Band of Brothers Viewing Guide #4

 

EPISODE 4

What is a “Dear John letter”?  This is what soldiers called a letter where their wife or girlfriend informing them it was over.  Usually because they had found another man. Soldiers called these woman stealers "Jody".

The book does not mention Cobb getting on the replacements for wearing the Presidential Unit Citation ribbon.  Cobb gets a raw deal in the series.  His not making the Normandy drop is held against him, although the series does make it clear he was wounded on the plane.  However, no mention is made of him being a veteran of the North Africa campaign before he joined Easy.  He also had been on a troopship that was torpedoed and sank. 

Presidential Unit Citation -  The 506^th received this award twice, for Normandy and Bastogne.

They actually had several drops canceled because the rapidly moving ground forces overran the planned drop zones.

Popeye did not return to the unit with Sobel.  Sobel did return as a supply officer, but the book does not mention a dramatic reunion.

Did Webster collect scraps from each parachute he used to drop into combat?  In his book, he mentions that he took part of that parachute as a souvenir and to make a scarf. 

Do bayonets make M-1’s less accurate?  Randleman might have believed this when he told the replacements not to put their bayonets on, but it is not really true. 

The orange flags the Dutch are waving had been banned by the Germans. 

They actually first encountered celebrating Dutch at the town of Sons.  Webster gave the chocolate bar to the little boy between Sons and Eindhoven. 

Did collaborating women get their hair cut off?  This was more common in France.  It was a mark of shame for women who slept with German soldiers.  Men who collaborated were usually shot.

The incident where Lt. Brewer is shot by the sniper happened before they reached Eindhoven.  A medic was not wounded while helping Brewer.  Gordon and two others left him for dead.

In the book, the British tanks that get smoked by the Tiger were Cromwells.  The Tiger was actually a remodeled T-34.

Did Tigers have to stop in order to fire?  You’ll notice the Tiger tank in the series would stop before shooting.  This would have been common.  The tank could fire while moving, but not accurately.

NOT HISTORICAL LICENSE:  The British tank commander did refuse to back off when Martin warned him of the Tiger and the Tiger did blast the British tank.  It was actually Marsh who warned the tank. 

Randleman did kill a German in the barn, but the book does not mention a farmer and his daughter.  Randleman did not make his way back to the company.  He was still in Nuenen when the battalion returned. 

Webster, Cobb, and two others did not go looking for Randleman.

There was a lot more fighting in Holland than the series shows.