"Fury" WWII Movie Worth Watching

M551 Sheridan Tank

by Chuck Ness

I don’t watch much television anymore. If I do they are old Westerns or reruns of old sitcoms. There isn’t much coming out of Hollywood worth watching, but a friend recommended the movie, “Fury”. I said if it’s ever on for free I would. Well it was on AMC, so I watched it.

The movie takes place near the end of WWII, when Germany was throwing everything they had into the battle in an attempt to stop the allied invasion from reaching Berlin. The best chance Hitler had was using what he had left of his famous Panzer tanks.

While in the service in the early “70”s, I was on a tank. A smaller tank named the Sheridan M551 tank. I was a the top gunner in 1975 when the 197th Infantry Brigade had qualifications that year at Ft Benning Ga. I loved that tank. It was small compared to most tanks, weighing in at a mere 17 tons. Compare that to the M60 that weighed 70 tons, but the Sheridan was made for reconnaissance. As a Scout it was made for me.

At 17 tons, it could be dropped into Nam from a transport plane via parachute. It was also amphibious which was great for scouts to meneuver ther jungles and waterways. They would deploy that baby right into the thick of things at times. It was light and fast. Disengage the governor, and we could get that tank rolling down a paved road pretty fast. It still holds the Guinness world record for the fastest tank ever made at 82.23 km/h (51.10 mph).

The tank came with the first ever guided missile system primarily made for a tank. The MGM-51 Shillelagh missile was a deadly accurate round. It was computerized, so as long as I had the system set correctly, it never missed. Yet go figure many gunners did miss, because many gunners had problems setting the new confusing guidance system.

Back then computers were new and few, if any, uneducated service men could figure them out. I learned then, long before PCs were common, that I had a knack for understanding them. When it came time to qualify, I never missed. I must admit, it was an awesome feeling watching that missile drop out of the gun and soar down the range. Other rounds shot out of the cannon like bullets, but the missile glided under its own power. It would sway from side to side, then as it got close to its target it made a beeline for the old tank carcass that was my target. The next thing I saw was an explosion and then nothing but rubble.

I loved that tank. Eventually they took the turret and modified it for the a newer M60A2 tank. If only our guys in WWII had such a weapon, the war would have been over in half the time.

Well, the movie I watched had a classic tank battle scene with 3 American Sherman tanks against 1 Panzer. The Germans took out 2 of the American tanks with direct hits, while the Anerican rounds were bouncing off the German Panzers thick hull like like small rounds do. Eventually, one of the American Sherman tanks was able to get behind the Panzer and connect with a direct hit in the weak back end. Thus destroying the tank.

Movie ended with a great fatal stand off. I won’t give it away for anyone wanting to watch. It was a good movie, very factual, and no politics. Hollywood actually made a good movie, and I was very impressed.

War is hell, and the movie didn’t pull any punches, so viewer beware. I grew up in the 1960s as a pro military pro Vietnam War kid. I loved the movie Patton with George C. Scott, and the Green Berets with John Wayne. Never went to war though. Missed it by about a year.

We stopped sending troops into Nam in January 1973, I joined in November of “73”. My mom tried to get the military to take me after I dropped out of school in the 10th grade though. She took me down in November 1972 to see if they would take me, but they declined her offer of my services, because I was only 16. So, Instead she signed me over to the "Thomas Shows" carnival that was traveling through town. So I spent my 16th Summer traveling around Canada and the US, working as a barker for one of the games called, The "Crazy Ball".

Thus I missed Nam, but I still got my chance to be on a tank when I joined after turning 17. To this day I find tank battles to be something special, and the one in this move was good. I highly recommend the move if you are a war buff like I am.