Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers – Stephen Ambrose

When it comes to books written about war, I tend to enjoy the high-level ones that give overviews of the big picture and don’t go into too much detail. Usually, the more detail, the more I get lost. So when I read a book about the intricacies of a battle along with names of soldiers, names of towns, names of divisions, etc. I tend to get lost and overwhelmed.

This book seemed to be about 50/50, as it focuses not on the overall big picture of World War II, yet a select group of Airborne infantry – The Easy Company of the 101^st Airborne division.  Back in the thick of the war around 1942, someone had a bizarre idea: Why not have a host of soldiers jump out of an airplane with a parachute right into the thick of battle? This sort of idea is only for the toughest of the tough, and when the soldiers begin their training, they don’t actually see combat until D-Day. There’s a lot of preparation for such a tactic.

Once we’re in battle with Easy Company (in addition to D-Day, the other major skirmishes they jump into are Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge), the author manages to keep the story more focused on the human element of battle as opposed to strategies and objectives.  This is mostly a good thing. It’s good because it makes a much more compelling story. It’s not good because a ‘compelling story’ doesn’t mean it’s a happy story. This is a war.  In fact, I’ve never read a book that describes the horrors of the battlefield quite like this one.  Yes, there’s the horror of bullets flying over your head at all times and seeing your best friends killed in front of your eyes, but there’s also the horror of lack of food, dysentery, weeks of living in filth, and foot ware so inadequate that your forced to endure soaking wet feet in subzero snow.  It’s impossible for men to live through this without changes to the fragile psyche.

Strangely, I never felt connected to anyone in particular in this book. The cast of characters in this drama is huge, and it was incredibly hard for me to keep track of who was who. Some names stayed consistent throughout the book, but in a war, sadly, a lot of men get killed, so it seemed that every pause in the action meant that there were several fresh faces and names for the reader to assimilate.  Again though, this wasn’t a detriment. Suffering is suffering, no matter whose name is attached to it.

Easy Company also plays a pivotal role in the eventual capitulation of Berlin in 1945. The European war is over, and the soldiers go way off the deep end with their alcohol intake and debauchery. Things get very uncomfortable in some circumstances. Too much whisky and guns don’t mix well. As I mentioned, though, such inhumane conditions cause one’s spirit to become tragically altered.  Why should soldiers care about kicking a German family out of their house so they can live in relative comfort?  Wherever this family ends up won’t be nearly as bad what they endured for months in a slimy fox hole.  And it WAS their side that started the bleeding war.  So….

I came away with tremendous respect for any solider that has ever been in combat. True, that respect has always been there for me, but when a tale is told with such gripping realism, it makes you appreciate the sacrifice all the more.  Kudos, also, to Stephen Ambrose for telling the tale so well.