"Stupid War Myths Everyone Believes (Thanks To Movies)" Topic

"Even if you've never been to war, you probably think you can spot where war movies get it wrong. Surely the Spartans didn't really go into battle wearing nothing but capes and loincloths, and obviously dudes aren't picking up heavy machine guns and mowing down entire armies, Rambo-style. But if you start to really delve into what war movies get wrong, you find out the answer is everything. Even the stuff that looks fairly authentic…"
Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

I take exception to the bayonet being ineffective. The low casualties from bayonets isn't that they didn't work, it is because they were hardly ever used. When used, they killed a lot of the participants.

Not all war movies make artillery look like noise and smoke and throwing a few bodies around. The latest example of deadly artillery is in the film Hacksaw Ridge. Horrendous.

Some battles did result in virtual massacres. Hastings saw a huge reduction in the thegn class, as most of them died on the field around the king's standard. The common troops hightailed it, but they were not the core army.

I think the author missed the boat on the people not fighting argument. In edged weapon close quarter combat not participating is not really an option. There is no cover from behind which one can wave a sword or poke a spear in the enemies general direction and make believe you are fighting. Your enemy is right in front of you probably doing his best to kill you.

There is also the fact that at the rear of the formation in organized armies there is an officer of sorts waiting to kill you if you run, fail to go forward on the attack, or stand on the defense. You probably only get past him if enough of the unit breaks.

Of course in many of the battles of that era it is when one side breaks that the real killing begins – easier to kill someone running away.

Some good points otherwise.

P.S. Interesting link to the article on the reality of injuries that are usually treated lightly by Hollywood as well. Although there is a bit too much about the damage caused by blast effects.

Eardrums and shrapnel are major concerns, but blast effects drop rapidly with distance.

Matter of fact just watched an old Mythbusters on the body surfing effect portrayed in movies and it was busted.

The article didn't mention my favorite myth of how grenades cause the enemy to tumble out of watch towers relatively intact like in all those Chuck Norris Mission MIA movies.

Glad you enjoyed it boys.

Amicalement
Armand

I think the author missed the boat on the people not fighting argument. In edged weapon close quarter combat not participating is not really an option. There is no cover from behind which one can wave a sword or poke a spear in the enemies general direction and make believe you are fighting. Your enemy is right in front of you probably doing his best to kill you.

Actually, it's still true, even in the front rank of an ancient battle, most did, in fact, make believe, spending the vast majority of their energy not getting killed, "hiding" behind their shield", and making some very half-hearted attempts at attacking the enemy, mostly for show. Only a few "killers" did the majority of fighting, the rest simply held the formation, and gave support.

However, the article is very wrong about muskets being "really, really inaccurate" No they weren't up to 150 yards the musket can hit a bullseye 90% of the time.

It was the soldiers that made the weapons inaccurate, the at times total lack of training in accuracy, the fact that standing shoulder to shoulder is not a good formation for accuracy and neither is shooting as fast as humanly possible. It wasn't the weapon, it was the operator. Now other factors played in, bad powder affects accuracy, and the hard trigger and delay from trigger to the bullet leaving the barrel all make it HARD to be accurate with a musket, but the musket itself was not inaccurate up to about 150 yards.

The article didn't mention my favorite myth of how grenades cause the enemy to tumble out of watch towers relatively intact like in all those Chuck Norris Mission MIA movies.

My favorite grenade is from Long kiss goodnight. a single M67 grenade blows up and apparently, contains about 500 gallons of napalm.

Don't forget the Cooper bombs, that have enough wallop to blow boxcars spinning into the air. The Dawn Patrol, iirc. It looks very cool, how our heroes release these tiny bombs, and whole trains are blown to kingdom come………..

YouTube link And here it is :D

One of my favorites is the "You can only kill a Tiger from behind" myth which was started by "Kelly's Heroes" and recently perpetuated by "Fury" and which even a lot of wargamers seem to believe. And yet in fact, a Tiger I's rear armor is actually a few millimeters THICKER than it's side armor. So a side-shot will suffice if you've got a big enough gun.

the boat on the people not fighting argument

I would agree as well that this is not the case.

They get that only 25% since there were a lot of individuals in Non-Combat roles.

Take the British Colonial Wars when you have 30,000 natives coming at you with swords and spears you are going to shoot.

Since if you don't you will end up dead.

These numbers always hold up. They found there was no difference in the number of "killer" in elite units vs regular grunts. So it doesn't appear that airborne or rangers had any more people willing to kill.
It appears to be part of the universal human psyche

When I first heard a motar fire I was shocked. I thought it would be the poof of movies not the loud as bang that it really is.