I got to say, I am TOTALLY impressed that you recognized Sgt. Evans in Mehan's plane...I have watched this series multiple times and have read the books (Ambrose and others) and that was the only way I knew who was on the plane. You guys recognized that "he's the one who is always by Sobel" on a first time? Legend.
@@Conn30Mtenor correct, but I for sure didn't catch that on the first time, and I was definitely not paying attention to any of the characters/names on the first episode. The first time I watched this in 2001 I was in college and didn't even know who Mehan was that they kept mentioning. I was just impressed they were recognizing it on a blind reaction.
I went to church with a man who was in G company 2/506 who actually knew Winters personally. When Stephen Ambrose was writing the book that this series is based on, he kept getting phone calls wanting statements for the book but he said he thought it was some kind of scam because they wanted to know too much. About a year later, Winters called him to ask what he said for the book, and he said “hell, I thought they was trying to scam me”. He made the jump into Normandy and Operation Market Garden, but got the back of his head blown off in Holland. He woke up almost 6 months later in an army hospital in the states with a steel plate in his skull. When it was all said and done, he had 5 Purple Hearts, a couple of bronze stars, and a silver star. He had some crazy stories. He was the kind of man I thought was gonna live forever, one way or another. He died in 2018 at 96 years old. RIP Mr. Lauten
That’s insane to hear! It’s amazing you were able to know someone who served during this time personally! We thank Mr. Lauten for his service & may he rest easy🙏🏾💙
DaKidsReact I was born in 1961so most of the men I knew from the town Mayor to my school janitor were decorated WWII veterans. My Dad’s business partner landed in the first wave on Iwo Jima at the age of 18. They ran the local businesses, Church organizations, sports leagues, business and service organizations in the days before cell phones and created the community and social networks that bound people together It’s what I am afraid is lost today. and why mental health of people under 40 seems to be damaged because they don’t have that sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves and are lonely. .
Well, this is when the sh*t gets real. "We're not lost Private...we're in Normandy." This one line displays Winter's ability to instill confidence in his men, even unarmed in the face of all adversity. And this soldier wasn't even a member of Easy Company. Currahee ♠
My grand father was the trigger half of the 30 cal team for Item Company. I have his journal from the war. The first entry in country says “Landed like a sack of shit. Hungry and lost.” He was always a character. Thank you both for keeping his and the rest of the men’s history alive. It means a lot to us.
Appreciate the love and the sharing of your grandfather’s journal! This show is amazing so far and can’t wait to bring you guys more! It’s an honor to hear the stories of heroes.
The German/American soldier joined the German army in 1941 before the US joined the war. On the first days of the invasion, there wasn't any capacity or ability to accommodate prisoners, so the orders were to not take prisoners. Also, that prisoner and Malarkey in real life worked across the street from each other. They changed it to make it more believable to people.
It's still a war crime to shoot prisoners though. They surrendered and were under Allied protection. There was a lot of it that the military covered up. Especially during the Battle of the Bulge after it came out that the SS had been executing POWs in the hundreds. Documented instances of US troops retaliating for it but it being covered up until many years later. This is why to this day nobody from Easy would confirm or deny that Speirs did that.
@@DaKidsReact I'm gonna Patreon u dudes. It's so hard , as I'm plugged into about 900 channels ,but I dig u Bro's . I want to help you explore regions you are too young to find. Like the film "ROCKERS" Shot in 1978 in mostly Kingston , Jamaica . It will blow your hair off your heads !!!!
At the end, when Nixon says he had the maps sent to division, in reality he understood the importance of these maps showing artillery location, and he ran the maps himself, several miles back to the beaches where HQ was getting settled. The higher-ups there were so pleased with this vital piece of information, they showed their gratitude by sending off the first 2 tanks off of Utah beach to reinforce the 101st. Those are the 2 tanks you see Nix riding on back in town. They were then used to flush out the remaining Germans at Brecourt. -- Couple more details, when Compton dropped the second grenade that almost got Joe Toye, he was actually jostled by someone else, barely visible behind him, that's what caused him to drop the grenade. Also, if you go rewatch the combat sequence, keep an eye on Compton. When he landed, he didn't have his gear (lost his bag like most everyone else) so he picked up another Thompson somewhere, but he wasn't aware the firing pin was broken. That's why, when he jumps in the trench, he's unable to finish off that German, and in the subsequent scenes, he keeps trying to fix his gun, taking the mag out, cycling the bolt, etc.. never got to fire his gun the whole time. Later during the assault, when Winters moves around, Compton asks Toye to cover him, because he himself still can't fire off any rounds. -- Also, this little tidbit is pretty interesting, once some surviving vets started writing books about what they did in WWII: "A few months after the book came out, ________ received a letter from Elliot Richardson, who had been President Richard M. Nixon’s secretary of defense. Richardson wrote that he had been a medic with the Fourth Division in the second wave of troops coming ashore on Utah on D-Day and was retrieving a wounded tanker from a minefield on the beach when the incoming artillery abruptly stopped. “Now I know why the artillery fire ended on Utah Beach.”
That’s a LOT of really cool additional info that I absolutely love! A first hand account of the results of silencing those guns as well as the fact Nixon ran miles to the beach to personally deliver the useful intel!
A lot of the soldiers would later admit to making some very rookie mistakes during the Brecourt battle. Compton failed to check if his gun worked, Lipton climbed up the tree which made him a perfect target for the Germans and Malarkey run out for that "Luger". They got lucky while others like Hall did not. :(
@przemekkozlowski7835 also about Malarkey in that Luger scene, the actor slipping down on his way back wasn't intentional. And the look of fright on his face is pretty genuine, because there were tiny amounts of explosive embedded in the ground to simulate bullets hitting all around him and he was worried he was laying down on some. They were mostly harmless but it still scared the living sh*t out of him.
Pay attention to each person in the company. They have serious roles unique from each other but they blend to work together. That is the legend of Easy Company. Enjoy watching dudes!
it's crazy to think you could train for years, then your plane could get hit and you get shot down, you and your buddies tumble out of the sky dying without ever setting foot in Europe to start your mission. it's nice they add the real interviews at the start of the episode, makes all the events feel more real
How bout not even taking off. I read a ww2 book and a couple of guys were killed when a gamma grenade went off before their c-47 could take off for d-day
Really appreciate you watching this series. I'm not a big WWII buff, but appreciate the humanization that this production brings. My father enlisted during the last half of the war. He was a late teenager, stationed in France, and all he told us is that he peeled potatoes. So, he was a cook, but considering the window he was in France, I can't help but suspect he assisted with burial/cleanup.
18:01 Buck played baseball at UCLA (one of his teammates was Jackie Robinson), so that’s why his sim with the grenades were dead on target. He had a cannon of an arm.
I am in my '60's and grew up in a military (Canadian) family. Half the fathers, including mine, had stories from WW2. I have studied the war because of that and I have spoken to historians, teachers and equipment, battle strategists, experts of all kinds. I have even been on some of those battlefields that friend's dads fought on. Listening to you guys reminded me of the way the soldiers who fought these battles did, the way the average guy went through those events. I'll be tuning in more for sure.
Man you guys are just awesome, this was my favorite show and I watched with the the service members of my family. The thing I love about reactions, especially for historical stuff like this is when people are actually interested and paying attention, and I can tell this isn’t a chore for you guys. You are enjoying it, talking about it, and learning all at the same time and it’s great! Got yourself a sub! Have a great day guys and hope you continue to enjoy the show!
Appreciate the love and it’s a pleasure for us to hear these stories from these heroes! Can’t wait to bring you guys more of this series because we are truly enjoying every bit of it.
My former mailman was the last surviving member of Easy Company. He passed in 2022... Mr. Bradford (Brad) Freeman. Mr. Brad lived on a little farm not far from us and never really spoke about his experiences. He was Great Uncle to some close friends of mine and they didn't know he had been in Easy for years
@DaKidsReact My other mailman was a B-17 pilot and the guy that owned the gas station was a retired colonel and Tuskeegee Airman. This was in a tiny community in Mississippi... And they just recently named the local GA airport after our gas station guy, Lt. Colonel Alva Temple.
Not explained is how Winters used his training and improvised on the fly under extreme pressure to successfully accomplish his mission. Sign of a truly great leader. .
Those planes that carried the paratroops from England to Normandy are C-47s. There were slightly more than 800 of them that went over for the first lift. During the war, there were thousands built. After the war, many were used by civilian companies until they were good only for scrap metal. A few years ago, as one was being prepared to be scrapped, it was discovered to be "That's All Brother". That's All Brother was the actual C-47 that led all of the others to Normandy. Once that was confirmed, the CAF (Commemorative Air Force) purchased it and completely refurbished it back to its configuration on June 6, 1944. That's All Brother can be seen at air shows now. What a remarkable coincidence that it was found almost eighty years after WWII and in time to be restored.
The Brecourt Manor assault is my favorite combat sequence of the series. It might be the most accurate due to being taken directly from Winters' reports. It's also a rather small combat with a handful of GIs in a specific location. The Manor still exists with remnants of the trenches for the production crew to examine and recreate back in England. A lot of the small moments are true as well. Litpon climbing the tree, which he later claims it was the dumbest thing he did during the war. Buck throwing the grenade like a base ball, hitting the German. Although in real life he beaned him on the helmet. The warrant officer getting list and crawling to Lipton for directions. Joe Toy surviving unscathed two grenades detonating right next to him. Most important, that map Winters found had all the German artillery locations marked on it in Normandy.
Winters is a legend in the Airborne division and among Army officers in general. Some consider him to be the best example of what a combat leader should be. They aren't wrong.
Enjoyed watching my favorite movie with you guys. I was in the Army for 30 years and I recommend it to everyone I know. These were real guys and real heroes.
they jumped going "too fast" which is why winters asks that soldier for his bag when they land and he says "prop blast got it" all the air from the propeller ripped the bag off his leg, because they were flying so fast. Winters also lost his pack and his weapon in the jump due to the airspeed
That is true...but not so fun fact, that was not the only reason the US paratroopers had issues with the leg bags. They were not given proper training on how to attach the bags to their legs, and they were not properly informed that the bags had a weight limit of 40lbs, so many of the American troopers loaded the bags up with too much stuff. At least that is something I have seen referenced a few times.
As far as I understand it they didn't even they were going to be jumping with these leg bags until they were getting ready for the jump. And so they received really no training on them. I guess I should try to find the exact numbers before I mention this but I would say that probably at least half the soldiers lost at least a good part of their equipment if not all of it. As you see Winters only had his knife. The radio guy did have his weapon. And you see much of easy company when they finally meet up just before they ambush the Germans most of them have their rifles but I can't help but wonder if they just found these along the way. As they were leg bags laying all around and equipment I'm sure it was not incredibly difficult to find some equipment. But like we see Winters didn't have a gun until Sergeant Compton hands him a German rifle after the ambush. And then he still didn't have a proper rifle until they found that paratrooper hanging in the tree which is when he actually got his hands on a M1 Garand. But as we see in that scene they had to strip the bodies for weapons equipment etc. Seems extremely macabre but it's what they had to do. It's just a sad story all the way around but the paratroopers that didn't survive weren't going to be using their equipment and the ones that were still alive had to have the equipment to try and take their objectives. But it's just a sad fact of D-Day that they sprung these stupid leg bags on these guys and then the prop blast hit him and ripped their equipment right out of their hands and then they were roaming Normandy without many without rifles even.
I appreciate you putting the actual soldier interviews at the beginning of the series. A lot of reactors don't include that and it is a disservice to the men who fought there and risked their lives. It's just a few minutes of the overall reaction. Again, gentlemen, thank you for including it. 6:08 They are being shot up by Flak. Flak is like a shell that gets to altitude and then exploded producing thing bits of shrapnel. If you ever seen this in day time, it's those little black puffs of smoke. That is the Shell exploding. The Germans used a system where they targeted in front of the aircraft, so that they'd fly into the shrapnel fire. The lieutenant's name is Winters, not Waters.
It’s amazing to hear the voices of the people that actually went through events like this. They are living proof of the sacrifices made so it’s a pleasure to hear them speak. Also thanks for the insight on those shells. We definitely didn’t know much about the particular shells being fired other than it was causing a good amount of damage to the aircraft’s. And we’ll get all the names down soon 🤦🏾♂️ appreciate the love and support!
Regarding the officer that gun downed the German POWs - The airborne were under strict orders to not take any prisoners due to them not having the logistical capacity to feed and house them. During the invasion it was key to move extremely fast to secure key crossroads and objectives and holding prisoners would have slowed everything down. There are many accounts of German POWs being killed for this reason.
The 101st Division only had one sixth of their men reach their planned destinations. Troops carried approximately 90 - 120 pounds of gear, including their chutes.
18:11 An interesting story here. In this series, Buck's Thompson jammed on him. In reality, he was actually using a German weapon that he scavenged off of a fallen German soldier. The weapon being in poor and dirty condition, it jammed up on Buck when he needed to use it. As seen by Malarky nearing getting himself killed, Allied troops were always looking for relics and souvenirs to bring home. They put their own lives in danger, and even got themselves killed trying to scavenge for souvenirs to send home.
I'm not sure if it happened to Easy Company or another unit, but one got pinned down in a trench, while endless friendly artillery flew overhead. The sound was ear shattering, bone shaking and terrifying. Not the jet-engine like sound you hear in BoB but like heavy thunder continuously rolling overhead, as it was coming down much closer. They were stuck for hours. Some soldiers ended up shell shocked from the experience, it was that bad.
You guys are super sharp on the small details that a lot of people miss, and wonderful commentary, not just in this series, ive got a few im watching in parallel having found you guys tonight and almost nothing gets by you guys, loving it, looking forward to completing this, and seeing what comes next.
We are happy you are enjoying our reactions and your time with us! We had a making time reacting to this series! We learned a lot and definitely enjoyed it ourselves. Thanks for the support👏🏾
My dad quit the NFL in 1942 to fight Hitler was wounded during D Day operations, made through America's meet grinder the Hurtgen Forest where US has 85,000 casualties, to be sent on R & R in the Ardennes and ended up in battle of the Bulge, got his second Purple heart, Bronze star, and Silver Star, after the war he went on to be one of the first five coaches inducted into Penn. High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame, my dad met so many great football men during the war like Biggie Mun MSU coach of two Rose Bowel Champions one of those teams had two starters on the offensive line from my dads Cresson Pa team, Ben Schwartzwalder who Jim Browns college coach at Syracuse, I meet Ben in1962 while we where camp in upstate New York and the Canada Ben was a captain in the 82 airborne and was in Normandy my dad meet him during the Bulge 5 of my dads players went to Syracuse to play football on full scholarship my dad worked his ass off to guys who could not afford college a scholarship in his 30 plus years of coaching he got 78 player full rides
Something to remember is the average age of most of these guys is early 20s. I believe Winters was 25-26 years old through this whole thing. Insane to think about
Such a great mini series. Hope you watch the follow up documentary we stand alone together. Real interviews with the guys that were still alive at the time. It’s a great wrap up to the show.
Thanks for your sincere reactions! See where others explained why paratroopers weren't hit by other planes....dad was a couple weeks behind these guys ....
It's always good to see you "youngsters" getting a glimpse of the sacrifices made by that generation for the country. They're all gone, now. Who's gonna step up and carry that torch?
I volunteered at a vets home years back...there was one paratrooper and two Infantry guys who fought on D-Day...I cooked breakfast so I'd sit and listen while they drank coffee and told stories about WWII...very humbling to be in the presence of such badassery...
Hearing you guys say “jawn” and “bol” made me laugh lmao. Couple of tough Philly boys in Easy Company. Bill Guarnere was from south Philly, and later on yall will meet Babe Heffron, also from south Philly
"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops," Eisenhower wrote. "My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone." -Dwight D. Eisenhower Supreme Allied Commander. This was his other speech. D-Day was never a guarantee..
That was what made Eisenhower great. It's always fascinated me that Eisenhower never actually had any real combat experience. He was held back from going to Europe during world war I as he was I guess more valued as a trainer. It's not that he tried to avoid combat it's just that he never could get himself in a position combat command. But that letter he gave his secretary to be read to the press in case the landings were a failure is one of the most courageous things I've ever seen in a politician which he essentially was. Yes he was supreme commander but that involved a lot of politics and that's what he was doing when he wrote that letter. He knew that Churchill and FDR could not go down because that would just be catastrophic. I admire Eisenhower so much for being willing to take the blame like a man and just go on and do the best he could. He knew he'd probably be relieved of duty if D-Day failed. But he knew that what the stakes were when he demanded to be given unfettered command of the operation because he knew that you needed only one man making final decisions. If they made decisions by committee then they would never get anything done. Monty would want to make all the decisions. Other leaders etc. I'm also impressed with Churchill's willingness to go down with Eisenhower. He had chosen him I think a little bit reluctantly to be supreme allied Commander but knew that he was the best but I don't think Churchill like that he was felt compelled to choose Eisenhower. But after Eisenhower and Churchill got to know one another better Churchill was willing to take the blame for the failure right along with Eisenhower. And then Eisenhower seeing the awesome power we could develop for warfare seeing how fast we could mechanize and develop and build weapons gave us a great speech a great farewell speech at the end of his presidency. He warned us against the dangers of the military industrial complex and how that they could literally take over the country politics economy etc. If the American economy relies heavily on the military industrial complex than they have almost total control. Eisenhower fascinates me because he's one of these people that comes along that just seems to be perfect for this situation. He seems to be the one man in the world who could actually pull off this job. The question was he put here for that job or did he somehow just rise to the occasion? He handled the war so intelligently. He handled everything intelligently.
so i grew up with these Scallywags back in the 90's after i joined the E/506th Living History Unit. all the vets you see talking at the start would visit us at events. drink sing and share stories. alot of things are left out or have been changed esp in this episode didn;t really happen the way it's shown here . some things the vets never shared as they didn't trust the author of the book. but this still is a powerful series going strong after all these years.
Wow that’s amazing! We are happy to hear that they did a good job at depicting this event especially for someone who has heard the stories first hand. Makes us all the more excited to watch more of this masterpiece.
The C47 planes (that they jumped out of) fly in a specific formation to prevent the jumpers from getting hit by other aircraft. Not always easy to hold formation under fire, at night, though.
I once heard it said that Americans only have one plan in battle and thats to show up and improvise. What happened to the paratroopers is a prime example. They were scattered all over the place often with men who they had never met before but adapted and improvised.
And did an amazing job at doing it. Couldn’t imagine training months on end with your boys and company then when everything actually starts you aren’t with those guys that you trust with your life. I know that was really nerve wracking but it’s part of it all, being able to adopt and push forward no matter what.
Something that not a lot of people might know is Germany's production was mostly focused on tanks planes and other vehicles so a lot of their transportation for supplies was also used by horse and buggy or just on any other vehicles they can find
Despite my own doubts re: the Lt Speirs executing POWs scene, according to the experts, it happened. The amazing Breacourt Manor assault scene is one for the books. Good job guys.
Yall should check out the pacific after this series! It’s also a great watch and very informative on what the marines went through against Japan. Great videos guys!
The 101st was supposed to be the ones taking out all the guns firing on Utah and Omaha beaches. That’s why the men landing on those beaches were caught off guard and killed.
People were most definitely getting hit by planes on the way down. If you can think it, it happened. Failed chutes, getting shot on the way down, getting hit, being hung from a tree, falling right on top of germans. Horrific stuff. RIP and thank you to all the men who fought and died in WW2.
There is a really good TH-cam channel called History Underground . In one series of his videos, he travels to Normandy and visits Brecourt Manor. He visits the exact place that Easy assaults the German 88s depicted in this episode.
Commenters often talk about how "true" this story is. It is... but, this series, throughout all of the episodes presents the story with various degrees of accuracy & inaccuracy simultaneously to help tell the story in a way that the viewer can follow better. When Easy company left England for D-day, there were 139 guys making up the company, and the company would shrink with casualties, and then beef back up with replacements throughout the war, so the neighborhood of "120-ish" is pretty much how many guys were in the company at any given time. Because of this, it would be logistically impossible to depict the experiences of every single guy in a ten episode series. So a lot of stories that happened to Easy company guys we're never introduced to were attributed to a small core of characters that we're going to be following. You hit on this on the last episode when you said there's lots of names to remember. For instance, the D-day landing depicted in this episode isn't exactly the way it happened in real life. In real life, the paratrooper that landed near Winters that night wasn't Hall, but some supply Sgt from F company that Winters recognized right away. Then when Winters encountered Lipton (with that clicker), Lipton had twelve guys, not just two. Although a few of the twelve were indeed stragglers with the 82nd Airborne. An interesting occurrence from that night that's not depicted at all: when Winters went under that poncho to look at the map, one of the group that was with Lipton stole Winters knife. Winters was furious about it, but decided that it was neither the time or place to address the theft. In the night, several other Easy company guys latched on to the group, including Buck, Guarnere, and Malarkey. Winters, Lipton, Buck, and Guarnere had nothing but their knives - as all of their leg-bags had been torn away in the same manner. At about 3:00AM, they encountered a Lieutenant Colonel of some other unit who had about fifty men with him. Winters and his men were headed in the same direction they were going, so they fell in with the group for a little bit. It was with this huge group that the Germans were ambushed. Several of the Lt. Colonel's men are the ones who opened fire prematurely, as Guarnere still hadn't obtained a replacement weapon yet. After that, Winters and Guarnere were finally armed - having taken pistols off the dead Germans. As far as the American that Malarkey encountered in a German uniform, that's true also. Malarkey did come across an American who had come to Germany after Hitler's call for "all loyal Germans" to serve the German Reich. It wasn't as depicted here though. He was a German Master Sergeant, in the company of about twenty other German POW's. He was from Portland, Oregon, and had worked at Schmitz Steel Company up until 1938. Malarkey worked at Monarch Forge and Machine Works in 1942. The two places were very, very near to each other. Due to the year differences, Malarkey had never seen him before, and said he had no idea what happened to him. Speirs did execute a group of German POW's, but it likely wasn't that group. If I remember correctly, the prisoners Spiers executed occurred earlier in the night, before dawn. Great reaction, guys! Looking forward to the rest. I won't say "brace yourselves", because I know you're probably already on episode 8 or 9 on your patreon.
Appreciate all the information! It makes the series so much more interesting when you know a bunch of additional information on the events and people of the war. It gives so much more context to appreciate the depiction of these events more and more. Again appreciate all the information and appreciate the support!
These guys weren't even the first to jump. Ahead of them were the pathfinders. They jumped earlier to mark the drop zones for the paratroopers. The planes didn't all make it to the drop zones because of the flack. One of the reasons so many paratroopers were lost or in the wrong places.
My father and his peers shed their literal blood for our freedom, especially Asia and Europe. It is more than discouraging at the lack of many of today's youth that have no understanding of this. Thank you for recognizing what my father's generation went through!!
The military organization was a triangular one. Three Regiments each having three battalions. Each battalion had three companies with three platoons in a company. Each platoon was broken down into three squads of about 12-15 soldiers. At full strength a company had about 200-250 soldiers.
D-Day casualties for the airborne divisions were calculated in August 1944 as 1,240 for the 101st Airborne Division and 1,259 for the 82nd Airborne. Of those, the 101st suffered 182 killed, 557 wounded, and 501 missing. For the 82nd, the total was 156 killed, 347 wounded, and 756 missing.
When upper echelon heard about the weapons, in that field, they thought the US troops could use them, against the germans. But, by the time their order to preserve the weaponry came down to those in the field, the big guns were already destroyed.
There is a movie I recommend all to see. It carries an all star cast playing the roles of some of the most consequential figures on the Allied and The German sides - The Longest Day.
it's uuunlikely for planes to hit guys, since inherently - planes keep a certain altitude; troops always fall *below* this altitude I mean, that's the general rule anyway - more dangerous is bullets, shrapnel, and enemy on the ground
8:46 there are actually a lot of accounts of guys getting killed because of those “clicker” things. Airborne troops were issued those “clickers” as a covert way to try and ID friendly troops. You’d click, and friendlies would click back. But what started happening is our boys would click, and the *click clack* of the German Kar98 rifle bolt chambering a round sounded like the response click, so our boys would stand up thinking they were friendlies, and they’d get shot.
The scene with the German prisoners happened all over the invasion area..the allies simply had no time or resources to deal with prisoners at that early stage. And couldn't risk letting them run free behind their advancing assaults in-land. So orders were given. War is Hell. o7
@11:11 Guarnere didn't follow orders and hold his fire because he was pissed about his brother being killed in Italy (found the letter in the jacket in the first episode). Dumb and could have got people killed but you can still appreciate where his head was at in the moment. Never mind! You all got it a minute later. I love Winters, he is the embodiment of an officer that is an actual leader and not just a superior.
An excellent reaction to an ourstanding series. A point of history, the 101st were late comers. The 82ed had already been credited with 2 combat jumps. Before that, the 2/509th PIB jumped into N. Africa in 1942. I served with the 2/509th (Abn/Mech) 1971-72. Any flight more then15 or 20 minutes to the DZ invariably I fell asleep.
Thompson SMGs weighed more than nine pounds. When the 40th anniversary of D-Day rolled around 40 years ago(!), a veteran paratrooper was interviewed on a morning news show. The news man who interviewed him was only familiar with M-16s, and when he held the Thompson SMG, he said, "That's a HEAVY gun!" I think the M1919A4 weighted around 30 pounds.
Not sure which paratroop groups encountered this, but prior to the invasion the Germans flooded fields where troops might land. Many US paratroops ended up drowning because they couldn't get out of their harness quickly. The British had a better harness that released in essentially one motion, opposed to the US version that took several steps.
Dw bout the Waters/Winters detail ;) u are great reactors and catch stuff most ppl dont.. U are in like some 110% focus mode, not joking around n stuff. Keep up the good work, im really digging it. I dont even think the comment section will bother about it, at all, just because of this fact that u are awesome.
We appreciate you & your support💙 we got the names right in the later episodes. We try to catch as much as we can & us making jokes or references is just how we are in real life. We are grateful for you!
There were about 2,600 Airborne casualties on D-day! About 20% of the 13,000 soldiers dropped. YET the planners projected a possible 70%+ casualties! Thus, up to 9,000 casualties could be expected!
Many years ago, when I read a bunch of books about WW2, I read that at least one plane turned on the jump light while over the ocean. Those poor guys sank to the bottom under the weight of all their gear.
The planes fly in a formation that assures that they won't hit troops jumping. This based on speed , gap interval, and drop rate. The men will fall below the level of the following planes quicker than the planes can overtake them.
Yeah when you look at it from a physics and logical standpoint it makes sense lol I think we were just so immersed in the chaos that something like that wasn’t too far out to happen.
I'm reading the biography of lieutenant Spears, the lieutenant who executed those prisoners in the second episode. From the book, the airborne were ordered to take no prisoners, if you think about it they jump behind enemy lines, how are they supposed to tend to dozens if not hundreds of enemy prisoners when they have objectives to capture in the middle of enemy territory.
Lipton said they did things and took chances in that first combat action at Brecourt that they would never have done later on. Things like getting in that tree.
One of the fun things about this show is how the first episode lulls you in with the training, and then it's nine episodes of full-on fuckin' mayhem and violence.
Ha ha...the subtitles might be a bit sketchy...at 12:43 when the shells from the battleships off shore are going overhead, the subtitles say it is "planes soaring".
I got to say, I am TOTALLY impressed that you recognized Sgt. Evans in Mehan's plane...I have watched this series multiple times and have read the books (Ambrose and others) and that was the only way I knew who was on the plane. You guys recognized that "he's the one who is always by Sobel" on a first time? Legend.
We appreciate you💙
Evans was in the Company HQ so he shared Meehan's fate.
I’m fuckin’ face blind or some shit. Other than the super distinctive characters I always have trouble keeping track.
@@Conn30Mtenor correct, but I for sure didn't catch that on the first time, and I was definitely not paying attention to any of the characters/names on the first episode. The first time I watched this in 2001 I was in college and didn't even know who Mehan was that they kept mentioning. I was just impressed they were recognizing it on a blind reaction.
@RealBelisariusCawl Watched the FULL series dozens of times AND read the book but only saw Evans TODAY thanks to this reaction. Thank you!!
I went to church with a man who was in G company 2/506 who actually knew Winters personally. When Stephen Ambrose was writing the book that this series is based on, he kept getting phone calls wanting statements for the book but he said he thought it was some kind of scam because they wanted to know too much. About a year later, Winters called him to ask what he said for the book, and he said “hell, I thought they was trying to scam me”.
He made the jump into Normandy and Operation Market Garden, but got the back of his head blown off in Holland. He woke up almost 6 months later in an army hospital in the states with a steel plate in his skull. When it was all said and done, he had 5 Purple Hearts, a couple of bronze stars, and a silver star.
He had some crazy stories. He was the kind of man I thought was gonna live forever, one way or another. He died in 2018 at 96 years old. RIP Mr. Lauten
That’s insane to hear! It’s amazing you were able to know someone who served during this time personally! We thank Mr. Lauten for his service & may he rest easy🙏🏾💙
Thats freaking legendary dude...mad props
DaKidsReact I was born in 1961so most of the men I knew from the town Mayor to my school janitor were decorated WWII veterans. My Dad’s business partner landed in the first wave on Iwo Jima at the age of 18. They ran the local businesses, Church organizations, sports leagues, business and service organizations in the days before cell phones and created the community and social networks that bound people together It’s what I am afraid is lost today. and why mental health of people under 40 seems to be damaged because they don’t have that sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves and are lonely. .
Well, this is when the sh*t gets real. "We're not lost Private...we're in Normandy." This one line displays Winter's ability to instill confidence in his men, even unarmed in the face of all adversity. And this soldier wasn't even a member of Easy Company. Currahee ♠
"We're airborne, sir. We're supposed to be surrounded."
My grand father was the trigger half of the 30 cal team for Item Company. I have his journal from the war. The first entry in country says “Landed like a sack of shit. Hungry and lost.” He was always a character. Thank you both for keeping his and the rest of the men’s history alive. It means a lot to us.
Appreciate the love and the sharing of your grandfather’s journal! This show is amazing so far and can’t wait to bring you guys more! It’s an honor to hear the stories of heroes.
The German/American soldier joined the German army in 1941 before the US joined the war.
On the first days of the invasion, there wasn't any capacity or ability to accommodate prisoners, so the orders were to not take prisoners.
Also, that prisoner and Malarkey in real life worked across the street from each other. They changed it to make it more believable to people.
yep, cheers to Speirs 🍺
It's still a war crime to shoot prisoners though. They surrendered and were under Allied protection. There was a lot of it that the military covered up. Especially during the Battle of the Bulge after it came out that the SS had been executing POWs in the hundreds. Documented instances of US troops retaliating for it but it being covered up until many years later.
This is why to this day nobody from Easy would confirm or deny that Speirs did that.
You guys are great. Attentive and observant. This is an amazing show. Can't say much more than that. Keep rolling.
We appreciate you & thank you for the support💙 it’s only the beginning too🔥
@@DaKidsReactlove the LED Zeppelin shirt, and love your reactions. Great job, love your empathy and thirst for knowledge!
You dudes are gonna love this series big time . By the end , you'll know every dude and feel connected .
Ya if they understand it.. so many people react to this and have no clue whats going on in way way to many situations..
We understand what’s going on lol
@@DaKidsReact I picked up on that . Realize youve already seen all 10 ep's on ur Patreon . This series is like Private Ryan on roids !
We are watching Ep 7 this weekend.
@@DaKidsReact I'm gonna Patreon u dudes. It's so hard , as I'm plugged into about 900 channels ,but I dig u Bro's . I want to help you explore regions you are too young to find. Like the film "ROCKERS" Shot in 1978 in mostly Kingston , Jamaica . It will blow your hair off your heads !!!!
At the end, when Nixon says he had the maps sent to division, in reality he understood the importance of these maps showing artillery location, and he ran the maps himself, several miles back to the beaches where HQ was getting settled.
The higher-ups there were so pleased with this vital piece of information, they showed their gratitude by sending off the first 2 tanks off of Utah beach to reinforce the 101st. Those are the 2 tanks you see Nix riding on back in town. They were then used to flush out the remaining Germans at Brecourt.
--
Couple more details, when Compton dropped the second grenade that almost got Joe Toye, he was actually jostled by someone else, barely visible behind him, that's what caused him to drop the grenade.
Also, if you go rewatch the combat sequence, keep an eye on Compton. When he landed, he didn't have his gear (lost his bag like most everyone else) so he picked up another Thompson somewhere, but he wasn't aware the firing pin was broken. That's why, when he jumps in the trench, he's unable to finish off that German, and in the subsequent scenes, he keeps trying to fix his gun, taking the mag out, cycling the bolt, etc.. never got to fire his gun the whole time. Later during the assault, when Winters moves around, Compton asks Toye to cover him, because he himself still can't fire off any rounds.
--
Also, this little tidbit is pretty interesting, once some surviving vets started writing books about what they did in WWII:
"A few months after the book came out, ________ received a letter from Elliot Richardson, who had been President Richard M. Nixon’s secretary of defense. Richardson wrote that he had been a medic with the Fourth Division in the second wave of troops coming ashore on Utah on D-Day and was retrieving a wounded tanker from a minefield on the beach when the incoming artillery abruptly stopped. “Now I know why the artillery fire ended on Utah Beach.”
That’s a LOT of really cool additional info that I absolutely love! A first hand account of the results of silencing those guns as well as the fact Nixon ran miles to the beach to personally deliver the useful intel!
A lot of the soldiers would later admit to making some very rookie mistakes during the Brecourt battle. Compton failed to check if his gun worked, Lipton climbed up the tree which made him a perfect target for the Germans and Malarkey run out for that "Luger". They got lucky while others like Hall did not. :(
Awesome comment! I guess this is why Nixon never fired his weapon on d day/combat. But in doing so he saved potentially thousands of lifes
Oh man thanks so much, I never heard of this!
@przemekkozlowski7835 also about Malarkey in that Luger scene, the actor slipping down on his way back wasn't intentional. And the look of fright on his face is pretty genuine, because there were tiny amounts of explosive embedded in the ground to simulate bullets hitting all around him and he was worried he was laying down on some. They were mostly harmless but it still scared the living sh*t out of him.
This is what I meant when I said these dudes are legendary. The boys WROTE THE DAMN BOOK on so many aspects of modern warfare.
Pay attention to each person in the company. They have serious roles unique from each other but they blend to work together. That is the legend of Easy Company. Enjoy watching dudes!
We try our best to do that, you’ll see as the reactions drop!
it's crazy to think you could train for years, then your plane could get hit and you get shot down, you and your buddies tumble out of the sky dying without ever setting foot in Europe to start your mission.
it's nice they add the real interviews at the start of the episode, makes all the events feel more real
How bout not even taking off. I read a ww2 book and a couple of guys were killed when a gamma grenade went off before their c-47 could take off for d-day
Really appreciate you watching this series. I'm not a big WWII buff, but appreciate the humanization that this production brings. My father enlisted during the last half of the war. He was a late teenager, stationed in France, and all he told us is that he peeled potatoes. So, he was a cook, but considering the window he was in France, I can't help but suspect he assisted with burial/cleanup.
18:01 Buck played baseball at UCLA (one of his teammates was Jackie Robinson), so that’s why his sim with the grenades were dead on target. He had a cannon of an arm.
I am in my '60's and grew up in a military (Canadian) family. Half the fathers, including mine, had stories from WW2. I have studied the war because of that and I have spoken to historians,
teachers and equipment, battle strategists, experts of all kinds. I have even been on some of those battlefields that friend's dads fought on. Listening to you guys reminded me of the way the soldiers who fought these battles did, the way the average guy went through those events. I'll be tuning in more for sure.
We thank your family for their service! We appreciate you & thank you for your support & hope that you continue to enjoy our reactions💙
Ya'll are REALLY good at remembering things already - I have watched this multiple times and I still am picking up on things I missed. Nice work.
Appreciate the love we are trying our best! We are enjoying this series and can’t wait to bring you guys more.
Man you guys are just awesome, this was my favorite show and I watched with the the service members of my family.
The thing I love about reactions, especially for historical stuff like this is when people are actually interested and paying attention, and I can tell this isn’t a chore for you guys. You are enjoying it, talking about it, and learning all at the same time and it’s great!
Got yourself a sub! Have a great day guys and hope you continue to enjoy the show!
Appreciate the love and it’s a pleasure for us to hear these stories from these heroes! Can’t wait to bring you guys more of this series because we are truly enjoying every bit of it.
I just finished rewatching for I think the 4th time. Def an enlightening experience. Very grateful to be here watchin y’all while I eat dinner! 🙏🙏
We appropriate you & having you here w/ us! Much love💙
I was an Infantry Officer for 14 years. Maj. Dick Winters is the epitome of leadership. All Infantry Officers study him to this day....
Amazing to hear that. We are watching the actions of a true hero on display!
@@DaKidsReact Keep watching.....
Just found this channel. So hyped for you guys to go on this journey of watching one of the greatest written television shows in history.
Just watched Ep7 for Patreon yesterday & WE CAN SEE WHY!
My former mailman was the last surviving member of Easy Company.
He passed in 2022...
Mr. Bradford (Brad) Freeman.
Mr. Brad lived on a little farm not far from us and never really spoke about his experiences. He was Great Uncle to some close friends of mine and they didn't know he had been in Easy for years
Wow that’s actually insane you knew of someone that was in Easy! RIP Mr. Bradford & thank you for your service💙
@DaKidsReact
My other mailman was a B-17 pilot and the guy that owned the gas station was a retired colonel and Tuskeegee Airman.
This was in a tiny community in Mississippi...
And they just recently named the local GA airport after our gas station guy, Lt. Colonel Alva Temple.
The assault on those guns is a text book example of of how to take a objective. Still taught the same way today
Not explained is how Winters used his training and improvised on the fly under extreme pressure to successfully accomplish his mission. Sign of a truly great leader. .
Those planes that carried the paratroops from England to Normandy are C-47s. There were slightly more than 800 of them that went over for the first lift. During the war, there were thousands built. After the war, many were used by civilian companies until they were good only for scrap metal. A few years ago, as one was being prepared to be scrapped, it was discovered to be "That's All Brother". That's All Brother was the actual C-47 that led all of the others to Normandy. Once that was confirmed, the CAF (Commemorative Air Force) purchased it and completely refurbished it back to its configuration on June 6, 1944. That's All Brother can be seen at air shows now. What a remarkable coincidence that it was found almost eighty years after WWII and in time to be restored.
My thanks to Da Kids for not only reacting to this series, but to their reading and acknowledging our replies.
The Brecourt Manor assault is my favorite combat sequence of the series. It might be the most accurate due to being taken directly from Winters' reports. It's also a rather small combat with a handful of GIs in a specific location. The Manor still exists with remnants of the trenches for the production crew to examine and recreate back in England. A lot of the small moments are true as well. Litpon climbing the tree, which he later claims it was the dumbest thing he did during the war. Buck throwing the grenade like a base ball, hitting the German. Although in real life he beaned him on the helmet. The warrant officer getting list and crawling to Lipton for directions. Joe Toy surviving unscathed two grenades detonating right next to him. Most important, that map Winters found had all the German artillery locations marked on it in Normandy.
Winters is a legend in the Airborne division and among Army officers in general. Some consider him to be the best example of what a combat leader should be. They aren't wrong.
Enjoyed watching my favorite movie with you guys. I was in the Army for 30 years and I recommend it to everyone I know. These were real guys and real heroes.
One of the most genuine reaction videos to this series I have seen. Keep up the excellent work.
We appreciate this & thank you! Much love💙
they jumped going "too fast" which is why winters asks that soldier for his bag when they land and he says "prop blast got it" all the air from the propeller ripped the bag off his leg, because they were flying so fast. Winters also lost his pack and his weapon in the jump due to the airspeed
That is true...but not so fun fact, that was not the only reason the US paratroopers had issues with the leg bags. They were not given proper training on how to attach the bags to their legs, and they were not properly informed that the bags had a weight limit of 40lbs, so many of the American troopers loaded the bags up with too much stuff. At least that is something I have seen referenced a few times.
@@iKvetch558 Right. They were supposed to jump while holding their bags...but no one told them that small, yet significant fact.
As far as I understand it they didn't even they were going to be jumping with these leg bags until they were getting ready for the jump. And so they received really no training on them.
I guess I should try to find the exact numbers before I mention this but I would say that probably at least half the soldiers lost at least a good part of their equipment if not all of it. As you see Winters only had his knife. The radio guy did have his weapon. And you see much of easy company when they finally meet up just before they ambush the Germans most of them have their rifles but I can't help but wonder if they just found these along the way. As they were leg bags laying all around and equipment I'm sure it was not incredibly difficult to find some equipment. But like we see Winters didn't have a gun until Sergeant Compton hands him a German rifle after the ambush. And then he still didn't have a proper rifle until they found that paratrooper hanging in the tree which is when he actually got his hands on a M1 Garand. But as we see in that scene they had to strip the bodies for weapons equipment etc. Seems extremely macabre but it's what they had to do. It's just a sad story all the way around but the paratroopers that didn't survive weren't going to be using their equipment and the ones that were still alive had to have the equipment to try and take their objectives.
But it's just a sad fact of D-Day that they sprung these stupid leg bags on these guys and then the prop blast hit him and ripped their equipment right out of their hands and then they were roaming Normandy without many without rifles even.
I appreciate you putting the actual soldier interviews at the beginning of the series. A lot of reactors don't include that and it is a disservice to the men who fought there and risked their lives. It's just a few minutes of the overall reaction. Again, gentlemen, thank you for including it.
6:08 They are being shot up by Flak. Flak is like a shell that gets to altitude and then exploded producing thing bits of shrapnel. If you ever seen this in day time, it's those little black puffs of smoke. That is the Shell exploding. The Germans used a system where they targeted in front of the aircraft, so that they'd fly into the shrapnel fire.
The lieutenant's name is Winters, not Waters.
It’s amazing to hear the voices of the people that actually went through events like this. They are living proof of the sacrifices made so it’s a pleasure to hear them speak. Also thanks for the insight on those shells. We definitely didn’t know much about the particular shells being fired other than it was causing a good amount of damage to the aircraft’s. And we’ll get all the names down soon 🤦🏾♂️ appreciate the love and support!
Regarding the officer that gun downed the German POWs - The airborne were under strict orders to not take any prisoners due to them not having the logistical capacity to feed and house them. During the invasion it was key to move extremely fast to secure key crossroads and objectives and holding prisoners would have slowed everything down. There are many accounts of German POWs being killed for this reason.
miles behind enemy lines
There was no such order ever given. It's a myth. Didn't happen.
It is sad but true, and was necessary for the operation to work. As Harry Welsh says "War is hell".
No this isn't true. No such order was given, and many prisoners were taken by the Airborne on D-Day.
@Yvolve not true. No order like that was given, and Airborne troops took plenty of prisoners on D-Day
The burning plane that went down was the company commanders (Lt. Meehan). The majority of the Company HQ section was on that plane.
Band of brothers is still my fav series of all time all real all hero’s in America’s greatest generation god bless yall
We try to show as much appreciate for them as we can, watching this hasn’t been easy but needed to understand what they went through🙏🏾
Not enough people know how much we owe these men, and the many men who fought in this War.
Great video fellas, just subbed ⚔️🥃
Appreciate the love!!
"His brother got it at Cassino."
My uncle was at Cassino. Bronze Star and Purple Heart. I miss him.
Your Uncle was a hero💜
The 101st Division only had one sixth of their men reach their planned destinations. Troops carried approximately 90 - 120 pounds of gear, including their chutes.
18:11 An interesting story here. In this series, Buck's Thompson jammed on him. In reality, he was actually using a German weapon that he scavenged off of a fallen German soldier. The weapon being in poor and dirty condition, it jammed up on Buck when he needed to use it.
As seen by Malarky nearing getting himself killed, Allied troops were always looking for relics and souvenirs to bring home. They put their own lives in danger, and even got themselves killed trying to scavenge for souvenirs to send home.
When the landings started the caption said planes overhead. The sound was the shells from the Navy's 16 inch guns.
I'm not sure if it happened to Easy Company or another unit, but one got pinned down in a trench, while endless friendly artillery flew overhead. The sound was ear shattering, bone shaking and terrifying. Not the jet-engine like sound you hear in BoB but like heavy thunder continuously rolling overhead, as it was coming down much closer.
They were stuck for hours. Some soldiers ended up shell shocked from the experience, it was that bad.
You guys are super sharp on the small details that a lot of people miss, and wonderful commentary, not just in this series, ive got a few im watching in parallel having found you guys tonight and almost nothing gets by you guys, loving it, looking forward to completing this, and seeing what comes next.
We are happy you are enjoying our reactions and your time with us! We had a making time reacting to this series! We learned a lot and definitely enjoyed it ourselves. Thanks for the support👏🏾
My dad quit the NFL in 1942 to fight Hitler was wounded during D Day operations, made through America's meet grinder the Hurtgen Forest where US has 85,000 casualties, to be sent on R & R in the Ardennes and ended up in battle of the Bulge, got his second Purple heart, Bronze star, and Silver Star, after the war he went on to be one of the first five coaches inducted into Penn. High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame, my dad met so many great football men during the war like Biggie Mun MSU coach of two Rose Bowel Champions one of those teams had two starters on the offensive line from my dads Cresson Pa team, Ben Schwartzwalder who Jim Browns college coach at Syracuse, I meet Ben in1962 while we where camp in upstate New York and the Canada Ben was a captain in the 82 airborne and was in Normandy my dad meet him during the Bulge 5 of my dads players went to Syracuse to play football on full scholarship my dad worked his ass off to guys who could not afford college a scholarship in his 30 plus years of coaching he got 78 player full rides
Something to remember is the average age of most of these guys is early 20s. I believe Winters was 25-26 years old through this whole thing. Insane to think about
Really insane to think about. You would think he was in his mid 30s the way he carried himself.
Such a great mini series. Hope you watch the follow up documentary we stand alone together. Real interviews with the guys that were still alive at the time. It’s a great wrap up to the show.
Y'all the first channel that I watch the entire Band of Brothers reaction video from ep1-10 . Love the commentary.
That means a lot to us! Happy you enjoyed our reactions! Much love💙
Thanks for your sincere reactions! See where others explained why paratroopers weren't hit by other planes....dad was a couple weeks behind these guys ....
It's always good to see you "youngsters" getting a glimpse of the sacrifices made by that generation for the country. They're all gone, now. Who's gonna step up and carry that torch?
I volunteered at a vets home years back...there was one paratrooper and two Infantry guys who fought on D-Day...I cooked breakfast so I'd sit and listen while they drank coffee and told stories about WWII...very humbling to be in the presence of such badassery...
80 years but I am sure they did relive this night time and it time again.
Hearing you guys say “jawn” and “bol” made me laugh lmao. Couple of tough Philly boys in Easy Company. Bill Guarnere was from south Philly, and later on yall will meet Babe Heffron, also from south Philly
"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops," Eisenhower wrote. "My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower Supreme Allied Commander. This was his other speech. D-Day was never a guarantee..
That was what made Eisenhower great. It's always fascinated me that Eisenhower never actually had any real combat experience. He was held back from going to Europe during world war I as he was I guess more valued as a trainer. It's not that he tried to avoid combat it's just that he never could get himself in a position combat command.
But that letter he gave his secretary to be read to the press in case the landings were a failure is one of the most courageous things I've ever seen in a politician which he essentially was. Yes he was supreme commander but that involved a lot of politics and that's what he was doing when he wrote that letter. He knew that Churchill and FDR could not go down because that would just be catastrophic. I admire Eisenhower so much for being willing to take the blame like a man and just go on and do the best he could. He knew he'd probably be relieved of duty if D-Day failed. But he knew that what the stakes were when he demanded to be given unfettered command of the operation because he knew that you needed only one man making final decisions. If they made decisions by committee then they would never get anything done. Monty would want to make all the decisions. Other leaders etc. I'm also impressed with Churchill's willingness to go down with Eisenhower. He had chosen him I think a little bit reluctantly to be supreme allied Commander but knew that he was the best but I don't think Churchill like that he was felt compelled to choose Eisenhower. But after Eisenhower and Churchill got to know one another better Churchill was willing to take the blame for the failure right along with Eisenhower.
And then Eisenhower seeing the awesome power we could develop for warfare seeing how fast we could mechanize and develop and build weapons gave us a great speech a great farewell speech at the end of his presidency. He warned us against the dangers of the military industrial complex and how that they could literally take over the country politics economy etc. If the American economy relies heavily on the military industrial complex than they have almost total control. Eisenhower fascinates me because he's one of these people that comes along that just seems to be perfect for this situation. He seems to be the one man in the world who could actually pull off this job. The question was he put here for that job or did he somehow just rise to the occasion? He handled the war so intelligently. He handled everything intelligently.
I've seen this series 20 times and love watching these newer reactions . Feel like I'm watching these 2 guys and their reactions more than the series
We appreciate you & happy you’re enjoying our reactions! Much love
Fact: The pilots that flew Winters' C-47 actually lived. They were wounded.
so i grew up with these Scallywags back in the 90's after i joined the E/506th Living History Unit. all the vets you see talking at the start would visit us at events. drink sing and share stories. alot of things are left out or have been changed esp in this episode didn;t really happen the way it's shown here . some things the vets never shared as they didn't trust the author of the book. but this still is a powerful series going strong after all these years.
Wow that’s amazing! We are happy to hear that they did a good job at depicting this event especially for someone who has heard the stories first hand. Makes us all the more excited to watch more of this masterpiece.
The C47 planes (that they jumped out of) fly in a specific formation to prevent the jumpers from getting hit by other aircraft. Not always easy to hold formation under fire, at night, though.
I once heard it said that Americans only have one plan in battle and thats to show up and improvise. What happened to the paratroopers is a prime example. They were scattered all over the place often with men who they had never met before but adapted and improvised.
And did an amazing job at doing it. Couldn’t imagine training months on end with your boys and company then when everything actually starts you aren’t with those guys that you trust with your life. I know that was really nerve wracking but it’s part of it all, being able to adopt and push forward no matter what.
"Ain't nothing light about a light machine gun" so well said
Learned that playing Call of Duty’s back in the day
awesome, Ive been asking for BOB on different channels and none ever do it, glad yall are doing it!
We are glad we jumped into this🔥
Something that not a lot of people might know is Germany's production was mostly focused on tanks planes and other vehicles so a lot of their transportation for supplies was also used by horse and buggy or just on any other vehicles they can find
Despite my own doubts re: the Lt Speirs executing POWs scene, according to the experts, it happened. The amazing Breacourt Manor assault scene is one for the books. Good job guys.
Band of Brothers is legit amazing. Never take freedom for granted.
The thought of jumping out a plane and if you live to land and then you are completely surrounded by the enemy would be terrifying.
Whats interesting about Steven Spielberg war movies is there usually no last words when some gets shot, they just die.
Yall should check out the pacific after this series! It’s also a great watch and very informative on what the marines went through against Japan. Great videos guys!
The 101st was supposed to be the ones taking out all the guns firing on Utah and Omaha beaches. That’s why the men landing on those beaches were caught off guard and killed.
The fact u guys got the little details is dope! subbed👍
We appreciate you & WELCOME💙
People were most definitely getting hit by planes on the way down. If you can think it, it happened. Failed chutes, getting shot on the way down, getting hit, being hung from a tree, falling right on top of germans. Horrific stuff. RIP and thank you to all the men who fought and died in WW2.
Thanks for sharing, had a blast with you guys at lunch. Looking forward to watching "Nope" when I get home.
There is a really good TH-cam channel called History Underground . In one series of his videos, he travels to Normandy and visits Brecourt Manor. He visits the exact place that Easy assaults the German 88s depicted in this episode.
Whenever life seems crappy... think of what these men had to endure in just one day compared to any day in our lifetime.
Commenters often talk about how "true" this story is.
It is... but, this series, throughout all of the episodes presents the story with various degrees of accuracy & inaccuracy simultaneously to help tell the story in a way that the viewer can follow better.
When Easy company left England for D-day, there were 139 guys making up the company, and the company would shrink with casualties, and then beef back up with replacements throughout the war, so the neighborhood of "120-ish" is pretty much how many guys were in the company at any given time.
Because of this, it would be logistically impossible to depict the experiences of every single guy in a ten episode series. So a lot of stories that happened to Easy company guys we're never introduced to were attributed to a small core of characters that we're going to be following. You hit on this on the last episode when you said there's lots of names to remember.
For instance, the D-day landing depicted in this episode isn't exactly the way it happened in real life. In real life, the paratrooper that landed near Winters that night wasn't Hall, but some supply Sgt from F company that Winters recognized right away. Then when Winters encountered Lipton (with that clicker), Lipton had twelve guys, not just two. Although a few of the twelve were indeed stragglers with the 82nd Airborne. An interesting occurrence from that night that's not depicted at all: when Winters went under that poncho to look at the map, one of the group that was with Lipton stole Winters knife. Winters was furious about it, but decided that it was neither the time or place to address the theft.
In the night, several other Easy company guys latched on to the group, including Buck, Guarnere, and Malarkey. Winters, Lipton, Buck, and Guarnere had nothing but their knives - as all of their leg-bags had been torn away in the same manner.
At about 3:00AM, they encountered a Lieutenant Colonel of some other unit who had about fifty men with him. Winters and his men were headed in the same direction they were going, so they fell in with the group for a little bit. It was with this huge group that the Germans were ambushed. Several of the Lt. Colonel's men are the ones who opened fire prematurely, as Guarnere still hadn't obtained a replacement weapon yet. After that, Winters and Guarnere were finally armed - having taken pistols off the dead Germans.
As far as the American that Malarkey encountered in a German uniform, that's true also. Malarkey did come across an American who had come to Germany after Hitler's call for "all loyal Germans" to serve the German Reich. It wasn't as depicted here though. He was a German Master Sergeant, in the company of about twenty other German POW's. He was from Portland, Oregon, and had worked at Schmitz Steel Company up until 1938. Malarkey worked at Monarch Forge and Machine Works in 1942. The two places were very, very near to each other. Due to the year differences, Malarkey had never seen him before, and said he had no idea what happened to him.
Speirs did execute a group of German POW's, but it likely wasn't that group. If I remember correctly, the prisoners Spiers executed occurred earlier in the night, before dawn.
Great reaction, guys! Looking forward to the rest. I won't say "brace yourselves", because I know you're probably already on episode 8 or 9 on your patreon.
Appreciate all the information! It makes the series so much more interesting when you know a bunch of additional information on the events and people of the war. It gives so much more context to appreciate the depiction of these events more and more. Again appreciate all the information and appreciate the support!
These guys weren't even the first to jump. Ahead of them were the pathfinders. They jumped earlier to mark the drop zones for the paratroopers. The planes didn't all make it to the drop zones because of the flack. One of the reasons so many paratroopers were lost or in the wrong places.
My father and his peers shed their literal blood for our freedom, especially Asia and Europe. It is more than discouraging at the lack of many of today's youth that have no understanding of this. Thank you for recognizing what my father's generation went through!!
JOE TOYE. You're absolutely right, hes got an angel looking after him. 2 grenade impacts and not a scratch!
That was wild to see! Couldn’t imagine what he was thinking during that
Another good reaction. All I'm going to say about the future episodes is, Buckle Up. I'm looking forward to episode 3. Currahee!!!
Appreciate the love and can’t wait to bring you guys more! Currahee!
The military organization was a triangular one. Three Regiments each having three battalions. Each battalion had three companies with three platoons in a company. Each platoon was broken down into three squads of about 12-15 soldiers. At full strength a company had about 200-250 soldiers.
D-Day casualties for the airborne divisions were calculated in August 1944 as 1,240 for the 101st Airborne Division and 1,259 for the 82nd Airborne. Of those, the 101st suffered 182 killed, 557 wounded, and 501 missing. For the 82nd, the total was 156 killed, 347 wounded, and 756 missing.
When upper echelon heard about the weapons, in that field, they thought the US troops could use them, against the germans. But, by the time their order to preserve the weaponry came down to those in the field, the big guns were already destroyed.
There is a movie I recommend all to see. It carries an all star cast playing the roles of some of the most consequential figures on the Allied and The German sides - The Longest Day.
it's uuunlikely for planes to hit guys, since inherently - planes keep a certain altitude; troops always fall *below* this altitude
I mean, that's the general rule anyway - more dangerous is bullets, shrapnel, and enemy on the ground
Just stumbled onto you guys. Such a great series & I love your review. I'm subscribing & going to watch all of your reactions.
We appreciate you, happy you’re enjoying our reactions & WELCOME💙
@DaKidsReact appreciate it, fam. 1 love from Kentucky my Gs.
8:46 there are actually a lot of accounts of guys getting killed because of those “clicker” things. Airborne troops were issued those “clickers” as a covert way to try and ID friendly troops. You’d click, and friendlies would click back. But what started happening is our boys would click, and the *click clack* of the German Kar98 rifle bolt chambering a round sounded like the response click, so our boys would stand up thinking they were friendlies, and they’d get shot.
That was Mehan's plane that caught fire and went down, remember the pilot yelling 'Tell Mehan to get em outta there'?
That’s true!
The scene with the German prisoners happened all over the invasion area..the allies simply had no time or resources to deal with prisoners at that early stage. And couldn't risk letting them run free behind their advancing assaults in-land. So orders were given. War is Hell. o7
@11:11 Guarnere didn't follow orders and hold his fire because he was pissed about his brother being killed in Italy (found the letter in the jacket in the first episode). Dumb and could have got people killed but you can still appreciate where his head was at in the moment. Never mind! You all got it a minute later. I love Winters, he is the embodiment of an officer that is an actual leader and not just a superior.
An excellent reaction to an ourstanding series. A point of history, the 101st were late comers. The 82ed had already been credited with 2 combat jumps. Before that, the 2/509th PIB jumped into N. Africa in 1942. I served with the 2/509th (Abn/Mech) 1971-72. Any flight more then15 or 20
minutes to the DZ invariably I fell asleep.
Thompson SMGs weighed more than nine pounds. When the 40th anniversary of D-Day rolled around 40 years ago(!), a veteran paratrooper was interviewed on a morning news show. The news man who interviewed him was only familiar with M-16s, and when he held the Thompson SMG, he said, "That's a HEAVY gun!" I think the M1919A4 weighted around 30 pounds.
Great reaction, guys. You're going to love this series. It's a life changing experience. CURRAHEE
We appreciate you & definitely loving this so far🔥
Not sure which paratroop groups encountered this, but prior to the invasion the Germans flooded fields where troops might land. Many US paratroops ended up drowning because they couldn't get out of their harness quickly. The British had a better harness that released in essentially one motion, opposed to the US version that took several steps.
Dw bout the Waters/Winters detail ;) u are great reactors and catch stuff most ppl dont.. U are in like some 110% focus mode, not joking around n stuff. Keep up the good work, im really digging it. I dont even think the comment section will bother about it, at all, just because of this fact that u are awesome.
We appreciate you & your support💙 we got the names right in the later episodes. We try to catch as much as we can & us making jokes or references is just how we are in real life. We are grateful for you!
Very detailed reaction. Nice job!
We appreciate you💙
Idk if anyone said it but you can still see the place where Mehans plane went down today. It’s in a farm in France and nothing grows there to this day
There were about 2,600 Airborne casualties on D-day! About 20% of the 13,000 soldiers dropped. YET the planners projected a possible 70%+ casualties! Thus, up to 9,000 casualties could be expected!
That’s actually insane appreciate the info!
Many years ago, when I read a bunch of books about WW2, I read that at least one plane turned on the jump light while over the ocean. Those poor guys sank to the bottom under the weight of all their gear.
That’s terrible to hear & even imagine😢
FYI, if you play Call of Duty origianl PC game you play this mission Lt. Winter's commanded here against the 3 88 guns.
The crazy thing is that this series is spot on the the real easy company
Nice job men. Good reaction.
The planes fly in a formation that assures that they won't hit troops jumping. This based on speed , gap interval, and drop rate. The men will fall below the level of the following planes quicker than the planes can overtake them.
Yeah when you look at it from a physics and logical standpoint it makes sense lol I think we were just so immersed in the chaos that something like that wasn’t too far out to happen.
they were in that plane for 2-3 hours before jumping as well.. must be torture just sitting there waiting to jump into hell
I'm reading the biography of lieutenant Spears, the lieutenant who executed those prisoners in the second episode. From the book, the airborne were ordered to take no prisoners, if you think about it they jump behind enemy lines, how are they supposed to tend to dozens if not hundreds of enemy prisoners when they have objectives to capture in the middle of enemy territory.
There was no order to "Take no prisoners." There are a few books that say that, but without verifiable evidence.
Lipton said they did things and took chances in that first combat action at Brecourt that they would never have done later on. Things like getting in that tree.
Great series. Great review.
18:40. That wasn't Hall, that was Loraine, the "jeep jocky".
One of the fun things about this show is how the first episode lulls you in with the training, and then it's nine episodes of full-on fuckin' mayhem and violence.
Literally!
Ha ha...the subtitles might be a bit sketchy...at 12:43 when the shells from the battleships off shore are going overhead, the subtitles say it is "planes soaring".