Reviews for Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

The average rating for Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-05-26 00:00:00 Lavec Zdenko These impressively detailed memoirs recount Dick Winters' extraordinary experiences in World War II while serving in the U.S. Army as an officer in Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Beginning with training at Camp Toccoa, Winters goes on to relate much of what he and his men endured throughout many historically significant events, most notably: D-Day and the Brécourt Manor Assault at Normandy, fighting at Carentan, Holland, and Bastogne (the Battle of the Bulge), and the eventual occupation of Germany and liberation of concentration camps. The book also includes information on Winters' life after the war, a section about Stephen Ambrose (author of Band of Brothers, the book that inspired the outstanding HBO miniseries of the same name), and a concluding chapter which discusses leadership.  While at times the writing crosses the line from admirably precise and succinct to what I can only describe as terse to the point of aridity, being able to read Winters' thoughts and insights was illuminating and immensely rewarding, and certainly made up for any lack of finesse with respect to his writing style. As per the book's organization, the material is presented in a straightforward, yet fairly comprehensive manner. It contains a decent blend of his own experiences and impressions, personal details about his fellow soldiers, general historical and geographical facts, and pertinent information on the Army, all of which allow the reader to obtain a fuller picture of the overall significance of his part in the war. Winters at Schoonderlogt, Holland, 1944 If you don't already know Winters' story from the Band of Brothers miniseries, you should definitely read this book. And if you are familiar with his story, well, you should still read this book. So, yeah, in case that was in any way ambiguous, the bottom line is: read the damn book. Winters was an inspirational, diligent officer who cared about his men tremendously; I have even more respect for him now than I did before. Humble, hardworking, earnest, and conscientious, he was a remarkable human being who took part in many likewise remarkable events. We should never forget his contributions and sacrifices, or those of the other men involved in these brutal yet necessary battles. Their fortitude, dedication, and strength of character continue to be examples for us all.  I'll now conclude with a few excerpts from the book, to allow it to speak for itself. On a rather humorous pre-D-Day occurrence: "I distributed the ammunition and grandes to Easy Company on June 3 and the men took hot showers and were given extra cigarettes and candy rations. The tension finally got to Lieutenant Raymond Schmitz, one of Easy Company's platoon leaders. In civilian life Schmitz had been a boxer of some distinction. To break the tension Schmitz had asked me to box him. I was no idiot and said, 'No, thanks.' During the afternoon he kept up the same baiting challenge and I continued giving him the same reply. Finally Schmitz said, 'Let's wrestle.' Well, I had done a little wrestling in college, so I accepted the challenge. The match was very, very short and ended with Schmitz going to the hospital with two cracked vertebra. He, of course, was scratched from the manifest for the D-Day jump. The rest of that day and right up to the time we strapped on our parachutes, I had a constant line of requests from fellow soldiers asking me with a smile on their face, 'Will you break my arm for five dollars?'" On the D-Day jump: "All of us had lost our leg bags containing most of our weapons in the initial blast when we exited the plane. Why we were experimenting with leg bags on this jump when we had never rehearsed with them during training was beyond me. I later discovered that in our small contingent from Easy Company, we all lost our leg bags and ended up using whatever weapons we could scrounge from dead troopers." On Brécourt Manor tactics and outcome: "The battery was firing directly down causeway #2 in the direction of Utah Beach, where the initial waves of the 4th Infantry Division were already landing. Anticipating that is would be too costly to conduct a frontal attack across an open field, I determined our chances of success would be greatly enhanced if we could hit the enemy on the flank and silence one gun at a time." "In all, we had suffered four dead, six wounded, and had inflicted fifteen dead and twelve captured on the enemy. German forces in the vicinity of the battle had numbered about fifty. About three hours had passed since I had first received the order to dispose of the battery." On the devotion of the men in the unit: "Rather than complaining that he was hit, he apologized, 'I'm sorry, Lieutenant, I goofed. I goofed. I'm sorry.' My God, it's beautiful when you think of a guy so dedicated to his company that he apologizes for getting hit. Now, here was a soldier'hit by enemy fire in Normandy on D-Day, behind the German lines, and he is more upset that he had let his buddies down than he was concerned with his own injury." "To give you an idea how dedicated Nixon was to the 506th PIR, at Bastogne he had his name drawn from a hat in a lottery that would have given him a thirty-day leave to the United States. Nix refused the offer, saying he wanted to stay with the outfit on the line. How do you explain that kind of dedication? Such devotion is never discussed by the men, but it is never forgotten." On what it's like to endure artillery fire for an extended time: "When a soldier is subjected to a concentrated bombardment, he often finds himself bouncing on the ground from the force of the concussion. The big problem for a leader is keeping his wits and not freezing in fear'being able to think and, as soon as possible, talking to the men, and getting them to get up and think. The intensity of artillery fire over a protracted period has a dramatic impact on a unit in combat." On an unexpected, rare moment of beauty amidst the horror: "After working at the Mourmelon hospital all day, the prisoners marched back to their stockade at dusk. As they passed their American captors, the prisoners sang their marching songs with the pride and vigor only found in units that had bonded in combat. It was absolutely beautiful. I always looked forward to that time of day and made it a point to stop and listen to a defeated foe still united in comradeship. Amid the chaos and butchery of war, I told myself that I would always remember this beautiful moment." On the amusing reason why no top-shelf liquor was to be found in Goering's extensive wine cellar: "Private David Kenyon Webster penned a different account of Goering's wine cellar. Webster was shocked to find that 'Hitler's champagne in the cellar was new and mediocre, no Napoleon brandy, no fine liqueurs.' Webster was a Harvard man, a self-styled connoisseur of liquors. So was Nixon, who prided himself on being a Yale man. Before Webster reached the wine cellar, Nixon had already absconded with his personal booty and supervised the distribution of five truckloads for the troops. Once the troops had their share of the liquor, Nixon lifted the guards. On this occasion the Yale man pulled rank on the Harvard boy. Small wonder that Webster was disappointed in what remained. Nixon would have been first to attest that in the army, rank still had its privileges."

Review # 2 was written on 2017-09-26 00:00:00 Nick Reed Major Dick Winters was a diligent soldier, caring humanitarian and just who you'd want to lead a troop of men into the worst of war zones. He is most well-known from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' World War II miniseries Band of Brothers, which dramatized the valiant efforts of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division from D-Day through to the end of the European stage of the war. Major Winters' memoir takes a brief glance at his youth before diving headlong into his time with the army and his involvement in WWII. It finishes just as briefly, rounding out his post-war career and retirement, with a coda comprising some of the leadership topics he lectured upon for audiences towards the end of his life. Winters' friend, the historian Stephen E. Ambrose wrote a great book about Easy Company's accomplishments. It takes a broad view of the war and the company as a whole. Then there are memoirs by other company members, such as non-commissioned officer Sergeant Donald G. Malarkey, which focuses much more on the men, their personalities and individual achievements. Winter's book is somewhere in between. Beyond Band of Brothers is an officer's look at the war, and a very competent officer he was! The prose is soldierly efficient. Winters lavishes praise upon the men he served with and only occasionally he is critical. You can tell how damn proud he was to serve with these men, even when he's not flat out telling you. I've watched the miniseries a number of times. I've read a few books about this company. I know the men's names. I know their faces. It is truly amazing what the went through. I'll always be thankful.