The book “Band of Brothers” is a 1992 classic on the events of a group of soldiers named Easy Company of the 506th Airborne Division in the U S Army. The book has 19 chapters and the following is a book report on the second half of that book. The major issue tackled by the book concerns the perseverance and the bravery shown by the soldiers during the World War II.
The second half of the book continues the tales if what happened at various places where the soldiers of Easy Company went to engage the forces allied to their enemies the Russia and its allies. Chapter 9 of the book is titled “The Island; Holland” in the characteristic fashion of the book the author adds the exact date when Easy Company engaged the enemies at that given place in a given event. In this case it was on October 2 until November 25 1944 that the events narrated here took place. The group had received some reprieve as they entered Holland in the Operation Market- Garden which was an attempt on capitalizing on Germany’s weakened position just after the D-day invasion. The group fought well in Holland and although they had many casualties they proved superior to their opponents and then went ahead to engage more enemies in France.
In the closing chapters of the book from chapter 14 onwards to 19, the author shows the Easy Company deals with the aftermath of the war as they settled in Austria. With time they quickly grew tired of celebrating their victories and longed to return home. There were fears that the enemies would regroup and attack them. There were also some feuds following disagreements on how the officers were to be discharged and they all agreed that they would use the medal system where medals, one received for participation in the war would be a basis for promotion and discharge. Many viewed it a bureaucratic and many engaged in heavy drinking when they got back home with many cases of drunk driving and accidents as well as public drunkenness. The company disintegrated slowly as the men were discharged gradually in a 3-year period after which Easy Company was inactivated.
References
Stephen E. Ambrose (1992). Band of Brothers.
