Ah yes, what a load of tripe
but man do I love it!! It was shows like this that got me interested as a child in military history leading me to where I am today with my knowledge and research abilities for WWII history and equipment and my stint in the services.
I watched this as a 8-9 year old and a later in the 70s and now on DVD. It is action-packed, wrong, but so very exciting. There was no character development, but who cares? The tried in the first few episodes to make Hitch the sex symbol and he was one of two characters to have a catch phrase. But the show focused on ACTION! It was pointed out quite correctly by another poster that many battle scenes were used and reused throughout series one and two - especially the hodgepodge of trucks led by a M41 Walker Bulldog with one truck speeding off and cuts of Moffitt holding on to the .50 and throwing a grenade followed by another cut of the jeep leaning heavily into the turn. Even more confusion when the 'Patrol' speed off or chase the fleeing truck to be pursued by a pair of heavily modified (to look like ? StuG? Marder? Don't know, it doesn't work!) M7 Priests MGC that weren't there in the first place? As well as some modified (to look more like sdkfz. 251s?) M3 Halftracks that weren't there to begin with. But it still made for action viewing! And lets face, part of the fun of watching these things now is to pick holes in em.
What got me was that in the first series up until episode 18: The One That Got Away Raid, both sides seemed to be using the same kind of submachine guns! I could be wrong, but they appear to all be most probably a Star Model Z-45, a post war Spanish version of the MP40 with wooden body and stock or with a folding stock, and a slotted cooling sleeved barrel. However they could be earlier Steyrs or Bergmanns or perhaps even Frence or Belgian but I'd go for the Z-45. Episode 18 was when they must have changed armourers (or the armourers were booked for other movie obligations elsewhere in Europe at the time it happens?) and the Germans got MP40s (with the Schmeisser misnomer) and the Allies got M1A1s (Thompsons).
Along with these came different German vehicles. Gone were the modified M7s, M3s, and assorted European trucks and ambulances (Mercedes, Adlers, Opels, etc.) to be replaced by unmodified M3s, M3a1s, almost exclusively U.S. Dodges, GMCs, and the like. Though I must add, the ubiquitous German Kubelwagen (great uncle of the VW beetle which the Germans coined) does appear in both series. As well as adding the rather cool Mercedes Benz G4 Staff Car (which was apparently a vogue thing for the time appearing in a few other shows, such as Hogan's Heroes for one) being an unusual short production 6x6 field/staff car.
If the show had any 'authenticity' at all, it was the trucks in those first 17 episodes! They were from the correct era. Even the jeeps were not particularly convincing for the roll. The U.S. didn't have desert raiders of this type in Tunisia attached to the LRDG (Long Range Desert Group) or otherwise and if anyone can get me a source to say they did, I would be grateful, in my 50 years I can't find any reference. The Rat Patrol was pretty much based upon the British SAS (Special Air Service) of the time who worked with, but were never attached to the LRDG at all (who would train the SAS in desert navigation and act as guides, etc., but would otherwise leave the SAS to do their own thing once the LRDG got them to 'point X' on a map).
The SAS loved the kinds of raids the Rat Patrol portrayed, specialising in raiding airfields however. The LRDG were a reconnaissance unit for the most part, mainly observing enemy movements, mapping, surveying, and so forth. Fighting when they had to. The SAS could do the odd strafing run, but would prefer to park away from a target and sneak in, sometimes quite boldly by not 'sneaking' at all, because the enemy was not expected to be anywhere near some of the places they raided. They could literally walk or drive into an installation and go about their tasks for which they designed their own special explosives! But the reality versus the Rat Patrol, the real SAS never took on anything more heavily armoured than a truck or a Kubelwagen. But then, reality doesn't always make for riveting action sequences like in the Rat Patrol. And for that, I will always love the show.
I watched this as a 8-9 year old and a later in the 70s and now on DVD. It is action-packed, wrong, but so very exciting. There was no character development, but who cares? The tried in the first few episodes to make Hitch the sex symbol and he was one of two characters to have a catch phrase. But the show focused on ACTION! It was pointed out quite correctly by another poster that many battle scenes were used and reused throughout series one and two - especially the hodgepodge of trucks led by a M41 Walker Bulldog with one truck speeding off and cuts of Moffitt holding on to the .50 and throwing a grenade followed by another cut of the jeep leaning heavily into the turn. Even more confusion when the 'Patrol' speed off or chase the fleeing truck to be pursued by a pair of heavily modified (to look like ? StuG? Marder? Don't know, it doesn't work!) M7 Priests MGC that weren't there in the first place? As well as some modified (to look more like sdkfz. 251s?) M3 Halftracks that weren't there to begin with. But it still made for action viewing! And lets face, part of the fun of watching these things now is to pick holes in em.
What got me was that in the first series up until episode 18: The One That Got Away Raid, both sides seemed to be using the same kind of submachine guns! I could be wrong, but they appear to all be most probably a Star Model Z-45, a post war Spanish version of the MP40 with wooden body and stock or with a folding stock, and a slotted cooling sleeved barrel. However they could be earlier Steyrs or Bergmanns or perhaps even Frence or Belgian but I'd go for the Z-45. Episode 18 was when they must have changed armourers (or the armourers were booked for other movie obligations elsewhere in Europe at the time it happens?) and the Germans got MP40s (with the Schmeisser misnomer) and the Allies got M1A1s (Thompsons).
Along with these came different German vehicles. Gone were the modified M7s, M3s, and assorted European trucks and ambulances (Mercedes, Adlers, Opels, etc.) to be replaced by unmodified M3s, M3a1s, almost exclusively U.S. Dodges, GMCs, and the like. Though I must add, the ubiquitous German Kubelwagen (great uncle of the VW beetle which the Germans coined) does appear in both series. As well as adding the rather cool Mercedes Benz G4 Staff Car (which was apparently a vogue thing for the time appearing in a few other shows, such as Hogan's Heroes for one) being an unusual short production 6x6 field/staff car.
If the show had any 'authenticity' at all, it was the trucks in those first 17 episodes! They were from the correct era. Even the jeeps were not particularly convincing for the roll. The U.S. didn't have desert raiders of this type in Tunisia attached to the LRDG (Long Range Desert Group) or otherwise and if anyone can get me a source to say they did, I would be grateful, in my 50 years I can't find any reference. The Rat Patrol was pretty much based upon the British SAS (Special Air Service) of the time who worked with, but were never attached to the LRDG at all (who would train the SAS in desert navigation and act as guides, etc., but would otherwise leave the SAS to do their own thing once the LRDG got them to 'point X' on a map).
The SAS loved the kinds of raids the Rat Patrol portrayed, specialising in raiding airfields however. The LRDG were a reconnaissance unit for the most part, mainly observing enemy movements, mapping, surveying, and so forth. Fighting when they had to. The SAS could do the odd strafing run, but would prefer to park away from a target and sneak in, sometimes quite boldly by not 'sneaking' at all, because the enemy was not expected to be anywhere near some of the places they raided. They could literally walk or drive into an installation and go about their tasks for which they designed their own special explosives! But the reality versus the Rat Patrol, the real SAS never took on anything more heavily armoured than a truck or a Kubelwagen. But then, reality doesn't always make for riveting action sequences like in the Rat Patrol. And for that, I will always love the show.