I was a loyal viewer of this series,when it aired. My combat veteran father (1923-2002) critiqued their tactics and strategy,to my young eager ears. It also became my prime motivation to learn German during my three years of high school (1967-1970) which served me well during my cold war tour of duty in Nuremberg,Germany (1976-1979)
I watched this as a teenager in the early 60[s. One of my favorite shows and I never missed an episode. So good to relive those days. I always thought it was cool that Saunders always got his helmet back no matter how many times he lost it.
Never heard of this series but thankfully came up on my recommended and have been binging them. Fab stories and well cast and acted. Will be sad when I get to the last episode as pretty much every episode has been great to watch.
This comes from the '60s when we still remembered the heroes from WWII and Korean Occupation and the Korean War. The Korean Occupation is largely forgotten. My father was a Hero in 1948-1952 and served 19 years in the Service. My dad, my hero! Karl
@@karlfisher1864 you must be so proud as there were so many hero's in those terrible wars.The Korean war was sadly not as well remembered as the Vietnam war which is strange as was such a horrendous time in history.
ALWAYS WILL BE THE GREATEST T.V. SERIES EVER ! AND WILL LIVE ON FOR EVER ! I WAS 11YRS> OLD THE FIRST TIME I SAW THIS EPISODE ! AND STILL WATCHING ALL OF THEM !
I was 8 years old in 1962 and this was my fist network show I followed. I never missed any and watched them with my dad, a WW II veteran. Interesting never saw these in 50 years and am mesmerized for a 60s show, how good they are and I have watched 20 so far. The Steeple last night. One thing that has not changed in 50 years....Morrow is awesome and I always remembered his Thompson..........and Kirby has a big mouth. Thanks for sharing.
My father in law was a medic and before he went over on D+3 he somehow got a Tommy gun and shot at a bunch of rabbits near his camp in England. “ Didn’t hit not one “he said. He was in the town of Bastogne during the bulge …
One of the very best tv war series I enjoyed as a kid. My dad caught me watching on a black and white tv in the bedroom when I should have been doing my homework.
I was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division, near the end of the Viet Nam war, my Dad was a Marine who served in the Pacific for almost five years, my Uncle was a paratrooper also with the 82nd Airborne, when I was a kid they used to watch these shows with us, I learned a hell of a lot just from their comments about what was actual military tactics and what was Hollywood, still a very good show. I miss Vic Morrow too!
Many thanks to you and your kin for their service to our nation! My uncle was also with the 82nd and served form north Africa to the end. He was at Nijmegen during Operation Market Garden. I remember sometimes he would tell us stories of his adventures!
randall2020 where you are right on most accounts and i even agree with you especially war profiteering but belittling the sacrifices of those who wanted to serve their nation or had little choice in the matter was uncalled for. I am from Pakistan and the soldeirs who fought in WW2 against the Nazis and Japan did the whole world a great favor, they were the true heroes.
I am very proud that I was able to serve with the thousands upon thousands of others who served, it was hard and fun, terrible and wonderful an experience that is hard to explain, thanks for your kind comments.
This one ranks on my top 10 favorite Combat episodes, cant rank it yet as I haven’t finished all of season 3 yet and still need to watch season 4 & 5. Love Morrow. Thanks GR for the up loads.
I love war history, war films and war TV shows like this. This is the best ww2 TV show I've ever seen. I give it better ratings than band of brothers and the Pacific even though they were top notch ! Does anyone else think that the Germans portrayed in TV and movies always yell ? Is this true in reality and just part of their customs etc ? If anyone knows I would like to know. Also thank you whoever put the series on RU-vid. Its great !
My father was a belly gunner in a bomber. His favorite show was 12 o'clock high. My uncle was also in WW2 and my grand father was a "dough boy" in WW 1. Too many people have seem to have forgotten what it took to guarantee their freedoms today.
I haven't forgotten. And thank you to your long-serving family, maybe especially your father. I've always been hugely interested in the airwar over Europe and the Pacific (I think the B-17 is the most beautiful machine humans ever built), and have often thought the ball-turret position to be the most terrifying. They were so exposed, and the mechanism jammed so easily... Anyway, anyone who willingly climbed into one has my highest respect. They all do.
mind is High Named Today with dean Stockwell Far from the brave Weep no more with Rick Jason The Duel. with Bobby Rydell to name a few. Heritage. With Charles Bronson
THE STORY ABOUT SEARGENT STEELE hanging in Saint Mère Eglise from the Belle Tower had made it´s way into the COMBAT ! scripts. After all Ryan had written his famous War Event description in 1959 and his book was from the start the talk of the town. But modern Historians have found out that even if Sergeant Steels parashoot got stuck he got dowon much faster as shown in the movie THE LONGEST DAY. After all Ryan had written his book from the viewpoint as a famous War Correspondent, so he was not bound to an exact Historical Description and could take poetic liberties. Most folks nowdays forget that he had been after all a Press Man and not a Historian. Still the anecdote about him is a famous story and to his hooner there hangs nowdays a puppet were he got stuck at the tower in Normandy
Vic in a German uniform. LA90004 1 year ago Watching all the episodes in order; only a handful of poor ones. Some are incredible. I am also on the same journey, see you at the end of the road.
I was 11 when this first came out. My grandmother lived next door and she had a TV that we all watched. I guess she didn't care for Combat! because I don't remember ever watching it back then. I have been watching all of these videos that you posted and sometimes, it takes me several hours to watch one episode because I get so nervous! Thanks so much for posting these videos. I believe that Vic Morrow is my favorite actor of all time now. Rest in Peace, Sergeant Saunders.
This episode gives me flashbacks to the time I was working in a church bell tower. The bell hammers were driven by electric motors controlled by a timer. Someone forgot to shut off the timer that day. Fun times.
My first book on WW11 was ,"Night Drop" by S L A Marshal. It was a factual history of the paratroopers during D Day. Stranger incidents than depicted in this episode, happened.
John - In the 1980s I worked in an office with a paratrooper from WWII who was dropped after midnight on 6/6/44 D-Day near St. Mere Eglise. He said he landed ok but his buddy was lucky to hit a fence and break both legs. I said, "Lucky!?" He said yes, the war was over for the buddy who was sent back to the U.S.
Great tv series. Always loved it. At the beginning of this episode, when Saunders, Caje, and Kirby entered the church, the Germans arrived in town, and I wondered, why do the Germans always show up at the wrong time? Then again, was there ever a good time?
During the D-Day drops a unit of the 101st was dropped on the town of St Mere Egiese. and on of the troopers got hung up on the church steeple. Fast forward, The town has a big museum dedicated to the 101st. There is a parachute and dummy hanging from the church steeple. They also have a big holiday of rememberance in the town. This scene was also shown in the movie "The Longest Day" Look up the town on Google Earth to see more.
Saint Mere Egliese I believe is also the town the CIA dosed the water supply with LSD in the 50s to see what would happen so they might be able to use against the Soviets. Sad.
The hung up paratrooper was John Steele. He was actually in the 82nd Airborne Division. Troops from both the 101st and 82nd landed in and around Ste Mere Eglise but the majority if troops who landed in the town center that night were from F Co 505th PIR 82nd Abn Division.
Basses on a real event: Private John M. Steele was the American paratrooper who landed on the church tower in Sainte-Mère-Église, the first village in Normandy liberated by the Americans on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He was made famous in the movie, The Longest Day.
I also watched this episode when I was a kid, a good one. Paratroopers are compleatly helpless when falling from the skies. Many died on D- Day under simalar circumstances.
Not completely. While no where near the maneuvering capability of today's parachutes, you could "slip" the chute by pulling on one riser or the other. Doesn't do much, but better than nothing at all.
Which is the German paratrooper was attached to his chute by a shingle line which enabled him to hold a machine gun to be able to defend himself on the way down. By doing so the ability to direct his decent was sacrificed, But the defence aspect proved on many occasions to be deadly effective.
Behind enemy lines....AGAIN !! Regarding the 10 lbs of "plastic explosives" and the paratrooper's statement that "one bullet hits and we all go up"...A bullet can't 'set off' plastic explosive. Even setting C4 on fire won't lead to an explosion.
The reason for that was by the way that was the longest day, Was because it was an actual event during the D~ Day Landings a member of the 82nd airborne paratroopers Private John M Steele got caught on the steeple of the Church Sainte~Ere~Eglise. Because the Village was filled with Germans he had to play dead for Two hours till he could be rescued By of all people the Germans. From whom he later escaped.
I should also add the Village now has a tavern call John E Steele with walls filled with letters and photos from him and to this day on the steeple and effigy of John H steel in a parachute harness compleat with a real Parachute Hangs as he had to from the Church steeple.
I too have enjoyed this series. Anyone with military knowledge understand why the GI’s never seem to have their helmet chin straps fastened and the Germans always seem to have their on. Fitting question as this episode has the paratroopers helmet attracting attention. Thank you!
C-4 is a common variety of the plastic explosive family known as Composition C. A similar British plastic explosive, based on RDX but with different plasticizer than Composition C-4, is known as PE-4 (Plastic Explosive No. 4). C-4 is composed of explosives, plastic binder, plasticizer to make it malleable, and usually a marker or odorizing taggant chemical. C-4 has a texture similar to modeling clay and can be molded into any desired shape. C-4 is stable and an explosion can only be initiated by a shock wave from a detonator.
My father and his 5 brothers all were in WW11. One of his brothers was killed late in the war, 2/45. The others returned safely and I can say they all enjoyed the show. They were all big fans of Vic Morrow, of course who wasn't.
@@moonlightmelodrama Oh, there are some comments to this in the other episodes. Usually done by " kids " from veterans having watched this show with their dads. Mostly the quote dame " TO MUCH HOLLYWOOD "
Joel Davidsmeyer finds fault with many episodes. He writes,"Why doesn't the bell ring when four soldiers climb down the bell rope?" This is because Cage and Kirby are holding the rope, adding tension, right?
One episode of "Dads Army " a British series about the home guard during WWII on You Tube does the steeple falshem jager story also. This time the paratrooper is german...
I was just watching this on my Android and switched to my laptop. I have a degree in Physics and understand electromagnetism, but it still blows my mind how I can switch devices and what I am watching starts at the same place it left off on the second device.
The same make believe town was used in many episodes. The GIs and Germans keep taking it back from each other. The same scenario was written up in, "Night Drop" , a history of the 101st and 82nd airborne troops during D Day. The two combatants took and retook a church 4 to 5 times. The medics from both sides stayed in one end of the church and took care of the wounded no mater what uniform they wore.
That helmet would NEVER have fallen off! The helmet straps (2) would have been tight. Why did they slide down the rope and why didn't the bell ring? Funny to see Horst Ebersberg once again.....he's played many German roles on this show and even an Me-109 pilot on Twelve O'clock High.
7:02 - . . . we have me any sausage that I of keep out . . ., 14:07 . . . here in Sydney for like a common ER . . . very soon helps a liver. . . . ,. 23:00 - . . .he's a hilarious after time...., 32:44 - no parking Fatima. The funniest subtitle translations ever came across.
Glad this TV series treats Germans as 3 dimensional, instead of pieces of cardboard. Wehrmacht was smart & dangerous as hell. Fighting withdrawal & counter attack. Real heart attack.
Morrow had a short right index finger. They tried to not highlight that, so maybe that's why. But, they could've just about as easily shot his left profile. Unless that wasn't his "good side."
Truce is, they never hang that long because the silken materal was not stable enough for that. so the idea having a soldier hanging at a church steeple for so long is a myth That is one point were it showed that Cornelius Rayan ( THE LONGEST DAY ) was really more a newspaper man earger putting some unproved anecdotes into his book. And no he had been not a University trained Historian as many believe.
QUE BONITA HISTORIA EN ESTE CAPÍTULO, ARRIESGARON SUS VIDAS PARA SALVAR AL COMPAÑERO PILOTO QUE ESTABA ENRREDADO CON SU PARACAIDAS, ANTES QUE LOS ALEMANES LO MATEN. LOS PARACAIDISTAS ESTAN EXPUESTOS A ESTOS PELIGROS.
I would of jumped at yhe opportunity to join the Captain's request to join his squad, but then that would be the end of Combat as we know it. Robert at 69.
@Jeff Jellifer Wrong. The actual paratrooper was a Pvt. John Steele from the 82nd Airborne Division & his unit not the 101st on the village of Sainte Mere Eglise!!!!!!! If you don't believe me, do a Google search or watch the movie "The Longest Day".!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@LTLDMON I speak some German and the Priest told the Commandant in German that he must do something about the man...then the German cut him off. The Preist never said that he didn't speak German.
