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Decision Before Dawn Vehicles + Ordnance list


Love the authentic feel to this film - everything about it from the rubble to the uniforms just all feel right - obviously coming from being made on location and within 5 years of the end of the war. But thought I would knock up a quick list of equipment appearing in the film.

List in rough order of appearance

German - Volkswagen Kubelwagen's
US - Willys MB Jeep's
US - Chevrolet G505 Truck
M8 Greyhound armoured car
US - Staff car - (unknown type)
US - M24 Chaffee light tanks (also used as German armour)
German - Half-track - SdKfz 250 Neu/10 3.7cm Pak (note it has gun shield but no 3.7 canon in place)
German - Pak 40 7.5cm Antitank gun
US - Motorcycle Harley Davidson XA (pretty sure its this but not 100 percent)
US - Douglas DC3 (looks like Civil post war transport version)
German - BMW R/75 Motorcycle and sidecar
German - Staff/radio car Horch Kfz 18 sPkw
German - Opel Blitz truck - various types (radio command version on bridge)
German - 2cm Flak 30/38 Towed version seen both on and off its mount
German - Mercedes armoured truck - (used as mount for flak guns and rockets or as an ammunition wagon)
US - P47 Thunderbolts
German - Half-track prime mover 5t Zugkumftwagen - towing 7.5cm Pak40
German - 10.5cm leFH 18 'light field' Howitzer
German - 4 barrelled 2cm Flakvierling 38 (on wheel mount in towed position)
German - Mercedes truck
German - 8.8cm Pak 43 (at least i think it is, as 'Happy' runs from bridge he ducks under it)
German - (well almost) Nashorn (rhinoceros) Sdfkz 164 - well a good attempt at one; blink and you will miss it. Again as 'happy' runs away, and down the side of the bridge - if you look up at the vehicles crossing the bridge in the background you will see what looks like a Nashorn - but my guess is it's a Chaffee made to look like one as the road wheels and barrel don't look right. You also glimpse it later.
German - (this may not be right) 7.5cm Light mountain gun with shield in place - 7.5cm GebG 36)

oh and lots of small arms - MG42 on tripod mount, MP40's and Panzerschrecks to name but a few.

If I have missed anything let me know, or add to the thread with any amendments.

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Just a minor quibble, it was an Sd KFZ 251 IIRC...

Dale

"If those sweethearts won't face German bullets--They'll face french ones!"

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simon-chapman: wow ! What a keen eye and level of knowledge you have. You are truly a connoisseur of the movie. Do you live in the UK and have access to the Amoured Museum at Covington ? As you probably know, the museum has operational examples of the Panzer III, a rare Panther and an even more rare Tiger I. Even if you can't get down there, their website is great.

I've made a print of your equipment list and placed it with my copy of the movie !

Barkeep: a wee dram of your finest for our good man: simon-chapman !

CmdrCody

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Hi CmdrCody -Yes live in the UK up in Yorkshire however - not been to Bovington tank museum in a long while planning a trip this year hopefully. Last place I went was the Air Museum at Duxford that has a good collection of armour in their land warfare hall - http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1223 worth a trip also.

cheers

Simon

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I am sure its a 250 neu. I 1st thought its was 251 Ausf D - but it appears several times and it is too short to be a 251 the number of road wheels are different on the 251, plus I also now think its an MG shield on the half-track as its size makes it look bigger than it is. See pics here - http://vincesgallery.smugmug.com/gallery/1019521_5LquP#47240187_z9d7C - has 251 in background for comparison - However the back is slanted the wrong way so not sure if there was a 250 neu with back slopping the same way as 251. Or you may indeed be right and its just looks too small.

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In the shoot-our at the bombed-out bridge, the Gestapo agent fires at Maurer with a pistol I had not seen before. Maurer fires back and kills the agent with what appears to be the same kind of pistol. Can anybody identify this kind of pistol?

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"Maurer fires back and kills the agent with what appears to be the same kind of pistol. Can anybody identify this kind of pistol? "

I don't know what was used in the film but in the book, someone takes Happys shoulder holster & gun. The gun is called an 'Olympia', quote, "The Olympia was beautifully designed to lie flat." Later on it is described as "no bigger than a palm" and that it "looks like a toy", it has a safety catch and you press to release the seven round magazine.

What a hidden gem of a film. I wonder what my father would have thought of seeing post-war Germany? (he did his National Service in Berlin and would talk of the young German women being the breadwinners for their families... not all of which involved carnal desires... though he had a German girlfriend and was made very welcome by her parents)

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Hah! I lack your knowledge, but those "German" tanks looked American to me. Thanks for the verification.

I guess that in 1950, the one place you couldn't find German tanks was Germany...

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Now correct me if I'm wrong (and I might be because it's been 30 years since I saw this movie) but didn't those German MPs carry STG-44 automatic rifles? Those were a rarity in any time period

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that's right... the Sturmgewehr 44... the precursor to the AK-47. cool to see in a film

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Yup...I watched the latter half of it earlier today after recording it on TMC; and sure enough, the soldiers did have Sturmgewehr 44s. They didn't actually fire them but they were clear enough in the scenes.

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Good knowledge! Thank you!

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