2014) Coming in February 2025: Einsatz Arnhem - German Armoured Units and their Opponents at Arnhem and Oosterbeek September 1944, Marcel Zwarts (2025)
Remember the movie Battle Of The Bulge? I was only a child but said to my father "Oh, come on! Those are M60s with German markings!" To which my dad replied "Just where do you think they could get 15-20 real Panthers and Tigers?". Good point, dad. I learned to cut a little slack to the Hollywood folks.
I just finished watching band of brothers with my dad for the third time this past weekend! It's just amazing and really opens your eyes and serves as a real reminder of what these poor guys suffered and endured for our freedom today. It's a real shame that not many people care about it today, they have no idea what true sacrifice and suffering is.....😢
Doctor Felton would you please do an episode on the vehicles from the mini series The Pacific? It would be greatly appreciated by this American Marine.
Awesome analysis of vehicles n tanks utilized in Band of Brothers n WWII ! The GOLD STANDARD of war movies on big n small screens ! Kudos for upload. Anticipating ur next one. Peace
Literally just came from watching the Bastogne episode. Really difficult to call Band of Brothers just a TV series for me, it's a 12 hour Saving Private Ryan for obvious reasons in quality. Currahee! ♠
The road wheels and sprockets almost always tell the story! You should do Battle of the bulge because of the use of halftracks among others. The Germans are using American halftracks which in an ironic twist of fate, because the Germans liked the mobility of the Am. 1/2 tracks and used them when captured. They just painted out the star and overpainted an Iron cross and not full on field grey.
I went for a casting to be an extra for this show, I was interviewed by the legendary Marine Gunnery Sergeant Ronald Lee Ermey. He was awesome, may God rest his soul.
The transformation (03:34) of the British APC (which I remember well!) into a Stug III (03:26) is remarkable - the former has only 5 road wheels while the latter has 6.
Thanks Mark for your great channel it is always interesting. You should do a tour of The Tank Museum, in Bovington UK. ☔☔For your American and non-UK viewers. Anybody who is interested in WW2 armored vehicles will love it. Happy Holidays🎄🎄 and Cheers from the USA. 🧋🧋🥷🏼
Id speculated that the T-34/Tiger mock-ups from Kellys Heroes were kept and used again in Saving Private Ryan, but someone in the thread didnt agree... I wonder what happened to them! As an aside....I had a chance to pick up a Fallschirmjager bucket as a kid for $100...which was too much money for a kid in those days, and Ive regretted it since...Im THIS close to picking up one at 15x the price on ebay as a self-Christmas gift.
I whole heartedly agree. It is my absolute favorite movie, series, show or book about WW2. I've thoroughly worn out my DVDs and on my second copy of the book.
Dear Dr. Felton, thanks for another great video. I remember back in the ninetees I was in the cinema watching Saving Private Ryan, my back then, young son immediately told me that the Tiger I was Russian. "Look at the wheels" hè said and that was indeed very clear. About the Ford trucks you mentioned, I have checked diaries made by people in the city of Apeldoorn, that became in fact the capitol of the Netherlands during the war. These diaries mention new produced Ford trucks on trains. As far as I remember from Amersfoort in the Netherlands. Merry Christmas and a very happy 2025 to you and everybody else reading this.
Tom Hanks can be heard calling for help. He's playing a wounded soldier left behind after a recon mission. It's in the episode were Winters tells them not to go on that nights same patrol but report that they had.
Hey Mark, can you do a video some day on the various artwork that was displayed on tanks, UBoats, etc ? I always have seen like a key painted on tanks or even a black cat on UBoats etc. Thank you again for your videos as always I drop what I’m doing and watch…..
Another great video! That FV432 gets around... I've been around a couple that were made into PzKfw-III and StuG-III in the reenacting community. Panzerfabrik here in the US (Colorado) has been converting more into Pz-III chassied vehicles. Minor correction: the Fallschirmjaeger who fought in Carentan were part of Fallschirmjaeger-Regiment 6, not 6.FJ-Division. Regiment 6 was part of the 2.FJ-Division for a time though.
I love these videos Mark! I’ve learned a tad bit of German through trips and school, I was just curious do you speak German fluently? I’m still practicing
They absolutely did a great job of overall recreation. The Tiger looks really good, but when a man stands next to it allowing perspective, it's obviously much smaller than the real deal. At least to those in the know. Another great video. I hope the day never comes when you run out of material!
The mock up Tigers and Jagdpathers are so good, it's only the road wheels that give them away as T-34s. Appearance-wise, that's the only thing that cannot be changed.
Very interesting video. As a kid growing up in the 60s and 70s, WWII films often used phony stand-ins for German and Allied aircraft and armor. One exception I clearly remember as a kid wee the two Tiger I's in Kelly's Heros. Any idea where those came from? Thanks for making these.
I like that youre doing this, talking about fake tanks in movies. I know in the movie Civil War those tanks arent Abrams but I cant tell what they are.
Thank you Dr Felton.. Really appreciate your efforts in keeping the history of ww2 relevant in this day and age.. Especially as younger generations should be kept aware of the horrors of industrial scale mass wars.. Season's greetings and cheers..
Interesting... At 5:59 the Tiger 1 is standing camouflaged...beneath a stack of pressed hay bails.... I think this is historical incorrect as the pressing of hay into blocks only started in the fifties??
The Band of Brothers attmept at recreation of combat scenarios specfically in Normandy and into the Low Countries was pretty good, it deserves credit for it's hardwork trying to make things look and feel realistic. 😊
On the bright side, for the backdrop of a town completely run down like there's a war going on, they just had to set up their camera anywhere in rural England.
A series from German perspective that is really recommendable is "Generation war", a German mini series of three episodes. Apart from that "Stalingrad" (1993) for the eastern front and "Das Boot" for the U-boat war are incredibly good movies.
1944 forced to fight is also a good movie
Absolutely that is really good, I agree.
Der Hauptmann, Der Fuchs ,Hunde wollt ihr ewig Leben ,Der Untergang ,Rommel ,Die Grünen Teufel von Monte Casino,Der Transport ,Die Brücke gibt einige gute Filme.
Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron is great too. Basically a brutal survival movie about the battered and retreating German army after their defeat at Stalingrad. Very historically accurate portrayal of German and Soviet equipment especially for the time aside from some minor inconsistencies. The casting tends to give you whiplash though since the German protagonists are a mix of American, German, and British actors lmao.
I have seen all of those and they are very good.
Another fascinating video, thank you.
I'm retired now, but during my plumbing career in the early 2000s I had the good fortune and indeed honour to work for several WW2 veterans.
One unassuming old chap had a few paintings of gliders on his flat wall. He showed me his photo album. If the British used gliders there, he was there. He flipped past the photo of him at Buckingham Palace. He'd been captured and escaped and now his son was a senior RAF officer. He was proud of his son, yet uncomfortable talking about his own service.
Another chap had been in submarines for the whole war. I was nearly in tears when he told me. Just how brave can someone be?
I took out another fellow's bath (I had to break it up to get it out) to replace it with a shower. The shower that arrived had a load of missing parts and it took the useless suppliers three weeks to supply the right bits. The chap stoically put up with it and was just happy once it was finally done.
I also worked for his daughter. Only after she let me know he'd died several years later did she mention he'd landed in Normandy on 6th June 1944.
I hated charging these men, whose bootlaces I was not fit to tie, to do anything. We owe them everything, but now they're nearly all gone.
I'm so glad we have people like Mark to help keep their memory alive.
Well said. Well said my man indeed.
I had the good fortune to meet a veteran of the Dieppe landings in 1988. I remember him saying, when they got to the beach everyone already knew there was no chance. He was a mine sweeper. He was supposd to clear the beach. As soon as they realized the morters were zeroed in on the landing craft he and others threw all the equipment overboard and sprinted for cover. He was captured and force marched to the prison camp. I remember him saying men were so tired they would throw away their toothbrushes and any little items because they did not have the strength to hold them. Greater meen I have never met.
Agree completely about "Band of Brothers." One of the best tv series ever, not least because it is a true story in which the producers tried harder than usual for Hollywood to adhere to the facts. The creators deserve extra points for going the extra distance to accurately portray German armor and other equipment.
@@patjohnson3100 apart from Albert blithe and Norman dike
That's the part of Hollywood that annoys me.
The Blithe part I’m pretty sure I heard most of them thought he was dead until he showed up to a reunion. Dike I don’t know why they portrayed his character like that
@ianhall6614 that's a bit of a stretch but I am happy to give benefit of the doubt to men who achieved things we can only dream of
Hanks just made up stories...anyway, anything Hanks has done is forever tainted, Epstein frequent flyer.
Mark I very much appreciate all of your work!
My uncle was in the I&R platoon of the HQ company of the 12th Infantry Regiment, part of the US 4th Infantry Division. His regiment was the second wave landing on Utah Beach. He continued with the I&R platoon until he was scouting for a hidden pill box during the Hürtgen Forest campaign when he was nearly killed by a mortar round on November 17th of 1944. He laid in the shell hole created by the mortar that nearly killed him with compound fractures of both legs, his left arm, and other wounds for nine hours before his men could get to him. He had only one good arm and his M1 carbine to defend himself with during his wait for help. Afterwards he was triaged as unlikely to survive so he was ignored for days before the doctors realized that he wasn't going to die and started to treat him. Thankfully he survived and lived many years after the war.
I am a reenactor here in New England, and am part of the crew of a "fake" Stug 3F, built on the affore mentioned British AFV.
would that happen to be the one that just appeared in a squire video?
The battle of Carentan was a rare instance where paratroppers on both sides fought each other
fallschirmjaeger, or literally "parachute hunter". Gonna love that name.
When you consider the amount of captured and abandoned armor at the end WWII, its unfortunate that the vast majority of it ended up being scrapped. Pictures of Tiger 1s and Panthers headed for scrapping is maddening.
the iron was badly needed.
What do you expect to do with thousands of them?
War tends to tank economies, thus scrap is invaluable for the rebuild. Even HMS Warspite got chopped, despite being a “war hero”.
The French did try to build up their armoured forces post-war with captured Panthers, but by 1950, they were getting rid of them due to poor reliability and a lack of spares. (Both Mark and Lazerpig have mentioned this in some of their videos)
Ironically, the most long-lived German Tank was the Panzer IV, which was still being used in combat by the Syrians in 1973.
The 'Enterprise' should have been saved from the scrappers.
I usually click 'like' while Mark's theme music is playing because I know that I am guaranteed a fascinating insight into whatever subject Mark is covering. 😀👍
You're definitely not alone in doing that! 😅
Ditto
Being an old paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division, 3/325 (1974-77). I have watched this show approximately 8-10 times and never tire from watching it. Along with The Pacific I have the utmost respect for our WWII Veterans. I have yet to see the newest WWII show on the Army Air Corps and hope to see it soon when it shows on a channel or streaming platform that I have. Great episode!
Rodney, Unauthorized History of the Pacific War Podcast YT channel do reviews of each episode of 'Masters Of The Air'. I recall that the main criticism is of the portrayed CGI air action and that the end of war B-17Gs as shown don't have chin turrets.
Merry Christmas to you and your family, Mark. 😊
Thank you for your channel. ❤
Thanks mark! I thought you were going to do that series a discredit. You again just pointed out the facts, and gave credit where it was due! Love your channel!
You could do an entire series on bad fake tanks in movies and TV shows.
A good example is a M7 Priest dressed up to look like a Tiger in the 1960s sitcom Hogans Heroes.
Every episode of Rat Patrol...Big Red One...Even Bridge Too Far...
....what.
Battle of the bulge is funny with german tanks
@@tripwire3992 13 y.o. me didn't think it was funny, I was looking forward to seeing King Tigers in snowy Belgian forests and what did I get? M48 Pattons trundling over not-very-snowy Spanish plains!
@@projektkobra2247 The supposed Panther which was a not-very-convincing Leopard with some sheet metal or plywood gubbins added. Not so much a Leopard or a Panther. More of a Leper.
Merry Merry Christmas Dr.Felton!! 🤝🤝
Great video Mark , i once worked with a man called Arthur Sawyer ex para who served in the Remagen drops when he watched this series he told me it was ok only thing missing was the smell of rotting bodies and burning fuel
The soldier getting run over by the Jagdpanther in Band of Brothers has stuck with me for twenty-three years 😶
LOL!...same with me and the Afrika Korps German getting run over by his own tank in "Patton"!!
@@projektkobra2247 I was a kid when I saw that one, burned in my memory.
@@projektkobra2247It was an accident, but fortunately the guy was okay. This is from an article from a few years ago in American Cinematographer:
"In one gripping vignette made from a low angle a German soldier is knocked down by a Mark IV tank and run over. "The second unit was responsible for this shot," says Koenekamp. "Actually, the man fell down accidentally. He was not a stuntman but a Spanish soldier. Apparently, he stopped to cock his rifle and the tank hit him enough to knock him down. The tank kept going but the treads somehow managed to miss the man by inches. He got a torn jacket and was very lucky."
Spiers running right through the town leaving the German troops aghast.
The soldier picking up the nurses headscarf in Bastogne.
The theme tune.
The latter now being stuck on my mind at the moment. Which is all good.
@@projektkobra2247 didn't the tank track just miss him?
Remember flying over Hatfield and seeing the set, wondering what's that.
It’s always a good day when there’s a new video from Dr. Felton! Cheers!❤
Over 2 decades since BoB? Where did the time go?
Scary indeed
We're all getting old
Literally was only watching the Market Garden episodes last night and was trying to identify which were real and fake vehicles! Thanks Mark for another great video!
You are spoiling us with these videos, thank you Doc Mark. Have a fantastic Christmas.
....damnit Mark, now I'm going to have to rewatch Band of Brothers again 😂
..like It's a bad thing 😛
@dallesamllhals9161 could remove 1 part of my memory it would be the 20 times ive seen BoB
Great work as always, sir. It's about time that you review those classic war films, "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy" and "Wake Me Up When the War is Over." Cheers, Mark!
Great, now I have to rewatch BofB for the 20th time in my life... thank you for all you do, have a good Christmas!
Band of Brothers... they don't make TV series like that anymore. What a fantastic show. And this video was great (as you'd expect from Dr. Felton.)
It's a damn shame that this kind of effort and investment isn't put into historical series and docs now
@scrappydoo7887nowadays it’s more about pushing narratives than truths.
@@user-zu6qn9ux9n I know mate. It's soul destroying
You are the one pushing a “narrative”…
“The Pacific” (2010) was equally “accurate”.
“Fury” (2014) had more accurate vehicles (including a real running Tiger).
“1917” (2021) included a Mk V tank replica.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022) followed the source material closely…
@TaxationWithoutRepresentation, ah but they do. Not the same genre but if you like history then watch Wolf Hall & its sequel, The Mirror and the Light. Of course they have something in common, the great Damian Lewis.
Lucky day for me when I get to be of the first few viewers of Mark’s newest video! Thank you Mark for all your amazing work!! I have been able to tell so many super cool and intriguing stories to family, friends and coworkers!! Keep it up good sir and Godspeed!
“Destroyed by a bazooka” doesn’t have quite the same oomph factor as “twatted”.
The scenery in the final episode of the series, set in Zell am See (Salzburgerland), was also 'fake', having been shot in Switzerland actually.
cracking location either way though good to know :)
Mark, you may or may not be interested in a synopsis of my story. According to a story shared with me, Band of Brothers began as couple of people interviewing (my source was one of those two interviewers) surviving local residents and former soldiers they could find from Camp Toccoa (GA US) at Currahee Mountain (about a 40 min. drive for me). They had an older VHS (I believe) camcorder recording stories as a gift for a former Army officer from the camp. Apparently, the older officer was in poor health, so the recordings happened over a short period of time with little or no editing. Only two copies of the tape were made, with one going to the older officer. When the latter "faded away," (Gen. D. MacArthur 1951) family or friends found the tape and played it for others. According to my source, there is somewhat of a gap in the story from the time the old officer died and the video ended up in Tom Hanks' hands; however, there was someone in the chain of possession who thought it was an interesting format and passed it along to someone in the film industry. If I sound rather vague it's because I am vague concerning this story.
My part of the story came from a chance meeting at the Currahee Military Museum. The gentleman I talked with was one of the videographers of the VHS tape and we had similar backgrounds of being born after the war but interested in the experiences of family and friends during the war. One example was the body of FDR passing slowly through N. Georgia on its way back to Washington. Similarly, my mother and two older siblings stood by the tracks in Brookhaven, GA (suburb in N. Atlanta, well south of Toccoa) as the train (I hesitate to call it a funeral train) with FDR's body slowly passed through. My brother, who is still living, tells me that the coffin was sitting in the train where it could be seen and flanked by military guards or escorts.
I'm grateful for having these stories passed down to me -- including meeting one of FDR's embalmers (another story itself) -- but I wish I'd done a better job of documenting this one as carefully as I document information for my area of historic studies. I do not want to spread incorrect information and suppositions, so I have withheld much of this story. Worse yet, I'm writing this from memory instead of going into documentation I do have. But, I'll stop here, stop the long comment and stop fanning the flames of speculation. If you are interested, I'm sure we can work out a way to share more details and expand on other stories via snail mail, email, phone, Zoom et al. There are no expectations of fame or monetary rewards on my part, just a lifelong student of history who believes the real stories told and the tellers of those stories should be preserved for future historians.
I've seen Band Of Brothers many times. If it's on TV when I am flipping channels, I watch it. Spielberg and Hanks went above and beyond for this show and that's why it will live on for many years.
Mr. Felton, I belive you should make a video about German vehicles used in "Alo, alo".
Huge fan sir
Watching Band of Brothers now with my 12 year old son - I agree Dr Felton, this is the best mini series ever produced - I appreciate the attention to detail in the series, so my son can appreciate it as well! Thanks for sharing those details!
Your note regarding Ford trucks being used by both Allies and Axis is spot on and is emblematic of Henry Ford's personal ambivalence.
Fords today makes cars there today as well
How was Ford ambivalent exactly? Ford had Factories in Germany, France, the Netherlands, France, Greece and the Soviet GAZ-AA and AAA were all 1932 Fords. Is he ambivalent because somebody passed some urban legend on the Internet? Bomber Command and the 8th Air Force bombed the shit out of the Koln Ford factory. Probably by B-24's made at Fords Willow Run factory ironically.
True.
What ambivalence? He was a recalcitrant anti semitic
General Motors also provided Opel lorries and cars to the Hun and Bedford lorries and Vauxhall cars to the British .
Nothing political about this, just the then neutral American companies making a few bucks out of the war. After Pearl Harbour I don't suppose that Opel paid their profits back to head office in Chicago but the Vauxhall Bedford group did.
Hi Mark I was wondering if you could please do a video on James Brady and Frank Stringer. The only 2 Irishmen known to have fought in the SS
"Are you taking the Mick...? 😮"
"Confess now, or I'll have to get Reich to the point...!" 😂
Since Ireland was pro axis though officially neutral, I imagine those two men, if they made it through the war, received their pensions. I know that those who went and fought for the British did not.
My Grandad received both.
@@LeveretteJamesClifford1955 This statement completely ignores the 50,000 Irish that were allowed to join the British Army and the 245,000 that were issued travel documents to work in the UK.
Dave, you should start your request for something completely different than what you just watched with a "Thank you" to Dr. Felton--for what you did just watch.
Love to learn about the fake tanks in “Kelley’s Heroes”. Having Shermans is a given, but no way they had a Tiger tank… let alone three.
All the Tiger tanks in the film were T-34s with visual modifications to make them look like Tigers by the skilled Yugoslavian production crew. At a time when "German" tanks were repainted M-48s, they did a pretty good job.
Quit with the negative waves baby. 😊
I thought they were real tiger tanks in Kelly’s hero’s ?
@@mrbig4532 Nope, look again. T-34 in disguise.
While well done especially for the time, it falls short in believability in comparison to the Tiger in SPR. It's most obvious when viewed from the side. The Kelly's Heroes Tiger's proportions are off, it looks short and stubby. It feels as if the added prop 'shell' on the turret was done in actual realistic size, making it appear too big when paired with the hull.
As there's only so much you can do to bulk up a T-34's hull and still keep it believable as a Tiger (e.g. the width of hull and the running gear is what it is), I have hunch the prop guys working on SPR might have made the turret shell a bit smaller than a genuine Tiger turret, so overall the resulting prop tank looks better proportioned.
I couldnt agree more,its one of my favorite shows,i cant count how many times ive seen it,thanks again for the video!
I was hoping for this one, Thanks Dr. Felton. Edit: that Land Rover conversion is impressive.
I was very impressed with the "fake" armor in "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers." As someone who had seen German tanks depicted by M26's and M41's, and M46's in various movies. I'm glad the producers made the effort to at least look the parts in both movies. They set a standard I hope other movie producers follow.
Also, I heard a movie critic say whenever you watch a war movie involving tanks, one of the bad guys will always get run over by the tank during a battle scene. It's almost a trope.
I have been wondering about the authenticity, or not, of the German vehicles in the aforementioned productions for over 20 years and now thanks to Dr. Felton, everything is revealed.
The Jagdpanther is especially convincing!
They had me fooled with how they covered the road wheels of the T34 with mockup hubs of the panther. Now that's commitment to detail!
I couldn't tell that it was fake until I saw the side view with the different tread rollers.
What threw me off was the rear most wheel
You made my day Mark! I love it when my favorite historian drops a new banger!
Hey Mark, The VW Kubelwagen pops up in the Bastonge episode also. Watch carefully!!!!
thanks for the info.
Now i wanna watch Band of Brothers again
6:23 - "During the battle, the German force was also reinforced by two Tiger Is from Panzer-Ersatz-und-Ausbildungs-Abteilung 500" - source?
As far as we know, all 14 tanks in Panzer Kompanie 'Hummel' (Hauptmann Hans Hummel) from this Abteilung went to Arnhem and there was no need to split them up - Panzerbrigade 107 was already a powerful armoured force with 36 Panther tanks in its Panzer-Abteilung. Kompanie Hummel was mobilised at the armour depot in Paderborn on Monday 18 September and entrained for Arnhem, but due to blocked rail lines had to detrain in Bocholt and continue the remaining 80 kilometers into the Netherlands by road march, with only two vehicles reaching Arnhem on 19 September without breaking down. The rest of the Kompanie joined them early on 21 September and crossed the now retaken Arnhem bridge with Kampfgruppe Knaust to take up positions in a blocking line north of Nijmegen.
I'm afraid Tigers at Nuenen is an American fantasy.
References:
German Armoured Units at Arnhem - September 1944, Marcel Zwarts (2001)
Operation Market-Garden Then and Now (vol 1 & 2), Karel Margry (ed.) After the Battle Magazine (2002)
Retake Arnhem Bridge - An Illustrated History of Kampfgruppe Knaust September to October 1944, Bob Gerritsen and Scott Revell (2014)
Coming in February 2025:
Einsatz Arnhem - German Armoured Units and their Opponents at Arnhem and Oosterbeek September 1944, Marcel Zwarts (2025)
Mark, I'd like to see a program done on Kelly's Heroes. The areas shot in and the tanks in it.
Thanks, keep up the good work!
Remember the movie Battle Of The Bulge? I was only a child but said to my father "Oh, come on! Those are M60s with German markings!" To which my dad replied "Just where do you think they could get 15-20 real Panthers and Tigers?". Good point, dad. I learned to cut a little slack to the Hollywood folks.
Well, Kelly's Heroes did it better.
Awesome job as usual Mark. Best historian on TH-cam!
You could find old “Volkswagen Things” from the 1970’s that had the same corrugated bodies like the Kubelwagen to mimic them.
Those wheels from after 1960 are much to thick.
I just finished watching band of brothers with my dad for the third time this past weekend! It's just amazing and really opens your eyes and serves as a real reminder of what these poor guys suffered and endured for our freedom today. It's a real shame that not many people care about it today, they have no idea what true sacrifice and suffering is.....😢
The sovoet movie Come And See needs a review like this. Its only proper to review films from the east as well as west.
Doctor Felton would you please do an episode on the vehicles from the mini series The Pacific? It would be greatly appreciated by this American Marine.
Awesome analysis of vehicles n tanks utilized in Band of Brothers n WWII ! The GOLD STANDARD of war movies on big n small screens ! Kudos for upload. Anticipating ur next one. Peace
Great to see my Dad's old workplace in Hatfield put to good use! It used to be an aeroplane factory that made The DH Trident airliner and others.
As always a great informative vid! Keep up the great work, Merry Christmas mate to you and yours!
Literally just came from watching the Bastogne episode. Really difficult to call Band of Brothers just a TV series for me, it's a 12 hour Saving Private Ryan for obvious reasons in quality. Currahee! ♠
The road wheels and sprockets almost always tell the story! You should do Battle of the bulge because of the use of halftracks among others. The Germans are using American halftracks which in an ironic twist of fate, because the Germans liked the mobility of the Am. 1/2 tracks and used them when captured. They just painted out the star and overpainted an Iron cross and not full on field grey.
I went for a casting to be an extra for this show, I was interviewed by the legendary Marine Gunnery Sergeant Ronald Lee Ermey. He was awesome, may God rest his soul.
The best series ever. Thank you for this.
Thanks for pointing out where Tom Hanks is in BoB. I knew he was dressed up as a British Para I could never spot him.
The transformation (03:34) of the British APC (which I remember well!) into a Stug III (03:26) is remarkable - the former has only 5 road wheels while the latter has 6.
Thanks Mark for your great channel it is always interesting. You should do a tour of The Tank Museum, in Bovington UK. ☔☔For your American and non-UK viewers. Anybody who is interested in WW2 armored vehicles will love it. Happy Holidays🎄🎄 and Cheers from the USA. 🧋🧋🥷🏼
Awesome as always!
Thanks Mark. Fascinating as allways. Danke und frohe Wheinachten. ☝️🇿🇦🇩🇪🇬🇧🇺🇲
Id speculated that the T-34/Tiger mock-ups from Kellys Heroes were kept and used again in Saving Private Ryan, but someone in the thread didnt agree...
I wonder what happened to them!
As an aside....I had a chance to pick up a Fallschirmjager bucket as a kid for $100...which was too much money for a kid in those days, and Ive regretted it since...Im THIS close to picking up one at 15x the price on ebay as a self-Christmas gift.
Dick Winters is from my town. We honor and appreciate the man. He's a testament to Eastern Pennsylvania.
Oh mark, put a link to your second channel in your description please!
Thanks for doing this BoB special 👍👍 I too thought that the jagd panther was an original too.. Thanks again 👋
I whole heartedly agree. It is my absolute favorite movie, series, show or book about WW2. I've thoroughly worn out my DVDs and on my second copy of the book.
Thank you, Dr. Felton, for yet another great video.
Ford and GMC truck production factories in Germany continued through WWII to build trucks for the German Army.
I believe in Manila the Japanese last stand was in a Ford factory.
I've seen the Stug used in Band of Brothers at the reading airport WW 2 reenactment. Its paint job could use improvement, but it still runs well.
Dear Dr. Felton, thanks for another great video. I remember back in the ninetees I was in the cinema watching Saving Private Ryan, my back then, young son immediately told me that the Tiger I was Russian. "Look at the wheels" hè said and that was indeed very clear. About the Ford trucks you mentioned, I have checked diaries made by people in the city of Apeldoorn, that became in fact the capitol of the Netherlands during the war. These diaries mention new produced Ford trucks on trains. As far as I remember from Amersfoort in the Netherlands. Merry Christmas and a very happy 2025 to you and everybody else reading this.
Spielberg is just the best. Maximum effort into accuracy in every project he is involved in.
ANOTHER GREAT HISTORY LESSON FOR THIS OLD MAN TO ENJOY,THANK YOU. MAY YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.GOD BLESS
I agree that Band of Brothers was one of the best war miniseries ever made. It was the best of the 3 miniseries made by Hanks and Spielberg.
Easy to spot it was a T55, space between the 1st and 2nd road wheel Mark.
The sprokkedwheel is missing.
@@paulwee1924dus That too Paul, nicely spotted.
Cinematically inventive.
Fantastic video. Thanks very much!!!
In episode 4 of Band of Brothers, the only Real WW2 Tanks is the Cromwell and Sherman tanks.
Tom Hanks can be heard calling for help. He's playing a wounded soldier left behind after a recon mission. It's in the episode were Winters tells them not to go on that nights same patrol but report that they had.
Hey Mark, can you do a video some day on the various artwork that was displayed on tanks, UBoats, etc ? I always have seen like a key painted on tanks or even a black cat on UBoats etc. Thank you again for your videos as always I drop what I’m doing and watch…..
Another great video! That FV432 gets around... I've been around a couple that were made into PzKfw-III and StuG-III in the reenacting community. Panzerfabrik here in the US (Colorado) has been converting more into Pz-III chassied vehicles.
Minor correction: the Fallschirmjaeger who fought in Carentan were part of Fallschirmjaeger-Regiment 6, not 6.FJ-Division. Regiment 6 was part of the 2.FJ-Division for a time though.
Thank you, Mark Felton! Pacific and Master of the Air next?
I love these videos Mark! I’ve learned a tad bit of German through trips and school, I was just curious do you speak German fluently? I’m still practicing
Great video for you!!!! How many companies played both sides like Ford and Guiness???
Jaggdpanter slipped me by completely. Nice job.
The German Think tank named Martin Hessler died in 1945.
They absolutely did a great job of overall recreation. The Tiger looks really good, but when a man stands next to it allowing perspective, it's obviously much smaller than the real deal. At least to those in the know. Another great video. I hope the day never comes when you run out of material!
The mock up Tigers and Jagdpathers are so good, it's only the road wheels that give them away as T-34s. Appearance-wise, that's the only thing that cannot be changed.
Very interesting video. As a kid growing up in the 60s and 70s, WWII films often used phony stand-ins for German and Allied aircraft and armor. One exception I clearly remember as a kid wee the two Tiger I's in Kelly's Heros. Any idea where those came from? Thanks for making these.
I like that youre doing this, talking about fake tanks in movies. I know in the movie Civil War those tanks arent Abrams but I cant tell what they are.
5:48 - the correct pronounciation of Nuenen is NewNen (with the nen part a bit faster).
Band of Brothers is still one of the best series ever!
Thank you Dr Felton.. Really appreciate your efforts in keeping the history of ww2 relevant in this day and age.. Especially as younger generations should be kept aware of the horrors of industrial scale mass wars.. Season's greetings and cheers..
Interesting... At 5:59 the Tiger 1 is standing camouflaged...beneath a stack of pressed hay bails.... I think this is historical incorrect as the pressing of hay into blocks only started in the fifties??
The Band of Brothers attmept at recreation of combat scenarios specfically in Normandy and into the Low Countries was pretty good, it deserves credit for it's hardwork trying to make things look and feel realistic. 😊
Battle of the Bulge has to be the most hilarious.
Telly Savalas made it great.
They may do what they like, but they can't fool Dr. Felton. Danke, Herr Doktor. Curahee!
I wonder if Bruce Crompton had a hand in the supply of these vehicles to the film makers.
What a brilliant video. 👏👏👏👏
It's nuts how many German military vehicles that were around in 1946 and there are zero examples left of anything that still runs
On the bright side, for the backdrop of a town completely run down like there's a war going on, they just had to set up their camera anywhere in rural England.