How They Knew Bob Was a German Spy in Masters of Air Episode 4?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 11 жов 2024
- In the fourth episode of Masters of the Air, Bob, an American soldier, is introduced. A complicated but successful test soon reveals him to be a German spy.
#masteroftheair #bob #germanspy
Subscribe to the Channel: / @heavybreakdowns
I firmly think that any material used does so following the principles of fair use, but if any content owners disagree, I will delete it without delay. I don't intend to violate their right to ownership of their content in any manner. If you discover your artwork or photos in the video, kindly let me know so I may give you credit.
- Injuries were inconsistent with other two
- German lighter, an infantry soldier can have a German lighter probably picked it up during battle but an airman based in England can't.
A German fighter pilot who got shot down parachutes and drops his lighter mid air, it falls into a B-17 hatch, an American picks it up, they gey shot down ect....
Bob paid for his newly found lighter😂😂😂😂
Maybe there are stores that sell german lighters
@@andresramirez4469 So you are telling me that allied airmen went to shopping after getting shot down over Germany 🤣🤣🤣
@@Kruppt808those German lighters they just keep falling into US Bombers' open hatch. 😮
Bob's European date format gave him away
I thought the he was able to sing the whole Star Spangled Banner while most Americans end up humming it. Germans would train a spy to learn the whole thing.
It was probably that, the European date notation, and all other clues which added up that the resistance members weighed and then decided yep he is probably a spy.
He didn’t sing it right though, he said “just so proudly” the correct words are “what so proudly” I get what you’re saying but I’d hope most Americans would know the words to their national anthem and not have to resort to humming it. I do understand what you’re saying tho, in order to be a spy you’d think they’d make sure you know the words to the song.
There is a short story written by Isaac Asimov, "No Refuge Could Save" aka. "To spot a spy", in which a german spy is identified by his too good knowledge of the US-anthem. The spy knows the text of all four verses and is unaware that most americans don't even know that there is more than one, let alone would know the text.
During the 1944 Ardennes offensive German troops disguised as American troops were easily detected by their identification cards. The US army identification cards had a typo. they were labelled "INDENTIFICATION" the German forgers corrected the typo so all the German forgeries were labelled "IDENTIFICATION".
You've been given a suicidal mission, been given very little support and the mission is a total failure, you've been shot down and you're in the custody of some randoms you have never met, they are speaking a language you have likely never heard in a very foreign accent and they ask you to sing the national anthem. Forgive me, but if I'm in that situation I don't think I'd be very patriotic.
Come to think of it, if I heard someone sing it in a gleeful tone, I'd think they were stoned out of their mind (not beyond the realm of possibilities when it comes to WW2, mind) or that they were a spy.
"...When his jet suffered significant damage..." LOLOLOL.
I was unaware that B-17s were jet powered. Who knew?
I thought I heard him say jet that is bad commentary even AI standards
A subtle clue that proves he's a spy...
They did have turbine driven compressors so they were part of the evolution towards jets which were not a clean break innovation as many people assume.
It happens quite a bit with this voice bot. I've heard it on other channels. It appears our new overlords aren't there, yet 😉.
I caught early on that there is something fishy about him because he doesn’t have any injuries while both American pilots did. A subtle hint.
He could have just bailed out with his chute and sustained no injuries
@@uncle7215 Also remember this is a mini series, directors often design these little hints when the show is full of details
You're right. There simply was something off about him from the get go and thats it. I think the reason people cant agree on a reason is because Spielberg simply didnt give much of a clue and wanted the audience to be just as shocked. Bobs whole character was just simply a little odd. The way he came into the picture..the way he sung the star spangled banner. And I think thats all the real clues that there are. The date thing doesn't add up to me because although Europe does do DDMMYY. The U.S military also does DDMMYY. I still have my grandfathers letters and papers from WW2. Everything is DDMMYY. Especially if the soldiers had been living in England for quite some time, surely there would be a possibility they would get in the habit of DDMMYY. So thats just not a reason enough execute the man flat out like that in my opinion.
He had a hint of a German accent from the first words he said that made me think
@@uncle7215those planes get torn to shreds by flak. The chances the airmen had no scratches on them after getting shot down is almost zero.
My grandmother, a German who fled in 38, struggled with writing the date for almost 70 years. Habits are had to break.
Wanna hear something funny? Right now, US military personnel are *required* to write the date, the way Germans write it in this series. DD/MMM/YY
@@YujifanikWell, finally common sense has prevailed. Next, embrace the metric system. 😊
@@Yujifanik Exactly. It was this same for US military even back in WWII, some docs even show it back in WW1. It was HOW the numbers were written - not the format.
@@EuroS50 Even that need not be a tell...
@@Yujifanik exactly, which is why I find he "my grandma found it hard..." story🤨I learned how to write the date and tell the time rather quickly in the military🤔
Captain Glenn Dye is my uncle- not only was he the first in the 100th to complete all 25 of his missions- he never lost a crewman on his missions. He continued in service until WWII had ended - teaching, test pilot, etc. attaining "acting Colonel." My father Lt. R. Warner Dye was also a pilot - not the 100th. Debbie Dye Campana
Good name
If you don’t mind my asking, how are you and your family finding this series? I know Hollywood can’t help but embellish every story they’ve ever told, but overall, fairly accurate?
@@shakey2634 Its on Apple TV
@@shakey2634yeah all the events are real, sometimes even worse than what was shown, there may have been a few things added for drama effect but Band of Brothers, The Pacific and Masters of the Air are the most accurate and best productions about the war out there.
@@ApollonDriver I'd absolutely hope so given they are all based directly on the biographies and stories told first hand by the ones that were there 😂
When writing the date, he writes the numeral 1 the continental European way (that is not a single stroke down, but with a hook). There’s a British film made during the Second World War where a German posing as a British soldier gets caught out similarly, but writing the 7 the continental way (with a bar through it).
He also writes the 9 the non-American way in the date.
I think the way he sang the anthem was also a giveaway. He was so ready and too joyful, didn't feel like a confused and battle scarred man
He sang the national anthem with too much enthusiasm, as if he knew that demand was coming
And the fact when he was lighting the cigarette, it was a German cigarette lighter not an American zippo lighter
I have one of those IMCO lighters made in Austria!
In fairness, TONS of Americans kept souvenirs from the war, it was extraordinarily common for soldiers to keep enemy items like lighters, knives, firearms, helmets, flags, etc. It's not unreasonable at all that an American would have a German lighter instead of a Zippo, so I don't think that's the big tell, the Belgians already had him figured out.
@@cleverusername9369 how would pilots be able to collect souvenirs?
I noticed the lighter too but I didn’t see him write the date but that would definitely be tell says the guy watching UA-cam videos in the comfort of his home.😂
I caught the lighter too. I told hubby that I thought it was both the date and the lighter. I didn’t connect that Americans only carried zippos but I knew that lighter didn’t look right and I knew it had to be important because of the way the scene played out. I knew the date was important because he’s the only one they zoomed in on and I knew the lighter was too but I just didn’t know how. It made me miss my PawPaw. I wished I could call him and ask him. So I had to settle for the next best thing…google lol
The way he wrote the numerals when told to date his document, which are distinctly German.
There's a WW2 British film called 'Went the Day Well?' about German infiltrators preparing the way for an invasion and that was one of the things that made the locals suspicious .
Thats actually not german but continental european. But british and americans wouldn't usually do it.
same with numbers when you ask an american to hold 3 fingers up we use the middle 3 fingers in europe it like the ok sign with the 3 finger from pinkey
That's not German, it's European.
@@wobniar1That's also wrong.
My two cents from being stationed for 6 years in Germany and Belgium... It was not one singular thing that exposed Bob, but a string of little inconsistencies that the Belgians used to make the decision: lack of injury, over-willingness to talk, too enthusiastic SSB, dates/letters written different that GIs, the lighter. Adding them up convinced them, though he was probably already a dead man when the guy asked Bob for a light. Icing on the cake with the non-Zippo lighter (kind of sloppy for the Germans to do that when they could have provided him one).
Yeah I think there were alot less clues than everyones going on about. Lots of really small thing. He was simply odd from the start. The way he sang was awkward too. But the date thing eh..I'm not totally buying it. I mean, its worth noting that the U.S military does DDMMYY. Also, these guys were stationed in England for over a year there's a possibility they could have got in the habit of DDMMYY. All my grandfathers letters and papers from WW2 are DDMMYY. So I have a hard time believing that is the thing that gave him away. But I'm not sure bout the lighter either. Lighters were massed produced and sold worldwide just like today. My grandfather didnt have a zippo, but the same looking flip lighter as the one in this scene that he got from training in England all the way to the end of the war in Germany. A lighter he got here or England. Because all the countries he fought in are engraved in it. `I don't think there was an ''exclusive'' German lighter that would give anyone away like that.
@@_TheDarkHalfInteresting, and appreciated. I think affecting ddmmyy because you prefer it after being in eng/eur is reasonable
@@jon4715 update I found his lighter and it WAS a zippo lol
Also he knew who's statue is on Trafalgar square while the Americans had no idea 😂
These underground warriors were incredibly brave. The Nazi’s tortured the hell out of them when they were caught.
“…when his _jet_ suffered significant damage.” 😂😂😂
I literally cringe every time someone calls prop fighters or bombers as "jets".
IKR.....
It’s probably the dialogue. Jets weren’t even invented
@@andresramirez4469 yes they were. But not in active service at that point in Time. First jets were pre war time. At the time of the episode the Germans were developing and flying me-262, the British the meteor, and the US the Bell jet which never saw service and I can't remember it's number. P something. But by Bell like th P-39 airacobra.
Clearly it's because he accepts when the guys with guns said "zigaretten"
Also the fact he knew the national anthem without fault was a give away. Keep in mind the star bangle banner wasn't adopted as the national anthem until the 1930s and a lot of these boys lived through the great depression (i.e. more important things to worry about)
He did have a fault, he sang, "Just how proudly we hail ..." instead of the correct, "What so proudly we hail..." Big flaw.
@@MarkHolmes-v9h yeah but if compare how one the other two resorted to humming some parts. The confidence of thinking you have it is more daming
Bit like how allied spies caught in Germany. They would say hail hitler when the germans actually said hail hit.
But they didnt show him singing the whole thing. And he did sing it with fault. He said ''just'' instead of ''what'' (so proudly we hailed).
@@MarkHolmes-v9hAnd? If the lyrics weren't that well known back then, I doubt he was the only one.
It wasn't the way he wrote the date, the US military uses the day/month/year format. It's the way he wrote the numeral "1".
And the 9!
This needs to be pinned. I'm a US veteran and I still use the day/month/year format.
Had someone reply to a comment I made saying the fact Bob knew the anthem was a giveaway since as shown by the other two guys real Americans only half remember the thing. Even after rereading the lyrics I still can't get it more than two-thirds correct.
I'd be screwed if they asked me anything about sports.
I see what you're all saying but they literally only showed bob sing one line so I don't know where yall can conclude this. Plus, in that one line he said ''just'' instead of ''what'' ( we proudly hailed).
I'd expect military folks to know it well as they sing it often
I caught that right away. I was born in Germany but I’ve lived most my life in U.S., I knew before he even wrote it down why they asked him that question.
I cannot speak for the 40s but when I was in the U.s. Army in the 80's we were told the write dates DD/MM/YYYY just like Bob did.
Me too. I still do it that way. I'm pretty sure the military did that even in WW2. So as not to confuse operations dates between allies.
I wrote the dates the same in the USAF back in the early 00’s
And in the US Navy. Day, month, year...
I was in 88-92.. that's the military way..still date checks letters that way.. today is 21 Feb 2024.
It's always been like that with the American Military apparently. I checked all my grandfathers WW2 papers and letters after this and everything is dated DDMMYY. It's just not a big enough reason for him to have ''given himself away'' by that alone. Plus these guys were stationed in England for at least a year, so it wouldn't be out of the question for some of them to have picked up that habit. At least not reason enough to execute him flat out.
Another giveaway on how Bob wrote his dates is how he wrote his “1s”. Germans write their ones with a slope on top then down instead of a straight line down. 1:31
That's called a serif.
My first clue was Bob implying that his group went second. I’m pretty sure Buck’s(Gale’s) crew went late due to bad weather conditions.
I'm not sure when the US military started it, but for my decade in the military, we always wrote day, month, year. I still do.
@@ericharmon7163 It was likely started sometime after WWII when NATO and such was formed as a way to 'unify' things between various militaries.
Last thing you want is for a date to be set by a US General for an attack to be done 2 months late because someone didnt realize 4-6-2000 meant April 6th not 4th of June.
I agree with you. The Germans write their 1 almost like an inverted "V", rather than in the American style as either a single vertical line, or a vertical line with a horizontal foot and a short angled line from the top to the lower left.
There are at least two other things that may have given Bob away. First, the proper lyrics for the Star-Spangled Banner are "Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light WHAT SO PROUDLY we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?" Bob, however, sang, "JUST HOW PROUDLY we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?" A minor discrepancy, but not one a native American would be likely to make. Also Bob's written number one had that little flourish at the top, sort of like this, '1.' Whereas an American is more likely to write the number one like this, 'I.' I think it was the totality of multiple errors that made the French Resistance men feel certain that Bob was actually a German spy.
They where Flemish Resistance men, not French
FWIW, that little flourish is known as a serif--hence, why some fonts are called "san serif," because they are lack serif markings.
@@brechtvb07 No, they are Walloons. Flemish people are Flemish. Walloons are French people living in Belgium.
@@catherinelw9365 it's says that they are in Flanders Belgium, so they are Flemish resistance fighters. Not Walloons. Plus, the man with the hat who shot Bob is a Flemish actor and in a article he says he is playing a Flemish resistance fighter.
@@catherinelw9365 Walloons ain't french, they just speak french, wich doesn't make them french
His "1" was a dead giveaway.
“Bob” actually got a couple words of the Star Spangled Banner wrong, although if you weren’t paying close attention, you could easily miss it. In addition to using the European date format, he apparently also had a German or Austrian style lighter instead of the Zippo style lighters Americans would’ve carried. Any one of these things could be explained away, but all three together was enough to blow his cover.
When Bob wrote the date he did so in Euro fashion. Here is an example. April 1st in the USA: April 1, 1942. April 1st in Europe: 1 April 1942 and
the German lighter in his possession pretty much confirmed it. While an infantryman could easily pass it off as a souvenir or trophy, not so much if you were an airman based in England.
On top of that, Bob didn't have the same injuries as Quinn and Bailey.
Well i would be pretty screwed because im a US DOD contractor and the way we are told to write dates is 11 APR 2024…. Day then abbreviated month then full 4 digit year
@@brandonlewis9531 lol just be lucky you not in world war 2 who got luck
at 0:17 "...when his jet suffered significant damage..."
The B-17 is not a jet dude. It has propellers.
It blows my mind how many people don't understand that.
It blows my mind that you think jets can't have propellors!
@@noobmcgoob9745 I know they can, but that's not relevant because we're talking about the B-17.
A jet can have a propeller or not have a propeller, but it must have a jet engine in order to be a jet. The B-17 does not have jet engines, therefore it is not a jet.
@@noobmcgoob9745 you must not get out much
It’s AI narrating I guess.. this is what happens
@@antartis73 that might be so in this video but I've also seen reaction videos of people watching that new show Masters Of The Air where they refer to B-17s and German fighters (NOT the ME-262) as "jets".
It wasn't the date format but the way he wrote the number '9'. North Americans write it with a straight tail, while many Europeans write it like a 'g'.
In reality it was basically all the things people have pointed out. The date and handwriting style are two major ones, everything else on its own could’ve been coincidence, all of them together? Spy
The military uses day month year so your premise is incorrect. What he did do is write the 1 as a German would write (with a very slanted "flag" and if there were a 7 it would have had a slash across the middle)
Except this is how the military writes the dates. Proper military date format includes the day, month, and year, in that order. There are specific requirements for the number of characters, or numbers and letters. When taking into account the character limits, the format can be expressed as DD MMM YY with no commas. So if he was following proper military format, he did not write it out in the European style, but in the military style.
Actually, I think he wrote, '18 August 1943."
@@lonestar-oo9yy Yup your right, 18 August 1943
The way our guys write the date came after the formation of NATO, one of the things we changed as the US and Canada were the only ones using that format. The only plausible reason for an American to do that would be if they immigrated to the US before the war, and volunteered for the US, but it's highly improbable as European immigrants, with few exceptions, were sent to the Pacific theater. The same with Japanese Immigrants and Americans being sent to the European Theater.
@@jimkaratassosJim μάλλον εσυ δεν πρόσεξες, 19 August 1943, κάνε μεγέθυνση
@@jimkaratassosJim πρόσεξε με μεγέθυνση ότι γράφει 18 August 1943
In the film "Inglorious Bastards" the basement barroom shoot out occurs because one of the Allied spys held up his index, middle, and ring fingers to indicate three 🍸 drinks to be served to the waitstaff when a German would hold up his thumb, index, and middle fingers. It seems that Europeans start counting their fingers with the thumb not the index finger.👆
It was three in inglorious bastards
@@ScoopsTVtools yeah, now that you mention it.
@@ScoopsTVtools Yeah, now that you mention it. I think it was three.
The character in Inglorious Basterds who held up the wrong set of fingers was British (Lt. Archie Hickox)
@@Blashmack Yes
They wouldn't have shown bob writing the date the european way if that wasn't the reason why
Also with the date, the way he wrote the numbers. On mainland Europe, they tend to write 1 like an inverted checkmark/tick and 9 like a lowercase G. So the way he wrote the year was significant. English speaking western nations don’t do this! No idea why but we just don’t.
These series like Band of Brothers, and MoA really show the all around life of that time. It’s nothing but bravery and difficult decisions.
Not sure about this scene in particular, but as a European who has heard plenty of WW2 resistance stories, I'm pretty sure it's not JUST something like the date writing that would give away spies. Sure it could be a hint, or even serve as evidence when already suspecting (like in the 'three fingers' in Inglorious Bastards'), but most of these conclusions came from errors in the details (like what breakfast you had) while acing more general questions, and having too much convidence.
The fact that the American soldiers did not quite know what Trafalgar Square was, was a key indicator that they really were American. A German would know to describe it, as most Europeans know about their neighbouring countries' key monuments.
lol I knew he was a spy from the start. The second they showed him I was like, "I already know where this plotline is going and what this guys role will be😅"
That’s actually how you write dates in the military. It was the lighter.
No, it wasn't.
@@kored8688 ok, did you write the script? I still write my dates that way because of the decade plus spent in the military.
@@ericharmon7163 I haven't even watched the show, so I have no idea about the script. I just know that the U.S. military didn't use the standard date format.
@@kored8688 wait, so all you know is what the video said? 😆
@@ericharmon7163 I just corrected your false statement :)
In old movies, you could conclude who a murderer was if you had the mental capabilities to connect the dots sprinkled throughout the story. But in more modern movies, they leave out any visible hints to make the protagonist look like a genius in how he collected the evidence to find a murderer. So, instead of one spectator of a movie being clueless while another knew who the murderer was, it is a way of unifying the spectators into one combined opinion about a scene or movie so public ratings and reviews would not vary too much or even contradict each other.
We can speculate about the hints in this scene, but if there was a scene later in the series that described the evidence, like a persona writing a report or diary, they would come up with many things that we haven't seen on screen for the same reason described above.
The d/m/y format isn't a tell on its own but part of a series. In Canada we interchange and use either d/m/y or m/d/y based on blood sugar levels as long as you spell the month.
Another tell is the way Bob made his "1" and his "9" - that is the way they are taught in Europe but not a smoking gun as he could have been home schooled in the US by European parents.
The third tell is the lighter being specialized and not a zippo - not a smoking gun as pretty sure you could get a German lighter in the US.
Put all three together and he is dead on arrival.
When I watched it, I imagined they knew when he sang the national anthem too well.
He literally missed a word lol.
Almost as if he had superiors that ordered him to practice.
He's lucky he didn't hit one of the Americans when he shot Bob because they were right behind him
Yes. Except it's a tv show... :)
@radian2323 yeah I know 😅.
I thought the same thing. Very bad shooting.
I noticed that too. I also catch myself yelling at the TV if someone isn't practicing proper trigger discipline, or flags another actor with their muzzle.
The way he wrote his date and the way he wrote his “9”
I think it was not confirmed to the audience for a reason. The sad truth is no side was always right when rooting out spies.
But yes they put hint in that makes him a likely one.
I agree. The reason everyone has so many opinions is because they purposefully wanted the viewers in the dark a little just like the other soldiers were. He was just simply off it was obvious from the start. But I don't think any one little thing that was shown on screen gave him away directly.
The US military uses the day, month, year format. And, they did during WWII. However, looking over some documents I can see both formats used. Possibly, because many of those preparing them had recently been inducted into the service and hadn't adapted. So, it would have been highly unreliable in any case.
I would have failed the baseball questions, and I am 100% from the USA. Maybe it was different back then, more of a shared experience. But I still doubt I would have been into baseball back then, given my lack of interest in most sports. And I tend to write dates as 15-Feb-24 (today). I do it that way to avoid any confusion, and because it goes from lesser to greater significance, left to right. Days are shorter than months are shorter than years. 2/15/24 is not going to cause much confusion, because there is no 15th month. But what about 2/5/24? Some may well think that means 02-May-24. I suppose that resistance leader understands that he will probably accidentally kill some legitimate allies with his methodology...
Baseball and boxing were the biggest sports in America in the 40s. Asking and American then which team Babe Ruth played for in the 40s would be like asking which team Tom Brady played for. Or asking which team he played for before he went to the 49ers. You'd know he never played for the 49ers.
Baseball was America's sport back then. It has declined drastically.
The British tried and tested method of detecting a German spy was to tell the suspected spy a joke. If he was a German, he would obviously fail to understand the joke and not laugh.
I can tell you as a vet, the US Navy today uses the Day Month Year format. So while this is what I also suspect was the reason the guy was shot, it would lead to a lot of false positives today.
I right the date different all the time. I would have got shot for poor penmanship
When I watched this I saw the date thing, Long time ago read a book about spies in WW2. At the time the entire process of lighting and smoking a cigarette different between American and Europeans. I didn't notice that in the episode. However might have to go back and look closer.
It’s also notable that there were non-Germans who sided with them for various reasons, including some Americans. I’ve no idea if the character is based on a real one but if you want to infiltrate an underground railroad for escaping Americans or the resistance running it, one of those people would be a logical choice. Perhaps getting used to doing things the German way and being issued German equipment could still lead to some tell tale signs though.
The robo voice is really annoying though.
There's also a thing that's a tell-tell from Europe that doesn't really exist much in the USA.
Counting on your fingers, and the order you do it.
It's noted in the slap-action "Inglorious Bastards", but its an actual thing.
German/Europe, when asked to count from 1-5 on your hand, they start with their thumb as '1'... in the USA, they start with the index finger.
Says who??
Tarantino??
And the guy ordering was a British officer not American.
Who the h*ll counts using their fingers anyhow? Kids?
U.S. Military uses Day, Month, Year on documents although civilians use Month, Day, Year so I would disagree
that was adopted after ww2 before ww2 it both military and civilian used mm/dd/yy because we were deep in isolationism but after ww2 we helped make nato so the us military started using European style date formatting to make it easier for all country's involved would not get the dates mixed up
@@topgun1457nope. Look up military forms from ww2. They were signing day month year at least as far back as 1943. And also, NATO specifically uses British standards for forms, not American. The US doesn’t change our writing style to match unless there’s a specific need.
Yup. The date thing was 100% not it. All my grandfathers letters and papers from WW2 are DDMMYY. So I have a hard time believing that is the thing that gave him away enough to execute him.
@@_TheDarkHalf yeah I honestly think it intentionally wasn’t revealed to us. Everyone has theories, but I don’t think there was a single concrete clue left for the audience. I think it’s a story telling tool to make the audience member nervous about how dangerous it is, but also show that spies were a real problem.
Came here to say this, and glad someone else pointed it out. Dad was in the USAF and always wrote like that, taught me to do so much to the chagrin of my grade school teachers--I'm glad I wasn't being evaluated by the Resistance!
And other posters are correct: I had two great uncles serving in the war, one in the Airborne, and the other in the USAAF, and both dated letters and documents according to the "European standard."
In all, when I first viewed this scene, I thought that bob WASN'T actually a spy, but rather it illustrated the nuance and uncertainty of the situation, and the fact that the Resistance, understandably blinded by their desire for freedom from the Germans, sometimes made mistakes and had to convince themselves that what they did was right, even if it was gray at best.
So he have trained himself an american accent but made mistakes on how he wrote the date? No german spy on this level would make this mistake.
Nice pull🤙🏽 I was stationed in Germany during the Cold War era I still right the day first 😂
would that be write?
He sang “what so broadly we hailed…”
The DDMMYY sequence is military ... at least now. A trained German intelligence agent would not have European-stylized his numerals or carried a German lighter. Plenty of Zippos from captured or killed American personnel.
This was weak.
Bob said the wrong second phrase in the spangled banner…. “What so Proud” (correct) but Bob sung “Just so Proud” (wrong) plus he was singing loudly with no fear…
Exactly. He said "Just how proudly we hailed" which doesn't seem like a big deal but that's exactly how you'd interpret the verse if translating. "What so proudly we hailed" makes little sense to a non English speaker.
Write the today's date
The German spy: write down his Girlfriend name
It's obviously the date, I don't know why everyone in the comments is suggesting their own theories. He did DAY MONTH YEAR. Yanks do MONTH DAY YEAR. Easy give away.
It was not a “jet” that Quinn bailed out of. It was a bomber. 🤦🏻♀️
I noticed the date too, as soon as it showed that glimpse of how he wrote it, I thought no American would write it that way, only a European.
But if you are not an American watching the show, like myself who’s Scottish, I wouldn’t have caught that clue when watching the show.
That’s something that is too subtle a clue to catch… glad that was explained to us.
US military also uses the euro standard for dates….so not the reason in my opinion. I think it was the date and the lighter.
I reckon it was his German accent that gave him away it did to me the moment he opened his mouth
I'm an American who lives in France. I got used to the DDMMYY format. I guess I am as good as gone.
Nah. As long as you still write your 1s and 9s the right way you'll be fine ;)
Don't know how the Army Air Corp did it, but current military uses Day/Month/Yr as the military standard. Guess I'd have got shot.
The Lighter was the clincher but before that, don't forget it was a resistance escape line and they had comms with London. All they'd have to do was pass on his Army Number name and rank, and if the ansswer came back "Who?" then it was Good Night Bob. Certainly by 1943 they were very careful of who was an evader and who wasn't.
Question: In Episode 5, how did the German kids know that the downed pilot was "Amerikaner"? Why would they not assume he could be a British or other?
The uniform would give him away. Even though they were kids, at that time they would of been well versed enough in the uniforms of different nationalities that they would of known the difference btw uniforms of different nations.
Jeez that was a tough penalty just for failing an exam ! The issue of German spies being uncovered and shot whilst trying to break into the lifeline networks that were trying to smuggle allied airmen into Spain is covered really well in a few episodes of series 1 of Secret Army. That BBC tv series isalso available here on UA-cam. It was made in 1978 but is an excellent drama despite its age.
I'm not sure the date order was it; we use day-month-year in the military, just like they do in Europe. Handwriting styles differ greatly in the different parts of Europe and North America. Due to many of the cultural reformations taking place in Germany in the decades leading up to the war, handwriting was taught in the neo-gothic style which can be seen when Bob is writing his numbers. This kind of style looks similar to the numbering style seen in the 18th century, and many of us would be familiar with the more elaborate numbering style from some of America's founding documents. Not that the date order isn't part of it, though; I think that maybe the case. But, I appreciate this scene and how it does highlight (as does our discussion here) just how meticulous the resistance networks had to be during the war.
I knew when he wrote the date
The problem with this scene is at least one of the other men were in the line of fire behind the spy. Even a caliber as small as a .38, from that close range, has a high probability of going completely through the skull and hitting what’s behind it. In this case, an airman. I do appreciate that they just did the deed. No forcing him to his knees, no back and forth pleading, no chance for him to run, or pull a weapon….. just did it.
Yes! That caught my eye too. The backdrop was sloppy AF. But the resistance guys behaved like they didn't give AF either if they shot all three of them. From what a Polish dude who spent time in the resistance as a youth told me, they were pretty much like that.
Likewise, a scene in "Inglorious Bastards" Was based on an actual incident where an OSS agent blew his cover by simply ordering 3 beers. When he held up his index, middle, and fourth finger to indicate the number 3, he blew his cover. The German way to indicate the number three is using your thumb, index, and middle finger
Was in the USAF back in the 80s. The military writes it DAY/ month /year like the rest of the world
I am 64 so no idea what they did back in t he 40s.
Imagine Scientists getting killed because they know how to and use Fahrenheit an Celsius, Metric and Imperial units .....
But in the Military it’s standard to write the date in Day, Month, Year…and only in black ink…no blue ink…that has been the standard going back before ww1 though…
The date format is not a valid test, because the US military writes the date the same way Europeans do, day - month - year.
They do now, but did they in 1943? I don’t know, but I’ve seen other comments that say they didn’t.
@@bradwolszon4518 Good question Brad. A quick web search says that it began in the early 80s. So perhaps in '43 that was a valid test.
In Part 2,when buck and Bucky are watching the jazz band play “blue skies” and Eagan wants to sing doesn’t he ask “bob” if he should sing? And he replied No. is this the same guy? Someone please go check this for me.
B-17, 42-5867, "Alice From Dallas", 100BG / 350BS, LN-O, 17.08.1943, Regensburg, crashed Langerloo, 5 miles E of Hasselt,
i thought something to do with the lighter, or the way he offered to light the cigarette
The date isn't the biggest giveaway at all. Anyone who has been in the US military knows the same date format is used. Example: 12 DEC 43. Even back in WWII. Look up any old US WWII docs and you'll see it.
what gave it away is how the 1's and 9 are written. They're German, and not taught that way in any American grade school.
It was the way he wrote the date is how they caught him
They'd shoot me if I had to sing our anthem.
His "jet" suffered significant damage? Who writes this crap?
I think you gave him away by saying he was in a Jet, only the Germans had Jets in the early forties.
I would probably fail that as well, the order of the day month year varies by form, it may be semi standardized now that everything is on line, but I was never told this one come first.
That is also pretty deep cover, so deep it's almost useless, how could he possibly contact anyone from a Air base, even knowing the target of the day, which he would not until final briefing.
Think the date theory is pretty solid.
idk about back then, but in the military, we write the dates the same. Day Month Year. I still do it to this day. So its reasonable to think that it wasnt the date - but could be.
He did not sing with accuracy, he said "Just so proudly we hailed" and not "What so proudly we hailed" also his lighter. as well as the injuries and the date.
Quinn had to flee when his JET ????? suffered significant damage...... Really, But I suppose it's only a minor detail.... FFS.
R
Everyone keeps saying it's the date but you're all wrong unless it's an oversight in the show because the US military writes the date in that format
never knew the b-17 was a jet
Besides the date, the natinal anthem was a big clue.
Americans are taught to eat holding a fork in the right hand, Europeans hold the fork in the left hand, while holding a knife in the right. The was a story of OSS operatives getting nabbed because they ate food the American way.
They may of made a guess for some reason or another, but I notice in the comments everyone here assumes they guessed right. How are they so sure? Just because they shot him doesn't mean they correctly guessed he was a spy. maybe he wasn't really? but it doesn't matter because he's dead and the show moves on.....
There are American military documents with the day month year as early as 1942. But I did noticed the style in which he wrote it is more likely the problem. This in itself is not enough but combine with other problems they could not take a chance. They could not release him nor could they keep him prisoner.
His fondness for curry wurst was the big giveaway!
Also the German infiltrator was the wrong age for a young airman.easily 35+
Jeez- I better stop writing my dates like that, it’s also the military style!
😂
That’s exactly what I thought too🤣🤣 good thing I’m not there they would have shot me. IDK when military started writing it backwards but apparently not then🤷🏼♀️
US military didn't start using the European way of writing dates until later. Definitely not during WW2.
@@royaltyblessed2454
I was wondering that myself- thanks for the info👍
That’s why I got to watch the Super Bowl- so I don’t get shot as a spy (Battle of the Bulge)
@@devilmoma4103
🤣🤣🤣
I know I’m all messed up since the Army got a hold of me🤣🤣🤣
The date being day/month/year has always been the case in the military even during that time. So having that has a reason would have landed in an innocent person being killed.
Instead of singing, "What so proudly we hail...." he sings, "Just how proudly we hail..." a glaring mistake.
He sang “Just how proudly we hailed…” instead of “What so proudly…”
Exactly
One of the other guys literally hummed it tho.
I do like other opinion that They knew Bob was a spy because he answered all question too perfectly.
Bob even sang the national anthem with full energy while other are just barely holding on.