One of the most famous U.S. Army units of World War II, Easy Company successfully battled Nazi forces on D-Day, liberated the Dachau concentration camp, and even raided Adolf Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest.
In 2001 , HBO released the celebrated World War II miniseriesBand of Brothers . The 10 - episode show pursue the men of Easy Company , an American Army unit that discover itself at the middle of some of the state of war ’s most dramatic bit . ButBand of Brotherswas much more than a mere TV show .
The show was based on the bookBand of Brothers : E Company , 506th Regiment , 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler ’s Eagle ’s Nestby historiographer Stephen E. Ambrose , who had written his tome based on consultation with the survive members of the actual - life Easy Company .
Though they came from all walks of life , these men civilise , fought , and conk out together between 1942 and 1945 . They landed at Normandy on D - Day , valiantly withstood a Nazi flack in the Battle of the Bulge , and gleefully looted Adolf Hitler ’s “ Eagle ’s Nest ” in the Alps as the war derive to a close .
Wikimedia CommonsThe surviving men of Easy Company in September 1945, after World War II had ended.
ThoughBand of Brothersis , of track , a fictional portrayal of the unit , the men of Easy Company were very real . This is their astonishing true story .
Inside The Formation Of Easy Company
Wikimedia CommonsThe surviving man of Easy Company in September 1945 , after World War II had end .
In July 1942 , the 140 men and seven officer who formed the first iteration of Easy Company — or E Company , 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division — gathered for training at Camp Toccoa in Georgia . The soldiers had a few dimension in common .
“ They were young , gestate since the Great War , ” Ambrosewrote in his 1992 book , Band of Brothers : E Company , 506th Regiment , 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler ’s Eagle ’s Nest . “ They were whitened , because the U.S. Army in World War II was segregate . With three exceptions , they were unmarried . ”
United States ArmyRichard Winters, who later commanded Easy Company, pictured at Camp Toccoa in 1942.
But the men also came from unlike walks of life . Easy Company ’s first commander , Herbert Sobel , descend from a military breeding and had experience in the Military Police Corps . Richard “ Dick ” Winters , who ’d later on number to command the social unit , had to work to put himself through Franklin & Marshall College , whereas the wealthyLewis Nixonattended Yale .
United States ArmyRichard Winters , who later control Easy Company , depict at Camp Toccoa in 1942 .
No matter where they ’d come from , however , the man all faced the same challenges of training at Camp Toccoa . And not all of them were up to it .
Time Life Pictures/U.S. Air Force/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAmerican paratroopers preparing to descend on the beaches of Normandy, France, during Operation Overlord.
“ Officers would hail and go , ” Winters recalled , according toThe New York Times . “ You would take one feel at them and know they would n’t make it . Some of these guys were just a arena of butter . ”
Many also chafed under Sobel ’s leadership . The “ demon in jump boots , ” as one of his men squall him , trained his soldiers hard and subject them to embarrassing punishment like fag a six - foot - by - six - substructure hole in the priming coat — and then fill it back in . winter even visit Sobel “ just patently entail , ” though he also admitted that Sobel helped whip the men in bod .
Although Sobel was eventually reassigned , the human being of Easy Company swiftly became an elite unit . They were send to England in September 1943 , where they prepared for their first combat mission — which would be D - Day .
TwitterLewis Nixon and Dick Winters, who became close friends in Easy Company.
How Easy Company Made A Name For Itself During World War II
Time Life Pictures / U.S. Air Force / The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty ImagesAmerican paratroopers organize to descend on the beaches of Normandy , France , during Operation Overlord .
For the men of Easy Company , they entered World War II in earnest on June 6 , 1944 . Then , they parachute alongside K of other confederative soldiers onto the beaches of Normandy during Operation Overlord orD - Day .
“ get on a airplane , traveled over the Channel , ” Easy Company memberEdward Shameslater recalled in an audience . “ By the time we got across , all hell happen … when we hit the glide , it looked like the Fourth of July . ”
U.S. ArmySome of the members of Easy Company at Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in the Alps.
The unit lamentably misplace 65 men in Normandy . But they also show their mettle . During Operation Overlord , Winters was command to assail a electric battery of four German gas at Brécourt Manor . As reported byHistory Net , a captain told him : “ There ’s fire along that hedgerow there . Take care of it . ”
“ That was it , ” Winters later on say . “ There was no elaborate plan or briefing . I did n’t even live what was on the other side of the hedge . All I had were my instructions , and I had to quickly develop a program from there . And as it turns out , I did . We were able to take out those four German guns with the going of only one humanity , Private John Hall , who was killed just in front of me . ”
From there , Easy Company saw some of the most harrowing moments of the war . They enter in the Allied attempt to recapture Holland , which was dubbed Operation Market Garden , in September . Then , they later relocated to Belgium to fight in the historical Battle of the Bulge in December .
TwitterLewis Nixon and Dick Winters , who became tight friends in Easy Company .
And in April 1945 , the men of Easy Company encountered some of the warfare ’s most horrific scenes when they make it at the Kaufering composite of the Dachau denseness inner circle . At the Kaufering IV camp alone , accord to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum , Nazi troop had held 3,600 prisoners , most of whom they ’d already forced onto death march .
“ I witnessed something that no other human being should see , ” Shames , who was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants , later aver of the experience . “ The stench and horror will be with me as long as I last . ”
But there were moments of levity , too . In early May 1945 , shortly after Adolf Hitler died by suicide , Easy Company was ordered to capture Berchtesgaden , the Bavarian Ithiel Town that was home to the Führer ’s “ Eagle ’s Nest ” in the Alps .
“ We were the first I there , ” Shames articulate . “ We course did what any godfearing soldier would do . We looted the whole place . ” Though it stay debatable which unit seized the Eagle ’s Nest first , there ’s no question that the Easy Company work force carried out the bighearted raid of the edifice .
Shames took a duet of bottles of cognac label “ for the Führer ’s manipulation only , ” which he afterward used to drink his son ’s cake mitsvah . The men also uncovered Hitler ’s private wine-colored collection , which they happily enjoyed .
briefly thereafter , on May 8 , 1945 , Germany surrendered . With the war in Europe over , Easy Company officially disband later that twelvemonth . In the end , according to Ambrose , the unit had suffered 150 percent injured party , as fresh men had constantly arrived to exchange the fallen soldiers .
And yet , “ at the flush of [ Easy Company ’s ] effectiveness , ” Ambrose wrote , “ it was as just a rifle company as there was in the world . ”
The Lasting Legacy Of This “Band Of Brothers”
U.S. ArmySome of the phallus of Easy Company at Hitler ’s Eagle ’s Nest in the Alps .
After World War II terminate , the men of Easy Company went their separate way . Nixon go to ferment for his family ’s company , Shames took a line of work at the National Security Agency , and Winters started his own business organization merchandising feed for stock to granger . But many of the valet stayed in touch .
In fact , that ’s what inspired Stephen Ambrose to indite about Easy Company in the first place . After he serve an Easy Company reunification in 1988 , Ambrose was struck by how shut the veterans seemed .
“ It was something that all USA everywhere throughout history strive to create but seldom do , ” Ambrose remembered . “ The only path to fulfil my curiosity was to research and pen the company chronicle . ”
The historian made it a group effort . Not only did he question surviving members of Easy Company , but Ambrose also shared the drafts of his holograph so that anyone could offer corrections and suggestions as take . Not everyone was happy with the final result , however .
“ They also bulge this thing about me yelling at the men and the other officers , ” Shames , who had an argument with Ambrose over his portrayal in the book , recall . “ Of course , I hollo at them ! I meant business organisation . This is why I brought more men home than most of the officers in the 506th . ”
Ambrose ’s 1992 book stun readers with its depictions of the men and their harrowing experiences of fighting in World War II . Less than a decade later , HBO farm the miniseries based on the book , Band of Brothers , introducing Easy Company ’s tale to an even wide interview .
No one from Easy Company survives today — Shames was the last of the “ Band of Brothers ” men to top away , in December 2021 — but their legacy continues to inspire . audience across the world were draw , just as Ambrose was , to their story and their tightfistedness . As he write :
Theirs was “ a closeness unsung to all foreigner . Comrades are closer than friends , closer than brothers . Their relationship is different from that of fan . Their trust in , and cognition of , each other is total . ”
After reading about Easy Company , light upon the narrative of theNiland brother who animate the movieSaving Private Ryan . Then , take a aspect through thesestunning photograph that bring World War II to life .
