Factual error: In the scene where Admiral Kimmel is inspecting the crew of the battleship an aide comes up with a message to send some ships to the Atlantic. Admiral Kimmel starts complaining about the orders. No Admiral would ever do this especially in front of enlisted men. In fact he was placed in charge of the Pacific fleet when his predecessor complained about moving the fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor.
Factual error: When the map of the German advance is shown, Switzerland is shown to be taken over. Switzerland was never invaded by the Germans. (00:05:10)
Factual error: If Owen Wilson is under a dead body, how could any thermal radiation leak through the cold dead body covering him so the satellite (plus the Admiral and aides) could see him the whole time? (00:54:10)
Factual error: In the first 15 minutes of the movie, a Delta Force operative is seen wearing a pair of Oakley X-Metal Juliets. The events portrayed in the movie took place in 1993. Oakley didn't make the Juliets until 1999. (00:05:02)
Factual error: During the first scenes of the film the Greek flag used is the current one, and not the one used at that time. The flag that should have been used is a white cross on blue.
Factual error: Reference the rural scenes. In the 40s, barley fields did not exhibit large perpendicular tracks made by crop sprayers.
Factual error: The German mine expert is working with his face shield open while he is trying to defuse the mine placed under Cera. (01:15:45)
Factual error: The corporal mess steward addresses the sergeants as 'sir'. British sergeants are never addressed as 'sir'.
Factual error: In the scene where the resistance blow up a German train, the locomotive is a British one. The number is shown as 92240. This engine is owned by the Bluebell railway, who are named in the credits. It wasn't even built until around 1955. It seems to be the same engine pulling the train to the concentration camp later in the film. Remarkably fast repairers, those Nazis.
Factual error: All SS members have right collar tabs, except Heinrich Müller. His rank at that time was SS-Gruppenführer, same as Otto Hofmann, but his collar tab corresponds to SS-Brigadeführer (one step lower). For addition, the collar tabs of some general ranks changed after April 1942. The conference took place in January 1942, so they have older versions. But as I wrote, Müller and Hofmann were at the same rank, so the tabs should look the same.
Factual error: Just before the cross scene a guard is holding an AK47 which was not invented until 1947.
Factual error: The canteens used by US troops in a couple of the scenes are the wrong type. The twin handle design M1956 came out in the mid 1950s.
Factual error: At the beginning of the movie there is information, that "Poland surrenders to the Germans after less than a month of fighting." In fact, the last big battle during Invasion of Poland (Battle of Kock) took place between 02-05 October, more than a month after first shots were fired. And Poland also never officially surrendered to the Germans. (00:03:30)
Suggested correction: It doesn't show German advances. It shows the German influence over Europe, symbolizing it covers all of Europe and then expanded towards the East. Italy was never conquered by the Germans either yet it was part of the axis and is shown being covered by black. Switzerland, though neutral, was fully surrounded by the Axis and their influence played heavily upon the country. Its a very crude simulation.
lionhead
Suggested correction: It does not show the German advancement in true historical order, but more like a red shadow that expands across Europe in a steady pace. And just as the camera starts zooming in on Stalingrad, you can see a small sliver of red starting to spread on the south-eastern coast of Norway.
dizzyd