*BAND OF BROTHERS* (Episode 7) REACTION 

And yet, in spite of each losing a leg, both Bill Guarnere and Joe Toye recovered and lived to be old men.

After my Father died I kept his WW2 scrapbook and his ribbons. I hated him from the time I was 5 or6. He was a working alcoholic. Delivered Beer to taverns. Great huh? long story short. Fifteen years before he died, he stopped. Cold turkey. When he was sober (not often) he was the nicest guy in the world. Dad was in the Ardennes-Hurtgen Forest. He was NOT infantry. He was part of a anti-tank gun crew. They died. He lived. Watching Band of Bros gave me a whole different perspective. No wonder he drank. It dulled the memories. I loved my Father. He was a hero.

Interesting fact about this episode and one correction: 1. Spiers run is completely true. Not only documented by members of the 101st but also the German units inside the town. Another small bit of sad but strange info is that when Spiers met with the commander of I company, he exchanged brief words and orders and then began dashing back towards easy company. Not even a second after he left the commander of I company was killed by a machine gun burst that if had fired earlier Speirs would also have been caught in. 1.5. Mini bonus fact. The two rumours in the series about Spiers are true however there is context behind them. A. Yes he did shoot several German prisoners on D-day however these weren’t just random killing these were ordered killing by even upper command (given prior to jump). The reason why was that paratroopers do not have the equipment, manpower and ability to hunker up in a position for days on end guarding enemy prisoners when a major operation relies on each of there units completing multiple objectives on just that very morning for everything to be a success. Sadly a sad fact of war. - it should also be noted that the vast majority of men on D-day were not saints by any majority with this. On that first day be it them paratroopers or men from the beaches, prisoners were very rarely taken, most just put down there spotted targets. This wasn’t even ordered stuff, just when your walking across a bunch of men at night, startle them and they throw down your weapons, you don’t want to trust em not to run off or pick ‘em up later or go alert there buddies on the next patrol…. So it was quicker just to put em down on the spot. 2. The shooting of the drunk sergeant is true. However there is very good context as to why. It was noted by several that the sergeant was extremely drunk and lying in a prone position with his rifle beside him. Spiers requested the man go back to the rear and sober up. The man refused and reached for his rifle. Spiers again ordered than man to disarm and head to the rear. Only after pointing the weapon at Spiers in a threatening manner did Spiers fire back. - note he reported this incident to his captain who then went to the scene and deemed it justified. Sadly said captain was also killed the next day which ended any further investigations - tho many in his own platoon were willing to back him.

And the last member of Easy Company, Bradford Freeman just died yesterday at 97. RIP to all Easy Company men!

2 slight corrections: 1) the shell that didn't explode was from German artillery (88mm guns. The same guns they took out on DDay)..not a tank. 2) Liebgot wasn't the one who got hit really bad in the throat in Holland. That was an officer. Liebgot was just grazed in the neck. You can see that wound on him in episode 5 (crossroads) when Winters told him to transport those German prisoners with only 1 round in his rifle.

It's just a recommendation, but I think it's only right you react to The Pacific after this. Hanks and Spielberg did this miniseries as well. It covers the WWII Pacific theatre of operations, in contrast to the WWII European theatre of operations that Band of Brothers covers. It's excellent, and won the same Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries that Band of Brothers won.

"That wasn't the really astounding thing. The astounding thing was that after he hooked up with I company... he came back." Full body chills every single time I watch that scene! And the most unbelievable part about that scene, it's accurate! Speirs actually made that run during Easy's attack on Foy!

winters called speirs before the band of brothers book was released to ask if it was ok to publish the rumors about him and if they were true. speirs said it was fine, and told winters everything heard about him was true.

I’m pretty sure there’s a story out there that “Shifty” noticed a tree that wasn’t there the day before at the other tree line I can’t remember the distance I wanna say it was a kilometre or 2 can’t think of it off the top of my head but when they looked through the binoculars at the tree it was a German gun they had hidden beneath branches of trees

Remember Spiers from episode 3: "You have to accept the fact that you're already dead. It's the only way a soldier can function the way he needs to. All war depends on it."

This had terrible losses for Easy. First Hubler gets fatally shot by the Luger he took. Then Joe Toye gets his leg blown off. Bill Guarnere goes to help him then gets his leg blown off. Luz seeks the foxhole with Skip Muck and Alex Penkala and they’re killed instantly by artillery. They were Malarkey’s best buddies. There was a story about a 116 mile March they did when they were in training at Currahee. They bivouacked in the woods while a kitchen and mess tent were set up for chow. Malarkey developed really bad shin splints during the march and found he couldn’t walk to the mess tent. He began to crawl and Skip Muck sees him, tells him to sit and wait, “No buddy of mine is gonna crawl for his chow.” Skip brought back two trays, sat on the ground and ate with him. Malarkey said Skip was the most popular guy in Easy because he was a loyal friend. He never got over Skip’s and Alex’s deaths. Great reaction, it was a tough one. 😢

I don't know how many times I have watched this series, but I still get choked up watching Spiers run through the town and then come back. Unreal courage.

A couple of small things: The way the Army handled wounded soldiers at that time was to reassign soldiers to other units if they spent too much time at a hospital. People wanted to rejoin their own units at a lot of cost. We already saw Popeye and Guarnere go AWOL from hospitals to rejoin Easy. Blythe was unable to, that’s why Easy lost track of him. The song the girls sing in the convent is Plaisir d’Amour. This song from the late 1700s was covered by a variety of artists but is best known because it was had a key change and small changes to adapt to a baritone voice and became Can’t Help Falling in Love With You, one of Elvis’s greatest songs.

The Bastogne episodes was filmed inside a huge airplane hangar.. pretty amazing! You feel cold just watching it :)

Eventually please react to "We Stand Alone Together." A documentary about Easy with interviews with many of the men depicted in this series. You won't be disappointed.

You should watch the documentary with the real soldiers after this!

Spiers didnt actually smoke, he just kept a pack to go around and mess with people offering them. After the war, he confirmed that every rumor told about him was true. He also fought in Korea and Vietnam. The man was born for war

Artillery barrages like that would also go on for SOOOO much longer than the show depicts. I hear some saying that they would go on for up to 8 hours (correct me if I'm wrong) during that particular battle, non stop, which is just insane to endure! I can't imagine the depth of trauma that inflicts on people...

Although Dyke seems like a slacker, he was awarded the Bronze Star for his combat actions in Holland. Also, he was wounded very early in the attack on Foy and sort of lost it there. Also, one important fact about Dyke--he didn't die at Foy. In fact he retired from the Army as a major.

War is basically the worst of humanity. I remember hearing a ping on my helicopter, then another, then another, then I knew what it was. I was trained and prepared, but damn that was a shock. I am not attacking you, hurting you, threatening you, and you’re fucking shooting at me?

The Sub zero temps helped freeze the blood for minor wounds; That’s how cold it was at the bulge

Ronald Speirs was a real machine.

In every company there is a Commanding Officer (CO) and the Co. First Sergeant. The two of them are the dad and mom of the company. The CO leads the company. The First Sergeant takes care of the administration of all the enlisted men in the company. After Lipton became a 2nd Lt. and platoon leader, StfSgt Floyd Talbert became E Co. First Sergeant. In episode 10 there is a scene where Talbert asked Captain Spiers to replace him from Co. FS back to a platoon Sgt. because he misses being with the men. Spiers response was "Ok, I guess you have earned the right to demote yourself"

That scene at 16:30 is the one that brought my teenage son to tears.

Minus the cold, this is every day in Ukraine. Russia fires 50,000 artillery shells a day, at anything and everything. That would be more than 5,000,000 shells so far.

The Perfect Mix. Lt Dike was not actually a bad officer. In the attack shown he had in fact been hit twice and had lost a lot of blood. This made him dilerrous / very confused due to his brain been starved of blood ... hence his bad choise. They didn't know this until he got to the aid station. He was wearing so many layers of clothes that it hid his injuries and blood loss. He had actually undertake numerous acts of heroism and was awarded the Bronze star for his actions at Uden.

Respect to all those who served. This excellent mini series could of been made a million times with different units/company/Regiments. Another masterpiece which in time will be precious to future generations.

Episode 9 is actually the hardest if you know you know

Love you guys. It's been fun following your journey. Just stay authentic and don't be anything except yourselves. We love watching you explore parts of TV and cinema that meant something to those of us older :)

Skip Muck was from Tonawanda NY, which is a suburb outside Buffalo NY where im from. I heard his name before watching this series. This series and the pacific have really has changed my mindset on certain things. But this generation of men have giving there souls to fight for freedom and justice. And we should praise them for there sacrifice and bravery.

There’s a reason they were called The Greatest Generation. Remember, this was before anyone knew what ptsd was.

Statistics in war show that Artillery only makes up about 15% of an Army but causes about 50% of the casualties.

A little note on the luger, they were almost legendary at the time. The round it was chambered in was great for it's intended purpose, and we're highly sought after. Mausers and the p-whatever the Germans were issued were standard, but lugers were the Glock of the time. There was also a thousand commissioned in .45 acp by the us military for testing against the m1911(standard us handgun until recently ((you'll still find them in use))), I'm a little fuzzy in when that was. I want to say after the second world war but I'm unsure. There's 3 very fatal spots to be hit: near the belly button, mid leg, and exact center mass.belly button is almost as bad as a head shot, the organs there are all but toxic and a shot to the lower intestine is an absolute done. Legs can be the least lethal, though the worst pain you can endure is a broken thigh bone.

You have to wonder how Speirs survived the jump into Normandy because the weight of his balls must have been too much for the parachute.

He got to 1st Lt rank because the Army at the time consisted of several million men. There were a lot more slots for LTs, and unless you screwed up royally as a 2nd Lt, promotion to 1st Lt was practically automatic after, I believe, 6 months at the rank of 2nd Lt.

Lugers were notorious for accidentally going off on their own

My wife and I got to go to Foy in 2007. The foxholes they dug are still there, and I was told that an infantry officer could read the ground there like a map, and could tell you where each of the different ranks had his foxhole.

The hardest episode is yet to come. This is my favorite television mini series it’s a giant movie. I’m glad you’re experiencing it young people today don’t understand the sacrifices that were made by their grandparents. Which would be my parents

If you remember in the first episode Hoobler had a discussion with a British soldier about Lugers just prior to getting on the plane. That was the conversation where neither could understand the others slang.

1:15 I like that she guesses right, it shows how great this series was at casting. Also I can’t imagine how ptsd from ww2 must’ve been, these guys deserve the utmost respect

When I watched this it was the Christmas I got the blu-ray box set of this and the pacific. I watched the pacific, then this, on my Dad’s surround sound system over the course of 3 days. By the time I got to this episode I was borderline shell shocked. When the Spiers scene happened I just lost it laughing. I had to pause the episode because I laughed harder than I’ve ever laughed in my life. As if all the terrible things I’d seen the past 3 days just released all at once in that moment. The hardest episode is yet to come. Glad y’all are growing through this series. Definitely recommend the pacific after this.

Don't worry about tallking enough. You communicate well with body language and facial expressions. Those things bond us to you. Keep it up1

Just an incredible tv episode.

Looking at WW2 war films BTW Sam Peckinpah's classic 1977 film Cross of Iron, about the German army on the Eastern Front does not have a single reaction that I can find. It starred James Coburn. Who may have directed it on days when Peckinpah was too drunk. Let him take you 'Where the Iron Crosses grow.' This was a brilliant episode with the depiction of what it was like to fight in forests in WW2. Again let me just mention the three month battle of the Hürtgen Forest which ran up to the battle of the Bulge. Is it much known in the States? Or forgotten because the part before the Bulge was 'Won by the Germans?' My other ? on this is why Hollywood can mock up Tiger Tanks and German SPG's and assault guns but you never see a Panther or a Panzer Mrk IV.

Lt Dike deserves much of the criticism he gets in this amazing show, but not all of it. He was a flawed man, but not the coward he is portrayed as. During the attack on Foy he got shot in the right shoulder and was panicking because of the wound until he was evacuated by medics and Spears took command. And during the war he received 2 bronze stars for acts of valor. The first one in Holland on September 23 1944 for organizing and leading scattered paratroopers in defending an important road junction on the supply route against superior and repeated attacks while completely surrounded. And the second at Bastogne on January 3 1945 for personally removing from an exposed position, in full enemy view, 3 wounded members of his company, while under intense small arm fire.

Thanks for the reaction. >i've heard that this is the hardest episode yeah, your viewers spoil way too much in the comments.

Nice job guys.

Notice how they never say that Hoobler shot himself with the Luger because he didn't. He shot himself with a old Danish pistol that he picked up in the Netherlands it was in his pocket and had no safety. Steven Spielberg knew this but he wanted the audience to think that it was the Luger

Bill and Joe survived! You'll see him again soon 😉

You need to check out We Stand Alone Together!

My great grandfather served along side easy company in fox company during all of this and had huge ptsd from lighting due to the he very same types of bombardment

And you got to be introduced to the real life Captain America. Spiers was the GOAT, just like Winters

IRL, Dike did a good job. The problem is, he'd been hit, and that basically made him shut down because he was hurt.

Dike was not treated well by the show in this episode. He was awarded with a bronze star for being assigned to Easy. It's true that he had "political" ties that got him the command. However I think the real friction came from his ivy league background. Also Winters did not like him that much. So that transferred to the men. Dike's miss management of the assault was not because he choked up, he was actually hit in the chest, the pain and blood loss caused his confusion. Before that he helped a few wounded to get into cover. He was not killed either. After recovering in a hospital he was reassigned to a different position in the division.

Liebgot isn't Lieutenant 🤣

Small note, but Col. Sink did not tell Winters to "Get back here". Winters realized after running a few feet, that it was his job to lead the battalion, risk himself now. Also Spears was right next to Winters. Spears was in a different Company, not Winters' XO and should have been with his Company (as seen here). He quietly made himself available when he saw what was happening and gave Winters an option by being next to him.

There's a new biography of Ronald Spiers that you can find online. Last time I checked, it was available in hardcover.

The first time I saw the scene where the shell lands next to Lipton but doesn't go off and the two of them just start nervously smoking all I could say was "yup" cause that's pretty much what my reaction would've been.

The Ardennes Offensive (The Battle of the Bulge) was Germany's last offensive action on the western front. After Christmas of 1944, the Germans would never again launch an attack on the Allied front and would constantly be on the defensive

I think the show did Dyke dirty. He had a record of being a good soldier. He was wounded at Foy and fought through Korea.

How could you not show the Shifty shot? That's a real famous shot from WW2.

traveling day for vacation so posting now - I remember in the Barracks (50th Annavisery of the Battle of the Bulge reenacment in PA) as we were sitting around drinking 1 of r guys says to Wild Bill "hey Bill, i'am going over and seeing the area of the line you held, you want me to bring anything back??" we all stop and look at Bill who lowers his beer looks him in the eye and says "Yeah, if you can find my leg that would be great " and then he smiled and we all cheered and made many toasts to Bill's leg (and too Hinkel). Even XXX got a chuckle out of it , then XX started singing his little ditty's and then it was just a blurr after that , dam Prop Blast that stuff will sneak up on you. epic hang over were had by all. But yeah any vet who fought in that battle remebers the cold, lack of food and supplies. we also had Jack Agnew with us that time, who was with the "Filthy 13" in Normandy but by the time of the Bulge many of those guys were sent from the Demo section too the Pathfinders and were at the school in France when the 101st was deployed, so they made the only combat jump into the area to set up contact for the resupply drops for the division.

Spiers is my favorite.

Lipton a BOSS.

I forgot about…..some of these boys never seen winter let alone camp out in it.

4F, referred to physical suitability. Men l ike Dyke(sp) were frequently men who were familiar(1) or politically connected to VIPs. Sometimes temporarily placed at or near the front to get a combat ribbon which would enhance his political aspects after the war. Or, he could simply be a variation of Soebel, incompetant in the field.

Joe sounded like that because he was trying to fight the fact he was in shock….. that’s why he was slurring his words if anyone didn’t know

Best episode

@12:30 its a howitzer round. There was a popular saying "Made in Czechoslovakia" because some Czech citizens that worked in german munitions factories would intentionally make dud rounds. Hence, this could have been what happened in this case, or it could have just been a dud altogether.

I saw somewhere that perconte went back to foy decades later and was able to point out the exact window from where the sniper shot him in the ass

The show does Dike dirty. He earned several medals for bravery under fire and went on to be a Lieutenant Colonel when he retired in 1957 and yes, he fought in Korea. Problem is, the show is based off Ambrose's book, which was massively influenced by Easy Company vets and they had a low opinion of Dike mostly because he didn't train with them before D-Day and was an officer. The freeze up shown in the show during the attack on Foy was most likely because of two wounds he took and he was entering shock.

"Gar-neer". "Garn-yay" is a shampoo.

the luger pistol was known for going off by itself 4:00

​ you guys should check out Generation war its like a band of brothers from the german perspective very good.

The hardest n powerful episode is almost there..

They say when a soldier drops his helmet they have mentally broken and they need to be taken off the line. Hence the name Breaking Point.

Leibgot was the soldier Winters gave one round to take pows to ban hq.

Shout out to Magnito making an appearance... 12:35

speirs was a legit g when they made this tv show they had concerns about telling the truth re his actions (killing pows) he wrote back saying fuck it, its true put it in

This was the point in the war that the army wasn't picky with the men they were sending over and they were is highly trained as the original man. A lot of them were there for political reasons like Dyke

I'll put in a 2nd comment just to mention in 'dramatic licence' Hoobler did not get killed by a accidental discharge of a luger. He was out on patrol and while getting through some barbed wire a pistol he was carrying in his belt snagged and fired into his leg. Accounts differ but it was either a captured Browning .32 or a US Colt .45. There was no luger pistol in his possession at that time. BTW if your wondering about the German's using John Browning's designs, he had come to an arrangement with a Belgian company and a factory was built in Liege. This fell into German hands in 1940 and churned out pistols for the German's till it was liberated,

Shifty a humble guy... he could have gotten that rider in one shot which Hoobler took 4 shots to. And Spears was the real Captain America... not Steve Roger's from Avengers!

Episode 9 is the hardest Episode. I'm glad you're back doing your heart with each other with the Perfect Mix. It's young at heart, at still will be when you're both old and grey, never lose that value.

Bill Guarnere: His legs blown off Started cracking jokes Real Life Iron Man.

Remember after Toye survives two shelling hits he is also the soldier that manages to avoid being grenaded twice in Normandy

I really hope you do The Pacific when you finish BoB.😁

Lieutenant speirs its the fucking captain america

I would have followed Spiers and Winters to hell and back.

she's pretty

4f kept you out of the army due to physical issues they found at your physical long before you even got into the army. Being a bad officer wasn't a f4 thing. That was called, we need officers and we don't care how bad you are. Plus, in this characters case, it was probably a, West Pointer, that just needed to see action so he could advance in grade. Or maybe, ROTC or OCS, that was looking for an easy way to look good when they returned home. Probably a composite picture of all three. Regardless, a bad officer. I've heard that he wasn't that bad. I think just a composite example,

This series is great, but one of the few injustices it does is the way it portrayed Lieutenant Dike. Lieutenant Dike was decorated for bravery during the campaign in Holland. He was absolutely nothing of a coward, and the official battle reports prove it. The production of the series failed to believe only on reports and not seek official information about his actions in the field. The series also hints that he died, but he didn't. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in the 1950s, and the scene in which he stopped him didn't stop because of cowardice, but because he was shot in the attack on the city of foy.

A medics report on this battle said that the soldiers were so amped with adrenaline that it kept them alive from hypothermia

No, that wasn't Liebgot. Liebgot was the guy that had a small wound in the neck and Winters told him to bring 11 prisoners back to Battalion CP. Liebgot was a killer and probably would have killed all 11 prisoners so that's the reason why Winters only gave him 1 round.

I think the worst episode comes later, but that's just my opinion. I never saw action this bad, but when I came back my closest friend said that same thing: "You changed".

This episode and the next 2 get rough. Just a heads up.

No, this is NOT the hardest episode. The battle of the Bulge. This is one of the most famous battles of the war. I had an uncle who was in this.

Just to clarify Tanks are mobile mechanized support units they don't shell from far away they are usually on the frontline. Their role is to provide direct and immediate firepower to help the infantry with targets they cant take out alone. These targets can be fortified positions or other tanks. Examples for the allies are: the Sherman, the t34, and the comet(cool name). Examples for the axis are the panzer4, the panther, and the tiger. The units that do the shelling are called artillery they come in different flavors of canons and rockets. Some are mechanized as in these guns or rockets are attached to vehicles from trucks,half-tracks to treaded vehicles. Most artillery weapons are towed they are basically pushed by men horses or towed by trucks. Examples for the allies are: the M7 Priest, the B4, and the Katusha. Examples for the axis are: the LEFH, the Nebelwerfer, the Panzerwerfer and the Wurfrahmen 40 (huge ass rockets) There is a somewhat rare hybrid between a tank and artillery called assault guns. Examples for the allies are: M8 scott (cute but deadly). Examples for the axis are: Sturmpanzer IV Brummbär, Sturmpanzer VI Sturmtiger(insane and unpractical it shoots a rocket bigger than a human and has to be loaded from the outside every time it fires)

React to FURY, which is a very good movie, criminally underrated.

I had to comment because it's killing me. Bill's last name is pronounced Garneer...not Garnyay.

They don’t call it the “Best Generation” for no reason.