If you want to get an idea about the Peach’s unit — the 469th Halftrack, Support and Gravedigging Battalion — watch South Pacific. Them Sea-Bee guys.
Rommel didn’t much care what his guys wore, so long as they shaved, because “Shaving makes us look young!”
Looks like the Peach wasn’t the only one knew about looking good.
Lately I’ve heard military people on the radio, and they are cooing with gentleness and concern. I’m sure they’ve been coached to speak in such a way that they don’t blow the cover of war, but they sure didn’t speak like that when I was in. They spoke more like THIS.
Come to think of it, when they’re on YouTube, the pigeon accents are gone. They’re whooping about burning villages like it’s the latest video game. I wish they’d just be themselves in the interviews and not try to pretend they give a damn about anybody in-country except their own platoon members, which is their job anyway. What the hell are soldiers doing trying to build schools? Soldiers are about grabbing territory; it’s up to the civilians to do the actual work, for good or ill. Listening to soldiers try to be nice is just weird.
Ya gotta give it to Cheney — he’s totally unreconstructed.
unreconstructed.
Oh, dear, now I am having Dr. Demento flashbacks.
“Sha-a-a-ving cream!
Be nice and clean!
Shave every day and you’ll always look keen!”
Oh, thanks, Miss Jane. Now you’ve gotten ME started! :-)
I have to laugh about Rommel wanting everyone to look young. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, commander of the U-96 (That’s Das Boot, folks) begged L.G. Buchheim, the author of that book and the real-life prototype of the war correspondent, NOT to take photos of the clean-shaven crew at the beginning of the patrol. He said they looked too young to be causing the Tommies so much trouble.
Favorite moment in Das Boot: when the reporter got the oily rag in the face. Funny because it came out of the side of the frame. If it’s into or out of the frame it’s ALWAYS funny — never use for tragedy or people will laugh.
Yep, that was cleverly done. Totally wrong, of course– IRL, whoever did it would have been caught and court-martialed for striking an officer.
My family has a great affection for that movie. The Gibraltar segment cheered us up enormously when we were coping with a badly flooded basement by making us remember that our water problem did not threaten our lives.
Have you read the book? It has more of a sense of humor than the movie. I love the bit when the Old Man decides to make potato pancakes at midnight.
Nah, that was just a reporter. And everybody was obviously embarrassed. Potato pancakes at midnight? With a grater? Human protein in the food was just a side-benefit?
Yes, with a grater, although Der Alte delegated that job to one of the crew. RHIP. Anyhow, he could flip them in the air!
BTW– the correspondent in the movie is called Leutnant Werner. I’m guessing that we can assume him to be a naval lieutenant working for the Ministry of Propaganda, as Buchheim was. The rag-slinging was a cool bit, and forgivable. because the movie got the things that really mattered right.
Remember that the Third Reich put all the journalists into the military — Lord knows if the ambulance-chaser even knew what an officer could demand. This was the original version of being embedded with the military.