[larrya]

VanessaBinder, on Jan 6 2004, 05:48 PM, said:

In Day of Days, when Lt. Winters and his men were taking the German gun sites at Brecourt Manor, Lt. Winters used a German grenade to ignite the TNT that disabled the guns.  How did he know how to use that grenade?  Did Allied troops train in using the enemy's arsenal? 

Vanessa :D

Vanessa, In real life, Winters DID NOT use a German grenade to ignite the TNT in the gun barrels, he used a good old, made in the USA incendiary grenade. Using a potato masher to blow up German guns must've seemed like a good idea to the screenwriter.

[Lt FJB]

VanessaBinder, on Jan 6 2004, 11:48 AM, said:

Did Allied troops train in using the enemy's arsenal? 

Vanessa,

It was also important then as it is now to be able to identify the look and sounds of enemy weapons. This can be quite critical at night in spotting and targeting the enemy when you can't see them. Also you might have noticed Lt Winters getting a German rifle to use after he landed. This may be as much Hollyweird as anything but illustrates the phenomenon that occured in battle. One wouldn't want to use one for long as mistakes might happen. Experienced soldiers get used to identifying weapons by sound and I have read some accounts, mostly from Vietnam, of soldiers dispatching enemy soldiers based on sound alone.

Cheers!

Mark

[appell8]

I have read another account, (Burgett?, Wild Bill?) of someone picking up a German weapon after losing the leg bag, and quickly abandoning it after the sound drew U.S. fire.

U.S. infantry quickly learned to fire at the source of the sound of a German weapon, especially at night. Common sense survival reaction. Which quickly discouraged any use of captured German weapons in the presence of US troops.

[TomC]

Quote

I have read another account, (Burgett?, Wild Bill?) of someone picking up a German weapon after losing the leg bag, and quickly abandoning it after the sound drew U.S. fire.

Doug I believe that is from Burgett's "Currahee!", although I may stand corrected (feel sure, though).

[McIntee]

appell8, on Jan 7 2004, 04:29 AM, said:

I have read another account, (Burgett?, Wild Bill?) of someone picking up a German weapon after losing the leg bag, and quickly abandoning it after the sound drew U.S. fire.

U.S. infantry quickly learned to fire at the source of the sound of a German weapon, especially at night.  Common sense survival reaction.  Which quickly discouraged any use of captured German weapons in the presence of US troops.

Wild Bill mentioned that during the first chat. Apparently he came down with nothing, picked up a german weapon, fired it and promptly got fired upon by his own guys so he dumped it.

[LondonMichael]

VanessaBinder, on Jan 6 2004, 12:48 PM, said:

In Day of Days, when Lt. Winters and his men were taking the German gun sites at Brecourt Manor, Lt. Winters used a German grenade to ignite the TNT that disabled the guns.  How did he know how to use that grenade?  Did Allied troops train in using the enemy's arsenal? 

Vanessa :D

Indeed a hude emphasis was put on enemy weaponry......from hand held weapons to artillery, everything was studied......part of Eisenhowers brief was never to under-estimate the enemy and it was commonly known that much of the "kraut" weaponry was much better than Allied equivalent.....none more so than machine guns and tanks.

See Winters given a german rifle on losing his leg bag on D Day and he does not even blink at to its usage......indeed on reading Ambrose' D Day there are quite a few incidents where Soldiersa use captured weapons

London Michael

[McIntee]

On capture weapons and the German arms being superiour...I've read several accounts of british soldiers actually prefering the Schmeisser to the Sten because the Sten had a very nasty habbit of jamming and needed to be kept as clean as possible to avoid this, which was difficult on the frontline.

But on the other hand, others would not use German weaponry because of the risk of drawing friendly fire.

[Outsider In]

According to BOB the book (Ambrose), Easy learned about German weaponry in down time in England before the big jump. It was also there (Upottery) that it was common to see our guys dressed in full Kraut regalia so that we knew how to discern the enemy better.

[Wild Craig]

If Bill landed without a weapon and used a German gun for a minute then why did Bill have a tommy gun in the series when he was shooting the Germans around the horse and cart.

Is that yet another false piece of history in the series?

[McIntee]

Well, I suppose he could have rather easily found a Tommy gun lying around somewhere or he might even have located his own legbag.

[TomC]

Quote

If Bill landed without a weapon and used a German gun for a minute then why did Bill have a tommy gun in the series when he was shooting the Germans around the horse and cart.

Is that yet another false piece of history in the series?

Very likey. Although the series does have a backbone based on factuals, there is "dressing up" of that backbone for the sake of enhancing the constructs of visual storytelling. It's a common practice in Hollywood but more often runs amok (as evident in the Return of the King -- to the Tolkien purest, that is).

[larrya]

LondonMichael, on Jan 7 2004, 02:31 PM, said:

See Winters given a german rifle on losing his leg bag on D Day and he does not even blink at to its usage......indeed on reading Ambrose' D Day there are quite a few incidents where Soldiersa use captured weapons

London Michael

Winters did NOT have a German rifle on D-Day. That was sheer Hollywood. He actually found an M-1 Garand aboard a German supply wagon (under the seat occupied by a dead German. Evidentally the German had been souvenier hunting, too before he died.) Winters did not take a Garand off a dead paratrooper as the mini series shows. Others did, however. That's probably how Guarnere eventually rearmed with a Tommy gun after losing his weapon in his leg bag.

[skypilotson]

Stepping back to Currahee, I noticed that when the non-coms were in the barn discussing their course of action, Bull was at the table. However, he was not in Sink's office nor when they passed by Lt. Winters. Just an observation.

On another note, I couldn't help but feel for Bill Guarnere when he inadvertantly read Johnny Martin's letter. FJH's portrayal evoked memories of when I heard the news of my friend, yet it cannot even compare to how Bill must have felt at losing a sibling.

[ss278]

Kiwiwriter, on Jan 6 2004, 04:00 PM, said:

Paratroopers, commandos, and Rangers often trained on enemy equipment, as they might have to use it in some of their more daring operations.

I don't know if Easy did that.

Yes, they did. During their training in England prior to the Normandy jump they trained extensively with captured German weapons. They got so good at it they could tell by the sound what type of weapon was being fired at them.

[Dmitri]

does anyone know who's pulling Blithe out of the ditch he's hiding in? First I thought it was Speirs because he's also talking to him the night before when Blithe tells that he was to scared to fight at D-Day. But I'm not so sure anymore, cause it might could also be Winters. Anyone??