IIRC, the show's best directors was fortunately the director for this episode and it showed. He included a Wehrmacht light machine gun and a rare German semi-auto rifle for the German squad. Viewers will likely notice that both sides travel "light" meaning little extra field gear, like filled ammunition pouches etc. The Germans do have one soldier carrying two boxes of MG ammunition but if you look closely all the soldiers have little on their leather or web belts. Vic Morrow reportedly disliked the weight of his Thompson M1928A1 SMG and carried a lightweight replica whenever he could. James Caan's 9mm MP-40 SMG fires long bursts while Saunders usually can't get more than three or four rounds from his TSMG because of the barrel constrictor to allow the bolt to function with blanks. The real recce P-38 (historically an F-4 or F-5) has incorrect US markings for a 1944 episode. The camera was in a fake position and not even close to what a recce plane carried...as the aircraft still had the MG openings in the nose. These and other minor "errors" do not really detract IMO from this great episode but they could have been corrected IMO to a better degree. But schedules and budgets usually win out over accuracy. Nice use of US and German grenades in this episode too, especially in the heavy vegetation which to me was very effective for this episode. The ending with Saunders and Kirby seemed very realistic to me. I hope the above adds to your enjoyment of this special tactically superior episode of "Combat" from 1963.
Review of Anatomy of a Patrol
