On a moonlit night of 28th August 1944 an American Sherman M4A1-76 tank sat on a hillside watching the approaching train in the valley below. Sitting on top was a sergeant, Lafayette G Pool. There was nothing normal about this soldier however, he was the US Army’s most feared tank commander and by the end of his service he had clocked over a dozen enemy tank kills.

The war film Fury is a movie like no other - directed by David Ayer it follows the exploits of a tank commander called Don “War Daddy” Collier played by Brad Pitt. Many fans don’t realise that the nickname of Pitt’s character was actually borrowed from a real person, and that man would almost single handedly drive the 3rd Armoured division straight into the guts of Nazi Germany.

This is the true story of War Daddy - The Real Fury.

Buy the WarDaddy Book in our shop: https://shop.amazingwarstories.com/

Visit: amazingwarstories.com to find our more about this initiative.

Have a war story to tell? email mystory@amazingwarstories.com

Contributors:

Owen Thornton - Associate Producer, Fury

Davis Smith - Ex-US Marine Tank Commander

David Willey - Curator, The Tank Museum, Bovington

Dr Chris Mann - Director of The War Studies Department, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Episode Credits-

Written, Researched and Executive Produced by Ed Sayer

Associate Producer Lois Crompton

Editing, Sound design & 3D mastering by Vaudeville Sound Group

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices