Have you visited either the Grand Hotel in Zell Am See or the one used in the filming of Band of Brothers at Giessbach, Switzerland? Let me know in the comments below!

I stayed at the Grand Hotel for several days in September 2022. It is definitely worth seeing.

Yea I grew up in Zell am see. Quite the stories that exist from that period.

I wanted to comment on the film Band of Brothers when Winters is in Paris but did not see an appropriate place to put it. So I'll do it here. Remember the scene where Winters goes off alone to tour Paris and gets on a Metro train and sees a young man who reminds him of the young German he had shot in Holland, and Winters falls asleep and the young man wakes him up to tell him that the train is at the end of the line? In Winters' own book he says that train ride never happened. Right now I am reading a book, "If You Survive" by George Wilson, a Lieutenant in the 22nd Infantry Division who like Winters, entered the war in Normandy and fought all the way through. It was published in 1987 and in it, Wilson is sent to Paris after fighting in the Hütgen and he takes a tour of Paris alone without his fellow soldiers, does ride on the Metro, but instead of seeing a young man who reminds him of anyone, he meets an older woman who speaks broken English. Then the train gets to the end of the line and the lady helps him get back to Paris proper. Sounds like the screenwriters must have read Wilson's book and needing filler to make Band of Brothers much longer than the book, that they borrowed Wilson's story and adapted it to their version of Winters's story.

I was looking for a video on your channel about Band of Brothers in Holland, so I could tell you something about the film versus reality. Since I didn't find anything, I'll tell you here. As you will remember from the film, Winters runs far ahead of the rest of Easy Company to attack the known German position. There he goes up on a rise, sees a young German soldier who looks Winters right in the eyes before Winters shoots him. Later, they are withdrawn and Easy gets to go to Paris. Winters, not wanting to get into the drinking and whoring that the others want to do, he takes a tour of Paris, ends up on the Metro, sees a young man who reminds him of the young German he had shot in Holland, then apparently falls asleep, only to be awakened by the young man when the train reaches the end of the line. In his own book, Winters says that subway ride never happened. I am just now reading an account of the war written by George Wilson, a Lieutenant in the 22 Infantry Division, either 1st or 3rd Battalion, published in 1987. Wilson, like Winters, went through the war from Normandy to the end, saw no fighting in Holland, instead was in the hellish fight in the Hürtgen Forest, was then relieved, sent to Belgium and went on leave with other officers to Paris. There his true life story sounds too much like what Winters was supposed to have done in the film for it to be a coincidence. Wilson did not want to go drinking or whoring, but went on a tour of Paris, then on a Metro ride where an older woman who could speak some English helped him when he reached the end of the line by giving him directions to get back to Paris proper. More happens to Wilson, things that were good, but what I am thinking is that prior to, or while writing the screen play, this event is used, but changed, to include the Paris visit and the Metro ride. In addition, while Lt. Spiers did do amazing things in reality, in Wilson's book an older man named Gesner who had been in the OSS but was sent to Wilson's battalion as a Lieutenant who Wilson wrote did stuff that inspired every American who saw him, using all types of weapons and when he needed to reload, if there was a man beside him, another soldier fighting or a weapon which had belonged to a solder no longer able to use it, he would take that weapon and continue firing without reloading his own. He was seen running out of ammunition while attacking a trench which enemy in it, just using the butt of his rifle and forcing the German or Germans to surrender. I doubt any of that was attributed to Spiers in the film but it is interesting to know that there were other extremely brave men in other divisions.

Enjoyed the video