"George Patton riding a Stuart through No-Man's Land" Topic

I was doing some painting while the new show on the History Channel "The World Wars" was on. I was mainly just listening and glancing up now and then. At one point Patton goes out into no-man's land at night to check the ground in advance of an armor attack. Next morning there he is, riding into battle on the engine deck of a ---- Stuart tank! I know Patton was a brilliant leader but I had no idea he had access to a time machine!

Paul

Guessing there aren't too many FT-17s running these days…

Damon.

You gotta time machine, and ya bring back a Stuart?!!
I saw it too. Decent show overall, for the History Channel.
Lots of "little" things wrong though (ducks, bobs & weaves then runs).
Peter

If you have a time machine, you don't bring back a Stuart, you take a M-26 back to 1938.

Yeah, that was a "Honey" of a scene…

Last I knew Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome had a runnin' FT-17.

oldrhinebeck.org

Whoops, it's a US 6 ton M1917, not a Renault

link

FWIW Wicki sez 41 FTs, 20 M1917s & 5 other copies/models are known survivors.

HOLLYwood!!

BGR

Yeah they had all those great CGI of Renaults. Then you saw this running gear and I thought to myself that isn't right, why that looks like a Stuart. While a Stuart is a small tank it still towers over a FT-17.

It was a brief glimse but they also had him at Fort Meade in 1919 and there was a glimpse of a M4 Sherman in the background.

Watched it too. Found myself saying several times "That's not what happened" or "Where did that come from?".

That is the "History" channel for you. I didn't even bother with it. Sounds like I missed a dud.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, and I thought I was the only one who thought these things.

I turned it on a little late just in time to catch the last bit about Hitler almost being killed by an Allied soldier who just couldn't pull the trigger. Then on to about 8 minutes on Churchill and Gallipoli, then 5 minutes on Lenin, Stalin, and the Russian Revolution. After that I realized it was typical low budget, poorly written, poorly researched History Channel drivel and turned it off. Bah!

The PBS Nova program last week on the Dambusters was just the opposite – well written and well researched. Looking forward to the Nova episode this week (Wednesday night) on the underwater archaeology of the Normandy beaches.

Jim

Was pretty a good show for the History Channel … Some things I never heard before … Yes, I saw the CGI FT-17s, thought that was very well done. Then we see the M3 … But as mentioned, there are very few running FT-17/M1917s left in the world. It may have been too costly to get one or make a "Vis-Mod" of one like we saw in Kelly's Heroe's Tiger Is( based of T34s). Or in Band of Bros., Pvt. Ryan, Wind Talkers and a few others … I remember in old WWII movies in the 50s and 60s, or even later, M4s, M47s, M48s, etc. being painting in Panzer gray or yellow with German insignia like, , etc. or even a Rising Sun … So generally I thought they did a good job overall, with a few "glitches" … I'll watch the other 2 episodes, one is on tonight, along with the first one aired again. To call it a dud would be a bit too strong … it was worth watching. And I'd like to think, save for the M3 and a few other odds and ends, it was generally accurate … IMO … But again, it is, as noted, low budget, done on the cheap History Channel production … So view it as such and take it as a primer to investigate some of the things seen there … At least we didn't have to watch Pickers, Pawn Stars, Swamp People etc. all day … I guess even though I know better in some cases, I'm easy to please … faced with the alternatives … which generally there are few. NatGeo had some very good show on yesterday about the Wars in Iraq, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc. … that I watched also …

tho it was indeed a dud…

EXACTLY as Legion 4 put it!
It is sad though, that you have to give props to a channel called "History Channel" for doing a show about history…
Peter

In short- it was BAD. What a travesty. I hope people complain to them.

link

A "still" from the program with an added comment.

Both the History Channel and SyFy Channel have generally been a bit disappointing … both appealling to the lowest common denominator to get ratings to get $$$ from clients for commercial time … capitalism at it's best … or … worse depending how you look at it …

I was most disappointed by the script playing fast and loose with chronology and not mentioning tremendously important items like Lend Lease and Trotsky. I can live with the "wrong rifle and tank" syndrome but not for the gut of the information to be wrong. Thus speaketh the former teacher.

Last night it explained why the German Panzer Forces were so effective … they were using T-54s … Still better than Swamp People and Pickers … Didn't notice any mention of the invasions of Denmark, Norway, link Greece, link etc. … May be I missed it ? But again better than Fat guys driving 18 Wheelers over ice and snow … I'll watch the last episode tonight to see how it turns out … even though I thought I knew …

I stand corrected … invasions of Denmark and Norway were mentioned, I watched the whole series when it aired last night … must have missed it when I went to the 'fridge …

Saw the same thing about the Stuart tank and had a similar reaction. They also showed Patton during WWII riding on the back of a Sherman into battle. Really?

They showed Douglas MacArthur in WWI leading a platoon in the front lines at the tip of the spear. He was giving orders to individual infantrymen. Really?

MacArthur was wearing a modern khaki colored knit tie.

They filmed several scenes of Hitler, Churchill, Stalin and Tojo in the exact same industrial looking ruined warehouse.

There is one documentary I have seen Called "X-Day: The Invasion of Japan" where the JCS were wearing the wrong uniforms. Most wore lowering ranking Canadian officers uniforms. One had a USN Dress Blue jacket with and single gold ensign stripe.

I have worked with some of these shows and they are defiantly intended for the lowest common denominator.

I have always maintained that the best history on TV is PBS and CSPAN3 History Weekends.

Although the Military History Channel sometimes comes through with some good history programming, "Dogfights", "Greatest Tank Battles" and "Pacific: The Lost Evidence."

There were a number of inaccuracies as the shows went on that just continued to grow … wish they would air those shows again that you mentioned …

After seeing M48's used as panzers in the Battle of the Bulge & Longest Day movies, I watch these shows without so much bias. I 'm less forgiving when it comes to higher budget movies, but I'd rather them put something out there to tell the story than continue to devote the History Channel to Pawn Pickers or some such nonsense. And look at it this way- at least they found a working Stuart to put Patton on rather than having him ride into battle on the back of an M48.

Previews of the next episode contain a scene where Hitler's personal HUMVEE is escorted by Rommel atop his Stryker named "Greif."

And in the Hitler was all alone when he killed himself in the bunker.

Please note, I did not see it, but someone told me they said that "Patton commanded a fleet at the Bulge."

It doesn't get any better than that.

gotta add to this thread.
my great uncle Herbin was old(AA division) and i was little. never heard him mention MacArthur. never knew that Mac and Patton won Argonne by themselves! guess the USMC historical division was wrong. 'spose John Daly's MOH was a lie.

as to the war that followed the war to end all wars, strange that Eisenhower was not even mentioned. My Dad said he had something to do with it. my late uncle Howard would be rolling over in his grave that again, there was no mention of the Marines in the Pacific. guess he was wrong too that the 1st Mar Div was there.

won't even go there about accurate props, my vision is limited and i am old, but i swear i saw one of our new missle destroyers shown sailing with the rising sun flag flying from her stern. you new "deck apes"(ducking and ready for the fight…sorry that actually was a compliment from an old "jarhead") help me out with that one.

Good entertaiment, reenactors did a good job, but as always "ahistorical". still better than the usual swamp trucker bounty hunter loggers.

wasn't worth staying up past my bedtime.

legion 4, "git some" :-)

Yeah, yeah, it's the History Channel so I shouldn't expect that much but still, they showed the German army crossing the Polish frontier on 9/1/39 supported by… a B-17.

They couldn't colorize some of the tons of footage of Luftwaffe aircraft or something?

oops…one beer to many…that should have been DAN DALY.