02 Feb The Tanks Are Coming
This pictures tells the story of tanks and tankards … a story never told before … “America’s Iron Fist” (narrated introduction)
(1951) In July of 1944, the soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division are headed for the Siegfried Line, Germany’s defensive line of bunkers, tunnels and tank traps. In Germany, the line was known as the Westwall.
The Tanks are Coming, WWII Movie starring Steve Cochran
According to this TCM article, this was “the only feature film to focus on the wartime accomplishments of the 3rd Armored Division (to which Elvis Presley would be assigned in 1958.)”
It’s the only movie I’ve seen that focused totally on the tanks and their crews. I am sure that the families and friends of the soldiers who rode in these “iron tanks” were thrilled with the film.
The star of the story is Steve Cochran who plays a hotshot sergeant, head of a tanker crew. His men eventually recognize that he is going to take good care of them.
Steve Cochran wasn’t an actor I know, but his story is fascinating. In 1950’s and 1960’s Hollywood he was a well known “bad boy” who (according to Wikipedia, and they should know, right?) had affairs with Mae West, Jayne Mansfield, Barbara Payton, Joan Crawford, Merle Oberon, Kay Kendall, Virginia Lord, Ida Lupino and Mamie Van Doren. Supposedly, Mamie wrote all about it in her book Playing the Field: My Story.
In The Tankers Are Coming there was a semblance of a “love interest,” a pretty blonde who drove up in a jeep, but this storyline never went anywhere.
Cochran’s life ended tragically. He was on a yacht with an all girl crew and died of a lung infection. The girls didn’t know how to run the boat … it drifted to shore off the coast of Guatemala a week later.
The Tanks Are Coming at amazon.com
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