Band of Brothers: Episode 2 | Full Length Reaction
Added 2021-12-13 16:59:02 +0000 UTCDay of Days was a great introductory episode that really just throws you and all of the soldiers straight into the action. It shows how great of a leader Winters is and how much of a strategic, and capable individual he is. You really feel like you can trust him and his judgement amidst all of the surrounding chaos. I believe this episode was meant to show how certain individuals adapted to the fight, and how others in different groups were trained differently - as well as the culture between the soldiers in this era! Although clearly afraid, they are still essentially kids at heart and try to make light of the situation by goofing off and joking around with one another. It really does begin to show the brotherly bond.
Comments
Hi Vee - apologies for being a little late, but just in case... The C-47 pilots and flight crews were all from transport units. Barely any of them had any training - much less experience - in terms of flying directly into hostile fire. As soon as the anti-aircraft artillery opened up, all of the planning as to where specific units would be dropped effectively went out the window, as it became a matter of survival for both the flight crew and the paratroopers just to make the jump and fly out of there. When the C-47 containing Lt. Meehan was shot down, it not only took out Meehan and Sgt. Evans (played by Simon Pegg in the previous episode), it effectively took out half of Easy Company with them. The remaining half of Easy Company is who we'll be following most closely for the rest of the series. You're absolutely right that a big part of this episode highlights the way Lt. Winters has natural leadership abilities - not only in terms of military skill and tactical nous, but also pragmatism when it comes to his men. When Sgt. Guarnere opened fire on the German unit (and their horses) early on in the episode, he disobeyed a direct order not to fire unless ordered to do so. An officer working strictly "by the book" (as Sobel was) would have put him on a charge requiring a court-martial, but Winters was not only aware of what had happened to Guarnere's brother, he was also aware that to discipline the guy would take a good NCO out of the fight at a time when Easy would really need him, so Winters elected to reprimand him verbally - effectively a once-and-once-only "Get Out Of Jail Free" card.
Joe Hoy
2021-12-30 03:03:20 +0000 UTCDefinitely an intense series to watch. I both enjoy and dread rewatching the episodes but this is so well made that I love going through it again. I think it should be required to watch this series at this point.
jeremykg14
2021-12-14 23:14:16 +0000 UTCWhen reasearching the book "Band of Brothers" Stephen Ambrose and Dick Winters called Spiers and said "So whats the deal? Did you or did you not kill those POW's on D-Day?" Spiers said, and I'm Paraphrasing "yeah, and I'd fucking do it again"
Enterprize
2021-12-14 07:12:46 +0000 UTCWhen Lt. Nixon tells Lt. Winters to never get a cat, it's because Lt. Winters is struggling to open a tin can....
Chris Gronau
2021-12-14 06:46:32 +0000 UTCDonnie Wahlberg is Mark Wahlberg's brother. He plays Lipton. He is also one of the original members of the boy band "New Kids On The Block."
Tom Evans
2021-12-14 05:54:39 +0000 UTCI was gonna suggest that you do 2 episodes per post, but seeing how anxious you get from one, I don't think you can handle that. So glad you're watching this series. Looking forward to the next episode!
Zachary Carter
2021-12-14 05:21:14 +0000 UTCgreat reaction! glad you are watching this series. thank you. take long breaks between episodes if you get too stressed!
vlocke67
2021-12-14 04:21:22 +0000 UTCRegarding the killing of surrendered and surrendering soldiers - killing POWs is broadly considered a war crime but the paratroopers were given orders specifically not to take prisoners on D-Day.
Michael Nuzzo
2021-12-14 01:19:41 +0000 UTCThank you.
panacamanana
2021-12-14 00:12:00 +0000 UTCConcerning the German soldier from Oregon, early in the war, long before the US entered the war in either Europe or the Pacific, the German government invoked “Volksdeutche.” Volksdeutche stated that all those of german descent should return to Germany to fight the war for her. As with WWI, the US was still very much a nation of immigrants, mostly first and second generation, so it wasn’t unusual for first generation immigrants to still bear loyalty to their homelands, and, to a certain degree, an amount of loyalty and pride from their children as well. It was actually this concept that also led to the internment of first and second generation Japanese immigrants following the attack on Pearl Harbor. That guy really was enlisted in the Wehrmacht, even though he was born and raised in America.
Charles
2021-12-13 22:16:08 +0000 UTC^^^ But it's worth it.
JayF
2021-12-13 20:11:35 +0000 UTCYou asked a couple of times when your anxiety will die down. I think I can answer that one - when the credits roll at the end of episode 10
there_is_no_gary_only_zuul
2021-12-13 20:05:17 +0000 UTCGreat reaction. Regarding their ages, the average age of those that took part in d-day is said to be 20, however the average age of infantry men in ww2 was said to be 22. Still very young.
Dave Callan
2021-12-13 20:01:00 +0000 UTCHello Vee, I think you see that correctly, in this episode it is shown on the one hand that Winters is a conscientious leader who takes risks, but no suicide bombs. On the other hand, that he tries to take care of his people as best he can and is not resentful, e.g. with the Quaker story. But just as a reminder, think about how their previous commander, Captain Sobel, screwed up the training missions on his own and was unable to read a map properly without any stress. The entire company would have been so lost with him as leader. Also, I think the post-fight humor they display is a way of dealing with all the stress and not going crazy after having been under constant tension since their departure. Finally, a small spoiler in advance, but that won't spoil anything for you. At the end of the next episode, a soldier is named who is said to have died shortly after the war. However, after the series was broadcast, it turned out that he lived until 1967, because relatives of him had contacted the creators of the series and got it right. Instead, he recovered, made a career with paratroopers and did over 600 jumps.
Chris Lüders
2021-12-13 19:44:39 +0000 UTCWhen are you dropping avengers???
Gareth Evans
2021-12-13 19:29:17 +0000 UTCVery clever to have a cold when you have to watch Band of Brothers. You can sniffle all you want, but hey, totally just a cold.
Lee Aguera
2021-12-13 19:14:25 +0000 UTCThe biggest thing about BoB is that they didnt change the events much. Thats why you dont allways see them do the stuff that is the most bombastic on one specific day of war, because Easy just wasnt there at that specific battle.
Dioskur
2021-12-13 19:14:06 +0000 UTCHey, Vee. I enjoyed your reaction as always. A couple of notes for you. Speirs shooting the prisoners is a bit muddled depending on what source it comes from. I've read that he and a couple of his troops were still trying to make their way to the HQ after landing and ran into a handful of German troops. With no way to secure them and still in danger if they happened upon more enemy, they killed them. I've also read that General Taylor who was over the 101st Airborne gave the order to take no prisoners on D-Day. On one hand it does sound horrible but on the other there doesn't seem like there would be a way to accommodate POWs while you were still fighting to take the area. Weighing the life of Hall vs taking those guns also has to include that those guns were firing on the troops invading the beach. That was what the paratrooper's main objective was in order to save as many of our troops as they could from those guns. Lastly, I think you missed what Nixon said to Winters about having a cat. Winters was struggling opening the can of food and Nixon said, "Don't ever get a cat" because it was the same type of can that cat food came in. They didn't have the easy pop lids back then. There was a little metal key you had to use to curl some metal from around the can. It was a pain in the ass to say the least.
JayF
2021-12-13 18:32:01 +0000 UTC
