Hi Scathane, I'm not a historian, so I don't really know, but that opening scene is one of the best I've ever seen. If anything, I expect that the reality was much more chaotic and bloody. Usually war movies are much more tame than the real thing. Some movies, like Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, and Gladiator really try to show us what a battle looked like, but I suspect that in reality they are a lot bloodier. I don't know why hollywood is so eager to show us blood and guts in slasher horror flicks, but tend to dumb down war movies. By the way, I rented Enemy at the Gates the other night and I thought it was excellent. Not many huge battle scenes, but a whole lot of people getting shot in the head. Seemed pretty realistic to me.