Analysis Of Stephen Ambrose's Band Of Brothers

Analysis Of Stephen Ambrose's Band Of Brothers

Regardless of where they were dropped, many of the American paratroopers grouped with whomever they found, often times finding soldiers from different squads or companies than their own. This was especially the case for the 101st airborne as they were the most scattered of the three Allied airborne divisions. An example of this is portrayed in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers and is based off the real events of June 6, 1944. Lieutenant Richard Winters landed off course somewhere west of Ste Mère–Eglise when his assigned landing zone was actually southeast of the French village. He regrouped with twelve friendlies, both from his squad and not, on the way southeast and led them towards four artillery guns. The guns were firing on the beaches and were doing damage to the men on the beachhead. Lt. Winters received orders from his commanding officer to take the guns out with whatever men he could. "The attack was a unique example of a small, well–led assault force overcoming and routing a much larger force. It was the high morale of Easy Company men, the quickness and audacity of the frontal attack, and the fire into their positions from different directions that demoralized the German forces and convinced them that they were being hit by a much larger force," said squad member Sergeant Carwood Lipton. By making the Germans think that they were being attacked by a larger force, Lt. Winters's strike team and other American airborne units were able to draw attention away from the beach while still holding their own. The British 6th airborne division was tasked with the important duty of protecting the eastern flank of the beach invasion by capturing bridges on the Orne river and the Caen Canal and destroying five bridges East of the Orne. The British dropped much more accurately than their American counterparts as they had been training for two years for objectives that were almost identical to the one they were assigned to. It was the increased accuracy of their airborne drops that let them suffer less casualties than their American counterparts. While they were more accurate with their droppings, it still took some time for the paratroopers to regroup safely with one another. The British deployed both their

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