Fridge / Kelly's Heroes

• Oddball explains that his crews have fitted pipes to their tanks to make their undergunned Shermans seem more menacing^note in reality, the tanks used for filming had been fitted with larger guns after the war. In fact, there did exist a Sherman variant (the Firefly) which had a far more powerful gun (the British 17-pounder anti-tank gun ^note For the Americans, they have the almost equivalent 76mm gun for their Shermans, however in the early stages of the invasion of France, commanders declined to bring them for logistical reasons. The 76mm gun had almost the same looks as the 17-pounder.) that was quite capable of knocking out a Tiger I^note though not a Tiger II or a Panther, and was actually just as powerful as the famous 88mm Tiger cannon or the 75mm gun used by the Panther^note not that this was a decisive advantage since the Sherman was under-armored as well by 1944 standards: the German tanks could knock out a Sherman tank at any range. The Germans did see the Firefly tanks as a serious threat, but their reaction was quite predictably to attempt to eliminate them first and leave the regular Shermans for later^note tank units needed both kinds since no good high explosive shell was available for the 17-pounder at that time, leaving it excellent against tanks but nearly useless against infantry or buildings, which was the forte of the regular Sherman tank guns. This lead the Firefly crews to do anything they could to hide their larger gun (e.g. using white paint to make it appear shorter with illusion camouflage◊ ) rather than try to emphasize it like what Oddball did with his Shermans. Then again, most German tanks would not want to tangle with a 17-pounder slinging Sherman, as they were thinly armored Panzer IV's.
• What would happen to the German tankmen if they get caught, whether by Allies or Germans? They deserted from the German military—and deserting from the SS is bound to be treated harshly. Since they are wearing US tankmen's uniforms they traded for from Oddball's crew, they can be shot as spies if they are caught by Allies.
  • Perhaps the German tank crew can bribe their way into getting better disguises (like regular civilian clothes).
• The assumption is that Kelly's crew deposit the stolen gold in Switzerland before either returning to their lines or hiding out for the rest of the war in Europe. The irony is that the gold would probably have ended up in a Swiss bank anyway. Why else would the Germans have stashed it in a French town so close to the Swiss border?
• When Gen. Colt goes on about the idea that the men lack "fighting spirit", he's right. Problem is, he's completely wrong about the motivations. Odds are that a good portion of the men were draftees, and given how much combat their company had seen Big Joe's men had by now seen right through all the propaganda. Constantly being at the broken end of a bottle? Too much. Being given a chance to make their lives better? That is enough to be heroes.