Download In the Company of Heroes

In the Company of Heroes:
101 Airborne Screaming Eagles, 50th Parachute Infantry Division
The Legendary Band of Brothers
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Movie Outline
Part 1 –
I.
Easy Company – 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
a. 101st Airborne Division - The Screaming Eagles
i. Paratroopers
1. D-Day
2. Market Garden
3. Battle of the Bulge
a. Bastogne
b. Major Dick Winters – Lancaster, Pa
c. Ed Joint – Pittsburgh, Pa
d. Forrest Guth – Philadelphia, Pa
e. Joe Lesiniewski – Erie, Pa
f. William Guarnere – South Philadelphia, Pa
g. Jack Foley – Pittsburgh, Pa
II.
D- Day – June 6, 1944
a. Over 4,000 ships land on Normandy’s coast
i. Operation Overlord
1. Allied invasion of Europe
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b. 101 airborne
i. Shortly after 1:00am jumped behind enemy lines
ii. Thomas Meehan – Commanding Officer
1. Plane of officers hit before the jump
iii. Pilots wanted to get out of there
1. Sped up – had to jump at full speed
a. Many missed their drop zones
b. Drop zone was outside of French town St. Marie Dumont
i. Paratroopers spread 6 miles outside of the zone
ii. Formed small combat units
2. Mission was to fight the Germans from the rear and to cut off
reinforcements
c. Objective was Utah Beach
i. Found one another in the dark and made their way back to the objective
1. Lt. Dick Winters – Lancaster, Pa
a. One of the first to reach Utah Beach
b. Take out a battery of German cannons that were firing onto
Utah Beach
i. Gathered 12 paratroopers
III.
1. Began assault on the cannons
a. Outnumbered
i. Leap-frogged from trench to
trench
b. Hit them on the flank
i. One position at a time
2. 120 Germans killed, wounded, or captured
a. 8 of Winters men survived unscathed
i. Winters awarded Distinguished
Honors Cross
d. After leg injury Winters recalls D-Day in a diary
i. “Band of Brothers”
1. After the war his diaries were locked away
2. Stephen Ambrose
a. Told the story of Easy Company
i. Got the men’s stories together
b. Sold the “Band of Brothers” to Tom Hanks
i. HBO TV mini-series
1. “Hang Tough” – Dick Winters
a. Do your best every day
ii. Dick Winters now resides in Hershey, Pa
Training 1942
a. Most of Europe had been taken over by Hitler
i. British were retreating to North Africa
b. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941
i. German U-Boats were cruising the US coast
c. Created an experimental army unit in the summer of 1942
i. All volunteer 506 paratroopers infantry regiment
1. Camp Toccoa, Georgia
2. Elite unit
ii. Major Dick Winters – officer school
1. Saw the company go through training
2. Volunteered immediately for the paratroopers
a. Wanted to be with the best
iii. Mount Currahee
1. “Drop out runs”
a. Tough physical training
b. 800 men went through
i. 150 came out
c. Full combat equipment marches
i. 48 miles to Clemson and back
d. Toccoa to Altanta – 117 miles in 33 hours
IV.
V.
VI.
e. 6,000 would go to Camp Toccoa
i. 2,000 would become paratroopers
2. Very disciplined
a. High standards
b. Dismissed immediately if late
d. Joined the 101st Airborne
i. Liverpool, England
England
a. Fall of 1943
i. England was island fortress
ii. Aldbourne
1. Home to Easy Company
iii. Exercises with Winston Churchill
1. March 8, 1944, Private Rudolph Dittrich
a. Parachute failed to open
b. Uppotery Field
i. June 5, 1944
1. Boarded the planes for the invasion of Normandy
D-Day +4
a. Normandy in Allied control
i. Waiting for German counter-attack
b. Carentan
i. Were to told the town of Carentan
1. Albert Blight hit
ii. Attack led by German Nazi SS Stormtrooopers
1. Panzer Tank Corps
iii. June 12 – Battle for Bloody Gulch
1. American tanks arrive to aid the 101st airborne
c. Returned to England
i. Half of the company would return
1. 24 killed
2. 42 wounded
Operation Market Garden
a. Plan to drop large numbers of paratroopers behind enemy lines in Holland
i. Plan to seize 5 key bridges crossing the Rhine River
ii. Easy Company’s mission was to last 7 days
1. Would last 3 months on the front lines
iii. September 17, 1944
1. Easy company jumped for first time since D-Day
a. Now led by Dick Winters
2. Encountered little ground fire
a. Secured the drop zone
b. Eindhoven
i. Cleared the town of Nazi soldiers
c. First experience as liberators
i. Dutch people came out to celebrate
1. Very different from the French
iv. Nijmegan
1. Germans spring counter-attack
a. Paratroopers forced to fight
i. “Hell’s Highway”
1. Trying to find 82nd airborne
2. German war planes bombed Eindhoven
a. Easy company lost 5 men, many wounded
v. Market Garden became infantry battle
1. Had to become fixed defensively between Neder and Waal Rivers
a. “The Island”
i. Germans had the higher ground on the North side and
were not far from home
1. Had supplies
2. October 5, 1944
a. Winters and small group of men went to press attack against
the Germans
i. Two full companies of German SS Stormtroopers
1. Frontal attack
2. Outnumbered
ii. Caught the Germans by surprise
1. Crossfire
a. Germans run away towards the Dike
2. Boxed the Germans in
Part 2
I.
Paris
a. Late November 1944
i. 506th Regiment
1. Taken out of combat
a. French Garrison town of Mourmelon Le Grand
i. Had left England with 139 men
1. Less than 80
2. Needed reinforcements and rest
b. Winters promoted to Executive Officer
ii. Thanksgiving 1944
1. Had driven Germans from the conquered countries
a. Many believe it would be months until the war was over
iii. Paris had been liberated in late August
1. Had just gotten to a place with showers and hot food
a. Were told they were leaving immediately
b. December 16, 1944
i. Germans had gone on an all-out offensive
1. Ardennes forest region
a. Surprised American troops
ii. The Battle of the Bulge
1. Easy company raced to the front lines
a. Germans held Foy
2. Bastogne
a. Easy Company’s 153 men were taken to Haute Station
between Bastogne and Foy
b. Dug into frozen forest
i. Were surrounded by the Germans
ii. Heavy artillery attacks
c. One of the coldest winters on record
i. Did not have the clothing or the supplies to bear the
cold
d. Lost about half of the men in Bastogne
i. Germans demanded surrender
1. General Anthony McAuliffe replied
a. “Nuts”
2. Never any talk about surrender
ii. December 23 – weather let up
1. Air operations could begin
a. 3 days later tanks from General
Patton’s 4th armored division
arrived to relieve the 101st
e. Easy Company was not sent to the rear
iii. Jan. 2, 1945
1. 506th regiment launched series of battles around Bastogne
a. Halted Germany’s offense
iv. Jan. 19, 1945
1. 506th would be relieved after a month
a. 15 killed
b. 67 wounded
2. Hardly any of the 153 were left unscathed
v. Spring of 1945
1. March 7, 1945
a. 1st Army division crossed the Remagan Bridge on the way to
Berlin
2. Late April
a. 506th was ordered to take Hitler’ Headquarters
i. “Eagle’s Nest” – Berchtesgaden
1. Bavarian Alps
ii. On the way the 101st would come across a
concentration camp
1. Emaciated people within the gates
II.
Eagle’s Nest
a. May 5, 1945
i. Easy Company would enter Berchtesgaden
1. Very honored to take the town
ii. Castle on the mountain
1. Captain Nixon
a. Allowed the troops to take what they wanted
i. Champagne, liquor, orange soda
2. Had freedom for about 5 days
a. Began to behave again afterwards
b. May 8, 1945
i. Allies accepted the Germans unconditional surrender
1. VE Day – victory in Europe
a. Hitler had committed suicide
2. It would be another few months until the Japanese would surrender
a. Easy Company would train to go to the Pacific if necessary
3. Would finally hear the words “You Are Going Home”
c. September 1945
i. The 101st Airborne would return to the US
Lesson Plan Ideas
1. Newspaper Article Lesson –
a. Students will be asked to choose a battle from the video and write a newspaper
article recounting the events and details from each conflict. Students may also
include articles depicting the 101st Airborne’s discovery of the concentration
camps or their arrival at the Eagle’s Nest.
2. Write a Letter Lesson –
a. Students will imagine that they are a member of the 101st Airborne in Easy
Company as they are enduring the German onslaught at Bastogne. They will be
asked to write a letter home to a friend or family member describing their
journey thus far through the war and the conditions they currently face during
the infamous “Battle of the Bulge” at Bastogne.
3. A Journey on the Front Lines –
a. Students will be asked to create an outline, poster, map, or storyboard following
the path of the 101st Airborne throughout the European theater. Beginning with
their training in England, students will trace the conflicts, battles, and conditions
endured by the members of the Screaming Eagles up to their arrival at the
Eagle’s Nest.
4. Major Dick Winters “Quiet Piece of Land” a. During the video Major Winters says that after the war all he wanted was a
piece of land, and peace and quiet. Students will be asked to write a reflection
as to what they would wish for if they had endured the hardships faced by the
101st Airborne.
5. Servicemen from Pa –
a. Several of the members of the 101st airborne were from Pennsylvania. Students
will be asked to research these members of Easy Company and summarize their
efforts and sacrifices during WWII.
Connection between the content and the method –
The connection between the content and the method is the personification of the hardships
endured by the members of the 101st Airborne. Students will be able to put themselves in the shoes of
the men and comprehend their long journey beginning with D-Day and ending with their arrival at the
Eagle’s Nest.