World War II: The European Front

Lt. Bushido and Cpt. Indiana under fire at Bastogne

The Frenchman

Lt. Gloucestershire

Cpl. Charles

SGM. MacDuff

Sgt. Chernov

Pvt. Sergei

WWII was the second video produced by the dudes featuring a larger team than WWI. In this film Jack and Eric decided to use family members to hold the camera and act as German soldiers. The video was created for 10th grade history once again aiming to display and provide information about the several allied forces taking part in the last year of the war.

## Plot

The movie occurs in 3 stages during the year 1945 featuring U.S. forces at the Battle of the Bulge in January, British troops encroaching on the Rhine River in March, and Soviet soldiers capturing Berlin in April to May.

### U.S.

The film begins with a German sentry patrolling the snow covered Ardennes forest in Belgium before being shot by Lieutenant Bushido. After this Captain Indiana gives the order to return to camp where they discuss the strange sight of a German officer being dragged by his horse which Indiana remarked that their comrade Johnston shared this fate. Upon returning to camp the two discuss their displeasure with high command as they are lacking rations but then suddenly come under mortar barrage by a German squad. The two take cover behind a snow bank and manage to repulse the invading force. After this they receive the orders to move out from the area. It is here that The Frenchman is sighted enjoying a baguette when Bushido exclaims, "Hey Frenchie! Get over here!". The Frenchman then puts his baguette away and collects his Thompson Submachinegun as well as a French flag running over a hill eager to fight. On their way to their next destination Bushido and Indiana come across the Ardennes fence blocking their path. Bushido decides to vault over the obstacle while Indiana opts for opening the gate and walking through. After this while patrolling the woods the two encounter 2 German soliders sparking a shootout from the opposing sides. Astoundingly both sides manage to completely miss each other exhausting their ammo prompting a retreat. The Americans quickly get behind some cover with Indiana asking, "Do you think they'll come back?". Bushido then replies "I don't know, I shot them like five time I think they're hacking". It is unknown how Bushido knew what hacking was in the year 1945. The two Germans are then also shown remarking about the encounter in a remarkably similar fashion as they make the same statements and bear a striking resemblance to the G.I.s. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology currently trying to study just how the knowledge of hacking was possessed by these individuals. The Free French Frenchman is shown after this scene wondering where is baguette is gone, presumable at some point in his rush out of camp, bringing a close to the U.S. portion of the video.

### U.K.

The British section begins with Lieutenant Gloucestershire giving a mission briefing to his troops before assaulting the Rhine River. The Lt. informs his men how they will be moving up to the Rhine River to link with the 23rd Black Watch regiment in order to attack German encampments. Lance Corporal Charles shows concern about the days plan as he is worried about missing tea time but Gloucestershire reassures him that they will "work something out". The Brits then make their way over to a hill which the Cpl. attempts to claim for Britain only to be met with reprimands by the Lt. that Britain will not be taking any land in this war. While on a hill the two spot their destination as well as a platoon of Wehrmacht forces in the way which they eagerly engage taking cover behind a shed. After disposing of a significant number of troops the pair push joining with the 23rd Blackwatch regiment. The Blackwatch Scots, led by Sergeant Major MacDuff are then viciously charge German soldiers with MacDuff brutally using a sword and a Sten Mk II submachinegun. The focus then shifts back to the English from the Scots showing Gloucestershire and Charles stopping their attack for tea time. A German attempts to disrupt their affairs so Charles eliminates him with a pistol so that they may continue to enjoy their Tea and Crumpets. The Scots meanwhile are continuing the attack managing to defeat the Wehrmacht forces on their side of the river with MacDuff remarking how soon the The Third Reich will fall ending the British section of the video.

### U.S.S.R.

The Soviet portion shows a different perspective on the allied forces as The Red Army acts more cruelly blurring the line between Russian and Nazi methods. The first glimpse of the Soviets shows Sergeant Chernov executing a German solider by shooting him in the back of the head with a pistol. The section picks up after the Red Army had besieged a German town near Berlin with nearly all its defenders dead or wounded. Chernov and Private Sergei then walk in the town to further clear out Germans and decide to execute more wounded soldiers before searching a shed for vodka. Upon reaching the shed Chernov opens the door for Sergei to charge in mowing down several soliders with his PPSH-41 submachinegun. Sergei exits with a copy of "Mein Kampf" reading it but appears to be uninterested in its content casting it to the side. The two then come across the corpse of a child accidentally killed in the attack on the town, to cover up their war crime Sergei finds a Wehrmacht officers hat to place on the boys head to claim he was indeed a combatant to Chernov's approval. The next scene shows as the Russians reach the outskirts of Berlin with Sergei and another soldier charging Wehrmacht soldiers. The unnamed solider is struck down with Sergei avenging him. Sergei is then also injured and is nearly killed but Chernov manages to shoot his attacker. Chernov then gives Sergei some medical attention in the form of a bottle of vodka which miraculously leads to the Pvt. becoming fully healed. The two then continue their attack. Vodka is not actually know to exhibit health benefits to this affect, after some testing conducted it has been found to either cause alcohol poisoning or addiction. After this the Soviet attacks are shown displaying high casualties demonstrating the Soviet combat doctrine in effect. Towards the end of the video the Red Army are attempting to capture a Wehrmacht held command post failing in their first wave. Chernov is then shown saying to Sergei "Now it is up to us to show the fascist pigs what happens when you mess with the motherland". Chernov, holding the Red banner, and Sergei then charge the command post overwhelming its defenders and then dramatically remove the Nazi flag replacing it with the Soviet flag. The screen turns Red as with this banner in place a new era will befall Eastern Europe as Soviet dominance bring Eastern Germany as well as other nations under its sphere of influence. The video then suddenly shows the Frenchman again finding his baguette and saluting the French flag showing the war in Europe is now over.

## Trivia

-This was the first film where Jack's dad created prop guns. All the guns he made were sub machine guns being the Thompson, the MP40, the Sten, and the 2 PPSH-41s.

- In between days of filming the video Jack had a problem with his toenail which led to it, unexpected to him, being removed by a podiatrist. His toe hurt for a while and when returning to filming he worried that he wouldn't be able to run with the boots on. He endured through this pain in The Frenchman scene as he runs across the hill leading to the pain subsiding. Sometimes he wonders if this was a mistake since the nail has grown back improperly now.\ leading to him wearing socks often and avoiding flip-flops and sandals.

-The reason the Germans change from Jack and Eric to Joe and Matthew half way through the film is on the last day of filming, Matthew happened to sleep over so Jack had the two of them play the roles to save time wasted in changing outfits.

-The iconic "Joe's death" where he jumps up into the air and then falls originates here when the British and Germans first fight. Joe was very excited to be filming and In the first take of the shot he accidentally jumped so high up he knocked the wind out of himself when landing.

- When Benjamin is shot at the tea time scene a rivet falls out of the German M35 helmet he was wearing. Jack's dad distressed to find this bought a metal detector and managed to locate it.

- In the original script a German character known as "Ski Man" was to appear at the end of each section. Jack was to play this German using his cross country skis and his winter German hat. The character was to be shown sking into an attack by the allies in each section and then slowly turn around so as not to deal with it. In the final scene the Russian would have intercepted him to which he would then turn in his skis and walk home. The character was cut to Jack and Eric's disappointment since the snow all melted by the time they would have filmed his scenes.

Execution of GermanGerman Mortar manBattle at the shedTeatimeThe Ardennes FenceUnder mortar fire23rd BlackwatchThe FrenchmanI think he's hackingHealing power of vodkaNo one will take this command postDawn of the iron curtain