Spiers being called in by Winters is the best moment of the series.
@bplup64193 ай бұрын
Absolutely
@stephendavis62673 ай бұрын
20:36. Both Bill Guarnere and Joe Toye would survive their wounds, but obviously would not rejoin Easy Company. Joe spent nine months in hospitals and was sent home, but was unable to return to his old job as a coal miner and foundry worker because of his missing leg. He eventually became a drill bit grinder working for Bethlehem Steel in Reading, Pennsylvania. He had three sons and one daughter before dying of cancer in 1995. Bill initially walked with a prosthetic leg but hated it, and when he received his full disability he threw the leg away and got around on crutches for the rest of his life, eventually becoming so adept that he could move as fast with the crutches as he did before he lost his leg. He became one of the most active organizers for Easy Company reunions and was a major fixture in getting Easy Company's story told. Bill died at the age of 90 in 2014.
@shoehead653 ай бұрын
#Respect Toye and Guarnere. 🇺🇸
@i_noah_guy183 ай бұрын
The scene with LT Speirs running through the town wasn’t entirely accurate - they didn’t portray the GIANT WHEELBARROW he lugged around to carry his GIANT BALLS OF STEEL
@Zseventyone3 ай бұрын
He was behaving as if he were already dead. "All war depends upon it."
@FriendRequestReviews3 ай бұрын
😂 hilarious
@i_noah_guy183 ай бұрын
@@Zseventyone nah that’s just what he told the Joes. My man knew he couldn’t be touched…
@FrenchieQc3 ай бұрын
@@FriendRequestReviews Speirs linked with I Company, passed on the new orders, and mere seconds after he left to return to Easy, the leader of I Company was mowed down by machinegun fire, but thankfully, another soldier had been close enough to hear the orders and was able to relay them, contributing to the victory that day.
@paulhewes73333 ай бұрын
the distance from the woods to Foy is actually considerable.
@stephendavis62673 ай бұрын
20:52. This is what I was getting at in prior videos about Buck Compton. He was absolutely beloved by his men as being "one of the guys", but that was a double-edged sword because, as an officer, you're not supposed to be as close to your men because you have to make decisions knowing they could die. Buck had become so close to his soldiers that seeing them wounded broke him. That was part of what Winters was warning him about in Episode 1 when he was caught gambling with his men. You don't only want to take from your soldiers, but you don't want to give too much to them that you wind up creating that genuine bond that can break you if they get hurt.
@stephendavis62673 ай бұрын
15:00. "Oh, anyone care for a smoke?" This is when you *knew* that Speirs not only was aware of his reputation, he was cultivating it. He was out here trolling random paratroopers just for the hell of it.
@paulhewes73333 ай бұрын
you have hardened men and you need them to respect and or fear you so that they dont hesitate during combat when given an order. It was smart leadership.
@FrenchieQc3 ай бұрын
Shifty's shot at the german sniper was about 75y/215ft, the buildings still stand in Foy to this day and you can see them on Google maps/Street View. "Another one of those arrogant jerks from Yale." "Oh god, another one of those.." That exchange is especially funny when you consider that Nixon went to Yale before the war started. -- Whats really impressive about this episode and the last one is that they were filmed indoors in massive hangars. 300,000lbs of shredded paper and plastic pellets were used for the snow. The actors were sweating their butts off and needed to wipe their faces between takes. Real trees were brought in, and fake foam ones rigged to blow up during german shelling.
@shotgun_shaun3 ай бұрын
The GOAT episode. The quiet awe of Lip on Spiers gives me goosebumps every time
@MrBendylaw3 ай бұрын
Legend has it Speirs handed out an entire carton of cigarettes on that first run, telling the surprised Germans he'd catch up with them on the return trip.
@Zseventyone3 ай бұрын
Patton is among the most famous Generals of WWII. We don't meet him in this series but the movie "Patton" should go on y'all's list.
@johannesvalterdivizzini15233 ай бұрын
One of my friends had been a tank commander in one of earliest of Patton's tanks in the relief of Bastogne. He hated Patton with a vengeance, even decades later---so many curse words. When he showed up at veteran's events and parties, and anyone who had been in the 101AB was there, they always paid for Harry's drinks.
@Zseventyone3 ай бұрын
Speirs was a platoon leader in Dog Company prior to taking over Easy.
@stephendavis62673 ай бұрын
25:10. There is a very good chance that Dike didn't "freeze up" as the show depicts, but that he was actually shot and due to the heavy clothing, no one noticed at the time. Dike's reputation was shot to hell by Stephen Ambrose's book and the later miniseries, and a lot of Easy Company veterans resented "Foxhole Norman," but a few veterans had positive things to say about Dike. One of them, Clancy Lyall, even claimed that he saw Dike actually get hit in the shoulder/chest and that he was removed from the field by a medic after the assault on Foy. I believe it is confirmed he obtained a Purple Heart that day, so he at least was wounded somewhere. Afterwards, Dike was transferred to 506th Regimental Headquarters and later served in the Korean War. He eventually became a lawyer and moved to Switzerland, where he lived out the rest of his life.
@2104dogface3 ай бұрын
Dike wasn't wounded at Foy there is no mention in any of the reports or AAR's , Clancy Lyall was nowhere near Dike during the attack. i spent time with many of the troopers from E co while in E/506th Reenacted back in the 90's
@manueldeabreu19803 ай бұрын
Imagine surviving two grenades without a scratch just to lose your leg to artillery 6 months later.
@Jimbow-sz9kh3 ай бұрын
Without sounding super callous? That's war for you. The videos from the Russia -Ukraine war taught me that. Survive a gigantic firefight with modern weaponary only to die by a $100 Amazon drone strapped with grenades. War will always be hell no matter what time frame you're in
@stephendavis62673 ай бұрын
27:09. As other posters have noted, they actually had to trim down Speirs's run through the German lines because it stretched believability -- but it actually happened. And the thing is, because the company radios were down, they didn't know Speirs was coming, so Item Company almost shot him when he scrambled into their line. Speirs met up with Item's commander, Lt. Roger Tinsley, and told them to cease fire as they were in danger of shooting Easy Company. Tinsley called a cease fire and Speirs immediately ran back, but just a split second after he did, Tinsley was killed by a German machine-gun.
@PeterOConnell-pq6io3 ай бұрын
The 'Breaking Point' defined by the US Army was that soldiers, depending on the intensity of the fighting, could endure anywhere between 60-240 days in combat before becoming pyschiatric casualties. The intense combat in the Ardennes campaign lasted ~50 days.
@joeyboogenz3 ай бұрын
Speirs was in Dog Company until Winters made him C.O of Easy . That's why he just popped up here & there until Ep. 7
@saberx083 ай бұрын
That leg wound with the "Luger" was tragic, but depicted a bit differently than how it really happened. Corporal Hoobler did have a pistol in his pocket, and it fired, but it happened while he was shaking snow off his tent. Winters memoirs say it was an obscure model of Belgian pistol in .32 caliber that was smaller than a Luger. Malarkey’s memoirs say it was a Browning .45 caliber pistol. Neither of which could be confused for a Luger - but Hollywood can't have a WW2 drama without at least one Luger, so... Hoobler didn't die right there in the snow as depicted, but was evacuated back to an aid station in the rear. When he arrived at the aid station, it was found he had died on the way there. This show does indeed portray Dike unfairly - ignoring several acts of heroism he's documented as having, both before coming to Easy - as well as with Easy in Bastogne. Having said that, he was still a very poor commander for Easy company during his tenure. Norman Dike had been an officer in Headquarters battalion of the 2nd PIR before being assigned as Easy company's new CO (commanding officer) just before Bastogne. Before coming to Easy, he earned the first of two Bronze Stars for actions that took place between September 23rd to 25th of 1944 (Market Garden). During that time, he was cited as having "organized and led scattered groups of parachutists in the successful defense of an important road junction on the vital Eindhoven-Arnhem supply route against superior and repeated attacks, while completely surrounded.” As Easy company's new CO, he earned his second Bronze Star at Bastogne, in which “he personally removed from an exposed position, in full enemy view, three wounded members of his company, while under intense small arms fire”. Neither action is depicted in this series. Personally, he was a strange, detached guy who never bonded with Easy or made much of an effort to try. He had a gigantic foxhole dug for him - which further alienated him from the Easy company guys. He didn't help his own image either by constantly disappearing (it was rumored that when he “disappeared”, he was back closer to Bastogne hanging out with his old buddies in Headquarters battalion. If true, this would explain his constant yawning. He was tired because he had been hanging out with his old buddies all night). And he completely froze up during the assault on Foy. It was an active attack, and his freezing up cost many men their lives. An internet rumor has sprung up that Dike was wounded, suffering from blood loss, etc. This is completely untrue! He just froze up. Although at least one member of Easy say they thought they saw him get hit, none of Easy company's reports contain anything about Norman Dike being wounded. If he was just some guy in the unit, you could make an argument that maybe it was omitted in error. But the company commander being wounded would surely make it onto multiple reports. So, he was just in over his head. The reason Winters didn't relieve him earlier was because he had been decorated for bravery under fire before. Those events being omitted from the show makes Winters inaction in this episode seem mysterious, but in real life, Dike hadn't really fucked up that bad yet. A lot of people wonder about Winters being held back from going out. It didn't really happen that way. Winters was still the Executive Officer (2nd in command) of the battalion. The battalion commanding officer was Lt. Col. Strayer, but the night before, Strayer had told Winters to run the attack. For uncertain reasons, Strayer stayed in his command post when the attack was happening. That made Winters the senior officer of the battalion on the field during that attack. When Dike stopped mid-assault, Winters started to run out, then stopped himself - reasoning that if he went out there, who would run the attack (Easy was just the assault company - there were a lot of other soldiers in multiple other companies involved in supporting their attack). Fortunately, Lt. Spiers was standing near to where Winters was, and the rest is history. Spiers was a Lt. in D company (the battalion consisting of D, E, and F company - which you'll hear referred to as Dog, Easy, and Fox). So he was there because his company was in reserve. He saw what was going on with Dike & Easy also, so he probably had moved closer to Winters anticipating that he would have to lead his whole company out there to help. As it turns out, Winters saw Spiers, and just had him go relieve Dike to take charge of Easy instead. By the way, Spiers run through Foy was crazier in real life. The run was a much greater distance than the show depicts, and he was supposedly taunting the Germans for not being able to hit him the whole run to I company and back. Spiers had shot one of his own Sgt's earlier in the war - in self defense. You gotta read up on Spiers once you're done with the series. Man was a real life super soldier!
@paulhewes73333 ай бұрын
Was just in Europe and went to the Bastogne War Museum. Got to walk through the Bois Jacques woods and look down on Foy. Was an experience.
@iambecomepaul3 ай бұрын
Look at Joe Toye. Look at him trying to get up. Look at him trying to find his helmet. The man is still fighting. If you ever thought, you, internet person, are a băd@ss, consider: Toye had his leg blown off and he is STILL relying on his training. He STILL thinks he can get out of this. Just a shocking display of bravery.
@krisfrederick50013 ай бұрын
Well, it's not just a clever name. Winters going in against orders, then sending LT. Speirs to relieve Dike, he more than put his money where his mouth is what he said to Blithe. "Easily" one of my favorite moments of the series. That scene is stunning, every, single, time. Then when Buck's helmet hits the ground, it's as Earth shattering as the German artillery. Currahee ♠
@dive2drive3143 ай бұрын
The crazy thing is though, that he could easily have ran out from around that corner and got dropped right away, and the story would have been totally different.. people would have been saying how stupid he was to run right into the enemy lines.
@bourbonderben53623 ай бұрын
I appreciate you guys doing this series. I know editing is probably a pain in the ass with youtube and all, but this show is worth it. You guys rock
@angieday51833 ай бұрын
Spears was a Lt in D Company, same battalion, so he was under Winters as battalion leader but in a different company. The battalion was made up of D, E, and F companies.
@IntoTheWhite043 ай бұрын
Ah, you missed out the great line from Spiers about there being some merit to the men thinking he's the toughest meanest sob in the entire Roman legion
@metfish3 ай бұрын
He’s the Winter Soldier! Great comment!
@stephendavis62673 ай бұрын
6:39. This is a bit of a historical liberty the show writers took, but while Hoobler did die of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound, it wasn't a Luger. It was either a Browning .45 or a Belgian-made .32 automatic.
@TheSocratesian3 ай бұрын
That is interesting. Was that in Ambrose's book? I have not read it yet..
@penasjable3 ай бұрын
Second! Master and Commander next!
@buddystewart20203 ай бұрын
I think it was Forest Guth, a member of Easy Co., that defended Dykes actions, saying the reason he didn't take the attack in was because he was shot. And that hosed his decision making. Clearly Dyke performed some other acts of bravery prior to going to Easy Co. by pulling some men who were shot out of the line of fire, and he did it while under fire.
@shoehead653 ай бұрын
Dyke was a very good platoon leader, and won several medals, but he seemed to struggle at the company level. Plus, he was a bit socially awkward, and just never really got to mesh with the Easy guys.
@2104dogface3 ай бұрын
Dike wasn't wounded at Foy there is no mention in any of the reports or AAR's , Clancy Lyall was nowhere near Dike during the attack. and he was the only 1 to make the claim of seeing Dike hit.
@ChrisMillerCrazyHouse3 ай бұрын
This is my favorite episode from the BOB series. I appreciate hearing the perspective of Carwood Lipton. I like hearing from someone who is between the ranks of the grunts and the commanders
@ChuckJansenII3 ай бұрын
The enlisted men's nickname for Spiers was 'The Killer'. Officer's nicknamed Spiers 'Sparky'. Love that you referred to Spiers as The Legend when Winters called on him to replace Dike and take the attack on in. Dike survived. There are some of the men who said Dike was wounded and that is why he froze. Other men of Easy thought he just froze due to incompetence. Donnie Wahlberg is great as Lipton. When I first saw the series I only knew him from New Kids on the Block. They are now touring as the Geriatric Old Men In The Home. Seriously, Donnie has become an excellent actor.
@2104dogface3 ай бұрын
Dike wasn't wounded at Foy there is no mention in any of the reports or AAR's , Clancy Lyall was nowhere near Dike during the attack.
@jeffreywettig53023 ай бұрын
Lots of rabbit holes to Follow when you are finished. My favorite is History Hacks zoom calls from the pandemic, 5 hours of cast members telling stories, like 70 percent of the actors on one long zoom call. Richard Speight Jr who played Muck, tells the story giw muck's family never knew what happened to him and didnt even k know about the book. He called every muck in the phone book in Tonawanda till he found a relative. His sister was still alive and Speight got a congressman invol ed and got Mucks medals to the family. Also the ww2 museum in New Orleans had a 7 hour symposium two summers ago with cast and family members, great stuff! Also We Happy Few 506th podcast and KZfaq with Matthew Leitch who plays Talbert. Good stuff!
@fredabodin96143 ай бұрын
Spiers run through Foy was longer than showed because people wouldn't believe it.
@dive2drive3143 ай бұрын
Same with the German soldier from Eugene Oregon. Apparently the real story is that he worked right across the road from Malarky, but they changed it because they thought people wouldn't believe it.
@davidmowry89513 ай бұрын
Well done fellas. The respect you have for easy is genuine, imo. Enjoy watching again with you cats. Looking forward to the next one.
@marcuscato90833 ай бұрын
Watching before it gets pulled by KZfaq.
@benf11113 ай бұрын
This might be my favorite episode of the series.
@yankee__tango3 ай бұрын
I don’t wanna say his name to not spoil it for you guys, but the last man who spoke about the events coming back in later life always makes me tear up when he breaks down. I read his book so I know from his own words how much it affected him.
@FrenchieQc3 ай бұрын
They've been done with the show for a while, on Patreon they uploaded We Stand Alone Together on April 9th.
@patdecorvo3 ай бұрын
Great episode, brutal and intense. Great FRR reaction and after talk.
@tuffsheddweller2 ай бұрын
Spiers was literally born to be a soldier
@FriendRequestReviews2 ай бұрын
I agree. There's some soldiers you meet and you just see it's in their blood.
@annekapio9453 ай бұрын
24:04 Fun Fact: Spiers’s run in real life was much much longer than what was portrayed in the show. But the producers, writers and director thought that if they showed the real distance then viewers wouldn’t believe it so they decided not to portray the true distance.
@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans93443 ай бұрын
9:21 I was stationed in Germany and enlisted in the Army to go to Europe. I was just an E-4. When I got to my duty station HHC 4-66 3ID. I was made the 2nd LT's driver. I hated that job. Our platoon would go on field training and the Lt would immediately go back to base-to visit his squeeze. The Lt was never around. I finally got out of being a lacky driver for officers. That LT PCS'd long before we deployed to Iraq. He was worthless.
@laupeix3 ай бұрын
This is my favourite episode, Love your reactions
@jagjax23823 ай бұрын
'Yeah, they're true Dick ... You want me to put that on the letter?' Speirs words to Winters when confirming the stories to avoid lawsuits on the writer.
@crossfire14533 ай бұрын
With a little research you will find Spears was every much the winter soldier you named him. A true leader of men.
@Dej246013 ай бұрын
When Winters says to Nixon about Dike being a “jerk from Yale” and Nixon jokes back, “not another of those” - it is “funny” because Nixon went to Yale.
@charlesnyckd3 ай бұрын
Ron Livingston also went to Yale, like Nixon. Dike went to Brown for undergrad and got his law degree from Yale.
@toroduro71703 ай бұрын
My fav
@STILL-KICKIN3 ай бұрын
It’s been great watching you guys fall in love with these men just like the rest of us. The reason they are known as the greatest generation. 🇺🇸
@EastPeakSlim3 ай бұрын
When Buck screams for a medic, drops his Thompson and helmet... to me it is the turning point. Game changer.
@Joseph-JMJ3 ай бұрын
I watched an interview with Winters...He said when he turned and saw Spiers, He knew Spiers was "A natural born killer" and sent him in.
@FrenchieQc3 ай бұрын
Spiers and Guarnere both were considered natural killers by Winters, upon whom he could always rely to get shit done when needed.
@dave1313 ай бұрын
What's up fellas !! Enjoying your reactions to this masterpiece. If you want to know more about the Legend ( Speirs) there are several videos documenting his actions including an interview with Major Winters who clears the air on the ' rumors '
@angieday51833 ай бұрын
All u can do under artillery bombardment is get low as you can to avoid flying metal and wood. Hope u don't get direct hit.
@benf11113 ай бұрын
Yeah, every episode is like a movie in its own right. It's hard to believe this was TV.
@angieday51833 ай бұрын
U probably know this but Steven Speilberg and Tom Hanks are 2 of the producers
@chucks92053 ай бұрын
The commander that said to smile eas Colonel Sink not General Patton
@mattschmidt25613 ай бұрын
My favorite episode guys did it justice
@stephendavis62673 ай бұрын
13:19. No, the person who told Winters to smile for the cameras was Colonel Robert F. Sink, the head honcho of the 506th PIR (basically, Winters's direct boss). Sink is played by Captain Dale Dye, who in addition to being a US Marine veteran of Vietnam is like *the* technical advisor in Hollywood for all things military. Captain Dye is well-known for his boot camps that he puts his actors through, to build the camaraderie between the actors and bring out the realism in their performers. Dye is a legend in the business. "Patton" is General George S. Patton, who came in with his tanks to "rescue" the encircled 101st at Bastogne. Patton was a notorious prima donna and fame-hound who revelled in his celebrity, but the Airborne didn't feel they needed to be rescued or relieved in any way.
@grelch3 ай бұрын
Crazy thing is that Spier's run through the enemy line was much longer and more exposed than was portrayed in the show. The producers decided that the audience wouldn't believe them if they portrayed his action as it really happened so they made it a little less heroic for the show.
@SIickTurtIe3 ай бұрын
13:12 No, but it’d be dope if y’all did a reaction vid to Patton. Amazing movie
@scotth50382 ай бұрын
Luger Pistols were known to discharge. Never carry a round in the action.
@southpaw9332 ай бұрын
Do ‘the pacific’ next !
@leogothisoscar2713 ай бұрын
It is seriously a shame that Mark Wahlberg is the more well known actor and gets the big roles when Donnie acts circles around him.
@prettymuchbangtan3 ай бұрын
yall HAVE TO react to THE PACIFIC, the follow up series to Band of Brothers after you finish these, i swear to god its just as good but much more brutal
@shelbyxyz3 ай бұрын
This isn't a spoiler but a short clip of Heffron and Guarnere revisiting the actual spot from this episode ; kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ldSigpRy1anQcY0.html
@antondzajajurca77973 ай бұрын
Heavy metal is the music Metal is way of life 1970 - till next year :)
@BlackDeathThrash3 ай бұрын
weird, the deeper into the series you get the less I like your reactions.