BAND OF BROTHERS Reaction Episode 4 "Replacements" First Time Watching

More Band of Brothers, where Operation Market Garden does not go as planned.
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Missing background music in this episode? Not sure how that happened. This is my lesson to watch the bounces before uploading.
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[@patrickhahn5832]

Fun fact: the civilians displayed the color orange to identify themselves as Dutch. Although the Dutch flag is red/white/blue, the color orange signifies the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange. This dates back to William of Orange in 1544.

[@jjack-zm4sr]

It is also the colors of the Dutch resistance

[@rschroev]

Very much still used these days! For example by sports fans (look e.g. for video "Dutch fans marching through Hamburg" by PI ALFA) and during national festivities (look for e.g. video "Snollebollekes | LIVE @ 538 Koningsdag" by 538 Gemist).

[@tinamotherofpete]

It wasn’t provisions in the butt of Bull’s rifle, it was chewing tobacco.

[@Algernon7]

Huh. I'm always learning new things about this show. I always thought it was some sort of dried beef ration.

[@phj223]

There's a movie about operation Market Garden, "A Bridge Too Far" (1977). :) Pretty stacked cast with that generation of actors. For more tank warfare, also check out "Fury" (2014), starring Brad Pitt as the commander of a US tank in the later stages of the war.

[@jjack-zm4sr]

A bridge too far is an unrealistic portrayal what really happened. The Allies totally totally got their asses kicked. Plus they're having normal conversations is a loud troop carrying transports, band of Brothers was realistic they had to use hand signals in those planes

[@phj223]

@@jjack-zm4sr My memory of A Bridge Too Far is a bit hazy, it must be 20+ years since I watched it last, but I do believe the Allies got their asses kicked even in the movie. :p I'm gonna pretend you didn't leave that autistic comment about the noise level on troop ships. Wth bruh.

[@josht9253]

Yeah, A Bridge Too Far 100% captures the Allied failure of Market Garden. Things go pear shaped quickly.

[@lyndoncmp5751]

​@jjack-zm4sr Actually Operation Market Garden was 90% successful. They took 100km in 3 days. Only Arnhem was an allied defeat but the rest of Market Garden was the allies pushing the Germans back and out of Eindhoven and Nijmegen. I don't call a 100 km retreat kicking the allies assess. The Germans ended up worse off at the end of it and the allies better off. Hundreds of thousands of Dutch civilians were liberated.

[@MoMoMyPup10]

A stacked cast was a running theme in war movies back then -- the genre was a gold mine, and it made the movies seem that much more important

[@KimBanez]

The show is based on the Book by historian Stephen Ambrose, utilizing the recollections of members of Easy Company. So the few inaccuracies are due to soldier's inaccurate memories or just missing info. Blithe was wounded, never kept in touch with the others, and never attended the reunions.

[@johannesvalterdivizzini1523]

1."Krauts" is an ethnic slur for Germans, not only Nazis, from the word sauerkraut. 2. The helmets are steel, so a dent doesn't mean it won't work. 3. The fact that the little boy never had chocolate is particularly poignant because the Dutch have excellent chocolate, but during the war shipments of cacao from the Colonies ended (sugar too) so for 5 years under occupation, no Dutch chocolate. 4. The US Airborne Divisions (101 and 82) seized their objectives by taking Eindhoven and Nijmegen, opening up the highway for the British armor. The problem was at the far end of the advance at Arnhem, where the British Airborne was unable to take the city and the bridge across the Rhine. They were destroyed as a unit, taking some 8000 casualties.

[@donhimmelman1736]

yea the Brits ended up facing the remnants of the 9 & 10 ss Pz Divs, two battle hardened units. they were sent there to rest & refit. unfortunate timing at the very least.

[@2003ct]

US Airborne might have taken their objectives but it took way too long. The British Airborne was not tasked with taking the city, but taking and holding the bridges deepest into German territory until reinforcements arrived in 2-3 days. The reinforcement corridor was tp be secured mainly by American airborne and British armour. The British airborne holding the bridge held out for 4 days but no reinforcements arrived because of slow progress along the corridor. Easy company's battalion themselves failed to secure the bridge they were landed near on the way to Eindhoven, meaning a temporary one had to be constructed, something omitted from the series

[@LolGamer5]

Bring back krauts, frfr. I never felt attacked by that term (as germ obvio), its a funny sterotype and ngl, the kraut do be good for ya. Same with yankee, shit is lit and not even a slur.

[@catdude5567]

1. When they said, "old men and kids", they literally meant "old men and kids." Germany was developing a man power shortage. Soldiers who had fought in WW1, along with soldiers who had been wounded and no longer classified as fit for combat, and kids that were predraft age, were put on the line to man the defenses. The shortest route to Germany, was also known by the Germans. The Germans had their best troops to guard that route. 2. They weren't sympathizers. It was hard under German occupation. These people sold their fellow countrymen out to have an easier life. They were viewed as traitors. The men faced a traitor's death. The women got off lucky. The Germans were taking the food to feed their army. The people of the Netherlands were starving. The allies arranged a truce with the Germans, to drop food to the locals.

[@cenotemirror]

Actually tanks alone, particularly in this era, are very vulnerable to infantry. They look and are formidable, immune to small arms fire and frag grenades, but they're vehicles and like any vehicle they need to move, take in air, and vent exhaust and heat. All of those systems are unarmored and vulnerable to satchel charges or even a molotov cocktail if you can get close enough to use them. If surrounded by infantry a tank, usually armed with just a cannon and a front-firing machinegun, can quickly be taken out by soldiers approaching it from its blind spots. This is why tanks are usually accompanied by a protective screen of friendly infantry; the tanks provide the heavy firepower and the infantry keep enemy soldiers from closing with and disabling the tanks.

[@Dimetropteryx]

Regarding the question about how many fragmentation grenades will take out a tank, there is no realistic number, unless you manage to get one inside the tank. There were specialized anti-tank grenades though.

[@FrenchieQc]

Blithe was actually shot in the collarbone, not in the neck, so that wasnt a fatal injury to begin with. I always laugh at how fast Skip Muck just nopes out of there when Sobel turns his attention to Malarkey. Around 11:27 we can see an elderly gentleman in the bottom left corner of the screen, wearing a beret and waving a flag. He's an actual Easy Company vet having a tiny screen appearance in the show. After that, his friends started calling him Hollywood. When Lt Brewer gets shot in the neck while they’re approaching the next town, the medic that goes to assist him (and soon gets shot too) is a man called Al Mampre. He’s not pictured or mentioned in the show, but here’s his recounting of the events. “I lie down next to him. . . and I said, in my best bedside manner, I said, ‘Lieutenant, are you dead? Because if you are, I’m leaving.’ “He croaked out, ‘No, but I don’t know why not.’ I said, ‘OK, I’ll stay with you.’ ” Moments later, Mampre is shot in the leg, but he gives himself a shot of morphine and continues taking care of Brewer. "There's a tank over there.." "I don't see him.." (while he's scanning rooftops.. 😂)

[@buddystewart2020]

Brewer had a habit of going out too far ahead of his company. Winters had told him several times not to do it, but, he didn't listen.

[@donhimmelman1736]

blithe was in a different episode when that happened.

[@FrenchieQc]

​@donhimmelman1736 yes, I know Blithe is in Ep3 but these 2 guys brought him up again in this video stating they were surprised he survived his wound

[@edm240b9]

17:24 those are rifle grenades. You need a special spigot mount on the end of it, load a rifle grenade cartridge (basically a glorified blank), and fire. Do NOT shoot a live round when using a rifle grenade, or else the grenade explodes and kills you and everyone around you (this happened in a training accident in New York post WWII. I saw the aftermath photo. Not pretty). I own one of these rifle grenade launchers and I do occasionally launch dummy grenades off of my M1 Garand for fun. You don’t need special licensing to own one of them as without the explosive warhead, it’s no different than launching a rock off the end of your gun.

[@4nthr4x]

I always thought that Bull was hit in the shoulder with a piece of shrapnel from the tank, as it clearly happens when it gets blown to pieces. But when the Dutch farmer in the barn digs it out, if you listen close he says "het is een stuk hek" which means "it's a piece of fence", which is still considered shrapnel of course, but makes a bit less sense to me.

[@jeffreywettig5302]

Hmmmmm. How is it covered in the Finale? Just curious, i believe it was only after it was released that they figured it out. Without deets to spoil, there was a funeral for a Blithe in 1948, but not the blithe in question.

[@Straydogger]

Blythe instead of Blithe. That was the problem.

[@danharris5999]

A commenter on another reaction to this episode pointed out that removing the unit citation pin constituted being out of uniform. It makes sense. When they were assigned to the unit, they would have been given all the proper insignia and badges appropriate for their rank and unit for their dress uniform.

[@EastPeakSlim]

Wehrmacht is a fine term for the German army. Webster gave the Dutch boy a Hershey’s D ration bar. They came in 3-packs totaling 1,800 calories. Not particularly tasty. Enough to feed a man for a day when no other food was available. Airborne was the best light infantry of the time. But, they weren’t equipped to go against armor. They had rifle grenades, bazookas and mortars. They did the best with what they had

[@krisfrederick5001]

Winters: "Never put yourself in a position to take from these men" Buck: "Alright...I'll throw left handed then..." Love him 🎯😂

[@donaldstewart8342]

WINTERS WAS NOT TALKING ABOUT NCO'S

[@russellward4624]

Yes, Blithe lived but the guys in Easy Company thought he died. But its covered in the finale so it doesnt need to be fixed.

[@krisfrederick5001]

Yeah had the wrong Blithe

[@Straydogger]

The screw-up was in the names. Blythe and Blithe.

[@corycody6967]

When the women were getting the heads shave, they were chanting “Shame”. Think of when Queen Cersi in Game of Thrones, when she was shamed and her hair cut.

[@4nthr4x]

Close, but it's actually Dutch "Scheer ze!" which means "Shave them!", Also "Vuile h*er" can be heard, which means "Dirty wh*re"

[@martensjd]

At the beginning of this episode is the first time we seeing Cobb being a dick. Then again later in the episode, when he doesn't want to rescue Bull, though it appears he did participate. In a few episodes he's a drunken ass.

[@randallshuck2976]

Apparently ((according to others comments) a drunken ass who is hauled off for insubordination.

[@edm240b9]

Cobb had a problem with authority. Interestingly, he’s one of the few Easy Co men that had combat experience prior to D-day. He was originally assigned to the 1st Armored Division and took part in the Operation Torch landings in North Africa. After the fighting, his troop carrier was sunk by a German U-boat and he survived the attack. He then volunteered for the paratroopers and was transferred to Camp Toccoa for training. However, Cobb got along well with the other enlisted, but didn’t care much for the officers. His distain for them is probably the reason why a guy who fought in North Africa was still a Private First Class in Hageneau 1945.

[@krisfrederick5001]

"Am I alright? Quit looking at me like that! Am I alright??" Is one of my favorite moments in the series between Winters and Nix, the care is there. Not bad for Nix, with bullet holes in his helmet, having never fired his weapon in combat!

[@Educated2Extinction]

If there was a bullet hole in his helmet, he'd likely be dead. Where did Nix say he'd never fired his weapon in combat?

[@donhimmelman1736]

@@Educated2Extinction not sure but i believe he said that in episode 9 not this one though.

[@Educated2Extinction]

@@donhimmelman1736 Which makes that a spoiler.

[@richardstephens5570]

@@Educated2Extinction In real life a bullet pierced his helmet and grazed his forehead.

[@dummybutton2104]

WW2 helmets stop indirect shrapnel, not bullets. a thirtysecond of an inch of thin steel is no match for an accurately fired bullet. helmets stop nearby battle effects from taking you out.

[@buddystewart2020]

Yeah, you did see them encounter tanks in episode 3, Carentan.

[@19Paul91]

Always suprises me how non Euorpeans dont know orange is the Dutch National colour.

[@SchroomMetanoia]

good thing the kid didn't try German chocolate, as the German army spiked their soldiers chocolate with meth to keep them going.

[@LolGamer5]

Good 'ol Panzerschokolade

[@colinperry8824]

The main premises behind each episode from 1-9 is explained by the veterans at the start of those episodes.

[@martensjd]

The British tanks we see in this episode are US made (possibly made in the UK under license). This is also the most common US tank in BoB. They have a more rounded appearance than the other armor we see.

[@martensjd]

Sorry: meant to say the medium tank M4 Sherman.

[@lyndoncmp5751]

There are Cromwells there too. They were as common in the British Army 1944/45 as Shermans.

[@phj223]

Actually towards the end of the war Hitler declared total war and kids were forced to fight. 😕

[@jjack-zm4sr]

Wrong, the Hitler youth army was around before the war even started

[@phj223]

@@jjack-zm4sr The so called Hitler Jugend was created early as a way to shape the young generation into future fighters, but I don't believe there are any historical records of German kids taking part in the fighting except for the very end of the war.

[@martensjd]

​@@jjack-zm4sr But at what point were the Hitler Youth placed on the front lines?

[@johannesvalterdivizzini1523]

@@martensjd 1944. The 101st AB faced the "Hitler Jugend" SS Divison not long afterwards. They were fanatical Nazis but inexperienced as combat troops.

[@boyd0324]

Easy didn't fight against tanks much because there were not many. The Allies had complete air supority and no tank would dare move in daytime. My dad was a infantryman and said bazookas could tank out treads and wheels but could not destroy one unless you hit underneath like in episode two.

[@DBPVIDano]

That was in episode 3.

[@johannesvalterdivizzini1523]

And the use of the bazooka to blast a window with snipers, while satisfying to watch, meant that the tank which next came crashing down on them got through.

[@harlechmaker]

That chocolate bar might have looked appetizing to the unsuspecting, but in actuality the big-block D-ration military chocolate (or "Logan bar") at the time would have been bitter, slightly chalky, and might have put Dutch children off of chocolate for decades. Military chocolate was specifically designed to both be solid at higher temperatures (for use in combat locales), and also not taste so good that it would be stored as emergency rations rather than eaten immediately on issue.

[@Educated2Extinction]

Did you miss the kid's reaction? Bad chocolate to us is not a good benchmark for him.

[@johannesvalterdivizzini1523]

And the Dutch didn't have the cocoa to make their excellent chocolate during the War.

[@8044868]

At 11:28 the real Babe Heffron is the elderly man in the cap in the lower left corner.

[@freebrook]

8:29 I think they literally expected kids and old men.

[@donhimmelman1736]

lol that's what faulty intelligence tried to push across

[@jjack-zm4sr]

The entire TV series is about 75% accurate, even Hanks and Spielberg admit it. They're always has to be made for Hollywood moments any TV show or movie

[@pliny8308]

American military historians blame this catastrophe on the British tactitians.

[@Markus117d]

A catastrophe that very nearly succeed.. the infantry were let down by the armoured brigades slow advance. Which there were some good reasons for, But also some dumb ones..

[@lyndoncmp5751]

In fact, the Americans were in overall command. Eisenhower was both Supreme Commander and C-in-C of all allied ground forces. The commander of the First Allied Airborne Army was an American. General Brereton. It was Brereton and Williams of the USAAF who made the fatal mistake to not fly double missions on day (against the recommendations of the individual airborne commanders and Montgomery) and to spread the drops over 3 days. These subsequent drops were then messed up by the weather. Even the Germans in a post battle appraisal says the dispersed drops over 3 days was the biggest mistake made by the allies.

[@lyndoncmp5751]

British armour advanced quickly. It did 90km in 42 hours, linking up with the 82nd Airborne on schedule, despite the 101st Airborne failing to have the Son bridge captured and ready. The Germans blew it up so British engineers had to build their own Bailey Bridge. When the British armour linked up with the 82nd Airborne south of Nijmegen, the 82nd were supposed to have had the Nijmegen road bridge captured and ready. They didnt and in fact had retreated out of Nijmegen. The British tanks had to then fight through Nijmegen for two days alongside the 82nd Airborne to even get to the bridge. It was the paratroop divisions not capturing bridges which slowed the British armour.

[@Educated2Extinction]

I've come to believe that the best punishment is for people to see the wrongs they've done as the rest of us do and have to live with that for the rest of their lives. How'd you like to wake up one day with the memories of yourself as a mass murderer, and have to live with that?

[@johannesvalterdivizzini1523]

Mass murderers shrug it off as simply the way of the world. "Just one part of the whole thing/just doing their job" Whether it was the guy who poured the canisters of Zyklon B into gas chambers as Birkenau or a US general who designed a "ring of fire" to engulf Tokyo in a fire cyclone---just doing their jobs, you know?

[@dudermcdudeface3674]

The British command had deluded itself that the Germans were all but finished. It was wishful thinking due to exhaustion, and ended up causing a lack of urgency that completely sabotaged a plan that was iffy to begin with. Officers just holed up in mansions and chilled while the Germans reinforced their positions. The other Allies were baffled and furious, but kept their mouths shut for the sake of solidarity and sensitivity to the huge British sacrifice.

[@lyndoncmp5751]

The Americans made exactly the same mistakes in the Hurtgen Forest and at Metz. Then they fell asleep in front of the Ardennes and ended up in retreat and had to send for Montgomery to help them.

[@jacktupp4358]

I just don't buy that tank scene. I get needing to visibly engage... but you're going to be trained in on that position. You can never convince me that it went down like it did in the show. "They're right there" ... "Thanks Yank, but I can't acknowledge it because ... rules..." "Oh look, we didn't even train our guns on the potential threat our allies just, literally 10 seconds ago, warned us about." "Because we're suicidal and secretly want to lose this war" This sequence, out of any, makes the least sense.

[@Andy85uk]

Yeah it’s total rubbish, it ignores all allied doctrine, it’s just Hollywood Brit bashing imo

[@pliny8308]

Don't feel too bad about being "insensitive". The Nazi Party was voted into office by the German people; it wasn't a hostile takeover, and that's despite the fact that Hitler had already made his plans for his rule crystal clear, including the extermination of the Jewish "race". It's true there were 2 fighting groups, the Wehrmacht or regular army and the SS, with the SS responsible for running the camps, killing hundreds of thousands by machine gun fire and grenades etc., but also for atrocities when they were fighting units in a combined action. Even the Wehrmacht was not blameless at all times, and if they didn't participate in the atrocities, as they indeed sometimes did, they certainly knew about them.

[@jjack-zm4sr]

Take Eindhoven and wait for the tanks, the tanks would be the British 30 Corps moving up a single deadly road and linking up with each airborne unit all the way to Arnhem which they never made it, because British general Montgomery what is the absolute most overrated general in the whole war, is plan for market garden was a total failure

[@donhimmelman1736]

overly cautious at times for sure, as he made sure to have a big numerical advantage before making his move. there was evidence gathered by intelligence that tanks had moved into the Arnhem sector but that was hushed up because the operation was set to go at the point it was reviewed & then running into those battle hardened experienced troops of the 9th & 10thSS Pz Divs sealed the fate of that last bridge not being crossed.

[@Markus117d]

​@donhimmelman1736 Exactly it very nearly succeed.. And while it ultimately failed. It still liberated a large swathe of territory..

[@lyndoncmp5751]

Hollywood version of WW2. In actual fact, Montgomery was the most successful Western Allied ground commander of WW2 by some way. He won more battles and took more ground through more countries while facing more quality German opposition than any other Western Allied ground commander in WW2. Market Garden was actually the fastest allied advance against German opposition in the entire September 1944 to February 1945 period. Nearly 100km of German held ground taken in just 3 days. Compare that to Hodges in the Hurtgen Forest and Patton in the Lorraine. Patton took nearly 3 months to move 20km to Metz. It was the cautious decisions of the air commanders Brereton, Williams and Hollinghurst that killed Market Garden.

[@redcardinalist]

We need a reaction from you guys for "Dien Bien Phu" the 90s French Indochina film. It's excellent. I recommend it to all KZbinrs here.

[@LolGamer5]

Sry bois for flying of my rocks last comments, but it's just frustrating to constanly hear the "nazi club" thrown around even for people back then.

[@jjack-zm4sr]

Holland, this is where Hoobler picked up an old pistol with no safety, the one that he shot himself with in the Battle of the bulge . Not a Luger

[@josht9253]

Spoilers!

[@johannesvalterdivizzini1523]

NO SPOLIERS!!

[@bmorg5190]

Huh? The British are in an American Sherman?.. and most of those buildings there aren't people in there.. so yes should have blown the building to smithereens. Not going to have all of our men die because they are scared of one or a couple people in the house getting killed.. trying to save the building with a German tank directly next would be stupid also lol.

[@cenotemirror]

Lend-Lease. There were a LOT of British tankers in American-made Shermans.

[@donhimmelman1736]

well he did have one point, "I can't shoot the thing if I can't bloody well see it, now can I"

[@Andy85uk]

To be exact those are Canadian Sherman grizzly’s

[@bmorg5190]

Everyone gets all shocked when they are cutting the women's hair off for doing what they did and I never understand it because that is nothing compared to what the men in war had to go through.. All they're doing is crying on their knees 😂 this isn't meant for that person that made this video but that's just funny

[@malacaimarbas2048]

I know I shouldn’t engage with this because it’s likely not in good faith and you’re just trolling but this is more for the creators and other commenters. This comment I think shows a lack of empathy towards woman, especially during a situation that is unimaginable. Woman at that time and location were given very little in terms of options to survive. If they were unmarried or widows and had no family members willing to take them in, they would have starved. Sleeping with the enemy was often done through outright force (r*pe), or through a need for the supplies such as food, that Germans often gave them. The scene of their hair being cut is terrible if you look at the faces of those around them. The hatred and anger on their faces is frightening. The elders and men of the town are shaming them, calling them wh*res and sl*ts, and have stripped them down to their underwear, cutting their hair with sheep shears, an extremely painful way to cut human hair. Imagine if you had been r*ped, then stripped to your underwear, had your hair cut, spat on and called a sl*t in front of your family and friends, every single person you know. How would you feel? For a woman of that time, her hair was her symbol of her femininity and her pride, when clothes and makeup with highly rationed or even not available, so to cut it would be offending, making her less than a woman. The follow up of showing the woman with her half German baby in rags on the side of the road shows what was the reality was for those women. Exile, refusal to be included in their communities and life long shame, many of them would die of starvation and exposure. So yes, what those woman faced was vastly different than what men in the war faced, but what they faced would have affected them socially and likely made them aliens and traitors to their own families and friends, when they were just trying to survive, or didn’t ask for the actions in the first place. Anyways, I know you likely won’t read this or even care, you seem pretty set in your opinions. Hope someday you have a bit more sympathy!

[@johannesvalterdivizzini1523]

@@malacaimarbas2048 The singer from the group "Abba" (Anni-Frid Lyngstad) was a child born from a German soldier father and Norwegian mother. Her mother had to flee to Sweden to avoid being brutalized as a collaborator.