Band of Brothers episode summary of "Why We Fight"

By: Brian Freeman

Steven Spielberg and his movies have forever changed the movie industry. Spielberg has dedicated his life to making great movies that not only entertain us but give us insight to the reality of human nature. Among all of Steven Spielberg’s amazing and award winning movies, his dramatization of World War II seems to have the most effect on people. Spielberg’s movies Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List are the highest grossing World War II based movies ever. Spielberg has dominated the movie industry and knew there were more World War II stories to be told. When Spielberg and lead man Tom Hanks from Saving Private Ryan approached HBO to do a television show about a group of American paratroopers in World War II, no one knew the impact of interest that would ignite.

Band of Brothers is a ten-part video series of the dramatic history of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, known as “Easy Company.” Although the company’s first experience in real combat did not come until June 1944 (D-Day), this exemplary group fought in some of the war’s most harrowing battles and saw the worst of Nazi Germany. Band of Brothers depicts not only the heroism of their exploits but also the extraordinary bond among men formed in the crucible of war. Based on the book Band of Brothers, written by historian and biographer Stephen Ambrose the series has became a huge success. The series has won six Emmys and a Golden Globe for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.

One of the most compelling episodes of Band of Brothers is Why We Fight. In the Episode we find the battle harden men of Easy Company in Germany where they find no enemy resistance. In fact, they find warm beds and hot meals in the houses they commandeer. Many of the men go about looting the German homes and farms for food and valuables. They find the "enemy" to be industrious and not much different from them. Many of the soldiers wonder why they are even at war with the Germans. Major Winters is concerned about his friend Captain Nixon who returns from a disastrous combat jump with another unit cynical about the war and drinking heavily. Nixon goes on search for a specific alcoholic drink. Nixon breaks into a German home looking for his booze, and he finds he has broken into a highly decorated German Soldiers home. The soldier is not there, but his wife finds Nixon. They say nothing to each other, only blank stares. Nixon walks out, slamming the door on his exit. Half way through the episode a patrol makes a gruesome discovery of a small concentration camp in the woods of Landsberg. The camp was a part of the sub camps of the Dachau concentration camp. The men are horrified at what they find. They find starving and dying men lying everywhere. Those still alive were living in horrible conditions and begging for food and water. The dead bodies are piled so high that they steam of gases. Several of the combat-hardened veterans break down when they see the condition of the prisoners. They immediately begin passing out rations and water. They go to a nearby town and steal food from the local people to feed the prisoners. The locals pretend to know nothing of the camp much to the anger of the soldiers. The soldiers were thinking that the prisoners were criminals. They were shocked to learn that the men who have been starved and murdered at the camp are not criminals but Jews, Poles, and Gypsies.

The men struggle on deciding what they should do with the survivors. Finally the chief medical officer arrives and in a tragic twist of irony and to the dismay of the soldiers they are ordered to relock the gates and ordered to stop giving food to the prisoners. The chief medical officer’s reason for his decision was because giving the starving prisoners too much food would kill them. He also wanted to keep them contained so they could monitor their recovery. The division commander forces the local population to do mandatory cleanup of the camp. The local men and women are dismayed and horrified at the sight. They are forced to move the dead bodies to mass graves. Many of the local men cry as they dig graves and move the skeleton corpses. In one scene a group of women grab a corpse to be moved and the rotted flesh peels off in their hands. Captain Nixon monitors the progress and is no longer drinking. He walks through the camp staring at the burning bodies and the mass graves. Nixon stares out and then sees a lone woman dragging a dead body. While she is struggling with the body, Nixon instantly recognizes the woman. She was the wife of the German Soldier whose house he had broken into. They both stare at each other and Nixon realizes what he is fighting for.

Why They Fight had some of the most visually outstanding scenes of all the series. The episode captured the humanity of the American soldiers and gave the characters back their heart. Band of Brothers is truly one of Steven Spielberg’s greatest works. Not just for this episode but for the entire series. Band of Brothers ranks among one of the great television shows and Why We Fight will be remembered as one of the best episodes among the series.

Hanks, Tom and Spielberg, Stevens. Band of Brothers Special Edition Box Set, Dreamworks Picture,2002.