Book 11 - Band of Brothers

February has passed and I haven't written a single thing about this month reading.

Let's see...I have completed several books from my February List, the first one I read for this month was Band of Brothers, by Stephen E Ambrose, from which the 2001 HBO miniseries is based on.

The book chronicled the true story of men of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during World War 2 from how Capt. Sobel "made the company" in Toccoa, Georgia, to victory in Germany.

The series was beautifully made and remains memorable even after ten years from its release. I know nothing about the real men of Easy Company, but the general consensus was each of the actors in the ensemble cast had successfully captured the men they were portraying.

One of the most memorable was Damien Lewis’ depiction of Major Richard Winters. Major Winters was a beloved, respected, and much admired leader of E Company who, if I didn’t know he’s a real person, I would think this man is too good to be true.

So when I heard of Major Winters’ death last January at the age of 92, I was once again reminded of the series and thought it was past time I read the book it was based on.

In summer of 1942, young men from different corners of the country came to Toccoa, Georgia, to volunteer for the paratroopers. They did it for the thrill and honors, and the extra US$50 per month was also good enough motivation for some. But knowing that once they join the Army they would be sent to war, the men of E Company all agreed they would have a better chance to come home alive by joining the best the Army had to offer and to do so, they have to be one of the best themselves.

The “sorting” process was so hard that out of 500 officers volunteers, only 148 made it through, and from 5,300 enlisted men who volunteered for try out, only 1,800 earned the Screaming Eagle badge of the 101^st Airborne.

The book told in greater details of the trial that E Company faced during the physical training back in USA before they were shipped to England. It gave us more information about each of the service members that the miniseries, with its time constraint, did not discuss. It also assured us that yes, Captain Sobel was as bad as David Schwimmer portrayed him to be, if not worse, and Major Winters was not only one of the finest warriors but also a true gentleman.

He's a thoroughly decent man who's almost too good to be true. He didn't drink, gamble, swear, and his men loved him so much that they were more worried about disappointing him than anything else.

Bill Guarnere called him "A leader personified", and Edward Heffron thought of him as "One of the greatest soldiers I was ever under...A wonderful officer, a wonderful leader. He had what you needed - guts and brains"

He is the epitome of An Officer and A Gentleman.

At the beginning of the Easy Company's campaign, he "led an attack that destroyed a battery of German 105 mm howitzers which were firing onto the causeways that served as the principal exits from Utah Beach. The guns were defended by approximately one platoon of fifty German troops, while Winters had only thirteen men. This action south of the village of Le Grand-Chemin is often referred to as the Brécourt Manor Assault. The attack is still taught at the military academy at West Point as an example of a textbook assault on a fixed position. In addition to destroying the battery, Winters also obtained a map detailing all German defenses in the Utah Beach area" (Wikipedia)

and that was just a start of his exemplary leadership, bravery and most important of all, tactical excellence.

There are differences between the series and the DVD, which the author admitted it was because of artistic/dramatic purposes, and also some events were not depicted in the series and one important, almost defining moment in the series was only mentioned in one brief paragraph in the book.

I'm talking about that scenes where Lt. Speirs proved himself as being badass enough to lead the men of Easy company. I tried to put it into my own words but I realized I'm simply not a good enough writer to describe what happened.

So, this is a direct quote from http://www.badassoftheweek.com/speirs.html about Lt. Speirs on his heroic, mad deed that day ( a bit long for quotation, but I think the way the author wrote it is just perfect):

What Ron Speirs is best known for, however, is the utterly fucking badass way he handled the assault on the Belgian town of Foy during the infamous Battle of the Bulge. After somehow surviving a brutal siege of Bastogne in the dead of winter, where the 101st Airborne was completely surrounded and getting pounded day and night by the most elite SS Panzer Regiments the Germans had to offer, the men of Company E of the 506th Parachute Infantry launched a counter-attack on Foy. Well their commanding officer, Lieutenant Norman Dike, was basically a worthless moron who couldn't lead his way out of a quart-sized Ziploc freezer bag if you gave him a welding torch and a machete. Dike split up the assault team into two forces, and promptly went about getting both sides of his divided force utterly ass-reamed by German tanks and artillery. After a couple minutes of watching his best buddies get torn apart by the Nazis, Major Dick Winters had enough of that bullshit. He grabbed the first officer he saw, who just so happened to be Ronald Speirs, and told him to go deal with the situation.

Speirs didn't even fucking blink.

The young, battle-hardened officer just grabbed his submachine gun and started sprinting across the field toward Foy, determined to bail out the pinned-down Americans and shove his foot up some Nazi asses. He ran over to Lieutenant Dike, who at this point was basically so shell-shocked and brain-dead that he probably couldn't remember how to tie his bootlaces, and told him he was taking over as company commander. Dike, utterly awed by being in the presence of such an unflinching hardass who obviously meant business, simply nodded.

Spiers ran over, gave out orders for a mortar team to take out a German sniper position, regrouped the soldiers, and provided Easy Company with some much-needed tactical direction. The assault continued, morale was bolstered, and the Americans stopped getting their fucking asses handed to them on a silver platter.

Then there was this whole issue of the assault force being stupidly divided into two teams, neither one really coordinating properly with the other. Speirs had a plan there, too, and it's got to be one of the most awesome/badass/crazy battlefield plans ever devised – Ron Speirs just grabbed his rifle and fucking ran directly through the German positions to reach the Americans on the other side. No shit, he fucking blew past Nazi artillery crews, riflemen, and Tiger tanks like he was out for a run around Boston Common on a quiet Sunday morning.

At this point basically every German firearm in the town of Foy was trying to bust a chunk of lead into Lieutenant Speirs' brain, but he didn't give a crap. He ran through the streets, bullets and explosions going off all around him, and reached the Americans on the other side. Then, once he gave them his updated orders, he fucking ran BACK THROUGH THE GODDAMNED TOWN to his original position. How nuts do you have to be?!

Indeed.

Lt. Col Speirs died in April 11th, 2007, and Major Richard Winters passed away last January 2, 2011, a couple of weeks short of his 93th birthday.