Stalingrad (1993) Firing Squad Scene

As a German i can tell you that the subtitles don't even come close to portraying the true intensity and meaning of the dialogue. Powerful Scene

My Polish grandma was shot in front of her building together with her neighbors in a similar fashion in Warsaw during the war. She was a kid and fainted from the shot that went through her. She was later rescued by other neighbors after the soldiers left. Luckily the shot didn't hit any organs and she lived a happy life up until 4 years ago, when she passed away in her sleep.

3:57 This scene works so well, because even after engaging in an argument with the commanding officer, and even after showing signs of hesitation, remorse, guilt, when the firing order comes, it pretty much sounds like one single shot, as they shoot their rifles in unison. So even though they were neither robots, nor soulless killing machines, they did function as such.

The actor that played the Officer was absolutely magnificent. Pure evil. He stole the scene. My hat is off to you Sir.

My Father and his brother’s life’s were saved by a German soldier who said ( probably - nobody spoke German) that in the hole in the ground were they were hiding there was nobody: he lifted the wood that covered the hole ( there was in there 6 children - my dad and my uncles) , he had eye contact with them and then the officer yelled something at him. He said “ no “ also shaking his head, left the wood that went back to cover the hole… , and he left.

Damn,the cinematography and the quality are amazing for 1993

This comment thread is a goldmine for amazing war stories. Obviously they describe horrifying things but I am fascinated by them. Thank you all for sharing. My only war story is this: my grandfather lived in the occupied Netherlands. He was conscripted to work in a factory in Germany. He avoided deportation by hiding in a wheat field. The story goes that before he left the house to go hide, his mother gave him a kitchen knife and said "don't be afraid to use it". These are basically gentle peace-loving Christian peasants we are talking about. It just goes to show how brutal the war was, that a mother has to give her son instructions like that. And this story is nothing compared to many in this thread.

My great uncle fought in this battle. He was born in 1923 and just 18 years old when he and his friends were sent to Stalingrad in the Summer of 1942. He would always tell my dad that one time they had orders to attack a factory, which was being held by the Soviets. He would always say that that was the day he saw all of his best friends die right in front of him. He would also talk about the situations were he was engaged in hand to hand combat, telling my dad about the struggle and the slowly appearing white shimmer in the eyes of your enemy, once you take his life. He also talked about a war crime he and his comrades committed, when they shot and killed their commanding officer. Because that officer didn’t care about the lives of his men, constantly forcing them to attack strongly fortified positions. He also was awarded his iron cross there for shooting down an enemy plane, which then crashed right into the position of the Soviets. The one thing that always gets me is when I hear the stories about the winter inside the city. My great uncle said that they didn’t have warm clothing, there was no food. It was so cold the young soldiers would not even notice the tears running down their cheeks from crying, praying, yearning for their mothers. When new casualties were suffered, they would go out dragging the stiff-frozen bodies of their own comrades into their position and use them as sandbags. When a firefight erupted those bodies would thaw and pervade the air with a foul smell. In January 1943, he went out of his position, when 4-5 bullets penetrated his legs. His friends took him to the last available airfield and he was fortunate and got flown out of Stalingrad in one of the last airplanes. Neither his friends, who got him on the plane nor one of his other comrades made it out of there alive. They were all between 19-21 years old. After his recovery he was sent to France, where he fought in Normandy, Falaise and the Battle of the Bulge. During the latter he was taken prisoner by the Americans and returned to Germany in 1948. He would never even look at gun again. He passed away at the age of 86 in 2009. He finally found his peace

My grandfather was part of a truck division that carried medical supplies, he was ambushed by some Wehrmacht youth. He thought he was going to die, but they just wanted to eat his chocolate. Then they waved him through. He carried Hersey kisses for passengers in his glove box as an homage until he died 40 years later.

great and depressing scene that shows some serious personality in these soldiers rather than just making them evil monsters im going to give this movie a try

This comment section is a living, breathing history tour de force. So refreshing to see you all keeping your grand-relatives memories alive with their incredible tales, they'd be proud of you.

The white subtitles on top of snow is just excellent

One thing that's very underestimated in this scene is how the actual Wehrmacht are all wearing ragged clothes, had to be handed new rifles, are suffering from some frostbite, and have clearly been fighting hard. Whereas the Military Police and SS are all dressed in perfect uniforms without as much as a scratch on their helmets, some of the Wehrmacht don't even have helmets.

My Great Grandfather was harboring a small jewish family in his attic in Amsterdam during the 2nd world war, when germany invaded they searched every single house in all the neighborhoods, one young german soldier was sent by his officer up in the attic to search it and actually saw one of the kids up there. The officer asked what was taking so long and the young soldier lied, saying there was nothing and he just wanted to get a good look. He whispered to my great grandfather's ear when they were leaving to better hide the children next time... If it weren't for that soldier i probably wouldn't be here today.

I know it isn't related to the eastern front. But my great grandfather was in the 2nd polish corps he fought for monte cassino and ancona where i live now he got alot of medals for his bravery. He died last year in his sleep i love you grandpa.

One of the best war movie of all time, it's really show you how horrible the war can be. When men said "war is hell" they aren't exaggerated even a tiny bit.

I am Russian. My grandmother was a child during the war, and she was saved by a Wehrmacht soldier. He hid her, when they were executing the whole village, by burning people alive in the barn. Some people too strong to be forced to kill their humanity, and it saving lives.

My grandfather told me a story a lot of times of how his family was nearly killed by firing squad when he was just a kid. His village in Poland was occupied by the Germans. One morning the whole family (my grandpa was around 7-8 years old then, his parents and grandparents) gets dragged out from the house by a troop of soldiers and lined up against the house wall. A German officer with the aid of a translator proclaimed the village was accused of harboring resistance fighters and they will be executed as an example what happens if you help the resistance. This was true, the whole village including grandpa's family did frequently feed resistance fighters and couriers and let them sleep in the barn; however, this was not solely from patriotic duty - if you did not help the resistance, your barn and house got burned down in the night. As the Germans waited for a crowd of onlookers from the village to gather for the execution, the leader of the German colonists ran over and started shouting and arguing with the commanding officer. The village chief vouched for my great-grandfather’s honesty, argued that the Germans were here to colonize not terrorize and needed honest hard working Polish farmers. He also threatened the officer with some family connections high in the Nazi party. The officer finally angrily gave up, but took out his frustration on my great-grandfather, beating him unconscious with a rifle butt. My great-grandpa lost his hearing in one of his ears, but lived long past the war. As an added twist - it later turned out the accusation of harboring resistance fighters came from a Polish collaborator from another village, who got rejected by a girl from my grandfather's village and wanted to take vengeance. Resistance fighters beat him and burned his farm to the ground. The story really shows the confusing morality of war. Grandpa was saved from a bad German by a good German, with both good and bad Poles contributing to the situation.

"Let me take his place." ... he a real one for that. 🤝👏

man the dialogue in this scene is absolutely amazing you can feel everything in their words its crazy!