a tank movie worth seeing

[Capt. Shark Bait]

it's set pretty much entirely inside a Centurion at the start of the Israeli invasion of lebanon. it's called "Lebanon" and available on bluray. it's rather good, but if I were that tank commanders commander he'd be court-martialled so fast...., along with his crew. also, the writer/director is the TC

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1483831/

[Kapt. Q]

A good movie, based on actual events, the director having been in the portrayed situation. Think it may have a different name this side of the pond.

[Gary Owen]

I just purchased this and attempted to watch it a few nights ago. I couldn't sit through it. Watching the actors stand around and walk about in the fighting compartment of their "tank" resulted in a complete inability for me to suspend disbelief.

Waltz with Bashir, a cartoon, had much better and believable tank action.

[frinik]

I would say that the Beast set in 1982 Afghanistan with the crew of a T62 fighting the Mujaheedin was a much better tank film....

[Sledgehammer427]

Originally Posted by frinik

I would say that the Beast set in 1982 Afghanistan with the crew of a T62 fighting the Mujaheedin was a much better tank film....

Havent seen Lebanon yet, but I have seen The Beast, and while I cant remember a lot of in-tank action, I do remember being solidly impressed by the story.

[Capt. Shark Bait]

between the 2, The Beast is better, but Lebanon is more of a people story than The Beast is, so they about equal out

[tigershuffle]

Finnish movie Tali Ihantala

has some very good stuG scenes ..you can see them on youtube


Polish tv series Czterej Pancerni i Pies

[Capt. Shark Bait]

never will you see in WoT a StuGIII take out a t34-85 in one shot, let alone 4 in 30sec, and at near point blank range

[frinik]

Actually in real life it happened in February 1944 a Stug III ausf G killed 6 T34/76 and 85 in 9 minutes at ranges of less than 600 metres. It was well concealed and the T34 were moving in a single line.

[Sledgehammer427]

the only thing the russians didn't do was paint big bullseyes on the turrets!

[frinik]

Yeah!The Soviets were often careless both as drivers and commanders.In that particular example the Stug III Kommandant saidf his vehicle was painted white and concealed behind a slight ground elevation which exposed only the top of the Stug and the gun.He spotted the Soviet tank column at 1200 metres, driving leisurely and sliding on the snowy road without a care in the World.He said they were 8 kms behind German lines and probably did not reallise they had strayed into enemy territory! Owing to the cold wind that day the Soviets crews were driving buttoned up.The Stug Commander could not rely on any friendly unit close by but neverheless decided to take advantage of the fact that the Soviets had not detected him and were unaware that they were behind German lines.He let them get as close as 800 metres then he told his gunner to fire at the last tank.He said he hoped the other tanks would not realise what was happening before it was too late.The T34 at the end of the column was hit on the side and started pouring black smoke.The he told his gunner to aim for the tank ahead of the one they had destroyed.Again another T34 went up in smoke.He said in the next few minutes they destroyed another 5 tanks going up the column.But then their luck ran out because one of the 2 surviving tanks spotted his gun firing.Fortunately the Soviet driver or may be the commander lost his nerves and instead of stopping his to aim and shoot at the Stug the T34 drove straight towards them at full speed but sliding heavily because of the icy snow and shooting.Of course the shots went wide and the Stug waited until the T34 was at 600 metres and shot low just below the drivers position.Apparently they must have hit the ammo because the tank blew up in a huge and loud explosion.The lead tank, a T34/85 and the sole survivor of the column, turned around and without carefully aiming shot in their direction missing by 80 metres. The Stug pivoted and fired.The commander said to their horror their shot just bounced off the sloped front armour and the Soviet commander was frantically trying to spot their exact position.What played in the Stug's favour was the blustery wind that was lifting a lot of snow at times and the white camo which pretty much made it impossible for the Soviet tanks to spot its location whereas the Soviet tanks did not have any winter camo painted on and stood out clearly against the snowy fields.A second shot aimed at the T34 turret penetrated and must have killed eiher the commander or gunner because the T34 lurched to a stop and a minute later 3 crew members hastily jumped out of the tank from the turret and started running , tripping and stumbling wildly on the frozen snow.The Stug's crew just left them get away.They were the only survivors of the entire Soviet column.This shows how deadly and efficient the Stugs could be in their proper role and not used as tanks substitutes and manned by a well-trained and experienced crew.Mind you luck, the best possible conditions for the stug crew combined with an inexperienced or plain mindless foe made it all possible....

[Castout]

Originally Posted by tigershuffle

Finnish movie Tali Ihantala

has some very good stuG scenes ..you can see them on youtube


Polish tv series Czterej Pancerni i Pies

Watched the first link, terrific movie thanks for sharing it with us.

[tigershuffle]

Inspiration for the film clip
Ps.531-19 commanded by Lieutenant Mauri Sartio destroyed 4 enemy tanks in a very short period of time. Gunner was Corporal Olof Lagus (he was a son of commander of Finnish Armour Division Ruben Lagus). On June 14th of 1944, Finns attacked to retake the village of Kuuterselkä. It was the first time when Finnish Stugs were used in action. It started near midnight (in the Summer it is not dark at night in Finland). First Stugs destroyed some machine guns and anti-tank guns. Suddenly, Sartio’s Stug saw Soviet T-34/85 just 15 meters left to their Stug. As fast as a lightning, driver turned Stug 90 degrees to the left, and Corporal Lagus fired. T-34 started to burn immediately. When it started to burn, Sartio’s crew saw numerous other soviet tanks. Young Corporal fired again and two other T-34 tanks were destroyed. Two other T-34 tanks tried to escape, but Lagus destroyed one of them and second T-34, which managed to drive 70 meters, was destroyed by other Stug. All this had taken only 1 to 2 minutes. All Soviet tanks were T-34/85 tanks and ready for action, but fast reaction of Finnish tankers spoiled their opportunity. Amount of enemy tanks destroyed by Stugs in this attack was 11 T-34/85 tanks, 2 ISU-152 assault guns, 1 IS-2 tank and 1 KV-1 tank.

Information provided by Antti Syrjanen, Finland.

[frinik]

The Finns were very good soldiers and along with the Hungarians the best allies Germany had. Too bad there were only 3 million Finns to fight the Soviets instead of 40 million Italians Germany was saddled with.I don't want to disparage the Italians, they are a good and talented people, but let's face it; military-wise they haven't done anything worth talking about ever since the Roman empire collapsed.... Plus the Italians did not want to be involved in the war only Mussolini brought them kicking and screaming into that mess!

[Capt. Shark Bait]

Originally Posted by frinik

Actually in real life it happened in February 1944 a Stug III ausf G killed 6 T34/76 and 85 in 9 minutes at ranges of less than 600 metres. It was well concealed and the T34 were moving in a single line.

I'me sure it happened quite a few times, but you won't see it happen in world of (russian) tanks