Has anyone seen the movie Fury? What did you think of the ending? If you saw this movie, here is a thought experiment. If YOU were in command what would your plan be at the end? The movie was interesting but inaccurate and could have been so much better. I propose an alternate ending. At the end of the movie “Fury” the gunner “Bible” asked the tank’s commander Collier "What is your plan?" The only “plan” that Sergeant “Wardaddy” Collier had was play dead until surrounded, then shoot the first German to open a hatch, throw a few grenades out the hatch, and open up with only the bow 30 and the cannon. Turns out it was a stupid plan. A tank commander as experienced as Sgt Collier could have done better. He should have planned to fight for less than 10 minutes using all 4 guns, and many grenades, then escape running the other way, under cover of smoke grenades. All they needed to do was kill about 50 - 100 enemy and seriously injure another 50 - 100, and disable all vehicles, to cripple the Nazi counterattack by an SS battalion of 300, against the supply line for a US division of 10,000 troops. In the first few minutes of the ambush, they could inflict enough damage to stop the counterattack. The biggest worry to the tankers should be a great number of soldiers carrying panzerfaust anti-tank rockets, which had a range of 30 to 60 yards, depending on the type. Also, tankers must know that a grenade is an ideal weapon to defend a tank against infantry. Just throw grenades out the hatches. Everybody outside is in trouble. They should ALWAYS carry about 100 grenades and 50 smoke grenades to cover retreat. The tank “Fury” should have thicker timber logs hanging from the sides. These logs serve two functions, stop panzerfaust rockets, and to cross deep mud. They should also have reinforced their frontal armor using sand bags, tank wheels, and metal plates, tied on or welded to the hull. They should have stacked 2 big sand bags in front of both top-mounted machine guns. Given the circumstances, the tank crew could have played dead better by dumping gas cans about 10 feet in front of the tank, and lighting the gas. From a distance it looks like the tank is, or was, on fire. The fire also obscures the enemy’s view under the tank, which is where the crew will exit. The fire would lure the enemy even closer with more of a false sense of security. Leave all the hatches open. This is critical to the success of their ambush, for the enemy to let their guard down enough. The 76mm was previously elevated and sighted down the road, then the turret turned away to not appear as a threat. The tank looks very dead from a distance. The enemy may stray too close and bunch together, to view the apparently dead Sherman, to their peril. Since the crew will exit the tank through the belly hatch, they should have put some debris, timber or rocks, in front of the tank to conceal the view under the tank. Since the tank is facing the approaching enemy column, they want the view under the tank blocked. Ellis is ready to fire the bow 30, Sgt Collier is inside the turret, ready to pop up and fire the top 30 from behind sand bags, and Gordo is hiding behind the turret ready to fire the 50, also from behind sand bags. ALL ammo cans are close at hand next to each gun for quick reloading. Bible is ready to sight and fire the 76mm as quickly as possible, firing one high explosive (HE) shell every 6 seconds, angled down at close range to throw shrapnel, rocks, and dirt at the enemy, firing continuously for about 3 minutes (30 shells), HE shells to decimate troops, destroy supplies, and disable all vehicles. Then bouncing HE shells on a short time delay, to explode OVER the enemy. The cannon should focus on one side of the road, while the 3 machine guns sweep the other side. That way the cannon doesn’t waste time traversing left and right, allowing a higher rate of fire, maybe up to one shell every 5 seconds, into the same general area, as the enemy scatters off one side of the road. The crew will try to keep the enemy in front of them at a good distance to prevent them flanking left or right for just 5 minutes. That is the plan. When the SS column reaches 5 or 10 yards away, Gordo starts lobbing grenades as fast as he can, one grenade every 4 seconds, from behind the turret. He is protected behind sand bags stacked in front of the 50 cal. They have several buckets full of grenades handy, and a bucket full of smoke grenades behind the turret. When the first grenade explodes, that signals the other 2 machine guns to open up. After Gordo throws a dozen grenades, he also opens up on the 50. Three machine guns and a cannon, firing continuously for 3 minutes should do the job to cripple the counterattack. For a few precious minutes the enemy will be too busy running and dodging bullets and grenades, so they cannot effectively return fire.....for a few minutes. Ellis continuously fires the bow 30, and Gordo on the 50, and Collier on the top 30, continuously fire their guns. At the same time, Bible is firing the cannon with Grady reloading as quickly as possible. The first minute is most critical because the enemy will quickly spread out and make harder targets. The crew needs to inflict most of the damage in the first minute. They need to kill or seriously injure all enemy close to the tank, and avoid being encircled by panzerfausts. After several minutes of firing the top 30, Sgt Collier drops down into the turret. He drops all the way to the floor, and exits through the floor hatch. He crawls on his belly under the tank to the rear to get up and cover Gordo who is firing the 50. Collier has his assault rifle, all his ammo, and a few buckets full of grenades to cover their retreat. Bible fires the cannon for another minute or two, with Grady reloading. After firing 40 or 50 HE rounds, Bible fires a smoke shell at point blank range to signal retreat. Then Collier and Gordo starts lobbing smoke grenades from behind the tank. Bible and Grady drop to the floor to exit through the floor hatch, crawling to the rear with their side arms and ammo, while Ellis and Gordo continue firing and reloading. After a few more minutes of continuous firing, Ellis is the last to exit the tank through the floor hatch. Gordo jumps down and all 5 are sheltering behind the tank. They all throw smoke grenades to cover their retreat. After it gets smoky, each crew throws a few more grenades deep into the smoke screen, so the enemy stays flat on their bellies and heads down. The ambush took under 10 minutes. All surviving crew take their side arms, all their ammo, a full canteen of water, and run like hell, zig-zagging towards the tree line. They split up with the plan to converge somewhere safe in about 15 minutes. The enemy will be so stunned from the intense punishment, they may not even send a pursuit squad, but are forced to attend to their many seriously wounded. If a pursuit squad is sent, they make an easy target for ambush. The SS attack on division supply lines was disabled by the heroic crew of Fury.
