Art Mimics Life…
Below are several pictures of various extras and vehicles that took part in what was one of the biggest scenes, crowd-wise, involving several hundred extras and most of the available vehicles although hardly any of these resources were actually seen in the Episode this was filmed for.
Well over a hundred ‘Germans’ and numerous AFVs of all types were needed to take part in an attack against Easy Company. All had to be fitted beforehand, then fitted again on the day, and then choreographed by Dale Dye as to their positions and what they were going to be doing and where they were going.
Wandering around ‘behind the lines’ as it were, checking out people’s gear, making sure that they looked okay and hadn’t accidentally ‘lost’ anything remotely heavy, you almost felt as if you actually waiting for a real attack to go in. Picture the scene: the men were ready and simply waiting for the word to go. When the word fails to arrive and the waiting goes on, people start to talk amongst themselves, read a book maybe, and even go to sleep while they can; anything to fill the time before the ‘off’.
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Some of the imagery looked awfully real: young men, waiting to do what had to be done. Of course, in this case, it was to futilely attack without fear of injury (unless you ran in the wrong direction and a tank squashed you!) in the face of enemy blanks; but the illusion created beforehand was an amazing one.
Racks of German equipment waiting to be fitted
FIRST FITTING: ‘German’ extra gets his first fitting ready for the ‘big one’ in a few days time…
And another…go on, you know you want two mess tins really…
Three more likely lads are fitted up…and then fitted up again a few days later on set, this time with weapons too…
Machine guns everywhere… not only was the Germany military keen on automatic weapons, the movie business is too! And no, they are not the same weapon with different people posing with them! Incidentally, the eagle-eyed amongst might notice that the guy in the bottom picture is the same guy who gives the command to fire the 88 in the Foy episode – yes, he got a line…
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