Also Speirs talked to Blithe the way he did to tell him not to hesitate. You hesitate, you die or others die. If you do your job and show no fear in the face of hell itself you have a chance of living.
As others pointed out, Blithe did actually recover, and he was awarded a Purple Heart. I believe the reason for the discrepancy is that Ambrose (the author) interviewed vets to get their stories, and they just never heard from Blithe after the war and assumed he died.
This show was researched meticulously and written from the journals of the men, and particularly the writings of Ambrose. The fog of war is a truly staggering thing, it's almost impossible to make sense of anything. It wasn't until the 1960s when Blithe suddenly showed up to an EZ company reunion that anyone knew he survived. He was shot in the neck and wasn't seen for 2 decades (before the internet or before most people even had telephones) what were they supposed to think? This was a period where interstate highways were a radical concept. Keeping in touch with people was pretty difficult. There is also a huge inaccuracy about Lt Dyke. He was actually shot twice in the chest while leading the attack on Foy in episode 7. He was a pencil pusher and a well connected college boy... however, many men wrote that he was a coward and broke down in combat. In reality he was mortally wounded at the onset of the attack before being relieved by Lt Spears. No one knew how gravely he was injured because of his heavy winter clothing. Much like Blithe, no one saw him again for decades, and his reputation was ruined because of the fog of war.
Two of the other guys attended a funeral for a man with the exact same name, believing it was the same Blithe who had been with them. They reported attending the funeral to Ambrose. The wounds Blithe from Easy Company received did kill him, though. He became an alcoholic and died from complications related to that.
@@saltwatertaffybag Thanks for the info. Not sure that Dike was mortally wounded though. That means a wound that kills you. I think he weenr on to serve in Korea. What's interesting with Blithe is Ambrose decided he died of his wounds in 1948. Two big assumptions given people simply didn't hear from him for a long time. He came to several reunions in the 60's though so I'm surprised no one mentioned this in the research
@@DJLtravelvids Blithe dying in 1948 was a rumor that no one knows the origin of. Someone heard it from a buddy in D company who got a letter from his mom in the same town Blithe was from, who heard it from her second cousins son in law and blah blah blah. Somehow this became the narrative between the men of EZ and they believed it to be the truth. As far as "mortally wounded" it generally means that without immediate medical care it is a lethal wound. Left untreated you will die, but if you have access to medical supplies and a good doctor you might survive. There have actually been men shot through the heart who have lived thanks to absurd amounts of blood transfusions, oxygen therapy, and an ungodly amount of surgery under a medically induced coma.
Everyone has the same reaction to Speirs...until you realize that men like Speirs helped win the war. Same with "Wild" Bill Guarnere. Winters called them natural born killers and meant it as a complement.
Admiral King once said of General Patton, "Whenever you're in trouble, you call the SOBs." They're the ones who can be counted on to get you out of a jam.
Blithe had Hysterical Blindness - now known as a part of Conversion Disorder. "Conversion disorder (CD), or functional neurologic symptom disorder, is a diagnostic category used in some psychiatric classification systems. It is sometimes applied to patients who present with neurological symptoms, such as numbness, blindness, paralysis, or fits, which are not consistent with a well-established organic cause, which cause significant distress, and can be traced back to a psychological trigger. It is thought that these symptoms arise in response to stressful situations affecting a patient's mental health or an ongoing mental health condition such as depression."
@@danielduffy3489 Temporary blindness is a PTSD side effect from prolonged fear, being shell shocked causes neurological damage and will lead troops to feeling fear all the time even long after the war is over which is why many veterans commit suicide because they just want the fear to end
4:35 Edward Tipper was his name. Artillery shell and shrapnel shredded his legs and he lost an eye. He survived though, but had to walk with a cane from then on. Married in his 60s and his daughter gave an interview in the documentary made alongside this series. Passed away in his 90s back in 2017.
Albert Blithe survived, and, went on to have a highly distinguished Army career. He served in Korea, and, was awarded a Silver Star, 3 Bronze Stars, 3 Purple Hearts, the Army of Occupation Medal, Master Parachutist's Badge, Combat Infantryman Badge, Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal w/ 3 clasps, and, the National Defense Sevice Medal. He had attained the rank of Master Sergeant when he passed away of a perforated ulcer, in an Army hospital in Weisbaden, Germany, in 1967.
@@thesnazzycomet The show does say he died in 1948 for some inexplicable reason. As far as we know the reason the producers messed this up is that after Normandy the men of Easy Company lost contact with Blithe and just figured he must've died of his wounds, and since the show is based on Steven E. Ambrose's work on compiling war stories from the soldiers of Easy, this is the information that was used. Very strange that no one looked up his service record to verify though.
@@thesnazzycomet A lot of the guys would've lost contact with him due to the fact that they left the Army at the end of the war, and, Blithe stayed in.
4:55 All Sides in WW2 shot Medics, Priests and Civilians, the general aproach for the european theatre was not to aim and fire directly on medics, priests or civilians as long as they are not armed. Which is hard to identify in the heat of battle. In between battles medics of both sides would go onto the battlefield to seek out wounded, no matter the side they fought for. The japanese on the other hand were merciless, the common soldier got direct orders to shoot medics and priests and if neccesary use civilians as shields. "The Americans will send 5 men to safe a wounded medic, they will make themselves easy targets" The eastern front was extremly gruesome and german medics discarded their medic armbands because it made them priority targets, while russian nurses (if armed) were shot on sight acording to inofficial orders of the german high command. The eastern front and the pacific theater were a war of pure hatred. Sorry for the rant, i wanted to make it clear that even though war make us all mad there is humanity remaining.
Yes, the western front was about as civilized as war gets. Which is not that much, but as not as bad as it could. There were actual rules that were mostly followed.
Some people are just extremely naive to the evils of men. They can’t seem to fathom that people do cruel things, like her thinking the Germans wouldn’t shoot priests or medics, I actually let out a laugh when she said that. I guess some just don’t want to think about it and hide from it.
Also, good luck making that kind of fine visual distinction in that kind of combat situation. You stick your head out from cover as little as possible, see a human-shaped figure in an enemy uniform, then stick your rifle out, shoot as fast as you can, then duck back. The camera work tries to capture this in this show and does a pretty good job, but there's no way to really portray the effects of all the fear/rage/stress hormones going through those involved.
Yes….generally speaking firing on medics is not condone however there are some instances where Germans as well as Americans have fired on a medic…..however in combat….stray bullets can hit anyone
Speirs is one of the best characters in the show, and their depiction of him is fantastic. He comes across was an insane, borderline mythical super soldier in the first half of the series largely because that's how easy company viewed him, since they didn't interact with him that much. In the second half, they really show how human he actually was, and how insanely loyal he was to his men, and how much he cared about them.
this series will probably set off a few nightmares by itself. But after she finishes, the documentary clip 'we stand alone together' is a great one to watch.
Lots of soldiers did that. They even collected parachutes from other soldiers who either died or did not want them and mailed them back as soon as they could so the fiances got them before they died.
@@bhimbonggames3206 no war crimes, they had orders not to take PW's during the 1st few days as they wouldn't have any were to hold or man power to guard them. and the shooting of his own man was justified as he was drunk refusing a direct order & pulled his weapon 1st and their were witnesses
@@bhimbonggames3206 paratroopers weren’t in a position to take prisoners. By definition they were supposed to be surrounded by the enemy, dropped in way behind the lines. If they took prisoners, they wouldn’t be able to do their job and could put the success of entire operations at risk. If they let them go, they’d just join back up with their forces and come back to attack them again.
•Actually, D-Day has passed. As the war continues, they mark it as D-Day + x. The series covers the company throughout the war. •The edelweiss thing is more for mountain divisions. It is also a great song from The Sound of Music. •They signed up to fight, so they go into the machine gun fire. That's the reality of war. •Families and German soldiers. •Indeed, the Germans did try to keep to the Geneva Convention. The Japanese, on the other hand, would shoot a priest or medic without hesitation. They operated on a completely different set of rules for war. •It's called conversion disorder or hysterical blindness. •Yes because in the darkness of night, Talbert looked like a German. •M1 Finger is a thing, which is why one should take care in loading and reloading a M1 Garand (great rifle for hunting hogs). •US reinforcements, courtesy of the 2nd Armored. They're driving M4 Sherman tanks, named in honor of Civil War General William T. Sherman. •Quick clarification - Blithe really did survive. He fell out of touch with the rest of the company, so the general assumption was that he died. He actually lived until 1967, when he died from a perforated ulcer.
The Geneva Convention fads away, the closer to the sharp end you get. On D-Day, the 12th SS captured 20 Canadians, they were taken the HQ, then executed. It is estimated that they executed up to 164 Canadian prisoners during the Normandy phase. The Canadians didn't take SS prisoners after that.
@@demonlordoftheroundtable2456 Garand Thumb gave himself Garand Thumb on his channel Garand Thumb. It's not nearly as bad as you'd think. More of a pinch than any actual injury.
The germans did not try to keep to the geneva convention. Not at all. They killed off millions of PoWs. They executed civilians. I mean, really, thats just a very wrong claim. I am not sure about medics, but i doubt they cared about them, at least in the east.
The German soldier with the edelweiss flower was part of one of the most elite elements of the German Wehrmacht, the paratrooper or Fallschirmjäger. They were instrumental in taking Norway and played a strategic role in capturing Crete island. Their training and dicipline is legendary. Jäger in both German and Danish means 'hunter'. To this day, the Danish special forces are named Jägers and served in Iraq and in the mountains of Afghanistan hunting high-value targets.
4:48 Actually fun fact if everyone hasn't pointed it out yet. That actor who plays the Irish priest offering prayers is Doug Cockle. He's Geralt's Voice Actor from The Witcher games. ❤
One my uncles went in the day after D Day and was a medic with an infantry unit. A few months later he was patching up a wounded G.I. and German came up behind him and bayoneted him in the back. He did live though.
Blythe suffered from a case of what was called hysterical blindness. Sometimes, the brain just can't process what it is seeing so just turns it off. Hysterical blindness sufferers can still see, their brain just refuses to process it. BTW, the tank running over the German soldier was real. The stuntman was in a reinforced trench so the tank wouldn't actually harm him. I think he had to shoot it a couple of times.
Temporary blindness is a PTSD side effect from prolonged fear, being shell shocked causes neurological damage and will lead troops to feeling fear all the time even long after the war is over which is why many veterans commit suicide because they just want the fear to end
Flight instead of fight. Sorta the opposite of blind rage where your body can still see and fight but you wont be there in the moment and it will come back as a memory. Like a quick jump of hitting Fast forward on your life.
When I was in Iraq, my platoon mates and I adopted an idea that we could die at any moment. It was just inevitable; battle was way too chaotic. Thus, when it was our time, it was our time. But damn if we didn't do our best to stay alive and have fun doing it. Keeping our buddies alive meant that they would help keep us alive, so everyone was important to the mission, as long as they did their part. We were lucky; we didn't lose anyone in our company, but we lost friends and people we knew outside of it. Did we think we were already dead? I don't know if anyone looked at it specifically like that, but I understand. Speirs was out of line, but he was right.
On my first training exercise I thought about my dad facing possibly the last moment of his life day after day from when the BEF went to France until VE Day, by that time he was one of a small group to survive physically unharmed in his battalion, I couldn’t do any less and face him after.
I understand man. Speirs was like trying to drum this into Blithe's head: If you think you are already dead, you will not be scared anymore and do things more efficiently and hey, your chances of survival actually gets higher.
7:30 Actually, Talbert as depicted onscreen had actually been wearing a german raincoat that he had found and kept for himself as a spoil of war. So he really was mistaken as an enemy soldier and then got stabbed as a result.
Combat soldiers are most often very young men who typically have no inherent desire to harm anyone, even similarly young enemy soldiers. You might be interested to know about the Christmas Truce during WWI. Rather than a formal truce it involved soldiers in trenches on both sides, along some portions of the front, exchanging recognizable Christmas carols which led to soldiers from both sides taking a chance and meeting in no man's land where they exchanged items and even played football (soccer) together. Military higher ups were so disturbed by soldiers on both sides meeting peacefully that they threatened severe penalties for fraternizing with the enemy in the future. Thus the individual soldiers were thrown back into combat with each other.
The edelweiss is actually a minor inaccuracy for Fallshirmjaeger (paratroopers of the German army). Basically, the edelweiss on the collar is a symbol of the Gebirgsjaegers (Mountain troops). If a Gebirgsjaeger saw that Fallshirmjaeger with that edelweiss, the para would get his ass kicked, due in large part to the mountain troops feeling an enourmous amount of martial pride attached to their edelweiss. A similar thing existed with US paratroopers about their jump boots. If any non-paratrooper was found wearing jump boots, that's an ass kicking.
The Germans may have held some respect on shooting medics, but in the Pacific theater it was different. Japanese soldiers made shooting US medics their priority. There will be more difficult scenes ahead. /comfort. Thank you though, for watching and sharing.
Blithe loosing sight was the result of sheer shock. "Hysterical blindness". He actually survive that shot in the neck so he got to live until 1967. He even fought in Korea :o!
The story about the Edelweiss are true but the only German soldiers that was allowed to wear them was the elite soldiers of the Mountain Divisions. It was worn as a patches and pins on their uniform. They was never on the western front. They was located in the Alps. Blithe Died in 1967. It was a mistake on HBO because they was fallowing the Steven Ambrose novel "Band of Brothers" and in the book they didn't know top because after Blithe got shot in Normandy people from Easy Company thought he had died because no one knew of his whereabouts. The Battle of Carentan and then the Battle of the Bloody Gultch/Hill 30 was a engagement where Easy Company dug in and held their ground after Dog and Fox Company on their left flank gave way due to the heavy German assault. They slowed and delayed the German attack long enough for Lieutenant General Bradley to maneuver the 2nd Armor Division to Carentan.
Hysterical blindness is actually a thing. And I think that some of them thought Blithe had died...but I saw something that said he later served in the Korean War (?)
I don't know how many times Ive seen Band of Brothers but its a lot combined with watching people react for the first time to the show. I will always live in awe of the men and women of the allied forces and underground resistance fighters of WW2.
12:00. This was before the UK decimalized their currency, so the British Pound had 20 Shillings, each Shilling had 12 pence or 24 half-pence coins to navigate. That didn’t change to 100 pence per Pound until 1971
No, medics were not primary targets. According to the Geneva Convention(1929), intentionally shooting at medics is a war crime. Depending on circumstances it did happen, but it wasn't common among Western armies. The Japanese, however, always shot at medics.
Every time Carentan is reviewed it has to be said.....Albert blithe did not die in 1948....he made it back home, re-enlisted in the airborne for the Korean War, made another combat jump, was awarded a silver star. He stayed in the army for the rest of his life, dying in 1967, of a health issue in germany, at the rank of Master Sergeant. As Richard Winters said in an interview many years later: Albert Blithe was scared. But he went back for Korea and handled himself very well and got it together, making the army his career. He won the silver star and 3 bronze stars....they don't just give those away".
Soldiers and airmen really did send home parachutes to be made into Wedding Dresses. Parachutes were usually made of silk, a rare commodity in most nations once the war cut off trade with most of (Japanese-controlled) Asia. It and other fancy fabrics were hard to get due to wartime shortages, even in the US. My own Grandfather was a gunner on a B-17 bomber, and after his plane was destroyed on the ground during a mission to Russian-held territory, he salvaged his (damaged) chute and got permission to send it home. He and a buddy divided up the undamaged part of the chute and sent it home to their sweethearts. A year later, me married my future Grandma and she wore a wedding dress she'd sewn from that silk parachute. And about 75 years later, his Granddaughter, one of my cousins, got married in the same dress.
The spot on the ground was actually hollowed out with a crash pad underneath, so the stuntman who got "run over" was pressed into the hole on the pad, resulting in a shot that made it look like he got squished by the tank.
@@AdderTude ya I know that. I've own the special edition DVD box set since it came out around 2001 or 2002. Plus I've seen all documentaries on Easy company and the making of Band of Brothers.
While edelwiess is used as a sybolic thing here, there is real context to this. In reality Blithe would have never seen it because there were fighting fallshirmjager, german were paratroopers. They would not have edelwiess, it was only worn by Gebirgsjager, mountain divisions, and what nixon says is true, it grows high in the mountain so the ultimate test were moutiain toops was to go and get it, this was so significant in fact that the service pin for Gebirgsjager was an edelweiss flower. and yes as others stated blithe did survive, the reason it says he didn't is 1. he never talked to anyone after the war, the men of Easy thought he was dead cause they never saw him again. 2. When writing the book, Ambrose took the guy's word for it. And when the series was made the writers figured Ambrose verified this seeing as he talked to the vets. 3. When the book and movie were made in the 90s the internet didn't exist as it does now, they couldn't just look it up.
Great episode. Also one of the few times in history paratroopers fought paratroopers. The Fallshirmjager is the name for German paratroopers who were being used as foot infantry because of manpower issues at the time and the desperate need for experienced troops. The 101st/82nd and German paratroopers would meet again during many skirmishes throughout France/Holland as German units splintered and battle grouos were made up of whatever and whoever happened to be there among the retreating Germans. The road to Carentan was bloody as paratroopers faced off against paratroopers. They skipped that part in this series.
Its a great topic for analysis really. The "Lions of Carentan"(6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment) were the first german unit to engage and defeat US forces on D Day, tenaciously defended the Carentan Causeway aka "Purple Hearth Lane" , held the town in a desperate rearguard action and in the battle of the bloody gulch they routed the 101st Airborne and retook the trainyard while the 17th SS Division was destroyed. They were a pain in the allied plans as was its parent Division at Festung Brest and the 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division in the British AO. The 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne proved themselfs worthy opponents and had mutual respect for each other with chivalrous acts happening between both forces. The book by Volker Griesser "Lions of Carentan " is a must read amongts others depicting both sides. Paratrooper vs Paratrooper clashes are rare in history but they are unique.
Fun fact: the actor who played the chaplain (Captain Maloney) is Doug Cockle, who would go on to provide the English voice for Geralt of Rivia in the Witcher games.
UNA SALUS VICTUS NULLAM SPERARE SALUTEM (The only hope of the doomed is not to hope for safety) is a quote from Virgil's Aeneid. That Spiers paraphrases this to Blithe is probably meant to demonstrate that there is more to Speirs than meets the eye. He is a well educated or well read man.He knows his classics. Later in the series he talks about Tersius and the Catheginians. He is thoughtful and deliberate when at rest but a dervish when in action. My own favrite scene of the episode is the one where Winters goads Blithe into firing his rifle. The power of firing back, of doing something takes away Blithe's feeling of helplessness. By going through the motions he has been trained to do, Blithe snaps out of his fear and manages to cope with the situation in front of him. It is something that rang true to me the first time I saw the series. It didn't matter to Winters that Blithe was firing blindly and not hitting anything. The important thing was his breaking the pattern of inaction.
Band of Brothers is the greatest war movie ever made. My wife and I binge it ever Veterans' Day, sometimes on Memorial Day as well. It never gets old. Fun fact: Tom Hardy is in the movie towards the end. See if you can recognize him.
4:22 Usually when they film those scenes, the actors or extras already are amputees or missing limbs. So explosions or filming their limbs being blown off is actually pretty simple since all they have to do is attach a fake limb and then film it being pulled off or ripped off.
This is one of the mistakes made in Band of Brothers. Albert Blithe did indeed recover and went on to serve in Korea. The confusion occurred because some of the men attended a funeral for an Albert Blithe and believed it was their former comrade, when in fact it was a different Albert Blithe.
As a fun non-war-related fact of this episode, the actor that played the priest during the assault on Carentan is Doug Cockle. He voices Geralt of Rivia in the Witcher games. I always think of Geralt with a quen shield blessing the dying with a prayer to Melitele. Hang tough Vk, it gets......gnarly.
9:36 SO CLOSE. Yes there are individuals but the majority of the comman soldiers on ther german side, jsut as the US, UK and basicly all other factions of the war, where jsut doing their duty. In case of germany often not even really on their free will. classifing them all jsut as "the bad guys" is a massive oversimplification.
Yeah, It's sad but understandable that most people who never remotely read up on WW2 believe "Oh all germans were na*is and hated j*ws!" which is the furthest from the truth.
I watched an interview with Major Winters. He said the series didn`t do Blithe justice. Apparently he also fought in the Korean war, bacame first seargant(the same rank that Lipton had in Bastogne) and got both a silver and a bronze star for efforts in the war.
3:27 The one thing that made that grenade attack possible was that the 2nd gunner ( who took over after the 1st gunner went down ) pointed his MG42 to the RIGHT & ended up cutting off his vision of everything to the LEFT. He ended up giving himself a blindspot. That's some pretty good attention to detail from the director. I didn't even notice that until now.
Blithe actually did survived. It's just sad that none of the men he fought alongside knew he was alive. I heard he recovered but just got transferred to another unit. Ended up fighting in the Korean War and earning medals. Then dying of old age I think. I can't remember. The men of easy didn't learn that he survived until after the show was already done and filmed. Blithe wife told them I think. It's what I heard so I don't knwo if some info might be true or false.
Recovered by the end of the war, ended up staying, then fighting in Korea. High honors and all. Then stayed again and was stationed in Germany during the Cold War. Developed a drinking problem and nervous issues. Felt unwell after a Bastonge reunion/travel, ended up going to the hospital and died of a perforated ulcer during surgery. Think he was 45 or something like that. Buried in Arlington.
-Blithe was out of it due to the air sickness pills that were given before the jump. -Perconte is what is known as a "scrounger" Some collect stuff that they can use, others do it to fence the items later. Perconte is the latter -Talbert was wearing a captured German Zeltbahn, or shelter quarter. He was using it as a rainslicker like the Germans did, so wearing it made him look German. -The Edelweiss is more a symbol of the Gebergsjäger than the Fallschirmjäger.
Blithe was shook. he was alone in enemy country for gods know how long after missing his drop zone. the reason he was staring at the sky was mild shell shock. his mind could not handle the stress of the situation and made him retreat inwardly. the reason for saying that he has to accept he is already dead is quite simple. you signed up with the military during war times. That means going to fight the enemy. if you are not prepared to face your own mortality on the battlefield, how on earrth to you ever expect to yourself to strip others of theirs?
"Shell shock" was what it was called at the time, though I think, by WWII, it was starting to be called "combat fatigue" or "battle fatigue", now it's called PTSD.
I have some weird vision issue where if I get overwhelmed with anxiety from big crowds (or to much attention on myself), my vision blacks out. Doctors can't fully explain it. I imagine the soldier went through the same sort of thing. Anxiety and stress do weird things to the body.
The hardest scene for me in this episode was the very end where Malarkey goes to retrieve his laundry. It is disheartening from several angles. First is the obvious of the woman asking him to pay for the laundry his killed or wounded friends and comrades left behind, the understandable grief he felt for their loss and the reminder of it. Second, he is leaving England for good, a place that was still mostly safe and a bit like home, having the realization that he'll be in an active war zone until his job is done. Finally, it's a reminder that every one of his friends and comrades face a long and treacherous road ahead not knowing if they'll make it through to the end of the war. Truly a great scene in a masterpiece of television.
The edelweiss is a mountain division insignia and symbol, and no one else would dare take one. It would be like taking a paratrooper's jump wings or jump boots. One thing the show gets wrong... But hey, this level of detail being picked on just shows how incredibly excellent it is
That the Worst thing about fighting in Built up areas . Every corner can be a deathtrap, Every rooftop or basement can hold a sniper or a machinegun. You just never know which direction the next shot is coming from.
Blithe ended up being a highly valued and respected officer for many years. The BoB book and show really did him a disservice whilst everything else was pretty top notch all round
I think the way that Blithe was portrayed was necessary however he was one hell of a soldier that recovered and fought in Korea infact he jumped into combat again and he landed on top of an enemy position and destroyed it. I believe he was awarded for that action.
Blithe actually lived and went on to fight in the Korean War. Nobody in Easy Company knew that he survived as he never talked with any of them ever again. When this show was made, there was no internet to verify what happened to him, absolutely nobody who worked on the show had any clue he survived until this episode released and upon Blithe’s family watching it, they contacted HBO correcting the mistake.
Stephen Ambrose, who wrote the book that the mini series was written from, could have looked through army records, and found out what happened to him, but he didn't bother.
Okay, I had to subscribe. Seeing how emotionally invested you are getting to these men is showing through with your reaction. Along for the ride now. You picked a great series to react to.
Blithe was dealing with a type of shell shock and was having trouble taking in where he was and like he said he was scared and finally accepted the fact he was already dead and began to function like he was supposed to but got wounded before he could continue
I learned from another reactor who's a college history instructor that Blithe actually saw the sniper who shot him. Instead of shooting at him first, he did what they did during training and called out "bang," which clued the sniper in to his position to shoot him. I guess that's one drawback of the paratroopers training for more than twice as long as regular infantry.
When Blithe was blind momentarily he was experiencing a psychosomatic disorder. It's where mental issues causes a physical symptom pretty much. It's has happened to people who have gone through trauma, like temporary blindness or being "paralyzed" after a tornado. They aren't actually paralyzed, it's just the experience was traumatic enough to make them think they were. Usually, therapy helps with this and in Blythe's case---it appears Winters comforting him was therapy enough. The most common psychosomatic symptoms are stomach issues---think nervousness for an upcoming interview. This can sometimes lead to stomach issues like diarrhea, stomach ulcers, and even IBS.
Although Blithe's case in this ep was historically inaccurate. the sufferings of all these veterans still speak volumes. Your compassion and caring for the characters only shows how bad the war can be, and why sane individuals should try everything to avoid it. Shout out from a little Taiwan fan.
"That's an MG-42" The MG-42, aka "Hitler's buzz-saw shot 1,550 rounds of high-velocity, 7.92 millimeter ammunition per minute, a rate of fire that roughly works out to 25 rounds per second. Essentially, if you heard "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt" your pucker factor went up considerably. It was the meanest troop machine gun during that time.
This is true and that made it an effective weapon in a defensive action. However the fast rate of fire made it an inaccurate weapon. This was down to Hitler's orders for the fastest machine gun in the world. A strategic genius he was not! The British bren gun had a much slower rate of fire but could put rounds down on a target consistently. A much better weapon for an assault action and chewed through far less ammo making resupply less of an issue.
Blithe survived and served during the Korean War. He was awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star for actions during the Korean War and a Purple Heart for his neck wound in Normandy. He remained in the Army until the 60's and was one of the longest serving original Easy Company soldiers. "He earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. That's a good man." -Major Dick Winters correcting HBO
"He can't do this! He doesn't even want to be here!" So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.
There were reports that the air sickness tabs the troops were given at the last minute had adverse reactions with some of them. Dramamine has a way of making some very sleepy, dopey, and otherwise disoriented.
Where he blacked out randomly with headache, it could be the condition Hysterical Blindness, or, There is a condition called an Acephalgic Migraine or an migraine with aura. Where a headache messes with your eyes by restricting blood flow. It can cause color blindness, and also regular blindness. edit: this comment is now redundant as I later saw he was diagnosed with hysterical blindness
Regarding the speech Speirs gave: It may not be what Blithe wanted to hear, but it's what he NEEDED to hear. Once you're in that situation most of the fear and panic and hesitation is caused by the hope you'll get out of there somehow, and that fear and hesitation can cause you or others to die. The best way to make it through is just to stop caring whether or not you do.
True courage is being afraid to die, to lose those limbs, and suffer, and doing the right thing anyways. These men entered the hell of war to fight one of the greatest evils of the Twentieth century.
I imagine perspectives are kind of on a spectrum between idealistic "We will all get through this together" to the more pessimistic like how Speirs thinks right?
4:04 😬 Marine Corps (MOUT) training manual doctrine teaches to extensively use frag grenades when room clearing in urban environments 5:40 And 7:17 temporary blindness is a PTSD aka (shell shock) side affect, it happens when you experience a lot of fear that lingers for a long period of time till eventually your mind just gives up, the fear will linger for PTSD diagnosed troops long after the war is over so they unfortunately never stopped feeling that fear of death, this will lead to many veterans committing suicide because they can’t take the fear anymore and they just want it to end Imagine just being scared all the time and that fear never goes away, it takes a toll on your heart and your body and it damages you emotionally he should have been medically separated right there and then and sent home with full VA benefits and given medical help, sadly little was known about PTSD back in WW2 and they just dismissed it as he was scared but they believed he could just easily get over it 2:59 if your not maneuvering under fire by suppression of fire on your enemy, then your enemy will pin you down and maneuver on you by flanking or buddy rushes They could not just stay there pinned down like that People think that War is just 2 sides shooting at each other, but in reality there’s so much running around involved and it’s all to get your team in superior position over your enemy 4:17 😨 um..? .. tourniquet 4:54 under the Geneva conventions we can’t shoot non combatants like Priest, medics, etc., plus it’s just morally wrong and I’m sure the Germans were religious as well 6:13 on D-day the troops were all given an order to NOT take any prisoners because they would hinder mobility during the first Allied invasion assault against Germany, Troops were only allowed to shoot prisoners only on D-day so these orders had an expiration time till (d-day +1) 7:46 best advice ever ….. use your body like your borrowing it, give up all hope of peace and except your fate in war as if that’s your life job now, (( mission accomplishment is the only thing that matters )) if you still have hope of home and peace then your mind will be els where and not on the war and this will cause depression 12:37 believe it or not but he actually survived, HBO made a mistake when producing this show and didn’t do their research good enough, but yea he survived and went on to fight in several other battles
Yup...my uncle landed in Normandy D-Day + 12. He said when clearing a building/house/hut/room, the first thing in was a grenade (or 2), then a GI with a Thompson or Greaser (M3 Grease Gun), both .45 caliber, and shot anything that moved or any noise they heard. He said unfortunately, some civilians were wounded and/or killed, but...it happened.
@@jedclampett4215 Same thing happened in Falluja, a lot of civilians died, however the Marine gave an advance warning to the city and told everyone to leave but for some odd reasons a lot of them stood
Of course there are families there!! Where do you think wars are fought, in some specific area where everyone leaves. NO, wars are fought in towns, in villages, at farms, in streets, in homes, etc, etc.. Why a surprise that families are there?!?!
There's a book by Steven pressfield called Gates of Fire which details the journey of a member of the 300 Spartans who had survived the battle long enough to tell his story. There's a section in there where Leonidas addresses his troops after a battle (this is some years before the battle of Thermopylae) that you should check out
Generally the rule is that you don't shoot medics, although they did get killed: a bullet or an artillery shell in its ballistic arc neither knows nor cares if it ends up hitting a medic. Also depending on what theater of the war you were in, being a medic actually made you a bigger target. This episode is about fear, specifically overcoming or dealing with it. Lieutenant Welsh dealt with it by thinking of the war as simply a game to be won. Speirs dealt with it by considering himself dead (not a new philosophy, actually). Blithe deals with it ultimately through sheer force (in no small part thanks to Winters).
One of the main reasons everyone thought Blithe died is he never returned to his unit, so they figured he didn't make it. What happened is he spent so long recovering from his wound he was reassigned to the 17th Airborne Division that was just arriving in Europe when he was released from the hospital.
he had blidness cause by stress, it is real. i have a friend that got temporarily blind a couple of times from the stress. it was a way of her brain to tell her she had to fucking stop for a bit. "ouch" really sums up this show, tbh XD
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Also Speirs talked to Blithe the way he did to tell him not to hesitate. You hesitate, you die or others die. If you do your job and show no fear in the face of hell itself you have a chance of living.
Spiers was one of the best career soldiers, he knows whats up
LET EM HAVE IT, BLITHE! And the cartridge spins and spins. Its one of my favorite scenes of all time, any production. Brilliant visual.
As others pointed out, Blithe did actually recover, and he was awarded a Purple Heart. I believe the reason for the discrepancy is that Ambrose (the author) interviewed vets to get their stories, and they just never heard from Blithe after the war and assumed he died.
you might want to watch 1:00 again
This show was researched meticulously and written from the journals of the men, and particularly the writings of Ambrose. The fog of war is a truly staggering thing, it's almost impossible to make sense of anything. It wasn't until the 1960s when Blithe suddenly showed up to an EZ company reunion that anyone knew he survived. He was shot in the neck and wasn't seen for 2 decades (before the internet or before most people even had telephones) what were they supposed to think? This was a period where interstate highways were a radical concept. Keeping in touch with people was pretty difficult.
There is also a huge inaccuracy about Lt Dyke. He was actually shot twice in the chest while leading the attack on Foy in episode 7. He was a pencil pusher and a well connected college boy... however, many men wrote that he was a coward and broke down in combat. In reality he was mortally wounded at the onset of the attack before being relieved by Lt Spears. No one knew how gravely he was injured because of his heavy winter clothing. Much like Blithe, no one saw him again for decades, and his reputation was ruined because of the fog of war.
Two of the other guys attended a funeral for a man with the exact same name, believing it was the same Blithe who had been with them. They reported attending the funeral to Ambrose. The wounds Blithe from Easy Company received did kill him, though. He became an alcoholic and died from complications related to that.
@@saltwatertaffybag Thanks for the info. Not sure that Dike was mortally wounded though. That means a wound that kills you. I think he weenr on to serve in Korea.
What's interesting with Blithe is Ambrose decided he died of his wounds in 1948. Two big assumptions given people simply didn't hear from him for a long time. He came to several reunions in the 60's though so I'm surprised no one mentioned this in the research
@@DJLtravelvids Blithe dying in 1948 was a rumor that no one knows the origin of. Someone heard it from a buddy in D company who got a letter from his mom in the same town Blithe was from, who heard it from her second cousins son in law and blah blah blah. Somehow this became the narrative between the men of EZ and they believed it to be the truth.
As far as "mortally wounded" it generally means that without immediate medical care it is a lethal wound. Left untreated you will die, but if you have access to medical supplies and a good doctor you might survive. There have actually been men shot through the heart who have lived thanks to absurd amounts of blood transfusions, oxygen therapy, and an ungodly amount of surgery under a medically induced coma.
Everyone has the same reaction to Speirs...until you realize that men like Speirs helped win the war. Same with "Wild" Bill Guarnere. Winters called them natural born killers and meant it as a complement.
Admiral King once said of General Patton, "Whenever you're in trouble, you call the SOBs." They're the ones who can be counted on to get you out of a jam.
Civilians are baffled by Speirs. Veterans love him.
@@timroebuck3458 Haha, I just watched Midway today, and they had Admiral King say that to Nimitz when he turns over command.
Blithe had Hysterical Blindness - now known as a part of Conversion Disorder.
"Conversion disorder (CD), or functional neurologic symptom disorder, is a diagnostic category used in some psychiatric classification systems. It is sometimes applied to patients who present with neurological symptoms, such as numbness, blindness, paralysis, or fits, which are not consistent with a well-established organic cause, which cause significant distress, and can be traced back to a psychological trigger. It is thought that these symptoms arise in response to stressful situations affecting a patient's mental health or an ongoing mental health condition such as depression."
You are over thinking it no need to confuse everyone he was a coward
@@danielduffy3489 oof
@@danielduffy3489 it's a physical manifestation of fear. It's easy for couch captain to call him a coward.
@@danielduffy3489 Don't be an idiot.
@@danielduffy3489
Temporary blindness is a PTSD side effect from prolonged fear, being shell shocked causes neurological damage and will lead troops to feeling fear all the time even long after the war is over which is why many veterans commit suicide because they just want the fear to end
4:35 Edward Tipper was his name. Artillery shell and shrapnel shredded his legs and he lost an eye. He survived though, but had to walk with a cane from then on. Married in his 60s and his daughter gave an interview in the documentary made alongside this series. Passed away in his 90s back in 2017.
Kerry Tipper is also a politician in the Colorado House of Representatives
Albert Blithe survived, and, went on to have a highly distinguished Army career. He served in Korea, and, was awarded a Silver Star, 3 Bronze Stars, 3 Purple Hearts, the Army of Occupation Medal, Master Parachutist's Badge, Combat Infantryman Badge, Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal w/ 3 clasps, and, the National Defense Sevice Medal. He had attained the rank of Master Sergeant when he passed away of a perforated ulcer, in an Army hospital in Weisbaden, Germany, in 1967.
i thought it said he died in 1948
@@thesnazzycomet The show does say he died in 1948 for some inexplicable reason. As far as we know the reason the producers messed this up is that after Normandy the men of Easy Company lost contact with Blithe and just figured he must've died of his wounds, and since the show is based on Steven E. Ambrose's work on compiling war stories from the soldiers of Easy, this is the information that was used. Very strange that no one looked up his service record to verify though.
@@Bottle-OBill was gonna say because you made him see like quite the icon so weird they just missed it altogether
There is a Dick Winters interview on UA-cam where he talks a little about Blithe and his Korean War service.
@@thesnazzycomet A lot of the guys would've lost contact with him due to the fact that they left the Army at the end of the war, and, Blithe stayed in.
4:55 All Sides in WW2 shot Medics, Priests and Civilians, the general aproach for the european theatre was not to aim and fire directly on medics, priests or civilians as long as they are not armed.
Which is hard to identify in the heat of battle. In between battles medics of both sides would go onto the battlefield to seek out wounded, no matter the side they fought for.
The japanese on the other hand were merciless, the common soldier got direct orders to shoot medics and priests and if neccesary use civilians as shields. "The Americans will send 5 men to safe a wounded medic, they will make themselves easy targets"
The eastern front was extremly gruesome and german medics discarded their medic armbands because it made them priority targets, while russian nurses (if armed) were shot on sight acording to inofficial orders of the german high command.
The eastern front and the pacific theater were a war of pure hatred.
Sorry for the rant, i wanted to make it clear that even though war make us all mad there is humanity remaining.
Yes, the western front was about as civilized as war gets. Which is not that much, but as not as bad as it could. There were actual rules that were mostly followed.
Some people are just extremely naive to the evils of men. They can’t seem to fathom that people do cruel things, like her thinking the Germans wouldn’t shoot priests or medics, I actually let out a laugh when she said that. I guess some just don’t want to think about it and hide from it.
Also, good luck making that kind of fine visual distinction in that kind of combat situation. You stick your head out from cover as little as possible, see a human-shaped figure in an enemy uniform, then stick your rifle out, shoot as fast as you can, then duck back. The camera work tries to capture this in this show and does a pretty good job, but there's no way to really portray the effects of all the fear/rage/stress hormones going through those involved.
Yes….generally speaking firing on medics is not condone however there are some instances where Germans as well as Americans have fired on a medic…..however in combat….stray bullets can hit anyone
Speirs is one of the best characters in the show, and their depiction of him is fantastic. He comes across was an insane, borderline mythical super soldier in the first half of the series largely because that's how easy company viewed him, since they didn't interact with him that much. In the second half, they really show how human he actually was, and how insanely loyal he was to his men, and how much he cared about them.
Guys, please don't recommend The Pacific to her...She's going to have nightmares.
Hot take, Pacific is better than BoB (both excellent by the way)
She must watch that series...Its something she will need to work up the courage for! 😉
Kinda the point. Isn't it?
this series will probably set off a few nightmares by itself. But after she finishes, the documentary clip 'we stand alone together' is a great one to watch.
@@alexsingh1429 No way, Band Of Brothers is better.
The guy who saved his parachute for the wedding dress...that's real! I saw it at the Museum at Fort Campbell when I was stationed there.
Lots of soldiers did that. They even collected parachutes from other soldiers who either died or did not want them and mailed them back as soon as they could so the fiances got them before they died.
If she's freaking out so much in this episode there is no way she's going to be able to handle the later episodes.
Imagine her reacting to The Pacific. All that blood and gore...
Bless her, she should have some tissues ready for episodes 6 & 7.
@@Zurvan101 she’s gonna need an entire box for episode 9
@@Leviathan_117 Episode 9 is going to hit her really hard. That was the most difficult episode for me.
@@ShadowMoon878 forget the blood and gore. What about the brutality?
Oh, Just a heads up. Everything Speirs does in this show. The actual Speirs did in real life. The man is a complete badass.
Amen.
even the war crimes?
@@bhimbonggames3206 no war crimes, they had orders not to take PW's during the 1st few days as they wouldn't have any were to hold or man power to guard them. and the shooting of his own man was justified as he was drunk refusing a direct order & pulled his weapon 1st and their were witnesses
@@bhimbonggames3206 paratroopers weren’t in a position to take prisoners. By definition they were supposed to be surrounded by the enemy, dropped in way behind the lines. If they took prisoners, they wouldn’t be able to do their job and could put the success of entire operations at risk. If they let them go, they’d just join back up with their forces and come back to attack them again.
@@bhimbonggames3206 Killing POWs wasn’t a war crime then.
•Actually, D-Day has passed. As the war continues, they mark it as D-Day + x. The series covers the company throughout the war.
•The edelweiss thing is more for mountain divisions. It is also a great song from The Sound of Music.
•They signed up to fight, so they go into the machine gun fire. That's the reality of war.
•Families and German soldiers.
•Indeed, the Germans did try to keep to the Geneva Convention. The Japanese, on the other hand, would shoot a priest or medic without hesitation. They operated on a completely different set of rules for war.
•It's called conversion disorder or hysterical blindness.
•Yes because in the darkness of night, Talbert looked like a German.
•M1 Finger is a thing, which is why one should take care in loading and reloading a M1 Garand (great rifle for hunting hogs).
•US reinforcements, courtesy of the 2nd Armored. They're driving M4 Sherman tanks, named in honor of Civil War General William T. Sherman.
•Quick clarification - Blithe really did survive. He fell out of touch with the rest of the company, so the general assumption was that he died. He actually lived until 1967, when he died from a perforated ulcer.
"M1 Finger" well that's my first time hearing it, always heard of Garand Thumb but not M1 Finger LMAO
The Geneva Convention fads away, the closer to the sharp end you get. On D-Day, the 12th SS captured 20 Canadians, they were taken the HQ, then executed. It is estimated that they executed up to 164 Canadian prisoners during the Normandy phase. The Canadians didn't take SS prisoners after that.
@@demonlordoftheroundtable2456 Garand Thumb gave himself Garand Thumb on his channel Garand Thumb. It's not nearly as bad as you'd think. More of a pinch than any actual injury.
The germans did not try to keep to the geneva convention. Not at all. They killed off millions of PoWs. They executed civilians. I mean, really, thats just a very wrong claim. I am not sure about medics, but i doubt they cared about them, at least in the east.
@@IIBloodXLustII uhhhhhh.... thanks?
The German soldier with the edelweiss flower was part of one of the most elite elements of the German Wehrmacht, the paratrooper or Fallschirmjäger. They were instrumental in taking Norway and played a strategic role in capturing Crete island. Their training and dicipline is legendary. Jäger in both German and Danish means 'hunter'. To this day, the Danish special forces are named Jägers and served in Iraq and in the mountains of Afghanistan hunting high-value targets.
4:48 Actually fun fact if everyone hasn't pointed it out yet.
That actor who plays the Irish priest offering prayers is Doug Cockle. He's Geralt's Voice Actor from The Witcher games. ❤
Oh shit, had no idea haha. That's sick.
One my uncles went in the day after D Day and was a medic with an infantry unit. A few months later he was patching up a wounded G.I. and German came up behind him and bayoneted him in the back. He did live though.
IOW, no, the Germans did not spare medics or priests in the field...
Blythe suffered from a case of what was called hysterical blindness. Sometimes, the brain just can't process what it is seeing so just turns it off. Hysterical blindness sufferers can still see, their brain just refuses to process it. BTW, the tank running over the German soldier was real. The stuntman was in a reinforced trench so the tank wouldn't actually harm him. I think he had to shoot it a couple of times.
Temporary blindness is a PTSD side effect from prolonged fear, being shell shocked causes neurological damage and will lead troops to feeling fear all the time even long after the war is over which is why many veterans commit suicide because they just want the fear to end
Flight instead of fight. Sorta the opposite of blind rage where your body can still see and fight but you wont be there in the moment and it will come back as a memory. Like a quick jump of hitting Fast forward on your life.
@@jayeisenhardt1337
read my first comment
When I was in Iraq, my platoon mates and I adopted an idea that we could die at any moment. It was just inevitable; battle was way too chaotic. Thus, when it was our time, it was our time. But damn if we didn't do our best to stay alive and have fun doing it. Keeping our buddies alive meant that they would help keep us alive, so everyone was important to the mission, as long as they did their part. We were lucky; we didn't lose anyone in our company, but we lost friends and people we knew outside of it. Did we think we were already dead? I don't know if anyone looked at it specifically like that, but I understand. Speirs was out of line, but he was right.
On my first training exercise I thought about my dad facing possibly the last moment of his life day after day from when the BEF went to France until VE Day, by that time he was one of a small group to survive physically unharmed in his battalion, I couldn’t do any less and face him after.
I understand man. Speirs was like trying to drum this into Blithe's head: If you think you are already dead, you will not be scared anymore and do things more efficiently and hey, your chances of survival actually gets higher.
7:30 Actually, Talbert as depicted onscreen had actually been wearing a german raincoat that he had found and kept for himself as a spoil of war. So he really was mistaken as an enemy soldier and then got stabbed as a result.
Which is why Smith said he "looked like a Kraut."
Combat soldiers are most often very young men who typically have no inherent desire to harm anyone, even similarly young enemy soldiers. You might be interested to know about the Christmas Truce during WWI. Rather than a formal truce it involved soldiers in trenches on both sides, along some portions of the front, exchanging recognizable Christmas carols which led to soldiers from both sides taking a chance and meeting in no man's land where they exchanged items and even played football (soccer) together. Military higher ups were so disturbed by soldiers on both sides meeting peacefully that they threatened severe penalties for fraternizing with the enemy in the future. Thus the individual soldiers were thrown back into combat with each other.
Sabaton did a amazing song and music on the topic -ua-cam.com/video/HPdHkHslFIU/v-deo.html
And then Mustache Man reported it to his higher ups (on his stretch of the Trenches), man really hated love/fun
The edelweiss is actually a minor inaccuracy for Fallshirmjaeger (paratroopers of the German army). Basically, the edelweiss on the collar is a symbol of the Gebirgsjaegers (Mountain troops). If a Gebirgsjaeger saw that Fallshirmjaeger with that edelweiss, the para would get his ass kicked, due in large part to the mountain troops feeling an enourmous amount of martial pride attached to their edelweiss.
A similar thing existed with US paratroopers about their jump boots. If any non-paratrooper was found wearing jump boots, that's an ass kicking.
The Germans may have held some respect on shooting medics, but in the Pacific theater it was different. Japanese soldiers made shooting US medics their priority. There will be more difficult scenes ahead. /comfort. Thank you though, for watching and sharing.
Blithe loosing sight was the result of sheer shock. "Hysterical blindness". He actually survive that shot in the neck so he got to live until 1967. He even fought in Korea :o!
The story about the Edelweiss are true but the only German soldiers that was allowed to wear them was the elite soldiers of the Mountain Divisions. It was worn as a patches and pins on their uniform. They was never on the western front. They was located in the Alps.
Blithe Died in 1967. It was a mistake on HBO because they was fallowing the Steven Ambrose novel "Band of Brothers" and in the book they didn't know top because after Blithe got shot in Normandy people from Easy Company thought he had died because no one knew of his whereabouts.
The Battle of Carentan and then the Battle of the Bloody Gultch/Hill 30 was a engagement where Easy Company dug in and held their ground after Dog and Fox Company on their left flank gave way due to the heavy German assault. They slowed and delayed the German attack long enough for Lieutenant General Bradley to maneuver the 2nd Armor Division to Carentan.
Jesus! Can you imagine her as we get further into the series? 🙈
Speirs explanation of a soldier is one of the most accurate dialogue in this entire series.
I admire your empathy. You're wise beyond your years.
Hysterical blindness is actually a thing. And I think that some of them thought Blithe had died...but I saw something that said he later served in the Korean War (?)
I don't know how many times Ive seen Band of Brothers but its a lot combined with watching people react for the first time to the show. I will always live in awe of the men and women of the allied forces and underground resistance fighters of WW2.
12:00. This was before the UK decimalized their currency, so the British Pound had 20 Shillings, each Shilling had 12 pence or 24 half-pence coins to navigate. That didn’t change to 100 pence per Pound until 1971
I have some pre decimalisation coins somewhere, they would have been a nightmare for anyone unfamiliar with them.
Private Blithe was the bomb as Mr. Teatime in Hogfather.
"Johathan Tey-ah-tah-me. At your service." "You mean...like around four o'clock in the afternoon?"
4:55 Yes they did combat medics were primary targets for snipers.
No, medics were not primary targets. According to the Geneva Convention(1929), intentionally shooting at medics is a war crime. Depending on circumstances it did happen, but it wasn't common among Western armies. The Japanese, however, always shot at medics.
@@richardstephens5570 The germans didn't care about the Geneva Convention so yes they did target medics too.
Every time Carentan is reviewed it has to be said.....Albert blithe did not die in 1948....he made it back home, re-enlisted in the airborne for the Korean War, made another combat jump, was awarded a silver star. He stayed in the army for the rest of his life, dying in 1967, of a health issue in germany, at the rank of Master Sergeant. As Richard Winters said in an interview many years later: Albert Blithe was scared. But he went back for Korea and handled himself very well and got it together, making the army his career. He won the silver star and 3 bronze stars....they don't just give those away".
Conversion disorder, basically extreme stress causes physical symptoms ranging from paralysis, blindness and pain.
Dear Vee, "War is hell!" said William Tecumseh Sherman & I pretty much agree with him on that statement!
War is worse than hell. Everyone in hell deserves to be there. In war it's mainly the innocent who suffer
Soldiers and airmen really did send home parachutes to be made into Wedding Dresses. Parachutes were usually made of silk, a rare commodity in most nations once the war cut off trade with most of (Japanese-controlled) Asia. It and other fancy fabrics were hard to get due to wartime shortages, even in the US. My own Grandfather was a gunner on a B-17 bomber, and after his plane was destroyed on the ground during a mission to Russian-held territory, he salvaged his (damaged) chute and got permission to send it home. He and a buddy divided up the undamaged part of the chute and sent it home to their sweethearts. A year later, me married my future Grandma and she wore a wedding dress she'd sewn from that silk parachute.
And about 75 years later, his Granddaughter, one of my cousins, got married in the same dress.
*That look on Vkunia's face when that Panzer turned that German soldier into a Kartoffelkuchen.*
The spot on the ground was actually hollowed out with a crash pad underneath, so the stuntman who got "run over" was pressed into the hole on the pad, resulting in a shot that made it look like he got squished by the tank.
@@AdderTude ya I know that. I've own the special edition DVD box set since it came out around 2001 or 2002. Plus I've seen all documentaries on Easy company and the making of Band of Brothers.
Hysterical blindness - I've seen it a few times in my life. Brain just nopes your eyes out.
In guessing it's your brains response to seeing traumatic things but idk I'm no expert lol
While edelwiess is used as a sybolic thing here, there is real context to this. In reality Blithe would have never seen it because there were fighting fallshirmjager, german were paratroopers. They would not have edelwiess, it was only worn by Gebirgsjager, mountain divisions, and what nixon says is true, it grows high in the mountain so the ultimate test were moutiain toops was to go and get it, this was so significant in fact that the service pin for Gebirgsjager was an edelweiss flower.
and yes as others stated blithe did survive, the reason it says he didn't is 1. he never talked to anyone after the war, the men of Easy thought he was dead cause they never saw him again. 2. When writing the book, Ambrose took the guy's word for it. And when the series was made the writers figured Ambrose verified this seeing as he talked to the vets. 3. When the book and movie were made in the 90s the internet didn't exist as it does now, they couldn't just look it up.
Great episode. Also one of the few times in history paratroopers fought paratroopers. The Fallshirmjager is the name for German paratroopers who were being used as foot infantry because of manpower issues at the time and the desperate need for experienced troops. The 101st/82nd and German paratroopers would meet again during many skirmishes throughout France/Holland as German units splintered and battle grouos were made up of whatever and whoever happened to be there among the retreating Germans.
The road to Carentan was bloody as paratroopers faced off against paratroopers. They skipped that part in this series.
Its a great topic for analysis really.
The "Lions of Carentan"(6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment) were the first german unit to engage and defeat US forces on D Day, tenaciously defended the Carentan Causeway aka "Purple Hearth Lane" , held the town in a desperate rearguard action and in the battle of the bloody gulch they routed the 101st Airborne and retook the trainyard while the 17th SS Division was destroyed.
They were a pain in the allied plans as was its parent Division at Festung Brest and the 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division in the British AO.
The 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne proved themselfs worthy opponents and had mutual respect for each other with chivalrous acts happening between both forces.
The book by Volker Griesser "Lions of Carentan " is a must read amongts others depicting both sides.
Paratrooper vs Paratrooper clashes are rare in history but they are unique.
Fun fact: the actor who played the chaplain (Captain Maloney) is Doug Cockle, who would go on to provide the English voice for Geralt of Rivia in the Witcher games.
UNA SALUS VICTUS NULLAM SPERARE SALUTEM (The only hope of the doomed is not to hope for safety) is a quote from Virgil's Aeneid. That Spiers paraphrases this to Blithe is probably meant to demonstrate that there is more to Speirs than meets the eye. He is a well educated or well read man.He knows his classics. Later in the series he talks about Tersius and the Catheginians. He is thoughtful and deliberate when at rest but a dervish when in action.
My own favrite scene of the episode is the one where Winters goads Blithe into firing his rifle. The power of firing back, of doing something takes away Blithe's feeling of helplessness. By going through the motions he has been trained to do, Blithe snaps out of his fear and manages to cope with the situation in front of him. It is something that rang true to me the first time I saw the series. It didn't matter to Winters that Blithe was firing blindly and not hitting anything. The important thing was his breaking the pattern of inaction.
4:03 "I'm glad they didn't grenade them."
There were times they did.
Band of Brothers is the greatest war movie ever made. My wife and I binge it ever Veterans' Day, sometimes on Memorial Day as well. It never gets old. Fun fact: Tom Hardy is in the movie towards the end. See if you can recognize him.
4:22 Usually when they film those scenes, the actors or extras already are amputees or missing limbs. So explosions or filming their limbs being blown off is actually pretty simple since all they have to do is attach a fake limb and then film it being pulled off or ripped off.
This is one of the mistakes made in Band of Brothers. Albert Blithe did indeed recover and went on to serve in Korea. The confusion occurred because some of the men attended a funeral for an Albert Blithe and believed it was their former comrade, when in fact it was a different Albert Blithe.
read 1:00
Is that why? Damn that’s the equivalent of when Tom Hanks meets the wrong Pvt. Ryan in Saving Private Ryan.
As a fun non-war-related fact of this episode, the actor that played the priest during the assault on Carentan is Doug Cockle. He voices Geralt of Rivia in the Witcher games. I always think of Geralt with a quen shield blessing the dying with a prayer to Melitele. Hang tough Vk, it gets......gnarly.
9:36 SO CLOSE. Yes there are individuals but the majority of the comman soldiers on ther german side, jsut as the US, UK and basicly all other factions of the war, where jsut doing their duty. In case of germany often not even really on their free will.
classifing them all jsut as "the bad guys" is a massive oversimplification.
Yeah, It's sad but understandable that most people who never remotely read up on WW2 believe "Oh all germans were na*is and hated j*ws!" which is the furthest from the truth.
I watched an interview with Major Winters. He said the series didn`t do Blithe justice. Apparently he also fought in the Korean war, bacame first seargant(the same rank that Lipton had in Bastogne) and got both a silver and a bronze star for efforts in the war.
3:27 The one thing that made that grenade attack possible was that the 2nd gunner ( who took over after the 1st gunner went down ) pointed his MG42 to the RIGHT & ended up cutting off his vision of everything to the LEFT. He ended up giving himself a blindspot. That's some pretty good attention to detail from the director. I didn't even notice that until now.
Blithe actually did survived. It's just sad that none of the men he fought alongside knew he was alive. I heard he recovered but just got transferred to another unit. Ended up fighting in the Korean War and earning medals. Then dying of old age I think. I can't remember. The men of easy didn't learn that he survived until after the show was already done and filmed. Blithe wife told them I think. It's what I heard so I don't knwo if some info might be true or false.
Recovered by the end of the war, ended up staying, then fighting in Korea. High honors and all. Then stayed again and was stationed in Germany during the Cold War. Developed a drinking problem and nervous issues. Felt unwell after a Bastonge reunion/travel, ended up going to the hospital and died of a perforated ulcer during surgery. Think he was 45 or something like that. Buried in Arlington.
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@@Zenon0K thank you for the info. Appreciate it 🙏 💯
@@flobb91 the one thing I missed in the video cause I didn't pause the video when I went to the bathroom. Great. Thanks for telling me
@@flobb91 Dah. Saw something while packing a pipe. Saw "disclaimer" and figured it was the fair use warning everyone has to put up now a days.
-Blithe was out of it due to the air sickness pills that were given before the jump.
-Perconte is what is known as a "scrounger" Some collect stuff that they can use, others do it to fence the items later. Perconte is the latter
-Talbert was wearing a captured German Zeltbahn, or shelter quarter. He was using it as a rainslicker like the Germans did, so wearing it made him look German.
-The Edelweiss is more a symbol of the Gebergsjäger than the Fallschirmjäger.
Blithe was shook. he was alone in enemy country for gods know how long after missing his drop zone. the reason he was staring at the sky was mild shell shock. his mind could not handle the stress of the situation and made him retreat inwardly.
the reason for saying that he has to accept he is already dead is quite simple. you signed up with the military during war times. That means going to fight the enemy. if you are not prepared to face your own mortality on the battlefield, how on earrth to you ever expect to yourself to strip others of theirs?
"Shell shock" was what it was called at the time, though I think, by WWII, it was starting to be called "combat fatigue" or "battle fatigue", now it's called PTSD.
@@StarkRG you forgot, operational exhaustion
I have some weird vision issue where if I get overwhelmed with anxiety from big crowds (or to much attention on myself), my vision blacks out. Doctors can't fully explain it. I imagine the soldier went through the same sort of thing. Anxiety and stress do weird things to the body.
The hardest scene for me in this episode was the very end where Malarkey goes to retrieve his laundry. It is disheartening from several angles. First is the obvious of the woman asking him to pay for the laundry his killed or wounded friends and comrades left behind, the understandable grief he felt for their loss and the reminder of it. Second, he is leaving England for good, a place that was still mostly safe and a bit like home, having the realization that he'll be in an active war zone until his job is done. Finally, it's a reminder that every one of his friends and comrades face a long and treacherous road ahead not knowing if they'll make it through to the end of the war. Truly a great scene in a masterpiece of television.
The edelweiss is a mountain division insignia and symbol, and no one else would dare take one. It would be like taking a paratrooper's jump wings or jump boots. One thing the show gets wrong... But hey, this level of detail being picked on just shows how incredibly excellent it is
That the Worst thing about fighting in Built up areas . Every corner can be a deathtrap, Every rooftop or basement can hold a sniper or a machinegun. You just never know which direction the next shot is coming from.
I am glad you're watching this. As hard as it is sometimes (okay a lot of the time), it's an important piece of history to appreciate.
Blithe ended up being a highly valued and respected officer for many years. The BoB book and show really did him a disservice whilst everything else was pretty top notch all round
I think the way that Blithe was portrayed was necessary however he was one hell of a soldier that recovered and fought in Korea infact he jumped into combat again and he landed on top of an enemy position and destroyed it. I believe he was awarded for that action.
Blithe actually lived and went on to fight in the Korean War. Nobody in Easy Company knew that he survived as he never talked with any of them ever again. When this show was made, there was no internet to verify what happened to him, absolutely nobody who worked on the show had any clue he survived until this episode released and upon Blithe’s family watching it, they contacted HBO correcting the mistake.
Stephen Ambrose, who wrote the book that the mini series was written from, could have looked through army records, and found out what happened to him, but he didn't bother.
I have no idea why they didn't go back and correct it. It's an east editing correction considering it's simply a screen with text.
Thanks for including the message about blithe
Okay, I had to subscribe. Seeing how emotionally invested you are getting to these men is showing through with your reaction. Along for the ride now. You picked a great series to react to.
Blithe was dealing with a type of shell shock and was having trouble taking in where he was and like he said he was scared and finally accepted the fact he was already dead and began to function like he was supposed to but got wounded before he could continue
It’s a great series as you follow the guys through Europe
I learned from another reactor who's a college history instructor that Blithe actually saw the sniper who shot him. Instead of shooting at him first, he did what they did during training and called out "bang," which clued the sniper in to his position to shoot him. I guess that's one drawback of the paratroopers training for more than twice as long as regular infantry.
When Blithe was blind momentarily he was experiencing a psychosomatic disorder. It's where mental issues causes a physical symptom pretty much. It's has happened to people who have gone through trauma, like temporary blindness or being "paralyzed" after a tornado. They aren't actually paralyzed, it's just the experience was traumatic enough to make them think they were. Usually, therapy helps with this and in Blythe's case---it appears Winters comforting him was therapy enough. The most common psychosomatic symptoms are stomach issues---think nervousness for an upcoming interview. This can sometimes lead to stomach issues like diarrhea, stomach ulcers, and even IBS.
Although Blithe's case in this ep was historically inaccurate. the sufferings of all these veterans still speak volumes. Your compassion and caring for the characters only shows how bad the war can be, and why sane individuals should try everything to avoid it.
Shout out from a little Taiwan fan.
This show is better every time I see it! Thanks, V!
War is not a black and white concept but WW2 is arguably the closest it comes for the particular circumstances.
"That's an MG-42"
The MG-42, aka "Hitler's buzz-saw shot 1,550 rounds of high-velocity, 7.92 millimeter ammunition per minute, a rate of fire that roughly works out to 25 rounds per second. Essentially, if you heard "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt" your pucker factor went up considerably. It was the meanest troop machine gun during that time.
This is true and that made it an effective weapon in a defensive action. However the fast rate of fire made it an inaccurate weapon. This was down to Hitler's orders for the fastest machine gun in the world. A strategic genius he was not!
The British bren gun had a much slower rate of fire but could put rounds down on a target consistently. A much better weapon for an assault action and chewed through far less ammo making resupply less of an issue.
@@Zurvan101 I agree. I should have put in a caveate that it was better as a defensive weapon.
Blithe survived and served during the Korean War. He was awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star for actions during the Korean War and a Purple Heart for his neck wound in Normandy. He remained in the Army until the 60's and was one of the longest serving original Easy Company soldiers.
"He earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. That's a good man." -Major Dick Winters correcting HBO
Blithe squad dropping in faster than the 82nd Airborne
Love your health felt reactions, especially the breakdown of the episode in the end. Great format!
They really need to do a update on BOB to fix some of the errors, maybe give a little more info on some background. It wouldnt hurt the series at all.
they need to amend the script at the end and correct the Blithe ending.
6:04 who would have known that VK would make such a good Drill Sergent?
Blithe did return to combat but with anouther unit. Stayed in Army rose to the rack of Master Sgt. Died in 1968 of an infection
"He can't do this! He doesn't even want to be here!"
So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.
There were reports that the air sickness tabs the troops were given at the last minute had adverse reactions with some of them. Dramamine has a way of making some very sleepy, dopey, and otherwise disoriented.
good point.
Where he blacked out randomly with headache, it could be the condition Hysterical Blindness, or,
There is a condition called an Acephalgic Migraine or an migraine with aura.
Where a headache messes with your eyes by restricting blood flow.
It can cause color blindness, and also regular blindness.
edit: this comment is now redundant as I later saw he was diagnosed with hysterical blindness
Regarding the speech Speirs gave: It may not be what Blithe wanted to hear, but it's what he NEEDED to hear. Once you're in that situation most of the fear and panic and hesitation is caused by the hope you'll get out of there somehow, and that fear and hesitation can cause you or others to die. The best way to make it through is just to stop caring whether or not you do.
Gentle soul, I hope you'll through the later episodes ...
True courage is being afraid to die, to lose those limbs, and suffer, and doing the right thing anyways. These men entered the hell of war to fight one of the greatest evils of the Twentieth century.
I couldn't remember which episode this was until I saw Blythe. Then I was like oh shit, here comes a waterfall of tears.
7:45 this is something that was said a lot when I was in the military and I now find it difficult not to live that way.
I imagine perspectives are kind of on a spectrum between idealistic "We will all get through this together" to the more pessimistic like how Speirs thinks right?
Hysterical blindness is a rare but not unheard of syndrome. Which us what Blythe portrayed herr
When your done with band of brothers you should watch ”Pacific” i belive its called its like band of brothers but follows marines in the pacific
The Edelweiss, literally the flower of youth cut down in its prime
4:04
😬 Marine Corps (MOUT) training manual doctrine teaches to extensively use frag grenades when room clearing in urban environments
5:40 And 7:17
temporary blindness is a PTSD aka (shell shock) side affect,
it happens when you experience a lot of fear that lingers for a long period of time till eventually your mind just gives up,
the fear will linger for PTSD diagnosed troops long after the war is over so they unfortunately never stopped feeling that fear of death, this will lead to many veterans committing suicide because they can’t take the fear anymore and they just want it to end
Imagine just being scared all the time and that fear never goes away, it takes a toll on your heart and your body and it damages you emotionally
he should have been medically separated right there and then and sent home with full VA benefits and given medical help, sadly little was known about PTSD back in WW2 and they just dismissed it as he was scared but they believed he could just easily get over it
2:59
if your not maneuvering under fire by suppression of fire on your enemy, then your enemy will pin you down and maneuver on you by flanking or buddy rushes
They could not just stay there pinned down like that
People think that War is just 2 sides shooting at each other, but in reality there’s so much running around involved and it’s all to get your team in superior position over your enemy
4:17 😨 um..? .. tourniquet
4:54
under the Geneva conventions we can’t shoot non combatants like Priest, medics, etc., plus it’s just morally wrong and I’m sure the Germans were religious as well
6:13
on D-day the troops were all given an order to NOT take any prisoners because they would hinder mobility during the first Allied invasion assault against Germany,
Troops were only allowed to shoot prisoners only on D-day so these orders had an expiration time till (d-day +1)
7:46
best advice ever ….. use your body like your borrowing it, give up all hope of peace and except your fate in war as if that’s your life job now, (( mission accomplishment is the only thing that matters )) if you still have hope of home and peace then your mind will be els where and not on the war and this will cause depression
12:37
believe it or not but he actually survived,
HBO made a mistake when producing this show and didn’t do their research good enough, but yea he survived and went on to fight in several other battles
Yup...my uncle landed in Normandy D-Day + 12. He said when clearing a building/house/hut/room, the first thing in was a grenade (or 2), then a GI with a Thompson or Greaser (M3 Grease Gun), both .45 caliber, and shot anything that moved or any noise they heard. He said unfortunately, some civilians were wounded and/or killed, but...it happened.
@@jedclampett4215
Same thing happened in Falluja, a lot of civilians died, however the Marine gave an advance warning to the city and told everyone to leave but for some odd reasons a lot of them stood
Of course there are families there!! Where do you think wars are fought, in some specific area where everyone leaves. NO, wars are fought in towns, in villages, at farms, in streets, in homes, etc, etc.. Why a surprise that families are there?!?!
As a WWII history enthusiast, thanks for watching this.
Blithe actually survived the war and served in Korea that was a mistake on the producers fault.
There's a book by Steven pressfield called Gates of Fire which details the journey of a member of the 300 Spartans who had survived the battle long enough to tell his story. There's a section in there where Leonidas addresses his troops after a battle (this is some years before the battle of Thermopylae) that you should check out
The Aragorn helmet part made me chuckle.
Generally the rule is that you don't shoot medics, although they did get killed: a bullet or an artillery shell in its ballistic arc neither knows nor cares if it ends up hitting a medic. Also depending on what theater of the war you were in, being a medic actually made you a bigger target.
This episode is about fear, specifically overcoming or dealing with it. Lieutenant Welsh dealt with it by thinking of the war as simply a game to be won. Speirs dealt with it by considering himself dead (not a new philosophy, actually). Blithe deals with it ultimately through sheer force (in no small part thanks to Winters).
One of the main reasons everyone thought Blithe died is he never returned to his unit, so they figured he didn't make it. What happened is he spent so long recovering from his wound he was reassigned to the 17th Airborne Division that was just arriving in Europe when he was released from the hospital.
This is the episode where you learn why tankers call infantry “Crunchies”.
he had blidness cause by stress, it is real. i have a friend that got temporarily blind a couple of times from the stress. it was a way of her brain to tell her she had to fucking stop for a bit.
"ouch" really sums up this show, tbh XD
5:27 lucky Patton wasn't standing there.