The 1951 war movie: The Tanks Are Coming.

I found out many interesting things last night while doing some research on one of Americas WWII "Panzer Aces" who was in the 3rd Armored Division (Spearhead) by the name of: Staff Sergeant Lafayette G. Pool-who BTW, is from my neck of the woods-born or raised in Sinton, Odem and Taft, Texas--all of which are a mere few miles from Corpus Christi. Pool even went to Texas A&I Engineering but dropped out to join the Army.

Anyway, Pool was one of four men who were in the 3rd Armored Division in WWII who knocked out boo coup enemy tanks and vehicles. For instance-Pools Tank--an M-4 Sherman Tank named: "In the Mood" from the time he landed in Normandy--I think on June 13th? till he was badly wounded in Germany--late 1944, he and his crew destroyed some 240 enemy Tanks including Tiger Tanks, Panthers, Sturmgeschutz Assault Guns, hundreds of SDKFZ-251 Halftracks and other armored vehicles. Pool personally captured 250 Germans, and he and his crew killed at least 1,000. A pretty impressive record. They lost three tanks-one to two hits from a Panther, and another from a German bomber, and the last in Germany from a well hidden large caliber Anti tank gun.

Pool and his crew survived each time their tank was knocked out/destroyed. The final time--Pool was blown from the turret of his Sherman and lost a huge section of leg bone-and his driver was also wounded. the rest of the crew was unscathed.

Pool was recommended for the Medal of Honor twice-the first time the paperwork was lost-the second tine-the higher-ups decided he wasnt worthy of it because they felt that the deeds he was involved in-were a team effort. I say BOLLOCKS to that. So the highest awards he got were the Distinguished Service Cross, The Legion of Merit and the French Croix de Guerre w/ Silver Star? or Bronze Star? and some other decorations.

Anyway, my point to this little history lesson is for this, when doing research on Sergeant Pool-who had been recalled to active service a few years later because of his expertise-even though they amputated his right leg) well, Warner Brothers was going to hire him to be Technical Adviser for their movie: The Tanks Are Coming (now available on DvD or as an On Demand title) but, Pool sued them because W.B. plagerised his story but according to some Judge (whom im more than sure was paid off by W.B.) the Judge ruled that W.B. had changed enough info--names and scenario-that it did not copy Pools experiences-even though the lead character played by Steve Cochran in the Warner Bros version, did a good job of portraying himself. Pool was actually under contract with MGM at the time.

I think ill get the movie to see what the good Sergeant (retired as a Chief Warrant Officer 2nd) liked about the movie ;-))

Ive always called this great Soldier a "Hero in my own back yard."

I have the movie, seen it and was very impressed with it. You can clearly see that that movie's story was Sergeant Pools story. Way too many ""coincidences"" in it. 1) The tank in the movie had the name of: "California Jane" or something like that? anyway, that Sherman crew also lost their tank and renamed them C.J, C.J.II and Calif Jane III. There were many other all too similarities in the movie that exactly shadows Sergeant Pool and his crew and their actions. Ill not spoil it by telling all but-that scene where they were suddenly attacked by a Panther Tank--was EXACTLY the same experience that Sgt. Pool talked about in his memoirs.

Pool SHOULD have won his lawsuit but, I can clearly see now that either that Judge the Studios hired was either: Stupid, or flat out bought off by said studios. Nobody can be THAT stupid, and not see that the studios plagerized the Sarges story. >:-((

Anyway, its a VERY good movie-and if you like war movies? this is a must have and must see movie.

Quote from chester7777

Speaking of Tanks, this foundation, MVTF, Military Vehicle Technology Foundation is not to far from us, in Portola Valley, California. This last week,
after running into one of their employees, I've trying to get them together with my ex-employer Front Sight Firearms Training, in Pahrump, Nevada.
The MVTF wanted to move some tanks down to Las Vegas so folks could
drive them, and possibly fire them. Front Sight would a perfect place for this.
Hope it works out !

Chester

That would be something i'd look forward to doing sometime. Ive already had the guilty pleasure of firing a 50. Cal "Ma Deuce" heavy machine gun at a machine gun shoot around 25 years ago.

Quote from chester7777

Speaking of the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation, here are five in a series of YouTube videos, describing there effort restoring a WW2 German Panther Tank, one of the few left in the world.

Chester

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYq0jaaEu48&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H64zVoUl8As&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5RnENLlFCw&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8D6PN7cz08&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhyOSUnXHBI&feature=relmfu

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Thank you for this new footage of the restoration of the Littlefield Panther-ive seen some that they filmed and posted on utube-but that was only about 15 minutes worth and actually shows the Panther being driven out of the garage for the first time. The only thin that disturbed me on their Panther-was why they painted in D.A.K. (Afrika Korps) sand color? It SHOULD have been painted in Autumn Colors. Other than that-it's one beautiful piece of machinery.

I KNEW there was a Panther in the U.K, but till now, I had not known who it belonged to. :-))

Quote from chester7777

Someone attached to the MVTF indicated they spent over 4 million $ restoring the Panther.

Chester

They are THAT expensive to rebuild and maintain. A friend of mine here in Corpus about 12-14 years ago-bought the Tiger tank from the Munster Muesum in Germany and paid then-in cash: $3 Million Dollars. Reason its so expensive is because its main gun-an 88mm, is still fully functional and can fire live rounds.

Quote from chester7777

Front Sight Firearms maybe interested in leasing or buying his Tiger, if he's gotten tired of it yet. I think they are looking into actually having classes in driving and firing tanks. I suspect Duke would have found time for something like this.

Chester

I dont know what Don has in store for his Tiger, but I do know he is also looking into buying a Flak 88 as well. One is or was for sale that was located in Altenbruch, Germany. This one however, was one that was mounted on a U-boat.

Quote from chester7777

It always helps when one has plenty of cash. I missed out on that big lottery last week, but I did buy a ticket. (-;

How hard is it to find old German ammo for his Tiger?

Chester

AInt that the truth. I dont actively play the lottery because I never win-not even in scratch offs. The most i won was $5 bucks. Lost it on the next card. The first time the Texas lottery reached $65 million dollars--back in 1996, I played. I got every number just one number above the winning number-so since I didnt win-my way of protesting is to not spend money on the lotto.

Don-who owns the former Munster Museums Tiger-owns 3 TV stations. About 14 years ago-and before he owned these TV stations, he bought a home in a rich area of town-paid $2.5 million in cash for it. One of the things I like most about Don-is that he remembers where he came from and doesnt let being rich-spoil that ;-))

88 rounds are still being manufactured, but I dont know who is making them. You can always still use the originals-meaning the shell casings and the warheads. Intact 88 rounds depending on year of make-and whether or not they are marked with SS runes or not? and as of about 6 or so years ago-these were selling between $800-to-$1,200 per round.

Quote from chester7777

$800-to-$1,200 per round, wow, and I thought 308 was expensive.
So much for students firing off a round or two !

Chester

Heh heh, sad but true. Anything WWII German-and now Imperial for that matter--is skyrocketing in price. The 1957 stuff is too. I remember when you could buy a mint condition--Iron Cross 1st class for about $25--now your looking at prices climbing over $400. The first one I bought I paid $80 for--back about 12 years ago. Cased EK1s go up to about $800--which is crazy.

I did a large trade with a British Militaria Dealer about 2-3 years ago. I gave him in trade-around $2,500 in Imperial and WWII German stuff and threw in a few hundred dollar of free (and good) stuff. I traded that stuff for a cased 1957 Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds-a spare set of Oaks, and a spare set of Oaks and Swords. At that time, this stuff together would be worth about $1,800--today just the cased RK w/ Oaks, Swords and Diamonds-is about $5,000-to-$7,000. Im not sure what the spare Oaks and Oaks and Swords are going for-but I image a few hundred for the Oaks w/ Swords--alone ;-)) I made an excellent deal. Considering that in WWII, only 27 men were awarded the RK w/ Oaks, Swords and Diamonds--meaning only 27 sets officially made and presented. Of the 27--only 2-3 served int he Bundeswehr--two were Luftwaffe pilots-and one was in the Bundesmarine. Erich Topp was in the BM, I know who the two LW pilots were-but cant think of their names off hand. My Cased RK--was made for one of those two--I just dont know which one of the two?

Quote from chester7777

Thirty to forty years ago, I use to go to gun shows here in California and there would usually be two or three tables with ww2 Nazi stuff on them.
At the time I was still under the effect of the media propaganda that anything German was bad, bad, bad, and that anyone that collected it was a wacko at least, and a neo-nazi at worst. After years and years of observing the media basically B.S.ing us on just about everything else, my views have changed. Your post makes me realize how much of a financial investment I missed out on.

Chester

Thank you for the kind words ;-))

Truthfully, the first few items i bought that were WWII German-were shoulderboards and Collartabs-and they dont have the Swaz on them like most items did. However, I still felt odd about buying those items knowing where they came from and when. The first item I ever bought that had a Swaz on it-was a Black Wound Badge. Getting over that feeling you get when you first see something WWII German and with the swaz--takes a bit of time. Now it doesnt bother me at all nor most people I know. Don, the Gent who bought that Tiger Tank-was basically the one who got me into being a more serious collector. Prior to knowing Don, I had maybe 5-6 WWII German items with only one having the Swaz on it-which was that Black wound badge ;-))

Most Veterans--especially American WWII Vets-that I know and are friends with--have no problem with me collecting the stuff-some even give me stuff from time to time since they know ill take good care of the items and have only a historical interest in them ;-)) My collection has evolved enough that I own items that were once owned by Knights Cross Recipients-minor members of Royalty, Generals and such. I won a ribbon bar that once belonged to the 99 Day Kaiser, another ribbon bar that belonged to the Duke of Mecklinberg/Schwerin: Franz Friedrich von Grossherzog the IVth, and I have a German Army Radio sheet that mentions men who did some sort of fantastic deed that got them mentioned. These were produced for their version of Armed Forces Radio-and these announcments were made daily. The one i have mentions a Baron/Major Peter von Le Fort-and his unit that was involved in some heavy fighting in the Caucasus Mountains in Russia. He served in Gebirgsjager Artillery Regiment 79.

For me-the historical potential-is limitless.;-))

This is my newest snag--a Knocked our KVII Russian heavy tank. Look at the size of that thing!!!