Jimmy Fallon played George C. Rice, an honest to God hero. He says "Ill try to make another trip." He made nine trips, the last three after the Germans had surrounded the town.
Which is ironic because according to Winters, it never happened. He did suffer PTSD of course, but it wasn't until after the war was over. He said he never had flashbacks in Paris, or at any point while the war was happening. It's one of the few scenes in the show that is a complete fabrication.
@@DudeLongcouch yeah, but imo that doesn't take away the power of the scene or make it ironic, really. a lot of scenes and stuff here are complete fabrications, they're there for dramatization: for character arcs, to match the themes of the episode, etc... Winters' scene on the train makes sense within the story the series is telling. this series is not 1:1 historical fact and i think that's completely fine. it doesn't have to be.
I came on here to share this link of something that came across my RUclips feed recently and it is very interesting and entertaining and is right up the alley of what you guys are talking about!! ruclips.net/video/6lQqToJoeEw/видео.htmlsi=yBEqnoAXLQlnnAeH
@@felipeaquitral "Winters' scene on the train makes sense within the story the series is telling." The story being told is of a group of actual US military soldiers and of their time in the service, including action during WW2. How does adding a completely fabricated scenario, make sense?
This episode presents PTSD/battle fatigue/shell shock through a variety of impacts; Winters, Buck & Lutz being affected in differing ways. We also see Doc Roe & his character...how he knows "his guys". He treats Pvt. Alley very calmly, sees the struggle in Winters when Col. Sink sends him to staff & at the perfect moment offers him a cup of coffee. We then see his chastisement of three officers after Moose is shot...heckuva medic.
This episode shows what a solid grasp of tactics Dick Winters had. He understood that speed, surprise, and, violence of action could overcome superior numbers.
Three things to remember for future episodes: The soldier Webster who says “They Got Me!” Wild Bill asking about a place called “Lulu’s” Nixon saying he’s going to look up a certain lady while on leave. Might answer some questions later
this episode is sooo good and feels almost like a season finale. the "crossroads" are not only literal and metaphorical, it also indicates the midway point of the series where anything can go one way or the other. is _so_ perfect. that end scene, focusing on some Easy men walking to Bastogne, seeing their faces, have always stuck with me. i'm enjoying your reactions a lot! keep up the good work!
Moose was awarded the British Military Cross for his part in the rescue of the Paras. The Dutch Resistance had helped hide the Paras when Operation Markey Garden failed.
The river crossing scene always makes me think of my late grandfather. He was with the 2nd / 5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers not long after D-Day and was making a river crossing in a dinghy when it was hit by a panzer shell. He woke up in a hospital back in England with a huge chunk of his thigh missing.
$6,000 back than is roughly equivalent to $106k in todays money. Let’s just say malarkey was really lucky/or good with gambling that night! Fun little fact about Buck Compton prior to service in the military and world war 2 he played baseball for UCLA.. which happened to be the same school this other well known man by the name of Jackie Robinson was also playing at the same time. He played with Jackie Robinson in college, yes that Jackie Robinson. The one who later went on to break the color barrier of baseball changing the game forever. Two absolute legends of humans but different times as teammates.
Jackie Robinson wasn't the first person of color to play professional baseball. He was simply the first one to be successful and sustain a career. See Moses Fleetwood Walker...
Another great reaction, guys. This episode really highlights how great a leader Dick Winters was. Your respect for him will grow as the series progresses. No spoilers, but prepare yourselves for the next two episodes. They are pretty intense. Until the next one, CURRAHEE 👍👍
The largest land battle in US Army History was the Battle of Bulge, over 600,000 US soldiers took part, Easy Company at the end was marching into the woods around Bastogne which was an early battle of "The Battle of the Bulge"...
Thanks for another BoB reaction - it's great to see young people remembering and honoring these now-gone people who did so much for future generations. As a veteran, I am very grateful. With that said, REPLACEMENTS are not RECRUITS, dammit! The words have very, VERY different meanings. It's disrespectful to call anyone serving in combat a RECRUIT. Calling a soldier a recruit means you don't think he's a soldier. It's like calling a graduate student a freshman. I was a Marine infantryman, NCO, and officer, and calling any serving Marine or soldier a recruit, even a private who had just reported in from infantry training school, was a serious insult and could get you punched in the face. PLEASE stop calling them recruits! Also, a squad is only about a dozen people. Different unit sizes are not interchangeable. For a veteran, hearing you mix and match them as if they mean the same things is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Again, you two do a great job, and I deeply appreciate your interest and your respect for these men - but those terms are important. Please don't do that.
This is the episode when Tom Hanks literally takes the writing reigns in the series...becoming more introspective with Winters and reflecting.. The back and forth between the gunfire, typewriter, and his memory is done brilliantly. Long before PTSD was even taken seriously, it may still not as it should be. Oh and if any of you run into any bacon sandwiches, let me know. Currahee ♠
The soldier says that there are no Polish in the SS which isn't true. There were volunteers for the SS in every occupied territory. In fact some of the last defenders in the Government District of Berlin were French SS. Ironically.
You may have heard this already, but the delay of the smoke wasn't real. Winters was routinely winning company wide athletics exercises (he was the first man in easy company to jump during training due to him being the most fit). Him and the men left at the same time but he pulled away from them.
Also, knowing you guys are already done filming the series, Winters was haunted by the young sentry on the dike till his death. He recalled in one of the several books, that the young man sort of smiled at him right before Winters pulled the trigger
4:54 While the show doesn't clarify, the machine gun fire is most likely in preparation to provide support by fire. They mention that the American battalion command post is approximately 3 miles away in the direction the machine gun is firing, and it is later revealed that the Germans conducted an assault on that battalion CP during which the officer Winters is "promoted" to replace had been hit while organizing the defense. So it is likely that the Germans were firing the machine gun in order to determine an optimum field of fire and correct elevation & windage relative to various landmarks they would have identified at different distances, in preparation to cover any German units which might have had to fall back to that point after their assault on the American battalion CP.
Sorry, not correct. Major Oliver Horton, CO of the 3rd Battalion 506th, was killed while organising the defence of his battalion at the Opheusden railway station four and a half miles to the west of the Easy/2nd Battalion sector where the 'crossroads' is located between Randwijk and Heteren. The German penetration at the crossroads from the Renkum ferry crossing over the Rijn was a diversionary attack (which explains the MG42 shooting at nothing) by a mixed battalion of leftover SS/Heer/Kriegsmarine/Luftwaffe/Fallschirm troops from Division von Tettau called Kampfgruppe Hansmann, which had survived the battle of Arnhem against 1st Airborne Division, co-ordinated with other diversionary attacks from other mixed units crossing the river at the Wageningen and Doorwerth ferries. These diversions were in support of a major counter-offensive by II.SS-Panzerkorps (10.SS-Panzer-Division, 9.PD and 116.PD) in the east of the 'island' aimed at retaking the Nijmegen bridges, and a major attack from the west of the 'island' by 363.Volksgrenadier-Division (mentioned by Colonel Sink in the episode) that hit the 101st Airborne Division line between Opheusden and Dodewaard in which Major Horton was killed. The Germans had hoped that all of these attacks would join up and evict all Allied forces from the Nijmegen 'island' entirely, but it failed and the lines were either held, or quickly restored as in the Easy/506th sector. Both 363.VGD and Division von Tettau (Netherlands occupation forces) were under the command of the recently arrived XII.SS-Armeekorps evacuated from the Kurland pocket in Estonia on the Eastern Front, and SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Hansmann was a staff officer from XII.SS-Armeekorps. Mark Felton's channel has a video on this called 'A German Bridge Too Far - The Nijmegen Counter Offensive' - ruclips.net/video/yaNnbHl30ic/видео.html
Bastogne was behind the front lines enough that it had been considered an R&R spot. When the Germans launched the attack they were trying to break the Allies in half all the way to Antwerp (I think). Holding Bastogne was necessary to stop the advance because it had so many of the main routes coming into and out of it. The "Bulge" front eventually spread to 75 miles wide with Bastogne basically in the middle. Good reaction and yes PTSD was a big factor that was misunderstood and largely ignored. Likewise it only took 30 to 40 years for the Pentagon to accept that Agent Orange was having long term effects on Vietnam vets.
"We're paratroopers. We're supposed to be surrounded." What a mentality. Never met them, but I do have the highest regard a person can have for these men.
No spoilers, but now be ready, buckle up … Great reaction and BTW. I was a High School US History teacher and during my WW II unit I used clips from BOB…
Maybe someone esle has already commented, but Winters didn't end up on his own because of the delayed red smoke, he just outran everyone else by a big margin. I really love this episode, even though a lot of details have been changed.
Winters running across the field and shooting a German soldier with no other context is one of my favorite openings of any episode of any show ever, of all time. I just learned today that most of EZ company didn't care for Nixon. They thought him an entitled brat and a drunk. Winters was one of his only defenders.
Yes, this is an important point re: Nixon! There's an interview elsewhere here on YT with another Easy Company member, Edward Shames, who reports baby-sitting the drunken Nixon at different times. In another clip I saw, Buck Compton talked about Nixon disliking him for seemingly no reason. (I speculate this is because Nixon was jealous Compton was popular with the other guys.) Compton says at one point Nixon called him a "jock" out of nowhere, and then put him in charge of physical fitness for the battalion. The order specified that the enlisted men could workout in t-shirts, while Compton was forced to workout in a wool shirt and necktie. These are just two stories I've come across, I'm sure other guys would have others. One thing about Band Of Brothers that's important to remember is that as great as it is, it's heavily based on Stephen Ambrose's book. And Ambrose's biggest source is Richard Winters. So there's certain biases there.
This isn't exactly accurate. While some men didn't care for Nixon, most either never said anything about Nixon or actually mentioned him casually. Nixon struggled with alcohol and (apparently) Buck Compton didn't think that Nixon liked him (so Buck didn't like him). We don't really know the reasons behind this. Buck was very close to the enlisted men, sergeants and the various NCOs (so much so that Winters had to try and distance him from the enlisted). Consequently, Buck's opinion could often rub off on them. Winters was an extremely good judge of character and seemed to like Nixon. We may never know exactly why there was something of a grift between Nixon and Buck. Nixon had longevity and rank. But, as one writer stated, it could simply have come down to jealousy. Both wanted to be close to Winters. By the time Buck showed up in England, Nixon and Winters were very close friends and "three" is often a crowd. Nixon was born with the metaphoric silver spoon in his mouth while Buck was a self-made athlete who paid his way through college. Winters thought highly of Buck and Buck certainly thought very highly of Winters.
@@ccchhhrrriiisss100 I've read all Easy memoirs, and I recall one almost getting into a fistfight with Nixon at a reunion because Nix was mocking Compton.
@@catherinelw9365 - Can you cite that one? I've seen the interviews about the "friction" and several stated that the perceived animosity was blown out of proportion.
Hi Guys. Happy to see you're enjoying BOB-series. So! You never heard of Operation Market-Garden, eh? Well, it appears that major films are a good way to teach history, so I'm going to strongly recommend that you also give serious attention to a viewing of "A Bridge Too Far," a 1977 film featuring Sean Connery and an all-star cast that tells the VERY in depth story of the ill-fated campaign (Market-Garden) devised by British General Bernard Montgomery. A September, 1944 operation much larger than the D-Day invasion just 3 months previous on June 6, 1944. D-Day was more than 2 years in planning, and still there was great trouble. Market-Garden was put together in only 7 days. The plan itself was simple enough. It's those nasty overlooked details and over-confidence that get you every time! Make sure you have "subtitles" turned on. You'll want to be able to understand every word spoken by the German High Command as the plot develops. See this film and you'll come to understand everything that's worth knowing about why this campaign was conducted and the fatal Intelligence denials that set the stage for the horrendous loss of Allied soldiers. "Crossroads" here is a more of what happened in the Holland area as the Allies continued their Eastern sweep across Europe toward their goal of Nazi defeat. I would also recommend that you Google yourselves a good map of the area from the Normandy Region of the D-Day assault in France and follow a path to the South and East so as to more fully understand how the European Theater of Operation progressed. The Old World is dotted with hundreds of towns, villages and associated rivers, and each presented its own obstacles whose terrain would have to be traversed in order to overcome a massive Nazi resistance. Later, I'm sure many friends here will also strongly recommend that you give a viewing to the 1971 Best Picture of the Year, "Patton."
When watching reactions to this series I always watch this episode to see if the mere mention of Bastogne provokes a reaction to see if the viewers know WW2 history and know what’s coming…
With that friendly fire incident, it could have been Winters hit. That would have changed what E-Company accomplished. A funny fact is that Jimmy Fallon could not drive a manual transmission, so they had people push the Jeep.
Typically, if someone like Doc Roe chewed out any officer (let alone the XO) he’d end up in the brig for insubordination. But 1) medics get a moral “pass,” and 2) he was right. Those officers took the dressing down like men, because they were wrong… and they knew it.
No spoiler here, but most reactors don't pay attention to Nixon saying the he is headed back to Aldbourne to look up a certain young lady. It relates to episode 9. Love your reactions!
The Battle of Bastogne: Bastogne was a critical crossroads small town during The Famous Battle of The Bulge! Hitler sneaked two crack Tank Panzer Battalions through the Ardennes Forest and totally surprised The Allies who thought getting tanks through was impossible, so that part of the Allied Front Line was relatively lightly defended! Big mistake! That Unit that came past Easy Company would have been those that were amazed and then obliterated by suddenly seeing TWO German Tank Battalions and soldiwrs behind speeding at them! It was Hitler's big push to trh and break through the Allied Front Line which was heavily defended in other areas along the line! So at the End of This Episode, Easy Company are one of the Units sent to try and counter attack the German Panzer attack! If the Bastogne Crossroads fall, the Nazi have access to 4 roads for their tanks and soldiers to roll down fast behind Allied Lines before the Allies can regroup or fall back. The Allies Units made it to Bastogne before the German Panzers, but then became cut off on all sides and the Allies had to parachute supplies in, 90% of which fell into German positions, that's how close they were to Bastogne where the Allies and Easy Company are probably going to dig in! They ran out of food, no water, and low on ammunition.....facing two Panzer Battalions in a battle that could play a significant part in deciding the entire War! Great Classic movie: " The Battle of The Bulge" which recreates everything that happened from the Nazi and Allies perspective! Seeing the German Panzer Battalions getting organized and them knowing they have to move at speed to break the Allied Line and capture Allied fuel depots to keep their tanks going is quite something! The whole movie is a grippng nerve shredding experience! I can't imagine what it was like to actually be fighting in it! 😮
Good grief, how could one not have heard of Market-Garden? When we were in high school we learned so much about WW2 that we were like give it a rest already, but as adults most of us came to appreciate having been taught that history. I watch the American quiz show Jeopardy, and not one of the contestants knew that the alliance between Germany and Italy was called the Pact of Steel just a week or two ago.
I went through school in the 1970s in the US. In American history (grades 5, 8, and 11) we could never get that specific in what amounted to a survey course of nearly 400 years of national history. No room/tine for a WW2 operation that was a failure. I learned from a high school classmate who first grew up in The Netherlands, where it was more important to their history. And my brother, who was earning a degree in history at University at the time. Not sure if MG would rate a day in Canada.
I guarantee that if you surveyed the entirety of the US, a significant portion would have no idea what Market Garden was, or literally any named battles or operations, short of D-Day and Pearl Harbor, that took place during WW2. That doesn't make them any worse of a person for not knowing, just the same as it doesn't make you any better for knowing it...
I really like the attention to detail, when the two SS men try to pass themselves off as Poles and Martin knows very well that there are no Poles in the SS. Buckle up, shit is about to hit the fan.
To learn more about Easy you should check out Joe Muccia 's "We're not lost , Private" podcast for the real stories of the men by the #1 historian who knew many of the men and is close to all the families. he's also taking his 'The Path of Easy Company Tour" heads out this friday to tour all of Easy locations during the Battle of the Bulge.
Sometimes it's a little odd what the show runners choose to show us. For instance, from what we get to see of Winters trip to Paris, you could come away thinking he didn't have a good time there, when in fact, he did. In letters to his pen-pal, DeEtta Almon, he told her he had a good time and did a lot of the typical tourist stuff you would imagine most people doing. But we don't see any of that.
Cross roads separate here and there. Before the cross roads few have PTSD, after, well... Before, the old men could sleep on cold nights, after they have nightmares of Bastogne. Oh, bit of history; The Germans came through the Arden forest and surprised the French in 1939. The French did not reinforce Bastogne in then neutral Belgium, instead keeping the Maginot Line well manned. That decision is reason #248 why France fell. The US replaced the decimated troops with whatever was on hand. That was a paratroopers who were under supplied because they were about to go back to Paris to prepare for their next jump.
I’ve never served and I don’t know anything about smoke grenades or anything. So I may sound completely off-base here. But it would not surprise me to learn that Cpt Winters deliberately set a delay on that red smoke. They didn’t know how many enemy they were facing, and I wonder if he wanted to ferret them out first to get an idea of what was in front of him
Pretty sure you're wrong. Winter's commanding officer even makes an exasperated request for his write up of the engagement, earlier on in the episode, at 2:45. That scene is immediately followed by one of him typing the words, "Easy Company combat action of 5 Oct"... I doubt he would headline a letter to the family of a fallen soldier with those words, wouldn't you?
Can any of you historical/tactician types explain why they "had no choice" but to attack the German position? Talbert mentions before the assault that additional men and heavy weaponry had arrived on scene, couldn't they hypothetically just go back the way those reinforcements came in?
They could always simply withdraw, but Winters wanted some way to restore the line they had to hold, which was to keep the Germans on their side of the river (Rijn) to the north. They were in a field to the west of the ferry road and on the north side of the Winter dike road. Winters realised that if the Germans figured this out, they could outflank his position along the south side of the dike and attack him from the flank and/or rear. It was a poor defensive position, so the best option was to take the initiative and attack. There is a detailed video on this action by The Operations Room called Easy Company Assaults the Crossroads in Holland, 1944 - Animated, which is quite accurate and explains it with animated maps: ruclips.net/video/5uz_K-1eyS4/видео.html Mark Felton also does a good video on the wider context of the 5 October events called The German Bridge Too Far - The Nijmegen Counter Offensive: ruclips.net/video/yaNnbHl30ic/видео.html
I'm going to take a Gamble and share a link to a video that has just recently come across my RUclips feed!! The reason I say risk is because I am going to gamble that these guys are finished watching the series on patreon or at least very close to the end and I believe that this is a very important addition to the Band of Brothers universe!! It is basically Major Winters commenting on clips from Band of Brothers and making the necessary corrections and giving us his eye witness testimony and memory of exactly what happened!! I personally found it extremely interesting! ruclips.net/video/6lQqToJoeEw/видео.htmlsi=yBEqnoAXLQlnnAeH
This episode doesn't adequately depict one of most miserable aspects of the time Easy spent on the so-called "Island," the incessant rain. Because of the nature of the ground they occupied, the men in their foxholes were wet, a lot. And cold. They couldn't move around much because they were under observation by the enemy. The came a much deserved three weeks of rest at Mourmelon before Hitler's desperate gamble at one last offensive on the western front brought the company to Bastogne.
Absolutely. Eisenhower was usually pretty solid in his decision making, but this was one of his errors to be sure. Leaving one's flank exposed like that, and on top of it with a commander that had proved to be less than aggressive in the past....
@@Anon54387 The reason why Ike let Montgomery plan Market Garden was due to morale. The British had been fighting a defensive war until Normandy, and the British officers, particularly Montgomery, wanted to plan an offensive operation. Many American brass didn't want to do it, but Ike, being a diplomatic type, decided to give Monty a chance.
Jimmy Fallon played George C. Rice, an honest to God hero. He says "Ill try to make another trip." He made nine trips, the last three after the Germans had surrounded the town.
Oh man! You cut out one of my favorite lines in the whole series, "We're Paratroopers, we're supposed to be surrounded". Talk about guts.
The scene with Winters on the train is perhaps the most hauntingly relatable depiction of PTSD ever put to film....
Which is ironic because according to Winters, it never happened. He did suffer PTSD of course, but it wasn't until after the war was over. He said he never had flashbacks in Paris, or at any point while the war was happening. It's one of the few scenes in the show that is a complete fabrication.
@@DudeLongcouch yeah, but imo that doesn't take away the power of the scene or make it ironic, really. a lot of scenes and stuff here are complete fabrications, they're there for dramatization: for character arcs, to match the themes of the episode, etc... Winters' scene on the train makes sense within the story the series is telling. this series is not 1:1 historical fact and i think that's completely fine. it doesn't have to be.
@@felipeaquitral I agree completely. I was just making a note.
I came on here to share this link of something that came across my RUclips feed recently and it is very interesting and entertaining and is right up the alley of what you guys are talking about!!
ruclips.net/video/6lQqToJoeEw/видео.htmlsi=yBEqnoAXLQlnnAeH
@@felipeaquitral "Winters' scene on the train makes sense within the story the series is telling."
The story being told is of a group of actual US military soldiers and of their time in the service, including action during WW2. How does adding a completely fabricated scenario, make sense?
This episode presents PTSD/battle fatigue/shell shock through a variety of impacts; Winters, Buck & Lutz being affected in differing ways. We also see Doc Roe & his character...how he knows "his guys". He treats Pvt. Alley very calmly, sees the struggle in Winters when Col. Sink sends him to staff & at the perfect moment offers him a cup of coffee. We then see his chastisement of three officers after Moose is shot...heckuva medic.
"It would be so hard to trust someone else to take your men." You have no idea, so true. Damn girl, you hit that on the head.
This episode shows what a solid grasp of tactics Dick Winters had. He understood that speed, surprise, and, violence of action could overcome superior numbers.
It gets emotionally tough after this episode. Be ready for tears. Some from sadness, some from joy.
Three things to remember for future episodes:
The soldier Webster who says “They Got Me!”
Wild Bill asking about a place called “Lulu’s”
Nixon saying he’s going to look up a certain lady while on leave.
Might answer some questions later
this episode is sooo good and feels almost like a season finale. the "crossroads" are not only literal and metaphorical, it also indicates the midway point of the series where anything can go one way or the other. is _so_ perfect. that end scene, focusing on some Easy men walking to Bastogne, seeing their faces, have always stuck with me.
i'm enjoying your reactions a lot! keep up the good work!
Moose was awarded the British Military Cross for his part in the rescue of the Paras. The Dutch Resistance had helped hide the Paras when Operation Markey Garden failed.
The river crossing scene always makes me think of my late grandfather. He was with the 2nd / 5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers not long after D-Day and was making a river crossing in a dinghy when it was hit by a panzer shell. He woke up in a hospital back in England with a huge chunk of his thigh missing.
$6,000 back than is roughly equivalent to $106k in todays money. Let’s just say malarkey was really lucky/or good with gambling that night!
Fun little fact about Buck Compton prior to service in the military and world war 2 he played baseball for UCLA.. which happened to be the same school this other well known man by the name of Jackie Robinson was also playing at the same time. He played with Jackie Robinson in college, yes that Jackie Robinson. The one who later went on to break the color barrier of baseball changing the game forever. Two absolute legends of humans but different times as teammates.
Jackie Robinson wasn't the first person of color to play professional baseball. He was simply the first one to be successful and sustain a career.
See Moses Fleetwood Walker...
My favorite episode and why I love and respect Richard Winters so much. I also love the friendship between Winters and Nixon.
Another great reaction, guys. This episode really highlights how great a leader Dick Winters was. Your respect for him will grow as the series progresses. No spoilers, but prepare yourselves for the next two episodes. They are pretty intense. Until the next one, CURRAHEE 👍👍
My dad served on a submarine I WWII. He was 18 years old and adored his Capt. Franz Hoskins. You can look him up. I got to meet him once.
The largest land battle in US Army History was the Battle of Bulge, over 600,000 US soldiers took part, Easy Company at the end was marching into the woods around Bastogne which was an early battle of "The Battle of the Bulge"...
This series gets real starting here. Hang on-- some of the most powerful and well-done moments in TV history, IMO.
the next four episodes are going to be hard but you will be rewarded in the finale.
Nixon worked intelligence, so he had to work at night a lot. That's why he seems to be sleeping so often.
Smells trigger the most intense flashbacks. At least that's what Jimmy once told me. He did 2 tours of duty as a combat Marine in Vietnam.
Thanks for another BoB reaction - it's great to see young people remembering and honoring these now-gone people who did so much for future generations. As a veteran, I am very grateful.
With that said, REPLACEMENTS are not RECRUITS, dammit! The words have very, VERY different meanings. It's disrespectful to call anyone serving in combat a RECRUIT. Calling a soldier a recruit means you don't think he's a soldier. It's like calling a graduate student a freshman.
I was a Marine infantryman, NCO, and officer, and calling any serving Marine or soldier a recruit, even a private who had just reported in from infantry training school, was a serious insult and could get you punched in the face.
PLEASE stop calling them recruits!
Also, a squad is only about a dozen people. Different unit sizes are not interchangeable. For a veteran, hearing you mix and match them as if they mean the same things is like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Again, you two do a great job, and I deeply appreciate your interest and your respect for these men - but those terms are important. Please don't do that.
walking from the battlefield to the real world from 0ne day to the next is a brutal assault on the emotions and senses for a soldier.
This is the episode when Tom Hanks literally takes the writing reigns in the series...becoming more introspective with Winters and reflecting.. The back and forth between the gunfire, typewriter, and his memory is done brilliantly. Long before PTSD was even taken seriously, it may still not as it should be. Oh and if any of you run into any bacon sandwiches, let me know. Currahee ♠
The soldier says that there are no Polish in the SS which isn't true. There were volunteers for the SS in every occupied territory. In fact some of the last defenders in the Government District of Berlin were French SS. Ironically.
Tom Hanks actually collects 1940’s typewriters
"You just get a bacon sandwich there?"
I wonder if he ever got it. Seems just like an officer to order food and bolt like that.
If your name is Norman Dike
The next two episodes, get ready.
You may have heard this already, but the delay of the smoke wasn't real. Winters was routinely winning company wide athletics exercises (he was the first man in easy company to jump during training due to him being the most fit). Him and the men left at the same time but he pulled away from them.
Also, knowing you guys are already done filming the series, Winters was haunted by the young sentry on the dike till his death. He recalled in one of the several books, that the young man sort of smiled at him right before Winters pulled the trigger
US soldier on the phone to the US artillery brought the first explosions among the Germans. German artillery replied.
Another great reaction, well done, look forward to the next one
This show goes to another level of greatness from here until the end.
4:54 While the show doesn't clarify, the machine gun fire is most likely in preparation to provide support by fire. They mention that the American battalion command post is approximately 3 miles away in the direction the machine gun is firing, and it is later revealed that the Germans conducted an assault on that battalion CP during which the officer Winters is "promoted" to replace had been hit while organizing the defense. So it is likely that the Germans were firing the machine gun in order to determine an optimum field of fire and correct elevation & windage relative to various landmarks they would have identified at different distances, in preparation to cover any German units which might have had to fall back to that point after their assault on the American battalion CP.
Sorry, not correct. Major Oliver Horton, CO of the 3rd Battalion 506th, was killed while organising the defence of his battalion at the Opheusden railway station four and a half miles to the west of the Easy/2nd Battalion sector where the 'crossroads' is located between Randwijk and Heteren.
The German penetration at the crossroads from the Renkum ferry crossing over the Rijn was a diversionary attack (which explains the MG42 shooting at nothing) by a mixed battalion of leftover SS/Heer/Kriegsmarine/Luftwaffe/Fallschirm troops from Division von Tettau called Kampfgruppe Hansmann, which had survived the battle of Arnhem against 1st Airborne Division, co-ordinated with other diversionary attacks from other mixed units crossing the river at the Wageningen and Doorwerth ferries.
These diversions were in support of a major counter-offensive by II.SS-Panzerkorps (10.SS-Panzer-Division, 9.PD and 116.PD) in the east of the 'island' aimed at retaking the Nijmegen bridges, and a major attack from the west of the 'island' by 363.Volksgrenadier-Division (mentioned by Colonel Sink in the episode) that hit the 101st Airborne Division line between Opheusden and Dodewaard in which Major Horton was killed.
The Germans had hoped that all of these attacks would join up and evict all Allied forces from the Nijmegen 'island' entirely, but it failed and the lines were either held, or quickly restored as in the Easy/506th sector.
Both 363.VGD and Division von Tettau (Netherlands occupation forces) were under the command of the recently arrived XII.SS-Armeekorps evacuated from the Kurland pocket in Estonia on the Eastern Front, and SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Hansmann was a staff officer from XII.SS-Armeekorps.
Mark Felton's channel has a video on this called 'A German Bridge Too Far - The Nijmegen Counter Offensive' - ruclips.net/video/yaNnbHl30ic/видео.html
@davemac1197 Ah, I stand corrected. Thank you for that incredible explanation. Very much appreciated!
Bastogne was behind the front lines enough that it had been considered an R&R spot. When the Germans launched the attack they were trying to break the Allies in half all the way to Antwerp (I think). Holding Bastogne was necessary to stop the advance because it had so many of the main routes coming into and out of it. The "Bulge" front eventually spread to 75 miles wide with Bastogne basically in the middle. Good reaction and yes PTSD was a big factor that was misunderstood and largely ignored. Likewise it only took 30 to 40 years for the Pentagon to accept that Agent Orange was having long term effects on Vietnam vets.
"We're paratroopers. We're supposed to be surrounded."
What a mentality. Never met them, but I do have the highest regard a person can have for these men.
Great reaction peeps. The next two episodes are particularly tough to watch, keep with it!
Despite not having heard of Market-Garden, the reactor guy here is pretty sharp at picking up on things.
The next 2 episodes are the best tv shows ever made. Buckle up.
No spoilers, but now be ready, buckle up …
Great reaction and BTW. I was a High School US History teacher and during my WW II unit I used clips from BOB…
From here on out, it’s gonna be an emotional haul, good luck.
Tom Hanks directed this episode... he collects oldtypewriters... hence the Tylpewriter shots
Your new series drew me in, a new sub
My mate was in this episode as an extra
Maybe someone esle has already commented, but Winters didn't end up on his own because of the delayed red smoke, he just outran everyone else by a big margin. I really love this episode, even though a lot of details have been changed.
Winters running across the field and shooting a German soldier with no other context is one of my favorite openings of any episode of any show ever, of all time.
I just learned today that most of EZ company didn't care for Nixon. They thought him an entitled brat and a drunk. Winters was one of his only defenders.
Yes, this is an important point re: Nixon! There's an interview elsewhere here on YT with another Easy Company member, Edward Shames, who reports baby-sitting the drunken Nixon at different times. In another clip I saw, Buck Compton talked about Nixon disliking him for seemingly no reason. (I speculate this is because Nixon was jealous Compton was popular with the other guys.) Compton says at one point Nixon called him a "jock" out of nowhere, and then put him in charge of physical fitness for the battalion. The order specified that the enlisted men could workout in t-shirts, while Compton was forced to workout in a wool shirt and necktie.
These are just two stories I've come across, I'm sure other guys would have others. One thing about Band Of Brothers that's important to remember is that as great as it is, it's heavily based on Stephen Ambrose's book. And Ambrose's biggest source is Richard Winters. So there's certain biases there.
@MJLake i heard the buck interview this morning.
This isn't exactly accurate. While some men didn't care for Nixon, most either never said anything about Nixon or actually mentioned him casually. Nixon struggled with alcohol and (apparently) Buck Compton didn't think that Nixon liked him (so Buck didn't like him). We don't really know the reasons behind this. Buck was very close to the enlisted men, sergeants and the various NCOs (so much so that Winters had to try and distance him from the enlisted). Consequently, Buck's opinion could often rub off on them. Winters was an extremely good judge of character and seemed to like Nixon. We may never know exactly why there was something of a grift between Nixon and Buck. Nixon had longevity and rank. But, as one writer stated, it could simply have come down to jealousy. Both wanted to be close to Winters. By the time Buck showed up in England, Nixon and Winters were very close friends and "three" is often a crowd. Nixon was born with the metaphoric silver spoon in his mouth while Buck was a self-made athlete who paid his way through college. Winters thought highly of Buck and Buck certainly thought very highly of Winters.
@@ccchhhrrriiisss100 I've read all Easy memoirs, and I recall one almost getting into a fistfight with Nixon at a reunion because Nix was mocking Compton.
@@catherinelw9365 - Can you cite that one? I've seen the interviews about the "friction" and several stated that the perceived animosity was blown out of proportion.
You mentioned Market Garden... check out the film A Bridge Too Far, it's about the Market Garden operation.
Hi Guys. Happy to see you're enjoying BOB-series. So! You never heard of Operation Market-Garden, eh? Well, it appears that major films are a good way to teach history, so I'm going to strongly recommend that you also give serious attention to a viewing of "A Bridge Too Far," a 1977 film featuring Sean Connery and an all-star cast that tells the VERY in depth story of the ill-fated campaign (Market-Garden) devised by British General Bernard Montgomery. A September, 1944 operation much larger than the D-Day invasion just 3 months previous on June 6, 1944.
D-Day was more than 2 years in planning, and still there was great trouble. Market-Garden was put together in only 7 days. The plan itself was simple enough. It's those nasty overlooked details and over-confidence that get you every time! Make sure you have "subtitles" turned on. You'll want to be able to understand every word spoken by the German High Command as the plot develops.
See this film and you'll come to understand everything that's worth knowing about why this campaign was conducted and the fatal Intelligence denials that set the stage for the horrendous loss of Allied soldiers.
"Crossroads" here is a more of what happened in the Holland area as the Allies continued their Eastern sweep across Europe toward their goal of Nazi defeat.
I would also recommend that you Google yourselves a good map of the area from the Normandy Region of the D-Day assault in France and follow a path to the South and East so as to more fully understand how the European Theater of Operation progressed. The Old World is dotted with hundreds of towns, villages and associated rivers, and each presented its own obstacles whose terrain would have to be traversed in order to overcome a massive Nazi resistance.
Later, I'm sure many friends here will also strongly recommend that you give a viewing to the 1971 Best Picture of the Year, "Patton."
When watching reactions to this series I always watch this episode to see if the mere mention of Bastogne provokes a reaction to see if the viewers know WW2 history and know what’s coming…
With that friendly fire incident, it could have been Winters hit. That would have changed what E-Company accomplished.
A funny fact is that Jimmy Fallon could not drive a manual transmission, so they had people push the Jeep.
Typically, if someone like Doc Roe chewed out any officer (let alone the XO) he’d end up in the brig for insubordination. But 1) medics get a moral “pass,” and 2) he was right. Those officers took the dressing down like men, because they were wrong… and they knew it.
No spoiler here, but most reactors don't pay attention to Nixon saying the he is headed back to Aldbourne to look up a certain young lady. It relates to episode 9. Love your reactions!
Hopefully you might recognise Micheal Fassbender and Tom Hardy in the next few episodes!!!
Great reaction as always!!!
The Battle of Bastogne: Bastogne was a critical crossroads small town during The Famous Battle of The Bulge! Hitler sneaked two crack Tank Panzer Battalions through the Ardennes Forest and totally surprised The Allies who thought getting tanks through was impossible, so that part of the Allied Front Line was relatively lightly defended! Big mistake! That Unit that came past Easy Company would have been those that were amazed and then obliterated by suddenly seeing TWO German Tank Battalions and soldiwrs behind speeding at them! It was Hitler's big push to trh and break through the Allied Front Line which was heavily defended in other areas along the line! So at the End of This Episode, Easy Company are one of the Units sent to try and counter attack the German Panzer attack! If the Bastogne Crossroads fall, the Nazi have access to 4 roads for their tanks and soldiers to roll down fast behind Allied Lines before the Allies can regroup or fall back. The Allies Units made it to Bastogne before the German Panzers, but then became cut off on all sides and the Allies had to parachute supplies in, 90% of which fell into German positions, that's how close they were to Bastogne where the Allies and Easy Company are probably going to dig in! They ran out of food, no water, and low on ammunition.....facing two Panzer Battalions in a battle that could play a significant part in deciding the entire War! Great Classic movie: " The Battle of The Bulge" which recreates everything that happened from the Nazi and Allies perspective! Seeing the German Panzer Battalions getting organized and them knowing they have to move at speed to break the Allied Line and capture Allied fuel depots to keep their tanks going is quite something! The whole movie is a grippng nerve shredding experience! I can't imagine what it was like to actually be fighting in it! 😮
Good grief, how could one not have heard of Market-Garden? When we were in high school we learned so much about WW2 that we were like give it a rest already, but as adults most of us came to appreciate having been taught that history. I watch the American quiz show Jeopardy, and not one of the contestants knew that the alliance between Germany and Italy was called the Pact of Steel just a week or two ago.
I went through school in the 1970s in the US. In American history (grades 5, 8, and 11) we could never get that specific in what amounted to a survey course of nearly 400 years of national history. No room/tine for a WW2 operation that was a failure. I learned from a high school classmate who first grew up in The Netherlands, where it was more important to their history. And my brother, who was earning a degree in history at University at the time. Not sure if MG would rate a day in Canada.
I guarantee that if you surveyed the entirety of the US, a significant portion would have no idea what Market Garden was, or literally any named battles or operations, short of D-Day and Pearl Harbor, that took place during WW2.
That doesn't make them any worse of a person for not knowing, just the same as it doesn't make you any better for knowing it...
I really like the attention to detail, when the two SS men try to pass themselves off as Poles and Martin knows very well that there are no Poles in the SS. Buckle up, shit is about to hit the fan.
By this time in the war, conscripts/ foreign nationals began filling up the ranks of the vermacht and SS units. They weren't as initially conceived.
More likely to be a ruse to avoid execution, which many in the SS believed the Allies did if they were captured.
To learn more about Easy you should check out Joe Muccia 's "We're not lost , Private" podcast for the real stories of the men by the #1 historian who knew many of the men and is close to all the families. he's also taking his 'The Path of Easy Company Tour" heads out this friday to tour all of Easy locations during the Battle of the Bulge.
This episode was directed by Tom Hanks. The next two are brutal and make me cold just thinking about them.
Sometimes it's a little odd what the show runners choose to show us. For instance, from what we get to see of Winters trip to Paris, you could come away thinking he didn't have a good time there, when in fact, he did. In letters to his pen-pal, DeEtta Almon, he told her he had a good time and did a lot of the typical tourist stuff you would imagine most people doing. But we don't see any of that.
Cross roads separate here and there. Before the cross roads few have PTSD, after, well... Before, the old men could sleep on cold nights, after they have nightmares of Bastogne. Oh, bit of history; The Germans came through the Arden forest and surprised the French in 1939. The French did not reinforce Bastogne in then neutral Belgium, instead keeping the Maginot Line well manned. That decision is reason #248 why France fell. The US replaced the decimated troops with whatever was on hand. That was a paratroopers who were under supplied because they were about to go back to Paris to prepare for their next jump.
I’ve never served and I don’t know anything about smoke grenades or anything. So I may sound completely off-base here.
But it would not surprise me to learn that Cpt Winters deliberately set a delay on that red smoke. They didn’t know how many enemy they were facing, and I wonder if he wanted to ferret them out first to get an idea of what was in front of him
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I am pretty sure he is writing letters to the next of kin. Harder than a report.
Pretty sure you're wrong. Winter's commanding officer even makes an exasperated request for his write up of the engagement, earlier on in the episode, at 2:45.
That scene is immediately followed by one of him typing the words, "Easy Company combat action of 5 Oct"...
I doubt he would headline a letter to the family of a fallen soldier with those words, wouldn't you?
We have reached the point of the war where the German soldiers are simulatenously getting younger and older.
The next episode is a real rip snorter!
One GI against 150 SS ... for a few seconds ;-( Battle of the Bulge coming, last German offensive.
Can any of you historical/tactician types explain why they "had no choice" but to attack the German position? Talbert mentions before the assault that additional men and heavy weaponry had arrived on scene, couldn't they hypothetically just go back the way those reinforcements came in?
They could always simply withdraw, but Winters wanted some way to restore the line they had to hold, which was to keep the Germans on their side of the river (Rijn) to the north. They were in a field to the west of the ferry road and on the north side of the Winter dike road. Winters realised that if the Germans figured this out, they could outflank his position along the south side of the dike and attack him from the flank and/or rear. It was a poor defensive position, so the best option was to take the initiative and attack.
There is a detailed video on this action by The Operations Room called Easy Company Assaults the Crossroads in Holland, 1944 - Animated, which is quite accurate and explains it with animated maps:
ruclips.net/video/5uz_K-1eyS4/видео.html
Mark Felton also does a good video on the wider context of the 5 October events called The German Bridge Too Far - The Nijmegen Counter Offensive:
ruclips.net/video/yaNnbHl30ic/видео.html
No matter!!!, old school or new school!!!, Training pays off so I was told!!, thanks for sharing with us!👏👏👏👍✌️🇺🇸🇮🇱
I'm going to take a Gamble and share a link to a video that has just recently come across my RUclips feed!!
The reason I say risk is because I am going to gamble that these guys are finished watching the series on patreon or at least very close to the end and I believe that this is a very important addition to the Band of Brothers universe!!
It is basically Major Winters commenting on clips from Band of Brothers and making the necessary corrections and giving us his eye witness testimony and memory of exactly what happened!! I personally found it extremely interesting!
ruclips.net/video/6lQqToJoeEw/видео.htmlsi=yBEqnoAXLQlnnAeH
I always want a bacon sandwich
Does the moustache have a name?
Steel yourselves for the next one.
This episode doesn't adequately depict one of most miserable aspects of the time Easy spent on the so-called "Island," the incessant rain. Because of the nature of the ground they occupied, the men in their foxholes were wet, a lot. And cold. They couldn't move around much because they were under observation by the enemy. The came a much deserved three weeks of rest at Mourmelon before Hitler's desperate gamble at one last offensive on the western front brought the company to Bastogne.
Winters was the first soldier introduced in the beginning with the others.
SPOILER
Ike should have told Montgomery to get lost and given the gas to Patton..
Absolutely. Eisenhower was usually pretty solid in his decision making, but this was one of his errors to be sure. Leaving one's flank exposed like that, and on top of it with a commander that had proved to be less than aggressive in the past....
@@Anon54387 The reason why Ike let Montgomery plan Market Garden was due to morale. The British had been fighting a defensive war until Normandy, and the British officers, particularly Montgomery, wanted to plan an offensive operation. Many American brass didn't want to do it, but Ike, being a diplomatic type, decided to give Monty a chance.
And the casting of Jimmy Fallon ruins another reaction.
I kind of look forward to it now!
Sure you will do the Pacific next. Way better than brothers in my opinion
LOL! The Pacfic is great but NOT even close to BoB.
Exact opposite for me. The Pacific is good but BoB is definitely superior.
huuuuuh no.
It's literally the same series, set in a different theatre of the same war...