When the boys are assembled at night, they are told they will be part of the 336th Division. That unit was destroyed and surrendered to the Soviets on the Eastern Front nearly a year earlier in 1944 and was never reformed.
The wheels can clearly been seen under the "tank" body.
For the first formation after the schoolboys' report for duty, the BATTALION is called to attention.
But when they are to be dismissed, the order is given to dismiss the COMPANY. A company is usually about two to three hundred men. And a battalion is usually 800 to 1000 men.
The action takes place within a couple of days in the late spring of 1945 as the US forces were moving through Bavaria. However, the trees clearly show their late Autumn remaining foliage, instead of spring buds and new leaves.
Dead soldier on bridge flinches when explosion happens next to him.