Speirs did execute POWs, but not like what's shown in the Series. On D-Day, Speirs landed alone and off target. He later linked up with two other Dog Company troopers, PFC Art DiMarzio and a sergeant. Together they captured three Germans. Standing orders were, don't take prisoners. They would only impede their progress. No men could be spared to guard them, and they certainly cannot turn them loose. Speirs ordered every man take a prisoner. Together they shot and killed them. Later that day, another group of 4-5 Germans surrendered. They had their hands up and one even said, "The war is over for us!" and Speirs shot them down with his Thompson. PFC DiMarzio also witnessed Speirs shoot one of his own sergeants. It wasn't for being drunk and refusing to go on patrol. It was due to the sergeant being drunk and wanting to attack the Germans. This was after D-Day when the 101st was trying to take the town of Ste. Come du Mont. In preparation for the attack, Division artillery shelled key sites in and around the town. As the shells came down, the sergeant wanted to go immediately and attack. Speirs ordered him to hold. Again, the sergeant wanted to attack. That's when Speirs ordered him to the rear, saying the sergeant was drunk. That's when the sergeant grabbed and levelled his rifle and Speirs shot him. This scene was also witnessed by PFC DiMarzio, who spoke of this in a film interview years after the war. Also, in the Series flashbacks, look at the prisoners closely. You'll see that the prisoners change. First there's ten, then twenty, then over thirty. They also change from Heer soldaten, or Regular Germany Army soldiers, to Waffen SS as shown by their thunderbolt collar tabs. This wouldn't be possible as the first SS units didn't arrive in the American sector until around 11 June. That's not an oversight by the Production team. It's part of the rumors as we see them get embellished more and more as the Series progresses.

Lieutenant is basically "Assistant" or "Assistant to". A Lieutenant is the assistant to a Captain, a Lieutenant Colonel is the assistant to a Colonel, and a Lieutenant General is the assistant to a General.

Speirs is my moms great-grandpa and she lived with him and grew up with him her whole life 😊

We have to remind ourselves that only 80 years ago .. ..the Germans had the same ideas as the Romans...2000 years earlier!!!

Thank God the Boeing that made these planes are not the planes Boeing makes today.... 😏

Yes I’ve wondered that. Thanks.

So redundant

It actually make sense, see major is lower than lieutenant colonel so major general lower than lieutenant geneeral

He forgot to mention that the seargent was drunk

Here’s one thing I will say, Ross wanted to go with Douglas to Colditz from the the last POW camp so before all els is said I would recommend reading his biography before more is said. He was tough but I have to wonder how much is said on both sides

Friendly fire on a submarine is particularly tragic.

Spears is true warrior

Spiers is my favorite ❤❤

Thank you for posting this 🙏 The 13th Battalion Parachute Regiment dropped at Ranville - the first village to be liberated. Alongside Engineers, under fire, my father was tasked with clearing Drop Zone N of ‘Rommel’s asparagus’, so the gliders could land. He was just 19 years old.

The word Sergeant has never been used in the Officer Ranks…. Of any Armed Forces

Geneva ConventionS. Plural. There were multiple...

United States brought thousands of German soldiers to three or four southern states during World War Two

A Captain commands a company. A Colonel commands a Brigade, or regiment. A General commands an Army. The right hand and second of any commander is a Lieutenant. Hence Lieutenants under Captains. Lieutenant Colonels under Colonels, and Lieutenant Generals under Generals. Of course that doesn’t explain Majors or Brigadiers, but that is what I was always taught while in the Army. Which could very well be horse manure. 😂

All these experts commenting here who have never even gotten a whiff of actual military action or been fired upon.

So where is Major Colonel rank?

"shorts" lol

Not nice but war is never nice. Spiers might have done some unethical things, as well as many others, but that is the reality of war. He was a good leader.

Yes i have ever wondered

fubar

Those first couple of days of D day were the most important in the history of democracy to that point (arguably still)....the allies couldn't afford anything to compromise getting a foothold in France, having elite airborne soldiers stop operations to guard prisoners was clearly unacceptable. Day 3 - maybe start taking prisoners, but days 1 & 2 the mission was win at all costs.

Poor guys....the stress of war.... Each man dealt with it differently..... I don't fault any of the parties involved in this story.

excelente, gracias por la explicación

Thank you so much for bringing James Ward VC's story back to life. Sadly, the homeland of this humbles School Teacher has been all but forgotten. My hope this becomes a gentle reminder.

Overdue and well served😍

What is a war crime for the US, which is founded on war crimes?

All you soft babies are commenting "war criminal" so easily from the comfort of your momma's warm house in 2024, haven't seen any war or conflict or proper stress

Actually, it's because Major Generals sing too much.

The Nazis didn't obey the Geneva Convention with Allied Soldiers and civilians..

Unfortunate set of events for one man to shoulder.

Please explain to me how you drag prisoners around with you when you're ENCIRCLED BEHIND ENEMY LINES This doesn't violate the Geneva convention at all. Keeping those men certainly fits under the great risk/harm category.

I remember years ago seeing a video where Dick winters talked about one of his soldiers who killed a group of pows and Dick confronted the soldier and almost killed him,but I cannot find that video now...am I imagining that he said that?

They could have said a two hour test flight instead of a taxiing test.

👌😉👍!.

😂

An almost completely pointless and wasteful escapade. After all that arsing about and expense they managed to hit the runway only a couple of times. This idiotic mission which was nothing more than a very expensive public relations stunt didn’t do anything for the servicemen who were killed and injured on HMS Sheffield, HMS Antelope and the Atlantic Conveyer. These incidents were a display of The Royal Navy’s incompetence like no other. Thatcher should have spent the money on ship defences and staff who knew what they were doing.

Bader lost his legs through poor flying prowess - stunting against orders. He was an insubordinate, ill-disciplined arse, even questioning Dowding. He never understood Dowding's strategy for the BoB and with Leigh-Mallory went directly against Dowding's carefully considered plans. A direct result of Bader's "Big Wing" concept was the Germans getting an unopposed bombing run on RAF Hornchurch, which was put out of action for a week. Dowding despised him and actually asked whose side Bader was on. Bader was only a POW through his ill-discipline. He flew off his allotted patrol area and approached other British fighters from a direction from which they would only have expected the enemy. He was shot down through his own ill-discipline and incompetence. He achieved nothing for the British war effort. Dowding would have been rid of him, but Bader was a propaganda hero because of his tin legs. Bader was not liked by his comrades. I got that from somebody who knew Stanford-Tuck. Bader was an arrogant arse. A liability, not a hero. See the book "Dowding and the Battle of Britain" authored by the only historian to whom Dowding entrusted his diaries.

I understand the concept that paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines cannot realistically take prisoners and remain a full fighting force. You cannot argue with such basic logic. But that was literally the exact same reason Joachim Peiper's men executed US POW's at Malmedy during the Battle of the Bulge. Peiper was sentenced to death for that war crime but was paroled. Maybe that is why. I have always questioned why he was spared the noose. But then, it all still caught up to him eventually so...

This has already been covers by bbc and Chanel 5 so yeah bro but late ‘ it was a documentary and a tv series that happens in and the dude flew it no problem something the Americans problem couldn’t do.

It was dangerous and impossible to take prisoners with no beachhead established. Standing orders were to take NO prisoners for 48 hours after the landings. This was sad but necessary.

Spiers was a real leader. Instead of ordering one of his men to do it, he did it himself so none of his subordinates would have to live with it. He did the dirty work himself and the younger German soldier he told him to run away.

Speir never shot the the replacement soldier who while drunk shot one of his men. He had the mps arrest him

Don’t say it was against the Geneva conventions if it wasn’t. The Geneva conventions were agreed upon AFTER the war because of the war.

00:04 - 00:05 Do we? Do we actually know for sure that Speirs' story about that was actually true?

Kevin Pollack kinda looks like Colonel Spiers

Why do you keep calling them nazis. Those nazis were the Germans !!!