# Plot Holes in World War II **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463 "2012-03-22T02:30:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/161 "2012-03-26T04:10:06Z")
Season 2 had some real suckage. Pearl Harbor in particular. The diplomats just don’t happen to get the message decoded in time, so the attack is a sneak attack? I mean come on here. One bomb destroys the Arizona? Really? And a year later to the day the Americans launch a sub they call the [Pearl Harbor avenger](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bowfin)? Geez, Michael Bay would not even try to sell us that. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/162 "2012-03-26T05:41:30Z")
It was only a minor point, but did anyone else notice how the Canadians went from practically starving in the Depression to having something like the _third or fourth biggest navy in the world_ by the fifth or sixth season, and then just throwing the whole thing away afterwards? Granted, they got in early alongside the Brits, but come on. Industrial economies don’t turn on a dime like that. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/163 "2012-03-26T08:24:35Z")
and during the Big “D-day” event, I could of sworn that a lot of those Paratroopers were puppets…couldn’t they have used some CG to paint faces on them? ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/164 "2012-03-26T08:39:52Z")
I thought it was pretty tiresome during the London Blitz episode that the Germans miraculously never hit St. Paul’s Cathedral, a big effing target in the middle of London and apparently a symbol of eventual victory for the Brits, despite dozens of opportunities. Surely they’d be able to zero in eventually? Such a trope. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/165 "2012-03-26T08:41:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That was an early episode and they hadn’t really figured out yet where they were going with the series. It’s like how Spain and Manchuria and Czechoslovakia were all supposed to be major stories and they all ended up getting dropped. I’ve heard the reason Spain got dropped out is that it had been intended as an interest point for the Hispanic audience until a Hollywood exec realized that Spanish and Castillian are different languages. I’ve seen some articles which give props to the guy playing Hitler for double roles in that Hendaye interview, but I’m reasonably sure the actor playing Franco is a different one. They’re both short, ugly frogs, and those 'staches are so ugly they make it kind of hard to look at anything else, but the Franco guy doesn’t spit as much during his speeches. In case anybody isn’t paying attention, yes the “different languages” thing is a woosh. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/166 "2012-03-26T13:00:11Z")
Cripes, can we at least have a consistently written big bad guy? I mean, allies approach Paris and he’s all ‘Is it burning? Is Paris Burning? burn it! Burn it!!!’ But allies approach Rome and he’s all ‘Can’t burn that city! Withdraw!’ C’mon! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/167 "2012-03-26T13:03:03Z")
Also, drawing on the prequel series we see almost no change in the weapons the infantrymen are using, yet the whole field of battle is different? Where are the trenches?! And don’t get me started on how these ‘allies’ are able to win against the Germans when they had fully automatic rifles! Most of the Allies were still using bolt-action rifles!! C’mon! ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/168 "2012-03-26T13:27:49Z")
There were some moments of slapstick comedy centering around the newer weapons and technology that I enjoyed. For example, “[M-1 thumb](http://www.fieldandstream.com/answers/guns/rifles/shooting-tips/whats-m1-thumb)” was a hilarious running gag that never got old. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/169 "2012-03-26T13:41:00Z")
Remember the part when those Soviet conscripts are sent into battle, and two guys have to share a single rifle? But in one of the early episodes they made a big deal of showing long panning shots of these huge factory complexes in Magnitogorsk, and some Soviet higher up going on and on about the glorious workers and the production quotas, and all the trains coming and going. Yet after showing all that, and showing the ample supplies of vodka flowing to the army (yeah, we get it Hollywood, the Russians are drunks), they can’t supply all their soldiers with rifles? In a country where half the generals were supposedly executed by Stalin, we’re supposed to believe that such gross incompetence could happen? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/170 "2012-03-26T13:44:59Z")
Other humorous moments included [V-2 mishaps](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWw9-LZG9b0) for the Germans. I’m almost positive that, when the series first aired, this had the “wah-wah-wah” sound effect. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/171 "2012-03-26T15:00:02Z")
I think it was the greatest satire/black comedy of all time. Clearly the producers didn’t intend for anyone to take it seriously. And I’m pretty sure it was the inspiration for _Dr. Strangelove._ ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/172 "2012-03-26T18:59:43Z")
Can you believe that the writers actually thought anybody would buy that plotline with the US subs? I mean, they build up the Mk-XIV torpedo as the ultimate wonder weapon, able to sink any ship with one shot. Then, when the sub skippers report that it’s not working right, the admirals accuse the submariners of gross incompetence! They insist for 18 months that nothing is wrong with the torpedo - nope, not a thing. Tests? We don’t need no tests! We didn’t test it before the war and we don’t need to test it now! - until the guys on the sharp end finally ran some qc tests on their own. Please, write something that’s believable, not some REMF straight out of casting is ignoring evidence from the field. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/173 "2012-03-26T21:21:56Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Other humorous moments included [V-2 mishaps](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWw9-LZG9b0) for the Germans. I’m almost positive that, when the series first aired, this had the “wah-wah-wah” sound effect. You know they took those couple of scenes and expanded it to an entire level for the vieo game [“Cold War Space Race.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13qeX98tAS8) ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/174 "2012-03-26T21:24:29Z")
wargamer - they even put in a sub-plot about submarines being built in Wisconsin! Really! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/175 "2012-03-26T22:51:27Z")
Can we talk about the lazy scriptwriters for a moment? I mean, why can’t these people name stuff like a military does. [M1 Combat Car (tank)?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Combat_Car), [M1 Rifle?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Rifle), [M1 Carbine?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_carbine), [M1 Submachine Gun?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_carbine), [M1 Helmet?!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Helmet), [M1 Bayonet?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_bayonet), [M1 Mortar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_mortar), M1 [Bazooka?!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazooka#Rocket_Launcher.2C_M1_.22Bazooka.22) [M1 Flamethrower!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1A1_Flamethrower). C’mon! There are other numbers and letters of the alphabet ya know! ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/176 "2012-03-27T00:48:08Z")
Then there was that whole “Great Escape” sequence. Prisoners digging tunnels to freedom, sewing German uniforms out of scraps, forging documents, communicating by codes and signals. How much more cliched can you get? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/177 "2012-03-27T01:07:54Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Then there was that whole “Great Escape” sequence. Prisoners digging tunnels to freedom, sewing German uniforms out of scraps, forging documents, communicating by codes and signals. How much more cliched can you get? Really. If you’re going to rip off other shows, at least pick something better than _Hogan’s Heroes_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/178 "2012-03-27T01:11:46Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Can we talk about the lazy scriptwriters for a moment? I mean, why can’t these people name stuff like a military does. [M1 Combat Car (tank)?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Combat_Car), [M1 Rifle?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Rifle), [M1 Carbine?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_carbine), [M1 Submachine Gun?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_carbine), [M1 Helmet?!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Helmet), [M1 Bayonet?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_bayonet), [M1 Mortar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_mortar), M1 [Bazooka?!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazooka#Rocket_Launcher.2C_M1_.22Bazooka.22) [M1 Flamethrower!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1A1_Flamethrower). > > C’mon! There are other numbers and letters of the alphabet ya know! And look at the P-38. They used it as the designation of an British submarine, a German pistol, and both an American plane and infantry can-opener. I figure it’s some inside joke that they tried to slip in. ---
**Author:** ![Tixenfleaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@Tixenfleaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tixenfleaz)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/179 "2012-03-27T02:24:43Z")
I gave up after the Lancaster bombers used bouncy barrels to take out those dams on the Ruhr. Try ripping off something besides _Star Wars_, you hacks! ---
**Author:** ![Tixenfleaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@Tixenfleaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tixenfleaz)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463/180 "2012-03-27T02:32:48Z")
\ Beaten to it… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plot-holes-in-world-war-ii/616463.md?page=10)