Germans, Shmermans!

I don't think the fact the soldiers are Germans, being watched by an American audience, matters much to the film.  The director did an excellent job at focussing more on the humanity of the characters rather than their national allegience while fighting America.  However, I still feel that if the war was WWI rather than WWII, Americans would have a difficult time sympathizing with German soldiers(reguardless of how much they aren't "Nazi-like").