12 flag-draped coffins are shown on the deck of HMS Exeter. In reality, 61 of her crew died in the Battle of the River Plate and most were buried at sea wrapped in simple canvas shrouds. The only crew to be buried in coffins were those who died of their injuries after she reached the Falkland Islands.
Many details about HMS Exeter are wrong. Missing are the lifeboat stations by the funnels, the seaplane catapults and there was no large structure forward of the 'Y' turret.
One of the German soldiers wolf whistles Kasia. Although wolf whistling existed in the 1930s, mainly among British and American sailors, it did not enter popular culture until the release of Le petit chaperon rouge (1943) and was unknown in Germany until after the war.
When the British troops are digging weapons pits, after Harry finishes addressing the troops and they go back to work a bright green square mouthed common garden spade is seen in the background. Military issue shovels had a round mouth olive drab with a dark wood handle.
The character of Tom could not have served on HMS Exeter at the Battle Of The River Plate in December 1939, as he had only just enlisted in September of that year, and the Exeter was already on deployment in the West Indies and the Atlantic before the war started. The Exeter did not return to Britain until February 1940, which is the earliest time at which Tom could have joined the ship's crew.