Brad Pitt’s 2014 WW2 Movie Gets 1 Detail Wrong That Makes Key Tank Battle Pointless, Expert Reveals

One of Fury‘s big tank battle sequences makes a crucial mistake that makes the whole thing pointless, an expert reveals. Released in 2014, Fury is directed by David Ayer, with Brad Pitt starring as a grizzled tank commander leading his crew across Germany in April 1945. The film presents a violent portrayal of tank warfare during World War II, with a talented cast that includes Shai LaBeouf, Jon Bernthal, Logan Lerman, and Michael Peña.

Now, in a recent video for the History Hit YouTube channel, military historian Dan Snow analyzes a key tank battle sequence in Fury, revealing that, despite the film’s many accuracies, there’s one crucial error.

The scene in question features Pitt’s Sherman tank and several other Shermans taking on a much more powerful German Tiger tank, with the Allied forces charging the enemy vehicle and attempting to shoot in the rear, where the armor is weaker. The power of the gun on Pitt’s tank, however, renders this tactic mostly pointless. Check out Snow’s commentary on the sequence below:

“That’s a beautiful shot, but four tanks rumbling along by themselves through Germany, very risky indeed. There should be infantry on the flanks, infantry protecting it, other vehicles protecting them from ambush.

“The way that that turret blows off that tank, that is very common. There are accounts of the turret being thrown in the air like it was a child’s toy.

“Those optics are very realistic. Those lines are there to tell you where to fire at certain ranges.

“They’ve got a Tiger tank facing them, a very powerful German tank. And it’s mounting an 88mm gun. I’m not sure if this is super accurate, but the Tiger decides to charge. And then the Americans decide to charge at the Tiger. Now, Brad Pitt’s tank has got a 76mm gun that can penetrate a Tiger’s armor. The other tanks do not. They got 75mm cannons and those shells will bounce off a Tiger tank’s armor, particularly its front armor.

“It was unusual but not unheard of that tanks would engage each other at this closer range. You do hear stories about this.”

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Is Fury An Underrated War Movie?

Upon its release in 2014, Fury was met with mostly positive reviews and performed well enough at the box office. The film’s score on Rotten Tomatoes sits at a respectable 76%, suggesting that certain elements of the project prevented it from reaching a higher level of critical acclaim.

One aspect of the movie that most seem to agree is one of its strong suits is the visceral nature of its combat. Fury features a handful of battle sequences that shine a light on World War II tank warfare, an aspect of the conflict not explored in depth in too many other films. Advances in visual effects technology allowed Fury to depict some truly stunning combat sequences, which included the depiction of red and green tracer fire.

Unlike World War II movies like Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, The Great Escape, Come and See, Das Boot, and The Bridge on the River Kwai, however, Fury perhaps doesn’t have the same richness in its storytelling and themes. The characters, too, are maybe more thinly-drawn in Fury, which prevents the film from tapping into the emotion that so many other beloved war movies do. That said, however, the film still serves as a thrilling exploration of tank warfare.