@@macmcleod1188 Same here, such amazing stories. If you haven’t read the other books, Winters wrote his memoirs in Beyond Band of Brothers and Malarkey and Welch wrote their memories in Easy Company Soldier. I haven’t read either yet but have heard great reviews
I live in Belgium and visit the foxholes in foy a couple of times a year, You can still see what a terrible environment that was to soldier in 75 years later. Maximum respect.
For those of us who were paratroopers in the infantry (I served in A company 2/325 in the 82nd) we live with the knowledge that in 72 hours half of us will be dead or wounded and out of action. The saddest part of this series for me is when they jumped in Normandy the staff plane with the leadership was cut in half and they did not even get a chance to jump out so all were killed. We are willing to give our lives to keep Americans free. Please please consider the blood and lives that had been lost that everyone can have the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Do not let anyone convince you we need to give these rights up. I am now an 68 year old man with the body of a 110 year old in constant pain due to my serve to our wonderful country. I would do it again if I was young again. Please preserve our rights.
Dick Winters was at that year's Emmy Awards when Band of Brothers won an award for Best Miniseries. He was onstage with both Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg accepting the award. As he, Tom and Stephen doing their acceptance, his men who were surviving members of 1st Easy Company were at another hotel in L.A. watching on. Everyone who were at the Emmys gave them a standing ovation. Winters live to be 92 until his death in 2011.
Don't forget that Guarniere found out that his brother had been killed in Italy...he was full of rage when he got to Normandy. The best part about that whole event was that Winters was smart enough not to hold it against Guarniere...all he did was remind him of his duty and his job, and he trusted Guarniere to get his act together, instead of pressing charges for insubordination as some officers might have done. Winters really was an amazingly good leader and commander. ✌
This HBO series was based on the book 'Band of Brothers' - written by Stephen E. Ambrose. In the book, it was explained in more detail why Lt. Winters was quite upset at Sgt. Guarnere. When Guarnere started shooting early, some of the german soldiers in the last wagon(s) escaped. Winters thought that if his soldiers had waited for his command they would of gotten all the German soldiers. The book is a good read and after reading it, some (mostly minor) differences between the book and the tv series become apparent. Producers of the show have explained why they chose to change some of the incidents described in the book for the tv series.
The 'Band of Brothers' book was also the inspiration for the story told in the movie "Saving Private Ryan". Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were both executive producers for the HBO series. [Tom Hanks son Colin has a small part in the Last Patrol episode] There are a few paragraphs in the book that talked about Frederick 'Fritz' Niland and his brothers. Fritz was close friends with Warren Muck and Donald Malarkey of easy company. Steven Spielberg's 1998 film Saving Private Ryan is loosely based on the Niland brothers' story. For more information see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niland_brothers
As a young officer back in the 1980s, I studied the actions of Easy Company against these artillery positions during my training. They still teach about it today. It was textbook and brilliant and succeeded brilliantly despite the fact that Easy Company was outnumbered 3 to 1.
@@PodreyJenkin138 there were a couple i believe, for example Hall, and the one who was shot in the head, whether that person was actaully real, John Hall lost his life at Brecourt
@@rhysevans4253 John Halls of Able Company (thats his actual name) was a real person listed as one of the casualties during the Brecourt manor assault.
I'm always excited to see anyone reacting to Band of Brothers, but you're also easily one of the most expressive and sympathetic reactors I've seen on RUclips. Instant subscribe and can't wait to see you react to the rest of this amazing series!
I could be wrong but I think Winters was pulling a special button-compass out of his fly just before looking at the map. I think they were a special piece of kit in wwii meant to help you navigate during emergency or escape and evade situations. Pretty cool thing to include if so.
GK is unashamedly made for military personnel. David Simon didn't do anything to make it more accessible to civilians and it's all the better for it. Probably the only dvd that comes with a huge booklet containing a glossary of terms
They made a memorial monument where Lt Meehan's plane crashed, with the name of the soldiers there. It's shaped like the tail of the plane. The France government and citizen taking care of the monument and others like that until now.
The French do that out of respect. My family were able to meet the people over there that takes care of the grave of my great Uncle. He was a photo recon pilot who was shot down over Normandy.
I've visited that monument at Brecourt Manor and also the Richard Winters Leadership Memorial which is nearby. It's strange seeing where the battery assault took place because now it's just a field with a few cows in it
its crazy how quickly you're thrown into action after the building up of the first episode of this series. this is my favorite series of all time and i'm jealous you get to watch it for the first time while i can't lol
@@JohnGolf123 Agreed. The Pacific deserves just as much respect. Too many people don't know a damn thing about the Pacific Campaign, and that's a tragedy.
12:39 I'm not sure if anyone has explained this but during D-Day, but my guess is that the Allies did not the... accommodations to take in German POWs so pop pop, they were shot on the spot. Of course, after the beaches were secured, I'm sure they brought in POWs.
Irony: The jump into Normandy was FUBAR, but the mission was successful due to the confusion from that. Yet, Operation Market Garden was near textbook jump and mission was FUBAR
When the Army set up paratroops, they recognized they might get captured and that the Germans would immediately take anything that could be used for military purposes...it wasn't just weapons but also equipment such as radios and...compasses. So they did issue the troops with compasses BUT they gave the officers a 'backup." They had special fly buttons on their uniforms...you would unscrew the back of the button and there was a small compass in the button. That's why Winters is undoing his pants...he had lost his regular compass when his leg bag got lost so he used the button compass to orient the map to try and find out where they were. (The Germans did eventually catch on to the button thing and they checked them...so the military started making the buttons so they would unscrew in the opposite direction...instead of "righty/tighty, lefty/loosey" they reversed the screw patterns...when the Germans checked by trying to unscrew the buttons, they were actually tightening the screw instead of loosening it. The Allies had tons of these tricks, too many to list here.)
13 000 paratroopers landing in waves + 4000 from gliders. About 800 planes in total. Brits and Canadians added in another 8500 men. And that's just the number that came from the sky. The landings were massive. Makes the modern wars look like small scale operations, eh?
Fun fact: Acording to FJR6’s regimental book(The Lions of Carentan) the Germans actually did stop firing at malarkey when he went to go get the Luger, they actually did think he was a medic and several FJR6 men wrote about it post war. Ps FJR6 is Fallschirmjager Regiment 6, German paratroopers, which were at Brecourt and Carentan. They along with a foreign regiment were the German central reserve for Normandy for the first week after the US Paratroops landed. The troopers in FJR6 were veterans of Russia and Italy, very heavily armed because of them augmenting Italian weaponry seized after they surrendered in 1943, mainly machine guns and the majority of them were MG42s, heavy complimented for a regiment, they fielded 4 battalions instead of the usual 3 during Normandy. They were very very well trained as well. One of the last(if not the last)fully parachute ready regiments in the entire German military from about 1943 to the collapse in 45. They made one last combat jump during the bulge but got mauled when things went awry for them. After December-January 44/45 they ceased to be a combat unit almost entirely. They also had a Dachshund mascot named Sepp and he made combat jumps with the regiment and did attend the one during the bulge. Not sure if he survived or not.
Listen, brother, thank you for your service. Veteran here, too. I have the Band of Brothers series on DVD in the tin collector box series, and must have watched it fifty times. Love this series. Best all-time war series ever, hands down. I enjoy your reactions. Can't wait to watch the rest of this series with you "for the first time".
Winters and Ronald Spiers were both exceptional leaders. Very different but both outstandingly effective and those men were blessed to have them around. Guarnere was handled superbly by Winters. He saw that he had an asset and by leading from the front, achieved complete respect of his men. God bless them all
One of friends' son is in 82nd Airborne plus IT Technician since 2019. He was in ROTC in high school prior joining the Army. He went to Fort Jackson for his basic training. It is the same base where CMOH's recipient, Desmond Doss (Hacksaw Ridge) gotten his training.
There's another miniseries that goes with this one called "The Pacific" another 10 episodes. And there is "Letters from Iwo Jima" about Japanese soldiers.
The Pacific was amazing. I've watched EVERYTHING about WW2 and the Pacific was the most most intense show on WW2 I've ever seen. The fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific was BY FAR the worst fighting Americans saw! Germans and Americans mostly treated each other's prisoners pretty well. There were no Japanese or American prisoners in the Pacific. By design of the Japanese high command
@@frankgunner8967 He directed both Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Both films are based on Iwo Jima and use a few of the same shots and are shot similarly. Great movies if I do say so myself.
New here. Love the reactions! Keep up the great work! I think Winters wasn't nervous. I think he didn't want to jump the gun when they talked about their CO and his plane missing and that making him the CO now. I think it was proper of him as XO to keep that kind of talk to a minimum and focus on the mission first and foremost. Just my thinking on it. :)
One of the reasons the pilots were so scared and shaken is that lots were civilians with no military background. They didnt know how to react to the flak, its one of the reasons the drops were so scattered and nearly no one dropped where they were supposed to be.
Another thing was they were not supposed to be dropped that low. Fog and low cloud cover rolled in, and the pilots had to fly under it to see the drop points.
Pilots were trained crew members not civilians, not sure where you got the idea we would send civilians into an active combat zone. Even chaplains weren't civilians and instead combat chaplains. Anyways, the pilots didn't have a problem with not knowing what flak was, in fact they were all very trained on how to avoid flak as it was primary risk of being in the sky over Normandy considering the air force had already achieved full air superiority and the Luftwaffe wasn't something to really worry about. However they were told to not take any evasive action at all in order to not disrupt the drop zones. The reason the drops were so scattered was because it was the first airborne assault in US history, and it was a lot more unorganized than you may think. The c47s were all over weighted and hard to fly, more than 60% of the planes didn't have navigators, the transponders used to guide c47s to drop zones malfunctioned, and some drop zones being poorly marked or entirely unmarked didn't help. The c47s also came into adverse weather conditions where there was a thick cloud bank at entrance altitude(1500 ft) that obscured the entire western half of the peninsula with a thick ground fog over most of the drop zones, which caused many formations to drop their troops well above or below the drop parameters(700 ft) while going faster than the trained upon drop speed of 110 mph. This also caused multiple formations to have to do 2 to 3 passes over an area to search for a drop zone to finally get troops out the door. So no, they weren't untrained civilians that were scared and didn't know what they were doing and calling them such is disrespectful. They did their jobs as pilots and they did them very well considering all the obstacles they faced. Next time you try to present something as fact on the internet you should first do some research, because again, its disrespectful to the men that were there and did what they did, only to be called an untrained scared civilian. You also have misinformed all the people that read and believed your comment, who now go about their lives thinking c47 pilots were untrained civilians, likely sharing that with others as well.
You haven't showed it, but make sure you're catching both text screens that show at the end of each episode. (Some miss them.) Great series, love your reaction.
My grandfather worked a Sherman. Only survivor from two of them. The last one is a monument outside a base in West Virginia. When he came back he became a doctor. He always said he owed the lives of his friends to become something that helps. He had 10 kids and named my uncles after his friends that died. He became the best doctor around and did house calls well after it wasn’t usual. He said he saw medics crawl to help, he didn’t mind a drive.
Excellent reaction brother. From a former medic with the 2/509th Inf. (Abn/Mec). Keep it up. You should try jumping. Outstanding. That's why we called it a "blast". Letters From Iwo Jima is wrenching.
Those heavy leg bags were General Montgomery’s ( British high commander ) idea, and was a Toto ally worthless idea. All the paratroopers bitched about them and how most of the bags fell off in the drop. That’s why Winters looked disgusted when he saw the rope had snapped and he had no rifle .
Winters was the man! A great leader respected by his men and an excellent tactician. It was a stroke of luck that Easy Co. men were able to find each other after their chaotic jump. In a lot of cases men had to form their own makeshift units because of high casualties and being so widely scattered.
Love that you are doing Band of Brothers. Hopefully nobody gives away who are doing the interviews at the beginning of episodes. We don't want to spoil the series by telling him who survives.
I love this quote from the writer of this episode, John Orloff: “if you can’t make a guy dropping into Nazi occupied France with nothing but a fucking trench knife and by the end of the day, he has taken out four 105mm German cannons and saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives on Utah Beach, if you can’t make that dramatically interesting, then you need to get another job”
“I thought about going airborne but couldn’t stomach it.” To my knowledge, most of these guys didn’t have a choice. “Welcome to the army. You’re in the airborne. What’s that? You’re afraid of heights? Better get over it and get your ass up there.” Absolutely crazy. The Greatest Generation indeed.
One of my fav TV series, really well done and atmospheric, I really love it when you find out who the older guys at the start turn out to be and how their story ends. Love the reaction, keep it up
Love the vids. Remember that there's some text at the end of an episode just before the credits. They stated that Easy company's assault on the German guns was textbook and is still demonstrated at West Point today. They also show you the medals that were awarded for capturing and destroying the guns.
What I like about Winters, above much of what he did in this episode... was how he dealt with Bill Guarnere. He showed disipline when he stepped out of line, but understood his frustrations at losing is brother. So he let himself be the target of Bill's frustration and that way aloud Bill to focus in the upcoming fight and really be at his best. Then after stepping out of his comfort zone ad sharing a drink, putting himself on Bill's level, he make a joke out of the fact Bill had "insulted" him. Thus bonding them on the same page and earning Bill's respect.
I remember the first time I watched this episode, brilliant direction in regards to framing. The moment the clouds open up into an inferno, and that sound design, is sheer brilliance.
Watched this when it first aired with my mum and dad who were visiting for my wedding. My dad was British airborne, 9th bn, 6 Airborne division. My mum asked dad if it was really that bad, dad said no, it was worse. Out of 700 men in his battalion, only 150 got to the RV, but they still carried on and took the objective, Merville battery, only 65 left standing afterwards. He left the paras in 1966. Mum was a parachute packer, two sisters airforce, myself and 3 brothers were Parachute regiment and eldest brother joined my grandads regiment.
The M1 Grand is extremely accurate! That guy couldn’t shot for sh*t! And the other guy hits him with a Thompson 😳 both good weapons for what they’re used for!
If I remember correctly, Winters' assault on those guns became the textbook operation for an assault on a fixed gun position that's now taught in whatever Army academies or officer schools.
Buck Compton was a pitcher for his university baseball team, he literally pitched his grenades straight at enemy troops, actually hitting some in the chest with the grenade before it exploded
My great uncle stormed the beach at Normandy. No matter how many times he told the story the room was dead silent because we didn't wanna miss a single detail
I've been waiting for this one, E company's assault on those 88's has been supposedly taught at West Point for years. Also I highly recommend Richard Winters book about the war with Easy Company, such a fantastic read.
The planes they were jumping from, the DC-3. There is one (at least) in the Canadian Arctic that was there on D-Day. She isn't a museum piece. She isn't fancy. But she still goes to work every day hauling cargo in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. Every. Day.
You should check out Tuskegee Airmen. My grandfather was in the Army Air Corps, right before he died I watched that with him and he was telling us how impressive those guys were. It's heartbreaking.
Been waiting for this. I’ll edit this comment when I’m done watching Edit: they had hundreds of planes dropping thousands of soldiers. I love that your just finding this show man gives me a reason to watch it through you lol and the guy the spoke third in the beginning was lt/ captain winters the red headed squad leader. All the guys at the beginning are played by actors in each episode. The story of easy company’s one of the most interesting in World War Two. Big love from Scotland 🏴
Dick Winters' Rules of Leadership 1. Strive to be a leader of character, competence, and courage. 2. Leadership from the front. Say 'Follow Me!', and then lead the way. 3. Stay up top physical shape, physical stamina is the root of mental toughness. 4. Develop your team. If you know your people, are fair in setting realistic goal and expectations, and lead by example, you will develop teamwork. 5. Delegate responsibility to your subordinates and let them do their job. You can't do a good job if you don't have a chance to use your imagination and creativity. 6. Anticipate problems and prepare to overcome obstacles. Don't wait until you get to the top of the ridge and then make up your mind. 7. Remain humble. Don't worry about who receives the credit. Never let power or authority go to your head. 8. Take a moment of self-reflection. Look at yourself in the mirror every night and ask yourself if you did your best. 9. True satisfaction comes from getting the job done. The key to a successful leader is to earn respect, not because of rank or position, but because you're a leader of character. 10. Hang Tough! Never, ever, give up.
Col Hal Moore was an amazing leader, an amazing man...He and Winters are desperately what every American student should be forced to learn about their lives pre-during and post
You remember that scene early on in Saving Private Ryan where that one officer says there's a good chance Private Ryan didn't survive the jump into Normandy on D-Day? A) The officer is played by the same guy who transfers Capt. Soeble in the previous episode. B) This is what the officer was referring to
This is a great series, enjoying your reaction to it. When it's over you should do The Pacific. It's about what as going on in the Pacific with my brother Marines. It is... rough man. ..but amazing. That assault on the guns by Lt Winter is still taught at West Point and in Wargaming Military Schools across the nation to this day. We studied it three different times during my 4 years in the Corps at different units.
Winters' story is one of those you watch evolve. Your comment about his conscience is spot on. Just watch how it unfolds. The thing with the german prisoners was hearsay. That officer that handed out those cigarettes will appear again later in the show.
One thing it wasn't clear to me at first was that they were under orders to take no prisoners. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_war_crimes_during_World_War_II#:~:text=Historian%20Peter%20Lieb%20has%20found,D%2DDay%20landings%20in%20Normandy. The Hague made orders to take no prisoners illegal early in the 20th century. But there are exceptions for units operating behind enemy lines. I'm still unclear whether the orders to take no prisoners we're legal or not. It's probable they were illegal and the Allies ignored that. But it's possible they were legal under the special circumstances during The Invasion.
Man I wish you started this like last year so I could just run through them. Its only 10 episodes but they're all amazing. I'd take 10 amazing episodes over 20 episodes w/ a bunch of duds. Kind of like how many tv series go like 13-14 episodes per season but theres like 3-5 episodes that just SUUUUUCK and are a chore to get through. GOAT mini series.
There was over 2500 planes dropping the airborne at zero hour then 4000 during the morning/ day. The first men had to take out the big guns so we could land at the beach. Absolutely incredible!!! 🙏🏼🇺🇸🙏🏼
"Shut your F@!&KING guinea trap gonorrhea!!' Love that moment. alleviates the tension during the battle scene. God I love that show. You should watch The Pacific.
After the series you need to watch "We stand alone together" it is a documentary with many of the surviving members of Easy company. Then you need to watch "The Pacific" it is Band of Brothers in the Pacific theater.
Like some people have mentioned, Winters' assault is still taught at West Point today. Something I haven't seen yet though, is that those guns were protected by ~50 German troops. Winters took them with 13 men. Colonel Robert Sink recommended Lt. Winters for the Medal of Honor for his actions during the assault, but was downgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross due to a policy awarding only one Medal of Honor per division.
A few things about this chapter of Band of Brothers...Sgt. Lipton KNEW the guy that was asking for directions and lifted his head too high, Lipton saw that man get shot right in the forehead, it shook Lipton badly as you would expect...also, Lorraine, the "jeep jockey" was not a bad shot as portrayed here, he was actually one of the first to get a confirmed kill in this attack...the German 105mm cannons at Brecourt Manor were firing directly down on Utah beach, so this attack by Lt Winters and his men was crucial to helping that beachhead succeed.
Imagine knowing these men only in their later years, watching this knowing it's your dad or grandpa on the screen and seeing what a complete badass he is.
They still teach Winters assault on that German artillery at West Point to this day. Man was an amazing soldier. Thank you to all that have served.
Someone recently released a video on RUclips with a minute-by-minute breakdown of that battle. It's a good one you might want to look it up.
@@macmcleod1188 The Operations Room. He does fantastic in-depth but easy to understand play-by-play style military operation videos.
@@Gopniksquat thank you. Yes that's the one. Excellent video.
I'm very fond of Band of Brothers and I own it.
@@macmcleod1188 Same here, such amazing stories. If you haven’t read the other books, Winters wrote his memoirs in Beyond Band of Brothers and Malarkey and Welch wrote their memories in Easy Company Soldier. I haven’t read either yet but have heard great reviews
It was my pleasure and my honour to serve you and my country.
I live in Belgium and visit the foxholes in foy a couple of times a year, You can still see what a terrible environment that was to soldier in 75 years later. Maximum respect.
For those of us who were paratroopers in the infantry (I served in A company 2/325 in the 82nd) we live with the knowledge that in 72 hours half of us will be dead or wounded and out of action. The saddest part of this series for me is when they jumped in Normandy the staff plane with the leadership was cut in half and they did not even get a chance to jump out so all were killed. We are willing to give our lives to keep Americans free. Please please consider the blood and lives that had been lost that everyone can have the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Do not let anyone convince you we need to give these rights up. I am now an 68 year old man with the body of a 110 year old in constant pain due to my serve to our wonderful country. I would do it again if I was young again. Please preserve our rights.
Dick Winters was at that year's Emmy Awards when Band of Brothers won an award for Best Miniseries. He was onstage with both Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg accepting the award. As he, Tom and Stephen doing their acceptance, his men who were surviving members of 1st Easy Company were at another hotel in L.A. watching on. Everyone who were at the Emmys gave them a standing ovation. Winters live to be 92 until his death in 2011.
"It gives you a feeling of relief, man"
Speirs has entered the scene
Yeah, about that...
Don't forget that Guarniere found out that his brother had been killed in Italy...he was full of rage when he got to Normandy. The best part about that whole event was that Winters was smart enough not to hold it against Guarniere...all he did was remind him of his duty and his job, and he trusted Guarniere to get his act together, instead of pressing charges for insubordination as some officers might have done. Winters really was an amazingly good leader and commander. ✌
the old man said in an interview, "i sure did a lot of killing on D-Day"
he would have been up on charges for sure, but in war things are to let slide...
This HBO series was based on the book 'Band of Brothers' - written by Stephen E. Ambrose. In the book, it was explained in more detail why Lt. Winters was quite upset at Sgt. Guarnere. When Guarnere started shooting early, some of the german soldiers in the last wagon(s) escaped. Winters thought that if his soldiers had waited for his command they would of gotten all the German soldiers. The book is a good read and after reading it, some (mostly minor) differences between the book and the tv series become apparent. Producers of the show have explained why they chose to change some of the incidents described in the book for the tv series.
The 'Band of Brothers' book was also the inspiration for the story told in the movie "Saving Private Ryan". Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were both executive producers for the HBO series. [Tom Hanks son Colin has a small part in the Last Patrol episode] There are a few paragraphs in the book that talked about Frederick 'Fritz' Niland and his brothers. Fritz was close friends with Warren Muck and Donald Malarkey of easy company. Steven Spielberg's 1998 film Saving Private Ryan is loosely based on the Niland brothers' story. For more information see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niland_brothers
Yes!
Richard Winters is one of the finest leaders ever to lead men into battle.
He’s on an extremely short list of the greatest Americans that have ever lived. A true hero. ✊🏻
As a young officer back in the 1980s, I studied the actions of Easy Company against these artillery positions during my training. They still teach about it today. It was textbook and brilliant and succeeded brilliantly despite the fact that Easy Company was outnumbered 3 to 1.
Much Respect 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
@@PodreyJenkin138 there were a couple i believe, for example Hall, and the one who was shot in the head, whether that person was actaully real, John Hall lost his life at Brecourt
@@rhysevans4253 John Halls of Able Company (thats his actual name) was a real person listed as one of the casualties during the Brecourt manor assault.
Mj. Winters was one of the best Officers a company can have ! May God give him the peace and Happiness he deserves ! What a great man..
I'm always excited to see anyone reacting to Band of Brothers, but you're also easily one of the most expressive and sympathetic reactors I've seen on RUclips. Instant subscribe and can't wait to see you react to the rest of this amazing series!
yeah.. it's like watching the show again with a friend XD a very expressive friend... XD
I could be wrong but I think Winters was pulling a special button-compass out of his fly just before looking at the map. I think they were a special piece of kit in wwii meant to help you navigate during emergency or escape and evade situations. Pretty cool thing to include if so.
Not wrong at all, right on the money.
When these 10 episodes are done you get to watch The Pacific and Generation Kill.
@Gavin Lisle Generation Kill is really good as well. I say it's a must watch!
@Gavin Lisle its probably similar to these other two but its in Iraq. Its next on my list too
@Gavin Lisle yeah 2003 invasion of Iraq. More like a musical roadtrip and is definitely the equivalent of BoB
GK is unashamedly made for military personnel. David Simon didn't do anything to make it more accessible to civilians and it's all the better for it. Probably the only dvd that comes with a huge booklet containing a glossary of terms
Generation War is a really good show. It's set in WWII on the eastern front and from the perspective of five Germans.
They made a memorial monument where Lt Meehan's plane crashed, with the name of the soldiers there. It's shaped like the tail of the plane. The France government and citizen taking care of the monument and others like that until now.
Don't forget, they didn't find the remains of Meehan's plane until just a few years ago. Their deaths were a unit mystery for decades.
The French do that out of respect. My family were able to meet the people over there that takes care of the grave of my great Uncle. He was a photo recon pilot who was shot down over Normandy.
I've visited that monument at Brecourt Manor and also the Richard Winters Leadership Memorial which is nearby. It's strange seeing where the battery assault took place because now it's just a field with a few cows in it
its crazy how quickly you're thrown into action after the building up of the first episode of this series. this is my favorite series of all time and i'm jealous you get to watch it for the first time while i can't lol
Isn't that why you are watching reaction videos? Vicariously reliving seeing it for the first time.
Me too. It's great to see someone watching it for the first time. As I said further up, he needs to watch the Pacific afterwards.
@@JohnGolf123 Agreed. The Pacific deserves just as much respect. Too many people don't know a damn thing about the Pacific Campaign, and that's a tragedy.
12:39 I'm not sure if anyone has explained this but during D-Day, but my guess is that the Allies did not the... accommodations to take in German POWs so pop pop, they were shot on the spot. Of course, after the beaches were secured, I'm sure they brought in POWs.
Irony: The jump into Normandy was FUBAR, but the mission was successful due to the confusion from that. Yet, Operation Market Garden was near textbook jump and mission was FUBAR
Market Garden is also a good example of how NOT to use Airborne infantry units ironically too lol
When the Army set up paratroops, they recognized they might get captured and that the Germans would immediately take anything that could be used for military purposes...it wasn't just weapons but also equipment such as radios and...compasses. So they did issue the troops with compasses BUT they gave the officers a 'backup." They had special fly buttons on their uniforms...you would unscrew the back of the button and there was a small compass in the button. That's why Winters is undoing his pants...he had lost his regular compass when his leg bag got lost so he used the button compass to orient the map to try and find out where they were. (The Germans did eventually catch on to the button thing and they checked them...so the military started making the buttons so they would unscrew in the opposite direction...instead of "righty/tighty, lefty/loosey" they reversed the screw patterns...when the Germans checked by trying to unscrew the buttons, they were actually tightening the screw instead of loosening it. The Allies had tons of these tricks, too many to list here.)
13 000 paratroopers landing in waves + 4000 from gliders.
About 800 planes in total.
Brits and Canadians added in another 8500 men.
And that's just the number that came from the sky. The landings were massive.
Makes the modern wars look like small scale operations, eh?
Fun fact: Acording to FJR6’s regimental book(The Lions of Carentan) the Germans actually did stop firing at malarkey when he went to go get the Luger, they actually did think he was a medic and several FJR6 men wrote about it post war.
Ps FJR6 is Fallschirmjager Regiment 6, German paratroopers, which were at Brecourt and Carentan. They along with a foreign regiment were the German central reserve for Normandy for the first week after the US Paratroops landed.
The troopers in FJR6 were veterans of Russia and Italy, very heavily armed because of them augmenting Italian weaponry seized after they surrendered in 1943, mainly machine guns and the majority of them were MG42s, heavy complimented for a regiment, they fielded 4 battalions instead of the usual 3 during Normandy. They were very very well trained as well. One of the last(if not the last)fully parachute ready regiments in the entire German military from about 1943 to the collapse in 45. They made one last combat jump during the bulge but got mauled when things went awry for them. After December-January 44/45 they ceased to be a combat unit almost entirely.
They also had a Dachshund mascot named Sepp and he made combat jumps with the regiment and did attend the one during the bulge. Not sure if he survived or not.
there's a documentary called We Stand Alone Together, they talk with the real guys from Easy Co., I highly recommend that after you finish the series.
Excellent. I saw it.
Literally checked an hour ago to see if you uploaded this episode, you have made my night! Hello from Ireland!
That’s exactly what I did, too!!
I truly appreciate your support..
Man, I love Band of Brothers. Can't wait to retake this journey with ya. You're entertaining as hell! Cheers and thanks for your service!
Let it be known that I have nothing but respect for you my friend! Thank you for your service to our country
Listen, brother, thank you for your service. Veteran here, too. I have the Band of Brothers series on DVD in the tin collector box series, and must have watched it fifty times. Love this series. Best all-time war series ever, hands down. I enjoy your reactions. Can't wait to watch the rest of this series with you "for the first time".
I appreciate you watching and supporting my channel
I am enjoying this rewatch with you. You provide great insights in these reactions. This is a very special show.
Winters and Ronald Spiers were both exceptional leaders. Very different but both outstandingly effective and those men were blessed to have them around.
Guarnere was handled superbly by Winters. He saw that he had an asset and by leading from the front, achieved complete respect of his men. God bless them all
One of friends' son is in 82nd Airborne plus IT Technician since 2019. He was in ROTC in high school prior joining the Army. He went to Fort Jackson for his basic training. It is the same base where CMOH's recipient, Desmond Doss (Hacksaw Ridge) gotten his training.
When you asked "Is that rain??" I couldn't help myself and giggled while saying "Yeah, but it's upside down rain."
Liked even before the episode started, like your energy bro.
Right on! And thank you for watching and supporting my channel
There's another miniseries that goes with this one called "The Pacific" another 10 episodes.
And there is "Letters from Iwo Jima" about Japanese soldiers.
Yes letters from Iwo Jima is a masterpiece.
The Pacific was amazing. I've watched EVERYTHING about WW2 and the Pacific was the most most intense show on WW2 I've ever seen. The fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific was BY FAR the worst fighting Americans saw! Germans and Americans mostly treated each other's prisoners pretty well. There were no Japanese or American prisoners in the Pacific. By design of the Japanese high command
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Clint Eastwood direct a two part series on the war in the Pacific.
@@frankgunner8967 He directed both Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Both films are based on Iwo Jima and use a few of the same shots and are shot similarly. Great movies if I do say so myself.
There's another about the German perspective as well called Generation War. Another good series as well
New here. Love the reactions! Keep up the great work!
I think Winters wasn't nervous. I think he didn't want to jump the gun when they talked about their CO and his plane missing and that making him the CO now. I think it was proper of him as XO to keep that kind of talk to a minimum and focus on the mission first and foremost. Just my thinking on it. :)
I ABSOLUTELY agree with that. That's some damn good insight
I for one love your reactions. I'm glad you DON'T try to hide your emotions. Thanks for your service, youngster. Respect...
In an interview Guarnere said he was like a mad Men killer iIn Normandy he had to square his brothers death
Such an amazing show and a truly incredible group of men. Sad to know that almost every single member of the 506th from the show has passed.
I am really enjoying your reviews, Devin. Looking forward to the rest of your military movie reviews. Infantry Leads the Way.
One of the reasons the pilots were so scared and shaken is that lots were civilians with no military background. They didnt know how to react to the flak, its one of the reasons the drops were so scattered and nearly no one dropped where they were supposed to be.
Another thing was they were not supposed to be dropped that low. Fog and low cloud cover rolled in, and the pilots had to fly under it to see the drop points.
Didn't know the pilots were civilians...interesting.
Pilots were trained crew members not civilians, not sure where you got the idea we would send civilians into an active combat zone. Even chaplains weren't civilians and instead combat chaplains. Anyways, the pilots didn't have a problem with not knowing what flak was, in fact they were all very trained on how to avoid flak as it was primary risk of being in the sky over Normandy considering the air force had already achieved full air superiority and the Luftwaffe wasn't something to really worry about. However they were told to not take any evasive action at all in order to not disrupt the drop zones. The reason the drops were so scattered was because it was the first airborne assault in US history, and it was a lot more unorganized than you may think. The c47s were all over weighted and hard to fly, more than 60% of the planes didn't have navigators, the transponders used to guide c47s to drop zones malfunctioned, and some drop zones being poorly marked or entirely unmarked didn't help. The c47s also came into adverse weather conditions where there was a thick cloud bank at entrance altitude(1500 ft) that obscured the entire western half of the peninsula with a thick ground fog over most of the drop zones, which caused many formations to drop their troops well above or below the drop parameters(700 ft) while going faster than the trained upon drop speed of 110 mph. This also caused multiple formations to have to do 2 to 3 passes over an area to search for a drop zone to finally get troops out the door. So no, they weren't untrained civilians that were scared and didn't know what they were doing and calling them such is disrespectful. They did their jobs as pilots and they did them very well considering all the obstacles they faced. Next time you try to present something as fact on the internet you should first do some research, because again, its disrespectful to the men that were there and did what they did, only to be called an untrained scared civilian. You also have misinformed all the people that read and believed your comment, who now go about their lives thinking c47 pilots were untrained civilians, likely sharing that with others as well.
You haven't showed it, but make sure you're catching both text screens that show at the end of each episode. (Some miss them.) Great series, love your reaction.
My grandfather worked a Sherman.
Only survivor from two of them. The last one is a monument outside a base in West Virginia.
When he came back he became a doctor. He always said he owed the lives of his friends to become something that helps.
He had 10 kids and named my uncles after his friends that died. He became the best doctor around and did house calls well after it wasn’t usual.
He said he saw medics crawl to help, he didn’t mind a drive.
I lost count on how many time i watchs this mini series. Love it a lot!
This was my unit for both OIF and OEF. One of the greatest honors of my life.
Excellent reaction brother. From a former medic with the 2/509th Inf. (Abn/Mec). Keep it up. You should try jumping. Outstanding. That's why we called it a "blast". Letters From Iwo Jima is wrenching.
Those heavy leg bags were General Montgomery’s ( British high commander ) idea, and was a Toto ally worthless idea. All the paratroopers bitched about them and how most of the bags fell off in the drop. That’s why Winters looked disgusted when he saw the rope had snapped and he had no rifle .
Got to love it when a service men reviews military based tv series or movies. He picks up on small details that normal civilians don’t see.
Winters was the man! A great leader respected by his men and an excellent tactician. It was a stroke of luck that Easy Co. men were able to find each other after their chaotic jump. In a lot of cases men had to form their own makeshift units because of high casualties and being so widely scattered.
Love that you are doing Band of Brothers. Hopefully nobody gives away who are doing the interviews at the beginning of episodes. We don't want to spoil the series by telling him who survives.
Unfortunately people have and I just skip past the comments because I don't want to spoil the series for myself
I love this quote from the writer of this episode, John Orloff: “if you can’t make a guy dropping into Nazi occupied France with nothing but a fucking trench knife and by the end of the day, he has taken out four 105mm German cannons and saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives on Utah Beach, if you can’t make that dramatically interesting, then you need to get another job”
“I thought about going airborne but couldn’t stomach it.”
To my knowledge, most of these guys didn’t have a choice. “Welcome to the army. You’re in the airborne. What’s that? You’re afraid of heights? Better get over it and get your ass up there.”
Absolutely crazy. The Greatest Generation indeed.
Airborne was volentary. Better pay too.
One of my fav TV series, really well done and atmospheric, I really love it when you find out who the older guys at the start turn out to be and how their story ends. Love the reaction, keep it up
Love the vids. Remember that there's some text at the end of an episode just before the credits. They stated that Easy company's assault on the German guns was textbook and is still demonstrated at West Point today. They also show you the medals that were awarded for capturing and destroying the guns.
This series is exceptional - so glad you are enjoying it. And I'm really enjoying watching it again with you! Great reactions :)
What I like about Winters, above much of what he did in this episode... was how he dealt with Bill Guarnere.
He showed disipline when he stepped out of line, but understood his frustrations at losing is brother. So he let himself be the target of Bill's frustration and that way aloud Bill to focus in the upcoming fight and really be at his best.
Then after stepping out of his comfort zone ad sharing a drink, putting himself on Bill's level, he make a joke out of the fact Bill had "insulted" him. Thus bonding them on the same page and earning Bill's respect.
Remember these men. Honor these men.
I remember the first time I watched this episode, brilliant direction in regards to framing. The moment the clouds open up into an inferno, and that sound design, is sheer brilliance.
Dude...this series just gets better and better with each episode. You'll be totally invested in the stories of these brave men, by the end.
BTW...just subscribed.
Cheers from Guatemala, I love your reactions, specially on Band of Brothers and Hacksaw Ridge! Amazing work, keep it coming
I'm glad you're enjoyin this, this is gonna be good.
Watched this when it first aired with my mum and dad who were visiting for my wedding. My dad was British airborne, 9th bn, 6 Airborne division. My mum asked dad if it was really that bad, dad said no, it was worse. Out of 700 men in his battalion, only 150 got to the RV, but they still carried on and took the objective, Merville battery, only 65 left standing afterwards. He left the paras in 1966. Mum was a parachute packer, two sisters airforce, myself and 3 brothers were Parachute regiment and eldest brother joined my grandads regiment.
I still jump for the anniversaries, wearing WW2 uniform and from a C47 that was there, in Normandy and Arnhem. I hate heights too 😊
One of my favorite series and loving your reactions/reviews. I'm with you now for the long haul, bruddah.
The M1 Grand is extremely accurate! That guy couldn’t shot for sh*t! And the other guy hits him with a Thompson 😳 both good weapons for what they’re used for!
Garand, I think.
Love your videos. Great reaction, you can tell it hits your heart
If I remember correctly, Winters' assault on those guns became the textbook operation for an assault on a fixed gun position that's now taught in whatever Army academies or officer schools.
GREATEST GENERATION! 💯 Salute !!
Your in for a hell of ride mate. Enjoy amazing series
Seeing that this was made almost 20 years ago most if not all the the old soldiers telling their story have passed.
Yes...almost all of them are gone.
this miniseries was made in 01 so its exactly 20 yrs lol :)
Buck Compton was a pitcher for his university baseball team, he literally pitched his grenades straight at enemy troops, actually hitting some in the chest with the grenade before it exploded
My great uncle stormed the beach at Normandy. No matter how many times he told the story the room was dead silent because we didn't wanna miss a single detail
Get them stories written down, I would love to here them.
@@mikehunt8823 I wish I had written them down. He passed years ago and I could only give you the cliff notes
I've been waiting for this one, E company's assault on those 88's has been supposedly taught at West Point for years. Also I highly recommend Richard Winters book about the war with Easy Company, such a fantastic read.
They were 105s not 88s. They believed they were 88s before actually seeing them.
The planes they were jumping from, the DC-3. There is one (at least) in the Canadian Arctic that was there on D-Day. She isn't a museum piece. She isn't fancy. But she still goes to work every day hauling cargo in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. Every. Day.
I read the book Citizen Soldiers in high school, knowing the maps and movement was fun to follow along back then
Damn dude! Love watching your reactions! Did 27 years in myself. Hua!!
Huahh!!
One of my favorite mini series ever. Watch it at least 1x a year
You should check out Tuskegee Airmen. My grandfather was in the Army Air Corps, right before he died I watched that with him and he was telling us how impressive those guys were. It's heartbreaking.
My grandfather on my mother’s side was in the 101st Airborne at Hamburger Hill
Been waiting for this. I’ll edit this comment when I’m done watching
Edit: they had hundreds of planes dropping thousands of soldiers. I love that your just finding this show man gives me a reason to watch it through you lol and the guy the spoke third in the beginning was lt/ captain winters the red headed squad leader. All the guys at the beginning are played by actors in each episode. The story of easy company’s one of the most interesting in World War Two.
Big love from Scotland 🏴
AAA, triple A: Anti-Aircraft Artillery. Also known as Flack.
It's Flak, not Flack. It's derived from the german word "FLugAbwehrKanone", in english "aircraft defence cannon".
Also known as Ak-Ak...pronounced ack ack.
@@magnus100100 So my Flack is taking Flak? ^_^
@@emperorkalan Don't worry from what the S-2 said they can't hit the side of a barn.
Triple A only has to be close to win.
Your reaktion is priceless. 😂😂. Keep upp the good work man
Iraq vet here. Only color in the military is green. I don't know you personally but I love you brother. Thank you for your service.
I watch the entire show on D Day every year.
I love your intensity on the reviews.🍻
The plane that went down in flames was lt. meehans. It wasn’t officially discovered till around 1952.
Dick Winters' Rules of Leadership
1. Strive to be a leader of character, competence, and courage.
2. Leadership from the front. Say 'Follow Me!', and then lead the way.
3. Stay up top physical shape, physical stamina is the root of mental toughness.
4. Develop your team. If you know your people, are fair in setting realistic goal and expectations, and lead by example, you will develop teamwork.
5. Delegate responsibility to your subordinates and let them do their job. You can't do a good job if you don't have a chance to use your imagination and creativity.
6. Anticipate problems and prepare to overcome obstacles. Don't wait until you get to the top of the ridge and then make up your mind.
7. Remain humble. Don't worry about who receives the credit. Never let power or authority go to your head.
8. Take a moment of self-reflection. Look at yourself in the mirror every night and ask yourself if you did your best.
9. True satisfaction comes from getting the job done. The key to a successful leader is to earn respect, not because of rank or position, but because you're a leader of character.
10. Hang Tough! Never, ever, give up.
Greetings from Australia. Loving your reactions man, this show was next level and I’m enjoying revisiting it with you 👍
thanks for your service and Band Of Brothers is a great War series on HBO. You should watch The Pacific too!
Your welcome and thank you for watching and supporting my channel
"We Were Soldiers" is a must watch. Very good story of early Viet Nam.
Col Hal Moore was an amazing leader, an amazing man...He and Winters are desperately what every American student should be forced to learn about their lives pre-during and post
You remember that scene early on in Saving Private Ryan where that one officer says there's a good chance Private Ryan didn't survive the jump into Normandy on D-Day? A) The officer is played by the same guy who transfers Capt. Soeble in the previous episode. B) This is what the officer was referring to
This is a great series, enjoying your reaction to it. When it's over you should do The Pacific. It's about what as going on in the Pacific with my brother Marines. It is... rough man. ..but amazing. That assault on the guns by Lt Winter is still taught at West Point and in Wargaming Military Schools across the nation to this day. We studied it three different times during my 4 years in the Corps at different units.
❤️🔥🏴 keep watching. Theses reactions are great. Thank you.
Glad to have found your channel.
Winters was an absolute legend! Solid doesnèt even begin to describe him.
This is a fucking awesome series. And so is The Pacific.
Winters' story is one of those you watch evolve. Your comment about his conscience is spot on. Just watch how it unfolds. The thing with the german prisoners was hearsay. That officer that handed out those cigarettes will appear again later in the show.
One thing it wasn't clear to me at first was that they were under orders to take no prisoners.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_war_crimes_during_World_War_II#:~:text=Historian%20Peter%20Lieb%20has%20found,D%2DDay%20landings%20in%20Normandy.
The Hague made orders to take no prisoners illegal early in the 20th century. But there are exceptions for units operating behind enemy lines.
I'm still unclear whether the orders to take no prisoners we're legal or not. It's probable they were illegal and the Allies ignored that. But it's possible they were legal under the special circumstances during The Invasion.
Man I wish you started this like last year so I could just run through them. Its only 10 episodes but they're all amazing. I'd take 10 amazing episodes over 20 episodes w/ a bunch of duds. Kind of like how many tv series go like 13-14 episodes per season but theres like 3-5 episodes that just SUUUUUCK and are a chore to get through. GOAT mini series.
There was over 2500 planes dropping the airborne at zero hour then 4000 during the morning/ day. The first men had to take out the big guns so we could land at the beach. Absolutely incredible!!! 🙏🏼🇺🇸🙏🏼
"Shut your F@!&KING guinea trap gonorrhea!!' Love that moment. alleviates the tension during the battle scene. God I love that show. You should watch The Pacific.
After the series you need to watch "We stand alone together" it is a documentary with many of the surviving members of Easy company. Then you need to watch "The Pacific" it is Band of Brothers in the Pacific theater.
Yup... the pacific... different taste, but it still good.
Like some people have mentioned, Winters' assault is still taught at West Point today. Something I haven't seen yet though, is that those guns were protected by ~50 German troops. Winters took them with 13 men. Colonel Robert Sink recommended Lt. Winters for the Medal of Honor for his actions during the assault, but was downgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross due to a policy awarding only one Medal of Honor per division.
That's what being a soldier was 75 years ago.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
A few things about this chapter of Band of Brothers...Sgt. Lipton KNEW the guy that was asking for directions and lifted his head too high, Lipton saw that man get shot right in the forehead, it shook Lipton badly as you would expect...also, Lorraine, the "jeep jockey" was not a bad shot as portrayed here, he was actually one of the first to get a confirmed kill in this attack...the German 105mm cannons at Brecourt Manor were firing directly down on Utah beach, so this attack by Lt Winters and his men was crucial to helping that beachhead succeed.
Imagine knowing these men only in their later years, watching this knowing it's your dad or grandpa on the screen and seeing what a complete badass he is.
My favorite WWII movie etc....just did such a good job...
You gotta check your smoke detector batteries once a year man
Great reactions keep it up