One of the most celebrated films about the tank in World War Two is that of Fury. This is a fictional account but it is based on actual events surrounding the Sherman tank in question. Let’s have a look at the film in a bit more detail before you set offsetting out your day.
The writer and director of the film used several sources for the movie. The principal source was a non-fiction book called Death Traps. This is a controversial publication as the small Sherman M4 tank was used more than the large and better armored Pershing tank. The M4 stood little to no chance against the massive King Tigers they faced. The only way that they could destroy the Tigers was to get around them and hit them in the thinly armored rear. The damage that was caused would have required a little bit more than your standard metal bonding adhesives, although http://www.ct1ltd.com/product-applications/metal-to-metal-adhesive make some incredible ones, that would have been able to sort some of the damage out. The flaw in that plan is pretty obvious as getting past the Tigers in the first place was problematic.
This is illustrated in the film Kelly’s Heroes where one of the characters points out that the only way he can distract the 3 Tiger tanks is by allowing them to knock holes in his tank or they need to hatch a plan so that he can get behind them. The serious side of this situation is that loss to US tank crews was extremely high and the author’s comment is that they were sacrificed to make the cheaper more fuel efficient Sherman which was already showing its age when the War moved from Africa to Europe. The director also spoke to veterans and family members who had seen the effects of tank warfare first hand. He also studied historical records and came across a story he could use for his tale of the Fury.
The Fury is a Sherman Tank driven by a veteran crew that has cut their teeth in North Africa. They now find themselves in France facing stiff German resistance as they try to drive them back to Germany and out of the occupied country. They are joined by a rookie tank member that has trouble fitting into the group. They refuse to give him a nickname until he has proved himself which seems to be the mission of the tanks Captain. He shows the young the recruit the brutality of war forcing him to commit acts of war that he was not expecting. After a young girl that he starts a love affair with is savagely killed he starts to harden and as the tank is crippled by some large Tigers, the crew hide out playing dead. They launch themselves at the passing Germans from inside the Tank killing scores of them before succumbing one by one. Only the young recruit, with the nickname Machine by this point survives.
