Did You Know?

The sniper rifle used in the church bell tower is a Russian made Mosin Nagant 91/30 with a 3.5X power side mounted telescope, which is correct for the rifle and time period. However, the rifle fires Russian ammunition, in a caliber unique to the Russian military, which would not have been available to U.S. soldiers in WWII. The 91/30 sniper rifles were however imported in great quantity after World War II by many U.S. importers, and would have been readily available to serve as props in movie making. New England Firearms and Remington Arms, both U.S. companies, fulfilled U.S. contracts to produce approximately 2.8 Million 91/30 rifles after WWI. Both Remington and Winchester produced ammunition for these rifles. While it is highly unlikely that a U.S. soldier would use a 91/30, it was possible. However, no U.S. company made any PU scopes. The acquisition of some of these rifles was possible by U.S. troops in the ETO at the time.
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Major General Colt is wearing the ribbon for the National Defence Service Medal (with one service star), which did not exist until 1953 and was first approved for wear for service during the Korean War.
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The American fighter plane that attacks Kelly's group is actually a Yugoslav "Ikarus Type 522" trainer that flew for the first time in 1955.
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Cowboy's words do not match what his mouth is apparently saying when he crashes through the wall in the beginning as the Germans are approaching.
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The scene where the squad attacks the Germans at the mine field Kelly is carrying an M1A1 Thompson submachine gun that is different shot to shot. One has rear sight guards and the other doesn't
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At the beginning of the movie, when Kelly drives the jeep through enemy lines, there is a hole in the back of the canvas. Shortly afterwards, there is no hole.
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While Kelly is driving around in the jeep, the ammunition belt hanging from the Browning .30 changes length from shot to shot.
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When Kelly, Big Joe, Oddball, and the German Tank Commander enter through the blown up bank door, the other soldiers pour in from adjoining rooms. The front door was supposedly the only entrance into the bank and one of the reasons for enlisting the help of the German Tank Commander.
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When Kelly pulls back the canvas to reveal the boxes of gold in the bank, a large shard of glass lands on top of one of the boxes. A moment later he lifts the box up in order to drop it, but the shard is gone.
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when Kelly is interrogating the German Colonel at the beginning of the movie, he gets a bottle of brandy from Little Joe, it is square with a short neck. He walks around the Jeep and places the bottle down on a table and it has become round with a longer neck.
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Camera shadow visible on men as they walk out of mine field.
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Early in the film, Kelly is sitting by the side of the road in a jeep telling Big Joe of his plans to get the gold. In the background, a column of German POWs files past. The camera switches to a reverse angle and instead of German POWs in the background we now see a band of refugees - but who is the guy at the back of Kelly's Jeep wearing a striped button down and tee shirt?
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In the scene played in the railway station you can read "JZ" on the side of a train. JZ means Jugoslovanske Zelenznice (Jugolavian railways).
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When the Tiger is shooting up the city at the end there is a clear gap in time between the sound of the cannon and the actual explosion. At that distance of next to nothing it would have been almost simultaneous.
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Several of the people in the town square are waving small German flags.
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Collars and collar patches of Waffen SS Panzer troops officer's uniforms were piped with silver braid as is correctly shown for two of the Germans. The sergeant commanding the tank at the end however is incorrectly shown as having white piping. Only German Army Panzer troops ever had full piping for all ranks and this was normally rose pink (the arm-of-service colour for the panzer-troops). It could also be gold (armoured cavalry) or black/white stripes (panzer pioneers), but never white. And only collar patches were piped after 1943 (officially). Some Waffen-SS panzer troops wore pink piped collar patches late in the war to be closer to the army style, but SS panzer uniforms never had the full pink piping of the early war army ones.
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When the German column approaches the ambush at the mine field, the convoy commander is riding in the front seat of the command car. German officers always rode in the back seat of their vehicles, and the front seat was only used by the lowest ranking officer if the car was full.
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During the final battle scene where a German tank fires a round at Crapgame, Cowboy and Pvt. Willard, the round knocks debris from an archway as they flee from the tank. Crapgame is knocked unconscious to the ground. The very next scene shows Cowboy and Willard stopping, then turning around to retrieve Crapgame. Pvt. Willard momentarily backs up against what is supposed to be a brick and mortar wall and the wall ripples, obviously constructed of fabric with material painted over it.
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German tanks of WWII indeed had hydraulic turrets, but no diesel engines. There were only some prototypes with diesel engines.
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When Kelly and the guys pick up the boxes of gold at the in the bank, the boxes appear to weigh nothing at all. The boxes can be seen being tossed around as if they were empty.
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When Kelly and the guys ambush the German patrol after leaving the minefield, A grenade is thrown into a group of enemy soldiers firing from across the road. We then see the grenade land, and finally detonate. The problem is that when the grenade explodes, we see the plume of smoke and debris, but we also see that the "can" is dislodged from the ground and visible. When the pyrotechnical experts set a charge for a movie set, it is loaded into a metal or thick cardboard canister and buried just below the surface, and the location carefully marked for the benefit of the actors safety. This separates the explosive compounds from ground moisture and errant spark or flame from filming any action scenes. In this case, the detonation of the charge lifted the can partially out of the ground and into camera range.
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