Band Of Brothers Part 7 - The Breaking Point (Cut Reaction)
Added 2025-05-30 17:31:01 +0000 UTCHaving thwarted the Germans at Bastogne, an exhausted Easy Company must now take the nearby town of Foy from the enemy. Several are killed and wounded in fierce shelling, compounded by the incompetence of their commander, Lt Dike.
Comments
You guys are doing a great job for your first time viewing. I only nitpick a little because it's my favorite show of all time and I've seen it 2 dozen times. I just wanted to point out again a minor correction. They're being bombarded with artillery, not mortars. Artillery are large massive shells fired from big cannons or guns from miles away. Mortars are smaller shells that soldiers carry with them and fire from small tubes. Different weapon types.
Branden Findeisen
2025-07-02 14:12:29 +0000 UTCSo… the show is a little unfair to Norman Dike. Dike had gone through two major incidents of combat before. The first was on D Day, when he volunteered to be part of an action that had a similar objective to what Easy Company had done on D Day, but was messier for the US forces. Dike was commended for his actions there. Later, when Battalion HQ was attacked by an SS unit, Dike led the defense and counterattack, basically tallying a bunch of supply guys and orderlies to fighting off a company of SS (this was actually what was going on in the episode “Crossroads”). That second is when higher ups got the idea that Dike might make a good combat leader. It is true that, to Easy Company, Dike seemed disinterested in the men and the assignment, he could have done more to establish a leadership presence to be sure. But we see in other instances that East wasn’t always very welcoming to new people. It seems that Dike also suffered from many of the classic signs of PTSD; chronic fatigue being one of them. And while Dike was less of a leader than, say, Compton and Dike should have pulled himself from command… that provides some context that I think is needed to understand. As for what happened at Foy, the series leaves out and incredibly important detail… Duke was hit; either by a small round or some shrapnel. The action at Foy lasted a couple of hours irl. Several easy company men who were with him say Dike was hit pretty early in the attack. He might not have realized how bad it was because of all the layers they were wearing or maybe he just really wanted to prove himself, but he was bleeding out for most of the attack until he was relieved. Again, he should have pulled himself out, but I think it does change the perspective to know that. The show usually is pretty good with accuracy and authenticity but there are a couple of slips to serve that narrative and I think this is a big one.
Chris Soult
2025-06-06 23:39:31 +0000 UTC
