BAND OF BROTHERS: Carentan

 

Today marks the anniversary of the capture of Carentan, France by Americans including Easy Company of "Band of Brothers". Here is some information of the third episode of the series which was entitled "Carentan".

 

Did Luz do imitations? Yes.

 

What did the episode get right about the taking of the taking of Carentan?

 

- The unit did move up through a wasteland with burning vehicles and dead bodies

- Winters did have Welsh’s platoon to lead the way into Carentan.

- Welsh and five men entered the town before a German machine gun caused the rest of the platoon to take refuge in ditches. Winters did expose himself to get the men to move. He cursed, which was rare for him. The men took longer to motivate than in the episode.

- Shifty Powers did shoot a sniper.

- They did clear buildings by throwing a grenade through a window and then busted in through the door.

- They did come under mortar fire.

- Blithe did lose his sight (hysterical blindness). He did regain it after Winters talked to him at the aid station.

- Lipton was wounded by a mortar round, not an anti-tank gun. Talbert did check to reassure him that his privates were undamaged.

- Tipper did shoot through the outhouse door and then was wounded badly by a mortar shell. He did lose an eye.

- The Germans were shot down as they fled from the town.

- Lt. Col. Strayer did ask Winters if it was safe to cross the street.

- Winters was hit in the shin by a bullet, but it was Lt. Jackson Neavles who patched him up, not Roe.

 

In Carentan, the book does not mention Luz finding a family huddling in a shop.

 

That’s the chaplain Father John Maloney giving last rites in Carentan. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He appears several times in the book.

 

The book does not mention Winters getting a message from a soldier riding a horse.

combat fatigue - what was called shell shock in WWI and is called PTSD today.

 

In the book, when Smith stabs Talbert, Talbert was wearing a German poncho.

 

The book does not have Speirs saying you should just accept the fact that you are already dead.

 

The name of the battle in the hedgerows is “The Battle of Bloody Gulch”. In the show, Dog and Fox Companies are shown running. Fox Company fled at first contact which forced D Company to fall back also. This left Easy’s flank uncovered. It held up until D and F returned to their positions. The key to Easy being able to hold its hedgerow was the work of their mortars (as portrayed in the episode). On Easy’s right, units of the 502nd Parachute Infantry were hit hard and almost broken. After some intense fighting, tanks from the 2nd Armored arrived to tip the balance.

 

NOT HISTORICAL LICENSE: Welsh and McGrath did go into no man’s land to use a bazooka against a tank. A tank was vulnerable in their belly.

 

The book does not have Blithe shooting a German who is wearing some edelweiss.

 

When Blithe is shot, he was part of a five-man patrol led by Guarnere.

 

The poem about Smith stabbing Talbert was unavailable to Ambrose for the book.

 

What happened to Blithe? The series gets the Blithe post-script wrong, partly because some of the veterans thought he had died in 1948, not having fully recovered. In fact, he was actually hit in the shoulder and fully recovered. He stayed in the Army and rose to Master Sergeant. He served in Korea. He died in 1967, the father of two.