Talk:Sergeant York

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[edit] Gun

The trivia section mentions "gun x was used in the film, but it was really gun y" twice and gives two different sets of firearms. Anyone know which is correct? — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 21:34, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

I haven't seen the film, but the article says that Gun x was used to shoot 7 Germans, and gun y was used to capture Germans. Since shooting and capturing are different, I'm removing the self-contradiction notice. Fakeisthenewreal

The film shows him using a Luger? Because the 1911 .45 "wouldn't fire blanks"??? Both are hand guns, and horrible at range. If he were that close (less than ~~40 yards), the enemy would have dispatched him in the first 30 seconds. I have always read that he was using a rifle. Don't recall ever hearing the make and model. He most assuredly did NOT pick off multiple enemy, and march out 132 prisoners, after subdueing them with a .45 pistol. It was a good weapon, and he was a good shot, but that canNOT be the weapon he used in his exploit.

68.228.81.58 15:01, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Obviously makes more sense if you saw the movie, which I have years ago. The scene referred to is when several Germans charge him at close range and try to bayonet him, but he shoots them all down with a pistol. I recall reading about this something along the lines of he shot them in order from the ones at the rear first, so the ones in front didn't realize that they were in danger until it was too late, although this isn't mentioned in the Alvin York article. It is mentioned here:

When the fight began York was lying on the ground. But as the entire line of German guns came into the fight, he raised himself to a sitting position so that his gun would have the sweep of all of them.

When the Germans found they could not "get him" with bullets, they tried other tactics.

Off to his left, seven Germans, led by a lieutenant, crept through the bushes. When about twenty yards away, they broke for him with lowered bayonets.

The clip of York's rifle was nearly empty. He dropped it and took his automatic pistol. So calmly was he master of himself and so complete his vision of the situation that he selected as his first mark among the oncoming Germans the one farthest away. He knew he would not miss the form of a man at that distance. He wanted the rear men to fall first so the others would keep coming at him and not stop in panic when they saw their companions falling, and fire a volley at him. He felt that in such a volley his only danger lay. They kept coming, and fell as he shot. The foremost man, and the last to topple, did not get ten yards from where he started. Their bodies formed a line down the hillside.

from Sergeant York And His People, which is linked to in the York article.

The movie shows York picking off the machine gun crews with a rifle, which is "just like shooting turkeys", a reference to a turkey hunt he is shown participating in before the war, even using a turkey call to get one German to show himself, the same way he got a turkey to do so. BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 00:00, 17 November 2007 (UTC)