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What tank is used in "A Bridge Too Far"?

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high speed cruise	What tank is used in "A Bridge Too Far"?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 2848 (03/12/09 12:38 PM) Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Tags : None That grey German heavy tank.....it's not (obviously) a real German tank, but what tank is it? hsc
Alibi	Tiger, Panther or Leopard ... they're German	#1	[-]
Posts: 456 (03/12/09 02:54 PM) Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Well, actually it was a real German tank, but not from WWII. The tank fixed up to look something like a WWII panzer was a Leopard II, a tank that was at the time of filming the MBT of the West German Army. The production company made no attempt to cover the distinctive exhaust grills of the Leopard II, along both sides of the rear hull/engine compartment. But they did cover most of the track and suspension to disguise the supported type suspension that wasn't used on any of the WWII German heavy tanks. Otherwise some cosmetic effects were applied to the front hull, turret and main gun to give the general appearance of a Tiger. The only other "stand-in" in A Bridge Too Far was the hulk of a M-24 that was used to represent a destroyed British tank that was pushed off the road by an M-4 with dozer blade.. Another interesting "makeover" of a tank to appear to be a Tiger was the T-34 hull that was extensively cosmetically rebuilt for the film Saving Private Ryan. The russian track and road wheels are the giveaway. The "Tigers" in Kelly's Heroes were also built on T-34 hulls. The M-3 medium tank "Lulu Belle" (The name of Bogart's M-3 in the film Sahara) used in the film 1941 was built on the hull of a M-7 motor gun carriage, so the track and suspansion were nearly correct for an M-3. The Spanish Army M-48 tanks that filled in for German Afrika Corps armor in Patton were cosmetically changed by the removal of the bore evauator and muzzle blast shield, and substitution of a round muzzle shield that looked more like that of German WWII armor equipped with 88mm gun. The only other cosmetic effect was the tan paint scheme that didn't look very much like the field applied Afrika Corps paint scheme. The U.S. Army in Patton was unversally equipped with M-41 light tanks that were also fielded post WWII. M-48 tanks also "played" German armor in The Battle of the Bulge, although there isn't much of anything in that film that has anything to do with the actual event historically or filmatically.
eb in oregon		#2	[-]
Posts: 769 (03/12/09 09:52 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Actually, that would have been a Leopard I. The Leopard II didn't come into service untill 1979, two years after the movie was filmed. Eric "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin, July 4 1776

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