Friday 10 February 2017

#Fury A Film Directed By David Ayer Starring Brad Pitt - One Of The Worst #WW2 Films EVER


I ordered the Fury DVD from Amazon & couldn't wait to see it. Wow what a disappointment. The Sherman tank is portrayed as being some sort of supertank. Invincible to panzerfausts, 200-300 heavily armed & motivated SS troops and capable of firing on the move and successfully hitting the target. Jeez, I wish the United States film industry could come up with a bit more realism.
The scene where the U troops attack anti tank and field guns is so laughable. The tanks have infantry using them as forts and are progressing in straight lines at around 2mph in a head on attack towards anti-tank guns. In real life the Americans would all die, the Sherman's armour was like paper, powered by a petrol engine.  In North Africa they were nicknamed Tommy cookers by the Germans for their habit of catching fire when hit anywhere.


Even when ambushed by a Tiger the Shermans still fire on the move, not the best tactics.

Anyway tell me what you thought of it? It's the worst tank film since Battle of The Bulge with it's all star cast. For some primary sources of information, watch the next video, a veteran who was in #WW2 tells of over 500% casualty rate in his regiment alone.



16.2.17

On other socila media platforms, I have received more than a fair share of criticism, I do not object to this, none of us are perfect. Unfortunately the Sherman tank was not perfect either. It was a good medium tank but - to quote Lt S.Hills:

          The Sherman had its faults, and the most serious of these was a tendency to catch fire too easily, which explains why it came to be christened the 'Ronson Lighter'. At thirty two tons to the Tiger's fifty six, it was also deficient in weight of armour, and the M4's 75-millimetre gun easily penetrated the Sherman. Both the Tiger and the two types of Panther were daunting and fearsome opponents. The Panther's armour was intimidating The Panther Mark V carried a 75mm gun and two 7.92mm machine guns, and the Jagdpanther an 88mm gun and one 7.92 mm machine gun. The frontal armour of the German tanks was also much thicker, 80mm in the Panther and a massive 155mm in the Tiger., compared to the Sherman's 50mm.In Normandy the German tanks prospered because of the nature of the ground: they could be dug in as immovable defensive obstacles and so their lack of maneuverability counted for less. Once the pursuit began, however, the Sherman's greater speed and endurance came into its own and our tanks overwhelmed the German defences in a mobile battle.

p.p 96-97, Lt S.Hills, By Tank Into Normandy, London, (2003)

Frank must have missed the turn to the left and gone straight down the road to Berjou. On that road his tank took a direct hit from a Panzerfaust and the whole crew was killed.

p.p 135-136, Lt S.Hills, By Tank Into Normandy, London, (2003)



Illinois University also published this: https://archives.library.illinois.edu/blog/poor-defense-sherman-tanks-ww2/