Band of Brothers | Episode 9 - Why We Fight | Reaction and Review

Catch my full length reactions of all of Band of Brothers on Patreon!
💥PATREON (full length reactions + polls): / verowak
🐤 TWITTER: / verowak
📷 INSTAGRAM: / verowak
☕Support me on Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/verowak
TV Series: Band of Brothers (2001)
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:27 Episode Reaction
14:33 Thoughts and Review
Notable Playlists
• Harry Potter Movie Rea...
• The Last of Us - Season 1
• Star Wars
• Back to the Future
• Mission Impossible
• Obi-Wan Kenobi
• Hunger Games
• Shrek
#moviereaction #stevenspielberg #bandofbrothers #firsttimereaction
⭐SUGGEST A MOVIE TO REACT TO: forms.gle/EpY8hbufWhJ3fhmd6
Don't forget to subscribe to the channel!
Thank you to my Top Patrons on Patreon at the time of this video: Gabriel, Rob F. 2nd, Cliff Adams, Odd Thomas, AnyThingBut, Zach Z., tom_stranger42, Jay_, Brandon D., JAKH, Beb 1, Dennis D., DMON, RQX, TaLy___ , Kai, MrBriceside, HS, Bucky1138, Cassie M., Allen S., Michlale, GrissilyBear, Mike T., silverarrow06, FermatSim, William F., PlaidGriffin, Ben J, Benjamin H., Jude I., Fonzee, James H., Markus E., Barry H., Billy D., Razor B., Jack K., Jan O., old_goat, Biggsy, Christian V., John D., Kayden 21, BoB, xtc, Keenan B., John, Joshua S., Anthony D., Eric H., Corey W., King_Panarisi, Konstantin K., Lukas, Banato, Thelaeleas, Hayden, Kniggit, Kevin, Oscar M., Andrew S., Andrew E., Kevin L., Jeffrey B., Buba F., Tim H., Chris, Johan T., StoneAge, Richard F., Jason R., Phil S., Matt P., Kelvar J., Kaboose, Josiah, Caleb R., Cassandra S., Douglas L., snthd, Bemwen, Doug S., Ted, Daniel G., JackJofa, James M., Kyle J., Garren H., Laxjedi, George R., Ryan B., fallout4, RocktSurgeon, OrangeLion, Michael W., Franchisek, John T., Dan H, Vastate, S.N , C.J. Mack, Joseph I., ellmo, Xiledchicken

[@VerowakReacts]

Well this episode was amazing yet terrible. I was not prepared. Patreon (full length & polls): www.patreon.com/verowak Buy me a Ko-fi (or lemonade): ko-fi.com/verowak Subscribe to the channel: kzbin.info Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for stuff and selfies: twitter.com/verowak instagram.com/verowak/

[@tiger4361]

@VerowakReacts . There is a growing movement to denie that the Holocaust ever happened.

[@steveg5933]

No one is prepared for this.

[@2003bigt]

Thank you! When I served in Germany, two tours there, in 1987 we were taken to Dachau, the feeling that I got when visiting there, was atrocious. It is like the souls of the dead were literally permeating my soul. To this day this episode make me break down, thank you for sharing it with us. I am old and retired from the Army and this still haunts me to this day. I am proud that you as a younger person see this and react. This is something no one should have to see or endure. Again thank you for your raw and emotional reaction.

[@bretcantwell4921]

My dad was assigned to Grafenwoehr in the early 80s and we visited Dachau in 82. It has stayed with me to this day.

[@Anthropophagus]

I've been to Auschwitz, Birkenau and Sachsenhausen and no sad violin music or imagery can compare to the feeling when you're actually there in person. Still, being there now and listening to the stories does not come close to what these human beings had to endure.

[@sharonstonts]

My grandfather died in Dachau. I want to, but can't bring myself to go there.

[@2003bigt]

I am so sorry! I totally understand, my prayers are with him! And you! Thank you for sharing this with me, it pains me, but your family are survivors!@@sharonstonts

[@sharonstonts]

@@2003bigt thank you for that. My grandmother was definitely a survivor. All her life.

[@Mertaranta]

The camp prisoners were played by cancer patients, several of them did not survive to see the episode. They also refused pay because they felt the story was important to tell.

[@grumpyoldman7562]

Early in the war, libraries would send books to soldiers. The problem was that, especially with hardbacks, the books were too big and bulky to be easily carried by soldiers in the field. Publishers started producing books in special Armed Forces Editions, which were smaller paperbacks that would fit into a soldier's uniform pocket. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn was one of these books.

[@MLawrence2008]

"Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen. Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people." - Heine (1823). A tough but necessary watch Verowak, it is a lesson that so many need to know and yet so many are trying hard to make us forget! Great reaction. :)

[@paulcarfantan6688]

So true and important to know.

[@strobex3298]

After Episode 7, you think you are through the worst of it until you get to this episode.

[@wckdaintgood]

The worst for me was the end when they showed all the real people. I was crying like a mf

[@lukesmith1003]

Such a tough scene. I don’t know why, but I didn’t cry. I was more just so upset, with the N*zis, with the human race in general. We’re all so lucky to be in a better place than they were. Episode 7, watching Buck just be completely stripped of all goodness made me cry. It was the most akin scene to the Pacific to me, which had me gushing tears.

[@signalnine2601]

Funny thing is it didn't affect me much but probably because I've heard about it so many times by now. Read Number the Stars in grade school. Several books about the holocaust in high school, history channel documentaries, schindlers list. Not saying the episode wasn't bad but you start to lose the visceral experience of things. Worse was some movie - cant remmeber which - where they marched jewish prisoners into some bunker and put the gas tablets in.

[@TheWindcrow]

Being Polish myself, this hits hard every time. Like you Vero, I can't understand how others could think it was ok to stand watch of a camp of something like this. Disgusting.

[@Stevarooni]

Steady, thorough dehumanization of the Other.

[@susanstein6604]

Poles collaborated with the Nazis in Poland and Jews who survived and returned to Poland were attacked and massacred Jews.

[@dgillphotos]

Band of Brothers - bruises the heart - it's a signal our heart is still soft enough to work. I loved this series and it feels good to hear someone else respond. This episode was especially rough on the soul.

[@williamberry9013]

Everyone misses this -including me. The old woman in fed was married to a high ranking SS officer who lived near the camp - like the camp commandant would. She was the person who warned them so they could set fire to occupied barracks before retreating .

[@YN97WA]

I've watched this series probably a hundred times, and I still tear up when I get to episode nine. There isn't a word that adequately describes the evil of the death camps. Keep the tissues close by for the next one. It's another tear jerker, but maybe in a different way. Great reaction, young lady. I'm looking forward to watching the next one.

[@PhillyMJS]

Same. Every time I watch this episode, I *might* manage to keep it together until Liebgott breaks down, but I *never* make it past that point with dry eyes.

[@kenehlears7716]

Auschwitz is a perfect single word for evil

[@RogCBrand]

Nixon was Battalion then Regimental Intelligence officer, so his job wasn't to be out shooting a gun, but compiling information, from prisoners, etc. I forget the percentages, but in a division, you might only have half that are riflemen- you need artillery, supply, communications, maintenance, medical, etc. In the overall military, those that are firing a rifle, flying a fighter, etc., are a very small percentage, with a whole lot more in support. "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was a very popular book at the time- you can see it pop up in places like Looney Tunes cartoons and other mentions at the time.

[@SimsRacingDesign]

My granduncle on my fathers side was put on one of the trains heading towards on of the workcamps in Germany. Just before the German border, he managed to jump off and escape; Over a span of two months, he finally made it back home. My grandfather on my mothers side was arrested with the date of his execution set. If I correctly, it would've been on September 10th 1944. Luckily for him, a Polish tank division liberated the city on September 6th and he was released from captivity. Neither of them ever really talked about it but after they passed away, we discovered their diaries from the period. Quite a shock to read what they went through.

[@positivelynegative9149]

2:45 Nixon is the battalion intelligence officer. He isn't in a command position. He doesn't have any troops. (He might have 1 or 2, an analyst or a clerk.) His assignment doesn't entail combat.

[@VerowakReacts]

That's the position I would want if I had to be in the military

[@positivelynegative9149]

@@VerowakReacts Don't be hasty. 🤣 There are hundreds of occupational specialties (for enlisted personnel).

[@orcanimal]

Nixon was an intelligence officer. He wasn't supposed to be firing his weapon, he was supposed to be gathering and analyzing intel. So when he said he never fired his weapon in combat, it's not that crazy, considering he was never really on the front and never went in on patrols.

[@krisfrederick5001]

Imagine seeing all of the horrors of War that these people have witnessed...Then being speechless seeing this. "Why We Fight" is a nod to the epic Frank Capra WW2 series that was being shown during the War back home. I really believe Spielberg intentionally has the Nazi woman in the vivid red coat as a direct reference and connection to the little Jewish girl in Schindler's List. I don't think there are coincidences in his films...The actors weren't even allowed to see the set until the day of shooting, they wanted to get a genuine reaction from them. While the prisoners were some actual cancer patients who wanted to be a part of this. What shocks me is how surprised most people are reacting to this, having no idea what they were about to see...I think we get so immersed in the characters and immediacy we lose track of the big picture. Or were not taught about the Holocaust at all...and one of the reasons Why We Fought. Never Forget

[@rnkelly36]

There is a 2001 film called Conspiracy is a good movie to watch about the discussions to put together the plan of "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" with Kenneth Branagh. It really is chilling. The Wannsee Conference was put together using the authentic script taken from the only surviving transcript recorded during the meeting. The process of putting the plan together is bone chilling to watch.

[@RichardJohnson-GW]

Conspiracy is an underrated movie. I wish more would see it.

[@NPA1001]

I’ve watched Band of Brothers numerous times as I feel it’s the greatest mini / limited series of them all, I’ve also watched multiple reaction videos .. every time I can never get through episodes nine and ten without welling up with tears.

[@VerowakReacts]

It is definitely one of the best limited series. So well done!

[@sodiumcrush]

A masterfully executed episode. And to think these things happened less than a hundred years ago.

[@VerowakReacts]

It's very recent history yes!

[@booboo8577]

Things very much like it are happening still.

[@AndrewDederer]

Finding an intact copy of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" would have been a feat. It was one of the most popular of the armed forces edition books (slice of life about a girl growing up in prewar Brooklyn) and was one that was re-printed. The Author got bags of fan mail from the troops. A book that popular was often torn in two or three so more people could be reading it at once. The rage at the prisoners is a microcosm of the Contradictions of the Reich. The Germans are marching (with a few carts) in the median of the Autobahn (barely a tenth of the Heer was motorized at the best of times, and by this point there wasn't any gas). The 101st is being driven past them on a very-expensive road in an assortment of Trucks the Army had scraped up to make a Paratroop division into a motorized one (notice they have amphibious "DUKWs" (commonly called "ducks") mixed in, they had been carrying stuff across the Rhine a couple months earlier. In general, guards at the camps did their best NOT to be around by the time the Allies showed up (sometimes, the guard unit found would be some lesser unit that had the job dumped on them). It was not a good spot to be a guard or soldier anywhere near a camp when they were opened. There were multiple cases of troops executing guards, or lending weapons to prisoners who wanted revenge. Quarantine of inmates would be absolutely vital, Typhus was common (spread by lice) and very contagious and deadly.

[@johnchrysostomon6284]

You may notice on some jeeps they have a metal bar welded onto the front, sticking up This is because the Germans would string piano wire across the road so a speeding open jeep - the guys would be decapitated. The metal bar would break any wire. Either that, or they kept the windscreen/windshield left up

[@VerowakReacts]

I definitely wouldn't have known about this, thank you. It makes sense too

[@jabronidave3612]

For me, this and breaking point were the most gut wrenching. I still cry every time

[@mistertwister2000]

*“Boy episode 7 sure was rough, I hope it doesn’t get more heartbreaking!”*

[@VerowakReacts]

Little did I know... 😭

[@noelholzer3675]

The music at the beginning is subtle symbolism. Nixon corrects and says its not mozart (an austrian) its Beethoven (a german). That song during cleanup is meant to symbolize germany coming out from under hitler (an Austrian)

[@cra0422]

I've lost count of how many reactions I've seen of this episode and it always makes me tear up.

[@booboo8577]

Barely got to her the first time.

[@IIBloodXLustII]

I want to say something about when you said "Oh hey O'keef, welcome to... war?" I think a lot of the point of this episode is that you watch O'Keef be so innocent and horrified by things like the Frenchies executing some Germans, while the others shrug. They've all been desensitized to the horror of war. All of the hell and horror they witnessed in the battles leading up to this relatively quiet part of the war didn't even begin to prepare them for the absolute depravity of the Holocaust. They were all horrified beyond belief.

[@DumblyDorr]

As teenagers, my group of friends and I went to an international youth exchange at a former concentration camp. A few of my friends were regulars and helping to organize it. Groups from all over Europe would meet - east and west. The main focus was building bridges, learning to appreciate the peace we inherited by spending quality time together - to turn a place of bigotry, racism, evil...a place of death into a place of hope, peace, cooperation - and remembrance. A central event each years was hearing survivors of the holocaust speak, and then attending a ceremony of remembrance with them. They'd travel from all over the world - to the camps where their people were exterminated, often enough the camps _they themselves_ were imprisoned and tortured in... to do anything in their power to make sure people won't forget or let these horrors happen again. To this day, I'm tearing up just thinking of their bravery, their dedication - and their belief in humanity's ability to change. To paraphrase a german political satirist: I often despair when I think about the state of our world and of humanity. Populists and authoritarians getting into power, increasing escalation of the climate crisis, wars... I sit there, paralysed, thinking nothing I do has any meaning. And then - then I think about these people, still travelling halfway around the world often well into their 80s - to help. If after *that*, these people can still refuse to give up on humanity and give in to fatalism... what possible justification could I have to do so?

[@Drforrester31]

Definitely the most impactful episode of the series. The camps are something everyone knows now, but I can't imagine the feeling of discovering them then. Probably not a good choice for a reaction, but there's a French short film from 1956 called Night and Fog which intercuts color footage of an abandoned Auschwitz and B&W archival footage from while the camps were active. It's a difficult watch but I can't think of a more powerful testament to the horrors of what occurred there and an easier way for people to be educated on a history that should never be forgotten. At 32 minutes it's well worth a watch for your own edification

[@VerowakReacts]

Thank you for that short film suggestion, I had never heard of it. I'll add it to my list of ww2 movies/readings

[@dedcowbowee]

Are you going to watch and react to "We Stand Alone Together"? Its the episode of the extended documentary style veterans' interviews and some reactors skip it. It's a mystery to me why, lol. In my mind, it's "Episode eleven".

[@havok6280]

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a 1943 semi-autobiographical novel written by Betty Smith. The book was an immense success. It was also released in an Armed Services Edition, the size of a mass-market paperback, to fit in a uniform pocket. One Marine wrote to Smith, "I can't explain the emotional reaction that took place in this dead heart of mine... A surge of confidence has swept through me, and I feel that maybe a fellow has a fighting chance in this world after all." The main metaphor of the book is the hardy Tree of Heaven, whose persistent ability to grow and flourish even in the inner city mirrors the protagonist's desire to better herself.

[@ricktaylor5397]

The soldier Winters sent to find Leibgott to translate was Micheal Fassbender, who is German-Irish and speaks pretty good German.

[@scottsutoob]

The guy who place Liebgott is Scottish, but has an English accent when speaking in his normal voice.

[@BrokeSpike]

Idk if you're into reading, but "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is a great book.

[@user-fj4qp5eo5j]

Unfortunately, many, many wives and girlfriends did this to men during the wars, WWI and WWII. It's why the term "Dear John Letter" was coined.

[@scottdarden3091]

I served from 1979 to 1987 and guys still get Dear John letters when deployed.

[@boblester8641]

I like touch of Bull just sitting stunned. Liebgott being Jewish hits hard

[@goodshipkaraboudjan]

That's Tom Hanks playing the French Officer executing the German POWs. Very heavy episode though, a story worth telling for sure.

[@delpierochilipeppers]

People often forget that 6 major concentration camp : Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek were located in Poland...so the "neighbors" were actually Polish people not Germans.

[@ryszardjanecki6998]

Własciwie polacy byli i sasiadami jak to ujołes i wiezniami

[@Cameron5043]

There were roughly 44,000 camps, counting subcamps, total. Some were very small. Most were true labor or work camps focusing on materials for the war, though deaths and abuses occurred in them too. We tend to think of the really big well known death camps.

[@mauricesharpe2748]

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was a 1943 a novel, and 1945 movie. Boith very popular.

[@user-yc8mr4zg3o]

Thank you for the heartfelt reaction. I agree with you, how are we capable of such greatness and on the other side of it, such atrocities. The sad part of it is we are doomed to repeat it over and over and then some think we cancel history. We will never learn. sorry to sound so pessimistic but when will we change. A line from a Puscifer song goes " We will never know world peace until three people can simultaneously look each other straight in the eye". Rock on

[@VerowakReacts]

It's very unfortunate that humans will never learn. :(

[@dallesamllhals9161]

2:49 HEY! He got a helmet strike in Holland!

[@spitfire4206]

history must never be repeated .

[@Alexandertg1955]

About the book A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. It's one of those classic American Novels English teachers make you read in High School. It was very popular with US troops during WWII. It was freely distributed by the Armed Forces to the troops. Hence the reason it's included here.

[@Rasklo93]

Some soldiers did also not talk or write about their experience for years after the war ended. So for miss Nixon to leave him, kind of make sense if he has not told her about what he was doing.

[@thecatthinks]

“It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.” ~Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian

[@edm240b9]

My great great uncle was with the 26th Infantry Division when they liberated the Gusen concentration camp. He never told anyone in my family about it. I was the one who found out about it after learning what unit he was part of and where the division was deployed. Members of my family say the war drove him to drink. I have the opinion that it wasn’t just the war that caused him to drink, seeing the horrors of Holocaust first hand had to have played a role as well.

[@DouglasJCook]

Ok...you are officially my new favorite reaction channel. Excellent job

[@VerowakReacts]

🥰

[@randywebb2100]

One of my coworkers was a meteorologist in the air force for 21 years and spent over half his tenure based in Germany. Plus I actually happen to be of Danish, German, Irish and Norwegian descent. My Great Great Great Grandpa Patrick J Nevin was born in Templemore Ireland 🇮🇪, my Great Great Great Grandpa Louis Menke was born in Netschen Germany 🇩🇪, my Great Great Great Grandpa Friedrich Boettger was born in Kiel Germany 🇩🇪, my Great Great Great Grandpa Christine Emil Hansen was born in Viborg Denmark 🇩🇰, my Great Great Great Grandma Bertha Hansen maiden name Sparby was born in Oslo Norway 🇳🇴 and my Great Great Great Grandma Anna Marie Becker was born in Auben Germany. Verowak you are awesome by a long shot, you look absolutely beautiful as always and I would love to give you a big hug

[@robertdanyus6836]

Nixon got what you call a dear John letter. And many servicemen got those throughout the war.

[@ronweber1402]

Ya Babe Heffron got one as well.

[@Ultimateutfan316]

Also whats hard to tell but as described by one of the members of Easy Company and it was hard for me to watch, at 11:10 when you see the guy holding a dead body in his arms, that was his twin brother.He made it but his brother didnt

[@VerowakReacts]

Oh that makes it so much worse!! 😭

[@user-ju8hi3re5p]

I've seen a few reactions to this series and this episode. You are smarter than most. I'm still waiting for someone to notice the opening scene is one long continuous shot that follows the movement of one person to the next to the next, etc. Cinematographically, it's an incredible shot. Also, I've been to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. It must be the most horrible place on earth.

[@mlong1958]

In the camp was the only time that Perconte got O'Keefe's name correct.

[@DogmaBeoulve]

There's an amazing video & graphics that went out a while ago that helps to visualize, as much as it can, the losses in World War II - giving attention to both the soldier war casualties and the civilian/genocide casualties. I think it's called "The Fallen of World War II" if you ever want to check it out.

[@dedcowbowee]

This was a very good reaction to a difficult episode.

[@canadian__ninja]

Sometimes gets lost in the shuffle but it's important to remember Liebgott was raised Jewish and was the one that had to tell them they were being kept in the camp.

[@duanetelesha]

Speirs, finders keepers, that is the spoils of war. Tree grows in brooklyn, there was a old B&W movie from the book. Called an occupying force take over the homes of germans. There is a HBO movie called Conspiracy, meeting to discuss final solution. I still recommend Monuments Men and Woman in Gold, about stolien art by the germans, and of course Schlinder List if you haven't seen any of these and are interested as related to episode nine, subject if you want to follow up on the holocaust.

[@greedlike]

In the Anglo-Boer war, the English also employed concentration-camps to force the opposition to surrender.

[@eschiedler]

Nix never fired his weapon because he was not in the front lines as a higher officer. If Nix only had a pistol, it would be effective only within 50 feet while combat with machine guns and rifles would be 300 to 1000 meters and you'd be killed soon without cover. But also by sheer chance was never close to a fighting situation. edit add: Soldiers took houses at will because they needed a command post. Think maps, paperwork, phone lines, a place for meetings, etc. But the soldiers could be arrested if they just looted.

[@BadlyHonedBytes]

As someone else mentioned, the name "Why We Fight" is a reference to a series of documentary/propaganda films that were created and shown in movie theaters during WW2 itself. As it was a work of the US government, it's in the public domain and you can find copies of it on KZbin and the Internet Archive. The information is dated, but it's an interesting watch nonetheless.

[@sheila-dt5np]

my father served in that war he helped push the Nazis out of France and back to Germany and after a few months there he helped with other divisions to liberate a camp with 15,000 half dead men he would wake up 30 years later still having nightmares from what he saw he said the smell never leaves your mind

[@bluebird3281]

I think they take whatever house is the most strategically/tactically advantageous and have the people leave so if they are bombed the civilians don't die.

[@TheeGoatPig]

The holocaust was horrible. Those scenes are still shocking all these years later. However Nixon saying he never fired his weapon over however many combat drops is one of my favorite lines of the whole show.

[@VerowakReacts]

It was indeed absolutely horrible :(

[@repeter]

Most officers will never fire their weapons because they are usually too busy leading and coordinating

[@johannesvalterdivizzini1523]

@@repeter Nixon was a staff officer, as Intel. Staff officers aren't part of the Company chain of command.

[@billbutler335]

As the staff Intelligence Officer Nix's job was not to fight but to figure out where the bad guys were so the Line Officer's (like Winters) could engage them. If he had to fire his weapon, then things had gone horribly wrong.

[@repeter]

@johannesvalterdivizzini1523 I'm aware. He is in S2, the Intel. My point is still true. Most officers are busy leading or coordinating, not shooting. If officers are shooting, it's usually not good, especially if staff officers. I've served in a headquarters unit, although I was enlisted.

[@mikewagon1770]

And there are college students, professors and administrators that say this never happened and/or saying it's over exaggerated.

[@havok6280]

Being a home while your spouse is at war is extremely difficult. You would think she should wait to tell Nix, but her life was in limbo. Would it be better to wait? Maybe. But I can not fault her.

[@lightdampsweetenough2065]

Something glossed over is what happened after the war was over and about 1948. Some have described it as Germany becoming a nation-wide concentration camp. Families were forced out of their houses and starved while being forced to work. The Sovjet side was way worse during the war and for some time. It was justified and pushed as a program to make Germany into a agrarian society with a subdued docile population. This was first outlined in the Morgenthau plan, and later implemented through the military marshal law. The regim in Germany either denies parts of this or plays down the severity or when the evidence is too overwhelming, claims that any deaths of ethnic German civilians after the war is the fault of the actions of the German state. War doesn't exactly bring out the good in humans..

[@tkaki6029]

Jews, Poles and Gypsies (Romanian, Czechoslovakians, Bulgarians, Hungarians)

[@TenTonNuke]

I would say about half the guys in my platoon got Dear John letters while deployed to Iraq. And the girls almost seemed like they were bragging. They would happily describe how they were running off with the guy's brother and taking the kids. They would have custody hearings for the kids, knowing it would make the guy look bad when he didn't show up. And the ones that didn't divorce their men had reputations for sleeping with everyone back at the base. It's brutal. Army wives seem to get off on making their husbands suffer. I've seen a lot of soldiers who were barely hanging on already break and have to be reassigned to a non-combat unit until the end of the deployment.

[@nickroux213]

G.K. Chesterton offered the best summary about why defenders and liberators fight: “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” It is not always true of the aggressors.

[@AW11-e4h]

It’s a tear jerker 👍

[@Billzor991]

There's a story from a book called The Ratline, where the wife of the Nazi governor of Krakow and later Lvov, was asked if she was a Nazi by american soldiers. She proudly said yes, and the American said "Huh, you're the first person who's admitted to being a Nazi since we got here"

[@victorpena9824]

Hey Verowak. Great reaction to this hard to watch episode. Some context to your question of How can people do this to other people. Hitler ranted that Jews, Gypsies, Political Dissidents and other non-Germanic were dangers to the Fatherland. Jews in particular were considered Sub-human and more like vermin, sucking the purity out of the Arian race. Through NAZI law these people were denied their freedoms and their possessions legally taken. The Final Solution was their extermination and their property taken to expand the German Empire. Being labeled less than human made it much "easier" to get rid of them. That's it in a nutshell. Lastly, to get an idea of the vastness of this dark moment of history. If one was to start a line of just One Million people (men, women and children) and this single line was to have these people standing Three feet apart. This line would stretch 528 miles! That line would be from Austin, Texas to Joplin, Missouri. Now imagine Eleven million innocent people being led to their calculated deaths. Keep up the good work! Love from Texas. ❤

[@FrenchieQc]

Nobody is ready for this episode. But you took it on the chin pretty well, compared to other reactors. And you're right, you saw a glimpse of some Hardy buttocks. And Fassbender's been there the entire time, he was the one in Ep1 who got caught by Sobel having drank from his canteen, and had to run 12 miles again. Ep6 and Ep7 were actually filmed inside large hangars, not in real forests. They just were really skilled at making the set appear like they were out in the woods.

[@ronweber1402]

It was an inside joke with the cast when one of the guys says "Doesn't this remind you of Bastogne?" Because it was exactly the same set but without snow.

[@KenjiMapes]

Nice reaction Verowak This is a brutal episode Ep 6 is emotional but also endearing & positive, so to speak & while it is from medic Doc Roe’s perspective it’s my favorite episode I’d say 6 is the best episode but Ep 9 is the most brutal & sobering one; it’s also the most important one because it shows all of the brutality of war & the ugliness & atrocities of racist & genocidal ideologies. Anyway at around @15:30 you brought up the absurdity & pain of Cpt Nixon’s “Dear John” letter from his wife asking him for a divorce in the middle of a war via letter. The military life is hard enough on a person & can be even more difficult & trying on spouses & families. You are training & deployed a lot which means you aren’t around; in war, it’s obviously even worse as it can cause anxiety with the constant looming specter of a spouse’s death. It can be taxing & wearing. People make vows but if you’re not around & am stressed about the possibility of loss it might seem like a mercy to both parties to divorce to end the trauma & waiting. It’s hard to judge morally but it’s just an attendant fact of military life, spouses & war. They are quite common. In the military there is probably more cheating (I don’t know the stats) as anecdotally it’s a noticeable fact of military life. Again, soldiers are deployed & training a lot so they are separated from family constantly. You have soldiers & civilians always hitting on women on base & with genders more integrated it’s even more of a possibility now. A soldier may be gone for months but someone might be there to be friends & to console but then it grows. It happen a lot. Not that it’s right but it’s just a part of the arduous lifestyle. I was a combat arms solider in the US Army. Armor to be specific. When I had like 6 months left in so I got assigned a “sham” (easier) job working for supply in Garrison Support. I had to march soldiers to chow who were processing in the PCF Personnel Control Facility. This was a temporary hold for soldiers who were pending courts martial cases or facing adverse discharges due to going AWOL which is Absent Without Leave meaning they just left their duty & post without authorization. I talked to a lot of dudes who came back to empty homes from Iraq & Afghanistan. One soldier came back from Iraq to find his house empty. His wife took the kids, dog & car then emptied the bank account & went home. So he left without permission & went home to find her. Now she might get in trouble with the civilian authorities for taking the kids but since he went AWOL he probably got a trial & went to jail, lost rank & all pay or they might have just given him a dishonorable discharge. It’s tough to be in war & find out your spouse cheated or left & you’re technically not able to just run off. I can only imagine. It can be tough of couples & families especially young soldiers. Anyway just letting you know about these types of letters & this dark underside of military life. It’s amazing to be a soldier. A great experience. You travel & have a blast. You have a lot of responsibilities & duties. Then if you get married it can obviously be great as you travel, have new adventures, etc but again, it can be trying to move every 2-3 years. This is worsened by long deployments which separates partners for months. Spouses hold their spouse responsible for the absence even though they know its their job, duty & the behest of the government. The only one they can blame is their spouse. It’s not fair just a fact of military life. Cheers!

[@VerowakReacts]

I loved ep 6 and seeing it from Doc Roe's perspective, a highlight on the work of a medic. It would be so terrifying, but at the same time, being able to save people would be great motivation. Being in the army and in a relationship (or being in a relationship with someone in the army) does not seem easy at all. I completely get how there could be a lot of breakups, but it's still shitty to send the letter while he's at war. If I wanted to break it off, I would do it after the war at least

[@sam93931]

yeah you asked earlier if it would get harder to watch.. this was it, why we fight is devastating. Also truly shows allied forces to be hero that delivered those poor souls from evil.

[@paulkauphart9444]

This is going to be a journey.

[@kevinmacnamara7000]

Onto episode 10, my favourite episode. In fact my favourite episode of any series.

[@cyberdan42]

This episode is a warning from history. Going into the 1930s Germany (as the episode shows) was one of the most culturally sophisticated nations in Europe and the world, it had a large and well-educated population. Within two decades it had instigated one of the greatest crimes in history. People should take heed and should learn (though as you correctly identify we do not), that it is a very short step between humanity's highest heights of art, beauty, and culture and the horrifying lows of our hatred and viciousness.

[@gwarne2304]

You should watch Kenneth Branagh in “conspiracy “ the scariest movie you will ever watch.

[@VerowakReacts]

It's been mentioned quite a lot in the comments here, I had never heard of it before

[@alanholck9845]

'Why We Fight' is a series of Frank Capra produced films commissioned by the US Government to provide background to the soldiers on why WW2 was happening. All the Easy Co soldiers would have seen them Here is link to playlist kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZSkpHyNm9CSsJY

[@LeoRamirezPRO]

Joining the reaction battalion Verowack! 💫✊👀

[@s1lm4r1l6]

"It's in your nature to destroy yourselves." - Arnie.

[@Dave-gg8gm]

I hope you are going to watch the documentary after episode 10. It is really worthwhile to see.

[@puppetmaster8551]

What an incredible episode of tv, truly fantastic and heartbreaking to see.

[@augustinrocha7548]

I can't say that's the thing. Always loyal, but not enough movies or stories how we get fucked over

[@xboxman1710]

Regarding Nixon's wife divorcing him it was not an uncommon thing to happen to soldiers during the war. Most of these men were recently married just before getting called up and then spending 2+ years away with letters being the only way to communicate with their loved ones. Because communication was so limited rumors started flying that the men were having affairs overseas or visiting brothels (and many were). This along with that fact that many of these women had to take on full time jobs to provide for their young families and that they might one day receive a letter that their husband was killed, possibly months ago, lead many women to either have affairs themselves or look for new partners outright. This lead to what were known as "Dear John Letters" basically code for I'm leaving you or I'm getting a divorce. These letters were dreaded by soldiers and whenever one was received it caused the soldiers to lose morale and become much less effective. It got so bad at one point the US government forbade the wives of soldiers to file for divorce until after the war ended. Now Nixon was one of the cases where he absolutely deserved it as he actually was having an affair with a woman in England.

[@Sir_Alex]

Tough episode, they did a great job not sugarcoating this stuff ..... a punch in the guts as it should be represented ...

[@jibidishamrock]

The reason it was so hard to tell them they had to go back inside the camp was because he was jewish. I had the privilege of talking to my fathers uncle who was in fox company. He told me alot of stories, usually only after a few drinks. He would never talk about this. I asked him once. He started to cry and walked out of the room. I never asked him again

[@cyberdan42]

This episode is a masterpiece. It starts with a devastated German town, a small string section playing a beautiful work by a renowned German composer. This shows the destruction wrought on Germany by the War and the nation's huge cultural contribution to European society. Then we see the frustration and pain of the young men forced to uproot and risk their lives in the War Germany started. Then we see the horror of the Holocaust, perpetrated by the Nazi regime with the complicit support of the German people, the same culture that brought the beauty of Beethoven also instigated the horror of industrialised genocide. Finally, the string piece ends, and we now know Hitler the spider at the centre of the web that devastated all of Europe, impacted tens of millions of lives, murdered millions of people, and brought near-complete destruction to the nation of Germany, is dead.

[@mikecarew8329]

Love your reactions. Subbed. Be sure to watch & react to the accompanying HBO documentary "We Stand Alone Together," which features WAY more context from the vets with names revealed including many men you meet/know from the series. Plus archival footage / pics and some coverage of their postwar lives and families. It is a perfect capstone / "episode 11" to the series. It includes context, for example, from a senior officer on how he felt about taking over German homes to bed down the men and the looting, etc. as portrayed in this episode. "“If anyone ever tells you the Holocaust didn't happen, or that it wasn't as bad as they say, no, it was worse than they say. What we saw, what these Germans did, it was worse than you can possibly imagine.” --Edward "Babe" Heffron, Easy Company, 2 Bn., 506th PIR, 101st Airborne

[@notthestatusquo7683]

6:50 Well, they weren't "liberating" Germany like they were France of the Netherlands. Germans were the enemy and the Americans were not there to play nice. And, as it happens, they got off easy. The Germans who were being invaded from the east by the Russians were being shown no mercy. But, as they say: "don't start none, won't be none." They had only themselves to blame.

[@jessc3007]

i don't think that family being kicked out of their house is to blame for the war

[@ryszardjanecki6998]

Na wschodzie to wszyscy wyzwalani mieli przechlapane

[@Cenforge]

Bravo.

[@signalnine2601]

incidentally kicking the family out the house so the soldiers could stay there is extremely common on all sides in a war. Before the 20th century, countries would often force citizens to house or 'quarter' their own soldiers, in or out of a war. The US Constitution forbids this practice within the US in peace time, and only by 'law' during wartime. ```No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.``` Of course this only applies within the United States, not to united states soldiers serving in other countries.

[@Chris_McC]

Yes. That was Tom Hardy 😃

[@jabronidave3612]

Wow I don't like seeing tears in your eyes

[@rossgage9730]

Maybe a small proportion of those guards were monsters. The sorry truth is the majority of them were cultivated by the state.

[@Gstang05]

Please, please, please if you decide to watch The Pacific after this, make sure you watch the episodes with the historical background at the beginning. Otherwise you'll miss out on the real veterans speaking and the narration by Tom Hanks. Great reactions! Band of Brothers is my top series. My sister and I made the whole family sit down and watch it together.

[@rafaeloda]

She didnt even like the dog... What kind of person does that? Nixon dodged the biggest bullet in the whole war on that one.

[@buddystewart2020]

Whenever I think about what the Nazi's did, and wonder how people could do that, I then think about Isis, and Hamas. Yup, people like that are still among us.

[@rowenatulley852]

Even after reading about and seeing pictures of the Holocaust, this dramatization made the horror truly hit home . . .

[@Demigord]

I tried to hint at saving a comedy for after this

[@tomw324]

Perhaps a little less editing in the episodes, several of the key parts are missing such as Nixon's encounter with the haughty upper-class woman in town while looking for booze and then later seeing her dragging bodies at the camp. You are very good and your emotions honest, just a little constructive criticism this time..

[@VerowakReacts]

Editing isn't easy :)

[@RichardJohnson-GW]

@@VerowakReacts Nothing wrong with your edit. Thanks for the hard work you put in on these.

[@susanstein6604]

No, they couldn't be friends. The British and American Generals knew and Roosevelt and Churchill knew but ordinary soldiers didn't know..

[@broodhunter21]

Why wouldn't she wait? Chances are good, she was getting attention from some guy back home, and wanted to hook up, but knew if she got caught cheating on a deployed guy, at that time in history, she would have been publicly outed and despised by everyone. Who cares if the guy is out getting shot at and shelled? She was lonely. This is a very common incident. so common that they are called Dear John letters. It's a little different if your in the Navy. Navy guys get deployed for months at a time, even in peacetime. On the days that a fleet leaves port, within hours, the wives move in their boyfriends to live with them while the husband is gone. They tell the military that they are "relatives" to help them while the husband is gone. The fact the navy does not do any kind of checking up on that is a crime. Also, potential national security threat. Any terrorist could get access to the base by talking up a navy wife at a bar, gets access to the base AND knows the departure date and time for our fleets. Just plain wrong.