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    Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
    Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
    Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
    Audiobook12 hours

    Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest

    Written by Stephen E. Ambrose

    Narrated by Tim Jerome

    5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Stephen E. Ambrose’s classic New York Times bestseller and inspiration for the acclaimed HBO series about Easy Company, the ordinary men who became the World War II’s most extraordinary soldiers at the frontlines of the war's most critical moments. Featuring a foreword from Tom Hanks.

    They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak—in Holland and the Ardennes—Easy Company was as good a rifle company as any in the world.

    From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, Stephen E. Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments.

    They parachuted into France early D-Day morning and knocked out a battery of four 105 mm cannon looking down Utah Beach; they parachuted into Holland during the Arnhem campaign; they were the Battered Bastards of the Bastion of Bastogne, brought in to hold the line, although surrounded, in the Battle of the Bulge; and then they spearheaded the counteroffensive. Finally, they captured Hitler's Bavarian outpost, his Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden.

    They were rough-and-ready guys, battered by the Depression, mistrustful and suspicious. They drank too much French wine, looted too many German cameras and watches, and fought too often with other GIs. But in training and combat they learned selflessness and found the closest brotherhood they ever knew. They discovered that in war, men who loved life would give their lives for them.

    This is the story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal—it was a badge of office.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateFeb 21, 2012
    ISBN9781442353435
    Author

    Stephen E. Ambrose

    Stephen E. Ambrose, leading World War II historian, was the author of numerous books on history including the Number 1 bestselling BAND OF BROTHERS, D-DAY (on which SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was based) PEGASUS BRIDGE and WILD BLUE. He is founder of the Eisenhower Center and the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans. He died in 2002.

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    Reviews for Band of Brothers

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    • 4/5
      The excellent HBO mini-series of the same name was based primarily on this book that follows E Company, 506th regiment, of the 101st Airborne from their training in the United States through the end of the war in Europe. During that period, they suffered 150 percent casualties. Ambrose describes the intense personal relationship of trust that evolved during the training of this elite group.

      The book fills in the holes that were annoyingly present in the series; for example, the details of the sergeant?s revolt against Captain Sobel, their company commander, following his harassment of Lt. Winters. (Sobel never forgave the company and lived a difficult life after the war, eventually committing suicide in 1988. Neither his ex-wife, nor his sons, nor any member of E Company attended his funeral.) Ironically, Ambrose and most of the company credit Sobel with having melded the company together in such a way that they became a very effective fighting force. They scored a phenomenal 97 percent on their physical fitness test, so high, in fact, that the brass thought the battalion?s colonel had faked the results and made them do the whole thing over: they scored 98 percent the second time. They fought in many of the major campaigns after their drop behind the lines on D-Day, including Bastogne, where they replaced fleeing American troops, following the last German counteroffensive of the war. It was a brutal experience, but the training and intimacy they had gained under Sobel ? and perhaps even the NCO bonding during the mutiny ? that gave them the total trust in each other which proved to be so invaluable.

      The relief of Bastogne was nothing short of a logistics miracle. On December 17 alone, Eisenhower managed to move 60,000 men plus ammunition in 11,000 trucks; within a week he had 250,000 men on the line, but many of them were short winter clothing and other essentials to make the cold and wet less miserable.

      E Company was one of the first into Berchtesgarden, a looter?s paradise. Winters and a colleague still use a set of silver they lifted from one of the German residences. If the Germans objected, one of the soldiers wrote his parents, a ?pistol flashed in his face, however, can persuade anybody.? As the brass moved in, it became difficult for the lesser ranks to hold on to some of the fancier prizes. One soldier had to turn over a Mercedes he had liberated. He thought it might be a good idea first to test the windows to see if they were bullet-proof. He discovered that if you used armor-piercing ammo, ?it would get the job done.? The radiator turned out not to be so well armed, and Winters thanked the man for his research, ?agreeing that one never knew when this kind of research would come in handy.? Some other soldiers decided to see if their Mercedes could survive a 30-meter fall, so they pushed it over a cliff. It could not. ?So the brass got luxury automobiles without windows or water? in the radiator.

      The points system used to rotate the men home became a source of great unhappiness. The men of E Company had been at D-Day, the Ardennes, and Arnhem. All the survivors had four battle stars, and most had Purple Hearts --almost everyone in the infantry had one of those-- but few had decorations which garnered more points. Even though Berchtesgarden was relatively easy duty, the men wanted to get home. Unfortunately, because they had so many replacements, the brass felt it was important to get them trained for the expected invasion of Japan, so exercises were the order of the day, something that infuriated the veterans. The prevalence of liquor meant that everyone was drinking too much and traffic accidents were common. There were seventy wrecks during June and July, killing twenty men and injuring another 100. Several other men were shot to death by drunk GI?s. One such shooter was nearly beaten to death by E Company men after he shot one of their members in the head -- he was saved only through the intervention of a German doctor, but was disabled for the rest of his life. When the captain and colonel came to investigate and were told what had happened, the colonel?s only response was that they should ?have shot the son of a bitch.?

      Ambrose is a cheerleader and glories in the role, but clearly we owe a debt of gratitude to the civilian soldiers who endured a great deal of hardship for little glory or reward.
    • 5/5
      It was so amazing I love the way this was set up
    • 5/5
      This was great. i loved the book when i read it years ago and the audio just reminded me of why i loved it.
    • 5/5
      This book is about world war 2 one of the most brutal and destructive wars ever. This book is about E company a company in world war 2 who was one of the most important military units in the war. Its about how these soldiers have gone through some of the most intense training and gone to war and come back in one piece. In the beginning of this company's life they all went through 6 month of intense non stop training. They even set a record for fastest 500 mile run; they did it in less than a week with all the standard issue gear. in there first year in a different country it was in England in the middle of no where. They stayed there doing paratrooper training because they were paratroopers. In there first sight of combat it was storming the Normandy beaches They had to go in at mid night to get rid of as much cannons and other artillery as they could and they were successful. Its said that if they failed we would have lost that battle and potentially the war. They also had to do covert ops behind enemy lines to find and destroy Hitlers "Eagles Nest" And once again they won. This unit did the most dirty and important work of the war and is the most important group of soldiers to that war.The reason why i liked this book is because It is the type of genre i like. This book to me was one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. This book was perfect for me it was mostly action and on a topic i like to learn about. know if anyone asks me about world war to ill give them the answer. Ill like to learn about world war to because i like history and especially war history. I hope you get a chance to read it some day.
    • 5/5
      Outstanding book about outstanding men. Forever grateful for their service.
    • 5/5
      Great book. The fact the mini series followed very closely with the book and real events us cool
    • 4/5
      The book is mostly a collection of remembrances by members of Easy Company, 506th Division of the 101 Airborne. A company is a squad of three platoons of around forty men apiece with a command group to coordinate the platoons, say 140 guys. As I recall, A, B and C Companies were 1st Battalion, D, E (Easy) and F were 2nd and G, H and I were 3rd. The book chronicles their origins at Camp Toccoa in Georgia, their march to Atlanta in response to a Japanese unit that marched 100 miles in 72 hours (the 506th thought they could top that and mostly did, Easy was the only company to have all of the members make the full march). They left Atlanta for England to train for D-Day, jumped in to Normandy, were a part of Operation Market-Garden in Holland (as in 'A Bridge Too Far' and several classic war movies about controlling the bridges over the Rhine), became the 'Battlin Bastards of Bastogne' in some very difficult fighting, maybe the toughest in Europe, then finished up as an occupation army in the South of Germany. There is also a concluding chapter that tells of the post war careers of most of the personnel. The narrative is generously seasoned with quotes from several interviews with members, many of which are personal side stories like blowing a month's pay in a few minutes of shooting craps, then borrowing someone else's pay and winning it back many times over later that evening. Some are sad, like the accidental friendly fire moments or men getting killed in action. I thought it was a pretty good story, all told. It never gets dull or stale, carries along briskly and the reader is never left in the dark as to what is going on in the broader perspective. Not that it is a summary history of the theater, but the Easy Company's place in the battles is always made clear. And there are nice maps to help the reader in locating things. Do you know exactly where Bastogne is? I'm assuming you know it is in Belgium, but where exactly? After reading a detailed book on Waterloo with no maps or diagrams at all, this was very welcome. I can see why a mini-series was made to cover the history of Easy Company. They were major players in the biggest battles in U.S. Army history and their history is better explored through a visual media. Not that this is a poor substitute, but some things have to be seen to be believed.After reading through some of the reviews below, maybe not every edition has the maps. (see mjmorrison1971 & cmbohn below)
    • 4/5
      I read this after watching the amazing miniseries on HBO. The book did not disappoint and it gave greater depth to the show.
    • 3/5
      Since I had just finished HBO's 10 part series on Band of Brothers, I decided to pick up the book by Stephen Ambrose. I cashed in a B&N coupon so it didn't hurt too much. This is one time when the movie is better than the book (like the Godfather). The book does fill in details. But if you want drama watch the series. The series does involve a lot of characters so often in battle scenes it is hard to tell who is who. The series probably overstates the impact of Easy Company. I am sure they did did not win the Battle of the a Bulge. I think a guy named "General Patton" and his Third Army had a lot to do with it. I think the book is more effective in showing the skill of the German soldier. In the series the German soldiers seem to turn and run away a lot and they end up being shot in the back. As other critics have stated, the book needs a map at the beginning of each chapter. I am sorry the postage stamp map at the beginning of the book is not sufficient. The Brits don't come off too well in either the series or the book. I am sure a Brit reading this will think the USA won WW II and the Brits and the Russians were bit players. Of course, the British plan to invade Germany (called Market Garden) was a colossal failure. Ambrose aptly notes some of the reasons for the failure.
    • 4/5
      A compelling story that is as good a small unit account as exists. It has received tremendous (well deserved) acclaim due to the mini-series. Ambrose is first rate at telling the story of the American soldier.
    • 5/5
      Having seen the series on DVD (more than once), I was interested in delving deeper with Ambrose?s book. I was not disappointed: as with the series, Band of Brothers follows Easy Company?s WWII tour from Basic Training, (running Curahee under the petty and demanding Captain Sobel) and their drop into Normandy, through moments of incredible bravery and tactical brilliance (and moments of human and bureaucratic failing) to their eventual arrival in the German Alps.
      There is a compromise between the book and the TV series: Ambrose?s book contains more information and more historical accounting; with the TV series, of course, Hanks and Spielberg had more of a license to entertain and build stories (the discrepancies were startlingly rare, a testament to the fact that the producers began their research with the book). That?s not to say that Ambrose doesn?t engage the reader in the character and individual stories of the men; indeed, given the number of men involved, the book encompasses an impressive overview of the war as seen by the men of the 101st, and Easy Company in particular.
      The history of E. Company is harrowing, incomprehensible on any real level to anyone who had not been in combat; what Ambrose manages to do which is so important, is bring the war that these men experienced to the reader in an accessible, unpatronising way; he gives us not only the facts, but the reactions as relayed by the men themselves, evening a few well-placed excepts from books on the psychology of war, and post-war responses, opening up the emotional world that lay under the day-to-day bombardment and skirmishes.
      To someone who could not imagine having the bravery necessary to jump out of a plane, the strength of character and resourcefulness of the majority of E. Company?s men in the face of every conceivable war-time threat of the time is humbling. The matter-of-factness with which they faced each new situation, the amazing leadership (at both ends of the scale) that they followed into battle, the humour and comradeship that got them through is inspiring.
      This is a remarkable story, well told. I would recommend seeing the series as well, but although rather dryer, the book Band of Brothers is a page turner, an education and a reminder that our soldiers ? today as much as then ? are human beings tested beyond the edge of endurance often with only the twin incentives of remaining alive and not letting down the man beside them.
    • 4/5
      After the recent death of Major Winters,I decided it was high time to read this book.In 1942 a group of volunteer soldiers began training into what would become one the U.S. Army's finest combat unit;the 101st Airborne Division. These men were not regular army and in fact despised anything army. However they would become legends in that same army.This is a book involving men who fought in small unit combat in some of the biggest battles of 1944-45 on the Western Front. It is strictly from their viewpoint and will not reflect the big picture. It is also a story of what life was like in a combat unit. Whether it be sheer terror of combat,guard duty,patrolling into enemy territory or dealing with jerk officers this book tells it all. War is not pretty.I would give the book 5 stars but the lack of maps is a definite letdown.
    • 5/5
      Ambrose at his best in recreating the dramatic events surrounding the 101st Airborne?s 506 PIR (parachute infantry regiment) from the Normandy landings to Hitler?s ?Eagles Nest.? A story written from eyewitness accounts from those who survived to tell their story, of which there weren?t many.So concise and straightforward is Ambrose?s storytelling and prose that the book literally formed the chapter-by-chapter foundation of the HBO mini-series of the same name. More amazing still is my personal encounter with a few members of the 506 PIR and having them tell me that everything in the book is true as well as 85-90% of the series - unheard of in this day and age. Another must read and possession for all WWII buffs and serious students.
    • 5/5
      What a fantastic story, as told by the men of Easy Company. I dinged it 1/2 a point because it's a little disjointed, but it's such an awe-inspiring glimpse at some true heroes. How they were able to survive in such awful circumstances, depending on each other and caring more about their unit than they did about themselves, is truly an inspiration.
    • 5/5
      There's pretty much nothing that I can say about this book that hasn't already been said. This exhaustively researched book details not only the collective movements of the 101st Airborne across Europe during the Second World War, but the individual struggles of the men who made up Easy Company, perhaps the most close-knit company in the entire regiment. To have the war broken down to an individual scale like this is almost indescribable; you can understand what people mean when they say that it genuinely seemed like the end of the world, like they couldn't see any future at all beyond an interminable struggle or an ignominious defeat. That these men continued, and indeed won, while fighting their own personal demons (many caused by combat itself) is a true source of inspiration. In summation: Read it. Buy it. If you cry, it's worth it. And if you can find one of these men who's still alive, and some of them are, drop them a line to say thank you.
    • 5/5
      The best history book I've ever read, exhaustively researched with the help and collaboration of many of the still-living members of the company. Ambrose accomplished the astonishing feat of never once boring me. Ambrose also keeps the 'artificial PG rating' factor low. What I mean by an artificial PG rating is that for whatever reason, maybe to maintain appeal with the older crowd, historians and novelists try to ease around the less savory exploits of the Greatest Generation. Instead of "The soldiers fucked the rampant whores whenever they needed to get off," it's "Camp followers provided a delight for the body." Ambrose makes an effort to keep this phenomenon to a minimum in his book, relating many funny anecdotes that wouldn't see the light of day in a Jeff Shaara novel (one officer dumps a water pitcher on another's head to wake him up from his drunk, only to then realize that the drunkard had, last night, rather than find a toilet, pissed in said pitcher; a soldier is teased relentlessly by his fellows for having been shot in the ass from the side, creating four holes with one bullet -- enter left cheek, exit left cheek, enter right cheek, exit right cheek). It's really the personal stories and reminiscences that make this one stand out. If I had one complaint, it's that I wasn't quite familiar with the bigger picture of what was happening in the war, so it wasn't always easy to understand the context of the battle situations the company found itself in. Ambrose gives a perfunctory review of what was happening around the company, but the larger history is really just a frame to hang the many great anecdotes on. If you're unfamilar with the European theater, you may want to read through the Wikipedia article before starting.
    • 4/5
      Amazing. Simply amazing. The men that are written about in this book are heroes in the purest form of the word. Fantastic writing and an unbelievable amount of detail. I also highly recommend the HBO mini series that was later made off of this book.
    • 3/5
      I can see why so many people like this book. It's full of memorable stories. However, from a historian point of view, it lacks in several areas. Ultimately, this is a collection of anecdotes, tied together by brief, often superficial "history" about an extremely important period of world history. This dependency on anecdotes keeps events from getting proper perspective. For example, there is nearly as much coverage of soldiers getting drunk and having needless accidents at the end of the war as there is on the Battle of the Bulge. Why? Because there are so many stories of drunks and accidents to repeat, and this is a book based on volumes of "stories". And the author had a very easy time of it, given that several of his subject characters wrote their own books about the same time period. Throw in several extra personal interviews, skipping the facts, of course, about anyone he couldn't interview personally, and hope that the high volume of characters will help you not notice the ones glazed over. Certainly, on the other side, the book does a great job of explaining and justifying the superior credentials of humanity that its most central character has, Richard Winters. One other observation: this is one of the very few books, and the only non-fiction book that I can easily recall, where the movie (in this case, television series) based on it, was equal to or better than the book. The book is a good read. I just don't regard it as great history.
    • 5/5
      I loved "riding" alongside Easy Company and their WW2 journey. It was full of the right amount of detail and lots of heart.
    • 5/5
      Excellent, excellent book! A definite must read for any fan of military novels.
    • 3/5
      This is the classic study of E Company, 506 Regiment, 101 Airborne's battle from the beaches of Normandy to Hitler's Eagle Nest. Ambrose interviewed many of the soldiers in the 1990's and using their memories and their diaries, he tried to show what fighting was like from the point of view of the men who did it.
    • 5/5
      I read this book twice and plan to read it again. It is easy to become attached to the characters as they bond through various situations and pull together into a tightly knit, cohesive group. It's an amazing book because instead of viewing the war from the strategist board where men are plastic markers to be shoved about, they become alive and suddenly their struggles to survive bring home the reality of war. There are many amazing tales told here and one cannot help but fall in love with Major Dick Winters.
    • 5/5
      Excellent.
    • 5/5
      This has to be Ambroses best work. My copy has the "soon to be a miniseries..." tag on it. This was the third Ambrose book I read, right after D-Day.
    • 5/5
      An incredible true story of a "band of brothers" fighting for America during WWII.
    • 5/5
      I bought the book for my son because he was enjoying the series so much and then found myself reading it. Totally unable to put down, as engrossing as was the series for me. Great stuff.
    • 4/5
      The basis of Speilberg and Hanks HBO mini-series of the same name, it is the story of Easy company in the 101st Airborne from its beginnings to the end of WWII.Written from the point of view of frontline soldiers from interviews, diaries and historical documents, it is a story that keeps you involved with the characters and empathising with them. While I could highly recommend it the book, it is let down by a lack of maps to allow you to see where the action took place and the obvious hero worship of the subjects of his work by Ambrose which allows him to dismiss and gloss over many incidents that were worthy of some inspection that would have given a more realistic portrait. I also felt his trivialisation of the British efforts detracted from what he was trying to say about the US solders by very clumsily making them out to be incompetent and pompous. The end of the book dealing with their lives post war is a great way to finish as you are not left wondering what they did with the rest of their lives.Interesting to do a little research about the background of Ambrose himself and the controversies about his work - whether they are real or not; he is a good writer to brings you into his story.
    • 3/5
      Summary: In World War II, the men of the 101st Airborne, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Easy Company were an elite group of soldiers. Trained to parachute in for ground operations behind enemy lines, these men were key in many of the major European battles of the war. After extensive training in the states, they first saw action on D-Day, held the line at the Battle of the Bulge, and captured Hitler's home at Berchtesgaden. Their amazing accomplishments came not only for their training, but from their fierce dedication to their country, their company, and above all else, to the man fighting next to them. Review: If we're talking general principles, I prefer reading the book before I see the movie. In the case of Band of Brothers, however, there was absolutely no way I ever would have picked up the book if I hadn't seen the excellent miniseries first. First, because it probably wouldn't have interested me: I wouldn't say military history is even close to being "my thing". And secondly, because watching the movie first really helped me with some of the things that I am bad at when I'm reading. For example, I'm very bad at keeping track of names when there's a huge cast of characters, none of whom appear on the page very often. I also don't visualize faces when I read, so having the characters as they're built up on screen, and having the actors' faces to put with the names, was a huge help in terms of following along with the book. Another thing that I am very, very bad at is visualizing battles, particularly when it comes to troop movements and strategy. (Potentially caused by a lack of playing Risk as a child?) Having maps at the beginning of the book helped with this a little, but having the visual basis from the miniseries to draw on helped me understand what Ambrose was describing throughout the book. Ambrose is not writing for the casual reader, either. He is writing for people who know military and military history and military weapons and military ranks and military abbreviations and military troop organization, etc. I knew things like NCO and XO already, but he'd toss in things like CP and "Monty" without ever defining who or what they were. So, I definitely would have enjoyed the book substantially less if I didn't have the background of the miniseries to work with. But did I gain anything from reading the book at all? On the whole, I would say yes. Much like my experience with Generation Kill (which I did very similarly, saw the miniseries then read the book), seeing the miniseries gave me the visual basis for understanding the book, but reading the book gave me the details that got cut or just didn't come across on film. More details about training, about life in camp, about the various military actions, and especially about the place of Easy Company in the larger context of the war. On the flipside, however, the miniseries focuses more on the people, on developing the characters, which I prefer but which is not really Ambrose's focus. (Although his description of the post-war years were more detailed than in the miniseries, and was one of the more interesting parts of the book.)I was also not particularly fond of Ambrose's writing style. Apart from the constant military jargon, his tone was incredibly simplified, almost to the point of being ridiculous. (At one point he says "Hale's promotion caused some mumble-mumble in 1st platoon." "Mumble-mumble"? Seriously?) A prose stylist he is not. And while his (well-deserved) respect and admiration for these men came through clearly, the text occasionally felt a little bit cavalier about mentioning casualties or lists of deaths. (Plus this gem: "Of course there were some rapes, some mistreatment of individual Germans, and some looting, but it is simple fact to state that other conquering armies in WWII, perhaps most of all the Russian but including the Japanese and German, acted differently." America: at least we weren't as rapey as those other guys!) So: interesting, yes. Well-researched, yes. Compellingly written, not so much. 3 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: I'm not sorry I read it, but I doubt I'll be looking up anything else by Ambrose. If you're a military history buff, you've probably already read it; if you're more casually interested in World War II (or even if you're not), I definitely recommend the miniseries, which is amazing.
    • 5/5
      Great book that detail the 101st Airborne Regiment during WWII, form thier time in taining camp, to D-Day, Holland, Bastogne, Liberating a concentration camp, and taking Hitler's Eagle nest. This book goes above and beyong HBO's miniseries that was based on this book. The telling engages the reader to give one uinsight into the troops that fought for Europe's freedom. A must read for and History buff and WWII enthusiast! 5 stars!
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed this story it was well written an made compelling reading would recommend to others