Other mistake: When Spyros has his last stand-off, he fires his Sten gun at a number of German soldiers and one officer. But even though Spyros only fires forward and does not sweep his gun, every German soldier in his line of fire dies, and the officer remains miraculously unharmed. (02:16:23)
Other mistake: At the beginning of the film a bomber is crashing. As this is happening another bomber is stationary in the sky.
Other mistake: When Miller throws explosive into the German patrol boat's engine room it explodes in sheets of flame, etc. However, there is no damage at all to the fishing boat - no scorch marks and no debris. At least the sail should have caught fire.
Other mistake: Towards the end, when the Germans are searching for explosives around the guns, there are several Germans using metal detectors, yet they are walking along the steel rail tracks and around metal shells and ammo boxes.
Other mistake: After Mallory answers the field telephone on the rocks, the German telephone operator sounds the alarm. When the alarm goes off, Germans run out and jump onto a truck. When the truck drives away it says Dodge on the back.
Other mistake: Throughout this movie it is stated that Mallory can speak German "perfectly", that is, without accentual or grammatical problems at all. But Gregory Peck's 'German' throughout the movie is obviously less than perfect. (I ought to know; I live in Germany and speak both English and German well enough to notice the difference.)
Other mistake: Close to the ending you see that the guns are located in the mountain are on the port side of the ships coming in. During the end scene, notice that the burning hole is on the starboard side of the ships.
Suggested correction: The guns are firing across a strait. A strait is a "narrow passage." Since the targets must appear at a limited range, the guns only need a limited elevation angle.
Noman ★
Watch the film again. The guns are facing the open sea. There is no land visible anywhere behind the ships. If that's a strait, it's a very, very wide one.
The mission given says the guns are guarding a strait. The last shot of the six destroyers shows land behind them on the opposite side of the strait.
Noman ★
Other summaries explain that the strait is only deep enough for the ships at the place which matches the guns' range. So ships could not take advantage of further away or closer in.
Then what are the dark shapes rising out of the sea on the far side of the ships. If they are not islands, what are they?
Noman ★
Suggested correction: That the gun carriages are supposedly set on rails is not correct. In the novel template, as well as in the film, it is shown that the guns were installed on turntables. And as for their variable angles of fire - it could be due to (fictional) modifications.
Daniel4646