World War II Historian Rates 8 WWII Battles In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider

World War II historian John Curatola rates eight battle scenes in movies and television for realism.

He discusses the accuracy of World War II battle scenes from "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), starring Tom Hanks; "Dunkirk" (2017), featuring Tom Hardy; and "Band of Brothers" S1E3 (2001), with Damian Lewis. He also comments on the weaponry used in "Fury" (2014), with Brad Pitt; "Patton" (1970); and "Enemy at the Gates" (2001). Curatola analyzes the tactics displayed in "The Forgotten Battle" (2020) and "Defiance" (2008), starring Daniel Craig.

John Curatola is the resident historian at The National WWII Museum and a retired Marine Corps officer. He is also an author and a former history professor at the US Army School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Editor's Note: The video at 0:56-1:10 incorrectly labelled obstacles in the water. The obstacles the expert referred to as "rotated 180 degrees" were wooden poles, and not tank stoppers. Insider regrets the error.

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World War II Historian Rates 8 WWII Battle Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It | Insider

[andylyns]

My dad was at Dunkirk and was on the pier which was hit, he was instructed to stand in the sea with the water up to his neck. After 8 hours he passed out. The next thing he remembers was waking up under Tower bridge on a Scottish fishing boat. He later went on to fight in north Africa and then Italy.

[CJK-btll]

My father was a WWII vet who served in North Africa, Sicily and landed at Utah Beach. He hated war moves, but got to see Private Ryan prior to his passing. He said it was the most relastic film had ever seen, particularly because of the sounds. It was the first movie for him to recreate the sound of bullets, mortars and explosions in a realistic way. That "thump" of a round hitting someone was how he remembered it. It was a difficult watch for him. But very happy he saw it.

[ithinkimarealboy]

Dunkirk's main issue, at least for me is how few men were on the beach in the movie. In reality the beach was packed and in the film there were only a few hundred men. Surely CGI could have made up for the lack of extras but they decided against it for some reason. It really took away from the scale of the undertaking of the evacuation.

[SerhanB]

Band of Brothers is still my favorite, not only because of the fight scenes, but especially because of what happens on its sides - a truly masterpiece

[Zeee]

Still insane that saving private Ryan was in 1998

[birthdaybatter]

Omaha Beach is understandably the most remembered part of Saving Private Ryan, but the most haunting part of the film for me is when the medic (Wade) is dying. Watching him realizing what is happening to him and asking them for more morphine, plus crying out for his mother is just too much for me on rewatches sometimes.

[alpang]

What I like about this historian is that he gives a great tactical perspective in addition to the historical context. Most historians critique the accuracy which is great but he gives a nice military perspective as a veteran as well

[locomoco]

Edit: before reading my comment, if you look in the description of the video, the editors acknowledged their mistake and changed it.

Whoever did the editing for the clip with Saving Private Ryan incorrectly labelled the obstacles the historian is referring to. The tank stoppers or Czech Hedgehog is redudant in which way its placed. He's talking about the wooden poles/telegraph poles jutting out on the coast being the wrong way. They should be "rotated 180 degrees" from the in film depiction because the landing craft would collide and slide up the wooden pole either capsizing the craft or detonating one of the mines that would be affixed along the length of the obstacle.

[toughspitfire]

Actually the part about the MG42's in Saving Private Ryan wasn't an innaccuracy as some would think. Due to a combination of combat stress, adrenaline, and lack of proper training a lot of German soldiers just let loose with the 42's on D-Day, and many of them were in fact rendered unusable because the 42's couldn't take that kind of continuous use.

[kend]

My grandfather was a member of the 458th Amphibian Truck Company as a 1st Lieutenant and was awarded the Croix De Guerre (along with the rest of the company) for the bravery shown on Omaha Beach on D-day. He never talked about the war while he was alive and none of us knew he was even there that day until a couple of years ago when my dad stumbled upon a certificate from the medal he received in his old army trunk. My grandpa died in 1997 and I miss him every day.

[matthewskinner]

Can’t believe you had a US marine vet on and didn’t ask him to review the pacific mini series, which is based on the pacific conflict from the US marines from 1941-1945.

[hellothere]

Unfortunately lots of war movie directors seem to not understand that if you downplay the enemy, you downplay the good guys as well

[nelsonyork]

I saw Dunkirk at a screening with a Q&A with a vet from Dunkirk. He was in tears with how much the movie reminded him of being on the beach, even all these years later. The only thing he said about the film that he felt was off was that there weren’t any where near as many planes as what was depicted. Other than that, he said it felt like being there

[nathanielhaven]

Would love a sequel to this breaking down the combat scenes in The Pacific, Flags of our Fathers, and Letters of Iwo Jima

[scottsluggosrule]

My father in law hit the beach at Iwojima and although he never discussed it with family he did describe it to me when we were fishing. It sounded exactly like the beach scene in SPR. He was wounded and never made it off the beach.

[TeargasHorse]

Band of Brothers is a remarkable piece of work, and paired with The Pacific, they show not only the grittiness and (in)humanity, but the complete randomness of the conflicts. BTW, I have been to your museum in NOLA, and it is OUTSTANDING, the way it's laid out as you travel through from the beginnings to the end just remarkable and also heartbreaking.

[kapten-awesome]

band of brothers is just amazing, i watch is at least 3 times a year so I must have watched it 40 times and i can just plow through it every single time. the best series ever made. I'm so psyched for the new "masters of the air"

[Civ]

When I was a kid, an old family friend(now deceased) who was not only a WW2 vet, but also a member of the 101st airborne regifted me an unopened box of the band of brothers series that he himself received as a gift because he didn't want to see it. I have always felt bad about how I pestered him about his WW2 experiences as a kid. That series is not only a great piece of film, but also an important lesson.

[lowlanders]

I think the movie is portraying that anyone who out ranked Hanks' character was already killed and since they landed at the wrong beach he needed to relay his actual position.

[STALKER]

A respectful thank you for your opinion about "Enemy at the gates" - a movie apparently designed to discredit the USSR and popularized inaccurate and disrespectful myths. I do have sympathies for the USSR, which is the homeland of my family, yet i'm not a hardcore supporter. i simply stand for historical accuracy and respectful depiction of our ancestors. Hopefully we will get more realistic, immersive movies, and not politicized hollywood BS like this