the tank that the guy destroys at the end was a tank modern at the time of the film-making, and is DEFINITELY not a german tank. in a way this is not surprising, and in a way it is. it isn't surprising because they didn't care much for military detail at the time, but it would surely have been easier to use a captured panzer or tiger, being so close to the end of the war?
Gr. Arg.
Just checked the filming locations.
Simi Valley California.
The odds of getting a running Panther/Tiger/whatever would be slim indeed.
Anything that we brought back after the war either went to Aberdeen for testing (which didn't require much, we already pretty much knew what they could or could not do) or to museums.
Anyway, it wasn't a Sherman (M4) or a Patton (too much later, even for the earlier models.)
Something in between.
I'm guessing a Chaffee (M47).
Whatever. The movie was great.
Underappreciated and you can't find it.
Mike
I am gonna say M-47 Chaffee too. Boy this movie moved me on TV as a kid - and the year or two before "Combat!" started there was a bunch on TV - remember
"Men in War", the submarine movies, "The Steel Helmet", "Fixed Bayonets" - all made before 1962?
Ye Must Be Born Again