In WWII the Allies were surrounded at Dunkirk as they waited for the Navy to ferry them back to England. In the movie "Dunkirk" there are entire Battalions of British troops standing in huge groups on the beach. Three German planes swoop down and drop bombs. Almost everybody hits the sand and covers their heads except for one guy who is seen standing and firing a bolt action rifle from a standing position, and another who is seen firing his weapon while lying on his back.
Dunkirk (2017) - The First Bombing Scene (2/10)
I looked into the effectiveness of firing rifles at WWII style fighter planes: Is it possible to shoot down a plane while just using a rifle during WW2? The answer seems to be that it is not very effective but also, not impossible. This raises some questions for me. Did army doctrine compel or forbid them from firing their rifles at planes. Are the men shooting because they are super disciplined and calculative soldiers, or because they are jaded, broken, contemptuous husks attempting to express themselves? Would an officer have had any opinion about which a soldier aught to do?
Is this exactly what happened at Dunkirk?
If every soldier on the beach made an attempt to shoot the planes, would they have taken them down?