Factual error: The rifles the British soldiers carried in the film were Lee Enfield rifle No. 4's, these did not go into production until WW2. They should have been using an earlier version of the Lee Enfield rifle.
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: When Lt. Dunbar is being interrogated in the Commandant's office you can see a map on the far wall. It is a map of Germany dictated by the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I because it shows E. Prussia separated from Germany and does not include the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia. These annexations were completed before the start of World War II in '39 and certainly before late '44, early '45 when the film took place. It is highly unlikely any German officer would have this map displayed not only because it's inaccurate but because it displayed the territorial losses brought on by the humiliating defeat of World War I.
Factual error: Oddball tells Kelly their commander had been trying to get them killed ever since they landed at Omaha (beach). Oddball's tanks are part of the U.S. sixth Armored division (the Super Sixth, as the unit shoulder patch on his jacket indicates) which actually landed at Utah beach on July 18, 1944. (00:30:50)
Factual error: In the foreground of the Aqaba raid scene, Turks are using a Browning M1919 machine gun, which wasn't yet designed and certainly would not be available to the Turkish Army.
Factual error: After Hardy dies and they're going through his possessions, a football scarf is pulled from his kit bag. The scarf has a Sunderland AFC badge. The film is set in World War II. The badge on the scarf was introduced in the 1970s.
Factual error: In the movie you see Scottish Pipe Band playing. Pipe Bands where not established in Scottish Regiments before the Crimean War (1854-1856), there were only solo pipers. (00:35:00)
Factual error: In at least one scene, near the end of the film, metallic alloy dental fillings can be seen inside King Leonidas' mouth. Fillings of this type were not used until the 7th century A.D.
Factual error: When William Holden visits the Special Operations HQ for the first time a black vehicle is seen pulling in to the complex. The car is a 1948 Dodge or other Chrysler product which had not yet been manufactured.
Factual error: In the aerial shot over rural Britain near the beginning of the movie, there are two modern cars visible. Too new to be early 40's models.
Factual error: When the camera took a shot on a train coming to a station in Czechoslovakia, you can see electric cables above the train tracks. There was no such thing in Czechoslovakia as electrified trains in the 1940's. The electrification started in the 1950's. (00:01:05)
Factual error: USAF is written on the underside of an aircraft's left wing. The U.S. Air Force wasn't created until later. Flight operations were still conducted by the U.S. Army.
Suggested correction: The plane actually has "USAAF" written on the wing: United States Army Air Force.
Factual error: Calendar date at the very beginning of the film (in the police station), shows the dates of Saturday 20th/Sunday 21st July 1983. However the 20th and 21st July 1983 fell on Wednesday and Thursday.
Factual error: When Mike is being questioned, he calls himself a soldier. Marines always refer to themselves as Marines - soldiers are the army. (01:01:20)
Factual error: A very common error in First World War films. British soldiers were not permitted to shave their upper lips until 1916 - in 1914 almost all (unless physically unable to grow them) would have had moustaches.
Factual error: When Roberts makes a deal with the Captain, he demands that the Captain grant liberty to both sections (i.e., the entire crew), leaving only Roberts and one enlisted man aboard as the deck watch. All U.S. Navy ships must have enough personnel aboard at all times to get the ship underway immediately, if necessary, which is why the crew is divided into watch sections.
Factual error: The American soldier on the balcony is waving a 50 star flag. (01:30:06)
Factual error: M60A3 tanks and AH-1 were no longer in service at the time of the invasion in 2003, replaced by the M1 Abrams. The AH-64 humvees have crew protection that did not exist prior to 2005.
Factual error: When the Japanese planes attack the airfield, none of the American planes have numbers or letters, just a star.
Factual error: The film was released in 1958 but depicts a 1943 World War II mission in the Pacific by a US submarine capatain played by Clark Gable and his first officer played by Burt Lancaster. In two separate scenes the crew listens to a "Tokyo Rose" broadcast on radio and the background music is "Kiss Me Once, Kiss Me Twice, It's Been a Long Long Time" by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne. The song was not released until September 1945, one month AFTER the end of the war in the Pacific in August 1945. The song was famous for celebrating returning troops and therefore also makes no sense in the context of 1943.