When the book was being prepared for printing the publisher contacted Winters with a number of concerns, one of which was the potential for Speirs to sue for defamation given the allegations made in the text. As a result, Winters called him to ask about it and Speirs not only confirmed they were all true, but put it in a letter to be held in case it was ever needed.
To put the losses at the Battle of the Bulge into perspective, 10% of all US casualties in the entire War, in all services and all over the world, were from the Bulge.
@@josephwallace202yes! I believe a lot of that was caused by Ike's stupid strategy of trying to push the Germans back frontally rather than flanking them and trying to cut them off. Is that your understanding as one of the main factors? Do you know of any other major factors?
@@hillsane9262 I'm talking about how the entire war didn't have to happen if the Allies (including US) didn't support the Ebert government after WW1 - including by extension the Freikorps - to put down the Spartacists. All they had to do was literally mind their own business, rather than plant the seeds of the NSDAP.
@@josephwallace202 One has to enjoy the excuses made and blame laid for the crimes committed. Why not blame the Allies for fighting in World War 1? If they had just rolled over there wouldn't have been any problems leading to WW2.
Gotta love the no-nonsense attitude of Speirs. Moves up to Winters, no word said, takes off, takes command, salvages the whole push in three sentences. Great scene.
In the Foxhole scene where he ordered the MG team to do something and the team said: " Dyke said not to bother" the show did something phenomenal which most people will not get. Spears...said: "Never mind" Dyke gave an order and Spears can`t countermand an order even if that order was daft. That was good script writing.
The show gets heavier now Addie, and I love that it is not sugar-coated so they can show truthfully the heavy toll war took on the souls of these brave men.
Lt Dike gets a bad rap in how he was portrayed. He was already decorated for bravery before coming to E Company. During the intital entry into Foy, he was wounded in the shoulder. After WWII, he remained in the Army and was again decorated for bravery during the Korean War. Like Sobel, and Sink, officers weren't always liked by the guys in the ranks so many times those feelings led to the bad stories about them.
in addition, when Dike was assigned to Easy he was coming in as a replacement Lt. to an hardened, blooded unit. He felt it would be best to defer to the experienced and respected senior NCOs, while he interfaced with battalion HQ. He wasn't well liked by Easy and that was transmited through the memories and writings from the men that was used as reference material for BoB. He wasn't a bad leader, but he wasn't the right leader for Easy.
Speirs’s run through Foy was actually much more insane, so much so that the filmmakers thought audiences wouldn’t believe it was possible so they dumbed it down a bit for the series…the man was a born soldier. Winters himself said “men like Speirs were necessary to win the war”
from what ive read, it actually wasnt. the show depicts him running through german lines and coming back when in reality he ran through an open field to the flank to link up and then went back. so he didnt run past german soldiers like they showed - just an open field. Yeah i know - its an open field and you can easily get shot, but thats more believable to me vs running through the german line and coming back without getting shot
Correct, the problem is that with Hollywood financing there are certain things that can't be shown. You can't show Americans commit war crimes, it's also why in episode 9 you see French soldiers execute German prisoners and not American or English. As good as the show is, it's still an entertainment show and not a historical document.
Yeah, that's something they don't really cover. The 101st was ordered not to take prisoners. It's real shitty, but they really did not have the capability to take prisoners until the rest of the army linked up with them from the beaches. They could not do their job if they had to babysit prisoners. There's also a story from a guy who was a private on d-day. He, another sergeant, and spiers all landed near each other on the jump. They ended up taking 3 prisoners during the night, and spiers had ordered that they each would take one and finish them off.
Spiers shot one of his own. Totally true. They were on a mission to basically ambush German troops. Ambush!! So when the guy showed up drunk he ordered the man back to the CO. The guy spun around taking his gun out and Spiers had to shoot him in self defense. It was totally checked out by command interviewing his men and they all agreed it was self defense. As to the German troops, others have explained, there are times when you simply can't take prisoners. And it was 6 that he shot. I always love your reviews. As we say in Texas; y'all be safe. That's for everybody!
I really do appreciate that you include almost the entire interviews at the beginning. Personally, i feel them to be one of the biggest compelling points of the series. Honesty We Stand Alone Together is a fantastic cornerstone to the series. Been really enjoying your reactions and can't wait to see you at the end
In the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest there was a German soldier who 0:44 was a hero. Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld of the 2nd Company of the 275 Division gave his life to save the life of a wounded American soldier. The 22nd US Infantry Society placed a monument in his honor at the entrance to the Hurtgen Cemetery. The inscription reads, ""No man has greater love than he who lays down his life for an enemy." Below that it says "Deeds not words."
The Hurtgen Forest, along with the Lorraine were the two biggest wastes of men and material in autumn 1944. Neither should have been fought. Strategically of little benefit.
@@lyndoncmp5751 Absolutely correct. Another waste of life was the Battle of Peleliu. It was the case of a few men's egos vs thousands of lost lives and mangled men.
Get ready for the last two addie. It will be like a punch in the gut by a freight train followed by a sweet, yet somber ending of the real men of easy.
Lt. Jones is Tom Hanks son, fti. We Stand Alone Together this is episode eleven, and your questions shall be answered. Good reaction a little emotional, expect the same next episode.
Eion Bailey, who plays Webster, took a couple weeks vacations in India while the rest of the crew were filming Ep6 and Ep7, sweating their balls off inside the giant hangars wearing so many layers of clothing. The cast was told to use their envy/jealousy of Bailey and channel it into their character's demeanor toward Webster. But in reality, Webster was warmly welcomed back. The enlisted really liked him for the most part, though the officers didn't quite care for him, as he never volunteered for anything and always seemed to get away doing the bare minimum. He had no ambition whatsoever to make rank. -- Some guys decided to actually try and put the German out of his misery on the riverbank, a few tossed a couple grenades at him but missed, then Cobb lobbed a few himself and finally took him out.
Someone has probably already told you about the companion documentary, “We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company,” but I think you’ll love it. It has more interviews with more of the men, some pictures of the men from back in the day, and wartime footage as well. It was produced during the research process of the production of the series. In an interview, one of the producers mentioned how fast they had to work on the interviews because one of the veterans (who she did not name) passed away while the film crew was just a few miles away from his house. Another veteran passed a few days after they interviewed him. The documentary is very well done.
Spiers made the Army a career. Retiring in 1964 as a LTC. He actually ended up being the Commandant of Spandau Military Prison where all the Nazi War Criminals served their time. He served in Korea and in the late 50's-early 60's was in Laos leading up to the Viet Nam war.
Another fantastic reaction,Addie. It may be of interest to know that the battle sequences in this and the previous episode set in the forest, were actually filmed in a sound stage. I saw it in the 'making of' documentary and thought it was awesome. My favourite part is when the guys are in the church listening to the choir and one by one, the dead, wounded and missing are faded out. It's such a powerful and emotional scene. Seen it half a dozen times and I still tear up every time.
The writers, actors, and producers of this series were fortunate to have several veterans of Easy Company who had been meeting at reunions every year for decades. They had been swapping war stories for long enough to have gotten the chaos of war straight enough in their own minds to be able to tell about it in a way that could be translated to the written page and later into this series. There is still a certain amount of Hollywood fiction tying things together, but this has perhaps the best mix ever of coherent storytelling combined with gut wrenching accuracy. This may be the closest anyone will ever come to a true representation of the ground infantry experience in war.
My Grandfather was a US Navy sailor at the attack on Pearl Harbor. He never spoke of the attack, until shortly before he died, a local newspaper was doing a video interview series of Pearl Harbor survivors. He, through strained voice and tears, recounted how the planes flew so low, it felt like you could reach out and touch them. How the bombings capsized his ship, which when rolling, threw him off into the water, breaking his leg. And how after the attack, he was assigned to fish the dead bodies of his friends out of the water.
So for these two episodes, I've previously written quite detailed comments on a few different reactor's channels. I know there are others who might have posted the same/similar stuff here, but I'm just going to copy and paste them in. One thing I'll add is regarding Spiers. There are answers to your questions about him that can't be answered without spoiling. There are answers though. Episode 7: Whilst Spiers' run across no man's land was impressive (and very much downplayed in the show, and depicted differently), I feel like his solo sprint across the open field when Winters ordered him in is not talked about as much. He was a track athlete before the war. That was VERY impressive. He was, as depicted (again, I feel, downplayed), under intense fire in both instances. Another thing that was downplayed in the series from this episode (likewise, I think, because the truth might have seemed just too impressive) was Shifty's sniper shot. In the series, it depicts them having a nice clear view of the guy in the window. It also depicts Lip drawing the German snipers fire. Neither of these two things are true. Lip was on the other side of town at this point. They knew there was a sniper, they just had a hard time locating him. Shifty never saw him in the window. The only sign that someone was in there was the man's breath vapor on the cold day. Shifty based his shot on that, and successfully took him out. There are bullet holes around the window to this day, so my theory is that other people shot in the general direction, but since the sniper was hidden, they didn't hit, then Shifty, knowing when the German was at the window because of his breath, managed to make the kill shot. And as depicted in this episode, Shifty did indeed used to talk about how good a shot his _father_ was... Episode 8: Whilst a lot of the _meaning_ in this episode and the sentiment, the actual patrol was quite different from that depicted. I can understand why. Depicting the patrol more accurately would have involved introducing new characters who would have left just as quickly. It also may have muddied the story a bit and the points they were trying to make. You might say they condensed it down, using people we have become really familiar with who weren't across the river in order to be able to follow the story a bit better. Just thought I'd mention that. The RUclips channel The Operations Room, which chronicles the step by step account of what happened in many Easy Company assaults (and many many other military engagements) has a great video on this. In it, again, you'll hear a lot of unfamiliar names, so I really can understand why they changed it. I have mentioned before, but after your done with the 10 episodes, I really recommend the documentary We Stand Alone Together. If it's not available for you, it is on RUclips. You're looking for the video that's about 1 hour 17. The interviews with the real men are taken from this documentary.
"Well from what I've heard they've always had one. I've been told there's always been one man they could count on" That statement by Speirs to Lipton is one of the most wholesome moments in the series.
Suggestions for future scheduling true stories: Memorial Day: "A Bridge Too Far" (1977) D-Day June 6th: "The Longest Day" (1962) July 1st-3rd: "Gettysburg" (1993)
8:56 If you were ever in the military, especially on deployment, you do not tell your men a different order or disagree with a higher ranks order. When Lt. Spears said, Oh, he said that, then do that, showed us that saw that little detail that he is a good guy and even better leader, and we were about to see that soon. I really like the character arch that they gave Lt Spears in this series, reminds me of myself in my military days, minus that incredible run to and back from the enemy!
The story about Spiers killing the prisoners is true. It was confirmed in an interview with Dick Winters. The guy doing the interview asked Dick about this, and Dick told him about it. He said that Steven Ambrose called him one day and told him they had a problem. Lawyers from Simon and Shuster (the publishing company for the book) called him and were worried about potential lawsuits from some of the stories that were in the book. The Spiers story was one of them, the portrayal of Nix drinking too much was another. Dick told him not to worry about it, he would handle it. He said he wasn't worried about Nix, he knew that wouldn't be an issue, but the Spiers story was something else. Dick said he called Spiers and said 'hey Sparky, you know those rumors that were floating around, about D-Day, were they true? He said Spiers said 'oh yeah Dick, they're true'. He told Speirs about the phone call from Ambrose and the Lawyers concerns and Spiers said don't worry about it. He would write them and letter and tell them what happened. Apparently he did just that, and Dick said it was never an issue after that, because it was true.
The Stories about Speirs were true. During the invasion they were under orders to not take prisoners. They simply had no way of keeping them secure. The beaches were not secured when Speirs did what he had to do. Speirs also shot a drunk Sargent who threatened him while pointing his weapon at Speirs.
Speirs was really something in The Breaking Point. And I loved seeing Lipton getting the battlefield commission to Lieutenant. The scene in the church, with the choir singing, hits right in the feels. And, with The Last Patrol, I loved what Winters did with not having the men not go on the second patrol and Nixon writing the bogus report. Made me respect the both of them even more.
Kinda late to the party here, but now that you've seen the whole series, I can mention this: Winters would later say the reason he chose to lie about the last mission that never took place was because Colonel Sink had picked up a bad drinking habit. This led him to start planning missions while drunk, wanting to impress his superiors in high command, not being in his best state of mind. After the first night raid, Winters decided he wasn't going to risk the lives of his men based on the drunken whims of Colonel Sink. He played his "Honest Man's Lie" card, and with the help of Nixon, no one in command dared doubt or question Winters. Literally saved his men's lives that night.
When Stephen Ambrose was interviewing all the Easy men to write the Band Of Brothers book that all this is based on, the legal department at Simon and Schuster told him they couldn’t put in all the stories about Spears shooting the prisoners or shooting one of his men for pointing a weapon at him while drunk. They were afraid Spears or his family might deny it and sue. So Winters said he called him up and asked if it was okay if they put it in. Spears wrote him a notarized letter that basically said “yeah, I did it.” And Winters held onto it for them so they’d get out as accurate a story as possible.
That scene with Luz and Lipton and the dud shell always reminds me of how my father talked about coming out of a foxhole in. Europe smoking, when he had never smoked before, and he couldn't even remember lighting up. He was a smoker the rest of his life. War is brutal on so many fronts.
Ive been to Bastogne and Foy. The sprint across open ground is at least 10x further than depicted in the show. The foxholes are still, as is the building the sniper was in. You can stand exactly where Shifty did to take the shot. Well worth a visit if possible. Amazing they filmed both episode 6 and 7 indoors. Superb production throughout.
One of things that being called, and deservedly so, "The Greatest Generation " is we forget that they were not supermen. Many came back to lead settled lives, but carried unseen and often undiagnosed wounds. We get some inkling in the interviews and some of the scenes that what we call PTSD has always been a terrible cost that they pay. Be kind and respect our veterans, we really owe them more than we can repay.
Remember every combat soldier has stories to tell there was not a battle or firefight that did not have a dozen occurrences worthy of many medals, but never happened
About Spiers shooting the POWs, I wasn't okay with it at all, until I read that the reason he did it is that he knew they didn't have the ability to watch and keep track of prisoners as they were behind enemy lines. If any of them managed to escape and alert the German forces as to the Airborne's whereabouts and where they were going, it would have been disastrous not just for the 101st but for the rest of the armed forces landing on the beaches, as they would've been able to reinforce the guns Easy company and others were aiming to destroy.
when lipton was telling winters he thought dyke needed replaced, he took a huge risk. what he did was highly illegal in the military, remember back when they all signed letters saying they would not serve under captain sobel, prettymuch the same thing.
Unsure if you’re aware but after you finish the series there is a documentary affectionately referred to as the 11th episode. It’s called “We Stand Alone Together” and is available in full on RUclips if not on Max. It is a long version of the interviews shown in the beginning of the episodes and includes interviews with the mens’ families as well. It is definitely worth watching
@@thedude1316 Just like Blithe's survivalthat nobodywas aware of, the series is from the point of view of the men of easy company. In the moment they weren't aware Dike was wounded and I'm not sure they cared as long as he was gone. Maybe his experiences in Holland reduced his effectiveness.
Thank you Addie. These are some of the most empathic & heartfelt reactions of BOB I have seen. I fear for your well-being, as I have yet to watch your reactions to Ep's 9 & 10. Please, please consider watching the unofficial episode 11 - We Stand Alone Together. There are a lot of reveals from the actual (surviving) members of Easy. Hell, it's almost obligatory that you watch it. 😌
With Spiers the orders were very specific on D-Day - Take NO Prisoners - they couldn't secure them and having them was a threat to the Paratroopers behind enemy lines. Winters asked Spiers and he said he did what he had to do. Spiers was the ultimate pragmatist - he did what was required. As shown at the end of Breaking Point he is a human and he knows full well his reputation but he also uses that to his advantage. Once people got to know him properly they realised that he was a much kinder man than they had ever imagined.
I believe he offered them a cigarrette not as a joke or such, but as a solace before he killed them. A kindness to say I know you are human and I grant you this last enjoyingment before I do what I must.
An interesting note is that, in real life, all of the stories about Speirs were 100% true. He did kill one of his own soldiers who was drunk, and he DID summarily execute a bunch of Germans after giving them cigarettes. We know because well after the war he sent Winters a letter literally saying, "yeah, I absolutely did all of that." He only narrowly avoided court martial because the majority of the witnesses were killed, wounded, or otherwise out of the picture, and because they desperately needed effective combat officers and he was one of the very best. Speirs is a fascinating character because he pretty much unarguably committed pretty serious war crimes but there was also so much to admire about the man. He was effectively a living legend within the 101st, a brilliant officer, almost psychotically brave, and if anything the show seriously underplays the extent of his heroics during the Battle of Foy. He was also an individual that other battle hardened paratroopers were terrified of, which says a lot. Speirs is just one of those odd figures that are produced from time to time in major wars. Every so often a Ronald Speirs or an Ernst Jünger or similar pop up who go to war and thrive as though they were born for it. They're very, very good at a very, very ugly but sometimes necessary thing and you need them to win wars, but the traits that make them so indispensable are the same traits that allowed Speirs to hose down a bunch of unarmed POWs with a submachine gun.
I really like your reactions and commentaries. The end is just around the corner and you have handled yourself really well throughout this series. I would still suggest you have a box of tissues ready for the next two episodes though.
The Last Patrol: Tom Hanks even enlisted his own son into the War...This is when Winters essentially "Dad arms" and protects his men of Easy Company in anyway he can, even by lying to command. I love the way they express so visually the soldiers experiences by the appearance of their uniforms. Webster's guilt is what leads him to volunteer for the patrol and earn respect from the men again... Currahee ♠
There is a biography of Ronald Spiers by Jared Fredrick and Erik Dorr called Fierce Valor. It will answer all your questions about Spiers. (I'm reading it now.)
"The Breaking Point" Well, it's not just a clever name. When Winters tries to go in against orders, and then sends LT. Speirs in he more than put his money where his mouth is. One of my favorite moments of the series. When he goes into relieve Dike of command, that scene is stunning every single time. And when Buck's helmet hits the ground, it's as Earth shattering as the German artillery. Currahee ♠
It's true that Spiers shot those German soldiers, but just in the legs because they couldn't take any prisoners or afford for them to rejoin the war. It was better for him to retain the mystery
I'm sure I said this before but a Luger was a dangerous souvenir, especially during the Bulge. If you were captured by the Germans with that gun you were summarily executed.
Speirs really ran through Foy, he did kill those prisoners and he did shoot his own man. First, the run through Foy has been told many ways but we do know is either the show hyped it way up or way down. Some people say he ran through an open field while under heavy fire while the other story has him running through the enemy front lines as depicted in the show but for a much farther distance and much heavier gunfire. Secondly, He did kill those prisoners on D-Day but it wasn’t because he was some blood thirsty maniac. At this time the Beach landings were just starting and that means they didn’t have any established area or personnel to hold prisoners and were instructed to not take any prisoners, which meant they were to kill everyone they saw. And finally, Speirs did shoot one of his own officers, killing him. Speirs apparently had gotten on the bad side of a drunken soldier. The soldier raised his weapon and pointed it at Speirs, Speirs warned him twice to lower the weapon before firing upon the man. Speirs immediately reported the incident to a higher ranking official who deemed Speirs acted in self defense. All of the stories are true and Speirs confirmed them.
The way I've heard it, the guys didn't give Webster a hard time for missing Bastogne. They said he was lucky. Winters on the other hand didn't like him. He did his job and never disobeyed orders, but he never volunteered for anything. Winters saw that as a moral failing. Please correct me if I'm wrong about this.
The pistol went off because there was a defect in the safety that led to it being replaced by another gun later on and Spiers did kill the prisoners because during the operation they had nowhere to keep the prisoners, and it would’ve held them back from completing their objective, so they had to kill any German soldiers that they had to encounter
Please, please watch "We stand alone together" documentary when you've finished the series. It is more interviews and stories from the men of Easy Company. These men were definitely the greatest generation. God bless them all for what they did and what they went through.
Early during D-Day American as well as German troops executed prisoners. There was no way possible to take POW’s and hold them. Just the reality of the situation
Dike gets a really bad wrap in these episodes. The truth is in Holland he's led a defence whilst totally surrounded by the enemy and won a Bronze Star for dragging 3 injured Men to safety at Bastogne. At Foy he was actually wounded heading in and thats when he shut down. They didn't know him well so didn't realsie his behaviour in the lead up was odd in the way they knew Buck was acting odd so they dont give Dike the sort of leeway they do Buck when it all gets too much. In all likelyhood both men appeared to be having the exact same sort of disassociation symptoms but they simply didn't realise that Dike was actually acting very strangely for him. Seeing Spiers finally shown in his full insane glory is amazing. The scene with Michael Fassbender is hilarious foreshadowing of his face turn and one last moment of menace.
@@ShwiftJustice It's funny rap, rep and wrap are applicable depending on the situation - Merriam Webster says wrap isn't but that's one of the worst dictionaries on Earth. English wasn't really codified until after Samuel Johnson wrote his dictionary and spelling was traditionally wildly different from place t place in Britain. Rep, Rap, Wrap and several other spellings are all valid. A lot of words changed in the great vowel shift and things like dropping of the Thorn. In this case if it was a criminal act being talked about you would normally use rap, if it is your reputation its rep and if it's an incorrect summary of events its wrap. In Dike's case rep and wrap are actually more applicable useages of the term than rap as nobody is saying he did anything wrong criminally. All 3 can be used somewhat interchangeably as many terms can. I remember someone once saying the old fallacy to me that it's always i before e except after c and I asked them if they had ever counted to 10. People look at you strangely when you tell them that until they reach 7 and a little lightbulb goes off in their heads as they reach 8. Truth is there are actually more words that break that rule than there are that follow it. The weird truth is it's actually easier to translate English into German and visa versa than to spell in English correctly because honestly English is weird. The rules are more vague guidelines and Samuel Johnson just randomly chose spellings rather than follow any hard and fast rules.
Winters called Spiers when the book was being written and Spiers confirmed that all of the stories are true and he had no problem with them portraying it. ruclips.net/video/W-V6OAtgr6c/видео.html
Two grenades without a scratch, and two artillery shells minus only a leg.
You're one lucky bastard, Joe.
And he was heavily wounded in Holland.
Meanwhile Guarnere was only hit there because Toye came back early, and then was robbed when he got home from the war.
Being pursued by others for their approval isn't everything its made out to be
When the book was being prepared for printing the publisher contacted Winters with a number of concerns, one of which was the potential for Speirs to sue for defamation given the allegations made in the text. As a result, Winters called him to ask about it and Speirs not only confirmed they were all true, but put it in a letter to be held in case it was ever needed.
Already know Addie will be bawling her eyes out next episode
Me too.
To put the losses at the Battle of the Bulge into perspective, 10% of all US casualties in the entire War, in all services and all over the world, were from the Bulge.
Damn. I know most of the US casualties came in the last six months, but had not realized were from the Battle of the Bulge.
To think, it need never have happened.
@@josephwallace202yes! I believe a lot of that was caused by Ike's stupid strategy of trying to push the Germans back frontally rather than flanking them and trying to cut them off. Is that your understanding as one of the main factors? Do you know of any other major factors?
@@hillsane9262 I'm talking about how the entire war didn't have to happen if the Allies (including US) didn't support the Ebert government after WW1 - including by extension the Freikorps - to put down the Spartacists. All they had to do was literally mind their own business, rather than plant the seeds of the NSDAP.
@@josephwallace202 One has to enjoy the excuses made and blame laid for the crimes committed. Why not blame the Allies for fighting in World War 1? If they had just rolled over there wouldn't have been any problems leading to WW2.
Gotta love the no-nonsense attitude of Speirs. Moves up to Winters, no word said, takes off, takes command, salvages the whole push in three sentences.
Great scene.
In the Foxhole scene where he ordered the MG team to do something and the team said: " Dyke said not to bother" the show did something phenomenal which most people will not get. Spears...said: "Never mind" Dyke gave an order and Spears can`t countermand an order even if that order was daft. That was good script writing.
The show gets heavier now Addie, and I love that it is not sugar-coated so they can show truthfully the heavy toll war took on the souls of these brave men.
Lt Dike gets a bad rap in how he was portrayed. He was already decorated for bravery before coming to E Company. During the intital entry into Foy, he was wounded in the shoulder. After WWII, he remained in the Army and was again decorated for bravery during the Korean War. Like Sobel, and Sink, officers weren't always liked by the guys in the ranks so many times those feelings led to the bad stories about them.
in addition, when Dike was assigned to Easy he was coming in as a replacement Lt. to an hardened, blooded unit. He felt it would be best to defer to the experienced and respected senior NCOs, while he interfaced with battalion HQ. He wasn't well liked by Easy and that was transmited through the memories and writings from the men that was used as reference material for BoB. He wasn't a bad leader, but he wasn't the right leader for Easy.
Speirs’s run through Foy was actually much more insane, so much so that the filmmakers thought audiences wouldn’t believe it was possible so they dumbed it down a bit for the series…the man was a born soldier. Winters himself said “men like Speirs were necessary to win the war”
from what ive read, it actually wasnt. the show depicts him running through german lines and coming back when in reality he ran through an open field to the flank to link up and then went back. so he didnt run past german soldiers like they showed - just an open field. Yeah i know - its an open field and you can easily get shot, but thats more believable to me vs running through the german line and coming back without getting shot
@@JoshuaDay0550 *slow clap* way to diminish what great men did…keep up the great work
@@lovidodd21 Explaining that it was an open field in no way diminishes the accomplishment. All it did was steal your own thunder.
Speirs's run is even more impressive considering the weight of the Massive Steel Balls he was toting around.
I know I'm starting to watch too many reaction videos of one thing when I start seeing the same trivia in the comments over and over again 😂.
Speirs confirmed the stories were true when the book was published, and Winters asked him. He did his duty.
Correct, the problem is that with Hollywood financing there are certain things that can't be shown. You can't show Americans commit war crimes, it's also why in episode 9 you see French soldiers execute German prisoners and not American or English. As good as the show is, it's still an entertainment show and not a historical document.
@@Robalogot spoiler alert. It may be a small one, but still a spoiler.
@@PaulDear-jb2buright, wouldn’t want to spoil which side wins the war…
@@dekulruno More about who lives and who dies. Are you really that dense?
Yeah, that's something they don't really cover. The 101st was ordered not to take prisoners. It's real shitty, but they really did not have the capability to take prisoners until the rest of the army linked up with them from the beaches. They could not do their job if they had to babysit prisoners.
There's also a story from a guy who was a private on d-day. He, another sergeant, and spiers all landed near each other on the jump. They ended up taking 3 prisoners during the night, and spiers had ordered that they each would take one and finish them off.
Spiers shot one of his own. Totally true. They were on a mission to basically ambush German troops. Ambush!!
So when the guy showed up drunk he ordered the man back to the CO. The guy spun around taking his gun out and Spiers had to shoot him in self defense. It was totally checked out by command interviewing his men and they all agreed it was self defense.
As to the German troops, others have explained, there are times when you simply can't take prisoners. And it was 6 that he shot.
I always love your reviews.
As we say in Texas; y'all be safe. That's for everybody!
From here on out, these are not just my favorite episodes of the show, they are some of my favorite episodes of any show ever.
I really do appreciate that you include almost the entire interviews at the beginning. Personally, i feel them to be one of the biggest compelling points of the series. Honesty We Stand Alone Together is a fantastic cornerstone to the series. Been really enjoying your reactions and can't wait to see you at the end
In the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest there was a German soldier who 0:44 was a hero. Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld of the 2nd Company of the 275 Division gave his life to save the life of a wounded American soldier. The 22nd US Infantry Society placed a monument in his honor at the entrance to the Hurtgen Cemetery. The inscription reads, ""No man has greater love than he who lays down his life for an enemy." Below that it says "Deeds not words."
My dad fought in the Hurtgen, in the town of Vossenack.
@@stephenweaver7631 I salute your Dad. Hurtgen Forest was a meat grinder for sure.
The Hurtgen Forest, along with the Lorraine were the two biggest wastes of men and material in autumn 1944. Neither should have been fought. Strategically of little benefit.
@@lyndoncmp5751 Absolutely correct. Another waste of life was the Battle of Peleliu. It was the case of a few men's egos vs thousands of lost lives and mangled men.
@@mikealvarez2322
Absolutely. And neither helped the war effort to any great note.
Get ready for the last two addie. It will be like a punch in the gut by a freight train followed by a sweet, yet somber ending of the real men of easy.
Lt. Jones is Tom Hanks son, fti. We Stand Alone Together this is episode eleven, and your questions shall be answered. Good reaction a little emotional, expect the same next episode.
Eion Bailey, who plays Webster, took a couple weeks vacations in India while the rest of the crew were filming Ep6 and Ep7, sweating their balls off inside the giant hangars wearing so many layers of clothing.
The cast was told to use their envy/jealousy of Bailey and channel it into their character's demeanor toward Webster.
But in reality, Webster was warmly welcomed back. The enlisted really liked him for the most part, though the officers didn't quite care for him, as he never volunteered for anything and always seemed to get away doing the bare minimum. He had no ambition whatsoever to make rank.
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Some guys decided to actually try and put the German out of his misery on the riverbank, a few tossed a couple grenades at him but missed, then Cobb lobbed a few himself and finally took him out.
Someone has probably already told you about the companion documentary, “We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company,” but I think you’ll love it. It has more interviews with more of the men, some pictures of the men from back in the day, and wartime footage as well. It was produced during the research process of the production of the series.
In an interview, one of the producers mentioned how fast they had to work on the interviews because one of the veterans (who she did not name) passed away while the film crew was just a few miles away from his house. Another veteran passed a few days after they interviewed him.
The documentary is very well done.
And when the credits start, dont stop watching. One of the soldiers sings a song and it is so awesome.
@@jamesellis1972 Yes! And the footage from the reunions is really heartwarming!
Spiers made the Army a career. Retiring in 1964 as a LTC. He actually ended up being the Commandant of Spandau Military Prison where all the Nazi War Criminals served their time. He served in Korea and in the late 50's-early 60's was in Laos leading up to the Viet Nam war.
Another fantastic reaction,Addie. It may be of interest to know that the battle sequences in this and the previous episode set in the forest, were actually filmed in a sound stage. I saw it in the 'making of' documentary and thought it was awesome.
My favourite part is when the guys are in the church listening to the choir and one by one, the dead, wounded and missing are faded out. It's such a powerful and emotional scene. Seen it half a dozen times and I still tear up every time.
The writers, actors, and producers of this series were fortunate to have several veterans of Easy Company who had been meeting at reunions every year for decades. They had been swapping war stories for long enough to have gotten the chaos of war straight enough in their own minds to be able to tell about it in a way that could be translated to the written page and later into this series. There is still a certain amount of Hollywood fiction tying things together, but this has perhaps the best mix ever of coherent storytelling combined with gut wrenching accuracy. This may be the closest anyone will ever come to a true representation of the ground infantry experience in war.
The interviews are some of my favorite parts of this series. “We stand Alone Together “ is a must.
My Grandfather was a US Navy sailor at the attack on Pearl Harbor. He never spoke of the attack, until shortly before he died, a local newspaper was doing a video interview series of Pearl Harbor survivors. He, through strained voice and tears, recounted how the planes flew so low, it felt like you could reach out and touch them. How the bombings capsized his ship, which when rolling, threw him off into the water, breaking his leg. And how after the attack, he was assigned to fish the dead bodies of his friends out of the water.
In Foy, Belgium, there is a historical marker where Shifty made his shot.
Good luck with Episode 9
ep 7 and 9 are the hardest , most gut ripping ones😭
So for these two episodes, I've previously written quite detailed comments on a few different reactor's channels. I know there are others who might have posted the same/similar stuff here, but I'm just going to copy and paste them in. One thing I'll add is regarding Spiers. There are answers to your questions about him that can't be answered without spoiling. There are answers though.
Episode 7:
Whilst Spiers' run across no man's land was impressive (and very much downplayed in the show, and depicted differently), I feel like his solo sprint across the open field when Winters ordered him in is not talked about as much. He was a track athlete before the war. That was VERY impressive. He was, as depicted (again, I feel, downplayed), under intense fire in both instances.
Another thing that was downplayed in the series from this episode (likewise, I think, because the truth might have seemed just too impressive) was Shifty's sniper shot. In the series, it depicts them having a nice clear view of the guy in the window. It also depicts Lip drawing the German snipers fire. Neither of these two things are true. Lip was on the other side of town at this point. They knew there was a sniper, they just had a hard time locating him. Shifty never saw him in the window. The only sign that someone was in there was the man's breath vapor on the cold day. Shifty based his shot on that, and successfully took him out. There are bullet holes around the window to this day, so my theory is that other people shot in the general direction, but since the sniper was hidden, they didn't hit, then Shifty, knowing when the German was at the window because of his breath, managed to make the kill shot.
And as depicted in this episode, Shifty did indeed used to talk about how good a shot his _father_ was...
Episode 8:
Whilst a lot of the _meaning_ in this episode and the sentiment, the actual patrol was quite different from that depicted. I can understand why. Depicting the patrol more accurately would have involved introducing new characters who would have left just as quickly. It also may have muddied the story a bit and the points they were trying to make. You might say they condensed it down, using people we have become really familiar with who weren't across the river in order to be able to follow the story a bit better. Just thought I'd mention that.
The RUclips channel The Operations Room, which chronicles the step by step account of what happened in many Easy Company assaults (and many many other military engagements) has a great video on this. In it, again, you'll hear a lot of unfamiliar names, so I really can understand why they changed it.
I have mentioned before, but after your done with the 10 episodes, I really recommend the documentary We Stand Alone Together. If it's not available for you, it is on RUclips. You're looking for the video that's about 1 hour 17. The interviews with the real men are taken from this documentary.
"Why did I pick Spiers [to replace Dyke]? Because he was standing there."
-Dick Winters
"Well from what I've heard they've always had one. I've been told there's always been one man they could count on"
That statement by Speirs to Lipton is one of the most wholesome moments in the series.
Suggestions for future scheduling true stories:
Memorial Day: "A Bridge Too Far" (1977)
D-Day June 6th: "The Longest Day" (1962)
July 1st-3rd: "Gettysburg" (1993)
I start smiling everytime I see Winters call in Speirs.
Episode 9 is heartbreaking
Apparently from what I read the guy with the Luger got its trigger caught on some barbed wire and that's how he shot himself.
24:08 Lt. Jones is Tom Hanks' son Colin Hanks. I only realized this after I saw Colin in the first season of the Fargo mini-series.
And the voice of the German soldier they left behind on the opposite bank crying out in pain was Tom Hanks.
Now when you watch Episode 9, Get Ready to have A LOT of tissues. Ep. 9 is the most Emotional, Powerful, and to Never Forget Episode.
Speirs running through the German lines was so bad ass.
8:56 If you were ever in the military, especially on deployment, you do not tell your men a different order or disagree with a higher ranks order. When Lt. Spears said, Oh, he said that, then do that, showed us that saw that little detail that he is a good guy and even better leader, and we were about to see that soon.
I really like the character arch that they gave Lt Spears in this series, reminds me of myself in my military days, minus that incredible run to and back from the enemy!
The story about Spiers killing the prisoners is true. It was confirmed in an interview with Dick Winters. The guy doing the interview asked Dick about this, and Dick told him about it. He said that Steven Ambrose called him one day and told him they had a problem. Lawyers from Simon and Shuster (the publishing company for the book) called him and were worried about potential lawsuits from some of the stories that were in the book. The Spiers story was one of them, the portrayal of Nix drinking too much was another.
Dick told him not to worry about it, he would handle it. He said he wasn't worried about Nix, he knew that wouldn't be an issue, but the Spiers story was something else. Dick said he called Spiers and said 'hey Sparky, you know those rumors that were floating around, about D-Day, were they true? He said Spiers said 'oh yeah Dick, they're true'. He told Speirs about the phone call from Ambrose and the Lawyers concerns and Spiers said don't worry about it. He would write them and letter and tell them what happened. Apparently he did just that, and Dick said it was never an issue after that, because it was true.
The Stories about Speirs were true. During the invasion they were under orders to not take prisoners. They simply had no way of keeping them secure. The beaches were not secured when Speirs did what he had to do. Speirs also shot a drunk Sargent who threatened him while pointing his weapon at Speirs.
"...he came back."
I would definitely check out episodes 11, the documentary, if you enjoy the interviews.
Speirs was really something in The Breaking Point. And I loved seeing Lipton getting the battlefield commission to Lieutenant. The scene in the church, with the choir singing, hits right in the feels. And, with The Last Patrol, I loved what Winters did with not having the men not go on the second patrol and Nixon writing the bogus report. Made me respect the both of them even more.
Kinda late to the party here, but now that you've seen the whole series, I can mention this:
Winters would later say the reason he chose to lie about the last mission that never took place was because Colonel Sink had picked up a bad drinking habit. This led him to start planning missions while drunk, wanting to impress his superiors in high command, not being in his best state of mind.
After the first night raid, Winters decided he wasn't going to risk the lives of his men based on the drunken whims of Colonel Sink. He played his "Honest Man's Lie" card, and with the help of Nixon, no one in command dared doubt or question Winters.
Literally saved his men's lives that night.
When Stephen Ambrose was interviewing all the Easy men to write the Band Of Brothers book that all this is based on, the legal department at Simon and Schuster told him they couldn’t put in all the stories about Spears shooting the prisoners or shooting one of his men for pointing a weapon at him while drunk. They were afraid Spears or his family might deny it and sue. So Winters said he called him up and asked if it was okay if they put it in. Spears wrote him a notarized letter that basically said “yeah, I did it.” And Winters held onto it for them so they’d get out as accurate a story as possible.
That scene with Luz and Lipton and the dud shell always reminds me of how my father talked about coming out of a foxhole in. Europe smoking, when he had never smoked before, and he couldn't even remember lighting up. He was a smoker the rest of his life. War is brutal on so many fronts.
The Breaking Point is always such a rough watch, but it also has my favorite moments with Speirs running through Foy
Ive been to Bastogne and Foy. The sprint across open ground is at least 10x further than depicted in the show. The foxholes are still, as is the building the sniper was in. You can stand exactly where Shifty did to take the shot.
Well worth a visit if possible. Amazing they filmed both episode 6 and 7 indoors. Superb production throughout.
We Stand Alone Together.
One of things that being called, and deservedly so, "The Greatest Generation " is we forget that they were not supermen. Many came back to lead settled lives, but carried unseen and often undiagnosed wounds. We get some inkling in the interviews and some of the scenes that what we call PTSD has always been a terrible cost that they pay. Be kind and respect our veterans, we really owe them more than we can repay.
Remember every combat soldier has stories to tell there was not a battle or firefight that did not have a dozen occurrences worthy of many medals, but never happened
Accurate artillery is so damn terrifying.
About Spiers shooting the POWs, I wasn't okay with it at all, until I read that the reason he did it is that he knew they didn't have the ability to watch and keep track of prisoners as they were behind enemy lines. If any of them managed to escape and alert the German forces as to the Airborne's whereabouts and where they were going, it would have been disastrous not just for the 101st but for the rest of the armed forces landing on the beaches, as they would've been able to reinforce the guns Easy company and others were aiming to destroy.
Watching the series back, knowing who is in the interviews is heavy.
The lugger was notorious for having a hair trigger and just going off.
Yay! Another Addie reaction! My sunday afternoon is covered.
I would recommend following this with The Pacific.
when lipton was telling winters he thought dyke needed replaced, he took a huge risk. what he did was highly illegal in the military, remember back when they all signed letters saying they would not serve under captain sobel, prettymuch the same thing.
The next episode will break your heart.
Unsure if you’re aware but after you finish the series there is a documentary affectionately referred to as the 11th episode. It’s called “We Stand Alone Together” and is available in full on RUclips if not on Max. It is a long version of the interviews shown in the beginning of the episodes and includes interviews with the mens’ families as well. It is definitely worth watching
Speirs is the sort of guy you’re really glad is on your side, in large part so you haven’t got to face him on the other side.
Lt. Dike was highly decorated for actions in Holland. He faltered in the Foy attack mainly because he was wounded similarly to Hoobler.
Yeah, I heard this series did Dike dirty.
@@thedude1316 Just like Blithe's survivalthat nobodywas aware of, the series is from the point of view of the men of easy company. In the moment they weren't aware Dike was wounded and I'm not sure they cared as long as he was gone. Maybe his experiences in Holland reduced his effectiveness.
@@miked6761 cheers.
Thank you Addie. These are some of the most empathic & heartfelt reactions of BOB I have seen. I fear for your well-being, as I have yet to watch your reactions to Ep's 9 & 10. Please, please consider watching the unofficial episode 11 - We Stand Alone Together. There are a lot of reveals from the actual (surviving) members of Easy. Hell, it's almost obligatory that you watch it. 😌
With Spiers the orders were very specific on D-Day - Take NO Prisoners - they couldn't secure them and having them was a threat to the Paratroopers behind enemy lines. Winters asked Spiers and he said he did what he had to do. Spiers was the ultimate pragmatist - he did what was required. As shown at the end of Breaking Point he is a human and he knows full well his reputation but he also uses that to his advantage. Once people got to know him properly they realised that he was a much kinder man than they had ever imagined.
Those were illegal orders. They violate the Geneva convention on the treatment of prisoners. It was a war crime. No debate.
I believe he offered them a cigarrette not as a joke or such, but as a solace before he killed them. A kindness to say I know you are human and I grant you this last enjoyingment before I do what I must.
An interesting note is that, in real life, all of the stories about Speirs were 100% true. He did kill one of his own soldiers who was drunk, and he DID summarily execute a bunch of Germans after giving them cigarettes. We know because well after the war he sent Winters a letter literally saying, "yeah, I absolutely did all of that." He only narrowly avoided court martial because the majority of the witnesses were killed, wounded, or otherwise out of the picture, and because they desperately needed effective combat officers and he was one of the very best.
Speirs is a fascinating character because he pretty much unarguably committed pretty serious war crimes but there was also so much to admire about the man. He was effectively a living legend within the 101st, a brilliant officer, almost psychotically brave, and if anything the show seriously underplays the extent of his heroics during the Battle of Foy.
He was also an individual that other battle hardened paratroopers were terrified of, which says a lot.
Speirs is just one of those odd figures that are produced from time to time in major wars. Every so often a Ronald Speirs or an Ernst Jünger or similar pop up who go to war and thrive as though they were born for it. They're very, very good at a very, very ugly but sometimes necessary thing and you need them to win wars, but the traits that make them so indispensable are the same traits that allowed Speirs to hose down a bunch of unarmed POWs with a submachine gun.
I really like your reactions and commentaries. The end is just around the corner and you have handled yourself really well throughout this series. I would still suggest you have a box of tissues ready for the next two episodes though.
Only TWO more episodes left.
But it's THOSE two.
I don't know if any of us are ready to watch Addie's next BoB reaction.
The Last Patrol: Tom Hanks even enlisted his own son into the War...This is when Winters essentially "Dad arms" and protects his men of Easy Company in anyway he can, even by lying to command. I love the way they express so visually the soldiers experiences by the appearance of their uniforms. Webster's guilt is what leads him to volunteer for the patrol and earn respect from the men again...
Currahee ♠
There is a biography of Ronald Spiers by Jared Fredrick and Erik Dorr called Fierce Valor. It will answer all your questions about Spiers. (I'm reading it now.)
Those vets must be like, "The worst day in my life makes good entertainment? FU!"
Make sure you have tissues for the next episode very tough 1
Watch the PACIFIC series next.
EDIT: "SPEIRS!!! Get yourself over here and take that attack on in!" Is one of the best moments in the series.
"The Breaking Point" Well, it's not just a clever name. When Winters tries to go in against orders, and then sends LT. Speirs in he more than put his money where his mouth is. One of my favorite moments of the series. When he goes into relieve Dike of command, that scene is stunning every single time. And when Buck's helmet hits the ground, it's as Earth shattering as the German artillery.
Currahee ♠
It's true that Spiers shot those German soldiers, but just in the legs because they couldn't take any prisoners or afford for them to rejoin the war. It was better for him to retain the mystery
Luz gives his recounting of crawling back to Muck and Penkala's fox hole when they get blown up ..on RUclips interview
I'm sure I said this before but a Luger was a dangerous souvenir, especially during the Bulge. If you were captured by the Germans with that gun you were summarily executed.
Speirs really ran through Foy, he did kill those prisoners and he did shoot his own man.
First, the run through Foy has been told many ways but we do know is either the show hyped it way up or way down. Some people say he ran through an open field while under heavy fire while the other story has him running through the enemy front lines as depicted in the show but for a much farther distance and much heavier gunfire.
Secondly, He did kill those prisoners on D-Day but it wasn’t because he was some blood thirsty maniac. At this time the Beach landings were just starting and that means they didn’t have any established area or personnel to hold prisoners and were instructed to not take any prisoners, which meant they were to kill everyone they saw.
And finally, Speirs did shoot one of his own officers, killing him. Speirs apparently had gotten on the bad side of a drunken soldier. The soldier raised his weapon and pointed it at Speirs, Speirs warned him twice to lower the weapon before firing upon the man. Speirs immediately reported the incident to a higher ranking official who deemed Speirs acted in self defense.
All of the stories are true and Speirs confirmed them.
Episode 9 is tough.
Spiers did in fact kill the POWs and shot one of his own guys, dick winters asked him and he said “yes they are true, I can provide them in writing”
Well the next one is going to be wild. I hope there are tissues handy, it really got me.
The way I've heard it, the guys didn't give Webster a hard time for missing Bastogne. They said he was lucky. Winters on the other hand didn't like him. He did his job and never disobeyed orders, but he never volunteered for anything. Winters saw that as a moral failing. Please correct me if I'm wrong about this.
The convent was actually a catholic school with nuns gor teachers that still stands to this day.
The pistol went off because there was a defect in the safety that led to it being replaced by another gun later on and Spiers did kill the prisoners because during the operation they had nowhere to keep the prisoners, and it would’ve held them back from completing their objective, so they had to kill any German soldiers that they had to encounter
Yep Sparkie did it
Yes, Baby "Colin" Hanks 😉
Bravo.
The fact is, very little about these accounts are not accurate. It really is a window into the actual events.
Add about 100 feet and making fun of the German's aim as he ran by them to Speir's run.
Please, please watch "We stand alone together" documentary when you've finished the series. It is more interviews and stories from the men of Easy Company. These men were definitely the greatest generation. God bless them all for what they did and what they went through.
Early during D-Day American as well as German troops executed prisoners. There was no way possible to take POW’s and hold them. Just the reality of the situation
STEEL YOURSELF FOR EP. NINE
Now, Rocky Balboa.
Thank's!!!
The stories about Spiers are all true. Although some details were changed the facts are still the same.
Dike gets a really bad wrap in these episodes. The truth is in Holland he's led a defence whilst totally surrounded by the enemy and won a Bronze Star for dragging 3 injured Men to safety at Bastogne. At Foy he was actually wounded heading in and thats when he shut down. They didn't know him well so didn't realsie his behaviour in the lead up was odd in the way they knew Buck was acting odd so they dont give Dike the sort of leeway they do Buck when it all gets too much. In all likelyhood both men appeared to be having the exact same sort of disassociation symptoms but they simply didn't realise that Dike was actually acting very strangely for him.
Seeing Spiers finally shown in his full insane glory is amazing. The scene with Michael Fassbender is hilarious foreshadowing of his face turn and one last moment of menace.
bad _rap_
@@ShwiftJustice It's funny rap, rep and wrap are applicable depending on the situation - Merriam Webster says wrap isn't but that's one of the worst dictionaries on Earth. English wasn't really codified until after Samuel Johnson wrote his dictionary and spelling was traditionally wildly different from place t place in Britain. Rep, Rap, Wrap and several other spellings are all valid. A lot of words changed in the great vowel shift and things like dropping of the Thorn. In this case if it was a criminal act being talked about you would normally use rap, if it is your reputation its rep and if it's an incorrect summary of events its wrap. In Dike's case rep and wrap are actually more applicable useages of the term than rap as nobody is saying he did anything wrong criminally. All 3 can be used somewhat interchangeably as many terms can.
I remember someone once saying the old fallacy to me that it's always i before e except after c and I asked them if they had ever counted to 10. People look at you strangely when you tell them that until they reach 7 and a little lightbulb goes off in their heads as they reach 8. Truth is there are actually more words that break that rule than there are that follow it.
The weird truth is it's actually easier to translate English into German and visa versa than to spell in English correctly because honestly English is weird. The rules are more vague guidelines and Samuel Johnson just randomly chose spellings rather than follow any hard and fast rules.
Prepare yourself for the next ep. (9)..............
❤❤😊
#proudADDIEaddict
Everyone commenting is right, unless you're a 95 year old German guy living in Venezuela episode 9 is going to be the most difficult to watch.
Winters called Spiers when the book was being written and Spiers confirmed that all of the stories are true and he had no problem with them portraying it.
ruclips.net/video/W-V6OAtgr6c/видео.html
Sweet girl…steel yourself for the final 2 episodes
If she has anxiety watching this, what is she going to do when she watches Masters Of The Air lol
Fast asleep, I imagine. That show is incredibly disappointing.
will you react to Mud 2012?