Saving Private Ryan - Tank in Beach Assault Sequence

M24 sans MG?

 

I didn't think any tanks made it on to Omaha beach

 

Hey Brad, a few did make it onto the beach but they didnt make much of an impact, im quoting this from wiki as it says it better than I could...

"112 tanks were assigned to the first wave at Omaha Beach, with 56 tanks in each of the 741st and 743rd Tank Battalions. Each of these battalions had 32 DD and 24 other Shermans (including many Sherman bulldozers for clearing obstacles). Starting at about 0540, the 741st Tank Battalion put 29 DDs into the sea, but 27 of these sank, the remaining two made the long swim to the beach. Some of the crews of the sinking tanks managed to radio back and warn following units not to launch as far out. The remaining vehicles of the 741st Tank Battalion and all tanks of the 743rd Tank Battalion, (except for the four aboard one LCT that was hit by artillery fire just off the beach), were landed directly on the beach, starting at about 0640."

DD tank - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

It's meant to be a DD Sherman : you can see the trunking for the exhausts. IIRC, a little later you briefly see two of them after the beach has been taken......

 

I don't think it's a DD because you (at least I) can't see the floatation skirt. My guess would be an M4A1 with wading trunk installed. The upper surfaces appear to be rounded as in the cast hull.

 

I think you're right there, USMCP....

 

Does indeed look like an M4a1 with wading gear.
7:50+ here:
Saving Private Ryan - Omaha Beach Part 1 - HD - YouTube

Though I have a funny feeling the film used the same machines as appeared in Band of Brothers, and memory (untrustworthy) says some of those were Canuck-built Grizzlies, so "does not look like something of the period produced for the US Army" might have a grain of truth in it.

~A

 

IIRC, the Canadian Grizzly/Sherman was only used in the end sequence. The D-Day tanks are likely only CGI.

 

Well at least they didn't use M-48's!

 

Amen.


I apologise for posting that picture, must go and wash my eyes now.

~A

 

I have a question regarding a sound effect at just about the same time in the film that I cannot figure out, I wonder if it was supposed to be the DD Sherman coming ashore.

Just seconds before this scene, when Miller is arguing with the engineer/sapper about blowing up the obstacles, there is a whump whump whump sound for several seconds. It sort of sounds like a helicopter rotor played slower than actual, but I really have no idea. It is a rhythmic, not a staccato, sound, but certainly doesn't sound like a machine gun or any weapon I've heard in any movie or documentary before or since.

Does anyone know what this is supposed to be if it's not one of the DD tanks?

 

Maybe a flail (anti-mine tank) noise simulation?

 

In all the descriptions I've read of the DD tank fiasco, I've never come across any report of a warning being "radioed back"
by one of the tank carrying vessels. It is certain that one of the army officers on board a DD landing craft refused to launch
after observing the obvious - the DD tanks could not handle waves as large as those at Omaha. They also were launched
too far from shore- beyond what the regulations allowed, due to the danger carbon monoxide poisoning of the tank crew.
The DD tanks were a piece of threadbare British engineering and were never tested in sea conditions like those encountered
at Omaha, for obvious reasons. Yet they went ahead and attempted to launch them. A totally mismanaged operation, like the
Mulberry harbors, PLUTO, the airborne drops, the air bombardment, the naval bombardment, the rocket ship bombardment,
the obstacle clearing fiasco. In other words, every aspect of the landings were ill-conceived, mismanaged, and/or directly
contradicted the planners' own assumptions. Operation Neptune stands out as a near perfect example of how not to plan an invasion.

 

Same with Salerno and Tarawa but we won em all.... Gotta love the rifleman !

 

For every one thing the Generals do wrong you have to count not only the lives it costs, but every hundred things the ordinary man has to do correctly.