History Film / EnemyAtTheGates

** The barrier troops are shown machine-gunning fellow Soviet soldiers en masse as soon as they begin to fall back. In reality, barrier troops were used sparingly, and contemporary sources report them rarely, if ever, shooting to kill, since the Red Army obviously needed every soldier it could get during the desperation of the Nazi onslaught. If any Soviet soldiers were ever executed by their own troops in the manner shown in the film, they would have been part of a penal unit (i.e., a unit of convicts punished with frontline combat duty), and even then, just shooting s soldier without even a drumhead court-martial would have been unlikely.

* ShownTheirWork: While the film runs on various {{Artistic License}}s and is VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory that was ''already'' [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie a propaganda piece]], the very first sniping scene with Zaytsev hidden in the fountain is widely acclaimed as some of the better portray of marksmanship ever filmed. Right down to tiny details like accounting for parallax shift of his sights or using sling for additional support, making it clear someone really though out that scene and it obviously was consulted with a real marksman. Which creates a rather jarring comparison with the rest of the movie.

** Zaystev is stated to have been a shepherd in the Urals, is functionally illiterate and is a private and implied to be a conscript. He was actually educated, went to a vocational school for construction and accounting and was a certified rebar layer before joining the Soviet Navy as a technical clerk and rising to the rank of chief petty officer, and was even the head the Pacific Fleet's finance department. He volunteered to transfer to the Red Army at the start of Operation Barbarossa and became a senior warrant officer.

** In the opening, a map shows the Third Reich engulfing all of Europe, including Switzerland, Turkey, and Spain, which they never occupied, and Italy, which was still independent. It also depicts Germany with its mid-war borders at the start, prior to the invasion of Poland (and also leaves out the Soviet invasion of Poland and Romania).

->'''Danilov:''' Do you know how to shoot?
->'''Zaytsev:''' [[{{Understatement}} A little]].

** Danilov is a Commissar, yet strangely wears an NKVD uniform. Commissars were members of the Red Army and wore Army uniforms. The rank of Commissar was also abolished several weeks before the battle.

* ShownTheirWork: While the film runs on various {{Artistic License}}s and is VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory that was ''already'' [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie a propaganda piece]], the very first sniping scene with Zaytsev hidden in the fountain is widely acclaimed as some of the best portray of marksmanship ever filmed. Right down to tiny details like accounting for parallax shift of his sights or using sling for additional support, making it clear someone really though out that scene and it obviously was consulted with a real marksman. Which creates a rather jarring comparison with the rest of the movie.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Besides the Based On A Great Big Lie main plot, other liberties were taken.

** At the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Red Army was not short of rifles, whereas ammunition was in short supply, thus the scene of issuing every soldier a clip of ammo and every other soldier a rifle is the opposite of reality. Troops could be sent into combat with as little as one cartridge, but they were never sent unarmed.

--> '''Danilov''': I want to help you, Vasily. Let me do one last thing, something useful for a change.[[spoiler: ''(Takes off his helmet)'' Let me show you where the Major is]].

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler: Koulikov. He's introduced as a wise-cracking veteran sniper brought in to help Vasily in his hunt for Major König. His sudden death at the hands of their skilled enemy is shown to really rattle the Vasily, who begins to take his duel with the German a lot more seriously from that point onwards.]]

* SacrificialLion: [[Koulikov. He's introduced as a wise-cracking veteran sniper brought in to help Vasily in his hunt for Major König. His sudden death at the hands of their skilled enemy is shown to really rattle the Vasily, who begins to take his duel with the German a lot more seriously from that point onwards.]]

* MauveShirt: Most of the snipers under Vasily's command a small amount of characterisation before being unceremoniously bumped off. [[spoiler: Koulikov suffers this the worst.]]

* SacrificialLion: [[Koulikov. He's introduced as a wise-cracking veteran sniper brought in to help Vasily in his hunt for Major König. His sudden death is shown to really rattle the younger man, who begins to take his duel with the German a lot more seriously from that point onwards.]]

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Everyone speaks with British or American accents (excluding some of the Germans, who speak German instead of English) rather than attempt Russian and German accents to stand in for foreign languages. In the commentary track, the director notes that this allows characters to show that they are from different regions and walks of life. It also sidesteps the language barrier between Konig and the Russians.

** Koenig claims his son was in the 116th Infantry Division. The 116th was formed in 1944 and was active in Western Europe. There was a 16th Division which was at Stalingrad and ultimately destroyed in the battle.

** When troops are transported to Stalingrad at the start, they're locked in train cars. The cars were never locked, to allow them to defend teh trains if attacked.

** Zaystev is stated to have been a shepherd in the Urals, is functionally illiterate and is a private and implied to be a conscript. He was actually educated, went to a vocational school and was a certified rebar layer before joining the Soviet Navy as a technical clerk and rising to the rank of chief petty officer. He volunteered to transfer to the Red Army at the start of Operation Barbarossa and became a senior warrant officer.

* ChekhovsGun: The ammo clip given to Vasily just after crossing the Volga proves to be important following the massacre at the fountain, when the Mosin-Nagant rifle that Danilov pilfers from a dead Soviet soldier turns out to be out of ammunitoon.

** The film starts with a mass charge, and has another charge latter on. Such charges were never used in Stalingrad due to it being a dense city with little open ground. Instead it was known for its often brutal street-to-street UrbanWafare, with entire battles occurring inside buildings. Zaystev and Koenig are also able to hunt each other over vast empty ruins, which would have been impossible with several million troops and civilians packed into a few square miles.

** At the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Red Army was not short of rifles, whereas ammunition was in short supply, thus the scene of issuing every soldier a clip of ammo and every other soldier a rifle is the opposite of reality.

** In the opening, a map shows the Third Reich engulfing all of Europe, including Switzerland, Turkey, and Spain, which they never occupied, and Italy, which was still independent.

* AristocratsAreEvil: Sort of. König is a Nazi, but at first he's less evil than cold and ruthless in pursuing his task, and his motivation is not personal glory but revenge for the death of his son in the very first days of the battle. Up until [[spoiler:he hangs Sacha]], he comes off as just a guy doing a job, and he does try to avoid unnecessary evil acts: [[spoiler:he knows the whole time that Sacha's selling him out to Vasili, but he tells the kid to stay home where he belongs (and thus out of the way), implying he'd rather not kill him. It just doesn't stop him when Sacha doesn't listen.]]

* ChekhovsGun: The ammo clip given to Vasily just after crossing the Volga proves imporant following the massacre at the fountain, when the rifle that Danilov pilfers from a dead Soviet soldier turns out to be out of ammunitoon.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Zaytsev is portrayed as the epitome of the freedom fighter, a peasant pressed into the military at its darkest hour. In RealLife, he had been an experienced hunter, had some education and had previously been a technical clerk in the Soviet Navy in the Pacific Fleet, though he was eventually transferred to the army as a senior warrant officer in 1942, which was at ''his'' request.

* WorkingClassHero: Played straight with Vasily and invoked by Danilov and the Soviet propaganda machine. Vasily honestly wants nothing more than to work in a factory, being a foreman.