Continuity mistake: At the train station, just as the 3 Shermans turn to face behind the tunnel to fire at the building, they suddenly move a lot closer together. (01:02:40)
Continuity mistake: When the squad is crossing the cleared cornfield and encounters mines, each individual is forced to meticulously check with his knife and crawl individually to where he could follow Kelly's path. The cornfield surface all around is uniformly chewed up with moist dirt and lots of plant debris. However, when the German patrol shows up, the remaining soldiers escape along a well-worn, tamped path and the surrounding field looks dried out, smoother, and with much less plant debris. (01:12:00)
Revealing mistake: At the end of the scene with the destroyed bridge, when Oddball's Sherman drives away, Cowboy is nearly left behind and climbs onto the rear of the tank by standing on a box attached to the rear plating. The next time we see this tank from the rear, the box is gone. It was obviously there only to help Cowboy climb on. (01:29:00)
Continuity mistake: Two of the German SS Tank officers are walking together through the streets of Clairmont chatting. In the first scene with them, the officer on the left carries the rank of 'Obersturmführer,' denoted by his lapel badges, and the officer on the right has lapel badges showing him to have the rank of 'Sturmbannführer' (although both officers' shoulder badges show no correlating rank to their lapels). However, in the second scene with the same two officers still walking and chatting, the officer on the right has been demoted as he is now showing the rank of 'Untersturmführer.' (01:44:20 - 01:45:40)
Factual error: As Oddball and his motley crew depart with the "purchased" Tiger, Moriarity is standing up in the hatch, fiddling with his cap. Since this is the driver's position, and very cramped, either he is straddling the driver's shoulders, or driving with his feet.
Suggested correction: The tanks used in the film are mocked up Russian T-34's (As mentioned in another mistake) which changes the proportions of the interior. Additionally, in regards to the "cramped" quarters; Tiger 1 tanks are actually quite infamously known by the soldiers that crewed them for having spacious driver, and assistant driver (Bow gunner) positions; with some crew even able to lie down inside of them.
Other mistake: When they are lifting the boxes of gold at the end of the movie you can tell that the boxes are empty.
Continuity mistake: At the end when confronting the last tank to get the bank doors open, Oddball, Big Joe, and Kelly line up in an alley as if they are directly facing the tank and start walking forward. In the next shot, which is wider and much farther away, you see that they are actually walking down a curved alley and can't see the tank until they come all the way around the corner.
Continuity mistake: After Oddball's tank gets across the river, the movie returns to the general's headquarters where Carroll O'Connor is yelling at his officers for not knowing anything about the battle. There is a soldier standing behind O'Connor with his hands on his hips and his shirt sleeves rolled up. The scene changes briefly to show the officers that O'Connor is yelling at before switching back to O'Connor. The soldier behind O'Connor still has his hands on his hips, but now his sleeves are rolled down.
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the film as Oddball's Sherman drives into the French town, the amount of ammunition in the ammo holder on the turret .50 calibre machine gun gets larger in almost every shot. As the tank crashes through the bushes approaching the town there is hardly any ammo in the box, up until the second Tiger is ambushed when suddenly there is plenty of ammunition.
Continuity mistake: The Tiger tank blows a hole in the bank door, so the team can gain access. A check made previously for another entrance was obviously not successful since it was necessary to blow the hole with the tank. Kelly et. Al enter through the hole but immediately are joined by others from some unexplained side entrance.
Continuity mistake: When the last surviving Tiger rages in Clairmont, shooting at surrounding buildings, there are a couple of shots, when we see both the tank's gun firing and the 'shell impact' effect. The tank's gun is not always pointed at the exact spot where the 'shell' explodes - it's particularly visible when the Tiger lowers the gun and shoots a hole in a wall, immediately after Big Joe threw a grenade and fired at the tank with his SMG. The hole in the wall appears a good few feet to the left, from where the gun points and the actual projectile would hit.
Other mistake: During the battle at the bridge, Kelly asks Oddball about the other Shermans. Oddball replies, "No man, they've both had it. One is in the river and the other is on the other side burning." Soon afterwards we see Big Joe and Cowboy arguing with Bellamy about staying behind to fix the bridge, while crouched beside a Sherman. This is obviously not Oddball's Sherman as Big Joe and Cowboy are on the opposite side of the river, therefore it must be the one that Oddball said was burning. However, no right-minded soldier (or anyone else) would crouch next to a burning Sherman.
Continuity mistake: After Cowboy spots the Tiger coming down the street the scene changes to a view of the three soldiers running from away from the bank from the viewpoint of the Tiger. The Tiger's turret is facing the soldiers. In the next shot the Tiger is shown in the distance with its barrel pointing straight forward. In the next shot, the turret is facing the fleeing soldiers again.
Character mistake: In the scene where Crapgame is sitting in the back of the truck at the end, when the men are loading Kelly's squad's take after splitting with the Germans and Oddball, Crapgame asks Fisher to verify his calculations. There are 125 boxes of gold left valued at $8,400 per box. Fisher says that they are worth $10.5 million, and each of the twelve men in the squad will get $875,000. The actual amount (125 x 8400) is $1.05 million, making a per man take of $87,500. He's off by a factor of 10 one way or another.
Factual error: The sniper rifle used in the film is a Russian Mosin and were never used by the allies. They should have had a Springfield sniper rifle. The Americans would have had no occasion to "exchange" weapons with Russian soldiers until the end of the war, when they met on the Elbe River.
Factual error: 14000 bars of gold would be hundreds of tonnes, more than the capacity of the one truck. A standard gold ingot weighs 12.4 kilograms. 14000 would weigh 173.6 tonnes. Even if they divided the haul evenly between Kelly, Oddball and the Germans they would be hauling away just under 58 tonnes of gold each, way, way beyond the capacity of anything on the roads in those days.
Factual error: Near the end of the movie the general and the army convoy drive through the town and are stopped by all the celebrating going on. If you look at all the cheering villagers, you can see they are dressed in modern (for 1970) clothes and have hairstyles that were not around in the 1940s.
Factual error: In the final shot of the movie, the Tiger tank/T34 is seen driving away emitting masses of diesel smoke common to the Russian T34. However the Tiger was a petrol tank, not a diesel, as mentioned by the German tank commander. The Sherman was also petrol and well known for its ability to catch fire when hit. It was nicknamed the 'Ronson.'
Factual error: Almost all the German soldiers in the movie are armed with MP-40 SMGs. In fact, most German infantrymen during World War II were armed with Mauser rifles. MP-40s were only issued to squad leaders and officers.
Factual error: The "BAR" carried and fired in the movies is actually a FN-D Model that was never issued by the US Army in WWII. It was developed post war in Europe. Also the Thompson machine guns and the 1919A4s are all firing at a accelerated rate of fire, much faster than normal. This can be attributed to the weapons being blank adapted.
