Band of Brothers (something I noticed)

[Ash]

If you have not seen any episodes from this 10 part WW2 series then you're definitely missing out!
Even if you've only seen an episode or two, you owe it to yourself to see all 10.

Band of Brothers in its entirety is a powerful experience.

Anyway, my dad got me the full DVD metal box set for Christmas.

Since I got it I've watched every episode twice.
There is one thing I noticed about it that I didn't catch at first.

I noticed that NOT ONE BAR was used in any episode in the entire series!

For those of you that don't know, BAR stands for Browning Automatic Rifle and was a staple of nearly each squad in WW2.  
It served primarily as a sort of light machine gun and many battle tactics were developed around its use.
It was eventually replaced by the M-60 machine gun and then by the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) which I believe Andrew trains soldiers on.
You may remember seeing BAR's used in Saving Private Ryan.
One was exclusively used by Private Reiben in it.

Here's a photo of one:  
http://www.philaord.com/products/bar.html

They used every other weapon in the series such as the M-1 Garand  and Carbine, the Thompson, the 30 and 50 (Ma Duece) caliber Browning machine guns and even the Colt .45 pistol.

Now that I think about it, the Springfield '03 sniper rifle wasn't used at all either in the series.

Here's a photo of the Springfield:  
http://www.m1-garand.com/1903_Springfield.htm

I wonder why there were no BAR's or Springfields used in any of the Band of Brothers episodes?



Post Edited (01-17-04 02:45)

[Conrad]

I have many wargaming acquaintances who could give you chapter and verse on this, until you  (and your far distant relatives 20 generations hence) died of boredom , but I think the long and short of it is that the US Airborne were able to use the Browning .30 as an LMG instead of the BAR.  If you want to see the BAR in action watch "Castle Keep", which is a fine film indeed even if it features American soldiers ...

... oh and by the way ... US troops with the Garand in WW2 were deemed less in need of automatic support because of the Mighty Garand.  At least that's what we in the UK believe.  An American soldier involved in the Dieppe "raid" said his Garand was declared an automatic weapon by the British Army because it could fire so rapidly!

[FearlessFreep]

These threads always amuse me because I'm a software developer by profession and watching the way computers are totally devoid of reality in movies...

[trekgeezer]

Just for your info, I never saw this series , but the History channel  got the rights to show it . It is supposed to start sometime in the next couple of months.  I figure it's worth catching there if you don't want to shell out  for the DVDs.  It 's supposed to show with limited interruptions.

[Eirik]

ASHTHECAT:  Airborne didn't carry BARs because they and their ammo were heavy and they were also very maintenance intensive (in SPR, Reiben refers to his BAR once as "the b***h" - this was what they really called it because it was so high-maintenance).  Heavy weapons that were a pain to take care of were not preferred by guys who had to jump by parachute possibly landing in mud or water or something else that would screw up a BAR.  I held one once - they are heavy as hell.

By the way, your Dad rocks!  I wish someone would buy me that DVD set.

[dean]

I love band of brothers, a friend got me the dvd set last year when he went to Malaysia.  They are excellent quality for a couple of bucks.  

I never picked up on the use [or lack of] the BAR, which is odd because I am pretty interested in WWII stuff.  Hmmm...

[Flangepart]

True. I never saw a BAR being included in the list of wepons for the 101st and 82nd.
Man, i love this series. The music, the dvd extras ( The actors going through Dale Dye's "Boot camp" is a hoot), and the music.
God, that theme still gets to me......

Anyway....
Yeah. Its a keeper, for sure.

Where did we find such men?

[The Burgomaster]

I don't know much about military history, but I did go through U.S. Army basic training at Fort Dix, N.J. back in the summer of 1982 (at the tender age of 18).  One thing that I remember from my experience is that just about every military movie or television show that I watched after I got home was full obvious inaccuracies.  Soldiers in movies or on TV didn't talk like real soldiers (they didn't use the correct slang or terminology), they didn't wear their uniforms properly, they didn't carry their weapons or equipment properly, they didn't march correctly, they didn't salute correctly, etc.

There are 2 movies that I admire for being pretty realistic (at least during the boot camp scenes).  They are FULL METAL JACKET and THE BOYS IN COMPANY C.  Both are about Marine training, but they reminded me a lot of Army boot camp.  Most other movies just make me laugh because they are so unrealistic.  I have never been in combat, so I cannot comment about combat realism.