Watching *BAND OF BROTHERS* For the First Time! (Episode 9-10) FINALE
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- Опубликовано: 2 июл 2024
- This is our First Time Watching Reaction to the Band of Brothers (2001) Episodes 9 "Why We Fight" and 10 "Points". Easy Company finally enter Germany, to little resistance, and have a chance to relax for the first time in a long while. A patrol in a nearby forest discovers an abandoned Nazi concentration camp, still filled with emaciated prisoners. Locals refuse to acknowledge the camp's existence. After capturing Eagle's Nest, Hitler's mountain-top fortress, the men of Easy Company face deployment to the Pacific until the Japanese surrender, and end the war.
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When they were filming this, Dick Winters was invited out to the set to meet the cast and crew and to get some of his insight. When he arrived most of the crew was on the back of one of the trucks (Like the one in episode 10) sitting and waiting. This one was covered and according to one of the actors when Mr. Winters lifted the canvas tarp to say hello to them he froze, stood there for a moment, and dropped the canvas and then left without saying anything. When asked later about it, he admitted that seeing his long dead friends again was too much.
Awww poor guy. 😢 they really should’ve timed it better and had him meet the actors off set in normal clothing.
@@annieberardino8732 It may not have helped, if my dad is any indicator. When he came back from war, I was just a little kid but seeing me at random moments would send him back to the kids he saw over there... It might've been a bit of a mistake to have them dressed up in the back of a deuce but he probably laughed about it later and approved that they'd managed to cast and capture the boys properly... It sucks, and they could've tried to mitigate it better, but. It's also something you can't always account for, and he probably wasn't expecting it to be so striking..
Just out of curiosity where did you hear that from?
@@whata86 From a guy who visited where they filmed from one of the actors that was in the scene.
@@annieberardino8732agreed especially since episode 9 isn't real for easy company
Sadly, this series is more than 20 years old and most of the E company veterans have passed away now.
This is the best WW2 series/film out there and perhaps one of the best tv series ever made.
All of E company have passed away unfortunately. The last member died in 2021 if I remember correctly.
@@trevorritzman7079 Yep Bradford Freeman was a mortar man. He died on July 3, 2022 at the age of 97. He was officially the last surviving member of Easy Co.
Yeah and I believe that Guanere, Perconte and Malarkey were the last living of the Toccoa men of Easy Co. Guanere passed in 2014, Perconte in 2013 and Malarkey in 2017.
As of July of 2022, all members of Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, the "Band of Brothers", have passed away.
"He ain't gonna jump no more." RIP Easy.
The funny part is, most of these "cameos" weren't cameos at the time. For many of these actors, it was their first major role. This series helped launch the careers of many of them.
Many of the extras playing the concentration camp prisoners were cancer patients hence the emaciated look. Also, the actors were kept away from these extras to add to their shock.
You know the sobering, sick thought? As emaciated as the cancer patients as extras are...their appearance doesn't even come close to how skeletal Concentration Camp inmates were. Normally I would say to those who haven't seen historical pictures of survivors from liberated camps to go see those pictures. But actually, don't. Just don't.
From what I've heard that was the only way to replicate the physical state the prisoners were in
@@Cabur_Skirata I know. That's why it is so horrifying to fathom how so much worse the reality was. Note: my original comment is not a criticism of the condition of those extras in Band of Brothers. It is just a reminder of how terrifyingly brutal the history is.
And the cancer patients were on even *better* shape than the inmates. Talk about horrific
Also, many of the patients were terminal and didn’t live long enough after filming to see the final product. If you plot out the locations of the camps, the Americans didn’t really see them until towards the end of the war cuz most were in Germany, then out east, southeast and south. The Russians really ran into the camps first. The men also said that what they really saw was so much worse than this or even you could imagine. The locals had no idea about the camps since it was really kept under close supervision and secrecy.
If you guys enjoyed this series the documentary on the real men this show is based on is incredible its called "We Stand Alone Together" and i think its well worth your time!
Yes yes yes. So many channels neglect it and miss it out. It ties everything off and it's so nice to see the veterans in their older years..
I believe is a sin not to watch We Stand Alone Together!
The BoB podcast is also a must
It really is well worth the watch. You learn so much more, while getting to know the real soldiers during.
YESSS!!
Winters: "Grandpa, were you a hero in the war"...Grandpa said "no"...."but I served in a company of heroes"....that just GUTS ME....every....single.....time. What a TRUE hero...and uncommon man. What a company of men who I'm not sure we could put together today. May they all rest in peace. Thanks for such a great review of one of the best series ever.
Every time with out fail.
A lot of people miss it in the quote, but when he tells that story, he's actually speaking of Myron "Mike" Ranney speaking to his grandchild.
@@emwungarand Ranney, who in the series is portrayed by Steven Graham (who played Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire). You only see him briefly here and there, but his best scenes are the mutiny scenes in the first episode. You see him announcing the news about Winters being demoted (by Sobel) to battalion mess, among the NCO's writing the letter around the table threatening mutiny, and Colonel Sink demoting Ranney to Private. If you search for Band of Brothers Mutiny Scene, you can see it.
Those are Ranney's words.
It's not so much the words Maj. Winters says as it is the tiny voice crack that gets me
Capt. Nixon and the German officer's wife: When she catches Nixon stealing from her, she looks at him as if he should be ashamed. Then at the end while she is helping bury the victims, he looks at HER like SHE should be ashamed...and she is.
I always wondered if her husband was Commandant of the camp? He was a ranked officer in the picture.
@@jimmiller8687 He couldn't be a commandant because he was a Wehrmacht officer. Those didn't have much to do with the camps.
@@jimmiller8687 He was also dead as you see on the morning ribbon on the picture!
@@jimmiller8687 Please understand that much of what is shown in Band of Brothers is fictionalized, this includes the camp liberation scenes, and was written for dramatic effect. The camp shown in Band of Brothers is Kaufering IV (Hurlach) which was actually found and liberated by the 12th Armored Division on April 27, 1945 with "Able" Company (not Easy) actually arriving on April 28. The last commandant of Kaufering IV, Johann Baptist Eichelsdoerfer, was captured of few days after the liberation of the camp. He stood trial for war crimes and was executed in 1946.
16:22 man carrying older man, he is speaking Serbian, he is saying "People help, please help, he is still alive, you can still save him"
Man I was just a kid when I first watched the series, to hear those words to understand them, while everything was subtitled.
I still get chills down my spine...
I watched a reaction video. When this scene happened I and he said that, the woman watching burst into tears…and whispered…that’s our language.😢
37:18 Important thing to note, the camera panning down to reveal the helmet was empty was that they planned it. They made it look random when in reality, Shifty's name was the only one in there.
They picked to him and wanted to send him home.
"You salute the rank, not the man." One of my favorite lines of the entire series!
Every year, the airport here in Reading, PA has a WWII Weekend. One year when I attended, a few of the Easy Company soldiers who were still living at the time were there. I had the EXTREME HONOR of getting to meet Winters and shake his hand! It was an AMAZING moment!
When I was in the service there were officers I hated but I saluted their rank, not them.
@@sreggird60 Thank you for your service!
Here's a brief explanation of how points worked.
Each Month Spent in the Military - 1 point, an additionally point was awarded for months spent overseas
Each Battle Star or Decoration (including Purple Hearts) 5 points
Men with Dependent Children - 12 points for up to a maximum of three children.
My Uncle Matthew had 88 points at the end of the war.
AND??????????
"Grand Pa said no... but I served in a company of heroes." Gets me every time. I can never watch it without tearing up.
Even when you know it’s coming
I recommend "The Pacific" if you really injoyed Band of the Brothers. It's another amazing series following the Pacific Theater!
You have to go in "The Pacific" with a completely blank slate and not expect a "Band of Brothers 2" type series. The Pacific is far more choppier and not as linear as BoB because it covers 3 main soldiers in mostly different regiments, which creates a lot of unfair criticism. But in terms of shock-value of what those men went through (and nurses), The Pacific hits hard, arguably harder than BoB.
Side note: the 3rd WW2 Hanks/Spielberg installment "Masters of the Air", which details the Mighty Eight Air Force bombers stories, debuts on Apple+ soon. It was expected by "mid spring 2023" but since there have been no ads for it, it'll probably be fall or winter 2023.
@@goatcheese4me I personally prefer the Pacific. It's less cohesive as you mentioned, but I think it does better showing the 'cost' of war in ways that Band of Brothers only hints at. I think the closer focus fits the challenges of the pacific theater since it's really not possible for an "Easy Company" type story in the Pacific.
I don't think it was the intent of BoB to 'glorify' war in any way, but it's a far more aspirational story and I tend to be more suspicious of that kind of war story. The Pacific doesn't make you feel good and I identify with that more.
I'd love it if they would react to The Pacific, but I'd understand if they can't stomach it. It's levels of magnitude more brutal than Band of Brothers, even though BoB itself hits pretty hard. After Episode 6/"Peleliu Airfield", I almost said enough was enough, but managed to finish it and experience the tragic beauty of the final episode.
@@goatcheese4me It's also really, really dark. It's well worth seeing, but as you say, don't expect another Band of Brothers.
I have watched Band of Brothers dozens of times over the past 20 years. I watched the Pacific once and I couldn't watch it again, too sad to watch again
I loved Nixon and Winters' best friend relationship in this series.
Winters being there for Nixon when he lost so much and went through such severe emotions was what he needed. And then in the last episode, Nixon taking care of Winters with the job offer was such a kind and generous offer.
The song Easy Company is singing is called "Blood on the Risers", and is sung to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic". It's the unofficial song of US paratroopers. It tells the story of a rookie paratrooper who is nervous and makes several mistakes during his jump, costing him his life. It's a cautionary tale to new recruits to both make them aware of the risks of parachuting, as well as admonishing them to be thorough when preparing for a jump.
Lyrics (GRAPHIC LANGUAGE WARNING):
He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright.
He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tight.
He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar.
You ain' t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS):
Gory, gory, what a hell of way to die.
Gory, gory, what a hell of way to die.
Gory, gory, what a hell of way to die.
He ain' t gonna jump no more."
Is everybody happy?" cried the sergeant looking up.
Our hero feebly answered, "
Yes", and then they stood him up.
He jumped into the icy blast, his static line unhooked.
And he ain' t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock.
He felt the wind, he felt the cold, he felt the awful drop.
The silk from his reserve spilled out and wrapped around his legs.
And he ain' t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
The risers swung around his neck, connectors cracked his dome.
Suspension lines were tied in knots around his skinny bones.
The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground.
And he ain' t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
The days he lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind.
He thought about the girl back home, the one he left behind.
He thought about the medicos and wondered what they' d find.
And he ain' t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild.
The medics jumped and screamed with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled.
For it had been a week or more since last a ' chute had failed.
And he ain' t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
He hit the ground, the sound was "
Splat," his blood went spurting high.
His comrades they were heard to say, "
A helluva way to die."
He lay there rolling ' round in the welter of his gore.
And he ain' t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the ' chute.
Intestines were a-dangling from his paratrooper suit.
He was a mess, they picked him up and poured him from his boots.
And he ain' t gonna jump no more.
Gory, gory, what a hell of way to die.
Gory, gory, what a hell of way to die.
Gory, gory, what a hell of way to die.
He ain' t gonna jump no more
Minor point of order, but it wasn't the recruit in the song's fault that his chute failed. 'His static line unhooked' means that his main chute wasn't able to deploy, as the static line which was hooked onto a cable inside the C47 would deploy the chute automatically shortly after the trooper jumps from the plane. In an uncontrolled fall at that point, he correctly pulls the deploy line for his reserve chute but it didn't deploy properly, getting caught up around his legs instead.
Keep in mind, paratroopers were a brand new concept in WWII and a lot of the kinks in the equipment hadn't been worked out yet. German Falschirmjager didn't even have a full rig and riser system like the Americans had, instead their chutes worked more like parachutes you'd see on a toy soldier, deployed and held on the man at a single point in the middle of the trooper's back (I believe this was essentially what American reserve chutes were). But, I digress. A lot of lessons were learned in the blood of early paratroops to minimize things like static line failures and developing more reliable reserve chutes. Even then, as you can see in Episode 2 of the show with the paratrooper who got tangled in the tree, his leg managed to get caught in his harness when his chute went up and pinned it behind him, likely breaking the leg. Even if he had survived, he was still a casualty at that point and wouldn't be in fighting shape for a long time.
44:05 It was actually much worse than depicted.
The replacement actually had killed British officers as well as the Germans. When Easy Company immediately rallied and conducted a manhunt for the man, he was caught attempting to rape an Austrian girl.
An ending to the whole ordeal that wasn't depicted in the series was when Colonel Sink came to debrief Speirs. Sink took Spears upstairs and asked for the whole story. After Sink left, they asked Speirs what had happened.
Sink had replied, "I would have shot him" but left without saying anything else. Sink respected his men's decision-making and would have supported it either way.
Tension was high and there was a lot of anger and blood in the air. But the men of Easy Company didn't want to actually kill the guy. They had enough of the killing.
Do you have a link to this story? It's really interesting
Piggybacking off this. Sgt Grant ended up living a mostly normal life. He occasionally had difficulty speaking and had partial paralysis in his left arm but was otherwise okay . He owned and operated a little tobacco shop in San Francisco and died in 1984.
@@nattaloane Not so much a link. But if you read Marcus Brotherton's book "A Company of Heroes," it actually does talk more about Grant's recovery thanks to Speirs finding a German brain specialist to save Grant's life.
@@hellowhat890 Thank you! I'll give it a read ☺
the bad part is, the murdering private was let go after being charged. He killed a man, shot and injured Grant, and served no time at all. They just released him and he wasn't punished at all.
You still have one more episode to go! Episode 11 "We Stand Alone Together" The documentary of Easy Company. More of the interviews you've been seeing and includes family members and reunions. Well worth the watch and ties everything together nicely.
Yes! Absolutely watch We Stand Alone Together.
And watch the Story of Dick Winters. Its pretty good to and shows what a man he was and how respected he was.
Agree
You now NEED to watch “Together we stand alone” it’s the documentary with the members of the 506th that were still alive at the time of filming. Sadly, all the members are now gone.
the tragic brilliance in the final shot of episode 9, he puts the violin in its case, reminiscent of a coffin.
The miniseries began airing in 2001 (2 days before 9/11). Richard Winters would live until Jan 2011. He was buried in Ephrata, Lancaster County PA.
Now they need to watch "The Pacific". Also by Tom Hanks and Spielbeg and set in the Pacific campaign.
This!!!
The camp scene breaks me every time. There are no words.
I've seen this Series so many times and tears still flow during this episode.... 😢
I can hold it in until that one guy starts weeping and kisses and hugs the soldier
_The camp scene breaks me every time. There are no words._
It was written specifically for dramatic effect and is representative of camp liberations in general. But contrary to what is shown in Band of Brothers, Kaufering IV (Hurlach) was actually found and liberated by the 12th Armored Division on April 27, 1945 with Easy Company arriving on April 28. And there were only a few prisoners found alive (those who had managed to hide), along with about 500 bodies.
From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
_As US armed forces approached the Kaufering complex in late April 1945, the SS began evacuating the camps, sending the prisoners on death marches in the direction of Dachau. Those inmates who could not keep up were often shot or beaten to death by the guards. At Kaufering IV, the SS set fire to the barracks killing hundreds of prisoners who were too ill or weak to move._
_When the 12th Armored Division and 101st Airborne Division arrived at Kaufering IV on April 27 and 28, respectively, the soldiers discovered some 500 dead inmates. In the days that followed, the US Army units ordered the local townspeople to bury the dead._
Its sad to think that every one of these amazing men are now gone. They will hopefully be forever remembered.
Had a great time rewatching this series with you both!
"Why We Fight..." Imagine seeing all of the horrors of War, and then being speechless seeing this. This title is a reference to the legendary Frank Capra World War 2 documentary series, that was actually made during the War and shown in theaters before the outcome was even known, making it all the more harrowing.
Tom Hanks ALERT 🚨 @12:12 👀
I also believe that the Nazi Woman in the vivid red coat was a connection to the little Jewish girl who dies in the Holocaust in Schindler's List in some way. Showing both sides of it. I don't believe there are coincidences in Spielberg's work.
True, but because the episode depicts the horror of a concentration camp, I believe it is also referencing Ike Eisenhower's quote: "We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, we know what he is fighting against", spoken upon the discovery of one of Buchenwald's camps
My Great Grandfather served with the 101st Airborne during the war. His job was as a supply officer in the Division’s Ordnance Company. He was in charge of the handling, distribution, and repair of all sorts of weapons and ammunition. There were many accounts that he would recall to us, like enduring artillery barrages among others. But one of the incidents that stuck out to him was the Landsberg Concentration Camp. He helped with translating for polish prisoners who were there as he was a 2nd generation Polish American. While there he took photos of the civilians burying the bodies of the dead like depicted in the show… There are other stories he never told us that we found out about after his passing. But it makes it all the more important to try and learn these stories before they’re all gone. As of now there are no longer any living members of Easy Company and there are only a little over 100,000 veterans left out of the 16 million men and women who served. It’s important to learn these stories while they are still here with us…
You can look up combat action reports from units online now. They are interesting reading if you would like to look for them. My dad has two Presidential Unit citation from the battles of Twin Tunnels and Chipyong Ni, in the Korean War. He was also given the Army Commendation medal as a private. Plus, all the awards etc., given out by the United Nations. I found all those after action reports they made when dad served in the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. Puts a little perspective on what my dad did during the war. He's 91 now. He usually doesn't talk about it with my sisters. He does talk about it with me. I'm a Veteran, female, but have been in the Army. It's a bond we both share.
@@rhiahlMT thats incredible! Unfortunately, we had learned that the reports of the division’s 801st ordnance are nowhere to be found including our grandfather’s personal records. When reaching out to try and obtain access to any sort of records, we had learned that likely his files and records more than likely had burned in a fire that had occurred in the 70s as nothing comes up for his name. However we are fortunate that he kept a decent amount of his personal paperwork and photo albums that he wrote context of what is happening in them on the back of each picture he took.
@@cooleo6442 Yeah, my dad's records went up in flames in that fire. He retired from the Army in 1969. But, the 2nd ID records are still out there.
Points..."Easy Company" is the most tragically ironic name in military history. From D-Day, all the way to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. There was nothing easy about it. I'm so glad they never revealed the characters, but instead allowed us to focus on their stories. Now the actors who portrayed these hero's are having reunions of their own. I will absolutely always love this series. Currahee!♠
Always sort of pause for bit when they called the people in Band of Brothers "characters", they were real people, "characters" kind of imply they weren't real.
@@TheArrowedKnee For this show, the word applies. There were over 300 men Officers and Replacements that served in the company. The book and by extension the show only focuses on a handful of them. So to keep the casting costs down, you have to make than a few tough decisions. Among them is to combine the stories together. What you get are a group of characters with the combined experiences of several real people. This benefits the story and drama without disgracing the real men that are being dramatized with some exception. But that is why we have memoirs, and after action reports.
There were hundreds of companies like "Easy company" during WWII. Their stories most likely similar to the ones in this series with good and bad officers. With brave men and jokers alike. The only difference is that E Company, 2nd Bn 406 PIR's story got picked up by Stephen Ambrose and became a book and mini series.
Many people think that the European Theater wasn't as "bloody" and horrible as the Pacific or the Eastern Front... in reality, all war is horrible and ultimately unnecessary. There's no "easy" part of war, and the men of Easy Company took everything the Germans could throw at them. They were real heroes, RIP
@@pabloc8808 No don't let that be a misconception like Harry said war is Hell. Hitler had two fronts his forces was out numberd he needed to keep moving his forces around when there was a break through on one front are the other but in the early stages on the western front those German forces was season. German forces had treated pows fairly well compared to the Japanese troops.
I am a combat veteran ( Vietnam ) You can not possibly know the good you have just done.
Thank you for this and God bless you both.
And you as well for your service.
I guess the best thing those of us who are not in the military can do is to find our own ways to serve our communities, and to preserve the stories of those in uniform.
Very well said. There are all kinds of ways to serve. Thank you and God bless you@@terminallumbago6465
The last member of Easy company of the 506 parachute infantry regiment passed away last year. Bradley Freeman was 97.
Time flies. The series came out of generation ago. We are almost as far away from the last Americans pulling out of Vietnam Today, as we were from the end of World War II, when "Saving Private Ryan" came out.
The general population in Germany that lived near a camp knew something was up. It is literally impossible not to know from the ashes and smell alone. They wouldn't talk about it and weren't 100% sure of what was happening exactly, but when they acted like it was all something no one knew about they were just lying.
Yeah you could say that about the sovietunion with the Gulags or poland or czech or USA and brits too. All of them had concentration camps so its bullshit only blame germans. Iam so sick of this one sided bullshit.
A comforting lie is easier than a hard truth
@@kilomike5788 thats not a comforting lie. Thats the hard truth. Read it up if you dont want believe it but sure you americans have your knowlegde about History, especially about WW2 just from Hollywood movies lol. You are even still thinking you are the heroes even when the USA is the biggest mass murderer in all History until these days. Just learn more about history than stupid Hollywood bullshit and Call of Duty lol
The German people obviously didn't know the gory details but they knew what those camps were for and that people who were imprisoned at one were never going to come back....
@@nicholasbova9909 another bullshit. Its like you would say the americans had known the Secret of the nuclear bombs and Japan what they didtn first.
They wrapped it up so well. Best series ever made. You guys had very good reactions to it. The way they close it with a baseball game, explaining what happened to everyone, and then the reveal at the end is just perfect. They also did an amazing job at showing the discovery of the Concentration Camps.
As others stated, actors who portrayed actual vets were kept away from the "camp scene" until day of filming by Spielberg and Hanks for their honest reactions. "Camp survivors" were cancer patients from nearby hospital. Some of them never seen this miniseries due their deaths. Part 9 of this series always gets teared up!
Anthony & Kacee
Richard "Dick" Winters lived to be 92 in 2011. Winters did an acceptance speech during 2002's Primetime Emmys as Band of Brothers won an Emmy for Best Miniseries as his men, then surviving members sitting in a nearby hotel looking on. Everyone there at the Emmys gave them a huge standing ovation. There is a video of his speech on RUclips.
I can rewatch this series unlimited times. Masterpiece. Great reaction.
The work camp depicted is "Kaufering 4" a sub-camp of the Dachau concentration camp in Landsberg, Bavaria. Most Germans knew of the camps, as did the intelligence agencies and leaders of the allied nations. Most dismissed the reports as rumors or Soviet propaganda.
The book and series are based on the memories of the surviving members of the company. So there are some historic inaccuracies. For example, private Blithe recovered and even served in the Korean War. In fact he was still alive when the series came out. The companion documentary is worth watching!
Blithe died in 1967
Yes he survived his war wounds but he passed long before the series came out.
I stand corrected 👍
Wasn't that like most of the civilian germans and even soldiers did not know about the camps? I heard a lot about this, as well as i saw a picture of german POW watching footages from camp.
@@Makarowka322 Many of them didn't know, however most did and willingly participated.
The woman in episode 9 whose house Nixon walked into, that actually happened to Winters and not Nixon. Also her husband wasnt a Nazi officer, just a regular Wehrmacht officer and he died, hence the black ribbon on the picture frame.
Also pretty sure Easy wasnt the first unit at that camp, a different outfit discovered it a few days earlier
The 12 Armor Division discovered the camp. My dad was in that outfit but didn't see it until a day later. Producers thought it would be for a better show having Easy discover it.
@@boyd0324 yeh plus I suppose its about the reactions more than anything. Its not like Easy knew what they were gonna see even if they didnt get there first. Even if they did, hearing about it and seeing it are two completely different things.
So what did your dad do, did he help operate tanks?
I knew exactly who Guarnere was from the beginning because the casting was so good lol - I was pretty sure I knew who Winters was and ended up being right. But it was for sure cool to see who was who at the end.
On christmass eve we allways put candle lights on the unnamed US and Canadian ww2 millitairy graves here in my city in The Netherlands. We will never forget what You all did for us.
That is wonderful. Thank you. ♥
ep9 will always bring a tear to my eyes.
Same. I've seen it countless times, but it always hits so hard.
@@johngingras just the thought people can be apart of something so awful.
which just compels the other atrocities of history
You got points from being in battles, getting commendations, and unfortunately being injured by the enemy. I know a lady that took care of shifty powers in his older years. She said he was the sweetest guy she ever knew, and didn’t know about his part in the war until after his passing. Thank God for these men, like my own uncle, who went and fought and never came home.
i couldn't imagine what it was like to lose men that regularly. Losing people never felt like a singular event, it always felt like they were all connected, every new death just added to the weight felt from the last one
Obviously I wasn’t around when WWII happened but I did visit Berlin in 2016. While I was there, I took a walking tour of Sachsenhausen concentration camp. It’s about a 30 minute car ride from the city of Berlin but there is a town right outside of the camp. As part of the tour, we walked from the town to the camp to show how close they were to each other. The tour guides mad a point to tell us there is no way the people who lived in the town didn’t know what was happening. The smell alone would have notified most but also, seeing the endless trains full of “workers” that never left the camp also should have let them know. The general public may not have known but any boarding town knew and people talk so, it’s very likely a lot of Germans knew (not all, but enough for there to be rumors).
If you ever find your self doubting that the boarder towns/cities did know, think about how far away you can smell barbecue when it’s cooking or recently been cooked and then multiple that by a thousand. That smell was strong, the wind carried it, and it lingered. They knew.
Well said.
"That's not Mozart, That's Beethoven" was packed with meaning.... My Uncle was there, btw, though I know this, he never spoke of it to me.
This is explained in the follow-up documentary that Major Winters accepted the surrendering German's sidearm. He later discovered while cleaning it that the weapon was never fired at any point in the war. He's also never personally fired that sidearm since receiving it.
Monuments Men is an interesting WW2 movie to see. Another angle to it that you don't always hear about.
fun fact: the solider shooting the prisoners in the back here 11:54 is Tom Hanks. He had a quick cameo
That's not Hanks. His only cameo was as a Brit soldier.
I hope you guys are planning on reacting to 'The Pacific' as well. I love these two series, and watching these videos is like seeing it for the first time again.
Cracks up that you were calling them "cameos." Most of these guys hadn't really made it yet, so less cameos than early appearances.
My brain still has a bit of a hiccup every time I watch and James Moriarty shows up as a radioman.
The points system at the end of the war was based on a number of factors, including how long one had been in the Army, how long they had been in combat, medals and commendations earned, and whether one had a wife and kids back home. So if a soldier was single, and hadn't ever been wounded, or received any medals, their points would be lower, even if they had been in the Army for a while.
The system was intended to prioritize who got sent home first in a ‘fair’ manner... that is, people who had been on the front lines since D-Day and had three kids to provide for would get sent home rather than someone who had just arrived, never saw combat, and unmarried. It managed this to an extent but in practice, as we see in the episode, you got people like Shifty who sort of slipped through the cracks. It was a source of frustration to a good many soldiers.
The guys all respected Shifty, especially since he was way short of points but had been a steady soldier the whole way, even taking out the sniper for Lipton. If you look during the lottery sequence, the LT pulled the name from the helmet with a slight smile and then you could see the helmet was empty; his was the only name in it. It was a setup just to get Shifty home.
@@ranger-1214 Right, that's what I mean. Shifty had been on the front lines since D-Day every time Easy was in the field. He was unmarried and never wounded so not enough points. He wasn't the sort of soldier intended to remain rather than go home, but because of the limitations of the system he slipped through its cracks and would have had to stay.
Vat 69 is Whiskey and is still around.
The officer in the picture wasn't SS. He's wearing a Wehrmacht (regular army) uniform. He was also dead, as indicated by the black ribbon. While he might have known of the camp when he was still alive, it's extremely doubtful he had anything to do with it.
Fun fact. The German officer addressing his men towarda the end of the episode is the same actor who played the German officer in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark whose face melts when they open the Ark.
The last surviving Easy Company veteran who passed away was Bradford Freeman last year in July 2022. He wasn't featured in the series but he did in fact serve and is now resting with his company of heroes. ❤
The last surviving officer was Ed Shames. He passed away in Dec 2021. He was portrayed in episode 7 (Breaking Point) as the officer who was always yelling. He retired from the army as a Colonel.
First watched episode 9 in high school history, I was high that morning, so I had a tough times holding the tears back😅. The Pacific is also very good, if u want more of this type of content.
If you decide to follow up with "The Pacific," be forewarned that it is a LOT darker than "Band of Brothers." I have seen a few reactors just cut off watching "The Pacific" because there are far fewer warm moments in that series and gets increasingly harder to watch as it progresses. The war in the Pacific was a completely different animal from the war in Europe and "The Pacific" shows that very well.
Was a pleasure re-watching this with you guys, loved it! Just wanted to hug you both when the war camp scenes were playing. I can tell you both got hit in the feels with that episode. *hugs* Keep up the great content :)
I love that ending. Such a perfect way to close out such a perfect miniseries.
46:35 For those wondering about Sgt Grant, he had some issues with speech and one of his arms was partially paralyzed but he ended up opening a tobacconist and lived until 1984.
The private who shot him received a life sentence but was released from prison shortly after the war. He died in 1987 after being hit by a truck.
Truly a miracle. I'd also read he would get rather painful headaches every now and again. According to Speirs, "there must have been some doubt in my mind as to whether we'd got the right guy," was the only feasible reason he didn't shoot the replacement.
Colonel Sink was heard to remark at the time of the Court Marshalling procedures: "Speirs you should have just shot him and saved us all the time." Haha
Allied forces had heard rumors from partisans in occupied areas about the camps but not to the level of what they were used for until advancing forces came upon them like the one in this episode.
The Allied Forces had very accurate information from military sources by at least the end of 1940 on what was occurring. The reports would be hard to believe and seeing it in person is a completely different matter.
The Polish Officer Witold Pilecki infiltrated Auschwitz in 1940 by allowing himself to be captured with civilian documents. His first dispatch out in October 1940 accurately described the extermination that was going on via starvation and brutal punishments. The first gassings were of Soviet and Polish prisoners around august 1941. In 1942 a radio to transmit information on arrivals and deaths until the risk was deemed too high and they destroyed the radio.
Witold Pilecki led a resistance until he had enough and broke out on the night of April 26-27, 1943. He broke into and out of Auschwitz. In 1948 after the war, the communist leaders in Poland killed Pilecki out of fear of him and his potential connections to former western allies.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of inaccurate information concerning the camp shown in Band of Brothers. The camp depicted in Band of Brothers is Kaufering IV (Hurlach) which was one of eleven labor subcamps of Dachau known as the "Kaufering Complex" located in the Landsberg area of Bavaria, Germany. Dachau, which began operations in 1933, was one of several concentration camps located in Germany that were operational before the war and were well known by the Allies. Contrary to what is shown in Band of Brothers, the 12th Armored Division found and liberated Kaufering IV on April 27, 1945 with Easy Company actually arriving on April 28. This is one of several inaccuracies shown in Band of Brothers.
Since I first watched Band Of Brothers when it first aired…. To this day (comment posted May 11th, 2023) it is THE BEST TV movie series EVER!
Im Nicaraguan special forces one time we got lost in the jungle during combat for 19 days. One of our guys got lost we found him, to make the story short, we only had 2 cans of tuna and we would take out a bit with our index finger in the morning and one in the afternoon. I was so skinny by then my pants wouldnt fit properly, so i had to wrap them with my belt. When we got to the base, i told everyone DO NOT EAT ANY FOOD RIGHT NOW. Because our stomach is so small your gonna make it burst or fuck it up. no one died in combat but 3 guys didnt listen and they ate whatever they could and i just remember them screaming in pain at night, 2 of them died only 1 of them survived.
Not many people knew about the camp's. I served in the military and lived 12 years in Germany. My ex wives grandma, told me stories, she was from flossenburg , I've seen mounds of human ashes. She told me it was summer, but the ashes would pour down like it was snowing. She didn't tell many people about what happened. My wife didn't even know about it
Even if they knew, they were probably too frightened to say anything. Any one who opened their mouths and questioned what was happening would be visited by the Gestapo and disappear, such as Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl and Cristophe Probst.
No offense but this has been widely debated and analyzed over the years and it's apparently that the VAST majority of the German people knew of most of the crimes. It was too hard to hide as German soldiers themselves would come back home on leave and talk about the mass atrocities they committed and the SS committed if their unit wasn't directly involved. This is widely discussed as most units witnessed it themselves. Interviewing many Germans after the war and years to follow roughly 50% admitted to knowing there were death camps. They went along with it and didn't rebel. I have zero sympathy for anything German because of what they did and stood silently as a mad man committed that evil.
If they didn't know, it was because they didn't want to know! The intelligence agencies and leaders of the allied nations knew of the camps from the Russians and other sources, but dismissed it as rumors or propaganda.
@@RaphaelKaran Yeah they knew at least to a certain extent that something bad was happening to the Jews. I mean for 12 years the Nazi regime dehumanized them. Equating Jews with vermin. Hitler stated more or less what he wanted to do with them. What the hell did Germans think was going to happen to them?!
You are 100% wrong and the evidence is so overwhelming as to make me think you're just a Holocaust denier. This is not in doubt, at all, you may as well say Americans weren't aware Guantanamo existed.
Absolutely the best television series I've ever seen. ♥
If you guys are astonished by all the cameos of Tom Hardy, Jimmy Fallon and the rest, here's an even bigger shock: Tom Hanks himself makes a cameo in makeup and costume as a soldier that the Easy guys pass by on the highway when Webster has his shouting moment
Ugh I’ve seen this show literally 55 times the ending ALWAYS makes me cry.
I think the last member of easy company died a few years ago. Tom Hanks spoke at Dick Winters funeral in 2011. I'm just glad they were able to produce this miniseries while a decent amount of the guys were still around.
The last member of Easy died in 2022.
The Pacific is also a highly recommended series to watch. It covers the Marines campaign in the Pacific Islands, which was a brutal campaign
It's gory gory. It's from the song "Blood on the Risers" that many airborne units sing. The song tells a story of how a soldier jumped out of a plane and his parachutes failed.
"Murders are not monsters, they're men, and that's the most frightening thing about them" - Alice Sebold
Great video, guys! I can answer some of those questions:
(6:44) Vat 69 is an 80-proof blended scotch. It's basically about forty different whiskeys mixed together. It's made by Sanderson & Sons in Germany, though it was invented in Scotland. In 1882, Sanderson whipped up 100 different casks of other peoples' whiskeys and he decided cask #69 was the best tasting. Ironically, this spirit is more famous for the bottle than for the beverage.
(10:58) Correct. Most people lived in cities. We learned about the highway system from the Germans during this war. It wasn't until the 1950s that we pushed to add freeways in the U.S., allowing people to move away from crowded cities.
(11:04) First comic featuring Flash Gordon: 1934.
(29:13) Though people had been kicking the idea around for years, Hitler ordered construction of the Autobahn in 1933 just days after he took office. That highway system was critical to the Blitzkrieg and the surprise economic growth that endeared him to the public.
The interstate system was actually to support troop movement in case of an enemy invasion. Civilian travel was just a welcome benefit of it.
You guys need to watch The Pianist! Very good movie definitely top 5. I enjoyed watching you guys experience this series!
That movie is a Amazing. Made me fall in love with Adrien Brody
I am very glad to have found you both, especially to comment now.
Thank you for articulating ever word that I hoped you would. I think your reation to these episodes brought new life to one who has seen this series more than a couple of times. Intuitive you have been in your emotions and words. I was waiting for this conclusion. You nailed it! Big love
My uncle Maurice was a motorbike messenger in the Canadian army. In 1946, after the war, Germans who had gone back home strung wire across a road and knocked him off of his bike at a high rate of speed near the Germany/Netherlands border. He was taken to the hospital where he got pneumonia and died. He is buried at the Holten Canadian War Cemetery in Holten, Netherlands.
The war may have been officially declared over, but it didn’t stop the mayhem, a fact depicted so well in episode 10.
Until they started finding, and, liberating the death camps, the average Allied soldiers didn't know about them. Army intel had heard rumors, but, they were all unconfirmed. The Germans didn't advertise what they were doing, and, the average German citizen learned early on that it was best to turn a blind eye to it, lest they wind up in a camp themselves. When Eisenhower issued the order that the civilians were to be forced to do the clean up, it was the first realization for most of them that they were, in fact, the "bad guys".
Now watch the pacific and generation kill, all apart of the hbo war series! both absolutely amazing!
Glad you both really got this. It's a great re-watch when you see it knowing who each of them are.
The last member of Easy Company Bradford C. Freeman passed away July 3rd 2022 at the age of 97, the last officer Edward Shames passed away December 3rd 2021 at the age of 99 you can see him as the officer depicted yelling in the Bastogne episode. May these men forever rest in peace and I truly hope we never forget the lengths our Greatest Generation went through to secure freedom and destroy tyranny around the world now WE need to be Americans worth fighting for.
PLEASE WATCH WE STAND ALONE!!! IT'S A DOCUMENTARY FROM WHERE THE REAL CHARACTER'S SPEECHES IN THE BEGINNING OF EVERY EPISODE WERE GOTTEN FROM.
IT TIES THE WHOLE SERIES TOGETHER AND SHOWS YOU THE CHARACTERS IN THEIR LATER YEARS.
I'd really like to see you guys react to The Pacific next, it's a sister series to Band of Brothers. It's about the US Marines during the Pacific theatre of war.
“Why We Fight” (title taken from a documentary by Frank Capra, who directed ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’) is structured in a way that once I saw part of the episode about the camp, I had mostly forgotten Nix’s problems. It seemed to me like seeing the camp gave him perspective on his problems.
Sgt. Charles “Chuck” Grant survived his head wound. He went back to San Francisco and opened a tobacco shop. He passed in 1984.
Wild to see all these reactions from this show within the last month. One of the best shows of all time. I just assumed everyone and their mother watched it when it was out lol. Glad you found your way.
My dad was in far east fighting the Japanese even when the war ended there in August 45 he didn’t get back to UK for 14 months.
This episode hits me the most because as a Chinese, I know that my grandfather generation suffered the same thing and even worse . German nazis just wanna wipe out the entire Jewish people, they just wanna kill , but the Japanese nazis did in China is 1000 times worse, they kill, rape , torture, just google nanjing massacre or the rape of Nanjing, or unit731 , you will find the most evil thing that happened in entire human history. Imagine how fked up that Japanese nazis doing things so evil that German Nazis had to step in and try to save some Chinese…
True, the brutality of the Japanese in China horrified the Nazi observers there.
I've watched like a dozen channels reacting to BoB already, but yours is one of the better. Great content, thank you!
This was the best television I ever saw in my life. Always glad to see another reaction to 'Band of Brothers' and liked these reactions a lot. You read each episode very well, and bonus points for airing the reactions so soon too, the wait for the next one was always short.
If you want to do some research on WWII the easy way… consider watching the multi-part British series “The World at War.” Narrated by Lawrence Olivier and featuring interviews with all kinds of people, soldiers, politicians, common people, it covers the period from the end of WWI through the post-war world. There are some things that aren’t perfect. The series was made before info about ULTRA became public. Still it will fill lots of gaps. If you ask for a reading list you will get a couple 100 titles. Some of the men from Easy wrote books. Start with Ambrose’s book and go from there. Then it depends on your interests. There are many books just on D-Day or Market-Garden. You could take a more strategic view and get books covering a broad picture. If you want more info, just ask.
Is it me or is the sound desynced?
Same here
But i served in a company of heroes! That hits so hard every single time!
Points worked like this:
1 point per month in service.
1 additional point per month spent overseas.
5 points per combat award. Bronze Stars, Purple Hearts, Campaign participation awards etc.
12 points per dependent child under 18 years old. (3 Children maximum.)
Service time was counted from September 16th 1940.
After VJ day, the score required was lowered to 80 points and was lowered successively as the months and years went on.
Loved the ending to this series. Hope to see you guys react to some Vietnam War movies in the future.
I can’t think of a Vietnam movie that is actually accurate. Maybe “We were Soldiers”?
@@brucechmiel7964 that and The Deer Hunter, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket are pretty accurate Vietnam movies.
Is it just me or is the audio desync for episode 10?
The Pacific is told from the perspective of a few different Marines from WWII. Also, they are getting close to releasing a THIRD series within the next year or two called "Masters of the Air" which is taken from the stories of several different pilots of B-17 heavy bombers from the US 8th Army Air Force and their missions over Europe. That will surely be done just as well as this and Pacific. Gonna be good. The unfortunate thing is that all of the veterans are gone now. All of Easy Company is gone, the Pacific guys and 8th Air Force guys are almost all gone as well.
From 34:16 the series was shot in switzerland. Look up the Grandhotel Giessbach, thats the hotel they stayed in during this part.
Can we expect The Pacific Next?
This series also gave me great appreciation for "the greatest generation." Sadly, I am not expecting the same level of sacrifice from our current generation of 20 somethings.
“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times.” Post WWII America was as good as it got for many people, and unfortunately the generation born during this time period (boomers/ gen X) was weak. Their inability to work/ raise children caused the problems we are now facing. Hopefully tougher men are forged by these struggles.
Ok boomer
Generations are byproducts of their surroundings and parents. Blaming a generation for anything is beyond stupid.
@@jayc5373 Typical. Refuses to accept any responsibility. So childish.
@@WILLGRAYY This ridicilous quote is thrown around so much it's not even funny anymore when some dipshit posts it.
When she said how come so many of them meaning the 101 have New York accents...Joe Liebgott was from California and the Actor who played him Ross McCall had said in an interview he had done "I am a British man with a Scottish accent portraying American who spoke German".
P.S. Fun Fact - That song they are singing is called Blood on the risers.
If y'all enjoyed this mini-series I would recommend watching both "The Pacific" which is another 10 part series about the US Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific theatre in WW2, and Generation Kill, an HBO mini-series about the US Marine Corps 1st Recon Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Pacific is based on the memoirs of Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie, as well as the story of John Basilone and the memoir of Chuck Tatum, a marine that fought alongside Basilone. Generation Kill is based on a book written by Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright about his time as an embedded reporter with 1st Recon. Both series are fantastic watches and all the books/memoirs are great reads.
Winters was such a great Commander. He knew how to take care of the men
I am guessing a lot of actors lining up for the audition (especially after the success of Saving Private Ryan) when their managers said "so Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks are about to make this colossal series and they need a lot of casts".
If I was an actor I'd be considered a genius, because all I would ever need to cry on cue would be to think about the finale of this series.
It gets me every time.
I was crying so hard during the concentration camp scene. Showing how Easy had no idea it was happening and how the town clearly knew was so powerful. Im glad they made the locals bury the bodies. There's no way they didn't know.