# ID a 70s WW2 movie (foreign made, dubbed, about Panzer unit, spelling out messages with corpses) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974 "2020-09-06T22:32:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/1 "2020-09-06T22:32:58Z")
I was wondering if someone could happen to ID a WWII movie I saw a bit of, once—on TV or online, I can’t recall. Color, I’d guess 1970s-made by the production quality (slightly grindhousey). I’m almost certain it was dubbed into english. It was about a Panzer unit, I _think_ in Normandy—which I remember distinctly because they’d filmed it in what looked like California countryside during the summer, with plenty of lush dry grass, bright sun, and everyone looked like they’d gotten a good tan. The other distinctive bit? The German tankers (running somewhat ragged, at this point) need to communicate with the Luftwaffe overhead, but don’t have a working radio. So, the Commander decides they should use “panel code”—something like [this](https://www.lonesentry.com/blog/air-ground-liaison-panel-codes.html), using flags or tarps draped on the ground to send one-way messages to overhead observers. Neat and obscure, but I digress. Anyway, some more misfortunes befall them, apparently, and they end up without the normal tarps they’d need to spell out the message…so they decide to use dead bodies (battle casualties, including or mostly their own) instead. Which works, and they even spring for an aerial shot to show it. So…does this one ring any bells? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2020, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/2 "2020-09-06T22:45:42Z")
Since this is about a movie, let’s move it to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2020, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/3 "2020-09-06T22:50:22Z")
My bad—I thought I _was_ posting it to CS. I still need to get the hang of the new software, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2020, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/4 "2020-09-06T22:52:29Z")
No problem. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/5 "2020-09-06T23:25:57Z")
I haven’t seen this, but it seems to fit much of the OP’s description, including the use of corpses as panel code: > **[La battaglia dell'ultimo panzer (1969) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140840/)** > > La battaglia dell'ultimo panzer: Directed by José Luis Merino. With Stelvio Rosi, Erna Schurer, Guy Madison, Rubén Rojo. A group of German Tank Crew fight to survive in france while a french woman falls in love with the German lieutenant ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/6 "2020-09-06T23:37:43Z")
That looks like the one…awesome! Thank you. 🕶 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2020, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/7 "2020-09-06T23:39:01Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > I haven’t seen this, but it seems to fit much of the OP’s description, including the use of corpses as panel code: I’ve read some of the imdb reviews and now I want to see the movie instantly! ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/8 "2020-09-07T01:04:32Z")
I too want to watch a 1969 Spanish made film where the last German Panzer in Normandy is an M1 Abrams. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/9 "2020-09-07T01:23:27Z")
And where GIs wear Wehrmacht helmets and carry G3 rifles. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/10 "2020-09-07T05:24:43Z")
Uhhh … the Abrams didn’t come into service until the early '80s. 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/11 "2020-09-07T05:38:19Z")
Well, that’s why he wants to see the movie! That would be pretty amazing, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-a-70s-ww2-movie-foreign-made-dubbed-about-panzer-unit-spelling-out-messages-with-corpses/919974/12 "2020-09-07T05:45:48Z")
The first movie I thought of that fit a lot of the description was _ **Death Race** _, in which Lloyd Bridges\* commands a Mk V Panther\*\* (repainted Sherman) lost in the North African desert. Now _that_ is some movie! 👍🏻 \*Looks like he picked the wrong time to quit sniffing glue! \*\*Which didn’t enter service until the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, after the Axis had been kicked out of North Africa.