MovieChat Forums > Die Brücke (1961) Discussion > The kids were too well trained

The kids were too well trained


I just finished watching Die Brucke and i enjoyed it very much. It´s one of the best anti-war films that I´ve ever seen, and it constantly reminded me of All quiet on the western front (the 1930´s version).
I have only one complaint. I thought the kids were too well trained, for being in the army for just one day. I mean, they knew how to operate MG42s, panzerfausts, MP40s, MP44s, after only one day! Plus, they did a excellent job defending the bridge.
I think they would have had a hard time just getting used to the kick of their mausers on their first day.

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[deleted]

They would be well used to firing Mausers and MG42's and even panserfausts. Hitler youth training included weapons training to help make formal military training easier to pick up. Seeing as the movie is German and made so close to the end of the war they probably saw no need to include such backstory as Hitler Youth training. This was recent history to the Germans. Germans kids were marching/shooting and being indoctrinated at a very early age.

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Well- I don't think so. The boys were trained in the Hitler Youth and the "Vormilitärische Ausbildung" is several times mentioned in the film.
- And for the "exellent job" they did defending the bridge - well - in fact only 3 (Walter, Jürgen, Karl - and maybe Hans) of the 7 boys did realy fight and only 2 (Walter and Jürgen - the both with "Nazi"-fathers) did something which looks like "good fighting". Jürgen was a good rifleman - the reason for this is explained in the film - his father was his teacher. And Walter was realy "brave" and used the Panzerfaust successful 2 times - that happend really often in this time - I have read that the highest number of Allied-tanks in World War II have been destroyed by Panzerfaust, the Panzerfaust was very easy to use and very powerfull and you didn't need a perfect hit and many Hitler Youth-boys destroyed tanks. When the Americans retreat in the end it is maybe because they don't want to fight boys.

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"And for the "exellent job" they did defending the bridge - well - in fact only 3 (Walter, Jürgen, Karl - and maybe Hans) of the 7 boys did realy fight and only 2 (Walter and Jürgen - the both with "Nazi"-fathers) did something which looks like "good fighting". "

More so, if only 3 kids out of 7 actually did any fighting then the defense of the bridge is even more impressive.

"The boys were trained in the Hitler Youth and the "Vormilitärische Ausbildung" is several times mentioned in the film"

I honestly don´t remember anthing about this. I was under the impression that they hadn´t been trained in the Hitler youth. As far as i recall, they had been drafted for a last ditch defense and trained in just a few days. But i might be wrong so i wish you would give more details.

"When the Americans retreat in the end it is maybe because they don't want to fight boys."

I don´t think so. They tried to take over the bridge: they attacked and lost two tanks in the process. I believe that they retreated because they had come across tough resistance and they thus considered that, being weeks away from Germany´s surrender, it just wasn´t worth it. They were probably most eager to take cover and send some air support to bomb the defenders instead.

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"I honestly don´t remember anthing about this. I was under the impression that they hadn´t been trained in the Hitler youth. As far as i recall, they had been drafted for a last ditch defense and trained in just a few days. But i might be wrong so i wish you would give more details."

The Hitler Youth is not mentioned, but nearly every boy was (had to be) in the Hitler Youth (also the actual pope ;-) ). But they mention "Vormilitärische Ausbildung" (training before military), but yes I don't think that Siggi and Klaus were trained before, but I am sure Jürgen and Walter (but for sure only little). When they are cleaning their rifles Jürgen says: Alles gelernt in der Vormilitärischen Ausbildung (All learned in the V.A.) and the Unteroffizier replies: Aber alles haben sie euch nicht beigebracht. (They did not teach you all) - because the rifle is not clean. I think the V.A. is mentioned also in 1 other scene, but I don't remember exactly- Something what strongly speaks for the Hitler Youth of also the other boys: When Hans and Albert pack their stuff Albert says: Der Fähnleinführer (or Fahnenführer - I don't rember the exact word) hat gesagt, dass man nur am Tag schießt und Nachts nur mit dem Messer arbeitet (The Fähnleinführer (leader in a youth group) said, you have only to shoot on day and at night you have to work with your knives), but Hans say thats nonsense. By the way the Hitler Youth like many other things worked different in different citys. Like always it depended on lokal people. Some had to learn to use weapons (and that maybe only one hour or so in one month) and others had only to do sports or things like the pathfinder, my grandfather told me that in his village the Hilter Youth was only formal and they never did something military - because the lokal authorities there were not so fanatic but this could be totaly different in the next village.
At the beginning on the school yard, when all the boys speak together and are happy that they have now only English lesson. they say: Geländetraining fällt aus. (There is no outdoor training) and an other boy asks: Und was ist mit MG-schießen? (And what about MG-shooting?) - For sure all this is not real military tranining, but maybe they could handle a gun. The Hitler Youth training was manly for make them gun and military lovers but it was not made (at least in the beginning) to make them go to real fight.

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Thank you very much for all the information, that pretty much explains it all. I watched a spanish-dubbed version of the film and most of what you mentioned there was missing.

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As I understood it from an interview with the director of the film. This was all based off of something that had happened to him in the war. He and 2 other boys were in a Wehrmacht truck and dropped off at the bridge in their home town. I can't remember if they were told to defend it or if they decided it was their duty to defend it. I can't imagine they had more than rifles, but one of them (the eventual director) thought it was stupid to defend the bridge an wanted to go home. The other two teased him for doing so and called him a coward. The next morning he went to the bridge and found the two boys dead. Obviously, you can't make a movie out of that. So the film was changed to 7 boys armed to the teeth with every weapon available. In real life I'm sure the enemy wasted no time in shooting them and going on their way (thus the engagement not being mentioned in any history books).

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[deleted]

Yes I agree. I liked the movie alot. I think more Americans should understand how finatic German children were towards the end of the war as well. I thought "Downfall" did a prticularly good job of that too. I was saying, as you said, the battle was "enlarged" in order to make the movie more "epic" (if thats the right word). And also probably because of the availability of so much Wehrmacht weapons and equipment in Germany at the time the film was made. I wasn't at all offended by this movie, its one of my favorites.

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[deleted]

I'm not sure it's just a matter of the kids being 'fanatic'. They were defending their country and homes against an invader. I imagine if USA was invaded American kids would fight too. The child soldiers who fought in the Warsaw uprising are considered heroes and celebrated.

It's interesting how in Britain today we still have groups like the Army cadets and ATC, who train kids to use weaponry, and yet if there's a picture of a child soldier in another part of the world we talk about fanatics.

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Yeah, this is right. One of them talks specifically about being in the Hitler Youth. Another (the one whose father taught him how to shoot and whose mother had a gun cabinet!) talks about how to bayonet someone.

In any case, the panzerfaust is a ridiculously easy AT weapon to fire, particularly at the ranges he fires it from (less than 10 feet on the last tank)...he literally cannot miss. To compound it, the wooden mock-ups are supposed to be early Shermans, with very thin armour and petrol as fuel...so they would brew up pretty quickly.

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[deleted]

Your assessment is well founded. The group was not disciplined or well coordinated and most of the boys were ineffective. They might have been able to use their weapons but that is a long way from being a disciplined military unit. Nonetheless, a few were able to focus on their task and actually fight.
The panzerfaust was a deadly anti-vehicle weapon at short range and was easy to use. One just needed the determination or the fool's courage to do it.
But it seems to me that the Americans did not expect any serious resistance in addition to be taken aback by finding they were fighting boys. If they had approached expecting a serious fight from a real unit, their tactics and the battle would have been very different.
How much training the boys really had, in total, is a bit vague but the story is still believable.

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When the Americans retreat in the end it is maybe because they don't want to fight boys.

It had nothing to with the Americans not wanting to fight kids. They just followed standard procedure.
The novel describes the defence in more detail:
The first attack on the bridge, tanks and infantry and the amis' retreat, is described in the film. Three boys still survives and are on their way to go home when the standard procedure follows: Mustangs attack with cannon and rocket fire (to kill defenders, leaving the bridge intact).
One of the boys - Walter Forst (the Panzerfaust 'expert') is killed when he tries to secure his stock of Fäuste, and one of them goes off. Then the two remaining boys meet the demolition team as shown in the film....

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Inside the Hitler Jungend, boy were trained with reduced 22LR Mauser rifles.

Anyway, everyone can figure how fast a kid uses his last Batman/power Ranger highly sophisticated gun with tons of buttons everywhere... using a Mauser is far more simple... ever try to understand Pokemon rules...

When I was young with my friends in the countryside we used one former German Mauser KAR to shot hogs within a 100-150 yards range. Recoil wasn't a real problem. Time to understand how a Mauser works... less than 5 minutes.

We were lucky to find a working (after lots of cleaning and lube) MG-42 with some ammo out of the lost wreckage of a German truck. Understanding how to use it without any booklet or instruction was worth 15 minutes... and it shoot really fine...

Kids aren't inhibited by the "I don't know if I'll be able to" complex. They pick up the stuff, look to what seems to move, be dismounted and so on. They are really fast learners with things that passionnate them. Show them once, you've done it.

They were tons of Panzerfausts in Berlin at the end (lots of them exploded killing hundreds when strike by a Russian shell). Everybody was able to use them: young, old, women. It was a ready to use weapon. Just pick up the piece, unfold the sights, point and shoot. Seems difficult ? Ask the Russians tank crews, they'll know the cost.
Ever seen how to use a LAW... so few steps, so easy. Training of course is a plus

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Yes, weapons are made to be used by anyone, it doesn't require a genius. And if you have tried one rifle, the next one's much easier.

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Kids in Germany in WWII had classes on MG42s and such in their high schools. They were probably already familiar with them.

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Since "Die Bruecke" is based on the autobiographical book by Manfred Gregor (Gregor Dorfmeister) it couldn't have been the director of the movie. Maybe you misunderstood that and it was an interview with the author of the book.

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[deleted]

They said they had had training prior to their being drafted. That one kid with the panzerfausts did most of the damage. Youthful enthusiasm makes up for lack of training. They did get slaughtered so it was not a successful defense. Perhaps Wicki didn't want the kids to have a bad showing, that would depress the home audience too much.

For reasons unknown....I resume....

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