Band of Brothers Carentan - the real story! 

exactly what I did about a week ago :)

I have, over several different visits, the last 2 occasions i have stayed in the 101st Airborne hotel in Carantan itself (right where the famous picture of the paratroopers are in the Kubelwagen) Such an important and largely well preserved part the battle for Normandy, Having visited and Met Frank, the now owner of Donville manor, the history on that land alone is amazing, I highly recommend a visit, tour of the grounds including dug finds and the house itself which has some unique secrets and some permanent reminders of what happened there, without giving anything away, it’s superb

You are asking a very good question!that has been very well presented!! without a doubt channels and videos and content of this standard help a lot for anyone who is trying to piece all of it together. personally I've done 4 battlefield tours to cover OP MKT GRDN and was lucky enough to be based nr the Netherlands border to be able to get to NIJMEGEN at weekends etc ;that being in younger times in RAFG and RAF REGT service ...more recently now in my early 60s it's gems such as the 100th anniversary tour when we got to see and had a tour of the 506th night assault on the flak guns :the spot where PVT DUKEMAN was Kia spotting fr ARTY RNDS and the varied EASY COY manoeuvres during the action that night ! coming home and finding the same on you tube a week later. Reference to CARENTAN I was able to visit some yrs ago on a "help fr heroes" charity fund raiser that I was on with some other veterans NOT the best of company for such a trip and i had no really extensive knowledge of the 101st screaming eagles ops in the area ..having to wander off on my own and make the best of it in what little time was available ,however I came away with enough basics to conduct further research etc UNFORTUNATELY I was unable to get to st Marie du mont or anywhere else useful on that trip. AS FAR AS the TV series portrayed it majority of we history affiacanados thought that overall the series was great when initially aired on TV but the character portrayals and individual profiles have altered to suit TV drama and a no. of paratroopers were not included in the series OK ! GREAT WORK and this is very informative too many THANKS!

Raising hand. Such a wonderful trip.

Having watched Band of Brothers many times, I found the sub-plot of Albert Blithe (based on a real person) in that episode somewhat curious as far as how it fit into the broader story. I guess it served to represent all the guys who had to dig deep to find the courage to fight on, with so many being killed or wounded.

Correct, it was sad that he never received his award. He was a true combat leader! Thanks for watching!

Yes I visited Margareten and the American cemetery there. I was amazed at the amount of soldiers who died up to 5 months after the German surrender. They were all part of bomb disposal group. I found what I'm sure are 2 brothers same last name buried side by side. It's a very beautiful place rolling hills and things you don't see in most of Holland. We took train from Amsterdam to Maastricht, then a bus to cemetery.

And Winters got NOTHING!!! Crazy

Indeed, a true leader of men and courageous soldier. His rank was Lieutenant Colonel.

Yes, he rests at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. I Always visit his grave when I visit the soldiers whose graves I have adopted.

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

I would say the only flaw is the swallowing noises you can hear between speaking.

Well said

Just what I thought.

Agreed totally. It’s like saying that Band of Brothers didn’t fully tell the story of the Utah beach landings - it’s the story of Easy Company’s part in various WW2 actions

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

Lt Col Coles interview is incredible isn’t it! Probably the only MoH recipient to be talking about his actions on camera at the spot it happened just a few days later. Such a shame he was killed in the Netherlands before he knew of the award.

@WW2Wayfinder I was just reading the citation for his MOH. What an amazing man. And to see him talking about the battle. I had never seen that footage. Your presentation of that footage was remarkable. You honored him by using that footage. Not sure if you have thought about that. This video is one of the best on RU-vid

Thank you! I hope to have one filmed on location in the next few weeks which I hope will help bring it to life even more! Thanks for watching.

@@WW2Wayfinder I was lucky enough to tour a few Battle of the Bulge sites in and around Bastogne recently. It’s great to visit the actual places these events occurred. I hope to see more in the future.

Thank you sir!

Thanks Troy! I can't wait to get back to Normandy and walk the ground around Purple Heart Lane this year and really show what the terrain was like there.

Coles interview is incredible isn’t it?!

@@WW2Wayfinder Unscripted, doing his best in front of a film camera, not finding the words right away- honest. Such a wonderful thing to have seen!

Thank you! I hope you’re able to make that trip as it would be amazing! Debden is now a home to a British Army Regiment but they do host tours there as the barracks still has most of the wartime buildings there. Cole’s interview is incredible and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a MoH recipient (albeit still to be confirmed when he was filmed) talk about the action at the spot where it happened!

Agreed. I think those who say they’re over hyped forget that it took a war on two fronts and numerous nations to defeat them. While I believe aspects of their forces/equipment have been made into something they were not over the years ultimately they fought with dogged determination on multiple fronts for years without the advantages the Western Allies or Soviet Union enjoyed in terms of natural resources etc.

Alex thank you! I hope to cover more of it later next month when I visit Normandy and walk the ground there. Thanks again for watching!

You're most welcome! hopefully it helps keep alive the memory of what that incredible generation went through.

@@WW2Wayfinder Most definitely does. My grandfather joined up with the 30th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division a few days prior to them going ashore at Anzio and was with them for the rest of the war. He passed in '89 and I wasn't really old enough to talk to him about the war, but I started researching his service in WW2 a few years ago, and ever since then I've been on a non-stop WW2 binge. There is so much to learn about it, that will never end. And the more I study it, the more I see its impact still playing out today. Anyway, I like looking for good WW2 videos/channels and recently found yours... I love it. Keep up the good work!

My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!

His interview is amazing isn’t it. Not often you get to hear a MoH recipient talk about his action days after it took place on the same ground (even if at the time he wasn’t aware it would be awarded to him).

thanks for including it. Loved it when the LTC asked the Private to speak as well@@WW2Wayfinder

Glad you enjoyed it

Thank you!!

They jumped with nearly 100lbs of gear and as you say many lost equipment during the jump itself and couldn’t find it in the dark!

@@WW2Wayfinder это печально потому что порой противник находил их раньше чем они находили свое снаряжение. Но несмотря на это они все равно выполняли свои задачи.

That and I think there was just so much going on all along the front.

Thank you!

@@WW2Wayfinder what is the primary piece of music used in this video, its beautiful. :)

The trooper with the machete is Pvt Jerry Giarritano of B Co. 502nd PIR. ‘Mad Jack’ Churchill is the chap that was photographed with a sword coming ashore from an LCA but I believe it was during a training exercise in Inveraray where that happened.

@@WW2Wayfinder ty sir

They made the switch from USAAC to USAAF in June 1941. May I ask what your Father did in the Air Force?

@@WW2Wayfinder My dad grew up working in his father's country car repair shop so he and his best friend took a bus when they graduated to Memphis, Tennessee to enlist. They both joined the Army Air Corps, dad sighed up to be a flight engineer for bombers. His job was to make sure the engines were ready to be started, and then he would have been the top turret gunner and made sure that things that went wrong with the plane during flight could be fixed if possible. However, during a training exercise my dads' write wrist was broken. It was put in a cast and he and some other men in the hospital were included in a press photo... my dad was incredibly handsome, still turning heads in his late 70s. Anyway, when they too the cast off they found gangrene. They were able to save his hand but after cleaning all the gangrene out, his wrist had to be wired together and it was immovable and he was given a 25% disability rating. Instead of releasing him from the Air Corps, they retrained him and sent him to Langley Field Virginia where he worked in the control tower, keeping track of bombers sent out on antisubmarine duty, knowing what bombs they had aboard, so that if they came back without encountering action, he could alert ground crews as to what bombs that they would need to be prepared to receive from the bombers. He reached the rank of Sergeant and I am not sure what kind of sergeant. Oddly enough, after the war my mom heard about a good looking new service manager at the GM dealer and she had a Buick convertible which had electric windows (wow, 1949!) and one was broken. So she drove there to meet him instead of the dealer where the car came from. Oddly enough, she had suffered gangrene as well. She was a beauty as well, and had been burned on her calf muscle when she was four. During the war she was asked to take a Hollywood screen test but was asked to have the scar removed. After surgery she was put in a cast and gangrene developed there, just like my dad only to save the leg the entire calf muscle had to be removed and the ankle wired to be unmovable. So, when they met, they realized they were right for each other, understanding what it was like to be slightly disabled.

What an interesting story…. Thank you for your Father’s service.

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the episode!

Some very good points! the danger of that series has been the elevation of the main officers and men Ambrose and the series focused on without any consideration for their more human traits.

Glad you enjoyed it! Lt Col Cole’s description of his MoH action is priceless!

I wasn’t aware of the second gate, thank you for that!

Thank you!

It's in the main square (Place de la Republic) in Carentan where the medal ceremony was held (near the chruch) so quite easy to find when you're there. Hope you have a great trip!

@@WW2Wayfinder thank you, this is the second time you've helped me. Thanks to you I was able to visit the war graves at Birnbach (Friedhof Birnbach) where the remembrance stone to the scapegoats of the Ludendorff Bridge is. Again thank you for your help and for this brilliant channel!

But Band of Brothers was about the 506th, not Cole’s unit. I don’t get the premise of this video…

It must have been hell on earth, especially after 4 days of fighting since the invasion to then have to make that charge. Quite incomprehensible and to think they did it! It’s a long way from the bridge to the farm house in full view of the MG42’s and other weapons the Fallschirmjäger had at their disposal. The area now though has some wonderful memorials there to the action

All my own knowledge! I don’t bother with animations as I don’t have the skill, software or knowledge sadly. 99.9% of my work is at the locations where the battles were fought. This was something I trialled many months ago

It was still fucking sick but.. cheers mate

Where am I looking? I can't see a cow anywhere.

@@orwellboy1958top RH corner , I don’t think it’s a cow , but it looks like a cow hanging on a telephone wire

I can see it

It’s not a cow, but a horse!

Based....except the alleged bad guys ended usury, destroyed the internstional banking cartel's control over it, recognized what communism was doing, and was going to do, and who was behind it all and the entire world came together to turn them to ash and rubble. Kinda like modern times when certain places talk about selling oil outside usd and decoupling just to wake up to mysterious uprisings and nato bombs.

Very much so! The Fallschirmjäger were a formidable enemy!

Interesting to throw the Austrian painter under the bus, had General Franz Halder have listened to the corporal, Stalingrad would have been taken, the soviet supply lines cut, and perhaps 1944 would have been a gigantic disaster for the allies instead of the axis. Halder disobeying moustaxhe man and absorbing several heavily equipped divisions from army group south just prior to the bulk of the fighting in the south was a blunder among blunders. Even tik, a notorious british fencesitter, acknowledges in his life's work on the stalingrad campaign that the generals didnt listen enough to the grand strategy of the east in the early war , fousing on Moscow and seiging Leningrad instead of pushing past stalingrad and cutting off oil and gas to the red army. The war was lost in 1942 in the frozen hellscape of the east. 3 years of desperation followed.