This FURY scene is BAD & here is why

An Analysis of the Anti-Tank Scene in the movie Fury (2014), we look particularly at US and German tactics or better their absence.

Cover: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures

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FM 17-32, August 1942.
FM 17-10, March 1942.
CAMO: F. 500 Op. 12480 D. 137: OKH, Ausbildungsabteilung: Ausbildungshinweis Nr. 14, 30. Oktober 1943.

#fury #tank #ww2 #analysis #tactics


00:00 Intro
00:31 The Good Things
00:54 What I will & won’t mention
01:40 Anti-Tank Gun Scene
02:35 Preparation for Anti-Tank Gun Scene
03:07 Description of Events
05:06 US “Tactics”
07:24 German “Tactics”
07:46 But the Germans were combat ineffective at this time…
09:41 But Dramatic Effect…
10:01 Corrected Scene
12:42 Intro Scene is also bonkers
14:17 Summary

[MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

Corrections:
At around 5:50 I say that each Sherman has a 75mm gun, which is incorrect, since the shown tank has a 76mm, thanks to @uriellima9193 for pointing this out.

[leeboy]

I like where the Germans are shown breaking their Panzerfausts out of boxes for the attack... despite the fact they were marching with them on their shoulders in a previous scene.

[JoaoLucena-rs]

Assuming that Brad Pitt was an effective platoon leader when 4 out of 5 of his tanks were taken out is one hell of a stretch

[munderpool]

"Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise."

[randolphstead]

I'm a Canadian army veteran and had an aneurysm over this film; I can only imagine the stress a German historian would experience.

[manuelschneider]

My problem with depicting the enemy as utterly incompetent is that we diminish the sacrifice of those that actually fought them.

[TheGrippinOriginal]

There were many more logical issues/mistakes, e.g.:
- The Tiger tank doesn't destroy the first and the last tanks in the Sherman column, basic ambush tactics.
- The Shermans shoot smoke shells to hide while they retreat. They wait for the smoke to clear, then decide to rush the Tiger head on, that they didn't even spot yet.
- The Tiger moves out of it's ambush position, and decreases the distance for some reason. It could have easily picked out the Shermans 1 by 1 anyways.
- Towards the end, when the Fury is broken down, and the marching Germans are spotted, Panzerfausts are on the shoulders of the German soldiers, yet when it comes to using them later on, they are suddenly in wooden boxes. Not to mention it took several meat grinder nonsense waves for the German infantry to finally try to use some anti-tank material against a lone, locked down and broken down tank.

The movie is engaging and looks very impressive, but the logic was absent mostly.

[BlackjackAD]

Historians are never late. They arrive precisely when they mean to.

[craigdamage]

Just for the record: I am NOT a military historian but I AM a film historian and here is what I can ad.... very often a filmmaker sets out to make a historically accurate movie but too many times it is the studio producers who force the director to compromise. Sometimes more realistic scenes get edited out as well. Simply, films that are more fantasy make more money than existential movies that closely follow history. Case in point, the movie Tombstone made ten times as much as the movie Wyatt Earp. Wyatt Earp is generally despised by movie fans but American history professors love it. Basically, every WWII movie pretty much wants to be like The Guns of Navarone. The Guns of Navarone is indeed a very entertaining film but it is mostly pure fantasy.

[oldesertguy]

What got me in the last battle were the lines of infantry approaching, with half of them carrying Panzerfausts. Then Brad Pitt makes the comment that he's lucky none of them have Panzerfausts.

[iemandnogwat]

Fury is the movie that has every cliché ever invented in Hollywood. You can take a list of clichés while watching the movie and tick every box.

[tanker]

As a former armor crewman, the worst part was having no less than 5 stand off weapons ( Main gun, three 30 cals. and a Ma Deuce) and holding their fire until a SS trooper was literally standing over the drivers hatch. Could you imagine the carnage had they unleashed all that all at once the second the Germans started down the road towards them? It still drives me nuts when I watch it.

[memonk]

I had an old WWII vet tell me that “the Germans could put a shell in your back pocket”. And I kept remembering that every time the Germans missed their first shot.

[Aspen]

One of my biggest problems was the characters. They must have recruited these guys straight from a state penitentiary. They would have been more at home with The Dirty Dozen than with Band of Brothers.

The other issue to me was the ending scene. Are we to believe that a large formation of German infantry wouldn’t have been able to take out a single immobilized and isolated tank out in the open? Why didn’t they go around from the back? Why didn’t they just hit them with a couple of panzerfaust and be done with it. There’s no way that battle should have lasted hours and hours on into the evening.

Lastly, why did the tiger come out to fight the Sherman’s? They were in a good position with only the turret exposed. Let the Sherman’s come to you. You would be better protected, have more time to pick them off, take advantage of the better range of the 88, and your aim would be better than on the move.

[ianiles]

That engagement with the Tiger was ridiculous too. The armour on a Tiger's rear was the same as on its flanks.

[eviloverlordsean]

"The purpose of an anti-tank gun is to destroy tanks." Wise words... and why I hate most war movies.

[sevenproxies]

So ironically, if you went for realistic tank formations for a movie, you could easily get away with just using 1-2 real tanks, and just use CGI to add some blurry outlines of tanks in the distance for every shot?


That could certainly trim down a movie budget by a lot 😄

[kampkat]

“You might think I’m late, but as historian I assure you I’m not “ brilliant humor. 😂

[imanenigma]

Agreed.
As others have commented though,
the last scene is a shocker.
Confident SS troops come across a disabled tank.
Even after the "Surprise" Fury's crew spring on them,
a tank with no infantry support, would be a sitting duck.
Let alone to a battled hardened SS troops.
Quick flank and a panzerfaust and then move on,
like it wasn't even there.
Movie would have ended sooner as well.
Rates right up there with Saving Private Ryan's
attack of the machine gun nest, guarding the radar station,
where the medic gets hit.
Giving up the element of surprise, when you have a sniper
like Jackson in your squad?
Some diversionary fire from various cover positions and let Jackson do his thing.
Instead of waiting for him to change out barrels, you wait till they replace dead gunners.
Just my thoughts, no military experience though.

[ConradAinger]

My great grandfather fought on both the Eastern Front and in Normandy. Wounded twice, yet still lived well into his eighties.
He regarded all Hollywood war movies as utter nonsense.