The Dirty Dozen

Stupidity: The lack of security at the château is not plausible. The Germans typically would have layers of protection around headquarters or other sensitive areas. In the movie, there are two middle aged guys guarding the road into the Château. After that there are no checkpoints, no patrols, and no controlled access points into the castle. It makes no sense that dozens of officers would be left vulnerable to an attack by French resistance fighters, let alone an Allied airborne assault.

Factual error: When Resiman interviews him in prison, Franko is chewing gum. (In several shots you see it is chewing gum and not tobacco). First, during heavy rationing in the UK in World War 2 chewing gum was a rare and expensive treat. A military prisoner would not be able to obtain it for love or money. Secondly, US military prisoners were never, ever allowed chewing gum - it can be (and has been) used to jam locks.

More mistakes in The Dirty Dozen

Col. Everett Dasher Breed: Reisman! Some people may consider you a first-class officer. But as far as I'm concerned, you're a disorganized, undisciplined clown. I'm gonna' make it my business to run you out of this Army.
Major John Reisman: I owe you an apology, colonel. I always thought that you were a cold, unimaginative, tight-lipped officer. But you're really quite emotional, aren't you?

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Trivia: We never actually see Posey (Clint Walker) die on film. We know where he is during the mission and we only saw his partner Bravos get shot but not Posey. I always have this funny feeling that he may have survived and the surviving members (Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, and Richard Jaeckel) of the Dozen forgot about him.

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Question: What are the small tubes that are collected in Colonel Breed's H.Q.? General Warden seems to figure out what they are.

Answer: Detonators (for setting off explosives).

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