A visual masterpiece that falls short on accuracy

Rating: 6/10 (9 February 2015)

I had high expectations watching this movie, as I am a huge WWII tank buff and love the late model Shermans.
Sadly, this movie was over the top and completely ridiculous, even more so than Saving Private Ryan, which until now was my worst modern WWII movie.
If you don't give a damn about historical accuracy then proceed no further as I have no time for you....
If you really want to understand tank combat, in WWII, then proceed further...
First, a history lesson. The Americans produced a very successful tank, the Sherman, during WWII. It was very easy to build, very easy to drive and fire, and they pumped them out like sausages.
The Germans, they went the other direction, starting in mid-WWII, they began producing very sophisticated tanks, including the Tiger I, the Panther, and late war, the Tiger II and JadgPanther (tank hunter) tanks. These tanks were very expensive, in very short supply, and the majority of tanks that the American shermans faced in the D-Day landings and beyond were the earlier Panzer-III and IV models. The IV was a basic match for the Sherman.
OK, so the movie starts with some random German officer riding his white horse through a battlefield, and getting jumped by a tank commander. this is ludicrous. No German officer would risk his life alone to ride through a recent battlefield. Silly.
The tank commander orders his new hull gunner to execute a German prisoner... Completely false and a HUGE insult to our veterans! The tank crew gets drunk and storms the tank commander's party. In WWII, that would have earned you an immediate court martial if they did not leave the room IMMEDIATELY. The tank commander was GOD, and he decided if you were going to be dragged away by the MP's or not.
A Tiger Mk 1 charges across an open field to engage 4 Shermans. Crazy. The Tiger was a long distance engager. It would sit back with it's 88mm gun and pick off enemy targets at will. It took an average of 5 sherman tanks, rushing it at FULL SPEED, to take one Tiger out. 4 of the 5 Shermans would NOT SURVIVE. THIS IS WAR, and the Americans knew this, which is why the Sherman crews would bail out as soon as they heard an 88mm shell landing anywhere near them! They knew their country had the advantage in production, and a new tank would be coming soon down the road.
On hitting a tank mine... you DO NOT send your crew to check out the local area! You are asking them to be ambushed and trigger further booby traps! Crazy stupid tactics. Any tank commander would leave the sides of the road for the infantry backup.
You are a single enemy tank in hostile territory and you find out a company (300+) of enemy infantry is moving on you. What do you do? Well, the easiest answer is you call in artillery and air support and get the hell out of there, on foot if possible.
A force this size, especially with anti-tank panzerfaust weapons as portrayed in the movie, is bad news. They will easily surround your tank, overcome the defenses, climb on board if they have to, and chuck grenades and high explosives down your hatches.
The tank commander takes 1 or 2 bullets and falls down into the tank and does not immedietely call for medical help.
Finally, if you want to watch a decent tank movie, watch "the beast", which is about a T-62 tank crew in Afghanistan.
Before you reply to this, I am an experienced Canadian Soldier with multiple years of experience...