a potato masher is what the Americans called the German hand grenades. The shape of it (a wooden handled stick with a small can on one end) looked like it a potato masher grandma had.
So the actor who played Skip Muck did a phenomenal job here. He spent a lot of time with the family of the real Skip Muck and learned about the story of him swimming across the Niagara. He then put it in the scene as an ad lib. Another beautiful but minor touch that makes this the greatest series to ever be produced. It’s why I always say Band of Brothers is more than just a series. It’s an experience! Also Speirs was actually toned down in the scene running through German lines. Legend has it that the run was much longer than depicted, and he was also laughing and mocking the German soldiers as he did it. 😂
Shifty Powers was an amazing soldier. His accuracy was legendary, as they talked about in this episode and showed when he took out the sniper. He was shown taking out a sniper in Carentan as well. After taking Foy, they found the sniper. Shifty had shot him right between the eyes. Not shown in the series was a particular incident showing Shifty's keen observation skills. One morning he noticed a new "tree" along the German lines in Foy that wasn't there the day before. They had brought in a fake tree to disguise an artillery piece, and they were able to call in their own artillery to take it out. Shifty was a legend!
Neal McDonough's performance as Buck in this episode is amazing. No matter how many times I watch this episode, every time Winters calls for Speirs to take on the attack I scream "Fuck yeah!"
When I was in college there was a picture of a kid named Winder framed in the ROTC building. I never understood why for years until I read the plaque underneath. Winder was pale, lanky and nerdy. He had exaggerated features and huge glasses, but he was a medic in Vietnam. Despite being shot three times he kept going back for wounded. He died from his injuries and was awarded the Medal of Honor. You never know what’s just under the exterior.
I was lucky enough to be in Europe this past spring, so i rented a car and drove to Belgium and to Bastogne to the War Museum there. You can actually visit the woods E company occupied, see their foxholes, and look down into the town of Foy as part of the museum. You can go through Foy and look at the bullet holes in the wall from the sniper.
About the youth of the soldiers - at the time this was filmed, the veterans were looking back from about fifty years later and the memories were still as fresh as if they'd experienced the events the day before. My stepfather was a World War II veteran who served in combat in the Navy in both the Atlantic and the western Pacific as the gunnery officer of a very small ship called a sub chaser. He served in combat for over two years; he always told funny stories, but when I asked him once what one thing stood out the most in his memory about the war, he sat for a moment and then said, "Dead friends." When the war ended he was still only 22 years old. I was a Marine infantryman, and I can vouch that the quality of your leadership, especially a commanding officer, determines the whole quality of the world you live in.
Hoobler didn't unload the Luger when he captured it, so when he tried to straddle a barbed wire fence to get into a trench, he accidentally pulled the trigger and shot himself in the thigh, severing his femoral artery. The Germans pausing between artillery bombardments wasn't anything new. Both the Germans and British did the same thing in WWI, hoping to catch the enemy coming out of their fortifications when the second barrage hits. "Potato masher" was the nickname for the German Steilhandgranate, which had a long wooden handle for greater throwing distance and a cylindrical grenade body, making it look like the tool used to mash potatoes. This episode (and the series as a whole) does Norman Dike dirty. He won 2 Bronze Stars for actions in Normandy and Bastogne. He wasn't as personable as Winters was, so that's why the men weren't particularly fond of him. He was wounded in the assault on Foy and was going into shock, which is why Winters replaced him with Spiers.
Even though they did Dike dirty, he still was known to be reported by many in Easy C of his incompetence and him being missing for hours at a time and his inattention to the men.
"Aww, they're all so supportive..." -- Not quite, listen again to what they're saying. They're just glad that Peacock won't be their problem anymore...
My father did the same in early 42. He told me he felt it was his duty despite the fact the war wasn't going really well for the allies at the time. Our fathers were part of that greatest generation and we owe so much because of them.
And to tack on my “two cents worth,” my dad also enlisted in the USN with his father’s consent, right after he turned 17 on July 4th, 1941. Boy, did he get a surprise five months later!
@@Ernwaldo My dad was also a sailor. Spent a lot of time as a crew chief on PBYs and PBMs. Don't know what your father did, but they may have bumped into each other back then.
"They explode in the air above the ground." They're hitting trees. Lipton refers to them as "tree bursts" earlier. When that happens, some of the shrapnel goes down, and the chance of hitting people in foxholes increases.
It's important to remember that Band of Brothers is a dramatized retelling of real events, largely based on the recollections of the men of Easy Company. Lieutenant Norman Dike is portrayed here as freezing under fire and giving unclear orders, leading to his removal during the attack on Foy. While this depiction reflects the memories of some veterans, it might not capture the full complexity of Dike as a person or officer. There’s some debate over whether Dike was wounded during this attack, as the scene shows him clutching his shoulder while taking cover. This could suggest he was dealing with a physical injury or even the effects of combat shock, which might explain his inability to lead effectively in that moment. Historically, Dike had previously earned a Bronze Star for his actions in Normandy, indicating he was not entirely incompetent or cowardly as the series might suggest. While the frustration of his men is understandable given the circumstances, it's worth considering that the fog of war and the intense pressure of leadership in battle could have played a significant role in what happened at Foy. This portrayal, like many in the series, emphasizes the perspectives of Easy Company’s soldiers and their frustrations at the time, but the full story of Lieutenant Dike may be more complicated than what is shown on screen.
What is hard to imagine is that they spent a month in the forest waiting to attack Foy. Episode 6 was called Bastogne and Bastogne and Foy were only 6km apart, so there was really no movement for that month as they were surrounded.
What I appreciate about this series is that they didn't add too much "hollywood" into it. When Guarnere and Toye got hit, their humorous comments are verbatim (what does a guy gotta do to get killed around here? and Hey Joe, I told you I'd get back to the states before you!).
10:05 A "potato masher" is a nickname for the funny shaped German grenades which look like a can attached to a stick. I guess it reminded our guys of a kitchen tool for mashing potatoes.
Spiers is the one who told Blythe in episode three that he's scared because he has hope and he needs to act like he's already dead. He exemplifies that in this episode.
The boys got shelled three times and then that badass battle of Foy, this episode has tons of action as well as the mental toll that fear and exhaustion has on them. I love the showcasing of different types of leadership in this one too, 6 & 7 are by far my favorite episodes.
In real life, Peacock was actually just the runner up for the selection process. When Nixon turned down the offer to return home, the selection defaulted to Peacock.
This is a very dynamic episode, from the personal to the action to tying in character arcs. It's some of the best examples of what you can do on TV with a series.
Ronald Speirs admitted to shooting the PoW's and Winters generally backed him up on the need to. You can find an interview with Winters on it 'Major Dick Winters on Ronald Speirs Shooting Prisoners in WWII' There was a general order to take no prisoners. As Don Malarky recounted "If you were to take prisoners, they’d handicap our ability to perform our mission. We were going to have to dispose of prisoners as best we saw fit." Dick Winters also mentioned it in his memoires. As for the soldier he shot for drinking in Dog Company...the story goes that the soldier was drunk and was telling people to advance while Speirs told them not to. The soldier then raised his rifle aimed at Speirs and Speirs shot him in apparent self defense. Speirs was the real deal soldier and very well portrayed in this. The earlier scene where he tells Blithe "We're all scared. You hid in that ditch because you think there's still hope. But Blithe, the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier's supposed to function. Without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends on it." Is just the way it is.
Speaking of Potato Mashers, the German military and the American military had a totally different, and opposite, theory on the use of hand grenades in battle. The German "Potato Masher" (Stielhandgranate M-15 thru M-17) was basically just an explosive charge in a small thin metal cannister, attached to the end of a wooden handle. When it exploded, it gave off a very large percussive sound wave, though it didn't provide much in the way of shrapnel. This was because the German theory on the use of hand grenades was that they were to only be used to stun an enemy soldier, allowing the German soldier enough time to close the distance on an enemy, and kill them with their rifles. The American "Pineapple" (Mk-2) hand grenade was used very differently. The American theory on the use of hand grenades was that they were to be used as anti-personnel devices, meaning that the grenade alone would be the lethal element. They were called "Pineapples" because the body of the grenade was segmented into breakaway pieces, giving it the look of a pineapple. When it exploded, the body of the grenade broke apart, into dozens of pieces of high velocity metal fragments. The blast radius of the Mk-2 would be enough to maim or kill several people, all at one time.
Well, it's not just a clever name. When Winters tries to go in against orders, and then sends LT. Speirs in he more than put his money where his mouth is. One of my favorite moments of the series. When he goes into relieve Dike of command, that scene is stunning every single time. When Buck's helmet hits the ground, it's as Earth shattering as the German artillery. Currahee ♠
I'm pausing this before I watch to say I've been waiting for this episode. This episode and "Why we fight" are always my most anticipated reactions to watch. *deep breath* Okay. Let's do this!
i watched the behind the scenes on this series and they went to Foy an measured that shot shifty did on that german sniper and it was 70 yards , and he had to do that in one shot !
The Run that Spears made and Shifty Powers Shot to kill the sniper ere both longer in real life.As to being in shape enough to keep fighting. Eventhough the men of Easy Hated Soeble they give him credit to saving alot of lives because of his training.
Another great reaction, guys. This is one of the toughest episodes to watch because of the losses suffered by Easy. I owe the freedoms I enjoy today to the men of our greatest generation who fought this war, some 80 years ago. I will always honor their bravery and sacrifice. Until the next one, CURRAHEE.
The 88's the Germans had at Foy in this episode were originally used to shoot down aircraft. Earlier in the war, the Germans needed better weapons to counter the increasing amount of tank armor and found out that the 88mm gun could also fire at ground level and did well against tanks. After that, they were mass produced and given to artillery units as well as anti-aircraft units.
At the end of the day, a cannon is a big metal tube. It's really the ammunition you load into them that makes the difference. The unique thing about 88mm cannons is that they are huge. 75mm was a much more common size for cannons. Which they need to be to shoot high enough to hit high flying planes. When making 88mm shells to damage ground targets, you can get a lot of explosives into them.
For me, episodes 1,2, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are all in contention for best of the series. And for me, Spears running across Foy twice without taking any fire is one of the best moments in tv history.
Hey guys are you going to watch the 11th episode " We stand alone together: the man of easy company " it's a MUST watch even better then the series. Please let us know. But only watch it AFTER you are threw watching episode 10. Tyvm
The part where they are crossing the field into Foy you see a man go down right next to Lipton and he keeps running without flinching at the man dropping, for me gives a great throwback to episode 1 while running up Currahee a soldier has a fall and Sobel yells out twice Do not help that man. Everyones natural reaction to that scene was why not? No man left behind? I'm just guessing as I have no experience in this that this is why you can't just stop on an advance
While they are missing a lot of equipment, the American army was easily the best supplied combat forces in the war. By February 1945, the German war machine was on its knees, and things were worse for the Wehrmacht. The supply "chain", which back then was called the logistical tail, is what makes the difference in battles all the way back to the middle ages. When Napoleon invaded Russia, most of his men who ended up casualties starved to death in the winter, rather than died of combat wounds. I can't imagine a worse way to die. Hitler didn't learn from Napoleon's mistake, the same thing happened on the Russian front to Germany.
Bill Guarnere making jokes about beating Joe Toye to the States just after their legs got blown off says everything you need to know about the mentality of these soldiers.
I hope y'all do the Pacific next. It's about the Marines fighting the Japanese in the major island campaigns, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Same production team as band of Brothers, Hanks and Spielberg, but all the technical mistakes and kinks worked out. I think it's better than band of Brothers in every way.
Hoobler's incident illustrates why most militaries don't issue pistols to the average soldier and typically (not always) frown on soldiers bringing their own. A soldier with a handgun is statistically more likely to shoot himself or a fellow soldier with it, than an enemy.
The series doesn’t cover the whole war in time or extent. The fighting part of it covers only the last ~11 months of the war against Germany, and only part of the struggle in the West. A much larger, bloodier part, in which millions died, had been happening on the Eastern Front since June, 1941. It did not end until the Russians overran Berlin, causing Hitler to commit suicide with his bride in his bunker. VE Day, the unconditional surrender of Germany, followed shortly.
Sadly, we have a war in Europe once again, where Ukrainian defenders are suffering through much the same. We can but hope their heroism and stoicism brings them through too...
Dike was not as bad a leader as this episode shows. E-Company people did not like him. He recovered from his wounds and went on to get medals for his work in Korea.
I want to say Spier's run was toned DOWN to try and make it believable. It was longer and he was yelling at the Germans for their poor aim. BYW, part of Buck's issue is decision to hold THERE was his. He was right, but cold comfort...
In real life both Nixon and Winters doesn't like Buck to be a CO,he gambles and fraternize with his men too much. Nixon and Compton didn’t like each other. In addition, I think Dick Winters didn’t like Buck in person (I meant, Dick respected him as a competent combat leader, but apart from that, he really didn’t like him), and it seems that Nixon hated Compton for Dick’s sake.
I watched a documentary on the attack of Foy and they said Lipton couldn't have been bait for Shifty to shoot the sniper because Shifty shot the sniper during the assult, not afterwards. Also, at that time, Lipton was on the other side of the town witnessing Speirs running through the Germans. The show shortens the distance he ran because they thought no one would believe the real distance
A truly fantastic show...and to go on a light note here....I love guarnere... "crazy joe mcclusky was fuckin nuts babe that's why they called him crazy joe"!!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I want to say Spier's run was toned DOWN to try and make it believable. It was longer and he was yelling at the Germans for their poor aim. BYW, part of Buck's issue is decision to hold THERE was his. He was right, but cold comfort...
![The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers [EXTENDED CUT] | First Time Watching | REACTION](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/izWwxAc4pf8/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers [EXTENDED CUT] | First Time Watching | REACTION](/img/tr.png)
a potato masher is what the Americans called the German hand grenades. The shape of it (a wooden handled stick with a small can on one end) looked like it a potato masher grandma had.
Refer back to episode to when Winters spikes the first German artillery piece.
He uses a potato masher to set off the explosives.
Episode two.
So the actor who played Skip Muck did a phenomenal job here. He spent a lot of time with the family of the real Skip Muck and learned about the story of him swimming across the Niagara. He then put it in the scene as an ad lib. Another beautiful but minor touch that makes this the greatest series to ever be produced. It’s why I always say Band of Brothers is more than just a series. It’s an experience!
Also Speirs was actually toned down in the scene running through German lines. Legend has it that the run was much longer than depicted, and he was also laughing and mocking the German soldiers as he did it. 😂
Shifty Powers was an amazing soldier. His accuracy was legendary, as they talked about in this episode and showed when he took out the sniper. He was shown taking out a sniper in Carentan as well. After taking Foy, they found the sniper. Shifty had shot him right between the eyes.
Not shown in the series was a particular incident showing Shifty's keen observation skills. One morning he noticed a new "tree" along the German lines in Foy that wasn't there the day before. They had brought in a fake tree to disguise an artillery piece, and they were able to call in their own artillery to take it out. Shifty was a legend!
"Why did I choose Spiers? Because he was standing there."
-Dick Winters
Spiers anticipated a problem, so he moved closer to Winters.
"Buck? He's fine."
*cut to the single greatest image of not fine committed to film*
Neal McDonough's performance as Buck in this episode is amazing. No matter how many times I watch this episode, every time Winters calls for Speirs to take on the attack I scream "Fuck yeah!"
Potato masher is reference to German hand grenades.
When I was in college there was a picture of a kid named Winder framed in the ROTC building. I never understood why for years until I read the plaque underneath.
Winder was pale, lanky and nerdy. He had exaggerated features and huge glasses, but he was a medic in Vietnam. Despite being shot three times he kept going back for wounded. He died from his injuries and was awarded the Medal of Honor.
You never know what’s just under the exterior.
As a side note this is the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, of which Bastogne was a central part
I was lucky enough to be in Europe this past spring, so i rented a car and drove to Belgium and to Bastogne to the War Museum there. You can actually visit the woods E company occupied, see their foxholes, and look down into the town of Foy as part of the museum. You can go through Foy and look at the bullet holes in the wall from the sniper.
It's a damn cold winter here in the UK - I can't imagine having to stay alert and ready through temperatures much worse then we have now.
About the youth of the soldiers - at the time this was filmed, the veterans were looking back from about fifty years later and the memories were still as fresh as if they'd experienced the events the day before. My stepfather was a World War II veteran who served in combat in the Navy in both the Atlantic and the western Pacific as the gunnery officer of a very small ship called a sub chaser. He served in combat for over two years; he always told funny stories, but when I asked him once what one thing stood out the most in his memory about the war, he sat for a moment and then said, "Dead friends." When the war ended he was still only 22 years old.
I was a Marine infantryman, and I can vouch that the quality of your leadership, especially a commanding officer, determines the whole quality of the world you live in.
Hoobler didn't unload the Luger when he captured it, so when he tried to straddle a barbed wire fence to get into a trench, he accidentally pulled the trigger and shot himself in the thigh, severing his femoral artery.
The Germans pausing between artillery bombardments wasn't anything new. Both the Germans and British did the same thing in WWI, hoping to catch the enemy coming out of their fortifications when the second barrage hits.
"Potato masher" was the nickname for the German Steilhandgranate, which had a long wooden handle for greater throwing distance and a cylindrical grenade body, making it look like the tool used to mash potatoes.
This episode (and the series as a whole) does Norman Dike dirty. He won 2 Bronze Stars for actions in Normandy and Bastogne. He wasn't as personable as Winters was, so that's why the men weren't particularly fond of him. He was wounded in the assault on Foy and was going into shock, which is why Winters replaced him with Spiers.
Even though they did Dike dirty, he still was known to be reported by many in Easy C of his incompetence and him being missing for hours at a time and his inattention to the men.
Annnndddd…. Here we go! Merry Christmas you two. Thanks for a great year of content! 🍻🇨🇦
"Aww, they're all so supportive..." -- Not quite, listen again to what they're saying. They're just glad that Peacock won't be their problem anymore...
She misses a lot of the undertones, i feel she's afraid of assuming bad thing and it's really affecting her perception of things, she's too nice.
17 year olds could (and still can) enlist with the approval of a parent. That's what my father did in '43.
My father did the same in early 42. He told me he felt it was his duty despite the fact the war wasn't going really well for the allies at the time. Our fathers were part of that greatest generation and we owe so much because of them.
And to tack on my “two cents worth,” my dad also enlisted in the USN with his father’s consent, right after he turned 17 on July 4th, 1941. Boy, did he get a surprise five months later!
@@Ernwaldo My dad was also a sailor. Spent a lot of time as a crew chief on PBYs and PBMs. Don't know what your father did, but they may have bumped into each other back then.
Speirs running through the German lines was insane.
What's more insane is that it was toned down for the show. He ran across the _entire village_ , not just a couple of blocks.
"They explode in the air above the ground." They're hitting trees. Lipton refers to them as "tree bursts" earlier. When that happens, some of the shrapnel goes down, and the chance of hitting people in foxholes increases.
And you get huge wood splinters flying everywhere. Which is why it's really important to be underground, even if just half a meter.
It's important to remember that Band of Brothers is a dramatized retelling of real events, largely based on the recollections of the men of Easy Company. Lieutenant Norman Dike is portrayed here as freezing under fire and giving unclear orders, leading to his removal during the attack on Foy. While this depiction reflects the memories of some veterans, it might not capture the full complexity of Dike as a person or officer.
There’s some debate over whether Dike was wounded during this attack, as the scene shows him clutching his shoulder while taking cover. This could suggest he was dealing with a physical injury or even the effects of combat shock, which might explain his inability to lead effectively in that moment. Historically, Dike had previously earned a Bronze Star for his actions in Normandy, indicating he was not entirely incompetent or cowardly as the series might suggest. While the frustration of his men is understandable given the circumstances, it's worth considering that the fog of war and the intense pressure of leadership in battle could have played a significant role in what happened at Foy.
This portrayal, like many in the series, emphasizes the perspectives of Easy Company’s soldiers and their frustrations at the time, but the full story of Lieutenant Dike may be more complicated than what is shown on screen.
What is hard to imagine is that they spent a month in the forest waiting to attack Foy. Episode 6 was called Bastogne and Bastogne and Foy were only 6km apart, so there was really no movement for that month as they were surrounded.
This is a phenomenal series. I'm glad you both are reacting to it.
What I appreciate about this series is that they didn't add too much "hollywood" into it. When Guarnere and Toye got hit, their humorous comments are verbatim (what does a guy gotta do to get killed around here? and Hey Joe, I told you I'd get back to the states before you!).
10:05 A "potato masher" is a nickname for the funny shaped German grenades which look like a can attached to a stick.
I guess it reminded our guys of a kitchen tool for mashing potatoes.
A lot of EP 6 & 7, if not all, were filmed in a giant soundstage in the UK. The wintery forest scenes look so real.
Spiers is the one who told Blythe in episode three that he's scared because he has hope and he needs to act like he's already dead. He exemplifies that in this episode.
The boys got shelled three times and then that badass battle of Foy, this episode has tons of action as well as the mental toll that fear and exhaustion has on them. I love the showcasing of different types of leadership in this one too, 6 & 7 are by far my favorite episodes.
they were supportive of Lt Peacock going home because he was incompetent and they wanted him out of there.
In real life, Peacock was actually just the runner up for the selection process. When Nixon turned down the offer to return home, the selection defaulted to Peacock.
This is a very dynamic episode, from the personal to the action to tying in character arcs. It's some of the best examples of what you can do on TV with a series.
Ronald Speirs admitted to shooting the PoW's and Winters generally backed him up on the need to. You can find an interview with Winters on it 'Major Dick Winters on Ronald Speirs Shooting Prisoners in WWII'
There was a general order to take no prisoners. As Don Malarky recounted "If you were to take prisoners, they’d handicap our ability to perform our mission. We were going to have to dispose of prisoners as best we saw fit." Dick Winters also mentioned it in his memoires.
As for the soldier he shot for drinking in Dog Company...the story goes that the soldier was drunk and was telling people to advance while Speirs told them not to. The soldier then raised his rifle aimed at Speirs and Speirs shot him in apparent self defense.
Speirs was the real deal soldier and very well portrayed in this.
The earlier scene where he tells Blithe "We're all scared. You hid in that ditch because you think there's still hope. But Blithe, the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier's supposed to function. Without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends on it."
Is just the way it is.
Speaking of Potato Mashers, the German military and the American military had a totally different, and opposite, theory on the use of hand grenades in battle.
The German "Potato Masher" (Stielhandgranate M-15 thru M-17) was basically just an explosive charge in a small thin metal cannister, attached to the end of a wooden handle. When it exploded, it gave off a very large percussive sound wave, though it didn't provide much in the way of shrapnel. This was because the German theory on the use of hand grenades was that they were to only be used to stun an enemy soldier, allowing the German soldier enough time to close the distance on an enemy, and kill them with their rifles.
The American "Pineapple" (Mk-2) hand grenade was used very differently. The American theory on the use of hand grenades was that they were to be used as anti-personnel devices, meaning that the grenade alone would be the lethal element. They were called "Pineapples" because the body of the grenade was segmented into breakaway pieces, giving it the look of a pineapple. When it exploded, the body of the grenade broke apart, into dozens of pieces of high velocity metal fragments. The blast radius of the Mk-2 would be enough to maim or kill several people, all at one time.
Well, it's not just a clever name. When Winters tries to go in against orders, and then sends LT. Speirs in he more than put his money where his mouth is. One of my favorite moments of the series. When he goes into relieve Dike of command, that scene is stunning every single time. When Buck's helmet hits the ground, it's as Earth shattering as the German artillery. Currahee ♠
I'm pausing this before I watch to say I've been waiting for this episode. This episode and "Why we fight" are always my most anticipated reactions to watch. *deep breath* Okay. Let's do this!
i watched the behind the scenes on this series and they went to Foy an measured that shot shifty did on that german sniper and it was 70 yards , and he had to do that in one shot !
The hills of Bastogne is a handwritten poem that appears in the Battle of the Bulge Museum in Bastogne, Belgium. A must read.
The Run that Spears made and Shifty Powers Shot to kill the sniper ere both longer in real life.As to being in shape enough to keep fighting. Eventhough the men of Easy Hated Soeble they give him credit to saving alot of lives because of his training.
This is one of my favorite episodes. Spiers is an animal!!
Another great reaction, guys. This is one of the toughest episodes to watch because of the losses suffered by Easy. I owe the freedoms I enjoy today to the men of our greatest generation who fought this war, some 80 years ago. I will always honor their bravery and sacrifice. Until the next one, CURRAHEE.
Yes, every one of them is indeed famous now. Easy company is legend in the US Army and in American pop culture as a whole.
The 88's the Germans had at Foy in this episode were originally used to shoot down aircraft. Earlier in the war, the Germans needed better weapons to counter the increasing amount of tank armor and found out that the 88mm gun could also fire at ground level and did well against tanks. After that, they were mass produced and given to artillery units as well as anti-aircraft units.
At the end of the day, a cannon is a big metal tube. It's really the ammunition you load into them that makes the difference.
The unique thing about 88mm cannons is that they are huge. 75mm was a much more common size for cannons. Which they need to be to shoot high enough to hit high flying planes. When making 88mm shells to damage ground targets, you can get a lot of explosives into them.
The FlaK 88 is iconic. It was probably more likely the guns in Foy were 105mm and/or 150mm howitzers.
Probably the best artillery piece of the war, overall. The mid to late war Tiger 1 tank was basically a mobile 88 mm gun.
"I love them all so much" is what always happens, and why this episode is so tough.
A "Potato Masher" is what the allied forces called the German stick grenades.
2 more hard episodes to go, almost done. What a reward waits for you in the finale, the finest of endings to the greatest miniseries ever produced.
5 minutes in and I’m already welling up with tears no🥺
For me, episodes 1,2, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are all in contention for best of the series. And for me, Spears running across Foy twice without taking any fire is one of the best moments in tv history.
when Sergeant Peacock left they were being sarcastic about him leaving
Lieutenant Peacock, wasn’t it?
Speirs was born in Scotland but moved to the U.S. at a young age.
The epic stache ?! :(
Hope y'all have a Merry Christmas
Hey guys are you going to watch the 11th episode " We stand alone together: the man of easy company " it's a MUST watch even better then the series. Please let us know. But only watch it AFTER you are threw watching episode 10. Tyvm
My grandfather lied about his age to join the navy after Pearl Harbor. He was 16 when he went to the pacific.
Lovin your reactions to BoBs 😊
Merry Christmas 🎄great reactions on this series. Spiers is a badass!
The part where they are crossing the field into Foy you see a man go down right next to Lipton and he keeps running without flinching at the man dropping, for me gives a great throwback to episode 1 while running up Currahee a soldier has a fall and Sobel yells out twice Do not help that man. Everyones natural reaction to that scene was why not? No man left behind? I'm just guessing as I have no experience in this that this is why you can't just stop on an advance
While they are missing a lot of equipment, the American army was easily the best supplied combat forces in the war. By February 1945, the German war machine was on its knees, and things were worse for the Wehrmacht. The supply "chain", which back then was called the logistical tail, is what makes the difference in battles all the way back to the middle ages. When Napoleon invaded Russia, most of his men who ended up casualties starved to death in the winter, rather than died of combat wounds. I can't imagine a worse way to die. Hitler didn't learn from Napoleon's mistake, the same thing happened on the Russian front to Germany.
This episode shows why it's important to have the right man for the right job. Special treatment for those who haven't earned it gets you nowhere.
Bill Guarnere making jokes about beating Joe Toye to the States just after their legs got blown off says everything you need to know about the mentality of these soldiers.
The stache is gone!! Looks solid either way, but you made it work man.
This is primarily Lippman's episode...and Donnie Wahllberg does a great job. The chapel scene at the end is really good.
Lipton.
@feralvulcan7955 you're correct...thanks
I hope y'all do the Pacific next. It's about the Marines fighting the Japanese in the major island campaigns, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Same production team as band of Brothers, Hanks and Spielberg, but all the technical mistakes and kinks worked out. I think it's better than band of Brothers in every way.
Hoobler's incident illustrates why most militaries don't issue pistols to the average soldier and typically (not always) frown on soldiers bringing their own. A soldier with a handgun is statistically more likely to shoot himself or a fellow soldier with it, than an enemy.
When you finish episode 10 you need to watch the documentary. It’s a great way to end the series.
Hubler should have never got his Luger
The series doesn’t cover the whole war in time or extent. The fighting part of it covers only the last ~11 months of the war against Germany, and only part of the struggle in the West.
A much larger, bloodier part, in which millions died, had been happening on the Eastern Front since June, 1941. It did not end until the Russians overran Berlin, causing Hitler to commit suicide with his bride in his bunker. VE Day, the unconditional surrender of Germany, followed shortly.
Sadly, we have a war in Europe once again, where Ukrainian defenders are suffering through much the same. We can but hope their heroism and stoicism brings them through too...
middle of summer? you all in Australia I thought you were Canadian? this must be a reupload
The series only covers the war till VE day.
Dike was not as bad a leader as this episode shows. E-Company people did not like him. He recovered from his wounds and went on to get medals for his work in Korea.
I want to say Spier's run was toned DOWN to try and make it believable. It was longer and he was yelling at the Germans for their poor aim. BYW, part of Buck's issue is decision to hold THERE was his. He was right, but cold comfort...
Speirs... that is all.
In real life both Nixon and Winters doesn't like Buck to be a CO,he gambles and fraternize with his men too much. Nixon and Compton didn’t like each other. In addition, I think Dick Winters didn’t like Buck in person (I meant, Dick respected him as a competent combat leader, but apart from that, he really didn’t like him), and it seems that Nixon hated Compton for Dick’s sake.
I watched a documentary on the attack of Foy and they said Lipton couldn't have been bait for Shifty to shoot the sniper because Shifty shot the sniper during the assult, not afterwards. Also, at that time, Lipton was on the other side of the town witnessing Speirs running through the Germans. The show shortens the distance he ran because they thought no one would believe the real distance
A truly fantastic show...and to go on a light note here....I love guarnere...
"crazy joe mcclusky was fuckin nuts babe that's why they called him crazy joe"!!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I want to say Spier's run was toned DOWN to try and make it believable. It was longer and he was yelling at the Germans for their poor aim. BYW, part of Buck's issue is decision to hold THERE was his. He was right, but cold comfort...