Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest, Stephen E. Ambrose

The dis-oriented author saw part of the HBO Series Band of Brothers. I am anxiously awaiting  an opportunity to watch the rest. In the meantime, I picked up the Band of Brothers, by  Stephen E. Ambrose, the book on which the Spielberg/Hanks movie is based.

This book follows Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from their formation and training in the states to the parachute drop in Normandy to their capture of  Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

This book and the movie are an excellent look at the US Army in combat in World War II.

Band of  Brothers is a small intimate book.  It really doesn't address the geopolitical issues that took us to war. Nor is the book a study of the great military leaders like Patton, Eisenhower, Montgomery. The book is not a look at the strategies that the allies used. Instead, Band of Brothers is about life and death in a single airborne company.

Easy Company was part of the storied 101st Airborne — the Screaming Eagles. Easy Company jumped into Normandy before D-Day, they also participated in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands. Easy ended up caught in the encirclement at Bastogne. Easy was the first unit to enter Hitler's Eagles Nest near the end of the war.

The 101st was one of the elite units of World War II. The book starts out by detailing their training under the martinet Captain Sobel. After a mutiny of the NCOs the company jumps into Normandy without Sobel. Eventually one of the platoon leaders, Dick Winters becomes Easy's CO. Winters turns out to be an excellent combat leader and he shepherds the company through to the end of the war.

Major Winters is still alive and has just released his own book, Beyond Band of Brothers. There is another book about Winters called The Biggest Brother. I plan on reading both.

The Greatest Generation is nearing the end of the road. Read this book and thank them.

Band of Brothers gets 5 of 5 dis-oriented smileys

Purchase Band of Brothers from Amazon.com.