Talk:Where Eagles Dare

Correction to this page. General Rosemeyer is NOT SS, the SS collar markings for SS Generals were quite different from the Heer. Also, Major Von Hapen is not SS, despite the collar flashes. He is Gestapo, however, partway through the war, Gestapo members held equivalent SS rank, hence the confusion. 90.220.21.216 19:13, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Sort of a goof

I just watched the end of this movie again, and it reminded me of something that bothered me since the first time I saw it. !!SPOILERS AHEAD!! On the plane, Major Smith confronts Colonel Turner as the highest ranking German agent in British intelligence. Col. Turner points his Sten Mk V at Smith, but Smith tells him that it's useless, as the firing pin had been removed. Turner pulls the trigger anyway, to hear the gun click. I'm not saying it's impossible to remove the firing pin on a Sten, but doing so seems be the hardest way to disable to Sten, since like most open bolt SMGs, the firing pin is fixed to the bolt. You'd have to grind it off, or snap it off. (I know Sten Mk Vs were "nicer" than earlier Stens, but I don't the internal design changed that much.) So yeah, sort of a goof. --funkychinaman 23:56, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

I think they must have snapped it off, they wanted the gun to appear normal and that would mean they couldn't alter any of the characteristics of its action.--The Mercenary 13:59, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

I was thinking maybe removing something from the trigger assembly. If it was me, and I was alone in a plane on a long flight like Colonel Turner, I would've disassembled the Sten once or twice just to fight boredom, so it would've been hard to hide any modifications. Why not just give him dummy rounds? --funkychinaman 14:48, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

They went for the most dramatic, but if Turner had already suspected he was being set up he could have brought extra live ammo. In the film he says he was given the gun as he boarded the plane, on board he wouldn't have fired it but could have worked the action and firing mechanism while the gun was unloaded. Plus the flight was flying through enemy airspace and that wouldn't be boring and i can't see a staff officer disassembling his weapon for the sake of something to do, he'd sit there with his stiff upper lip and probably listen to radio chatter (he was a spy and spoke German)--The Mercenary 21:01, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Maybe the script originally specified a different gun, one with a separate firing pin, like an M1928 Thompson. --funkychinaman 12:42, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

...which makes sense, because the Thompson was used by British paratroopers, who liked it very much and thus often prefered to keep it instead of changing it for a STEN. (According to John Weeks)--Paul_Baeumer84.181.203.238 15:19, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

In the novel, at any rate, it is specifically described as a Sten, which Smith says he "personally filed off the firing pin". It's also worth mentioning that Smith's pistol is described as a silenced Luger (which is possible, albeit harder to achieve than silencing a 7.65mm automatic), and there's a mention of one of the other agents having a "Lilliput .21 automatic", presumably the 1920s-vintage August Menz-made Liliput, although it was actually made in 4.25mm (almost unique to this gun) and 6.35mm/.25 ACP. IKD

Extra gun

Just watching the film now and I can see a Walther P38 at the begining of the scene Smith and Schaffer surrender in the bar. --Taurus96 13:45, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

I added a screenshot of that plus the K98. -- Kooshmeister

Model 24 Stielhandgranate

The "potatoe masher" doesn't look like a M24. The M24 has one distinct visual edge at the bottom part of the canister, but the movie one got two edges: top and bottom. Color is also different and so is the shape of the stick itself. If it is not a replica-prop, then it must be another model of the classic stick-grenade. Maybe from WW1 but I'm no expert. Dudester32 (talk) 11:36, 14 June 2014 (EDT)