[-Waffenampt-]

Gentlemen,

While we are talking about Capt.. Dye, I thought I should put my two cents on Tactics and History. The Following are excerpts of a letter sent to Steven Spielberg, pertaining to the German Army's representation in the Film.

"Dear Mr. Spielberg:

Permit me, a twice wounded veteran of the Waffen-SS, and participant in three campaigns (Battle of the Bulge, Hungary and Austria) to comment on your picture, "Saving Private Ryan." Having read many of the accolades of this undoubtedly successful and, shall we say, "impressive," film, I hope you don't mind some criticism from both a German and a German-American point of view. Apart from the carnage immediately at the beginning of the story, during the invasion at Omaha Beach, whereon I cannot comment because I was not there; many of the battle scenes seemed unreal. You made some commendable efforts to provide authenticity through the use of several pieces of original-looking German equipment, for instance, the Schützenpanzerwagen (SPW), the MG 42s, and the Kettenkrad. And, while the appearance of German infantry soldiers of the regular Army in the Normandy bunkers was not well depicted, the Waffen SS in the street fighting at the end of the film were quite properly outfitted.

My comment about the unreality of the battle scenes has to do with the fact that the Waffen-SS would not have acted as you depicted them in "Private Ryan." While it was a common sight in battle to see both American and Russian infantry congregate around their tanks when approaching our lines, this rarely if ever occurred with the Waffen-SS. Also, for my unit you should have used 18 or 19-year old boys instead of older guys. The average age, including general officers of the heroic Hitlerjugend division at Caen, was 19 years!

Sincerely,

Hans Schmidt "

I think this letter has some very valid expressions on Capt.. Dale Dye's knowledge of the German Military of the time. And I could alot list may small unit errors on the list if you would like me to, including a detailed squad layout, battle formations, Rank structure, Order of Battles etc.

I'll say it again from one of my Previous posts, " Captain Dale Dye is a Great Guy. And A Great Marine. But not a Great German Soldier. Relatively Large mistakes where made in "Saving Private Ryan" In representing German Field Operations. Again, a Great and Experienced Marine.. But Not a German Soldier.. "