Band of Brothers is a 2001 American war drama miniseries based on historian Stephen E. Ambrose's 1992 non-fiction book of the same name. It was created by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who also served as executive producers, and who had collaborated on the 1998 World War II film Saving Private Ryan, from which the series got many of its visual cues and crew members. Episodes first aired on HBO from September 9 to November 4, 2001.
The series dramatizes the history of "Easy" Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. It begins during Easy Company's paratrooper training and follows its participation in the Western Front of World War II from D-Day to their occupation of Berchtesgaden. The events are based on Ambrose's research and recorded interviews with Easy Company veterans. Although all the characters are based directly on members of Easy Company, the series took some literary license, adapting history for dramatic effect and series structure. Each episode begins with excerpts from interviews with some of the survivors, who are identified by name only at the end of the finale. The title of the book and series comes from the St. Crispin's Day speech in William Shakespeare's play Henry V, delivered by King Henry before the Battle of Agincourt. Ambrose quotes a passage from the speech on his book's first page; this passage is recited by Carwood Lipton in the series finale.
Band of Brothers received universal acclaim and would go on to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries. Retrospective reviews have cited it as one of the greatest television shows of all time, and it is widely seen as a pioneering entry in Peak TV in large part due to its high production value which many compared favorably to Saving Private Ryan. Its success led to the creation of two companion piece miniseries, also with Spielberg's and Hanks' involvement, that feature the exploits of other military branches during World War II: The Pacific (2010) and Masters of the Air (2024).
Plot
Over the course of ten episodes, Band of Brothers depicts a dramatized account of Easy Company's ("Easy" Stands for radio call for "E") exploits during World War II.
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Production
The series was developed chiefly by Tom Hanks and Erik Jendresen, who spent months detailing the plot outline and individual episodes. Steven Spielberg served as "the final eye" and used Saving Private Ryan, the film on which he and Hanks had collaborated, to inform the series, although Jendresen served as showrunner. Accounts of Easy Company veterans, such as Donald Malarkey, were incorporated into production to add historic detail. Its budget was about $125 million, or an average of $12.5 million per episode. Chrysler was a sponsor, as its Jeeps were used in the series. Chrysler spent $5 million to $15 million on its advertising campaign, using footage from Band of Brothers. Negotiations were monitored by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who spoke personally to Spielberg.
Location
The series was shot over eight to ten months primarily at Ellenbrook Fields, at Hatfield Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, England. This location had been used to shoot the film Saving Private Ryan.
Historical accuracy
To preserve historical accuracy, the writers conducted additional research. One source was the memoir of Easy Company soldier David Kenyon Webster, Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich (1994). This was published by LSU Press, following renewed interest in World War II and more than 30 years after his death in a boating accident. In Band of Brothers Ambrose quoted liberally from Webster's unpublished diary entries, with permission from his estate. Dye (who portrays Colonel Robert Sink) instructed the actors in a 10-day boot camp at the Longmoor Military Camp in Hampshire, culminating with parachute training at RAF Brize Norton.
The production aimed for accuracy in the details of weapons and costumes. Simon Atherton, the weapons master, corresponded with veterans to match weapons to scenes, and assistant costume designer Joe Hobbs used photos and veteran accounts.
Shortly after the premiere of the series, Tom Hanks asked Major Winters what he thought of Band of Brothers. The major responded, "I wish that it had been more authentic. I was hoping for an 80 percent solution." Hanks responded, "Look, Major, this is Hollywood. At the end of the day, we will be hailed as geniuses if we get this 12 percent right. We are going to shoot for 17 percent."
thumb|150px|The 506th PIR Unit emblem
The liberation of one of the Kaufering subcamps of Dachau was depicted in episode 9 ("Why We Fight"); however, the 101st Airborne Division arrived at Kaufering Lager IV subcamp on the day after it was discovered by the 134th Ordnance Maintenance Battalion of the 12th Armored Division, on April 27, 1945. German historian and Holocaust researcher Anton Posset worked with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks as a consultant, providing photographs of the liberators and documentation of the survivors' reports he had collected over the years. The camp was reconstructed in England for the miniseries.
It is uncertain which Allied unit was first to reach the Kehlsteinhaus. Several claim the honor, compounded by confusion with the town of Berchtesgaden, which was taken on May 4 by forward elements of the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. Reputedly, members of the 7th went as far as the elevator to the Kehlsteinhaus, However, the 101st Airborne maintains it was first to both Berchtesgaden and the Kehlsteinhaus. Elements of the French 2nd Armored Division, Laurent Touyeras, Georges Buis and Paul Répiton-Préneuf, were present on the night of May 4 to 5, and took several photographs before leaving on May 10 at the request of US command, and this is supported by testimonies of the Spanish soldiers who went along with them.
Major Dick Winters, who commanded the 2nd Battalion of the U.S. 506th PIR in May 1945, stated that they entered Berchtesgaden shortly after noon on May 5. He challenged competing claims, stating, "If the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division was first in Berchtesgaden, just where did they go? Berchtesgaden is a relatively small community. I walked into the Berchtesgaden Hof with Lieutenant Welsh and saw nobody other than some servants. Goering's Officers' Club and wine cellar certainly would have caught the attention of a French soldier from LeClerc's 2nd Armored Division, or a rifleman from the U.S. 3rd Division. I find it hard to imagine, if the 3rd Division was there first, why they left those beautiful Mercedes staff cars untouched for our men."