American Military Cemetery, Normandy, France (Present Day)
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On Omaha Beach, Normandy, June 6, 1944 -- 0630 Hours
[00:03:45 into the movie]

• After the beach is taken and Miller (Hanks) is given his next assignment he goes to recruit Hopum. After Miller tells Hopum to grab his gear Hopum very nervously picks up his typewriter, so nervous in fact that he knocks everything off the shelf including the helmets. A moment later Miller (Hanks) holds up a pencil to let Hopum know he doesn't need the typewriter. Hopum turns around, puts down the typewriter and grabs the german helmet... which is magicaly back on the shelf. Both helmets apparently jumped off the ground? It's one of those scenes where they did a lot of takes and they combined separate takes together.... missing the helmet error.
  Awesome movie but that one bugged me for 5 minutes when I saw it at the theater. HanksFan

• Also, when Ryan is lying faced down in the surf, his name is imprinted on his E-tool cover or haversack, I don't recall exactly. Thing is, this was never printed there. If his name was there it would have been handwritten. The movie people did this so you could identify who was lying there, however it is historically inaccurate. K Verzijl

• Can someone explain to me why almost all enlisted men from the 29th ID and Rangers on Omaha Beach do not have sidearms (Colt M1911A1)... such as the 29th soldier who was looking for his blown-off arm. All he had was a canteen and his first-aid pouch. N Waller

• I'm not sure if this is true, but someone told me once that the bunkers on the beaches were NOT open towards the sea, but only on the sides? Who knows more? Lui

• After the fighting is over at the beach, we see a lot of movement of soldiers and trucks. One of the Dodge trucks has a post war French made tailgate. Rune Kleven

• In the scene at the beach where the sniper is shooting the Germans behind the sandbag wall, he shoots between 2 sandbags and kills the German with a gutshot and then the German falls and knocks down half the sand bag wall. Now why would a sandbag wall that thick fall over when some guy fell against it? Nickdude300

• There is a scene where Hanks (Capt. Miller) is pulling a young man through the water and then the young man gets shot. If you look closely, you will see a rectangular shape under his wet jacket, this is the rigging that creates the bullet hit. I am just wondering why they didn't re-shoot that scene and try to cover it up. Jacob Thomas

• It has been awhile since I saw the movie, but I am assuming that it was Omaha beach that Capt. Miller was on. The error would have been Miller making it through the first wave. On each of the beaches, save Omaha, the defenders were static or garrison divisions. These were made up of older men or non-German volunteers, with no great enthusiasm and little or no battle experience. Omaha was an exception. There on guard was the 352nd infantry division, a combat-toughened field force brought in from Russia 3 months earlier. In first 10 minutes of fighting, every officer and sergeant had been killed or wounded. K Hatler

• In the first scenes it shows a large ship beached with a barrage balloon flying over the top. Nothing larger than a LCT came in on D-day. All barrage balloons were released prior to beaching. The  Germans could have located the ship from the balloon flying from gun positions located away from fortifications on the beach. Ryan was located behind Utah Beach.  Most likely the party of men would have started from Utah, Not Omaha Beach. Jamesbdelksr

• I am 15 year old person from Slovakia and I had seen the movie about 10 times. If I hadn`t read these errors, I would never think about the mistakes in the film, although I`m interested in second world war, I don`t have so much knowledge to observe the mistakes. There are some things, that interested me - for example, on Omaha, why did they shoot the Czech? Well, it can be explained by the psychical liability of those soldiers... if you are scared about every next second, you do things, that you wouldn`t have done if the situation was normal. But the film showed me the true face of the war - the gore, the pain, the fear of those soldiers out there. It is not perfect, as nothing was, is and will ever be. And just because you have noticed some errors there, you shouldn`t take away marks. Many of my friends saw that film and told me: that was the best war movie I have ever seen. And I think that too. It was not the best film I had seen, but definitely best war film ever. And I think I`m not the only one. Sorry about the mistakes in this comment, I`m learning English for only about 4 years. duso

• [Reply to duso: The soldier that was shot was probably a Pole who was pressed into service by the Germans due to their growing manpower shortage. The Americans wouldn't know Polish from German.... Wolfi]

• On the Normandy landing battle why don't any of the men have a bazooka? I talked to one of my Grandfathers friends that was at Omaha beach as a Ranger in the 1st wave of men, and he carried a Bazooka! So why were Flamethrowers only used in the battle to take out the Pill Boxes, and they could have been used to destroy some of the MG inplacements. Alex B 15yrs old 

• On Omaha Beach, several soldiers are seen with medal fittings on their chinstrap swivels, which connect the chinstraps to the helmet. One of these soldiers include the young man on the beach which was praying in Latin. If I'm not mistaken, these fittings on the M-1 Helmet were not invented until the Korean War. They were used in the Korea all the way until the adoption of the Kevlar Helmet in the early 90s. N Waller

• In one of the scenes where you get the Germans' view, you can see a soldier just standing there not moving and not being shot or shot at. Brian Premo

• One of Hank's men (can't remember his name, the discipline fire guy) says "29th division is on the way." The 29th division was not on this part of the front. Djcentore

• [Reply to Djcentore: The 116th Regimental Combat Team, 29th Infantry Division landed with the first wave at Normandy, Omaha beach. . P. Giandomenico]

• Hanks is telling his superior about a recent action with "Toad 88's" in which reference was made to the German 346 Division, a formation nowhere near this part of the front. Djcentore

• [Reply to Djcentore: The reference wasn't to a unit, but to "Those 88mm" artillery pieces that were common on the Normany front.  DarnYanke]

• After the beach assault fighting has stopped, you see the Sergeant bending down to fill some tins with earth.... clearly marked on the top of each tin in felt marker pen is France Africa and Italy.... had Felt Marker Pens been invented then? Benny

• Capt. Miller's company is Charlie Company of the 2nd Rangers Battalion. The 2nd Rangers Battalion was one of the first waves on Omaha Beach, Dog Green Sector, but isn't a "2nd" Battalion usually made up of D, E & F Companies vs. A, B & C Companies? B. Figueroa

• I noticed that when the landing craft is approaching the beach and it is coming under fire, the camera zooms on individual soldiers. Later, on the LZ scene, the same soldier appears as a wounded Airborne chap who is smoking a cigarette and groaning in pain while being treated by Wade the medic. Did anyone else spot this? Quilly

• I immediately saw the sloped ramps were pointed the wrong way, those are the long poles that are held up by to other short poles into the ground. They are supposed to point towards the shore not out to sea because they were used for tipping over assault boats when going up the ramp and flipping over in the invasion. Ryan Daly

• [Reply to Ryan Daly: They where pointed correctly because there were mines at the top of them. P Jacobsson]

• What about the complete absence of Liberty Ships during the scene of D+3 when the beach-head is secure and the camera pulls back to show all the men & material coming ashore and the LST's, cruisers, & destroyers in the background? It was the Liberty Ships, or 'The Ugly Ducklings' as FDR called them, that brought the vast majority of equipment ashore during the Second World War and at Normandy especially. Showing a few of them would have been a subtle yet fitting tribute to the U.S. Merchant Marine Service which for far too long had been ignored. Blame Steven Spielberg for that glaring omission. That scene was nothing more than a computer generated matte painting & it would not have been too difficult to place some Liberty Ships in it. However, I still love the movie & Spielberg for making it. kingdoof

• When the guy cries on the beach when he was handed a Hitler youth knife and says something about the Holocaust, not too many people knew of the extermination camps. We really didn't find out about it till we entered Germany. L. Peterson

• [Reply to L. Peterson: He didn't say anything about the Holocaust! The exact dialogue was: 

• Caparzo: Hey, Mellish, look at this. A Hitler youth knife.

• Mellish: (jokingly) And now it's a shabat chalah cutter, right?---Nik ]

• [Reply to L. Peterson: Not only does Mellish say nothing about the holocaust, rumors about the extermination camps had by this time circulated for years, at least in Europe. Apart from several sorts of gassings, the Nazis were also said to engage in mass electrocutions and steamings (?). In Italy and Denmark the population managed very successfully in 1943 to disrupt the Nazi deportation program, something they wouldn’t have if the 'gas-ovens' weren’t already common knowledge. These rumors were mainly spread through the underground. However, none of the concentration camps liberated by western allies (for example Dachau, Bergen-Belsen, Mauthausen, Buchenwald and others) had any homicidal gas chambers and were thus not extermination camps, so 'we' actually didn't find out about the holocaust at the time, although we thought we did. Their dreadful state was mainly due to massive Anglo-American bombing which, being low-priority, hindered any supplies to reach them, spreading starvation, typhus and dysentery unhindered. Homicidal gas chambers should actually only have existed in a few camps in Poland. Problem is the media at the end of the war took the heaps of corpses discovered in German concentration camps as proof of homicidal gas chambers and industrial mass murder at these locations. In the process, hundreds of German guards were wantonly shot by outraged G.I’s, as were the films depicting the German atrocities. Not surprising, Dachau and Mauthausen are still often erroneously referred to as 'death camps' or 'extermination camps'. Snafu]

• [Reply to L. Snafu: Mauthausen wasn’t a death camp? My Great Grandfather died there a week after being picked up on Christmas Eve. His son was an Austrian fighting in the German army and who was striped of rank and shipped to the Russian front. Mauthausen may not have had a Gas chamber but it certainly qualified as a Death Camp. nightrider]

• On the beach you hear a 'tap-tap-tap' noise that's supposed to sound like gun fire. To me, it sounds like something tapping a beach obstacle. L. Peterson 

• [Reply to L. Peterson: That's the supersonic crack of a bullet flying overhead. It's a loud snapping noise. Very real. There is also the sound of bullets striking the beach obstacles. T Jackson

• One last thing, I don't think there would have been any dead fish on the beach because of all the boats and men, unless the Germans were shooting 50 yards into the sea. L. Peterson

• [Reply To L. Peterson: About the dead fish, the concussion of the explosion is what killed the fish, not bullets. David W]

• [Reply to L.Peterson: The Naval shelling and German Artillery killed most of the fish. Read the book "D-Day." John Gossett]

• I noticed at the landing part of the movie that when the MG-42 was firing into the landing craft it was almost perfectly accurate but then when it is trying to pick off single men on the beach the bullets hit very far apart, also an MG-42 fires about 1500 rpm. That's 25 rounds a second and they used 50 round belts. It seems like they fired for longer than 2 seconds without stopping to feed another belt. K. Pope

• [Reply to K. Pope: The MG-42's were nicknamed "Hitler's Zippers" due to their rate of fire. Wolfi]

• [Reply to K. Pope: Regarding the MG42's firing speed, these weapons can actually be speeded up or slowed down by the operator (from sounding like tearing canvas to a slow chug.) Spencer Reeves]

• [Reply to K. Pope: It has to be said that ammunition belts can be connected. You can simply stack them up and create belts of several hundred rounds. During life fire exercises, the average amount of rounds fired until the barrel has to be replaced to cool down is 150. In the heat of battle, while an enemy attack is closing in on your position, you can expect the gunner to fire several hundreds of rounds until he will even consider to switch barrels. Switching requires around 15 sec, so it is not too unrealistic to show the MG nest firing continuously. Alexander Z] 

• [Reply to K. Pope and Alexander Z: I used to operate the MG 42 now MG 3 in the German Army. Only a greenhorn or a Luftwaffe soldier would need 15 seconds to change the barrel of that machine gun. A real pro doesn´t need more than 5 seconds. But it's very hard or impossible to fire more than 3-4 seconds without spraying the bullets everywhere but into the landing boat. Due to the heavy recoil of that gun short bursts of max. 5 rounds would be the proper way to use that weapon. SM Choi Stabsunteroffizier d. R.]

• In the beach landing, Hanks turns the radio operator over and finds his face blown off. He grabs the radio which we can see is also shot full of holes and hollers into it, "Yadda Yadda". Was that actually in the script or was it a momentary lapse of dialog on Hanks' part? Comments? Perry Porter

• [Reply to Perry Porter: Captain Miller does not holler 'Yadda Yadda' into the radio on D-Day. He hollers 'Cat F,Cat F?'... It's on the subtitled films. Drewbie]

• [Reply to Perry Porter: Captain Miller does not see that the radio has been destroyed until after he starts speaking into it. He then sees the dead shore party man, grabs the radio and gives it a try. It doesn't work, he looks at its condition, and tosses it aside. This is not an error. What a movie viewer sees is not what a character under *intense* stress and pressure is going to immediately see. Speedy Print]

• At the beginning of the beach assault as you see GI's moving through the surf, you see tracer fire coming from the beach.  The trajectory angle is all wrong to be coming from bluffs held by the Germans. The trajectory is almost parallel to the water.  No way even at 300 yards. The gunfire would have had to come from the beach itself. Cosmo

• The German MG42 machine guns in the opening scenes of the movie actually fired too slow to represent the actual rate of fire (1200 rpm) of the actual machine gun. It is unknown if these were replicas or real guns. Either way, in reality the MG42's high rate of fire caused it to push back so hard on the operators shoulder he had to let off after short bursts to keep his target. This was stressed to gunners in training. M. Perry

• Throughout the film it is clear that Mellish is wearing an army assault jacket. However during the Omaha beach scene, When he and Caparzo are shooting the Germans running out of the back of the bunker, he is wearing standard webbing equipment, when seconds before he had the assault jacket. R. Smith

• On Omaha Beach during Tom Hanks' first "spiritual encounter" [when he is clueless and watching the man (who is a minister by the looks of the insignia on his helmet) look for his arm] he is kneeling on the beach a few feet away from the water. However, once he comes to he is still wading in four feet of water! I don't think the tide rises that fast! Marksmenmd

• Quite frankly, the Omaha Beach scene baffles me. Firstly, despite losing all the men manning the sandbagged emplacements at the top of the bluffs to Tom Hanks' sniper, the Germans singularly fail to reinforce the these key flanking positions with the numerous numbers of men we see they posses in the trench system in the immediate area. Secondly, having walked around several bunker locations in Normandy, I noticed that all major concrete bunkers such as the one cleared during the film had a series of doors and corridors covered by loop-holes that would have made this scene quite impossible. Anonymous

• [Reply to Anonymous: They very well may have been reinforced. The story moved past that point so we never got to go back and see that particular placement. S. Blood] 

• Whilst I am fully aware of the major contribution of the US forces on D-Day, I was dismayed to see the Normandy campaign portrayed as a purely US action, to the denigration of the British and Commonwealth contribution (2 of the 5 invasion beaches were US). After all, it was the direct intervention of British destroyers, steaming right into shore, that played a significant part in enabling  the troops to get off the beaches at Omaha. The references to "Montgomery's" failure to advance" might have been put in context with an explanation that the UK/Commonwealth formations were at the time heavily engaged with the bulk of the German armored and SS units (e.g. 12th Pz Gren Div and 21st Pz Div) around Caen, a major built up area. Anonymous

• [Reply to Anonymous: This was a movie about United States soldiers, not a documentary of all the swaying factors that played into the invasion by other nations or British. Keep in mind this was a movie and do we really want everything spelled out in a 'story' these days instead of playing to our minds and imaginations? S. Blood]

• [Reply to Anonymous: You would do well to remember as S. Blood pointed out that this is a squad - platoon level film, and as such would have no logical reason to involve the British who were many miles to the east of the action in saving private ryan. Whilst it may be true that the action by British ships helped the Americans there would be no way of Hanks or any of his men knowing this. In response to the comment about the British being a little slow you should remember that this was the result of inter-allied rivalry which was present throughout the war. As such it is not unrealistic for an American Captain to downgrade British involvement. Neil Holmes]

• One of the most obvious errors, at least to me, was during the beach landing.  Some of the soldiers had their rifles in clear plastic bags to protect them from the salt water. In reality, clear flexible plastic had not been invented yet, plastic available during that period was limited to solid bakelite types.  During WWII, to protect your weapon from water, canvas and cosmoline (a heavy grease like material) was used. Richard C.

• [Reply to Richard C: regarding the "plastic" wrapped rifles - I have video of the actual landings in Normandy and soldiers were carrying rifles wrapped in something that looked exactly the same as those in "Ryan". If it wasn't plastic it certainly had the same appearance at the distance the camera was from the boats. Perryp]

• [Reply to Richard C: They put their weapons in a plastic like bag called pliofilm to protect them from sand. This they learned from previous invasions. Jeremy Waters]

• [Reply to Richard C: My company Norman D. Landing, Militaria. supplied some of those plastic bags, I have original unissued WWII stocks of these pliobags, all of them are printed with army stock numbers, dates, purchase order numbers, and manufacturers. (e.g. Cover, waterproof, rifle, Stock No. 74-C-310-41, Order date, August 27 1943, Philadelphia Q.M. Depot) These bags were made in various sizes, #1 rifle, #2 .45 machinegun, and #3 pistol, almost all of the surviving unused stock appears in a opaque bluish/green colour, the clear plastic ones are extremely rare as they were mostly used up during WWII. Kenneth Lewis [author 'Doughboy to G.I.' U.S. uniforms and equipment 1900 to 1945]

• In the first part of the movie when they are landing on the beach, it shows men being shot under water. This is not possible because the bullet would ricochet or " glance " off the water's surface. Second, when Miller is shown carrying his weapon on shore it is wrapped in plastic . This too is impossible because polymers were not invented until the late '50's or early '60's. Sutleyclan

• [Reply to Sutleyclan: As far as you saying that the bullets would glance or ricochet off the waters surface? Not so.. the bullets, even in the 40's being of the spitzer type, didn't bounce off the waters surface. They penetrated. Troops were shot and wounded from rounds entering the waters surface. S. Creech]

• [Reply to Sutleyclan: The bags covering the rifles were made of pliofilm, a clear plastic-like substance. Speedy Print]

• [Reply to Sutleyclan:  Take a look at the few Robert Capa photos (that survived) of the Omaha Beach landing.  The most famous shot is from the rear of a landing craft, as the GIs are heading into the surf.  The M-1s are wrapped in clear plastic.  See the "After the Battle" special on the filming of "Private Ryan."  They even print the Capa shot alongside a still from the movie, showing the strikingly accurate re-creation that Spielberg pulled off, plastic-wrapped M-1s and all. Jim N.]

• On the sea wall Capt. Miller says there are no D.D. tanks that have made it. Yet, you can see a tank in the back ground when Capt. Miller starts pulling the guy whose body is cut in half by a mortar shell. MateoXVII

• How could the guys intestines come out that much? The intestines look nothing like the real thing. In the movie, it looks like the guy has hamburger meat on the side of him. J Granger

• The infantry landing craft in the first wave at Dog Green were British LCAs (Landing Craft Assault) with Royal Navy Officers and crews from HMS Prince Charles and SS Empire Javelin.  They were not American LCVPs as shown in the opening scenes. The Rangers depicted in the opening scenes landed on two LCAs from HMS Prince Charles under the command of "Paddy" Kenyon, Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.  I have a photograph of these two LCAs in Weymouth harbour. Five LCAs landed Company A/116th in front of the Vierville-sur-Mer draw.  My father-in-law, alive and well, was the RNVR officer in charge of these LCAs from SS Empire Javelin. So the landing craft depicted in the opening scenes should be British LCAs with Royal Navy officers and crews. The opening scenes were based on the first wave at Dog Green sector on Omaha beach.  My father-in-law was in charge of this first wave in the British LCAs. Kevan Elsby

• [Reply to Kevan Elsby: Actually the Omaha scene is portraying about the 2nd or 3rd wave of soldiers coming in, not the first wave. Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) group are from C company, 2nd Rangers, the first wave was A company/116th infantry, 29th division (the guys with the blue and gray ying-yang on their helmets and patches). When they land you can actually see people already on the beach from the first wave. elmagoo]

• Where were the craters in the beach from the intense bombardment from the Liberators, Lancasters and assorted concentrated naval vessels who pounded those beaches and beyond for more than 3 days? R_E_N_27

• [Reply to R_E_N_27: Well, that's true for all of the beaches, except OMAHA beach. OMAHA was obscured by cloud cover, and the bombing raids missed their mark leaving the defenses almost untouched. Imagine the carnage if the other beaches had also been untouched by the bombers. jschleicher]

• [Reply to J Schleicher : Whilst the bombing of the beaches was a factor in the success at other beaches, it was not the only one. Utah mainly remained safe because the American forces missed their intended landing point and instead landed a mile away. Had they landed at the correct beach they may well have been slaughtered just like at Omaha. The British/Canadian beaches though used a different tactic to the Americans for removing obstacles. Instead of using infantry based engineer forces to storm the beach, the British designed "Funnies" (tanks with specific tasks such as mine removal, bridge-laying and bunker busting). These tanks enabled the British and Canadians to clear their beaches quickly because they were much more difficult for the Germans to stop. Although the British offered these to the Americans, they were refused, only for the British to have been proved correct in the end. Neil Holmes]

• Omaha Dog Green Sector Landing Scene: When the camera focuses on the German machine gun unit inside their bunker, we could obviously see that there is no gun sight for the MG - 42 machine gun. How in the world could they aim and fire without a sight. It would seem like they are firing blindly into the exposed American troop formations on the beaches . Another point: how the heck can you inflict that much casualties without a gun sight on the gun?!? Perhaps that there is magnet on the standard American Army uniform of the period. :-) Huy Dang from B.C., Canada

• [Reply to Huy Dang: You don't use sights for a machinegun except for the first time you pull the trigger because the gun will shake and kick up a ton of dust. Jeremy Waters]

• [Reply to Huy Dang:  In all my 15 years of firing machine guns, I've yet to use the sights. That's why God invented tracer bullets. Fire off a few rounds and "walk" the bullets into your target by adjusting the fall of trace. Extremely effective! R.T.D.]

• All this discussion about equipment is a lot of academic nonsense.  Aircraft of all types were searching for targets of opportunity to prevent the Germans from attacking the beachhead and objectives held by airborne troops.  There was a ground attack version of the P-51 called the Apache and the Mustang was quite suitable for this roll.  Tracked vehicles with infantry would be a particularly important target. Richard T. Ellis

• [Reply to Richard T. Ellis: There were 14,819 P-51 Mustangs built during the war and they were used as bomber escorts, dive bombers, interceptors, photo-recon, trainers, transports (w/ a jump seat) and ground attack roles, as in tank busters. There were only 150 built having the Apache name, they having Allison engines before the airframe being fitted w/ the Rolls Royce Merlin engine, at first being the P-78, then declassified as the P-51B. There is no way you would have seen a Apache in 1944 in the ground attack role, as any left at that time were being used as trainers for the P-51. Buddy R]

• As Lt. Miller's platoon approached the bunker at the top of the beach prior to taking it, I noticed some heads come bobbing out of the door of the bunker. As Miller's platoon talked about how to take the bunker, I waited for the Germans to come storming out and ambush them as they just stood there talking - but they never came! Instead, when the buunker was finally taken, there were all the Germans laying down playing dead near the entrance...  Did I miss how they were 'killed'? Doug Hall

• During the D-Day scenes a soldier who has lost his right arm is looking around for his arm.  He finds it, and picks up a left arm. Alan

• [Reply to Alan: You don't need a DVD player (but it helps) to see that he does indeed pick up his own arm. The hand is OPPOSITE of the one he picks it up with. If it ain't his hand, it's still from the correct side of the body! Lee Bishop]

• [Reply to Alan: That is an absurd error. For all we as viewers know he may have picked up someone else's arm! Besides the point of that part of the film is to reveal the horrors of warfare, showing a man so disturbed with the shock of battle that he searches for his lost arm. It achieves this affect, and whether it is a right or left arm is irrelevant. Neil Holmes]

• This isn't an error, but did any of you notice that after the initial German soldiers surrender on the beach, one of them shouts "Sweine Hunde" to the Americans? I'm sure that this is incorrect spelling, but any German would know what this means. Cyrus Clennon

  • {Reply to Cyrus Clennon: Literally it means "Swine Dog" but its the German equivalent of "Son of a Bitch" or something like that, just a swear word. K Verzijl

• On the beach when two 29th troops shoot the "Germans" who were surrendering "Ma, I've washed for supper" they were actually Czech conscripts who had no desire to fight for Germany. R Anaya

• [Reply to R Anaya: After killing the crew of the concrete bunker there appears 2 soldiers begging for their life. There were the Czechs. It's impossible because Omaha beach was defended by 352. division which only consisted of German soldiers. It could be possible in 716. division which defended British invasion beaches where were a lot of Polish, Russian, and Czech soldiers but in 352. division which comes from eastern front were all German soldiers. Pivonkova Zuzana]

• Sean Ryan's dead body is shown on the ground, on his stomach on Omaha Beach. But in the movie's trailer, it shows Sean's dead body on the ground, on his back. Anonymous

• One of the American soldiers on the beach who is blown skywards by an explosion is so obviously a dummy I would have cut it from the movie. Why not use a floppy dummy instead? Anonymous 

• There weren't any blacks in combat units that stormed the beaches, blacks served in support roles. Jeremy Waters

• The 2nd Rangers landed on Omaha Beach. The 101st Airborne was dropped far to the north and east behind Utah beach. To find someone in the 101st, it would have been far more direct to have sent someone in a unit that landed on Utah beach, not Omaha. In fact, most airborne troops were linked up with sea borne units that landed on Utah by D+3. Riddiford

• When you see the landing craft heading for shore, have they sailed all the way from England as there is a totally clear sea behind them all the way to the skyline. Surely there should have been a variety of naval vessels in the background, I understand some 4000 vessels were involved in the assault. Kenneth Lewis

• On the beach when the sniper Jackson is taking out his second victim at the top of the bluff in the machine gun nest: He appears to get a clean head shot but surprisingly the German soldier is knocked forward out of the bunker amidst a bunch of collapsed sand bags. I would think the force of a head shot would knock your body backwards, not forwards. D. Hardesty

• [Reply to D. Hardesty: If you recall, after the German is shot, he does fall backward. After this, Jackson fires at the sandbags. This is when a soldier comes rolling down. BHigdon]