Band of Brothers: Day of Days, part 2
Jan. 17th, 2023 07:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerIn my previous blog about the 2001 HBO miniseries Band of Brothers I wrote about the perspective it provides on D-Day. The flights and the parachute drops over Normandy were not the totality of the episode. They were just the beginning of the lengthy action part of the story. Here I write about the rest of Ep. 2, "Day of Days".
The drop of airborne soldiers into France was dicey not only because of the artillery fire the aircraft took as they approached but also because of the scattered way the soldiers landed. Many landed miles off course. Many landed with equipment lost or damage. These are hazards of the type of mission, BTW.
The series uses this "We need to put the pieces back together" situation to do great character development with Lt. Dick Winters. Miles off course and with his rifle lost during the jump, he nonetheless sets about reorganizing for the mission. The first ally he meets is a radioman who landed without his radio. The private feels that he's failed his entire purpose for being. Winters steadies him, even though he's from another company, and leads him in helping to group up with other allied soldiers, identify landmarks, and move towards their assigned objective.
Through his continued calm under fire, Winters links up with the survivors of his company and leads them toward their objective, a set of German artillery guns pounding US ships and soldiers trying to land on the beach. Winters deftly organizes the force he has to sack the gun emplacement.
The military brass recognizes Winters for his leadership. Not only did he do well organizing his company after the battlefield chaos of the drop, but his sack of the gun emplacement with minimal casualties was a textbook perfect example of how to capture a fixed enemy position. Winters is given command of Easy Company. The episode mentions in an epilogue that Winters's attack on the guns is/was still taught at West Point as a case study success.
The drop of airborne soldiers into France was dicey not only because of the artillery fire the aircraft took as they approached but also because of the scattered way the soldiers landed. Many landed miles off course. Many landed with equipment lost or damage. These are hazards of the type of mission, BTW.
The series uses this "We need to put the pieces back together" situation to do great character development with Lt. Dick Winters. Miles off course and with his rifle lost during the jump, he nonetheless sets about reorganizing for the mission. The first ally he meets is a radioman who landed without his radio. The private feels that he's failed his entire purpose for being. Winters steadies him, even though he's from another company, and leads him in helping to group up with other allied soldiers, identify landmarks, and move towards their assigned objective.
Through his continued calm under fire, Winters links up with the survivors of his company and leads them toward their objective, a set of German artillery guns pounding US ships and soldiers trying to land on the beach. Winters deftly organizes the force he has to sack the gun emplacement.
The military brass recognizes Winters for his leadership. Not only did he do well organizing his company after the battlefield chaos of the drop, but his sack of the gun emplacement with minimal casualties was a textbook perfect example of how to capture a fixed enemy position. Winters is given command of Easy Company. The episode mentions in an epilogue that Winters's attack on the guns is/was still taught at West Point as a case study success.
Seems worth watching to me!
Date: 2023-01-18 01:08 am (UTC)Okay, now I definitely want to watch this miniseries!