They were outnumbered, but the whole point of the airborne was to draw some of the Germans away from the beach and to keep others from arriving at the beach so those in the landing craft had a less hard time storming the beach.
Oh, my gosh, those German soldiers (including that guy from Eugene, Oregon) had been taken as prisoners of war. They wouldn't be killing Americans nor would Americans be killing them. In fact, the Americans took the German and Italian prisoners of war to the USA where they lived quite comfortably compared to Americans and British captured by the Germans.
I'd recommend reading the book by Stephen Ambrose on which this miniseries is based, even at 10 hours they couldn't possibly include everything that was in the book. The book answers a lot of the questions one has while watching this miniseries.
It's not really fiction. This miniseries very closely follows the book by Ambrose, and he wrote that by reading archives and interviewing those who were involved.
Each time I watch this I am sadly reminded that all the veterans interviewed for this series have now passed on. The last surviving member of Easy died a few months ago. It's hard to imagine, especially for my generation (I'm 55) who grew up on stories and movies about WWII, that before long there will be no living connection to it any longer. I remember when the final WWI veteran died, and I dread the day we lose the last veteran of this war. If you know any that are still living never forget that in their youth, they and their comrades from all the allied nations, saved the world and allowed us today, as almost all of us do, to live in freedom. And, thank them.
That’s why there’s a huge effort underway to interview as many veterans as possible and get their stories permanently out there. One of the guys they interviewed was in the navy and drove the landing craft on dday and Jesus his story is a heavy one.
@@MrHello6999 Wow! Seriously? That kind of comment is the only thing you have to contribute? Do better. It’s easy, and lazy, to be negative. You have to work at being positive. But it isn’t as hard as you think.
@@canadian__ninja I've watched this show countless times, between my own watching and watching review channels and it still hits just as hard every time. "..Granpa said no.. But.. " Never fails.
From her statement that the stories are not true, we know that she has no clue that they are based on real life events. This indeed is where the sh*t starts to get real.
Part of army training is also learning to follow orders without questioning them even if you don't agree or if that order will put your life in danger. What you refer to as bullying is actually a necessary part of military training, even more so in times of war.
• "Outnumbered" upon landing - If the situation had gone according to plan, there would have been a concentration of force. However, cloud banks and anti-aircraft fire broke up the tight formations of the aircraft causing scattered drops over a wide area. In one respect this created an advantage. The German local commands were receiving reports of enemy paratroopers over a wide area. This caused confusion and a delay of where to focus a reaction to the threat. • "Are these all dead horses?" - The German army had a heavy dependence on horses for transport. • Shooting prisoners by Lieutenant Ronald Speirs, D (Dog) Company (D Company was in the same battalions as E (Easy) Company). - General Maxwell Taylor, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, instructed his paratroopers to ‘take no prisoners’ during the Normandy Invasion. The taking of prisoners, would handicap the ability to perform the mission. Prisoners would have to be disposed of as best as the paratroopers saw fit. Keep in mind that airborne troops after a drop operate in an environment of being surrounded by the enemy with no system in place to keep prisoners. Dick Winters has mentioned Speirs' POW story in his writing - but said that he had only heard it as a rumor, neither confirming nor denying its validity. The concept of shooting prisoners is blatantly wrong and shouldn't be excused, but, at the same time, rumors have a way of changing stories over time. • Private Carwood Lipton in a tree at Brecourt Manor - Lipton admitted later, as he gained combat experience, that exposing himself in that manner was foolish. • "What is he doing?" you asked when a soldier ran out into the open field to a dead German. - Private Don Malarkey saw on a dead German about 30 yards out in the field, with a black case attached to his belt Malarkey thought it must be a Luger (a type of German semi-automatic pistol highly prized as a war trophy). He wanted it badly, so he ran out into the field, only to discover that it was a leather case for the 105 mm howitzer sight. Lt. Winters was yelling at him, "Idiot, this place is crawling with Krauts, get back here!" Evidently the Germans thought Malarkey was a medic; in any case the machine-gunners did not turn on him until he started running back to the trench. (From Stephen E. Ambrose's book "Band of Brothers.") • Assault on German artillery battery at Brecourt Manor - This successful assault was later taught at the U.S. Army's military school at West Point, New York. "The Operations Room" on You Tube has a fine animated depiction of the assault. It it only seven minutes in length. ruclips.net/video/814qEsxSzmA/видео.html Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
You would be amazed how quickly training kicks in once combat starts. You don't have time to think, you just have time to move and shoot. The Veterans speaking in each episode are in my opinion the best part of the show. They add a level of impact and dread almost. When one of them had a voice crack talking about how bad it was you just feel it in your heart.
These guys used to train on the same exact mountain I had to run in highschool at football camp, Mount Currahee. The coaches wanted the team to have the same “Band of Brothers” mentality, and our shirts even had it on them. Me and some buddies hiked it before graduation and at the top we found this old tin can under a rock with a bunch of old medals and patches. We put it back for the next person to find
The other thing about carrying a canteen full of water and being ordered to not drink from it is about following orders without being given an explanation.
It's so interesting to me that you mentioned not being able to tell the soldiers' identity apart..... As a veteran of two branches of the military, I remember after our hair was cut off in basic training, it was like all identity had been erased....it was by paying attention to others' eyes that allowed the distinctions to be recognized. In US Army Airborne "jump school training" four of us were in one small dorm room together (two bunk beds ) When introducing myself to my roommates, one of them ...looked familiar to me....by his eyes. It was a week later that I realized that guy I recommend , was a kid I met at a campground in Minnesota..... I was 14 or 15 at the time....the kid I met there....my Airborne roommate...was SIX years old at the time..... SIX !!! 😆 LOL I blew his mind in Airborne being able to recount his brothers name, discription of his father...their camper they had at the campground....even the bait they used for fishing at the "Clear Lake Campground" ...... The eyes.....its ALL in the eyes. ❤ ✌ 🇺🇸
When I was flying out to basic, there was a guy who came up and shook my hand, and asked if I was headed to Ft Knox. We flew all the way together, went through reception together, and were assigned as buddies and bunk mates. Near the end of training we’re sitting on the floor shining our boots, and I had an epiphany. I looked at him and said, “Hartman…David Hartman…” He looked up at me and said, “Are you just now figuring out who I am?!” He was my older brother’s best friend in high school, and was at our house almost every day!
Unfortunately we have people learning what it is everyday now whether being in it in Eastern Europe or watching their helmet cams of them whimper and cry as they try to survive after getting hit by artillery
Larissa, love that you are reacting to this series ~ SPIELBERG spared no expense on this series (and, The PACIFIC) as he was personally-vested in World War 2 because his father was on a B-17 Bomber Crew that flew endless missions from England all over Europe .. .. The reason you are 'broken-down' in training has nothing to do with physical fitness ~ It's training your mind to process as best you can when you are tired, injured, hungry, thirsty and under severe mental stress .. .. Being able to function under those conditions could save your life and those around you .. .. This series, and THE PACIFIC, has already been inducted into the American Library of Congress as a video history of this single US Army Regiment .. ..
Regarding knowing what to do, many veterans of D-Day who hadn't seen combat before said after the initial shock their training kicked in and they worked to get their job done. From private up to officers they all got over the initial stress of the moment and were able to "get small" by concentrating on the job at hand. It was a tribute to training they received and the materials made available to them to get the job done (and, of course, to the personal bravery of each to persevere in the face of the horror of combat).
5:00 The guy who went crazy shooting the horses and Germans and was being mean to everyone is Guarnere. He's the one that found out his older brother had been killed in action before they jumped.
The😢 saying that the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war is never been depicted better than in this series. Train hard and repeat the training, and you won't hesitate when hesitation can get you killed.
I can't wait for you to watch the whole thing, glad you show respect and will learn something about WW2 that does not get taught or remembered enough today. Keep up the great work.
I love your analysis as a film student, great job. The series is exactly like the book, which was written by Stephen Ambrose. He conducted of 5,000 interviews and wrote the book from first person POV. As a Dutch citizen, please watch "A Bridge Too Far". It show the courage of your country during the war.
Larissa, your right that battle is chaos, thats why training is so important. Plans fall apart and individuals have to improvise and overcome. You talked about how you would freak out. This next episode is for you.
"At this point, forget the light, just jump." Problem with that thinking is, they have designated drop zones, which were already grossly miscalculated. The last thing you want is to jump too soon or too late and end up smack dab in the middle of an enemy patrol.
The question about training is an important one. By constant drills and training, the troopers learn to react to given situations automatically without having to think about them. The other point to make is that the training is made as hard as possible, preferably harder than the real thing. There's a saying, probably said in every army and language - "train hard, fight easy". I was watching the movie 'Apollo 13' (1995) the other night and the thing about the astronauts' training was that they were "killed" in the simulator many times, so that they could learn from their mistakes to think and react in the right way when they had to do it for real. You would be surprised at what you could do if you were given two years of military training, and it's 10 years if you wanted to become a doctor.
"No reason to be mean" - Remember, Guarnere learned just before the jump that he'd lost his brother at Monte Cassino. It's not condoning his demeanor, but an explanation. Even he admits he was a wild man, who wanted to kill as many Germans as he could that day.
The paratroopers got scattered all over the countryside and it took forever to link up with their unit. Most fought as small units of 3 and 4 guys the first night.
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg produced this mini series. They had the best working for them, everything was well done. I'm a little over 60 now and I've seen much tv and movies. This is the best television I've ever seen.
If you watch "Saving Private Ryan" you can see what happened on the beaches, a few hours after the first scene in this episode. Warning: that movie is extremely graphic, but it IS a War.
I'll paraphrase and old saying. "Battle Plans survive until first contact". Training does serve a purpose. But it is impossible to train for a situation that often is distilled chaos. Nice review. Never worry about expressing your (true) thoughts. It's the best way to present. I have never served. I have the ultimate respect for those who have...especially those who have been "in" war. As things progress....you will begin to identify more individuals.
General Gavin, commanding the 82nd Division, lost his temper when he saw that his men had been left hanging in trees when he arrived on the scene later that day.
About the water thing during training. Back at that time, "water discipline" was part of the training. The belief was that a body could learn to get by with less water and still be fine with practice and training. That didn't really change until around the '70s or '80s. I went through Jungle warfare training on Okinawa while "water discpline" was still kinda in place. Luckily, it had changed to "water saturation" by the time I went through desert warfare training.
I served in SWA (Kuwait, Iraq) as a civilian with the Army (logistics) - there were plastic liters of water stacked on pallets everywhere, and you were told to drink it. If you got heat stroke it was because you didn't stay hydrated, and the medical and admin people were not sympathetic. I could tell when the heat started to get to me when I felt my fingers getting hot - I was not perspiring fast enough to stay cool. My first night (we often worked at night as it was "cooler") I ended up with white streaks on my brown t-shirt and I couldn't figure out what it was. The driver (picked me up at 0200) and told me the white streaks were salt. I told him I hadn't been sweating. He replied I was sweating a lot, but it evaporated immediately, leaving the salt. I asked what the temp was and he looked at the SUV outdoor thermometer and it read 112 F. At 0200. Daytime was regularly 125 F. It was hot. They gave us lots of water to drink. Stay hydrated, or else....
@@cavemancell3562 That was how it was in '84 when my battalion went through desert warfare training at 29 Palms in the summer. It was called "water saturation". We even had formations throughout the day where we had to stand there and drink a full canteen each time. Before that though, jungle warfare training on Okinawa (tropics), sometimes there was water reload, sometimes not. Wait until you know. Ration it like gold until you do. Same for cold weather high altitude training at camp Fuji. Same for cold weather training during a deploy to Korea. Same for jungle warfare training in the PI, and Thailand. Back in the states, at Camp Lejeune it was the same. Hold onto your water until you know. It wasn't until the end of my time that it changed. And, strangely enough, that was when we changed from C-Rats to MRE. Freaking dehydrated food? Really? Where's the canned peaches? The fruit cocktail? What the heck am I supposed to do on the 20 mile humps without those to replenish myself with on the move?
You stated that this is fiction and "technicaly" you are correct but it is strongly following Easy Company in the 101st Airbourne division. The episodes are what they were doing in the war. It will follow lead characters which will change in each episode, and you will recognise the men by name.
Oh, and yes. It took me several viewings of the whole series to know who all of the people were. Some of them are more obvious than others, but some of the background characters definitely took me a while to know.
Historically, the paratrooper drops ended up being kind of a disorganized mess. The reason they seemed so outnumbered was because, 1. They WERE outnumbered, and, 2. most of them missed their designated drop zones & were spread out all over the Normandy countryside. The fact that they were able to pull together into improvised units, and, acheive their objectives, was due to their training, and, fighting spirit.
At the time this was made, it was the most expensive thing ever produced for television, costing roughly $1 million per episode. It proved to be worth it. The writing, the cast, the effects, all spectacular. Most importantly, it told these men's stories with proper respect & honor.
A night jump is very disorganized, especially when the aircraft are also getting devastated. The thing that helps them is the Germans are even more confused.
I don't remember if it was in the Band of Brothers book, another Ambrose book, or one of the several books by Easy Company men, but somewhere I read Lipton said going up in that tree was one of the dumbest things he ever did, he only did it because he didn't know any better at the time, and never would have done it again.
I recall reading the same thing, it's probably in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers. I think he thought he wouldn't be visible, but the Germans certainly knew where they were taking fire from and nearly made Lipton pay for his mistake.
Alot of military basic training is intended to completely break a recruit down. Then to build him/her back up. As you said, the extreme marches and lack of food or water is to build up a soliders resilience and endurance so they can face the same or worse in theater. And the "bullying" is to build a soliders mental and emotional fortitude.
0:39 mark I was there when we gave XXX the E/ 506 guidon (Flag) on the wall behind him, got too meet him many times and his wife he was always so much fun to listen too. i have flown in Whisky 7 (W7) the C47 that was the lead plan for the 2nd wave for the 82nd we had the door on so it was warm and not too noise inside. 2:22 mark thats LT Meehan's plan crash there is now a monument in that spot honoring all those on that plane. 3:19 mark Officers were issued escape kits which they then hid the items in their uniforms (map, compass, saw, ect) 4:08 mark - SO the ambush scene is wrong - there were 3 ambushes that night. during the 1st Guarnere didn't have a weapon either during this ambush he took 2 P-38 Pistols off some dead Germans then he used those in a 2nd ambush later that morning , then he picked up the Thompson SMG later. the Ambushes took place at a T intersection and they weren't even German troops but Georgian's Troops fighting in the service of Germany . having talked with XXX & XXXX that were there at those ambushes they were ok and understood why they had to portray it as shown for the show. Guarnere while in Normandy earned the nickname "Wild Bill" as he killed every German soldier for revenge of his brother (i had a drunk grunt too grunt talk with XXX on how Bill really earned it but i won't say here)6:36 mark Yes Spier's did kill the POW's (but the American in the German army did survive the war) BUT it did happen alot on both sides esp during the opening hours as their was an order "No Prisoners" I had the honor of being walked through this attack by a few who were there and it's dam close to how it was . the gun emplacements were closer to the buildings but they don't show them here and a few details were changed but still very well done. 7:47 mark Compton had picked up his tommy gun after loosing his on the jump and hadn't been able to look it over before this attack and thats why it jammed at 1st. 8:29 mark Compton was bumped by another trooper going behind him that made him fumble the grenade. 9:04 mark He was looking for a Luger (german pistol very prized by GI's as a war trophy) XXX told me they gave him alot of crap when he got back from that.
What - in my mind - makes this series a masterpiece is that there's so much focus on the "slow" parts of a war. The casual conversations and character building in-between the action makes the action parts actually feel meaningful. Unlike most american action, which is typically so much about the action that the action itself kind of loses its meaning. More of a war drama than action series, but still.
Oh they were SEVERELY outnumbered. They were among the very first Allied troops to set foot in France since the evacuation at Dunkirk. Also, they were talking because they grew up in towns about a 4 hour drive apart (which isn't extremely far by American standards) and now were fighting on opposite sides of the war. Thus the conversation.
Being Dutch, this series will really hit home for you in the middle. TRAINING---they are getting men ready for HELL..there is no training too tough they can use to truly prepare them for the horror of WAR
Good observation. Combat operations can become very confusing, particularly when visibility is low (dark, dust, smoke, fog, heavy rain, heavy vegetation, topography). Note, you don't use white light at night because it reveals your position and destroys your night vision. Also noise from weapons, detonations and extremely noisy armored vehicles can mess your hearing up rather badly making communicating directly or over radios difficult.
Good episode! I ran into the memorial at Brecort Manor by accident in 2009.:! Driving elsewhere. Pretty cool. You could not get to the spot where the arty had been but the memorial was by the road.
In the first couple of weeks, 9000 of 25000 airborne were killed. They are completely outnumbered that night, until at least 100,000 regular men are successfully ashore later that morning.
Easy Company men would later admit that they took risks on D-Day that they never would have later in the war. They were new to combat, full of piss & vinegar, and didn't know better.
Alot of people didn't understand that part of the invasion...they had no way to care for prisoners while pushing forward, and couldn't risk releasing them behind the line of attack. So they were killed. War is hell.
Concerning the "See you later" comment if both guys lived through the war they might have. Once the initial landing was completed and a secure zone was established the Germans who were taken prisoner began getting shipped to England and rapidly to the US. The soldiers left in holding on the continent could easily escape to their units and England was on short rations so there were POW work camps set up across the US in rural areas and the POWs were used as labor on farms and non-military supply industries. Many of the POWs came back to the US after the war and became citizens because they were amazed by conditions in the US and made good friends while they worked there.
Great reaction. When you are done with the miniseries i highly recommend you watch the documentary 'We Stand Alone Together' with the men of Easy Company, a lot more interviews in it and expands on the story.
From here on out, each episode kind of focuses on a different member of Easy Company, so you’ll definitely start getting to know more individual soldiers.
They weren't chilling theyd been taken prisoner; however those first few days orders would be given not to keep or take live prisoners due to no place or nesseccary supplies to keep them
At this time in the concept of airborne infantry, it was already expected to be outnumbered. And yes, there have been many who have trained for years and years only to die in infil in their mission even in our time. Such is war.
They feel outnumbered because they are paratroopers. They were dropped behind the enemy lines without any of the conventional support elements of regular army. So, they are outnumbered in a certain sense.
the 2 years of training is to give the men the skills they will need in order to survive. Whether or not they implement said skills, is a whole different debate. You train them for that long so that when action kicks off, muscle memory will take over when you are performing basic tasks like reloading your weapon or preparing a grenade for throwing. There can be no room for errors, so muscle memory has to be trained into you
11:50. This is a Steven Spielberg production. One of Hollywood's greatest directors/producers ever. I mean...jaws. back to the future. Et, Schindlers list. Saving private ryan. And the list goes on and on and on
FYI the German's didn't have a mechanized army. They used horses still for transport. Only the UK & US were fully mechanized. Right before the war Germany purchased every horse available in the UK and most of the European mainland.
Another astute observation on your part, particularly since you weren't in the military. When I first entered initial training in the Army (Boot Camp) treatment by the drill sergeants seemed very harsh but you eventually come to understand there is a reason. They get a bunch of soft, unskilled American kids who must be toughened up both mentally and physically to be competent combat arms soldiers (eventually). It is really for your own good, and of course so you will be combat effective. BTW, unless something went very wrong, which happened on occasion, we always had the water we needed to stay well hydrated.
Honestly it is your experience that should tell the most about this series. They will be going through areas that you are from and you have visited. How does that inform on your life is the best reaction. E Company has its home here in the US but it is there with places you know and places you should be familiar with is where the 506 and the 82 Airborne Divisions have buried the most of their comrades and have places of memorial for the 2nd World War. What is your relation like to them? People and the internet can fill in the history. What this series did for people in the US who are into American history was it made Europe a real place. At the worst point 8 out of 10 men who left did not return. This series helped non historians understand it is over there that was real and tragic and every emotion in the world for family that served.
People don’t realize it was standard practice to shoot prisoners as a paratrooper, when operating behind enemy lines and surrounded on all sides you couldn’t just keep men back to “baby sit” them, especially when you took extremely large numbers.
The reason you see so many dead horses is because the German army throughout WW2 relied upon horses for transport. The only armies that had lots of trucks were the American, British and Canadian armies. Even the Russians were dependant upon horses until 1944 when the Americans gave them thousands of trucks.
The paratroopers are dropped off kind of to be a distraction for the rest of the army that crosses the channel on boats. And yes, that makes them completely outnumbered, and also with no way to get back to England. They just hope that the invasion works and the rest of the army will join them later during the day.
It's interesting to consider that Sobel would have gotten people killed in combat, but what he did in training probably saved a lot of lives. On being worried about saying something wrong, you seem to be open-minded and thoughtful, so you should do fine. Your reference to current events when talking about how war doesn't make sense, but here it is, was insightful.
In hindsight, Sobel being transferred out saved his life. He would have been in Meehan's place on the HQ plane that went down so either way Winters would have been in charge.
7:45 the reason that german fumbled is because the mp40 is not his if you look at his belt he has kar98k pouches meaning he is a rifleman and not an nco so the mp40 belongs to someone else .pals buddys
I think your question about the march without drinking and the point about how they know what to do when in those trenches kinda merge a bit. I'm certainly no expert and have no military training at all, so probably someone will tell me that I'm wrong, which is totally fine. But the way I see it, being told to do a march and not drink from the canteen is all part of training the soldier to just follow orders and not question them, which would help to turn the unit into a more efficient fighting machine. So with the two years of training where soldiers just follow the orders of their leaders, their movements become drilled into them so well that they become second nature. A soldier that is following orders isn't going to run off and do something unexpected which could screw the whole attack up. Again, just my thoughts. No evidence for this, so if someone wants to correct me, please feel free to do so.
I've watched this show and reactions to it so many times but there are still so many characters I don't recognize all the time. I know the main like 20-25 dudes well but other than that there's still a lot of secondary people where I can't put the name to the face. It happens.
the German soldiers were under guard as POWs waiting to be taken back to Britain and thence to the USA. Too often on both sides during a rapid fighting advance there was no good way to secure prisoners so at the lower levels of military authority they would shoot them rather than figure out how to secure them. This was not the norm between the Western Allies and the Axis forces in the European theater of operations.
When captain sobel didn't let them drink water.. that part was intended to show bad leadership on his part. I was in the army and the military always pushed soldiers to drink water and be hydrated, Capt sobel confused being an asshole with tough training techniques.
The things you commented about, the fear that can overcome you, is the subject of the next episode. Enjoying your reactions. This is one of my all time favorites.
Yeah, the bullying was a bit excessive in training. A good trainer explains why they're doing something. No water on a march? You explain that there will be water when we get back. But there may be a day when you will march with no guarantee of our next refill. So no water unless our medic says you're at risk. But yeah, he didn't prep them properly in episode 1 if you ask me. They're going to be tough as nails after that abuse. And you're dang right they'll be changed after war. When I came back I thought I handled it well but my best friend once bluntly said "No, you changed". Nothing more, and I had no response.
The misdrops , scattering and chaos actually worked to their benefit. The Germans received so many contradictory reports about Paratroopers being, well, everywhere that it critically slowed their reactions. Instead of large, organized formations to find, fix and annihilate, they had something far worse. LGOPs(Little groups of Paratroopers)all over the place self-organizing into small raiding parties of highly trained infantry hunting and killing anything with a Swastika,..all without adult supervision.🙃
It's good to learn the history this portrays. This unfolded in your own country and these men fought and died to liberate your people. Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. Look at the aggression playing out in the Ukraine right now. It's not that much different from what happened to your own country.
Your analysis, contemplation, and introspection are really amazing. The way you imagine yourself in their situation and contemplate that so deeply is really touching. I'm with you... you got bombs exploding around you, ten or twenty men shouting and yelling, some in agony, and bullets being fired at you, and you're not sure which direction they are coming from. It takes a special kind of person to be in that situation and still think clearly enough to make a rational seat-of-your-pants decisions every second their out there. That's why Winters was such an amazing leader. Most of those men doing that were in their late teens and very early twenties. Most of those soldiers who died for us were just kids. Hell, I'm sure most of the German soldiers were just kids, too. You're really an amazing young person. Young people in America these days have completely lost their minds. We need more contemplative, smart, young people like you in our world. I really appreciate you. I look forward to the next episode. Merry Christmas! I hope you have an amazing day today with family and loved ones.
You’re not watching fiction. The men at the beginning are the actual guys being depicted in the miniseries. With the exception of some small details, every event shown, even every minutiae of the battles scenes, happened more or less the same in real life as how it was depicted in the show. You’ll start to recognize which man is which bc some of the actors that were cast look and sound eerily similar to the men on real life.
Larissa, I think you misunderstood. The German soldiers waiting by the road should not have been killed. They were prisoners of war and US soldiers had no right murder them. But that apparently happened a lot on both sides.
I believe the paratroopers were under orders not to take prisoners in the first 24 hours, because they would not have the men to spare guarding them. After contact was made with the forces landing on the beaches, prisoners could then be sent back and on to camps in England. This incident was about Lt. Speirs correcting the 'mistake' that these Germans should not have been taken prisoner. Technically a war crime, if indeed he did execute the prisoners.
@@davemac1197 I may have been wrong, but it seemed she didn't fully understand what happened. Seemed like she thought this was normal and accepted. It was not normal to kill prisoners of war, so I was just trying to explain to her the seriousness of what happened.
@@rumrunner23 - I'm not 100% clear on whether the incident happened in that way - not everything in BoB is accurately portrayed, and I'm not 100% clear on what their orders were on D-Day about taking prisoners. I think any context we can provide in the comments helps Larissa, but it's one of those controversial incidents we may never get to the bottom of. It's definitely a grey area.
They were given orders to not take any prisoners on D-Day because it would derail their mission and they had no means to keep prisoners so early in the conflict. Technically, yes, it was a war crime.
Please understand Larissa, this is not fiction. This is history with only minor changes so it can be presented on film. The events and people portrayed here are real, those who lived and those who died. Also, remember that there was a "winner" in this war... you... and everyone else who lives in Europe. Had Germany won the war, the nightmare that would have followed would have been immeasurable. I hope this information is helpful.
I think the word she was looking for was 'dramatisation', because she's aware these are true events, but this is a drama presentation and not a documentary. Larissa's English is very good (I am English!), but as she said when she found the word for "trench", finding the right word is sometimes difficult for her. I've picked up a few words of Dutch from studying Operation Market Garden, but I couldn't order a beer in Holland to save my life, so we have to give her credit for watching and reacting to a drama in a foreign language. By the way, there's a book called The Fourth Reich? The EU - An Emerging German Empire (2016) by an academic on German politics called Sara Moore that makes that argument very well - drawing a straight line from Bismarck in 1870 to the EU in 2016. So the two failed military adventures to unify Europe by force in the 20th Century become just chapters in a much longer story of German ambitions for the continent, and the post war method of federalisation by stealth treaty is a return to the methods used by Bismarck to unify the German states under Prussian domination in 1871. I don't think we've "won" the longer conflict (of ideas) yet, but Brexit was a belated correction to a mistake the UK made in 1973 in thinking the ECSC/EEC/EU was a benign project we needed to be a part of. I hope the Netherlands and other member states realise what is happening to their nation states before it's too late, and before the Dutch lose many of their highly efficient farms to a politically motivated nitrates non-problem.
@@davemac1197 I agree with your comments regarding the post war history of Europe and where it's going. It is easy to see the modern efforts working toward regional hegemony but most of it currently is through political maneuvering. What are your thoughts regarding the current conflict in Ukraine?
@@jwcsfsky9900 - I think it's pretty much already history, we're in the endgame. When Russia signed the Budapest memorandum in 1994 with US and UK to guarantee Ukraine's independence and security in return for nuclear disarmament, they wanted a clause in the agreement that Ukraine remains 'neutral', but Ukraine refused. So legally, Ukraine is free to join any international treaty it wishes as an independent nation. Putin clearly wanted to avoid Ukranian accession to NATO and EU, as the Baltic states did in 2004 (March and May respectively). The trigger for destabilising the pro-western Ukranian leadership and supporting a pro-Russian President (by election-rigging) was the EU's negotiated Association Agreement - a precursor to full membership, which was clumsy without NATO membership in parallel. The puppet regime was thrown out and another pro-western President elected who signed the EU Agreement. Putin tried to destabilise Ukraine by stealth in 2014, taking the Crimea and Donbas oblasts, but that backfired when Ukraine started taking back territory in the Donbas. Biden telegraphed the West's weakness by withdrawing from Afghanistan and Putin made his move with a full scale invasion to replace the regime in Kyiv with another puppet. The invasion has also backfired with Ukraine's unexpected resistance, and the West has woken up to the danger and supplied weapons. Going forward, I hope that Ukraine can recover all of its territory to end the war, so it can qualify for NATO membership, which requires territorial integrity and no ongoing conflict.
Regarding no water during training: that's not something they do anymore. Even the most rigorous selections for special operations units don't deprive them of water..it is far too dangerous from a physiological standpoint not to mention it leaves 0 training value.
To call this series fiction is doing a disservice to it. It is based on a non-fiction book by the same name based on the experiences of Easy Company. Those interviewees at the beginning of the episodes lived through what you call fiction. Granted, some liberties have been taken to make things flow and fit into a time slot, but for those brave men, this was a real as it gets. As to the “concept of war”, these soldiers were in France, NETHERLANDS, Belgium and Germany to liberate those peoples. Should they have stayed home because the Germans were not in the USA?
Band of Brothers and The Pacific are both good in their own right showing what the war was like, you may also find ruclips.net/video/DwKPFT-RioU/видео.html interesting.
Get Early Access to the rest of my Band of Brothers reactions on my Patreon!: Patreon.com/larissazeeuwe
They were outnumbered, but the whole point of the airborne was to draw some of the Germans away from the beach and to keep others from arriving at the beach so those in the landing craft had a less hard time storming the beach.
Oh, my gosh, those German soldiers (including that guy from Eugene, Oregon) had been taken as prisoners of war. They wouldn't be killing Americans nor would Americans be killing them. In fact, the Americans took the German and Italian prisoners of war to the USA where they lived quite comfortably compared to Americans and British captured by the Germans.
I'd recommend reading the book by Stephen Ambrose on which this miniseries is based, even at 10 hours they couldn't possibly include everything that was in the book. The book answers a lot of the questions one has while watching this miniseries.
It's not really fiction. This miniseries very closely follows the book by Ambrose, and he wrote that by reading archives and interviewing those who were involved.
Each time I watch this I am sadly reminded that all the veterans interviewed for this series have now passed on. The last surviving member of Easy died a few months ago. It's hard to imagine, especially for my generation (I'm 55) who grew up on stories and movies about WWII, that before long there will be no living connection to it any longer. I remember when the final WWI veteran died, and I dread the day we lose the last veteran of this war. If you know any that are still living never forget that in their youth, they and their comrades from all the allied nations, saved the world and allowed us today, as almost all of us do, to live in freedom. And, thank them.
That’s why there’s a huge effort underway to interview as many veterans as possible and get their stories permanently out there. One of the guys they interviewed was in the navy and drove the landing craft on dday and Jesus his story is a heavy one.
@@MrHello6999 just because it’s natural does not mean one can’t mourn the loss. After all even animals feel sorrow, it’s natural.
@@MrHello6999 Wow! Seriously? That kind of comment is the only thing you have to contribute? Do better. It’s easy, and lazy, to be negative. You have to work at being positive. But it isn’t as hard as you think.
@@MrHello6999 I don't know where you're from, but it sounds like you aren't very human.
@@MrHello6999 Yes its a very human thing to do to mourn those who pass. If you don’t I would be concerned.
This series gets better and better. And yes harder and harder. Tears may come! But it's one of the best ever made.
"may come"? Basically no chance they're avoided with this series.
@@canadian__ninja I've watched this show countless times, between my own watching and watching review channels and it still hits just as hard every time.
"..Granpa said no.. But.. "
Never fails.
3:01 They are Paratroopers. Being outnumbered and surrounded behind enemy lines is in the Job Description.
This is when the sh*t get's real..."We're not lost Private, we're in Normandy." Lt. Winters showing his confidence and leadership.
From her statement that the stories are not true, we know that she has no clue that they are based on real life events. This indeed is where the sh*t starts to get real.
@@jamesdarnell8568 I wasn't there but I don't mince words. My Grandfathers were there
Part of army training is also learning to follow orders without questioning them even if you don't agree or if that order will put your life in danger. What you refer to as bullying is actually a necessary part of military training, even more so in times of war.
• "Outnumbered" upon landing - If the situation had gone according to plan, there would have been a concentration of force. However, cloud banks and anti-aircraft fire broke up the tight formations of the aircraft causing scattered drops over a wide area. In one respect this created an advantage. The German local commands were receiving reports of enemy paratroopers over a wide area. This caused confusion and a delay of where to focus a reaction to the threat.
• "Are these all dead horses?" - The German army had a heavy dependence on horses for transport.
• Shooting prisoners by Lieutenant Ronald Speirs, D (Dog) Company (D Company was in the same battalions as E (Easy) Company). - General Maxwell Taylor, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, instructed his paratroopers to ‘take no prisoners’ during the Normandy Invasion. The taking of prisoners, would handicap the ability to perform the mission. Prisoners would have to be disposed of as best as the paratroopers saw fit. Keep in mind that airborne troops after a drop operate in an environment of being surrounded by the enemy with no system in place to keep prisoners. Dick Winters has mentioned Speirs' POW story in his writing - but said that he had only heard it as a rumor, neither confirming nor denying its validity. The concept of shooting prisoners is blatantly wrong and shouldn't be excused, but, at the same time, rumors have a way of changing stories over time.
• Private Carwood Lipton in a tree at Brecourt Manor - Lipton admitted later, as he gained combat experience, that exposing himself in that manner was foolish.
• "What is he doing?" you asked when a soldier ran out into the open field to a dead German. - Private Don Malarkey saw on a dead German about 30 yards out in the field, with a black case attached to his belt Malarkey thought it must be a Luger (a type of German semi-automatic pistol highly prized as a war trophy). He wanted it badly, so he ran out into the field, only to discover that it was a leather case for the 105 mm howitzer sight. Lt. Winters was yelling at him, "Idiot, this place is crawling with Krauts, get back here!" Evidently the Germans thought Malarkey was a medic; in any case the machine-gunners did not turn on him until he started running back to the trench. (From Stephen E. Ambrose's book "Band of Brothers.")
• Assault on German artillery battery at Brecourt Manor - This successful assault was later taught at the U.S. Army's military school at West Point, New York. "The Operations Room" on You Tube has a fine animated depiction of the assault. It it only seven minutes in length.
ruclips.net/video/814qEsxSzmA/видео.html
Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
You would be amazed how quickly training kicks in once combat starts. You don't have time to think, you just have time to move and shoot.
The Veterans speaking in each episode are in my opinion the best part of the show. They add a level of impact and dread almost. When one of them had a voice crack talking about how bad it was you just feel it in your heart.
These guys used to train on the same exact mountain I had to run in highschool at football camp, Mount Currahee. The coaches wanted the team to have the same “Band of Brothers” mentality, and our shirts even had it on them. Me and some buddies hiked it before graduation and at the top we found this old tin can under a rock with a bunch of old medals and patches. We put it back for the next person to find
That is cool. I was fortunate that my school was surrounded by flat land!
@@georgemartin1436 I’m from North Georgia so you basically see mountains in the distance in any direction lol
The other thing about carrying a canteen full of water and being ordered to not drink from it is about following orders without being given an explanation.
It's so interesting to me that you mentioned not being able to tell the soldiers' identity apart..... As a veteran of two branches of the military, I remember after our hair was cut off in basic training, it was like all identity had been erased....it was by paying attention to others' eyes that allowed the distinctions to be recognized.
In US Army Airborne "jump school training" four of us were in one small dorm room together (two bunk beds )
When introducing myself to my roommates, one of them ...looked familiar to me....by his eyes.
It was a week later that I realized that guy I recommend , was a kid I met at a campground in Minnesota..... I was 14 or 15 at the time....the kid I met there....my Airborne roommate...was SIX years old at the time..... SIX !!! 😆 LOL I blew his mind in Airborne being able to recount his brothers name, discription of his father...their camper they had at the campground....even the bait they used for fishing at the "Clear Lake Campground" ...... The eyes.....its ALL in the eyes. ❤ ✌ 🇺🇸
When I was flying out to basic, there was a guy who came up and shook my hand, and asked if I was headed to Ft Knox. We flew all the way together, went through reception together, and were assigned as buddies and bunk mates. Near the end of training we’re sitting on the floor shining our boots, and I had an epiphany. I looked at him and said, “Hartman…David Hartman…” He looked up at me and said, “Are you just now figuring out who I am?!” He was my older brother’s best friend in high school, and was at our house almost every day!
We forget what real war is... Amazing show. Timeless honestly... 20 years later and still amazing
Unfortunately we have people learning what it is everyday now whether being in it in Eastern Europe or watching their helmet cams of them whimper and cry as they try to survive after getting hit by artillery
Larissa, love that you are reacting to this series ~ SPIELBERG spared no expense on this series (and, The PACIFIC) as he was personally-vested in World War 2 because his father was on a B-17 Bomber Crew that flew endless missions from England all over Europe .. ..
The reason you are 'broken-down' in training has nothing to do with physical fitness ~ It's training your mind to process as best you can when you are tired, injured, hungry, thirsty and under severe mental stress .. .. Being able to function under those conditions could save your life and those around you .. ..
This series, and THE PACIFIC, has already been inducted into the American Library of Congress as a video history of this single US Army Regiment .. ..
@@rollomaughfling380 Could have swore it was Europe ... I must've got confused with his work on his project about the 8th Air Force .. ..
This series is based on real events not fiction! I like your reaction to this series
Well done. This series gets better as it goes. Looking forward to the rest of it.
Regarding knowing what to do, many veterans of D-Day who hadn't seen combat before said after the initial shock their training kicked in and they worked to get their job done. From private up to officers they all got over the initial stress of the moment and were able to "get small" by concentrating on the job at hand. It was a tribute to training they received and the materials made available to them to get the job done (and, of course, to the personal bravery of each to persevere in the face of the horror of combat).
I was a Tank Commander, serving from 1977 to 2000. While I'm very proud of my service, it was nothing compared to what these guys did.
5:00 The guy who went crazy shooting the horses and Germans and was being mean to everyone is Guarnere. He's the one that found out his older brother had been killed in action before they jumped.
The😢 saying that the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war is never been depicted better than in this series. Train hard and repeat the training, and you won't hesitate when hesitation can get you killed.
Sooo glad u like this mam and happy holidays beautiful
I can't wait for you to watch the whole thing, glad you show respect and will learn something about WW2 that does not get taught or remembered enough today. Keep up the great work.
After the series is complete. You might watch the documentary on Easy Company. "We Stand alone together ".
I love your analysis as a film student, great job. The series is exactly like the book, which was written by Stephen Ambrose. He conducted of 5,000 interviews and wrote the book from first person POV. As a Dutch citizen, please watch "A Bridge Too Far". It show the courage of your country during the war.
Larissa, your right that battle is chaos, thats why training is so important. Plans fall apart and individuals have to improvise and overcome. You talked about how you would freak out. This next episode is for you.
General Robert E Lee of the American Civil War said "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."
"At this point, forget the light, just jump."
Problem with that thinking is, they have designated drop zones, which were already grossly miscalculated. The last thing you want is to jump too soon or too late and end up smack dab in the middle of an enemy patrol.
"The Pacific" is good as well.
The question about training is an important one. By constant drills and training, the troopers learn to react to given situations automatically without having to think about them. The other point to make is that the training is made as hard as possible, preferably harder than the real thing. There's a saying, probably said in every army and language - "train hard, fight easy". I was watching the movie 'Apollo 13' (1995) the other night and the thing about the astronauts' training was that they were "killed" in the simulator many times, so that they could learn from their mistakes to think and react in the right way when they had to do it for real. You would be surprised at what you could do if you were given two years of military training, and it's 10 years if you wanted to become a doctor.
"No reason to be mean" - Remember, Guarnere learned just before the jump that he'd lost his brother at Monte Cassino. It's not condoning his demeanor, but an explanation. Even he admits he was a wild man, who wanted to kill as many Germans as he could that day.
@@defer114 completely forgot
My uncle was with the 101st Airborne. Killed the first day jumping into Sainte Mere Eglise.
The paratroopers got scattered all over the countryside and it took forever to link up with their unit. Most fought as small units of 3 and 4 guys the first night.
The mass confusion in battle is called "the fog of war" and it's a real thing.
“Couldn’t tell men apart because I was gay or something” I laughed so hard at that thought process😂 great reaction.
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg produced this mini series. They had the best working for them, everything was well done. I'm a little over 60 now and I've seen much tv and movies. This is the best television I've ever seen.
If you watch "Saving Private Ryan" you can see what happened on the beaches, a few hours after the first scene in this episode.
Warning: that movie is extremely graphic, but it IS a War.
I also want to add that it’s made by the same production team as BoB.
8:35 it's exactly that. The amount of training they went through and how difficult they made it is how they get through it with mostly clear heads.
I'll paraphrase and old saying. "Battle Plans survive until first contact". Training does serve a purpose. But it is impossible to train for a situation that often is distilled chaos. Nice review. Never worry about expressing your (true) thoughts. It's the best way to present. I have never served. I have the ultimate respect for those who have...especially those who have been "in" war. As things progress....you will begin to identify more individuals.
General Gavin, commanding the 82nd Division, lost his temper when he saw that his men had been left hanging in trees when he arrived on the scene later that day.
About the water thing during training. Back at that time, "water discipline" was part of the training. The belief was that a body could learn to get by with less water and still be fine with practice and training. That didn't really change until around the '70s or '80s. I went through Jungle warfare training on Okinawa while "water discpline" was still kinda in place. Luckily, it had changed to "water saturation" by the time I went through desert warfare training.
I served in SWA (Kuwait, Iraq) as a civilian with the Army (logistics) - there were plastic liters of water stacked on pallets everywhere, and you were told to drink it. If you got heat stroke it was because you didn't stay hydrated, and the medical and admin people were not sympathetic. I could tell when the heat started to get to me when I felt my fingers getting hot - I was not perspiring fast enough to stay cool. My first night (we often worked at night as it was "cooler") I ended up with white streaks on my brown t-shirt and I couldn't figure out what it was. The driver (picked me up at 0200) and told me the white streaks were salt. I told him I hadn't been sweating. He replied I was sweating a lot, but it evaporated immediately, leaving the salt. I asked what the temp was and he looked at the SUV outdoor thermometer and it read 112 F. At 0200. Daytime was regularly 125 F. It was hot. They gave us lots of water to drink. Stay hydrated, or else....
@@cavemancell3562 That was how it was in '84 when my battalion went through desert warfare training at 29 Palms in the summer. It was called "water saturation". We even had formations throughout the day where we had to stand there and drink a full canteen each time.
Before that though, jungle warfare training on Okinawa (tropics), sometimes there was water reload, sometimes not. Wait until you know. Ration it like gold until you do. Same for cold weather high altitude training at camp Fuji. Same for cold weather training during a deploy to Korea. Same for jungle warfare training in the PI, and Thailand.
Back in the states, at Camp Lejeune it was the same. Hold onto your water until you know.
It wasn't until the end of my time that it changed. And, strangely enough, that was when we changed from C-Rats to MRE. Freaking dehydrated food? Really? Where's the canned peaches? The fruit cocktail? What the heck am I supposed to do on the 20 mile humps without those to replenish myself with on the move?
You stated that this is fiction and "technicaly" you are correct but it is strongly following Easy Company in the 101st Airbourne division. The episodes are what they were doing in the war. It will follow lead characters which will change in each episode, and you will recognise the men by name.
War is basically, "stop doing this shit we don't like." Or, "do this shit we want you to do."
Oh, and yes. It took me several viewings of the whole series to know who all of the people were. Some of them are more obvious than others, but some of the background characters definitely took me a while to know.
Do not pass up the documentary, We Stand Alone, after you finish the series. You can put real people to the faces you'll come to know.
Historically, the paratrooper drops ended up being kind of a disorganized mess. The reason they seemed so outnumbered was because, 1. They WERE outnumbered, and, 2. most of them missed their designated drop zones & were spread out all over the Normandy countryside. The fact that they were able to pull together into improvised units, and, acheive their objectives, was due to their training, and, fighting spirit.
At the time this was made, it was the most expensive thing ever produced for television, costing roughly $1 million per episode. It proved to be worth it. The writing, the cast, the effects, all spectacular. Most importantly, it told these men's stories with proper respect & honor.
A night jump is very disorganized, especially when the aircraft are also getting devastated. The thing that helps them is the Germans are even more confused.
I don't remember if it was in the Band of Brothers book, another Ambrose book, or one of the several books by Easy Company men, but somewhere I read Lipton said going up in that tree was one of the dumbest things he ever did, he only did it because he didn't know any better at the time, and never would have done it again.
I recall reading the same thing, it's probably in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers. I think he thought he wouldn't be visible, but the Germans certainly knew where they were taking fire from and nearly made Lipton pay for his mistake.
Alot of military basic training is intended to completely break a recruit down. Then to build him/her back up. As you said, the extreme marches and lack of food or water is to build up a soliders resilience and endurance so they can face the same or worse in theater. And the "bullying" is to build a soliders mental and emotional fortitude.
0:39 mark I was there when we gave XXX the E/ 506 guidon (Flag) on the wall behind him, got too meet him many times and his wife he was always so much fun to listen too. i have flown in Whisky 7 (W7) the C47 that was the lead plan for the 2nd wave for the 82nd we had the door on so it was warm and not too noise inside. 2:22 mark thats LT Meehan's plan crash there is now a monument in that spot honoring all those on that plane. 3:19 mark Officers were issued escape kits which they then hid the items in their uniforms (map, compass, saw, ect)
4:08 mark - SO the ambush scene is wrong - there were 3 ambushes that night. during the 1st Guarnere didn't have a weapon either during this ambush he took 2 P-38 Pistols off some dead Germans then he used those in a 2nd ambush later that morning , then he picked up the Thompson SMG later. the Ambushes took place at a T intersection and they weren't even German troops but Georgian's Troops fighting in the service of Germany . having talked with XXX & XXXX that were there at those ambushes they were ok and understood why they had to portray it as shown for the show. Guarnere while in Normandy earned the nickname "Wild Bill" as he killed every German soldier for revenge of his brother (i had a drunk grunt too grunt talk with XXX on how Bill really earned it but i won't say here)6:36 mark Yes Spier's did kill the POW's (but the American in the German army did survive the war) BUT it did happen alot on both sides esp during the opening hours as their was an order "No Prisoners" I had the honor of being walked through this attack by a few who were there and it's dam close to how it was . the gun emplacements were closer to the buildings but they don't show them here and a few details were changed but still very well done. 7:47 mark Compton had picked up his tommy gun after loosing his on the jump and hadn't been able to look it over before this attack and thats why it jammed at 1st. 8:29 mark Compton was bumped by another trooper going behind him that made him fumble the grenade. 9:04 mark He was looking for a Luger (german pistol very prized by GI's as a war trophy) XXX told me they gave him alot of crap when he got back from that.
What - in my mind - makes this series a masterpiece is that there's so much focus on the "slow" parts of a war. The casual conversations and character building in-between the action makes the action parts actually feel meaningful. Unlike most american action, which is typically so much about the action that the action itself kind of loses its meaning. More of a war drama than action series, but still.
Oh they were SEVERELY outnumbered. They were among the very first Allied troops to set foot in France since the evacuation at Dunkirk.
Also, they were talking because they grew up in towns about a 4 hour drive apart (which isn't extremely far by American standards) and now were fighting on opposite sides of the war. Thus the conversation.
Being Dutch, this series will really hit home for you in the middle.
TRAINING---they are getting men ready for HELL..there is no training too tough they can use to truly prepare them for the horror of WAR
Good observation. Combat operations can become very confusing, particularly when visibility is low (dark, dust, smoke, fog, heavy rain, heavy vegetation, topography). Note, you don't use white light at night because it reveals your position and destroys your night vision. Also noise from weapons, detonations and extremely noisy armored vehicles can mess your hearing up rather badly making communicating directly or over radios difficult.
Good episode! I ran into the memorial at Brecort Manor by accident in 2009.:! Driving elsewhere. Pretty cool. You could not get to the spot where the arty had been but the memorial was by the road.
In the first couple of weeks, 9000 of 25000 airborne were killed. They are completely outnumbered that night, until at least 100,000 regular men are successfully ashore later that morning.
Easy Company men would later admit that they took risks on D-Day that they never would have later in the war. They were new to combat, full of piss & vinegar, and didn't know better.
First day of the invasion, they were not set up yet to handle prisoners, did what had to be done.
Alot of people didn't understand that part of the invasion...they had no way to care for prisoners while pushing forward, and couldn't risk releasing them behind the line of attack. So they were killed. War is hell.
Concerning the "See you later" comment if both guys lived through the war they might have. Once the initial landing was completed and a secure zone was established the Germans who were taken prisoner began getting shipped to England and rapidly to the US. The soldiers left in holding on the continent could easily escape to their units and England was on short rations so there were POW work camps set up across the US in rural areas and the POWs were used as labor on farms and non-military supply industries. Many of the POWs came back to the US after the war and became citizens because they were amazed by conditions in the US and made good friends while they worked there.
Great reaction. When you are done with the miniseries i highly recommend you watch the documentary 'We Stand Alone Together' with the men of Easy Company, a lot more interviews in it and expands on the story.
From here on out, each episode kind of focuses on a different member of Easy Company, so you’ll definitely start getting to know more individual soldiers.
its good speirs first gave them sigarets, now he had a legit reason to give them a fire.
They weren't chilling theyd been taken prisoner; however those first few days orders would be given not to keep or take live prisoners due to no place or nesseccary supplies to keep them
At this time in the concept of airborne infantry, it was already expected to be outnumbered. And yes, there have been many who have trained for years and years only to die in infil in their mission even in our time. Such is war.
They feel outnumbered because they are paratroopers. They were dropped behind the enemy lines without any of the conventional support elements of regular army. So, they are outnumbered in a certain sense.
the 2 years of training is to give the men the skills they will need in order to survive. Whether or not they implement said skills, is a whole different debate. You train them for that long so that when action kicks off, muscle memory will take over when you are performing basic tasks like reloading your weapon or preparing a grenade for throwing. There can be no room for errors, so muscle memory has to be trained into you
Looking forward to your reaction to episode 4 "Replacements".
"Why We Fight"
11:50. This is a Steven Spielberg production. One of Hollywood's greatest directors/producers ever. I mean...jaws. back to the future. Et, Schindlers list. Saving private ryan. And the list goes on and on and on
FYI the German's didn't have a mechanized army. They used horses still for transport. Only the UK & US were fully mechanized. Right before the war Germany purchased every horse available in the UK and most of the European mainland.
Another astute observation on your part, particularly since you weren't in the military. When I first entered initial training in the Army (Boot Camp) treatment by the drill sergeants seemed very harsh but you eventually come to understand there is a reason. They get a bunch of soft, unskilled American kids who must be toughened up both mentally and physically to be competent combat arms soldiers (eventually). It is really for your own good, and of course so you will be combat effective. BTW, unless something went very wrong, which happened on occasion, we always had the water we needed to stay well hydrated.
You should like Part 4----it's set in Holland.
Those Germans weren't "chilling" next to the enemy; they'd been captured.
Can't wait to see yo you react to episode 4. Most vets of this miniseries know why.
Honestly it is your experience that should tell the most about this series. They will be going through areas that you are from and you have visited. How does that inform on your life is the best reaction. E Company has its home here in the US but it is there with places you know and places you should be familiar with is where the 506 and the 82 Airborne Divisions have buried the most of their comrades and have places of memorial for the 2nd World War. What is your relation like to them? People and the internet can fill in the history. What this series did for people in the US who are into American history was it made Europe a real place. At the worst point 8 out of 10 men who left did not return. This series helped non historians understand it is over there that was real and tragic and every emotion in the world for family that served.
People don’t realize it was standard practice to shoot prisoners as a paratrooper, when operating behind enemy lines and surrounded on all sides you couldn’t just keep men back to “baby sit” them, especially when you took extremely large numbers.
The reason you see so many dead horses is because the German army throughout WW2 relied upon horses for transport. The only armies that had lots of trucks were the American, British and Canadian armies. Even the Russians were dependant upon horses until 1944 when the Americans gave them thousands of trucks.
The paratroopers are dropped off kind of to be a distraction for the rest of the army that crosses the channel on boats.
And yes, that makes them completely outnumbered, and also with no way to get back to England. They just hope that the invasion works and the rest of the army will join them later during the day.
It's interesting to consider that Sobel would have gotten people killed in combat, but what he did in training probably saved a lot of lives.
On being worried about saying something wrong, you seem to be open-minded and thoughtful, so you should do fine. Your reference to current events when talking about how war doesn't make sense, but here it is, was insightful.
In hindsight, Sobel being transferred out saved his life. He would have been in Meehan's place on the HQ plane that went down so either way Winters would have been in charge.
You'll be interested when they enter Holland...
This show is about as non-fiction as you can get without actually filming the war as it happened.
7:45 the reason that german fumbled is because the mp40 is not his if you look at his belt he has kar98k pouches meaning he is a rifleman and not an nco so the mp40 belongs to someone else .pals buddys
I think your question about the march without drinking and the point about how they know what to do when in those trenches kinda merge a bit. I'm certainly no expert and have no military training at all, so probably someone will tell me that I'm wrong, which is totally fine. But the way I see it, being told to do a march and not drink from the canteen is all part of training the soldier to just follow orders and not question them, which would help to turn the unit into a more efficient fighting machine. So with the two years of training where soldiers just follow the orders of their leaders, their movements become drilled into them so well that they become second nature. A soldier that is following orders isn't going to run off and do something unexpected which could screw the whole attack up.
Again, just my thoughts. No evidence for this, so if someone wants to correct me, please feel free to do so.
I've watched this show and reactions to it so many times but there are still so many characters I don't recognize all the time. I know the main like 20-25 dudes well but other than that there's still a lot of secondary people where I can't put the name to the face. It happens.
the German soldiers were under guard as POWs waiting to be taken back to Britain and thence to the USA. Too often on both sides during a rapid fighting advance there was no good way to secure prisoners so at the lower levels of military authority they would shoot them rather than figure out how to secure them. This was not the norm between the Western Allies and the Axis forces in the European theater of operations.
When captain sobel didn't let them drink water.. that part was intended to show bad leadership on his part. I was in the army and the military always pushed soldiers to drink water and be hydrated, Capt sobel confused being an asshole with tough training techniques.
The things you commented about, the fear that can overcome you, is the subject of the next episode. Enjoying your reactions. This is one of my all time favorites.
All military plans change with first contact with the enemy.
Yeah, the bullying was a bit excessive in training. A good trainer explains why they're doing something. No water on a march? You explain that there will be water when we get back. But there may be a day when you will march with no guarantee of our next refill. So no water unless our medic says you're at risk.
But yeah, he didn't prep them properly in episode 1 if you ask me. They're going to be tough as nails after that abuse. And you're dang right they'll be changed after war. When I came back I thought I handled it well but my best friend once bluntly said "No, you changed". Nothing more, and I had no response.
Some good videos on here which put some of the scenes in Band of Brothers in context: ruclips.net/p/PLErys4h2oiuz4USvrpIkhW6meDLGe1H7g
The misdrops , scattering and chaos actually worked to their benefit. The Germans received so many contradictory reports about Paratroopers being, well, everywhere that it critically slowed their reactions. Instead of large, organized formations to find, fix and annihilate, they had something far worse. LGOPs(Little groups of Paratroopers)all over the place self-organizing into small raiding parties of highly trained infantry hunting and killing anything with a Swastika,..all without adult supervision.🙃
It's good to learn the history this portrays. This unfolded in your own country and these men fought and died to liberate your people. Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. Look at the aggression playing out in the Ukraine right now. It's not that much different from what happened to your own country.
Your analysis, contemplation, and introspection are really amazing. The way you imagine yourself in their situation and contemplate that so deeply is really touching.
I'm with you... you got bombs exploding around you, ten or twenty men shouting and yelling, some in agony, and bullets being fired at you, and you're not sure which direction they are coming from. It takes a special kind of person to be in that situation and still think clearly enough to make a rational seat-of-your-pants decisions every second their out there. That's why Winters was such an amazing leader. Most of those men doing that were in their late teens and very early twenties. Most of those soldiers who died for us were just kids. Hell, I'm sure most of the German soldiers were just kids, too.
You're really an amazing young person. Young people in America these days have completely lost their minds. We need more contemplative, smart, young people like you in our world.
I really appreciate you. I look forward to the next episode. Merry Christmas! I hope you have an amazing day today with family and loved ones.
You’re not watching fiction. The men at the beginning are the actual guys being depicted in the miniseries. With the exception of some small details, every event shown, even every minutiae of the battles scenes, happened more or less the same in real life as how it was depicted in the show. You’ll start to recognize which man is which bc some of the actors that were cast look and sound eerily similar to the men on real life.
If there was a Top 5 of US soldiers from WW2 who would be given the Captain America super soldier serum, Richard Winters would be in that top 5.
Larissa, I think you misunderstood. The German soldiers waiting by the road should not have been killed. They were prisoners of war and US soldiers had no right murder them. But that apparently happened a lot on both sides.
I believe the paratroopers were under orders not to take prisoners in the first 24 hours, because they would not have the men to spare guarding them. After contact was made with the forces landing on the beaches, prisoners could then be sent back and on to camps in England. This incident was about Lt. Speirs correcting the 'mistake' that these Germans should not have been taken prisoner. Technically a war crime, if indeed he did execute the prisoners.
@@davemac1197 I may have been wrong, but it seemed she didn't fully understand what happened. Seemed like she thought this was normal and accepted. It was not normal to kill prisoners of war, so I was just trying to explain to her the seriousness of what happened.
@@rumrunner23 - I'm not 100% clear on whether the incident happened in that way - not everything in BoB is accurately portrayed, and I'm not 100% clear on what their orders were on D-Day about taking prisoners. I think any context we can provide in the comments helps Larissa, but it's one of those controversial incidents we may never get to the bottom of. It's definitely a grey area.
They were given orders to not take any prisoners on D-Day because it would derail their mission and they had no means to keep prisoners so early in the conflict. Technically, yes, it was a war crime.
Please understand Larissa, this is not fiction. This is history with only minor changes so it can be presented on film. The events and people portrayed here are real, those who lived and those who died. Also, remember that there was a "winner" in this war... you... and everyone else who lives in Europe. Had Germany won the war, the nightmare that would have followed would have been immeasurable. I hope this information is helpful.
I think the word she was looking for was 'dramatisation', because she's aware these are true events, but this is a drama presentation and not a documentary. Larissa's English is very good (I am English!), but as she said when she found the word for "trench", finding the right word is sometimes difficult for her. I've picked up a few words of Dutch from studying Operation Market Garden, but I couldn't order a beer in Holland to save my life, so we have to give her credit for watching and reacting to a drama in a foreign language.
By the way, there's a book called The Fourth Reich? The EU - An Emerging German Empire (2016) by an academic on German politics called Sara Moore that makes that argument very well - drawing a straight line from Bismarck in 1870 to the EU in 2016. So the two failed military adventures to unify Europe by force in the 20th Century become just chapters in a much longer story of German ambitions for the continent, and the post war method of federalisation by stealth treaty is a return to the methods used by Bismarck to unify the German states under Prussian domination in 1871. I don't think we've "won" the longer conflict (of ideas) yet, but Brexit was a belated correction to a mistake the UK made in 1973 in thinking the ECSC/EEC/EU was a benign project we needed to be a part of. I hope the Netherlands and other member states realise what is happening to their nation states before it's too late, and before the Dutch lose many of their highly efficient farms to a politically motivated nitrates non-problem.
@@davemac1197 I agree with your comments regarding the post war history of Europe and where it's going. It is easy to see the modern efforts working toward regional hegemony but most of it currently is through political maneuvering. What are your thoughts regarding the current conflict in Ukraine?
@@jwcsfsky9900 - I think it's pretty much already history, we're in the endgame. When Russia signed the Budapest memorandum in 1994 with US and UK to guarantee Ukraine's independence and security in return for nuclear disarmament, they wanted a clause in the agreement that Ukraine remains 'neutral', but Ukraine refused. So legally, Ukraine is free to join any international treaty it wishes as an independent nation.
Putin clearly wanted to avoid Ukranian accession to NATO and EU, as the Baltic states did in 2004 (March and May respectively). The trigger for destabilising the pro-western Ukranian leadership and supporting a pro-Russian President (by election-rigging) was the EU's negotiated Association Agreement - a precursor to full membership, which was clumsy without NATO membership in parallel. The puppet regime was thrown out and another pro-western President elected who signed the EU Agreement.
Putin tried to destabilise Ukraine by stealth in 2014, taking the Crimea and Donbas oblasts, but that backfired when Ukraine started taking back territory in the Donbas. Biden telegraphed the West's weakness by withdrawing from Afghanistan and Putin made his move with a full scale invasion to replace the regime in Kyiv with another puppet.
The invasion has also backfired with Ukraine's unexpected resistance, and the West has woken up to the danger and supplied weapons.
Going forward, I hope that Ukraine can recover all of its territory to end the war, so it can qualify for NATO membership, which requires territorial integrity and no ongoing conflict.
Regarding no water during training: that's not something they do anymore. Even the most rigorous selections for special operations units don't deprive them of water..it is far too dangerous from a physiological standpoint not to mention it leaves 0 training value.
To call this series fiction is doing a disservice to it. It is based on a non-fiction book by the same name based on the experiences of Easy Company. Those interviewees at the beginning of the episodes lived through what you call fiction. Granted, some liberties have been taken to make things flow and fit into a time slot, but for those brave men, this was a real as it gets.
As to the “concept of war”, these soldiers were in France, NETHERLANDS, Belgium and Germany to liberate those peoples. Should they have stayed home because the Germans were not in the USA?
This girl is chad
You miss the point of Basic training, the only thing they want to teach is to follow orders "NO MATTER WHAT"
God bless the Dutch..
The explosions on the screen are reflected in the microwave behind you. You might consider moving something
Band of Brothers and The Pacific are both good in their own right showing what the war was like, you may also find ruclips.net/video/DwKPFT-RioU/видео.html interesting.