BAND OF BROTHERS PART 1 | REACTION | FIRST TIME WATCHING
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- Опубликовано: 9 июл 2024
- Enjoy my reaction as I watch "Band Of Brothers Part 1 - Currahee" for the first time.
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00:00 - Intro/Preview
01:14 - Reaction + Commentary
12:35 - Review/Outro 
Развлечения
"They don't look that old". That footage is from 20 years ago.
Wait, it's been 20 years already?
More than 20. Most of those interviews were collected in the 1990s.
The sad thing is, some of them died not long after it was released and almost all (if not all) of them are gone now. I think that all of the ones in BoB are gone, there might be one or two who weren't in it, that are still alive. But we are very (VERY) rapidly losing the Greatest Generation.
@@31Mike Last I heard, one of the guys who gets mentioned by name but I don't think ever got into the series on screen, Shames was the name I think, was alive as of last year. As I'm to understand it, he was the last member of Easy still around. I don't know what has happened since then for him.
I just realized that I've watching the series yearly for twenty years already.
@@mr.osclasses5054 By 'on screen', do you mean the real man or his 'character'? The 'character' gets on screen in "The Breaking Point", he's the one who screams and yells at a couple of soldiers who were talking while he was giving a briefing. I don't think he's on for more than about 10 seconds, though.
Every veteran from Easy Company despised Sobel immensely, but they all agreed that his intense training helped them survive the war.
Right, but he almost surely would have gotten most of them killed or wounded because of his actions and reactions while in the field.
There are a lot of examples in military history of officers who were exceptional and training and assembling units, but useless in actual combat. (See: Gen. George McClellan)
I really do feel sorry for Sobel. No one from the unit checked up on him when he tried to commit suicide. And when he did actually pass away, none of the unit, his ex wife, or his daughter showed up too his funeral (at least according too the book this was based on).
@@johnnyjohnny6174 you'd be surprised at the positive morale effect of giving every single person in a military unit the same thing to hate. sure, they were in great shape, but they were also much closer and trusted each other more
@@ergopropterhoc Yup. They are so busy hating their DIs that they don't have the time to start beefing with each other.
Legend has it, Captain Sobel is still revoking weekend passes to this day.
lol
He committed suicide after Korea
Sgt winters were I and Rachel on a brake?
No, sir
There's no weekend pass for you!
You think you're going to slay Nazi's with your internet humor?? Weekend pass revoked!
@@kent3509 Attempted and failed suicide, actually. He lived on until the 60s and died alone with no surviving family in a nursing home.
He may have been hated by the men, but he had a truly tragic story.
I love how everyone's first reaction to seeing Captain Sobel is, "Ross?!"
And at the end of ep 5 the reaction is always "no wait is that ?"
Haha, I did that with almost everyone in this series. 😁
@@bradleyvogelsang6851 don't forget the start of episode 4
I'll give David Schwimmer credit, he took the role and ran with it.
PIVAAAATTTT
I’ve met Bill, Malarkey & Babe. Amazing men. The actor nailed Bill. This is the greatest thing ever put on film.
What an honor!
I met Winters on an Army base, not far from where he lived, and we spoke about the War when he joined me at my cafe table. It was an unforgettable privilege.
Did you know Malarky was friends with the Niland brothers which was the inspiration for Saving Private Ryan?
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was basically historical fiction. This is based on actual events and the characters are real. Some of them you saw in the beginning.
My dad fought across North Africa into Italy. He was injured by a grenade in Italy and sent to London for a hospital stay. He was deemed fully healthy on May 25th 1944, just in time for D-Day. He landed at Omaha beach, and went on to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. When I was younger I often overhead him talking about the blood turning the sea red at Omaha. Then about the frigid winter conditions with little equipment as they crossed Belgium and Germany.
Your father must be truly be a badass to have survived that many campaigns and that many major battles throughout the war. Wow!
Nice story to keep telling. My grandfather was born and raised in Honolulu Hawaii and was going to the University of Hawaii while in the army at the same time when Pearl harbor hit. For some reason he was shipped over to France instead of fighting in the Asian campaign where he was also at the Battle of the bulge. He was awarded a bronze star, two purple hearts and more. One of the purple hearts for frostbite by bastone perhaps your father still for this as well. I think about my grandfather everyday being plucked from paradise and then sent into hell. When he finally made it back he could have stayed around another month to get a retirement he once told me, but he said no get me out now. Even in his 80s he would have nightmares of the screaming bombs/ mortars that would come down all night. He said they were intended to "demoralize" and that's exactly what they did apparently.
Currahee is a Cherokee word roughly translated meaning 'Stand Alone' or 'Stand Alone Together' and became the motto of the 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division.
Richard Winters epitomizes leadership. He accepts the huge responsibility and navigates its requirements so well. Everyone loves Richard Winters by the end of this series. The real Winters takes part in the interviews before each episode.
Died on my father's birthday! A man's man and a true patriot!
The 101st Airborne are all volunteers, which can also explain the bond they all had. They knew that if they were to volunteer, they’d be with/a part of the best.
Also $50 a month jump pay!
"Three miles up, three miles down."
Excellent choice. I watch this classic once every year.
Same! It's an annual pilgrimage.
Me too! Always around my bday in June
@@marvelousedits692 me too🥳
@callmecatalyst have not seen the pasific yet...
Pretty much all of the "Whys" you were asking at the beginning are what kept a soldier alive. Granted luck is involved, especially for WW2, but being conditioned and hard-nosed proved to be worth its weight in gold time and time again. They are the Greatest Generation for a reason.
Enjoy your reactions. Will definetly watch more! 👍
I've watched this closer to a dozen times and I still wait for David Scwimmer to shout "PIVOT!"
Must admit he did great job even though it was hard to imagine him doing a serious role.
@@yt45204 every character in friends is a psychopath.
Sobel was a great drill instructor, making himself the common enemy of the men to push them to become great soldiers (although part of it was certainly also just him being a jerk enjoying the power he had over the men). However, he sucked at actual combat. So it was a good thing he was reassigned to a different job where he wouldn't have to go to war. Because, being an officer, he would have to lead in war and certainly get himself and loads of his men killed, as we saw happen in the training exercise.
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
The transfer made a win-win out of a bad situation. Since Sobel was good at whipping men into shape (despite being overly harsh about it), he no doubt did a lot of good where he was moved. Meanwhile, Easy Company was able to lose a bad leader. I've been led to believe that this was a lateral transfer, but out of combat.
My favorite quote from this episode is when Winters says to Buck about his gambling with the troops; "Never put yourself in a position where you can take from these men."
This doesn’t follow saving private Ryan, this is the true story of the men of Easy company. They are all real people from history. They jumped into Normandy the night before the beach landings. And as far as all of the airborne mis-drops that they mentioned in saving private Ryan, in the next episode you will find out why that happened.
I'm so proud of you for taking on this 10 part mini series. For these veterans, it's the least that we can do to dignify their service and honor their sacrifices. Those were some real hard lessons learned and we don't need to forget them.
I'm in awe of that generation of heros!
A couple things to keep in mind:
0:48 Don't be fooled by the production value of this series. It was RELEASED 20 years ago in 2001 meaning that the footage is AT LEAST 20 years old. So at bare minimum. a 75-year-old vet you see in the beginning is 95 today..
8:51 A court-martial is basically the military's judicial system. The implication was that Captain Sobel (Ross) was trying to screw over Winters (for the humiliation one of his men gave him) by assigning some undue punishment on him. He tried to bluff by saying Winters could always contest the punishment via court-martial thinking Winters would never go that "extreme" route. Winters called his bluff.
An imperfect workplace analogy would be if an overbearing manager unfairly "punished" an employee and "threatened" that he could go through the hassle of making waves by taking it up with HR if he didn't like it.
Band of Brothers and The Pacific are two of my favorite shows of all time! Hanks and Spielberg did a phenomenal job and they are currently filming a 3rd miniseries called Masters of the Air, which is about the 8th Air Force in WWII. Cannot wait to see how that turns out!
I like the in HD series also.
It’s expected to be released early-mid 2022. It’s gonna be great.
Can’t wait for it
If you dont mind reading subtitles. Generation War is a great miniseries from the German perspective.
Hold up, they made the Pacific too?? I gotta see it
A few things to note...
1 Easy company was part of the 506th Infantry Regiment which later became a component of the 101st Airborne Division (Screaming Eagles). They trained in Georgia, then trained in England, then were dropped by parachute into Normandy, then made their way back to England to refit, then dropped by parachute into Holland, then fought at Bastogne, and eventually made their way into Germany. You may want to review maps as you work your way thru the series, particularly where these men fought in Europe.
2 The author of the book, on which the series was based, did make some mistakes and undoubtedly, folks will make sure that you know about those errors by the time that you complete the series.
3 This series was originally released in 2001. The interviews of the actual veterans were recorded in the 1990s and those men were in their 70s or 80s at that time.
4 I suggest that you watch the DVD extras/special features (if possible) and review other YT videos related to the veterans after you complete the series. It might help answer some questions and shed light on things that you might not catch on first viewing.
5 These are actor portrayals of real men that trained and fought with Easy company in WW2, not fictional characters from a novel. Several reviewers seem to miss this important point and continue to refer to the men as characters until they eventually come to this understanding.
Yeah unfortunately Ambrose was not the best historian, but he is undoubtedly very accessible as an introduction for these men. I’m currently reading, Winters’ own memoir Beyond Band of Brothers and it’s truly eye-opening an amazing leader.
Toccoa men were assigned Easy Company of the 5-0-Sink which was already assigned to 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles.
@@genghisgalahad8465 the 506 was actually an independent PIR until June of 1943, a few months before they shipped out to England when they were attached to the newly-formed 101st. I know Winters held some hope that they would’ve remained an independent regiment so they could get sent into active duty quicker, but alas, the Army had other plans.
Kent Reese Ah, I see!
Perhaps the greatest depiction of war ever put to the screen. Not to mention it’s a true story based on a book. You’ll likely get very attached to these characters which makes the experience watching all the more better
This is the first time I have ever considered joining Patreon. Your reactions are so genuine. I love that you are not afraid to admit it when you dont know something. I doubt you'll even see this but I really enjoy your content. Also love that you keep it g-rated. Its refreshing.
If you think it was crazy seeing "Ross" (David Schwimmer) in this, just wait; this mini-series has a LOT of actors in it where you'll be going "Wow! HE'S in this?"
It’s truly good to see more and more younger people interested in this history, these men and women that served in these theaters are rapidly disappearing and so deserving of our attention for what they went through. Thank you
Alright, you'll need some of the backstory on this, otherwise you'll be misled or make wrong assumptions.
This series is based on real events and depictions of real people. The older gentlemen you see prior to each episode are in fact, the survivors of those men. They are absolute badasses and heroes in every sense of the word.
There will be a bit of hollywood here and there, but for the most part, there is definitely a lot of truth to what is depicted, which is why the series itself is so popular. The producers of this series are also the producers that made Saving Private Ryan, which you've watched and is widely considered one of the best war films of all time.
Whereas Saving Private Ryan is true to the depiction of war and the time it presented, it's story is not real. Band of Brothers is both true to depiction AND has a real story basis. This series is widely regarded as the best war series ever created and inspired additional ones to come out after it (The Pacific and soon Masters of the Air), which I'm sure people will ask you to react to as well. Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers have no affiliation with one another other than sharing production companies and being based in the same time period.
In regards to your comments about paratrooper droppings prior to D-Day, that was done the night/morning of D-Day, just prior to the ships landing at the beaches, so most of those men had mere hours to secure their objectives. But as you stated, they were scattered to hell and back, half of them lost the equipment they should have had and it was just mass chaos. About 13,000 men jumped in to Normandy from the American side.
Welcome to Band of Brothers, prepare to get attached :)
+Bulldog -- Sir! Nice synopsis, sir! 👍😁
SPR has a general basis of history in which brothers died in combat in same war. I’m sure we know the difference. Many of the pivotal cinematic events including Speirs and the overall 101st finding a camp are true to the history of the 101st. Highly recommend The Pacific based on the published accounts of the Marines who fought in the war in the Pacific.
Accurate and fair synopsis
I'll never understand this selfish impulse to spoil the reveal that the interviewees are the exact people being depicted. It's set up as such a beautiful and emotional reveal in the final episode, yet it seems every reactor has multiple people clamouring to ruin that moment.
@@verbaluk1 Literally everything they talk about prior to the episodes apply to the episodes themselves. It does not take much of an IQ or a lot of brain power to connect two and two together. The majority of the reactors I've seen react to Band of Brothers figure it out early as well.
In fact, I'd dare say it helps to know that those men are in fact the same people, it helps people know they should shut up and listen to these heroes and what they have to say each episode instead of talking over them or fast forwarding past them.
If I was being selfish, I surely would not be typing on the interwebs on a youtube video attempting to help someone understand things they were fuzzy on. But you go on being the salty type of person you want to be.
Great series. Since so many reactors don't seem to know this coming in the series is based off an historical book also titled "Band of Brothers". So the people you see and the events that happen are based off of actual events with some poetic license applied here and there but nothing outlandish.
As others here have pointed out, Band of Brothers is a true story. It first appeared as a book authored by Stephen E. Ambrose, titled "Band of Brothers - E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest." The film "Saving Private Ryan" was a spinoff from a passage in Ambrose's book. Instead of James Francis Ryan as the sole surviving son, it was Fritz Niland. The passage follows a week or two after D-Day..
The company went into a defensive position south of Carentan [Normandy]. The second day in this static situation, someone came down the hedgerow line asking for Don Malarkey and Skip Muck. It was Fritz Niland. He found Muck, talked to to him, then found Malarkey, and had only enough time to say good-bye; he was flying home.
The previous day Niland had gone to the 82nd [airborne] to see his brother Bob, the one who had told Malarkey in London that if he wanted to be a hero, the Germans would see to it, fast, which had led Malarkey to conclude that Bob Niland had lost his nerve. Fritz Niland had just learned that his brother had been killed on D-Day. Bob's platoon had been surrounded, and he manned a machine-gun, hitting the Germans with harassing fire until the platoon broke through the encirclement. He had used up several boxes of ammunition before getting killed.
Fritz Niland next hitched a ride to the 4th Infantry Division position, to see another brother who was a platoon leader. He too had been killed on D-Day, on Utah Beach. By the time Fritz returned to Easy Company, Father Francis Sampson was looking for him, to tell him that a third brother, a pilot in the China-Burma-India theater, had been killed that same week. Fritz was the sole surviving son, and the Army wanted to remove him from the combat zone as soon as possible.
Fritz's mother had received all three telegrams from the War Department on the same day.
Father Sampson escorted Fritz to Utah Beach, where a plane flew him to London on the first leg of his return to the States.
These men all volunteered before they started drafting. I used to watch this with my grandpa, he is no longer with us but I still sit down and binge watch his Band of Brothers DVD box set regularly. I now have my older kids interested in the series and the history behind it. Passing it on to the new generation.
My personal favorite piece of film ever put on ANY screen. And you are absolutely correct about the score. The opening theme hits me in the feels every time, and I've seen this series upwards of 30 times.
My daughter and I watch this series once a year and we always feel like we are celebrating the lives of these true heroes. My daughter has little crushes on many of the guys -- she really loves all the characters and actors playing them. It's such a great series of shows; my father fought in the Battle of the Bulge too, but he wasn't with the Airborne (he was with Army Intelligence). So, watching this movie, especially this one, makes me feel closer to him (he went to Heaven in 1999). I'm so glad you appreciate these wonderful stories of real heroes! Bless you!
Thanks dear for your posting this series. As a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division when I was just 18 and three month old, weighting 140 lbs, looking about 13 years old I can share with you that we are so grateful for your kind words. I too hate heights. On my first drop some one gave me a reserve chute that was the demonstrator by accident. A Sargent for fun checked me a second and discovered that the reserve chute contained newspaper. He switched chutes with a good one but I was late going to the plane. I looked up at a sign over the hanger door to read. "if you main chute fails lean back and cut away ( which means release you main chute) and pull your reserve. If you reserve fails, spread your legs lean forward and kiss your ass goodbye. " Since I was last in the plane I thought cool I will just hold on to the guy in front of me. Once in the plane we turned around making me first out the door. Ooops. I got very nervous as we passed over a large swift deep river knowing we would most likely drown if we landed in it. After I existed the door the silence and the gentle wind was wonderful. Suddenly the shouts of new paratroopers yelling YEA!! and AIRBORNE!! was heard. I can only say my heart leaped for joy coming down feeling invincible. Over the next three years I made 29 jumps. At 65 I skydived with my 20 year old son. Yea I guess I still have not learned my lesson tee hee. Thanks again for posting. I love your reactions. Airborne All the Way .....
Tom Hanks was also involved with another docudrama that you might enjoy. From the Earth to the Moon is about the Apollo program to get the first landing on the moon. Ron Howard was also a producer on the series. It's an excellent series as well.
What makes this series beautiful is that the characters are all based on real life. (bill guarnere true warrior)
Hey Joe I told you I’d beat you back to the states.😂 spot on man, Guarnere is a badass!
@@jamondjensen5171 R.I.P.
@@jamondjensen5171 "What does a guy have to do to get killed around here???"
Except that one episode that is dedicated to a dead man who actually didn't die in ww2.
@@catherinelw9365 lmao, got a smoke?
We love band of brothers more than anything.❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
It is partially a documentary.
Spielberg & Hanks behind this is an incredible tribute to a generation we seriously admire, yet we’re incredibly lucky to of not been apart of.
Millions of men didn’t get to “go home” after all this.
Al those interviews at the start of each episode are actually part of a separate documentary interviewing all Easy company members that were still alive/willing. Is a 50 minute watch and so worth it.
Oh, The Pacific has to be next after this!
Agreed !
Another great miniseries
Lets win the war in Europe first, soldier. Lol
@@krisfrederick5001 And stand to attention when you are addressing an officer!
And then eventually Masters of the Air when it comes out.
BoB is the best series ever, in part because it truly happened.
Following each man through the entire war is unprecedented and an amazing experience!
As some one who served 30 years... i thank you for bringing this story to a young generation. I cant watch this with out tears.. or raising a glass to friends no longer here..... our freedom is not free......
My great, great uncle was in the 101st. His tags, jump wings, and Bronze Star are proudly displayed in my office. Landed behind Utah beach. My Dad said he was grazed by a shot on his way down, wrapped it with his sock when he landed and closed it on his own later. Never bothered with reporting it for a Purple Heart because “there were others guys who were really hurt and I could always find more socks”. I wish I could’ve known him. Tough, brave, honorable man.
They all were 👊🇺🇸🎖
'Band of Brothers' is a TRUE story.
'Saving Private Ryan' was FICTIONAL.
@@oliviarogers3559 Yep, as well as the Sullivans (all served and died together on one ship in WW2) and the Bixbys (Civil War).
@@oliviarogers3559 Still, the film is fictional.
@@oliviarogers3559 Yes, "inspired by" is the perfect term - Saving Private Ryan was inspired by true events but the actual characters and story is fictional. Band of Brothers is largely factual, with a sprinkling of Hollywood. The series was adapted from the Stephen Ambrose book of the same name and there are other books about the 101st including one by William "Wild Bill" Guarnere and Edward James "Babe" Heffron.
All of these men are actors portraying real people, and real events.
@@saucermcfly A sprinkling of Hollywood, and a few honest mistakes thrown in here and there.
I’m glad you actually had some sympathy for Sobel as a character. Most who see this show only ever hate him
like nixon said he's as gud as a terror prep teacher but in fact too terrible as field commander.
The Character pf Sobel was overplayed. He was no where near as hated or incompetent as he was made out to be. He was a harsh disciplinarian but he did make Easy into an outstanding Company, After the War the men reached out to him to invite him to reunions, but he never came.
@@joeschmoe9154 well, like every movie and show that adapts historic events to film, the primary goal is to engage and entertain while accurately portraying the main details and feeling of the event; rather than just be 100% completely accurate. That’d be 1. Impossible and 2. Very boring for audiences. Dramatizing character personalities is very very common in all historical film adaptations.
When I first watch I thought he just want them to be the best ones but instead to be proud of them he get mad then eventually we see he's just a jerk
The boots the troopers were running in are called Chukka Boots. I entered the service in '78, before everyone started wearing sneakers during Basic Training. We wore Chukka Boots while doing PT. I SWEAR my boots were produced in the '40s. LOL
The older veterans at the beginning of each episode are the actual members of Easy Company. The actors are portraying those actual veterans. And yes this is the actual true story of Easy Company.
I subscribed so I could follow your journey through this incredible series.
The old men who speak at the start of this, and each, episode are the real veterans of Easy Company, you will at the end of the series get to find out which of these old soldiers are the actual people that Band of Brothers portrays, every veteran is represented in the show. This TV series was based on a historical book (of the same name) written by Stephen E Ambrose, he interviewed many veterans and has written a large number of books, this was one. Hanks and Spielberg then used the book as the basis for the series, contacting the veterans themselves for insight and colour. This show is a world away (and better) than Saving Private Ryan which is a work of historical fiction, Band of Brothers is instead a true historical dramatization, what you see is based on real lived experiences of men who risked their lives, lost friends and fought in this War.
I think there's one or two that weren't 'characters' in the mini-series. But I won't swear to that.
@@31Mike You could be correct in that they were not major featured, but I'm certain they were all ex-Easy Company and thus their characters, either with speaking roles or in the background, all featured in the show. And they certainly all contributed to the story and its underlying authenticity.
@@cyberdan42 Oh, they definitely were all in Easy Company, and definitely all contributed... even if only through their interviews. One of the ones that I'm thinking of is in "Replacements" and speaks of how much the replacements looked up to the vets and says something like how good the officers were "for the most part". It's been a while since I watched full episodes (I mostly watch reactions now), but I don't think we ever learned his name.
I always find it interesting watching those without military experience watch tv shows and movies about military history. Listening to and understanding military jargon as well as interactions between soldiers are second nature to me. I had just enlisted in the Army when this series debuted on HBO. I watched it for the first time during my first combat deployment in Iraq. Coincidentally, I served all 8 years of my enlistment in the 101st Airborne Div.
Great review for a great series!! I was a paratrooper from 2001 to 2006. The Airborne School was at Ft. Benning, GA when I attended (pretty sure it's still there). Though some of the training methods during WWII continue to this day, a lot has changed. All trainees had to do 5 jumps in at the school with (2 without combat load, 2 with combat load, 1 at night with combat load) to graduate. It was only 3 weeks long but it was quite rigorous.
This is in some ways my favorite episode, if only for the fact that "Army noodles with ketchup" and Captain Sobel were their most urgent concerns while knowing what lies ahead. Be prepared to grow and laugh and suffer with these characters.
To add what has already been said in the comments, without giving any spoilers and to add a little context, the Band of Brothers mini series is a dramatisation of real life events based on the books Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose which is a collection of Easy Company men's accounts of the war, and the book Parachute Infantry which is the memoir of David Webster and Easy Company soldier. Certain real life events regarding Easy Compnay throughout the war were condensed and dramatised for this series, but they are based on the actual events.
Captain Sobel be marching into the spaghetti dinner at mess hall like: "You were on a BREAK!"
Band of Brothers came out in 2001, so thankfully many of the veterans from Easy Company were still alive back then, but sadly most of them have passed away over the last twenty years.
Airborne paratroopers are all volunteers. Most enlisted after the US entered WWII, and then volunteered for the airborne. Others enlisted expecting that inevitably they would be drafted. It’s possible that a few were drafted and then later volunteered for the airborne at some point, but these were considered elite combat units in WWII, so It’s not easy to become a paratrooper. The airborne wanted men who were highly motivated, tough, and disciplined fighters who were expected to parachute behind enemy lines to fight with light weaponry and limited supplies.
5:35 It’s not just that he wanted to weed out the weak. While that is definitely part of the training and conditioning, in war anything can happen when you least expect it. At a moments notice you could be called into action. In other words, don’t let your guard down, always be prepared, and expect the unexpected.
8:54 Yes, for BS reasons. It’s believed that Captain Sobel felt Lieutenant Winters threatened his leadership of Easy Company, and he wanted to discredit Winters.
Keep in mind the plot and the characters in Saving Private Ryan are fictional. Band of Brothers is a true story. So the characters in this series are based on real people, and the battles they fought from D-Day to Germany. That makes this series even more compelling, and it gives you the perspective of D-Day from the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division, while Saving Private Ryan shows you what it was like for the troops who stormed the beaches.
The paratroopers jumped into Normandy just hours before the beach landings took place. Easy Company’s objective was to clear and secure an important route leading from Utah Beach, so when the troops landed, they could begin moving inland. Easy Company’s ultimate objective was to capture the town of Carentan. This would help link American troops landing on Omaha and Utah Beaches. For various reasons as you heard, most paratroopers didn’t land in the right locations, and it took days for some units to fully regroup.
4:54: Most of the men in Easy Company that you see in this episode were probably not drafted. Rather, these were among the first volunteers for the war after the Pearl Harbor bombing. First they volunteered for the Army, and from there they volunteered to be a Paratrooper. The paratroopers were a new and elite unit, which is why the training was so brutal. Yes, they were trying to weed out the weak. I believe that only 20% of those who started training at Taccoa finished and got their wings.
This is why our grandparents were the greatest generation
You know why there's no black people in this series, right? Cause they had segregated military units. So maybe not the GREATEST generation?
@@fredrik8500 That "greatest generation" stuff is mostly bogus. If they are the greatest, what do we say about the generation that raised them; what do we say about the generation which they raised -- my Baby Boomer generation? It is all about the culture and what virtues and vices that culture fosters.
Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 by Japan, men and women flocked by the thousands to military recruiting centers all over the country. My uncle was one of them. The war in Europe had been raging since Hilter invaded Poland in 1939 and it was considered by many politicians to be Europe's problem, not ours. Many troops didn't know where they were going. South Pacific or Europe? My stepfather Sgt Major Wesley G. Singleton after serving with the Brits in Africa joined the British Airborne and was captured in Holland and later rescued by allied forces. I have all his medals of honor displayed in my den. These men and women who served and died in WWII are considered to be the greatest generation of our time.
Thank you for watching this. There is a reason they were called the "Greatest Generation".
The Ryan Brothers were fictional. This series is based on fact... The older people at the beginning of the episodes are the real survivors (veterans) of the company.
wow, nice spoiler
Edit and delete the end
@@strongpoint71 That's not a spoiler, it's obvious they are vets. A spoiler would be revealing their identities.
@@Ootlander of course they're vets. i watched all 10 episodes thinking they were just random WWII veterans and was surprised to find out at the end that they were the actual men from Easy company. that's the spoiler.
@@strongpoint71 Anyone with a brain is able to figure it out in seconds.
Really glad to see you picking this up! Probably one of the best pieces of cinema to cover the Second World War. As a lot of people have already pointed out, Band of Brothers is based entirely on real life, drawing on the interviews and history compiled by Stephen Ambrose with various Easy Company survivors. While a little has been changed here and there for cinema, the overall experience is as close as you can get to the real anecdotes and accounts provided by the men of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th.
A few things you might find interesting:
2:05: That $50 extra was hazard pay, because the concept of airborne infantry was nearly entirely experimental at the time (a few had tried it before with mixed results, with the Soviets even conducting a low level air drop without any parachutes...), and would entail dropping men deep into hostile territory with no line of retreat, and enemy forces in every single direction. The Germans had done it twice so far: first in Belgium and then later on Crete. Their success in taking the Crete Airfield and ensuring the fall of the island to the incoming German forces was taken as proof that the concept was sound by the Allies, who proceeded to expedite their own airborne programs. The Germans on the other hand were convinced by Crete that it was complete suicide, and would never try it again, because although they were successful, their airborne units had effectively ceased to exist due to casualties they sustained (a lesson the Allies would learn too late).
3:44: That mountain became the bane of many a man's existence. On the first day they arrived at Camp Toccoa, at least one paratrooper recalled joking that they'd probably make them run up and down the mountain as their final test. A few minutes later, Sobel had them running three miles up and three miles down for the first, but certainly not the last, time.
4:00: Unfortunately the US was painfully aware that for the first hours of a drop, each man would have to fight alone and surrounded by the enemy. Its partly why Currahee, literally meaning 'We Stand Alone' was chosen for the Airborne.
4:55: Not quite; you might be thinking of the infantry, who received many of the draftees. Unfortunately, it also gave the infantry a rather undeserved reputation as 'the worst of the worst', because every other service got 'first dibs': the navy and air force often snapped up those with greater academic credentials or existing technical skills, leaving the infantry with the proverbial dregs. The Airborne on the other hand was composed entirely of volunteers and when you look at the responses given by the airborne in post-war interviews, it is no exaggeration to say that many of them were a different breed. Beyond volunteering to 'jump out of a perfectly good airplane', far too many have given the exact same response when asked why they served with the airborne for it to be simple coincidence: they did so because they wanted the man at their side to the be best that there was. Even amongst the Greatest Generation, their fortitude and resolve stood apart from many others.
9:30: Kind of. On paper his new position in command of the jump school was technically a promotion but it was highly probable that Sobel, like many others, would have gladly traded that away for a combat leadership role. Though he was a highly effective instructor (many Easy Vets credited their survival to his regime), he was no combat leader unfortunately: the fence cutting episode at 'Major Horton's' encouragement was just one of many instances where he got his unit lost, and disagreements with Winters in training exercises often proved he was unsuited to leading men into an actual engagement. While it is not clear if Sink was historically aware of Sobel's shortcomings as a field officer, the mass resignation of Easy's Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs) was certainly the final nail in the coffin that either let him know that Sobel would get men killed in battle, or simply gave him the excuse to gracefully remove Sobel from command.
11:11: They were carrying an average of 70 pounds of equipment, discounting their parachute (another 30 pounds). In fact, the later scene where Winters is picking the men in his stick off the ground isn't just cinematic drama: they were often so overloaded that each man needed help to stand up on the tarmac (which makes it all the more insane that when things went wrong and aircraft went down with the men still inside, some men were actually able to battle their way to their feet and escape their planes, overloaded as they were. Unfortunately, they were a minority: most who were shot down before reaching the drop zones would perish).
11:34: To make matters worse? This was the first time many of them had been issued with the particular air sickness pills handed out on the 5th June. Nausea, fatigue and dizziness were among its most common side effects...right before they went plunging feet first into hell...
11:45: This was the most common disaster to afflict airborne operations of the day. Their practice runs often assumed the aircraft would be flying low and level, and far too many were conducted on clear nights with low winds and good visibility. June 6th, in the wake of a heavy storm that had already delayed the operation by one day, was anything but 'clear with low winds'. To cap it off, this was all before considering the Germans would be filling the air with flak in an attempt to bring down as many aircraft as possible. Needless to say, very few pilots were going to fly 'low and level' for too long as they'd make perfect targets for ground batteries, and without any landmarks at night, even minor evasive maneuvers would place them well off target by the time it came to jump. A jump that was even worse? Sicily: the British gliders missed their DZs by such a large margin that most men landed in the middle of the sea. With the aforementioned 100 or so pounds of gear weighing them down, approximately 300 drowned without a single German shot fired. To add insult to injury, the second and third drops a few days later were torn apart by Allied anti aircraft fire, who assumed they were German planes. Over 400 paratroopers and airmen were killed by friendly fire alone during the 11 July Airdrop.
Airborne operations were some of the most dangerous operations to be undertaken in the Second World War, and still they jumped.
You will like this series. It examines their motives and experiences. It is also a true story. For the sake of flow & time some of the different incidents were attributed to one person but all were true! Everything actually happened. The interviews really got to me, hearing these men recalling their experiences in their autumn years.
No dialogue at the ending after Winters wishes his men luck just says it all. Just music and the sounds. It's beautiful.
Unless my memory is finally failing me (haha), when this originally aired, it was both episodes 1 and 2 in a row. So it went straight into ep 2... fitting, isn’t it? 🙂
I love the reaction of people who have no idea how massive an undertaking this was. When they see that final dramatic scene with hundreds of plane flying into Normandy. The music also helps!
As others have mentioned, this is all based on actual history. These aren't characters, they were actual people. The interviews at the beginning are the real people that they actors are portraying in the episode.
It may be worth doing a bit of reading, even just the wiki articles about Normandy and Operation Market Garden (and others). Don't worry, you won't 'spoil' anything, it's history, and the people that made this show expected people to know the basics going in. Reading the wiki articles will give you the big picture, the series is the small picture... the individual stories and actions.
It helps to be a bit informed here...
Will always be my favorite series. Its excellent even the ending when u realize who is who
If you cannot figure out who Bill is by the end of the 2nd episode there is some thing wrong.
All of the guys featured at the beginning where the real people the characters in this series were based on. Remember this came out in 2001, so its now nearing 20 years old. All of the vets interviewed have passed, the last one died around 2015ish. I watch this series every year. Sobel was trying to make a name for himself, that's why he pushed the men so hard. A lot of them later said he was a self-centered debutante, always looking out for himself but that his training was largely responsible for their success in Europe. He was a great training officer but a terrible field officer. David Schwimer played him really well.
Interesting that you asked “is this based on the Ryan brothers”. No, but there is a real life connection between the Niland brothers (who inspired the Saving Private Ryan fictional story) and Easy Company. One of the men of Easy Company depicted in BoB (Skip Muck) came from the same town as the Niland brothers and Fritz Niland (the inspiration for Private Ryan) was Skip’s best mate before the war. In a later episode, Skip tells a story about swimming the Niagara River. What that doesn’t mention is that Fritz rowed alongside him while he swam across the river in case he got tired and needed rescuing. This only came to light during the filming of BoB because the actor who played Skip, Richard Speight Jr, was corresponding with Skip’s sister Ruth and in a letter, she told him that story. It got incorporated into the script of the later episode to help flesh out Skip’s character. That story is one of many stories about BoB on the History Buffs channel (there is a podcast featuring many of the actors on there) if anyone is interested.
I was impressed with David Schwimmer's performance. He destroyed the Ross character in minutes for me.
It is called acting.
I agree, Schwimmer gave a fine performance.
This series is amazing as well as the Pacific. Easy Co suffered one of the highest casualty rates in WWII. Will say when you get to Episode 9 it's going to be a very hard and emotional episode to watch
God, every single reaction video absolutely KILLS me with laughter when Sobel shows up for the first time! They have the same look of, "really? Ross?" It's so good, such great casting!
My grandpa never talked about the war. But as a German he was glad to be captured by the US, they made him drive lorries and such. Gave him opportunities. He had seen his part, and my father told me he was harsh because of the war. Harsh, but fair and kind when it came to it. Even though we were the bad guys, I knew we lost a hero when he passed. People tend to forget that they were people too.
I thank every soldier that fought and won against "us". You are heroes to me, as was my grandfather.
Ron Livingston is in this series!! After you finish watching this series, take a break from war movies and watch "Office Space"!!
These men were dropped into Normandy the night before the storming of the beach (saving private ryan) to disrupt german reinforcements
Really cool to see you doing this one. Couple things: this is absolutely based on the true story of Easy Company throughout the war. Names, places, events. All real. This series has absolutely nothing to do with the Saving Private Ryan movie other than their stories both involve the D-Day invasion. What you saw in Saving Private Ryan was the amphibious beach assault at Normandy. Easy Company will be parachuting inland of the beaches the night before that beach landing. Their job is to destroy (kill) the German troops who would be called in as reserves to help defend the beaches. So at the end of the episode when those planes took off, that is the night prior the D-Day beach invasion. Everything you saw at the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan will be happening in the morning. Easy Company will not be at the beach, but close by, behind German lines.
I believe Band of Brothers is arguably the best mini-series ever produced. The fact that it's also a true story, told by the soldiers of Easy Company makes it even more powerful. There are lots of amazing WW2 films and/or shows, but this is my favorite. Good choice!
I can’t wait to watch this later and go on the Band of Brothers journey with you! This is such an incredible series, while there is some exaggerations and inaccuracies, a lot of it actually stays very true to history. So glad you will be doing this and agree with other commenters that The Pacific should be next lol
Maybe my favorite shot of the series is the last one from this episode where it pans back and over to show you the true massiveness of the invasion. After 4 years, finally it was time. The free peoples of the world hurled themselves at the enemy.
James Ryan , Matt Damon’s character, is based on an airborne trooper, who’s brother died in combat, and he was sent home. But not how the movie portrays. And, just like in band of brothers, Ryan was part of the 101st airborne, 2nd battalion. Only he was part of Baker company. This show follows the men of Easy company.
The creation of Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan are closely intertwined. Saving Private Ryan is a fictional story with fictional characters but it’s based on a true story that’s related to Band of Brothers. The story of Private James Ryan is based on the true story of Sergeant Frederick “Fritz” Niland, who was thought to have lost all three of his brothers. His brothers Bob and Preston were killed in Normandy while Edward was captured in Burma but liberated in 1945. Warren “Skip” Muck and Donald Malarkey, both significant characters in Band of Brothers, were close friends with Fritz Niland, and this story was relayed to Stephen E. Ambrose that way and eventually was made known to the film producers.
Enjoyed your reaction a bunch. Yes you will get to know these guys well. They are based on actual E Company veterans. It's not accidental that most of the actors resemble their actual counterparts. My favorite at this point was Luz. Hes the comedian/impersonater of the company. Every military unit seems to have one. They annoy you at times, but mostly keep you entertained and your spirits up. My least favorite of course was Captain Sobel. I do however feel for him. He probably fell in between the cracks where tacticle training is concerned. It happens in a large organizations like the Army. Probably not his fault, but I'm glad they transferred him.
Flank means to go around to the side of your enemy instead of hitting them head on
A note about Dick Winters: his tactical prowess as a leader is glorified in Army history and rightfully so. The man led his Troops with dignity, respect, and competence. Competency at the junior officer level was few and far between, and is still true in today's Army. His critical thinking and decisiveness kept his men alive. This mini-series is a reincarnation of Stephen Ambrose's book titled "Band of Brothers" which followed the history of Easy Company's assault during D-Day all the way through the German surrender. It is an excellent read.
Hi Popcorn, I am so glad you've decided to watch "Band of Brothers" (or "BoB" as so many people know it as). As you get more into it and get to know the characters (and therefore the real soldiers who this is about), you will become more emotionally involved and feel that you know the men themselves. Because it is based on real life events, the sad, as well as the good times and the bonds that these men had will really get to you and pull on your hearts strings. These men parachuted into Normandy, behind enemy lines in the early hours of D-Day ahead of the beach landings to help make sure the that the invasion went according to plan and was successful. When this was filmed 20 years ago, all the veterans would have been in their 60s and 70s, many of them lived well into their 80s and 90s and the last I heard, only one man (Ed Shames) was still alive towards the end of last year. He doesn't appear in the series for a few more episodes (and only appears briefly) as he was transferred in from another company later on. Once you have finished watching the entire series, you must watch the documentary which uses all the clips (and more) shown before each episode. There are also lots of other documentaries, books about and Interviews with the veterans after they became famous available.
If history was never your thing, you will be changed by this series, but in a good way.
Keep up the good work.
BOB is great series ... "Dunkirk" was also a great war movie written and directed by Chris Nolan... and if you have ever seen any of his directed movies, you know he likes to mess with the viewers mind. Worth a watch.
Sorry, zombie, but Dunkirk was a shit film. Nolan took one of the greatest triumphs of human history and turned it into an hour and fourty minutes of ego-stroking. He underplayed the whole event, pissing on the Herculean efforts of everyone involved, and the sacrifice of the thousands of mostly French rear guard, just so we could see how badass his camera angles were or how subtle his use of metaphor. I've tried to sit through that movie twice now, and it fucking angers me to no end. He should stick to Batman.
I’m sure others have commented on this, but Saving Private Ryan is a fictional story with all fictional characters set in a specific and very accurately depicted point in history (at least the Omaha beach landing).
Band of Brothers is a (mostly) accurate portrayal of the REAL LIFE members of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne and their actual actions throughout the entirety of the war.
Other than both depicting the events of D-Day, they have no other similarity in story or source material.
God every time i watch a reaction video on BOB i so miss Drinking singing and hearing the stories by these Troopers back in the mid 90's and after the series came out. while i was a trooper in E/506th (living history unit )(will try not to drop names so as not to ruin it for yr reactions) i remember being in the Barracks for the Battle of the bulge reenactment, when we were read the letter sent by Tom Hanks asking a Org Trooper of E/506th for his blessing to do this series as we were having a Prop Blast Bash and we all cheered when asked what we though about doing it.
Since this is the comments of a Band of Brothers reaction, I'm going to just skip right to the most important thing. I know it's several episodes early, but it is the reason comments sections even exist. Blithe didn't die. When that error occurs, 100 well intending commenters will point it out. It's something of a tradition around this series.
Been there, done that. :). Is there a version of the series either broadcast, dvd or blueray that fixes the error at the end of that episode?
After you get done with Band of Brothers you should watch Pacific filmed and made by the same company just as good Band of Brothers
Clearly not as good imho. I would give it 8/10 and BoB 10/10.
It's good but nowhere near as good, not even close.
I agree it is just as good. The Pacific, to paraphrase Tom Hanks, has a "different DNA" than Band of Brothers. The overarching theme of Band of Brothers is the brotherhood of war. The theme of The Pacific is the dehumanization of war, which is much more difficult and terrible to see. It took me several viewings, plus reading the combat memoirs of some of the men in The Pacific to truly appreciate it for what it is. It is not going to be like BoB, just as the Pacific theater was nothing like the European theater.
@@catherinelw9365 thank you for seeing what I see I know everyone has their own opinions and I respect that but there's more than just the TV show or movie it's the story behind it and what it means that makes it equal or better nor worse depending on whatever it is.
@@gamingop9928 Reading the combat memoirs of the surviving Marines really opened my eyes to the horrors of the Pacific theater and why we dropped 2 A-bombs, for which I'm thankful, otherwise my father would have probably been killed in the invasion of Japan.
Those black and white invasion stripes on the P-47s and C-17s at Aldbourne, my grandfather painted those stripes and maintained the P-47s and later on P-38s and P-51s when we established airfields in France as part of the 355th Fighter Squadron famed for their insane accuracy on bombing railways, rail bridges and even train engines themselves. I joined the Air Force in 2017 to honor that memory and as it turned out, became a maintainer (crew chief) myself for the B-1b Bombers of the 34th Bomb Squadron.
It isn't a documentary but it is based on the historical book "Band of Brothers" by Stephen Ambrose. He interviewed the soldiers of Easy Company for that book. The characters you see in this series are based on on those real people and their very real experiences. David Schwimmer looks a lot like the real Lt. Sobel.
Ed Snow was a member of ‘fox’ company, a sister company of ‘easy’ when he jumped into Normandy as a 17 year old high school drop out. He and some of his buddies “relieved” a German of his truck and made their way to their original destination on D-Day. He was shot on D+2, but made roll call the next day. He lost his best friend during Operation Market Garden. Ed found Christ during the Battle of the Bulge, and while spending time at the crossroads town, Ed and 16 other men were assigned to go on a recon mission. Of the 17 men who left, 5 returned. At Bastogne, Ed was again shot, but made roll call the next day. I type all of this, to say that Ed died on December 9, 2021. He was a great man, and I am a better man for having known him.
One of the best soundtracks in television! The music for this show was incredible.
This is one of my all time fav mini series. Im glad you got around to watching it, makes me want to get my Blu-Ray set out and watch it again. Winters is an icon of a true tactical leader and if i was one of those boys who fought along side him, i would've followed that man into hell itself.
Airborne training back then was a lot different than it is these days. Back then, it was the great experiment. They had no idea how tough a paratrooper needed to be. When I went through Airborne School, I had just completed basic and AIT, so I was at my peak, at the time. Training was focused on the technical requirements of performing a safe jump. Even with the heavy emphasis on safety, people get hurt, and even killed. I broke my foot on my second jump. I still finished up all my jumps, and ran everywhere in formation in the meantime. And I wasn't the only one. Air Assault School was far more taxing, physically, mentally, and intellectually. And I used that training more times than I can count, during my time in uniform.
Sobel getting his "promotion" is yet another example of failing upwards. Colonel Sink knew once the enlisted men presented him with their demands, that Sobel was a liability. He needed him in the Army, and knew he could handle a training leadership assignment, but also that his expected lifespan once they went boots wet was going to be far shorter than anybody else in the battalion. Most of us that have been in the military, if not all of us, have known somebody that failed upwards. We see it in politics and corporations to this day. As far as David Schwimmer, that man deserved every award they could throw at him. It was the finest acting performance he's ever given.
Just a couple notes -
It is not a documentary, but is based on the real people and events. The book was written solely based on historical records and interviews. By todays media standards, this may as well be real footage because of how close it is to the EXACT story, people, etc. I believe these interviews were done as an addendum to the original interviews upon which the book was written. The book was published in the early 90's, so the interviews IIRC were from the late 1980's - which is why they look relatively young for what would be their age now. The series was created in 1999-2000 and released in 2001. I am not sure any of the Easy Company brothers are still alive.
For the court martial - he could have taken the punishment and been done with it, but he was tired of being bullied/pushed around, so he elected for court martial. This would force all of the crazy accusations and expectations, as well as the retribution, to become know to others in the chain of command, officially and formally.
The men were a mix of draftees and volunteers, all of whom then volunteered for jump school.
The night before DDay, when the paras dropped, they were so scattered because the pilots took measures in changing their course to reduce the threat of Anti Aircraft fire. Most did so out of need as they were being fired upon, but some altered course to avoid known hot spots as well. The problem was they had no way to correct their course as the evasive maneuvers were often erratic by nature and they had not planned to alter course at all. The expectation was that the pilots would simply have to fly straight along the planned route. Units and individuals were incredibly mixed and often just formed with whomever else they found and went to any landmark or objective they knew or could find.
The re-assignment of Sobel always reminds me of that line from A Few Good Men .... paraphrasing here .... "His demotion, while grotesque and incomprehensible, saves lives".
"Never put yourself in a position where you can take from these men." That sentence epitomizes Winters' leadership skills. Puts a lump in my throat every time.
My grandfather fought in the Pacific, but the concept is similar in either theater of the war. Before the war, my grandfather had never traveled more than a hundred miles from his home in Arkansas. Our family farm. He rode horses to school and worked the land. By the end of the war, he had been to Australia, New Guinea, the Philippines, Okinawa, and a ton of little islands across the entire Pacific. All these boys went from average American lives to brutal war across the world. Nothing like it has ever happened in American history.
My grandfather went to college on the G. I. Bill, became a doctor of pharmacy, and put three children through college and grad school, debt-free. Including my father, a pediatrician. My uncle, a cardiologist. And my aunt, a doctor of music. Good luck doing that these days. Oh, and his wife worked in aircraft factories all through the war, got a degree in mathematics and business, then got a master’s degree in math later. She taught school for over 30 years.
You talk about some tough-ass people. Who also got incredible opportunities because of a horrible world calamity.
Are your family from Conway or Faulkner county per chance?
This is the best series, that is based on real events, to ever be made. I love how they include interview's with the men who fought in E Company of the 506th Infantry Regiment and the 101st Airborne division.
My great uncle, Edward Schmalhofer, dropped with the 101st, Easy Company on D-day. I didn’t know him well as he passed before I got out of elementary school. I’d have loved to hear any of the stories he had to share.
My grandfather fought in WWII. He was in the 101st Airborne, 3rd BN, 506 PIR, D-Day.
Just a fun fact: The mountain road they showed in this is the same road they really used back in the day. Most of that base is gone but they still have a few buildings up so people can see what it was like. The number one thing that you should do while watching, this pay attention to the veterans who are talking at the start of each part. Hear there story, you can see it in their eyes. some of these guys are no longer with us so remember what they are telling you. Have fun watching this.