Deathwatch is a 2002 British horror film that involves the survivors of a British unit, Y Company, who are separated from their regiment during the brutal trench fighting of the First World War. Attempting to return to their lines, the British soldiers discover what appears to be a bombed-out German trench, abandoned except for three German soldiers. After killing most of the Germans, and taking one prisoner, the British company fortifies to hold the trench until reinforcements can arrive. Soon, however, strange things being to happen as a sense of evil descends upon the trench and the British begin to turn on each other.
The following weapons are seen in the movie Deathwatch:
This is not only anachronistic, but it's a *PAINFUL* inaccuracy. While the rifle is a British design, the No. 4 wasn't even adopted by the British Armed Forces until 1939, closer to World War II. The film takes place in 1917, during World War I, and the cast should be using the No. 1 Mk III*.
Most of the German rifles seen in the trench are the anachronistic, WW2 model Karabiner 98k. They are used by Pte. Charlie Shakespeare (Jamie Bell) and Cpl. 'Doc' Fairweather (Matthew Rhys). Shakespeare also gives one to German prisoner Friedrich (Torben Liebrecht) to defend himself.
The German soldier Friedrich (Torben Liebrecht) uses a Mauser Gewehr 1898 to hold Pte. Charlie Shakespeare (Jamie Bell) at gunpoint at the end of the film. The historically accurate Gewehr 1898 is only used in this part and at the beginning; the rest of the Mauser rifles are the historically anachronistic Karabiner 98k.
A Bergmann MP18/I is wielded by Pte. Charlie Shakespeare (Jamie Bell) at one point in the film. This gun is a post-World War I conversion that has been retrofitted with a box magazine feed rather than a period-accurate TM 08 "snail magazine". In some shots, the gun is replaced by a Haenel MP28/II, standing in for an MP18/I; the two guns are distinguishable by their rear sights.
The revolver used by the British troops of Y Company including Pte. Charlie Shakespeare (Jamie Bell), Capt. Bramwell Jennings (Laurence Fox), Sgt. David Tate (Hugo Speer), Pte. Thomas Quinn (Andy Serkis), Pte. Anthony Bradford (Hugh O'Conor) and Cpl. 'Doc' Fairweather (Matthew Rhys) is the Webley Mk IV. This choice of revolver is anachronistic with the .38 Mk IV not entering service until 1929. The correct revolver would be the larger .455 Webley Mk VI. Note that Quinn has a bayonet attachment fitted to his; whilst the bayonet had never been used officially by the British Army since 1915, it is still possible that Quinn got his hands on one.
Y Company soldiers Sgt. David Tate (Hugh O'Conor) and Pte. Thomas Quinn (Andy Serkis), along with several others, use captured Model 24 Stielhandgranate hand grenades to clear out German dugouts. Based on their shape, they appear to antipersonnel fragmentation models.
