... then who were all those other German soldiers that were there when they started to fight their way back, ie the ones firing the artillery gun and the lot defending the factory?
Surely they weren't all in Steiner's platoon?
..and if Sam P. wasn't a HARDCORE drunk then..? What?
shareThey all belong to Steiners platoon! Regular platoon size at the time was around 30-40 men. But only a few of them got speaking roles, the others were just extras. Steiner was obviously Platoon leader; Schnurrbart (in english: mustache) and Krüger were his corporals. Stransky was company leader, and Triebig his second-in-command. Colonel Brandt was batallion leader, or even regiment leader, not sure about that.
shareBrandt, who I think is a full colonel, is more likely to be a regimental commander. Battalions were sometimes commanded by full colonels but more often they were led by lieutenant colonels, majors or even captains. On occasion full colonels even commanded entire divisions in the German army, though these were more likely to be led by generals.
The film really only introduces us to a squad-sized unit, but Steiner is a platoon commander and so there are at least 20 other soldiers in his unit besides the ones who have speaking roles in the film.
Incidentally, I think that young second lieutenant who gets bayoneted in the Russian dawn attack was the original platoon commander. In the early stages of WW2 second lieutenants were typically platoon commanders in the German army, but as the war went on it was increasingly common for senior NCOs like Steiner's grade to be platoon commanders. In the German army senior NCOs often had responsibilities that in other armies fell to junior officers.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."
On Wiki it says Brandt is really regimental commander and I was proven wrong with Stransky - he is battalion commander, not company. With him its a bit misleading, since you never really see him deal with anything else than things related with Steiner and his platoon.
Lieutenant Meyer - the guy who gets killed - is company leader.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Iron
Second lieutenants could be company commanders, especially later in the war. A captain like Stransky could be a battalion commander in the German (and also Soviet) army, whereas a captain would normally be considered too junior in the US and British armies.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."