Corrected entry: During the whole opening sequence of the storming of Omaha beach, not once are the barrels on the German MG-42's changed. The heat developed in these barrels due to this machine-gun's extreme cyclic rate (25 rounds pr. sec), makes it necessary to replace them with a spare barrel on regular intervals. Granted, in the heat of battle, it might get problematic to do this, but a seasoned German soldier would've managed to change the barrel in only a few seconds. There is also no barrel change in the scene where Miller's patrol attack the German MG-34 position later in the movie (where in the end the medic gets hit and dies).
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Correction: In the Normandy sequence, there's no way of knowing the gunners never changed barrels. The focus is rarely on them, but rather the Americans fighting their way up the beach. Just because they don't specifically show them changing barrels doesn't mean they didn't, there's plenty of time where they're offscreen for them to do so. The second firefight is very brief, there's no way the machine gun's barrel would overheat from such a short engagement. Also, at this point in the war, many of the German troops that where stationed on the western front where very young and untrained. For example, during the scene where the American troops surround a trench and kill all the German soldiers in it, the knife that the American soldier pulled off a dead German was a Hitler Youth knife. Which is given to adolescent Germans who want to be soldiers.
RJR99SS