Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
I. Authors Background
Stephen Ambrose was born in 1936 and grew up in Whitewater, Wisconsin, a small town where his father was the M.D. At the University of Wisconsin, he started as a pre-med, but inspired by a great professor he changed his major to History. After getting his M.A. degree at Louisiana State University, he returned to the University of Wisconsin to complete a Ph.D. Ambrose began teaching at the University of New Orleans. He started as a Civil War historian but changed to political history after President Eisenhower asked him to become his biographer. Since then, Ambrose has written more than twenty books.
Among his best sellers are D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, Undaunted Courage and Nothing like it in the World. He was also a consultant for Steven Spielberg’s movie Saving Private Ryan. He is a retired Professor of History. Ambrose is now the director of the Eisenhower Center in New Orleans and is the founder of the National D-Day Museum. He is also a contributing editor of the Quarterly Journal of Military History.
II. Synopsis
Band of Brothers is a fascinating book that captures moments lived by soldiers during World War II. It specifically relates to the History of a small unit of paratroopers known as Easy Company, 506 Regiment, 101st Airborne. It is a story that follows the company from its inception to the capture of Hitler’s nest. It begins with the training of these soldiers at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. The 140 members of easy company who were young men from different social levels were physically and mentally trained. This particular company had an extremely harsh training, but many believe it is because of this training that they were considered as one of the best rifle companies in the army.
Their trainer was Captain Sobel who they disliked but was later replaced with Lieutenant Winters. Two of the many things these soldiers learned were brotherhood and leadership.
The first drop done by the paratroopers was on June 6, 1944 in Normandy. This drop did not result as planned. Planes were flying at a high velocity and at a short distance from the ground. Therefore one of the planes got hit. They arrived at Carentan which they captured and flew back to Aldbourne.
Their second drop was on September 17, 1944 in Holland. This time it was perfectly done.
The award-winning novel by Stephen Ambrose, Band of Brothers: Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest, discusses one of the greatest examples of mission command in the form of 1st Lieutenant Richard Winters and his role in the Brecourt Manor Assault. This battle is a textbook example of how to fight against a superior enemy force that outnumbered the unit by four times as much. Facing overwhelming odds with just 16 paratroopers against over 60 German Soldiers, 1LT Winters nevertheless prevails and succeeds in achieving his objective while minimizing casualties to just three Soldiers lost. Looking back further into the American Revolution, the Battle of Bunker Hill on the American side is one of the earliest examples of Mission Command under the command of COL William Prescott.
For training, the author shares the difficult task involved in the training and that went into preparing the American solider for battle in World War I from multiple levels including from Brownies’ perspective. The author gave clear and concise examples to strengthen his claim concerning the overwhelming task of training an inexperienced army. As the Snead explains, “Historians, journalists, and others have written numerous books
The Serb peasants risked their lives by helping the downed airmen. They welcomed the airmen and loved them as their own people. If Germans found Serbs helping these men, they would destroy a whole village and take all the people prisoner. The author portrayed this by describing the extremes the villagers took to hide the men. General Mihailovic made sure that his guerilla forces always protected the Serbs and the airmen. They followed the men
Martin Blumesfield's writing of this book is a very interesting book. His way of writing really gets the point across and makes you think like you there. He uses many rhetoric devices to enhance his writing and get what he's trying to do. He uses many similes and figurative language to back up his point of him being there. He has many of Patton's paper and he actually can relate to whats going on through his interpretation of the "Patton Papers." Many say this is the greatest Patton book out there and I agree. The way Blumesfield makes you feel is so real, you can appreciate a good writer when you find one like Blumesfield.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print.
The next four years were spent traveling the states fighting in some of the most well known battles of the Civil War . Ambrose Bierce’s experience during the Civil War where he faced the dangers of nature and man influenced his writing.
Ambrose has shown his great admiration for his country, reflecting upon his views for America and writing what he has done to help benefit this country, such as his D-day Museum. He visibly shows his patriotism and his fascination for military history as he recounts stories of World War 2 and the War of 1812 and speaks highly of countries achievements of helping rebuild Europe after the war and gaining independence for colonies held by Japan during the war. He uses imagery, contrasting ideas, and quotes from other historians or Americans to back up his messages he tries to convey to his readers. His background also influenced him very heavily in his writing as well and was what encouraged him to keep on writing to the very end.
First, sergeants were no longer to do the training and drilling of soldiers. Officers were encouraged to train, drill, and march with their soldiers. They were also encouraged to eat with the common soldiers as well, whenever possible. The officers needed to show love of the soldiers to earn their respect, and in doing this the officers needed to set themselves as an example to the soldiers by overachieving, rather than distancing themselves and underachieving in the eyes of the soldier. Before Steuben arrived, the forms of drills, training, and discipline in the
At 10:20 a.m., Bockscar was flying over Kokura. However, Kokura was covered by heavy clouds and smoke because on August 8 at night, B-29s had dropped the bombs at Yawata. The captain of Bockscar thought that dropping the atomic bomb was extremely difficult and it had a chance to fail. Also, the Bockscar did not have enough fuel to keep flying. Then, Bockscar changed the target from Kokura to Nagasaki.
"There are no extraordinary men... just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are faced to deal with" (William Halsey). The same can be said about volatile men. This is the quote Christopher R. Browning thought of when he named this book. The men of the 101st battalion were rarely faced with decisions. Even if it had been proposed by Trapp the morning of Jozefow that "any of the older men who did not feel up to the task that lay before them could step out" (Browning, chapter 7, pg. 57), he didn't actually allow them any time to truly think about it. He brought it up moments before they were about to go out to the slaughter. They were blind-sided and the men who didn't want to risk the future of their jobs as policemen or the men that didn't want to look weak in front of their peers were ushered into a massacre unlike that they could have ever imagined. But because they were all basically forced to give killing a shot, it only allowed them to adapt to war easier. The job that the men of the 101st had to carry out continued to get easier as they adapted to the climate of the war by creating rules for themselves. These ordinary men were no longer in an ordinary situation.
by the US Air Force in October of 1944. It was a city that was also known
This novel is a story about a group of soldiers apart of the 101st airborne division, 502nd infantry regiment, who became known as the “Black Hearts Brigade.” Deployed to an area known as the “Triangle of Death”, just south of Baghdad, this area was known for being the most dangerous throughout the country of Iraq. Struck with indirect fire, constant insurgent attacks, IED’s, a heavy death toll, and the constant rage and distraught of the war turned some members of the first platoon, Bravo Company, first battalion into a group of poorly disciplined, brutal soldiers who would take their frustration out onto the civilians of Iraq. Ultimately, this incident, which was caused by four members of first platoon, would be considered one of the most
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