Band of Brother Book Report

Band of brothers is a novel centered on the lives of the men from Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, from basic training to D-Day. It follows the jump into Holland, the Battle of the Bulge, and finally the occupation of Berchtesgaden and Austria. This is all told in a rarely seen perspective, told from the viewpoint of the front line soldier, the privates, non-coms and officers who carry out the grand strategy of generals. Many books discuss the inner working of commands at Division and Army levels, but few detail the day to day life of the soldier. Stephen Ambrose's book does that and more. It explores the how the everyday people that were drafted, worked in elite outfits like the 101st Airborne did, in World War II, defeat an enemy like the well trained German Wehrmacht and S.S. All the while pushing the theme that there was no need for there to be a single hero, or for one person to take irrational actions, because it was far too dangerous. It was far more effective and efficient to work together as a unit towards one common goal. One example of this mentality is when the airborne landed on Utah beach and by 0700 were short staffed and under gunned, with only 100 men in the battalion. The commander, having no other options, sent in Easy company to take out a four gun German battery that was defended by a platoon of 50 soldiers. This is where Lipton said,” Here the training paid off. We fought as a team without standout stars we were like a machine. We didn't have anyone who leaped up and charged a machine-gun. We knocked it out or made it withdraw by maneuver and teamwork or mortar fire. We were smart; there weren't many flashy heroics.”
This novel shines light on a very integral part of American history. It shows that singular heroes are not the only people that need to be celebrated in the textbooks, there were whole companies of men that made huge differences. Easy company were the first allied troops to