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That is a favorite movie of many tankers, largely because most of us have served with that tank crew at least one time or another.
Personally the one scene in the movie that really strikes me is when the Sherman comes up behind the Tiger in the alley and the Tiger tries to traverse its turret but the gun tube hits a wall. I understand exactly how that Tiger's commander felt -- exactly the same as I felt facing an RPG in a firefight when my gun tube hit a tree and I couldn't swing the turret far enough to get him in time. Fortunately things worked out for me.
Personally the one scene in the movie that really strikes me is when the Sherman comes up behind the Tiger in the alley and the Tiger tries to traverse its turret but the gun tube hits a wall. I understand exactly how that Tiger's commander felt -- exactly the same as I felt facing an RPG in a firefight when my gun tube hit a tree and I couldn't swing the turret far enough to get him in time. Fortunately things worked out for me.
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MSG Thomas Currie
PO3 Edward Riddle - Everything about that day was bad shit.... Starting with a Squadron Commander who had decided to screw up the most effective fighting machine in country by reorganizing us from a Regimental Cavalry Squadron into a mirror image of a Divisional Cavalry Squadron. [A bit too complex to explain here, but IYKYK].
He also had us paint the vehicle bumper numbers on the roof of each vehicle, large enough to read from his helicopter so he could direct individual vehicles over the radio without going through the company/troop commanders and platoon leaders.
He was overhead trying to manage what he envisioned as an envelopment of an NVA position he had spotted from the air (that position turned out to be a former NVA base, that had been abandoned).
Getting us there he ran one of the columns (the one I was in) directly through a large underground NVA base that was most certainly active. The NVA didn't really want to tangle with us -- from what we learned later their commander had decided to have his soldiers stay hidden and just let us pass. But, of course, you know in any unit there is always that one guy who doesn't get the word. Our lead tank came up behind an NVA lookout who thought he was hiding. Yes, our lead tank was about to cross out of the NVA base camp when the tank commander saw the lookout and fired. The whole f'ing world started shooting! -- We were in the middle of the NVA position and still had not seen them until then.
I was a poor dumb SP4 tank crewman with just over a year in the army when my tank commander took several rounds to the center of his chest and died by the time he cleared the cupola. His dying act was getting out of the way so someone else could manage the tank. Suddenly it was MY tank and we were in deep shit.
Lot's of bad stuff going on. But even under those circumstances we were still Blackhorse -- Doc Bahnsen had not managed to screw us up completely.
But to get to the point of this story, we were pushing forward with two tanks that should have been opposite ends of a platoon line but did not have the three tanks that should have been between us in that line. I watched an NVA soldier stand up with an RPG to my right front - I swung the turret to the right - AND HIT A DAMN TREE - meanwhile Jim, the TC of the other tank, didn't see the RPG and there was no chance that I would be able to do anything in time... Then the guy looked at my tank, looked the other way at Jim's tank, dropped his RPG and ran! The direction he ran took him where I could shoot him and I fired a 90mm canister round as soon as he was.
So, yes, any time I watch Kelly's Heroes I know exactly how the tank commander of that Tiger tank felt when his gun tube hit the wall.
He also had us paint the vehicle bumper numbers on the roof of each vehicle, large enough to read from his helicopter so he could direct individual vehicles over the radio without going through the company/troop commanders and platoon leaders.
He was overhead trying to manage what he envisioned as an envelopment of an NVA position he had spotted from the air (that position turned out to be a former NVA base, that had been abandoned).
Getting us there he ran one of the columns (the one I was in) directly through a large underground NVA base that was most certainly active. The NVA didn't really want to tangle with us -- from what we learned later their commander had decided to have his soldiers stay hidden and just let us pass. But, of course, you know in any unit there is always that one guy who doesn't get the word. Our lead tank came up behind an NVA lookout who thought he was hiding. Yes, our lead tank was about to cross out of the NVA base camp when the tank commander saw the lookout and fired. The whole f'ing world started shooting! -- We were in the middle of the NVA position and still had not seen them until then.
I was a poor dumb SP4 tank crewman with just over a year in the army when my tank commander took several rounds to the center of his chest and died by the time he cleared the cupola. His dying act was getting out of the way so someone else could manage the tank. Suddenly it was MY tank and we were in deep shit.
Lot's of bad stuff going on. But even under those circumstances we were still Blackhorse -- Doc Bahnsen had not managed to screw us up completely.
But to get to the point of this story, we were pushing forward with two tanks that should have been opposite ends of a platoon line but did not have the three tanks that should have been between us in that line. I watched an NVA soldier stand up with an RPG to my right front - I swung the turret to the right - AND HIT A DAMN TREE - meanwhile Jim, the TC of the other tank, didn't see the RPG and there was no chance that I would be able to do anything in time... Then the guy looked at my tank, looked the other way at Jim's tank, dropped his RPG and ran! The direction he ran took him where I could shoot him and I fired a 90mm canister round as soon as he was.
So, yes, any time I watch Kelly's Heroes I know exactly how the tank commander of that Tiger tank felt when his gun tube hit the wall.
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PO3 Edward Riddle
MSG Thomas Currie - I can't imagine not being able to shoot when it was necessary Brother Tom. Damn, Damn, DAMN!!!
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