Part I: Favourite Armoured Battle in a War Movie?

[Crossroads]

Here's something to kill time while waiting for that opponent turn to arrive...

Part I: What is your favourite tank battle sequence in a war movie?
Part II: Poll

First, please name your favourite tank battles from big or small screen. Please give your motivation as why this should be voted to be the best sequence, together with a link to a video clip. Yes - we need to see the action in order to vote.

I will then open a poll in a couple of weeks time, include what I believe to be the TOP10 candidates, we can all then vote as who gets the award for a best link.

Here are my candidates:

#1: BoB episode 3 "Carentan" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhFPHr0OP...re=related

BoB has defined what is to be expected of realistic battle sequences. Although there is a longer tank battle in episode 4 "Replacements", this gets my vote as I feel it really nicely builds up its momentum as the Germans prepare to counter attack from the top of the hill.

The assault guns don't seem able to utilise their cannons downwards against Easy company positions. Soon, we see them retreat having had their noses blooded by some very courageous bazooka usage and then by the cavalry that is the 2nd Armor Shermans.

Actually, that was a h3ll of a job the Easy company accomplished in this sequence, suppressing the German infantry to their positions and taking the daring enemy tank out of action, keeping the other tanks put as well.

What made this my top choice was how they first showed a realistic view of the assault guns giving close support to infantry, then introduced friendly armour to change this into a tank battle.

What is my pet hate about this sequence are the GIs striking a pose on top of a Sherman, killing single handedly everyone with their .50 cal. It is so unbelievable it must be true (as I believe pretty much everything we see in BoB actually happened). I do not know about you but I would not approach enemy armour standing on a top of a tank :chin:

Nice mock-up of German tanks, I believe I saw a StuG III G (75mm cannon), StuG III H (105 mm howitzer), Jagdpanther, and was that a Panther that appeared for a few seconds?

EDIT: No, the StuG with the skirt was meant to be a Stug III G as well. And yes, I believe the tank is meant to be a Panther.

My #2 goes for the infamous Tali Ihantala 1944 movie and to its sequence where they film with actual StuGIII Gs and T34/76s and 85s. Unfortunately the clip has disappeared from Youtube so this does not qualify. Let us see if I can find it again.

EDIT: The clip indeed is gone but found this instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYo-zlaDby4

The movie sequences are all changed to create a music video out of some of the tank battles in the movie. Oh well, this just goes on to demonstrate the wasted potential of the movie... And what can be accomplished with a Hans Zimmer soundtrack :smoke:

My original reason for selecting the original clip was how it demonstrated why it was crucial to have time to stop before firing as the contemporary tanks of the WWII era had no mechanism to stabilise the cannon tube while in motion. The point in case is the fourth T34 the StuG crew met. It moved to a kill, halted, weaved, fired a bit too early and consequently hit the ground in front of the StuG.

Also I liked the action where the StuG with its cannon jammed to upright joins the battle, destroys one T34 and is then hit by another T34.

OK OK, I would vote for a clip of just seeing them in motion :cheeky:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjxNexw0mmo


And finally, there is so much I have not seen. I found this by accident while typing this at the airport, waiting for my flight:

Osvobozhdenie ("Liberation") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Q75NVnRPA

A HUGE Soviet-DDR Movie about the Liberation of Berlin. I have not watched it yet, but the opening sequence comes with most tanks I have ever seen in any movie. Come to think of it, there are more tanks than I have seen in all other movies combined! :eek1:

Apparently, they even build a King Tiger out of what is a IS-2 (or a more modern T55? I am not good with these):




So, my fellow Members, let us begin the Race for the Best Armoured Battle in a War Movie!

EDIT2: Just got home and watched part I of "Liberation". I was afraid the competition ended before it even started, as this is truly massive. The director managed to turn the battle of Kursk into a kung-fu sequence... Game on! With YouTube, one link leads to another. I will stop here, though. Please join! :)