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I will show you where the Iron Crosses grow...


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Lol, probably would if it is an interesting scenario ;)

But, there are a number of active posters (especially in the CMSF fora) here that are hardcore believing the fox crap (or Israeli propaganda) and glorifying killing arabs and or claiming that all Arab/Muslims are evil terrorist that sort of deserve to die. For me they are on the same level as Steiner.

Not recently they haven't - I visit every day and have seen nothing of that ilk there.

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Raptorx7,

Read the novel. It's much better than the movie. And I loved the movie.

Regards,

John Kettler

I would have to agree John. I read the book when i was a kid little fuzzy now but i remember a certain squishy shock towards the end that stuck with me. The movie is good but still cant touch the book.

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Speaking of Iron Crosses:

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This Finnish Captain, at the time Lieutenant, led a Finnish infantry company to rescue an encircled German detachment. Afterwards he was offered the Iron Cross by the grateful German commander, but he declined. Finally it occurred to them that Salomon Klass is not your typical Finnish name! The German Major then apologized telling him that he had nothing personal against Jews, did the Nazi salute and walked away.

He wasn't the only Finnish Jew that declined the same offer during the war. One medical major named Leo Skurnik risked his life saving wounded SS men left in the no man's land in Kiestinki, and when being offered the medal he commented that it's only worth for wiping his ass (I'm not sure how comfortable that would be). As one might expect Germans were furious because of this remark and demanded Skurnik to be handed over for punishment, but Finnish General Siilasvuo refused, citing him as his best medical officer.

These real life stories would make for some interesting movies.

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Not recently they haven't - I visit every day and have seen nothing of that ilk there.

Good to hear, I removed myself from posting there some time ago in a matter of seldom selfrestraint. Didn't want to bring this whole mess up but I felt poor for the recently departed being depicted in a scenario against overwhelming odds :D

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I first saw Cross of Iron a few years after it came out (probably in the early-mid 80's), and it was a revelation - although I'd been wargaming for a few years before then, I couldn't believe that they actually made a film about war on the Eastern front with first tier actors and a decent budget and tanks that didn't look like American tanks. With a sympathetic German protagonist.

Trivia question: which better known WWII movie did the screenwriter for CoI also write the screenplay for?

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That kind of thing must have happened quite frequently to German soldiers in the final two years of the war including those who initially survived Bagration. Very few would have survived to reach German lines again. Certainly a Steiner scenario based against the background of the summer 1944 campaign would be representitive of the struggles that these forgotten groups of survivors would have faced

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I admire some of Sam Peckinpah's films: "Ride the High Country," "The Wild Bunch," "The Straw Dogs," and even "Major Dundee." But I've never liked "Cross of Iron."

Peckinpah was an extremely gifted director, but he was also, despite being a former marine, a very undisciplined one. He'd start movies without completed scripts and then just go off on tangents when he ran out of written material. "Cross of Iron" is an example of one of Peckinpah's "undisciplined" films. Further, at that stage of his career Peckinpah was alcoholic/drug-addled wreck which further hurt the film.

While admire the performances of James Coburn, David Warner, James Mason, and the recently departed Maximilian Schell and some of the action scenes, "Cross of Iron" loses its focus and becomes increasingly bizarre and almost psychedelic. There is some really weird stuff going on in this movie. Mr. Mackey was right: "Drugs are bad, mmmkay."

I know Ostfront geeks love "Cross of Iron," but I think its popularity is more of a case of "beggars can't be choosers" rather than its actual merits as a film.

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