Deliberate mistake: In the scene inside General Kohler's command center when Kohler is giving Colonel Hessler a tour of the war room he points out to Hessler a clock on the wall whose increments represent 1 hour and that the attack has to be over within so many hours. Later in the movie, just when the attack starts, this dormant clock's hand immediately springs forward and ticks through 2 increments, thus representing 2 hours passing in 2 seconds.
Battle of the Bulge (1965)
1 deliberate mistake - chronological order
Directed by: Ken Annakin
Starring: Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan, Robert Shaw, Dana Andrews
Factual error: In the final scene showing the retreating German army, the land they are travelling over is fairly flat and devoid of trees. The Battle of the Bulge was fought in the thickly forested and hilly Ardennes Forest.
Col. Martin Hessler: They have the fuel and planes to fly Cake over the Atlantic Ocean.
Col. Martin Hessler: Do you know what this means?
Trivia: The American uniform-disguised German troop is inspired by the actual operation "Greif" led by Otto Skorzeny. It did however not happen as in the movie; they where not dropped in parachutes but used captured jeeps. Only very few came through and even fewer had any success. Skorzeny had very little time for preparations, The shortage of men with language skills at the desired level was severe and he considered aborting the operation because several conditions of the plan had not been met. Rumours about the target of the task force were encouraged, one being that their target was Eisenhower's HQ in Paris.
Question: What is the English translation of the panzer song when Hessler meets his commanders?
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: I believe that in the film, the men are repeatedly singing only the first verse. However, I have found the complete translation of all five verses and posted it here: "The Panzer Song (Panzerlied) " 1: Whether in storm or in snow /Whether the sun smiles on us/ The day blazing hot /Or the night ice cold/ Our faces are dusty/ But our spirits are cheerful /Yes, our spirits are cheerful/ Our tank roars Into the windstorm. 2: With thundering engines /As fast as lightning/ We engage the enemy/ Safe in our tanks/ Far ahead of our comrades /In battle we stand alone/ Yes, stand alone Into enemy territory. 3: If an enemy tank /Appears in our sight /We ram throttles full/ And close with the foe! /We give our lives freely /For the army of our realm/ Yes, the army of our realm/ To die for Germany Is our highest honour. 4: With barriers and tanks/ Our opponent tries to stop us /We laugh at his efforts/ And travel around them/And when the guns threatingly/ Hide in the yellow sand/ Yes, in the yellow sand/ We search for paths /No-one else has found. 5: And if some day /Faithless luck abandons us /And we can't return home/ The deadly bullet strikes/ And fate calls us /Yes, fate calls us /Then our tank is An honourable grave. Source: http://defence.pk/threads/german-ww2-and-pre-ww2-march-songs.146130.
Michael Albert