10 Huge Historical Inaccuracies In Chris Nolan's Dunkirk

10. No Tin Hats For Officers

The officers seen on-screen in Dunkirk, such as the permanently nerve-wracked Captain Winnant, cut fine figures in their peaked caps. It helps them stand out from the regular mass of troops, so they can be more easily identified by both fellow soldiers, and the audience.

You know who else would find the distinction really useful, too? Enemy snipers. Of which the Germans had a whole bunch during the Battle for Dunkirk.

Other war movies have this right - it's a minor plot point in Saving Private Ryan, for instance, when an inexperienced soldier is warned against saluting Tom Hanks' officer because it makes him a target for the enemy.

One anecdote about Captain Bill Tennant, a Naval officer who helped organise the evacuation, tells about how he made the letters 'SNO' ('Senior Naval Officer') from cigarette foil and stuck them to his tin hat precisely so his fellow troops knew who he was without Herr Jerry picking him off from a distance.