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The Battle of Neretva
The Battle of Neretva (Original: Bitka na Neretvi) is a 1969 Yugoslavian war drama recounting the largest combat encounter between the Axis occupiers and the partisans in the territory of the former Yugoslavia during WWII. The film was an Italian-German coproduction directed by Veljko Bulajic and was the most expensive film produced in the then-Yugoslavia country. The film also featured an international cast including Yul Brynner, Orson Welles, Sergey Bondarchuk, Hardy Krüger, Curd Jürgens, Franco Nero and Sylva Koscina and is also notable for the massive amount of Soviet-made armor used in the production.
The following guns were used in The Battle of Neretva:
Handguns
Luger P08
Commanders of both war sides in the film mostly use a Luger P08 pistol.
Walther P38
In the film, the Walther P38 pistol also appears sporadically .
Submachine Guns
MP40
The MP40 submachine guns was used by German soldiers and widely also a some resistance fighters, partisans and chetniks.
Beretta Model 38
Partisans besides German also used captured Italian Beretta M38A and Beretta Model 38/42 submachine guns.
Machine Guns
MG42
German troops and guerrillas had plenty of MG42 machine guns.
MG34
The resistance fighters also used captured MG34 and MG42 machine guns.
Rifles
Karabiner 98k
Both German and Partisan forces use Karabiner 98k rifles.
Mauser Gewehr 1898 rifle
Ustasa´s military patrol is armed with Mauser Gewehr 1898 rifles.
Hand Grenades
Model 24 Stielhandgranate
German troops and resistance fighters were equipped with Model 24 Stielhandgranates.
Model 39 Eihandgranate
Partisans also widely used Model 39 Eihandgranates.
Other
PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle
Kurzer 8 cm Granatwerfer 42 (GrW 34)
Chetniks deployed against posts occupied by partisans fire from a Kurzer 8 cm Granatwerfer 42 mortars.
Flak 88 mm Anti-aircraft gun
7,5 cm PaK 40
Armor
One of the most interesting aspects of this film was the massive amount of Soviet-era armor lent to the production including the following:
Tank T-34
The unmodified T-34 Russian tank is the most widely seen armored vehicle in the film, which was typically seen utilized by the German forces.
Tiger I Tank
What appear to be Tiger I tanks are also seen used by German forces in the film. In reality, these were T-34's with modified turrets to resemble the Tiger. These mockups were so well detailed that three of them were eventually reused in the 1970 Clint Eastwood war film Kelly's Heroes.
Tank M4 Sherman
Strangely, American M4 Sherman tanks are also seen depicted as German armor in the film.
