Talk:When Trumpets Fade

Platoon Compared to Squad; Private Slovik; Inept Command; Longest Battle in History of U.S. Army

In the second paragraph under Plot the article states that Manning goes on patrol with his platoon, however, this is inaccurate for he goes on patrol with his squad (a platoon normally would be about 40 guys, a squad about half a dozen guys). Also, the article might mention that the battle of the Hurtgen Forest is where Private Slovik was executed, the only soldier executed in WWII. And here's some interesting info: the battle of the Hurtgen Forest is the longest single battle in the history of the U.S. Army, with about 30,000 casualities on our side. However, hardly anybody knows about the battle because it was a strategic defeat for us. The Germans decimated us, implementing a successful delaying action. General Omar Bradley really failed big time on this one, and America only likes to advertise its victories (I think Bradley was the last five-star General; he was a capable general but was pedestrian and had nowhere near the genius of Patton). I'm not familiar enough with Wiki guidelines to add to the article in accordance with the rules but I think you war historians out there could add significantly to the article; it's an absolutely fascinating topic and "When Trumpets Fade" is one of the best war movies I've ever seen and deserves a lot more attention and study. The battle of the Hurtgen Forest really needs to be brought to the attention of the American public. These days it seems all anybody knows about WWII is D-day and the Battle of the Bulge. There's a vast storehouse of history about WWII out there that receives no attention. This could end up being a top-notch article for Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.122.182.221 (talk) 21:02, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

Hi there. Platoon -> squad is an easy enough fix. It has been years since I saw the film but I recall it being a squad as well. In regards to the rest, you might be interested in Battle of Hürtgen Forest and Eddie Slovik.Cptnono (talk) 05:27, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

"White Christmas" Was Evacuation Song For Saigon

Does anybody know if they used "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" in "When Trumpets Fade" because it was the code song played to initiate the evacuation of Saigon in Operation Frequent Wind April 29-30, 1975, when Saigon fell and the Vietnam War ended? It just might be a sly artistic addition to the film which works extremely well. "When Trumpets Fade" is a really great movie, better than "Saving Private Ryan". Dwight Yoakum turns in a superb performance. 71.154.158.137 (talk) 20:16, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

Odd Feature Not Explained

One odd feature of the film is that the effective range of a Garand seems to be about 20 feet (instead of 300 yds), a Thompson about 10 feet, and a flamethrower about 6 feet (instead of 20-30 yards), 88mm about 100 yards (instead of a couple miles). It is filmed as though WW2 were fought with paintball.198.229.238.140 (talk) 23:11, 30 November 2012 (UTC)