There is a scene in The Dirty Dozen where there are a bunch of Germans (many non-military) trapped in the basement of the castle. The DD dumps grenades and gasoline down an air vent and ignites it.
So do I take it correctly that they just burned those people alive, including the civilians?
And how acceptable would this have been in real life during WW2?
Plenty of civilians were killed in bombing raids over Germany so I don’t think the allies had any problem with those deaths. I don’t think at that point they had any way of letting the civilians out of the basement. I’m pretty sure they knew going in that the place would not be 100% military people.
Wasn’t it some high-falutin Nazi party?
I always figured the party guests were the people that supported the Nazi party. So, let 'em burn, baby!
It was a retreat for the Nazi high command, and the place was filled with colonels and generals. As such, it was a valid military target. Destroying it the way they did was no different than the military today firing a cruise missile into an al-Qaida meeting in a residential neighborhood.
Remember, this was total war. Entire cities were being firebombed from the air. Merchant ships and cruise liners carrying troops were being sunk by U-Boats, despite having hundreds of civilians aboard. The Germans were dropping V-1 and V-2 rockets on civilian populations in Britain. No one would have had the slightest qualm about taking out a nest of high-ranking German officers like this. I’m sure they would have preferred to get them when their wives and servants weren’t around, but if they couldn’t, well… that’s war.
As I see it, the Dozen were criminals, recruited to do things ordinary soldiers wouldn’t, and their final actions are supposed to be shocking.
I don’t think the movie was supposed to be a comment on the horror’s of war [crimes] considering the Dozen were promised pardons (redemption), contingent on a successful conclusion to the mission.
Prisoner’s were selected because they were considered expendable, and the mission was deemed to be a long shot anyway.
But it wasn’t any of the convict’s idea - it was Lee Marvin’s improvised plan to kill them with gasoline & grenades.
The original plan was just to machine gun everyone in the chateau with no warning. I don’t think many of the hookers would have survived that either.
Man, I always cry during the Dirty Dozen, you know, when Richard Jaeckel and Lee Marvin are sitting on top of this armored personnel carrier dressed up like Nazis, I mean who can watch that scene and not get weepy and choked up.
Yeah, it’s kinda “oh crap, they’re locking themselves in the safe room, we can’t get them. Oh wait, there are a bunch of air vents. Let’s improvise. Get the grenades and those gas cans.”
Not like they had a lot of time to do anything else, and yes, it was war.
It’s…a…movie…
I usually turn the movie off a few minutes before Telly Savalas goes nuts and gets almost everyone killed.
I hate that scene because it’s so darned obvious that character was unstable. There’s no way Lee Marvin would have taken him on that mission in real life.
In real life Marvin was an extremely liberal guy. He might have taken him anyway, blaming society and conservatives for his problems.
Thanks dude, here I was thinking it was a documentary. It’s a good thing you came along. You must be the King of the Internet.
Okay…
Creepy zombie is creepifying.
Reported.
Regards,
Shodan
“Sarge, I’m scared!”
Call for the Captain ashore!