Book Review: Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose

I love war books; so I do start with a bit of a bias I guess. I find something magical about the fact that war is not just man versus man, but at most times, high speed chess between two opposing army commanders. A smart military leader has the potential to win greater victories and save more lives than standalone brave soldiers, something that reflects in the teams and people I have worked in and with as well. Awful leaders will diminish the best of men; great leaders will inspire the worst.

‘Band of Brothers’ is the story of the ironically named ‘Easy Company’ which took on some of the hardest tasks of World War II’s European invasion. Trained under a man the company loved to hate (Sobel) at the mountains of Currahee, the company of paratroopers quickly became one of the elite troops of the American war effort, thereby landing plum assignments such as taking important objectives on Normandy (the famous mass invasion of Nazi Europe by the Allies), taking important objectives during Market Garden (the almost end to the war that the Allies engineered), participating in the Battle of the Bulge and finally occupying Eagle’s Nest – Hitler’s iconic retreat in Austria.

Ambrose produces a largely linear Cornelius Ryan like narrative of the Company – starting with the induction of the first band of recruits, their training under the popularly hated ‘chickenshit’ leader Sobel to the war itself. The book brings alive the everyday men of World War II… I grew to love the characters of Sobel (a most remarkable villain/ bad boss), Winters (the universally admired leader who eventually outranked Sobel), Sink (the regiment commander), Speirs (a fierce fearsome warrior who took over the Company after Winters was promoted) and Webster (a budding writer who chronicled the war ever so beautifully in his own words). The book does suffer from a surfeit of names, like most war books do, but the continuing thread of Sobel-Winters-Sink-Speirs-Webster and a few more keeps you glued… you want to know what happens to all these men at the very end.

What was remarkable for me was how much men hated the war effort and the army itself, but continued not out of courage or patriotism but for the love of the man at their side.

The story of Easy Company deserves to be read to be believed. Do read the book before you watch the show on HBO. I traveled through 40’s Nazi Europe with these guys and I strongly recommend that you do too.