Talk:A Bridge Too Far

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K98k

quote: A boy drafted into the Wehrmacht fights the Americans with his K98 - 7.92x57mm (this is actually no K98k, it is a type of Mauser System, but look at the rear sight. (Are you sure? It just looks like the rear sight is pulled all the way up for a high angle of fire, something a soldier would NOT do when engaging targets closer than a hundred yards, but this is a last ditch barely teenage conscript so I would assume he's not very well trained.....)

Yes, I´m sure, on the other pic it is better to see, they use mauser system rifles, but not all of them were K 98k. the k98k has a relativly flat rear sight, the rifles on this http://www.abload.de/img/btf_k98_05a50mr82d2.jpg pic, use another rearsight, called bogenvisier in german. same rifle type the boy used.

they are looking like shortened Gewehr 98. this was a modification made in big numbers to solve rifle shortage at the end of the war.

pic of gewehr 98: http://www.abload.de/img/gew98o1xe.jpg look at the rear sight! the rifle sights in the movie are not pulled up.

pic of a real k98k: http://www.mauser.org/rifles/K98k%20German/GermanK98-02_1200.jpg

note the small differences. ;-)

M1911

Actually, the .455 Colt M1911s (not A1s) were purchased in WW1 for the Royal Flying Corps / RAF, but they were chambered in .455 Webley & Scott Auto as used in the M1913 Webley & Scott auto issued to the Royal Navy and Royal Horse Artillery (later passed on to the RAF). Most ended up being converted to .45ACP so they could use the same ammo as the many M1911A1s acquired as lend-lease, issued mainly to paras and commandos before the Canadian-made Hi Powers started arriving in early 1945.

Also, I seem to remember in a few scenes seeing German soldiers carrying Gewehr 98s - appropriate for rear-echelon garrison troops.