BAND OF BROTHERS REACTION | PART 7 (The Breaking Point)
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- Опубликовано: 6 янв 2022
- First time watching BAND OF BROTHERS in a SHOW reaction.
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Band of Brothers is an acclaimed 10-part television miniseries (first aired in 2001) about World War II, co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Much of the action of the mini-series centers on the exploits of Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, U.S. 101st Airborne Division and one of its early platoon leaders, Richard Winters. It is based on the book of the same name written by historian and biographer Stephen Ambrose.
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I watched this right before I clocked in to work. When this episode came around, a gal was on break and asked what I was watching. I just motioned for her to "shh" and she turned around just in time to see Toy and Guarnere get hit. Buck's cry of "Medic!" caused her to start crying. And she absolutely lost it when the dud round hit next to Lipton's foxhole. Poor girl was emotionally wrecked for the rest of her shift. Then she asked me what the series was. She binged the whole thing on her weekend off, and wanted to talk about it the next week. I was glad to have those conversations with her.
Now that is a great story!
For the record, that exchange between Luz and Lipton after the shell is my favorite clip in the whole series. Both actors shaking, twitching and staring at that shell with perfect delivery.
#madeinCzechoslovakia
@@cardiac19 Especially when Lipton was staring at the shell. But when Luz clicks his lighter, Lipton shakes a little and is snapped out. 10/10 acting, Donnie Wahlberg is a great actor
That girl's name? Albert Einstein
Chance of her flirting with you?
@Scarletraven87 well, she is married now and has a child, so probably zero
Spears was a beast. During the fight in the hedge rows when the Germans brought up tanks Dog was cut off carrying two wounded and was barely able to consolidate in a farmhouse where they got trapped. Spears Ran out past German tanks and MGs and brought up the American tanks that where bivouacked down the road. In the show you see 5 in reality there was about 50+. The tankers all talked about the Nut case that ran in to their CP with half the German army chasing him who, when he ran in the first words out of his mouth where I got some friends who are demanding your attention care to help? With a big grin on his face. Just WOW. o.o
It's amazing that they had issued him pants that could contain balls that big. BDE.
I met Donald Burgett- author of four books on the 101st and dropped in D day. He said Spears was the toughest soldier he ever met
If I was fighting back then. I would make Spiers look like a little girl.
First I would have 200 confirmed kills with just my knife and other throwing knives and axes. Since I was a master at stealth and would be sent behind enemy lines often. I dont just use the shadows, I bend them to my will. This would also allow me to become a master sniper. Making the White Death look like your everyday deer hunter. I would have easily 500 kills with my sniper. A custom made Mosin Nagant. Making my own arch angel stock. Muzzle break.. Custom 10 round magazine. 34" barrel. 4x-16x scope. Accurate up to 2600 meters easily.
Close quarters. I have a custom ppsh 41. It was the the best and easiest to maintain sub machine gun of ww2. It's amazingly simple. I would add a pistol grip for better control. Using both drum mag and stick mags.
But for fighting on the front vs those Nazis. I would have the prototype M14 rifle. Adding pistol grip for stability and muzzle break. Very tactical for the time period. Also using 30 round magazine. This rifle has the ability to go full auto. Clear advantage for the time period. A standard issue company rifle for us. Much easier to use than a BAR and more accurate. But still is better as a semi. This would do the bulk of the killing for me. 1911s would also be standard issue. My company would be the vanguard for allied forces on the western front. Elite ops. The training we would do would go on to make the groundwork for Delta forces. Must excell in hiting shots with the m14 at 600 yards. Hitting 10 rounds in a 3 inch grouping. Also would have training in counter intelligence, masters of infiltration and subterfuge. A surgical strike force. Make Easy company look like boy scouts on their first camping trip. Clearly I would win many awards and medals. Medal of honor for sure. Would deny promotion after promotion. Could easy be a general by end of the war. But they won't let me fight if I'm a general. So I'll stay a Major.
All of this would have happened if I was alive to fight in this war. I'm better suited for this type of warfare. Not the shit they do today with all the gadgets and techno bullshit. Wearing all that shit keeps you from moving with speed and momentum. They have too much counter muntions and tools for every specific job. Takes the fun out of it. End of the day. Those fancy electronics only get you so far. The ability to think on your feet is what makes a great soldier. Radio communications or lack there of is a issue. But the job will get done. And I would be the best at it. Spiers better have my dinner done for when I'm back. Bout all he be good for. Maybe with a little more training he be allowed into my company of commandos. He has potential but lacks sense.
Thats not 1/2 of it. Spears swam the river on recon to save Red Devils. On the return swim, He was shot 3xs in back once in leg.
He consistantly went above beyond.
All the stories are true. He faced charges for shooting the Sgt. If I recall it was deemed self defense.
Theres cpl good YT vids & a book on R Spears.
@@thomasc.5219 your a complete idiot! Your not fit to wipe the 101st assholes!
6:50 Lieutenant (retired a Colonel) Shames actually died a couple of weeks ago at the age of 99. He was the last surviving member of Easy Company.
Damn, I remember when Malarkey was alive.
Bradford Freeman who is 97 is last living member of Easy Co
God bless him.
Correction: Edward Shames was the last surviving *officer* of Easy Company.
@@MylesMartinez oh damn! My bad. I’m gonna blame the article for mis wording it, and ignore the fact that clearly I didn’t read closely enough. Apologies.
Shifty once saved the company by picking out a "fake" German tree out of the woods miles away, his eyesight was uncanny and allowed to be uninjured through pretty much the entire war.
It's even crazier than that. He noticed a tree in the forest that "wasn't there yesterday". Turns out it was a german artillery piece camouflaged to look like a tree.
@@TrimmDiv Thats amazing
@@TrimmDiv Yeah I've got to dig into this more, he worked at the shipyard the same year before the war when my grandfather worked there, granted 60K were working at this one shipyard so they probably didn't bump into each other but Shifty and Popeye worked at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in 1940 so the window is tight.
Shifty Iron-sighted most of his shots, atleast in here. Which is absolutely crazy accurate.
@@TheRawfishking The most deadly sniper in history, Simo Häyhä, achieved half of his 500+ kills with iron sights only on a Finnish M/28-30 Mosin-Nagant. The other half were with his Suomi KP/-31 SMG according to his own journals. There was a very real risk of sun reflecting off the scope or even just reflections from light in the snow doing so, and if you read into the tactics he had to use to stay concealed, its no surprise he decided not to use a scope. Burying himself in snow and eating it so even his breath wouldn't be visible in winter, and laying like that for several hours waiting to sometimes kill only a single important target, which were occasionally Soviet snipers sent to kill him.
Most of the surviving veterans of Easy who got to see the show agreed that one of the things show got wrong was that it could not really portray how much battle of Bulge really sucked.
Your can't convey cold through the TV
Not "wrong", but impossible to portray in reality.
My father was pinned down in partially flooded Dutch polder for three days. Any movement or sound would bring machine gun fire and mortar rounds. The worst was the hogs would come out at night and eat the dead bodies and sometimes attack wounded men who couldn't defend themselves. He had nightmares the rest of his life, and absolutely refused to eat pork.
Winter of 44-45 was the coldest in Europe in 100 years.
Spears was from a different company. That probably why they didnt want to take him out and leave D company with out a capable platoon leader.
yeah that makes sense. up to this point i had assumed everyone in principal cast was an E co guy
That's exactly y they couldn't I was gonna say that but then I saw your comment.
According to Winters the only reason he chose Speirs to relieve the attack was he was the first officer he saw when he turned around.
Lt. Dike was portrayed by the men of Easy company. There's no chance to know the exact reality, but Lt. Dike was actually awarded Purple Heart two times. One for rescuing a wounded from a direct enemy small arms fire and one for arranging a heroic defense. In Foy, some witnesses said he was wounded from his shoulder which was the reason he was disoriented.
Yeah I heard his family and people who knew him were upset how they portrayed him in the series.
The easy company men have given many quotes about Dike’s inadequate leadership. I’m not staying he was a horrible guy or didn’t deserve later accolades. But the Foxhole Norman nickname was real. And he was frequently missing when he was needed. Some have tried to claim he had a more “hands off” style in comparison to winters but it’s still bullshit. Compton has literally said that he wasn’t taken off the line because of shell shock. He saw his friends torn apart, with Dike nowhere to be seen and likely doing nothing. He was not in shock, he was so pissed that he went directly to Colonel Sink to vent his frustrations about Dike. Sink then discharged him. Sorry to speak ill, but he was portrayed pretty accurately at this moment in time and in his life.
@@daffodil852 yes cus you know and hey blithe died from his neck wound
@@buyitprod196 That's neither here nor there. Also doesn't necessarily mean any of the accounts about Dike are false. Could both be true. Though I guess it's a shame the apparent reason Dike acted like he did in this battle wasn't fully understood nor portrayed.
Anyway, I read somewhere that Buck was sobbing because he broke down from so much frustration because his position had so many casualties after that shelling, and he stormed into the Company CP to ask for medics and reinforcements to prepare for a potential German attack, but Dike wasn't there.
Dike was all right in real life, but some officers especially at the time would get valor decorations just for doing their job, and getting wounded does not necessarily mean they conducted themselves well.
This is my favorite episode honestly. How Speirs just runs through the German lines was incredible.
Speirs rocks for sure.
Kinda hard to believe that Spears ran so far and so fast whilst also carrying the immense weight of his balls.
I watched an interview with Winters and he stated in the interview that Spiers did shoot those POW's. Winters finally asked Spiers because his publishers were worried about a lawsuit.
and he did shoot 1 of his own men
They were sort of unofficially ordered to not take prisoners because they were behind enemy lines. Also the man Spiers shot in his own company was drunk and refused a direct order.
@@mrblackdx thats right but to add to that the one he shot went to draw his weapon and Spiers shot 1st their were witness
Someone has done their research! Thank you (sincerely) for actually studying up on this stuff. Drives me nut when people don't.
Bill also killed POW's and almost every German he came across esp in Normandy as he was blood lust over his brother being killed thats how he earned the nickname "Wild Bill" me and Bill had 1 of those late night drunk on a bunk soldier to soldier conversations and he talked about the killing and i am not going to repeat what was said as it was just between us, but he does touch on it in some interviews and such
Enjoying your reactions greatly. You don't interrupt the key moments. Your comments are cogent. You let the series breathe. Thanks!
Also they actually remember things from past episodes
Agreed on all points.
Winters was known to be a persistent shaver. Many veterans said even with crappy photos, they could always pick out Dick in a photo because he would often times be the only one clean shaven.....
He wrote in his book that he did it constantly in Bastogne to keep the men’s morale up. It was something he learned from Colonel Sink. He said that one time when Sink came he was laughing (or grinning) because he saw his face all cut up because of shaving in the cold and he knew why Winters shaved his face.
Now that we have reached this episode I think it is safe to tell you a little something about the real Ronald Spiers that you might find interesting, if you don't already know. He refused to participate in the making of Band of Brothers. Most of the surviving members of Easy Company did participate, but a few, including Spiers did not. After it was done he was unhappy with the way in which he was portrayed. Hanks and Spielberg wanted to make the event involving the prisoners on D-Day to not be clear so that it seemed like an urban legend in the same way the men thought of it. But Spiers doesn't think it was clear enough. He thought he was made to look like a psycho. But after the series came out he did relent to interviews. And in an interview he admitted that he absolutely did execute those prisoners on D-Day. But, not for the reasons many people assume. He was not a psycho. The invasion was all but certain. On D-Day all resources and men had to be dedicated to destroying the enemy and their encampments. As such, they did not have the ability to take prisoners. They also couldn't just let them go to regroup with their friends or cause havoc in other ways. So, as per the standing orders from the top leadership, he executed those prisoners. Once the invasion settled down and they were able to take prisoners, the order to execute prisoners were rescinded.
I wanted to wait for this episode because that incident hung over a number of the episodes up until this one. From here on out nobody seems to care about it anymore and it's not mentioned again in the series. Thus making it now safe to talk about.
Also, Spiers running through enemy lines to hook up with "I" company was 100% real. The only creative liberty taken was that in the show it made it seem like he hopped over the wall and hopped right back. In reality he had to consult with the "I" company commander for a few minutes and then he came back. But that would have dragged down the cinematic part of telling this story so they didn't show that part.
A thing they should have done is depict the executions in more varied ways each time it is retold. Sometimes at night, sometimes during a lull in combat sometimes during more action. To empethise the rumour part of it.
And finally let his character explain it to Lipton, even with a throwaway line like "We could not take prisoner". You could even throw in a line that he did it so the other would not have to, if you want him to look more heroic, which actually is actually why I think he did it.
Winters stated that Speirs was alleged on one occasion to have killed six German prisoners of war with a Thompson submachine gun and that the battalion leadership must have been aware of the allegations, but chose to ignore the charges because of the pressing need to retain qualified combat leaders. Winters concluded that in today's army, Speirs would have been court-martialed and charged with atrocities, but at the time officers like Speirs were too valuable since they were not afraid to engage the enemy. Decades after the war, in an interview with then-Pennsylvania state representative John D. Payne, Winters stated that the legal department for publisher Simon & Schuster was concerned that the allegations surrounding Speirs could lead to a lawsuit, leading Winters to directly confront him about the rumor. Winters went on to say that Speirs not only confirmed the allegation, but wrote a letter to that effect. That's lifted from wikipedia, it's sourced to Richard Winters.
In his book, Malarkey tells the story of when doc Roe told him that Muck had been killed and how. Malark visited his grave in 2004 and in his own words, “cried 60 years’ worth of tears”. That was tough to read 😢
Telling Shifty Powers to not miss is like reminding water to be wet. Or, as another member of Easy Co once put it, "It don't pay to be shooting at Shifty when he's got a rifle in his hands."
As for why Spears never came up in the conversation about replacing Dike, Spears was in charge of Dog Co and so technically not in line to take over Easy. However, in the middle of a battle, well...you use what you have available, and clean up the paperwork later.
Not just that, Shifty's impossible shot at the sniper wasn't portrayed accurately in the show. In real life it was actually harder. Same goes for Speirs' sprint, it was a much longer distance under heavier fire than portrayed in BoB. So these two insane feats were toned down, presumably because they thought the audience would never believe that's how it happened
Watching Spiers run through the German lines is more inspirational than watching Rocky run through Philadelphia.
The Real Capt America.
My favorite episode, Donnie Wahlberg deserves a round of applause for his performance in this episode.
The way Dike is portrayed here is just completely off from reality. He won not one but two Bronze Stars for heroism. One in Holland for defending an almost impossible position while completely surrounded and another one in Bastogne, for running out into exposed terrain to drag to safety by himself three injured men in full view of german troops shooting at him. He absolutely was not the flake he was portrayed as for most of this episode.
He did stumble and not give any orders in that later scene where Winters takes over....but that's because he'd been shot twice and was barely conscious, a fact that the men around him didn't realize because he was wearing so much winter clothing.
The more you know.
As portrayed in this episode, Dike left Lip in charge and left in between bombardments. Winters said that was inexcusable - to leave the men when they needed him the most. Lipton did go to Winters to express concerns about Dike prior to the attack on Foy. It’s on record from memoirs written by the veterans. The men called him “foxhole Norman” for a reason. Much like Buck, Dike was facing his own breaking point by the time the events in this episode took place. The fact he won medals previously doesn’t mean he was immune to battle fatigue nor does it mean he was a good leader of Easy Company.
Yes Winter talked about that after the show. Same for Blithe, he was not killed when shot in the neck. He rejoined and fought in Korea and did 2 combat jumps and earned a silver star, bronze star and purple heart.
@@ginjamutha The reality was that he was more disliked by his character than his ability as a combat leader. Everyone thought he was too much of a snob. During Bastogne, he was fine, but he made some questionable decisions at the Bois Jacques in January, 1945. Any downgrade of a CO from Winters would certainly have earned him a disliking alone.
I feel like Ambrose was negligent as a historian. He needed to do more due diligence to confirm Easy Company's memories. "Blithe died in 1948? Let me look up his obituary. Oh, turns out he died in 1967." "Dike was an incompetent wierdo? Let me check on that. Oh, turns out he was badly wounded and suffering from PTSD from previous combat incidents." Maybe they should have mentioned that Sobel was so distraught about not leading his men, he later put a bullet in his head and went blind. That's what good historians are supposed to do. Ambrose was caught red handed plagiarizing one of his books and that's the sign he was lazy.
The scene when Winters calls in Spiers reminds me of a star quarterback getting called in in to replace the backup
In Dick Winters book he talks about how much a man can reasonably take out on the front, he uses the analogy of a cup that is slowly filled up, some people have very big cups and some have small ones but he made a point of getting to someone and giving them a break before their cup runs over and they snap. He never judged the men who had seen too much and couldn't take it anymore but he also realized that a well placed break or a few hours away from the front could bring a man from the brink of mental ruin. Incredible leader.
There's a concept in infantry operations called 'violence of action'. Any decision, good or bad, executed aggressively, is better than no decision and can often make all the difference
I'm so glad that the point of the difference between Buck and Winters was brought up at the end here.
Winters turned 27 (1/21/1918) during the Battle of the Bulge/Bastogne, Buck Compton (12/31/1921) turned 22, so winters was 25 in episode 1 and Compton was 20.
so yeah Winters was way more of "Father Figure" and Buck was "Brother"
Fun Fact, Buck Compton played college baseball and football at UCLA, He played in the 1943 Rose Bowl which was the first Sporting event/Public Gathering to be held on the West Coast since Pearl Harbor (The 1942 Rose bowl was held in North Carolina just 3 weeks after Pearl Harbor). Buck was teammates on the Baseball team with one Jackie Robinson
Every year in Belgium we welcome the men from the liberating forces and honor them and the fallen. The Ardennes were hell on earth that winter. My country was a center point for both World Wars. Both wars left a lasting mark on the landscape, cities and monuments.
I love the effect of how all the men who were casualties fade away as Lipton takes his accounting. Made me tear up when I first saw it.
The part with LT Spears running across them coming back is my favorite part of the entire series.
The scene when Buck drops his helmet looking at his two best friends all mangled up got to my son - it brought a tear to his eye. The other part that evoke tears was episode 9 - so be ready for that one.
It's mentioned elsewhere, I forget the source but it may have been Winters in his own book, that a common sign a soldier was 'done' when they took off and dropped their helmet. It's described specifically as being a common action soldiers took when they had just crossed that line of how much they could take, and beyond that point they were basically combat exhaustion casualties. Not sure why it was that gesture, but the scene in the series really captures that.
Donald Hoobler had a captured Belgian pistol in his pocket that discharged after he lost his balance after getting tangled in some barbed wire. It went off after he put his hand over where the pistol was.
Speirs wasn't initially being considered as a replacement for Dike because Speirs was from D company, not E company.
The reason they had us lose 5 main characters in this episode rather than spread it out narratively is to emphasize the impact on the actual soldiers, who'd all of a sudden lost these 5 people in an extremely short time span. Like they said, Malarky lost pretty much all of his best friends in the span of a few days (something that'll play a role in the next episode...)
I just figured they did it that way cause that's what happened
@@terisinclair4073 Yeah that's what I'm saying.
@@orcanimal You realize this is a true story. Who the hell is this " they " you are talking. This is nothing like " Saving Private Ryan " which, for all its realism, followed the standard war movies formula.
@@alanmacification lol. I am well aware. I read everything there is about Band of Brothers. I was saying that they, the writers of the show, chose to condense these events into one episode to make them have a stronger impact because for us, the viewers, it feels like it all happens close together, whereas these events did not actually occur as close together as depicted.
I once showed the Spiers vs Dike scene to my sister, because she was gunning for a more senior position at her work and had to write an essay about leadership and present it to her superiors. Speirs went to the field with some knowledge of the situation, still he asked his subordinate for a SITREP, gave clear instructions on what part of the team had to do and when, then took the rest of the group to tackle the rest of the problem himself at high personal risk. All in a short notice.
Twelve O'Clock High, with Gregory Peck is a good study in leadership movie. We watched it in my Air Force ROTC Management course.
I had the honor of meeting MAJ Winters, Wild Bill and Babe at a couple of East Coast reenacting events. I also met several members of the Grossdeutschland Division. They were slightly less known but every bit as legendary.
I always look at Ep 6&7 as one long, two-parter, where 6 sets up the tedium, cold conditions and shear terror of what’s coming…..and then 7 let’s rip
Also, The saturated colour palette and the snow make it feel more like black & white documentary storytelling in these episodes
Yeah. I'm glad they did both in a row instead of waiting a week between like for the other episodes.
I just finished listening to the Audible edition of Band of Brothers on Friday. Oh, and Buck Compton went on to be a Prosecutor in Los Angeles and prosecuted Sirhan Sirhan for the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.
Thank you Diegesis and Arianna for your reaction and hard work putting this out for us. You guys are the best.
The most impressive thing about the guy who plays winters, Damian Lewis, he actually has a super British accent in real life.
He does American very convincing. Where other Brits go for the easier southern drawl (more caricatured) he works on a midwest accent. Not sure how a real Pennsylvania accent sounds, or what the tells are for that. But to my Canadian ear his accent sounded pretty good. He's also terrific in 'Homeland'.
yeah lewis's american is much better than fassbenders
If I'm not mistaken, he showed this in a Stephen King movie, which for the life of me I can't remember the name of right now...
This and Bastogne are in my opinion the peak of the series, such a great one-two punch. You guys are having great reactions and looking forward to the rest of the show with you!
I honestly feel like the amount of lessons you can learn from watching that series is why it should be watched start to finish once a year.
This episode is my favorite. It has a bit of everything. The scene at the end with Lip and Spears gets me. There is some action, strong emotional moments, and some humor sprinkled in.
Numerous times Dike says: " I have to talk with Regiment." BUT a Company Commander would be required to go through his 'Chain of Command' which for Dike would be Winters as Battalion CO. Maybe Dike was just talking with his buddy at Regiment but I'm sure Winters was pissed about it!
Unless, like Dike, you had a "friend" in Regiment. If I remember correctly after he was relived of command of Easy, he was move to Regiment and promoted.
Dike was not that bad of an officer. WInters did not like him, and Easy Co. didnt much either. He was a ivory tower snob. It was a personality conflict more than any thing else.
@@dirus3142 So, you are saying that the depiction of Lt Dike is totally bogus? I would be interested in reading what your source is on that one.
@@boosuedon Band of Brothers did Dike REAL dirty. It does seem like he was kind of a prick, not very personable with anyone in Easy; officers, NCOs or enlisted men. But he was absolutely not the coward portrayed in BoB. He had received 2 bronze stars. One in Holland for taking charge and holding a strategic crossroad against "overwhelming enemy attacks". The second bronze star was at Bastone when "he personally removed from an exposed position, in full enemy view, three wounded members of his company, while under intense small arms fire"
As for his panic attack during the attack on Foy, well, he was wounded. He didn't freak out until after he'd been shot.... So I mean, not great that he freaked out, but not the complete and total cowardly meltdown shown in the show.
Also, he survived. Fought in Korea as well. Died in the 1980s
I have no idea why he's portrayed the way he is in BoB. The one REALLY black mark on an otherwise amazing series
One thing I read was that he was sent from HQ to fill in as Easy's CO but wasn't officially unassigned from his position at HQ meaning he had to constantly move between Easy's position and somewhere where he could make phone calls to make sure his job at HQ was being done. It's been suggested that he'd tell Lipton what he was doing but Lipton disliked him and so would just go, "No idea where he is," when asked.
The reason whys Spears was not in the conversation to lead Easy Company is because he was in a different company, Dog Company.
The issue is when you jump the chain of command there could be consequences, for instance they could view winters jumping the chain of command is unprofessional and he could be moved to another battalion leaving them with no one watching over them. Also winters had stated he did not like Speirs due to how he did things, he also agreed that speirs was an outstanding leader but that he lead with the mindset of the mission over all instead of the soldiers. Not that he was bad to soldiers he was just more willing to lose some for the greater good. I also believe winters stated that after making him company commander they became very close friends and when he asked him if the rumors were true he outright said yes they are all true I did them all.
Great review. I know a lot of people have pointed out the mischaracterization of Dike as a coward already so I am not going into it. What they were doing i feel was showing the consequences of poor leadership versus having a good leader. It is well established that the real Dike was not a coward, he as cited 2x for bravery. However he was not a great a leader. He was a person who did like to go off on his own and would seem lost in his thoughts a lot, based on things that I have read (highly educated man but had trouble relating to some of his men). They used this character as an example of poor leadership versus the outstanding leadership that Winters and Compton had provided the company. So as great of series as this is, (for my money the best ever) this is where they were wrong painting Dike as a coward, was not fair to him or his service.
He never went to any of the Easy company reunions either, I don't think.
That’s a good way to put it… the theme of the episode dictated how Dike was portrayed when the reality was much more nuanced.
I heard his family was very disappointed and complained about his portrayal in the show.
Destroying someone's reputation and writing them as a cartoonishly incompetent and cowardly character just to make some points about poor leadership seems irresponsible and frankly slanderous, I don't blame his family for being upset with the show.
I never really took Dike as a coward, but someone who was in WAY over his head and couldn't handle the pressure when in the heat of battle, the real mistake is whoever gave him a command position
My (great) uncle Milo fought in this battle, near St. Vith. He evaded in the woods for several days before making it back to friendly lines w/ frozen trench feet. He and one other man were the only survivors from his platoon. Horrible, horrible battle.
Ive watched so many reaction videos to band of brothers on youtube and you guys are BY FAR the best and my favorite. Can't wait to see your reaction to the final 2 episodes!
Also, I'd really recommend watching a more deep dive into the real Easy Company. Do a reaction of "We Stand Alone Together" please!!
Lipton: “…a guy would have to go to Berlin and come back with hitler’s mustache or something.”
Speirs: “Wait here!”
This show could have been 25 episodes and I would have gladly watched all of it. Would have loved to see an episode just about Spiers or about Nix. Or more episodes to give a better sense of of the progression of the war. I'm sure if this show was made nowadays, it would be several seasons long.
You guys should really consider reacting to The Pacific next. it is the other side of the world and a bit darker but it is definitely worth watching
Think it was back during the 50th Anniversary of the battle of bulge reenacment in PA i was in E/506th living history and we had a bunch of the org Troopers with us. had a real good Prop Blast Bash too. at some point as we were drinking & Singing 1 of our guys comes up to "Wild Bill" and says hey Bill i am going over to visit the area of the line you were in , is their anything you want me to bring back for you" Bill lowers his beer looks him straight in his eyes and says "Yeah, if you could find my leg that would be great" then he smiled and lifted his beer, we all laughed and cheered and toasted to Bill's leg. those were some great times
I have to share a story I heard about Bill Guarnere (one of the guys who got his leg blown off).
About ten years ago one of my friends was at a WW2 remembrance, and who else was there but an 80 something year old Bill Guarnere. The way my friend tells it, he saw Guarnere struggling to open a fence or gate or something and said to him “excuse me sir, do you need a hand?” To which Guarnere replied “no, I need a fuckin’ leg.”
that's fucking priceless!!!!
The actor who played Muck later on was in the TV series Jerico as a city cop ,once in one episode 2nd season he was ina army uniform the nametag said "Muck" that showed how much the actors in BoB honored the real Easy Co.
Damn, it is so enjoyable to rewatch this series with you two. You are both so invested in the characters and the story. Subscribing to your channel for future reactions is a no-brainer. Keep up the great work.
The Luger really isn't an unsafe gun. I have one and it has a safety but also has a pretty light trigger pull when cocked. The Luger was a somewhat elegant and highly machined design which made it very collectable. I think the gun you may have actually heard about was the Japanese Type 94 Nambu. It had a horrible reputation for safety and reliability. From what I have heard, in certain situations the gun could "go off" by just engaging the mechanical safety.
I watched a show on how Lugers were made. It was crazy the precision with which they were made.
The Type 94 has that rep, but it also somewhat unearned. It has an external trigger bar, that when pushed in from the side can fire the gun without pulling the trigger. However, it requires the safety to be off, and far more pressure on a hard to hit area than the trigger itself.
The main issue with most of these guns is that with US troops, they were trained to carry the 1911 with an empty chamber, only racking the slide when prepared to shoot. It also has several redundancies in safety that prevent it from firing unless you have it in a firing grip with safety off.
The Luger and type 94 have different manual of arms, and it may not be clear to a US soldier whether the safety is engaged, or whether the gun has been unloaded. And they lack the redundancy that might make a soldier lax in his handling if he is used to US arms.
Regarding the Nambu pistol, a lot of the Japanese equipment in this era was not user friendly-- the Arisaka was reliable but almost as tall as the average Japanese soldier so it was unwieldy, the Zero didn't have self-sealing fuel tanks so they exploded when hit, the Ha-Go tank had very bad suspension so crews were constantly jostled around. Both the Type 11 and Type 96 light machine guns both had problems with reliability because of dirt mixing with cartridge oil. The contrast with Japanese quality now vs. then is pretty stark.
@@Arizona-ex5yt ruclips.net/video/f9qykXIEOwo/видео.html
At least according to this, the Nambu couldn't with the safety engaged.
With regards to the Zero and self sealing tanks, US fighters of the same era didnt either, IIRC that was a mid war thing before it became standard.
The Japanese tanks were again equivalent to the tanks of other nations in the 1920s and 30s, people forget just how much advanced between just 1939 and 1943 in terms of armor, and the Japanese had no major armor threat until the US started pushing back across the Pacific.
On the MG issues, they weren't the only ones designing MGs that required oiled cartridges, but what is interesting is that the designs they copied didn't require it. But by the 96 and 99 they had moved away from that, and in terms of their LMGs like those 2, they are actually some of the best.
Have you ever handled a WW1 era G98 or Lebel? The Arisakas are standard length full rifles. They are almost identical in length to their US contemporary the Krag, but the US, and later a lot of other countries later standardized on 'short rifles' , to try and get one compromise rifle for everybody, instead of rifles for infantry and carbines for specific roles. The Japanese just never felt the need to do so.
And the US would eventually develop a dedicated carbine anyway, at least after the Garand proved to be to unwieldy for a lot of tasks.
Also post war tests showed that Arisakas were technically one of the strongest Mauser derived actions produced.
Excluding the training rifles made of wrought iron that were designed to fire blanks, that have erroneously been lumped into the late production 'last ditch' guns that everybody references as being dangerous.
Also I’ve read disputed reports that the gun that went off was not a Luger. I’ve heard it was a browning and I’ve heard it was some kind of Polish pistol so there is plenty of doubt that it was a Luger at all.
It's always so fun seeing people's perception of Spiers change from episode 3 to now
My favorite episode of the series. Great reaction as always, it's great watching you guys watch this!
Excellent video analysis. This is why I've quickly grown to love this channel. This has been a great time today. Thank you.
Band of brothers reactions two days in a row. Im pumped! One of the best episodes.
When you brought up the most junior lieutenant outranking the most senior NCO, but the 1st Sergeant having a more important role, I laughed aloud - so true! I was enlisted as a Marine for nine years, then got commissioned; when I went from senior NCO to 2nd lieutenant, my stepfather said it was a big step down in the world. The funny part was that he'd been a commissioned officer himself during World War II.
Being an officer with that much enlisted time was the best of both worlds. For all the times I'd watched officers and thought, seeing it through enlisted eyes, I could do their jobs better, I got to apply what I'd learned; because they knew I'd been around longer and was older than they were, my Marines and NCOs didn't look at me the way they looked at shiny new lieutenants fresh out of college. The Marine Corps is a small world, and I'd worked with two of my Staff NCOs when I was enlisted. That can be difficult if not handled right, but we were a good team.
About that small world factor - one of my best friends from high school went straight to college, went through the NROTC program as what they call a Marine Option, and was commissioned in the Marine Corps as a 2nd lieutenant when I was a sergeant - and got assigned to the company of maybe 200 Marines I was in. When we crossed paths on duty, I saluted him and called him "sir", and no one would have been able to tell we knew each other off duty. Then he might be over to dinner with my wife and me that night. My son is named after him. After I got commissioned we overlapped as captains at the same time very briefly, before he made major. We're still in touch - we've been friends for fifty years now.
"everybody else, follow me" That's a true leader
I am glad you are enjoying this series. My dad served with the 12th armour who fought along beside Easy Company. We watched this together and was the only time he opened up about the war. You have 3 excellent episodes left and cannot wait for your reaction.
I really enjoy the intelligent conversation by the reactors at the end of each episode. It is exactly the type of conversations I had when I first watch this fantastic mini-series.
I love that this show is still getting attention - not normally the biggest fan of react style vids but this series is respectful to the content and has some very thoughtful commentary. The chemistry between the two hosts is very good as well; great balance of keeping the audience engaged with commentary while not missing a beat with the important plot points of the show. Good work!
Regarding your comment about getting a tourniquet on Joe Toye asap: technically not wrong, BUT in the case of amputations arteries will actually close off, which does make the immediate hemmoraging less severe than when an artery is struck by a bullet. I'm not entirely sure on the physiology behind why that is. I think it has something to do with the venous network being cut off as well during amputations, thus not adding arterial pressure. Anyways, it's something we were taught in my unit. Get a tourniquet on for sure, but it isn't as immediate of a priority as it would be in the case of an arterial bleed from a gunshot wound.
Im enjoying watching both of your reactions to this amazing series. You both are smart, you pay attention to detail, and respect the real people characterized in this show. Keep up the good content!
This mini-series is 20 years old and still holds my personal record as the best piece of cinematography ever.
Shames who is mentioned as the shouting officer recently died. The last officer of Easy company who was still alive.
I believe only 1 person from easy is still alive
These reactions and discussions afterwards are great! I am hooked on all of them :)
One small but important detail that’s not explained well to non-military viewers (I was a USMC infantry officer from 2011-2020) is that the moment Winters got promoted to Battalion XO in Episode 5 (and then eventually to Battalion CO a few episodes later) is that his responsibility grew from 1 line company to 9 line companies (Able, Baker…Easy…etc). And when you also consider there was also a Battalion HQ company; Winters’ responsibility effectively went up 10x, so although he obviously had an unyielding attachment to Easy Company, he was only able to give 10% of his focus to Easy Company; he was solving similar and different problems in the other 9 units.
A German infantry commander from WW1 wrote a battlefield command book. He told a story how during an artillery attack that lasted for hours, his company was dug in under a field house. His men were shaken up, morale abysmal. He went about getting a haircut because it was a psychological comfort seeing a semblance of regularity amidst all that death.
Whem I worked in the mental health field, hygiene was the first symptom of slipping into pathology. When animals are stressed, they groom. I think it's so deep in our makeup is why kids thrive off structure, and so do social groups.
The unit that was involved in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam discarded a lot of established standards before they went rogue. It started with bad leadership. Then grooming slipped. Etc.
It's all symptoms of bad leadership. The "system" can be a double bind bc it's the platform that enabled the excellence of the unit in the first place. But it's also the obstacle to change. However part if the interaction between NCO and officer is that self-correction of the system. The officer leads. The NCO reinforce confidence. When the officer fails to lead, the NCO is the corrective. The only system to build is one that selects and cultivates excellence in individuals by design, which means an avenue for righteous disobedience.
That's why the mark of good character is willingness to sacrifice prestige for telling the truth when it could destroy your reputation.
super interesting
Also, another interesting fact- Dike was wounded in the shoulder in the real battle of foy. Many said that his wound was what made him mentally shift.
Remember in the first episodes when Spears said the sooner you accept that you are already dead the better off you’ll be.
I love the way your guys' mind processes this show (and what you watch in general now that I think about it). I pick up on very little of what you guys do and the things that you don't seem to hit me right away. Like with Web and Webster being two different people I definitely didn't get that the first time watching, but Malarky and Hoobler I did. Anyways, thanks for making re-watching this even that much better! Your commentary really enhances it. Lookin' forward to the next one.
I've been to Foy and the woods around it back in 2017. It's crazy! All the fox holes and shell crators are still there and the building where the sniper was hiding in was real and is still there and also look exactlyyy the same as it does in this. I have some photos of it somewhere
So much of the military is controlled that people are not aware of. I once talked to an Army cook about why the meals were so bland. They have a recipe book they HAVE to follow. If they add more pepper or salt or whatever they can get .. I swear .. an article 15 for failure to follow the book. They probably have guys sneaking around to catch some poor cook adding salt. Plenty of people like that.
I love this episode. It shows what a great leader, and, incredible soldier Speirs really was.
Two quick points about Dike:
1) He WAS a decorated soldier who had been somewhat "recognized" for bravery and determination in Normandy, risking his own neck several times to pull wounded soldiers out of open fields, or out of direct lines of fire. So he was NOT a "coward" or "bad soldier"... just a bad LEADER. (Huge difference)
2) A LOT of people mistake the yawning for "boredom" with this episode. That is not the situation. Excessive yawning can be a sign of being OVER STRESSED. And as a soldier in Bastonge AND newly appointed leader (no matter how good or bad), Dike WAS under an unimaginable amount of stress from both the combat situation AND from the fact that he was being pressured by higher ups to keep his men "on the line" far longer than most even when under-powered and low-supplies.
So while NOT a good "combat leader", Dike WAS effective at distributing supplies, positioning his men, providing key intell on enemy locations (in order to be properly positioned) and enemy firepower (when infantry, tanks or artillery were to be expected). Again, overall, Dike was a good PREPARATIONS type of leader. But when the s*** hit the fan, and due to the amount of stress he was under, when it came to Foy he simply fell apart.
It should be noted, for the record, that Dike did NOT die (as some think happened in this episode) but was simply "replaced" by Spiers. Dike was re-assigned to another company, I think or maybe another position within the division. (such as supply or intell, but NOT in another position of leadership. Foy basically ended his "leadership" potential, but not his overall career in the military.)
The Germans at Foy purposefully targeted the trees to put even more shrapnel in the air and to drop the limbs and trunks on the entrenched paras.
Accurate and massed artillery is fucking terrifying
There's a reason why, reportedly Stalin called it the God of War.
Spiers was an officer of Dog company. I am sure Winters had to factor in transferring Spiers away from the men he trained and led for two years and parachuting him (pardon the pun) into another company of men who didn't know or trust him.
Trust me. Actually having successfully capture a town full of German soldiers, the 'paperwork" needed afterward would go a hell of a lot faster. Also keep in mind that Winters told Spiers to take over, in front of the battalion commanding officer. (guy telling Winters he couldn't go himself). So, just WHO are you going to go to complain to if you were from Dog company? The same guy who just yelled at Winters not to go take over the company.
And KNOWING the type of soldier Winters was, and the leader that he was.... pretty sure that out of all the OTHER officers hanging around at the time, Spiers would have been his 1st choice to be in charge of the assault all along.
The soldier who was digging a fox hole with his bare hands was probably suffering from hypothermia and terminal burrowing behavior. It happens to most animals that are exposed to cold temperatures for too long and are about to (or believe they are about to) die.
omg
Thanks for the video. I’ve watched the series repeatedly. This, I think, was one of the most moving episodes.
10:30 I love how subtle this is. In episode 8 you get clues but its finally revealed in ep 9. Nixon is an alcoholic, so all these wake ups make a lot of sense
Oh man, you guys are in for the 'feels' roller coaster with these last 3 episodes!
You know I have watched that scene with Joe Toye and Bill Guarnere plenty of times, the whole from Joe saying, "I gotta get my helmet, I gotta get up." To when Buck screams for a medic, but never in my life have I cried as much at that scene than I did now watching you're reaction. It was like that emotion I felt every time I had seen it suddenly came together all at once over the years I had seen it. Band of Brothers still is emotional to watch every day.
We were soldiers.
We were soldiers is good. "Platoon" would make a great reaction a well
Lone Survivor
We Were Soldiers would be an AMAZING react for them! Agree 100%
Generation Kill!!!😁
The actor who played buck actually became really close with the real Compton. The actor even named his son after him. The guy who played Bill also became close with the real Bill and became his drinking buddy
being Bill's drinking buddy was tough cause he always had Babe with him, those guys would team up on me every time. and Babe would always start singing
From what I’ve heard from veterans of the 506th, it wasn’t hard to become Bill Guarnere’s drinking buddy.
@@gawainethefirst well as long as he liked you lol i was in the E/506th living history group way back before the mini series and spent from 17 -26ish seeing them at events, Bill & Babe would always call me KID then on the day i got my promotion to SGT. (we had a church service in the latrine , among the blessing singing laughing and booze , i had to get my swirly Bill was right their to be the 1st to shake my hand saying " We did some messed up shit, but not that messed up, Good on ya, SARG" (with a smile and handed me a fresh beer) from that day on he would always call me Sarg. oh those were the days of some epic hangovers
Love the series and commentary! Keep it up
It’s the pacing between episodes six and seven. Episode six was a slow continuous burn while this episode spots of calm mixed with insane horror. Good reaction guys! 🤘🏻
That was my favourite episode of the series. The end in the in the pews watching the faces disappear gets me every time.
From what I understand, Dike was not as overly incompetent as the show makes him out to be although that being said, he was not considered the best officer amongst the boys. And during the attack on Foy, the show portrays him getting frightened and too scared to give orders, when more likely and according to a witness, is that he was actually wounded in the battle and that prevented him from properly leading the attack; however, after the battle not everyone who partook knew this, including Lipton and chalked his inaction up to incompetence.
The big question is why Dike didn't tell anyone he was hit. Even if he was supposed to be leading the troops, he still has to call his hit so medics can attend to him. The men only reported what they saw: Dike just froze in the middle of combat and didn't do anything.
@@AdderTude Well, we weren't there so he could've tried to, or maybe he didn't know how bad the wound was and went into shock. The show does him pretty dirty. If you look at his prior acts of valour you'll see this guy was a war hero in his own right and they did him a pretty genuine disservice with his portrayal.
@@primary2630 Very good point. You don't get awarded the medals he did by being a coward. Perhaps it's just his personality rubbed guys the wrong way when he took over Easy and that's why he was portrayed like this in the book.
Dike was not well liked by Easy company, not because of cowardice, but because, as Lipton said, he made no decisions. The men were calling him ' foxhole Norman' long before Bastogne. Men who loathed Sobel could still admit that he trained them well, but had nothing positive to say about Dike.
buck dropping his helmet and shouting medic fucking stabs me in the heart ;_;
18:15 Decades later, in an interview, Neal McDonough (Buck Compton) said that this was the only episode of Band of Brothers he didn't watch, because of how intense it was.
26:45 This is the only time you'll hear Winters swear. The guy didn't swear IRL, and this became a point during the prep work for this series. Winters was unhappy with all the swearing that, in the script, all the characters would say, and he told Tom Hanks about it. Tom Hanks gave some half-hearted excuses which Winters successfully dispelled, one by one, after which he then threatened to pull the Easy company vets' support from the project if the swearing wasn't cut down. Needless to say, the respected Hollywood actor and producer gave way to the respected war hero, and it shows how much the Easy Company men still respected, and were willing to follow, Winters, decades later.
31:53 A full strength infantry company numbers 200 - 220 enlisted men and officers. Easy going into Belgium with only 145 men and officers means that they were already understrength when they were deployed at Bastogne.
37:35 Chad, might want to check if your clothing is regulation (so to speak) before going on camera. . . .
When I was a "Butterbar", an Ensign in the Navy ( = 2nd Lt), I was assigned to be a Sonar Officer. The Sonar Techs had been around for much longer than me, and knew what they were doing. I had an excellent Chief (CPO) whom I leaned on until I figured out what I was doing. I am forever grateful to him.
My favorite episode of the series.
This episode and the last are my all time favorite
The way they did the fade of the soldiers at the end of this episode was amazing.
I love listening to the both of you. In my top tier reactors to my favourite show❤️
Yours is so far the best review of this series...bar none. You recognize the great acting and scripts (Shane Taylor in Bastogne, Donnie Wahlberg in this one...as you said they zero in on one soldier or two each episode). .glad I found you.
Im not sure if it was mentioned, or if you even care anymore, but Speirs was the Platoon leader of 2nd Platoon in Dog Company. Winters was unable to have Speirs do anything until the battle when Speris "just so happened to be next to Winters" during the assault on Foy. From there Winters was able to shift things around as he found made the CO of Dog company replace his 2nd platoon leader in order to have a CO of Easy Company *only* because at that point Easy had no officers in command do do anything with. CO was out, Compton was out from 2nd Battalion, Welsh was out from 1st Battalion, and Roush just was sent home for 30 days from 3rd Battalion. Speirs was made CO, Lipton was First sergeant/Acting 1st Platoon leader and Malarkey was T/Sgt/ acting Second Platoon Leader.
it was kinda thing pickings.
I'm a newb--liking the channel, and love this series. Grandfather was a pilot on d-day...about 15 years ago we got to go to Normandy and tour a number of the battlefields seen in the first few episodes along with a few surviving members of Easy, including Shifty Powers. Amazing experience. ...also your Halloween Kills review is hilarious.
Buck Compton served as a cop after the war and eventually became a lawyer. He joined the Los Angeles District Attorney's office as a prosecutor and was the lead prosecutor in Sirhan Sirhan's trial for the assassination of Robert Kennedy. He was appointed to California Court of Appeals by Ronald Reagan in 1970 and retired in 1990. He died in 2012 and lived to see the mini-series.
Contrary to what is portrayed in the mini-series he disputes the he was shell shocked after the shell that hit Joe Toye and Bill Guarnere.
Years later Winters, during a phone call, asked Spiers if he had really killed those German POW's in Normandy. Spiers told Winters that it was true, he did kill them; and he admitted it, like it was no big deal.