In the Company of Heroes:

101st Airborne Screaming Eagles, 50th Parachute Infantry Division

The Legendary Band of Brothers

Movie Outline

Part 1 –

  1. Easy Company – 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
  2. 101st Airborne Division - The Screaming Eagles
  3. Paratroopers
  4. D-Day
  5. Market Garden
  6. Battle of the Bulge
  7. Bastogne
  8. Major Dick Winters – Lancaster, Pa
  9. Ed Joint – Pittsburgh, Pa
  10. Forrest Guth – Philadelphia, Pa
  11. Joe Lesiniewski – Erie, Pa
  12. William Guarnere – South Philadelphia, Pa
  13. Jack Foley – Pittsburgh, Pa
  14. D- Day – June 6, 1944
  15. Over 4,000 ships land on Normandy’s coast
  16. Operation Overlord
  17. Allied invasion of Europe
  18. 101st airborne
  19. Shortly after 1:00am jumped behind enemy lines
  20. Thomas Meehan – Commanding Officer
  21. Plane of officers hit before the jump
  22. Pilots wanted to get out of there
  23. Sped up – had to jump at full speed
  24. Many missed their drop zones
  25. Drop zone was outside of French town St. Marie Dumont
  26. Paratroopers spread 6 miles outside of the zone
  27. Formed small combat units
  28. Mission was to fight the Germans from the rear and to cut off reinforcements
  29. Objective was Utah Beach
  30. Found one another in the dark and made their way back to the objective
  31. Lt. Dick Winters – Lancaster, Pa
  32. One of the first to reach Utah Beach
  33. Take out a battery of German cannons that were firing onto Utah Beach
  34. Gathered 12 paratroopers
  35. Began assault on the cannons
  36. Outnumbered
  37. Leap-frogged from trench to trench
  38. Hit them on the flank
  39. One position at a time
  40. 120 Germans killed, wounded, or captured
  41. 8 of Winters men survived unscathed
  42. Winters awarded Distinguished Honors Cross
  43. After leg injury Winters recalls D-Day in a diary
  44. “Band of Brothers”
  45. After the war his diaries were locked away
  46. Stephen Ambrose
  47. Told the story of Easy Company
  48. Got the men’s stories together
  49. Sold the “Band of Brothers” to Tom Hanks
  50. HBO TV mini-series
  51. “Hang Tough” – Dick Winters
  52. Do your best every day
  53. Dick Winters now resides in Hershey, Pa
  54. Training 1942
  55. Most of Europe had been taken over by Hitler
  56. British were retreating to North Africa
  57. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941
  58. German U-Boats were cruising the US coast
  59. Created an experimental army unit in the summer of 1942
  60. All volunteer 506 paratroopers infantry regiment
  61. Camp Toccoa, Georgia
  62. Elite unit
  63. Major Dick Winters – officer school
  64. Saw the company go through training
  65. Volunteered immediately for the paratroopers
  66. Wanted to be with the best
  67. Mount Currahee
  68. “Drop out runs”
  69. Tough physical training
  70. 800 men went through
  71. 150 came out
  72. Full combat equipment marches
  73. 48 miles to Clemson and back
  74. Toccoa to Altanta – 117 miles in 33 hours
  75. 6,000 would go to Camp Toccoa
  76. 2,000 would become paratroopers
  77. Very disciplined
  78. High standards
  79. Dismissed immediately if late
  80. Joined the 101st Airborne
  81. Liverpool, England
  82. England
  83. Fall of 1943
  84. England was island fortress
  85. Aldbourne
  86. Home to Easy Company
  87. Exercises with Winston Churchill
  88. March 8, 1944, Private Rudolph Dittrich
  89. Parachute failed to open
  90. Uppotery Field
  91. June 5, 1944
  92. Boarded the planes for the invasion of Normandy
  93. D-Day +4
  94. Normandy in Allied control
  95. Waiting for German counter-attack
  96. Carentan
  97. Were to told the town of Carentan
  98. Albert Blight hit
  99. Attack led by German Nazi SS Stormtrooopers
  100. Panzer Tank Corps
  101. June 12 – Battle for Bloody Gulch
  102. American tanks arrive to aid the 101st airborne
  103. Returned to England
  104. Half of the company would return
  105. 24 killed
  106. 42 wounded
  107. Operation Market Garden
  108. Plan to drop large numbers of paratroopers behind enemy lines in Holland
  109. Plan to seize 5 key bridges crossing the Rhine River
  110. Easy Company’s mission was to last 7 days
  111. Would last 3 months on the front lines
  112. September 17, 1944
  113. Easy company jumped for first time since D-Day
  114. Now led by Dick Winters
  115. Encountered little ground fire
  116. Secured the drop zone
  117. Eindhoven
  118. Cleared the town of Nazi soldiers
  119. First experience as liberators
  120. Dutch people came out to celebrate
  121. Very different from the French
  122. Nijmegan
  123. Germans spring counter-attack
  124. Paratroopers forced to fight
  125. “Hell’s Highway”
  126. Trying to find 82nd airborne
  127. German war planes bombed Eindhoven
  128. Easy company lost 5 men, many wounded
  129. Market Garden became infantry battle
  130. Had to become fixed defensively between Neder and Waal Rivers
  131. “The Island”
  132. Germans had the higher ground on the North side and were not far from home
  133. Had supplies
  134. October 5, 1944
  135. Winters and small group of men went to press attack against the Germans
  136. Two full companies of German SS Stormtroopers
  137. Frontal attack
  138. Outnumbered
  139. Caught the Germans by surprise
  140. Crossfire
  141. Germans run away towards the Dike
  142. Boxed the Germans in

Part 2

  1. Paris
  2. Late November 1944
  3. 506th Regiment
  4. Taken out of combat
  5. French Garrison town of Mourmelon Le Grand
  6. Had left England with 139 men
  7. Less than 80
  8. Needed reinforcements and rest
  9. Winters promoted to Executive Officer
  10. Thanksgiving 1944
  11. Had driven Germans from the conquered countries
  12. Many believe it would be months until the war was over
  13. Paris had been liberated in late August
  14. Had just gotten to a place with showers and hot food
  15. Were told they were leaving immediately
  16. December 16, 1944
  17. Germans had gone on an all-out offensive
  18. Ardennes forest region
  19. Surprised American troops
  20. The Battle of the Bulge
  21. Easy company raced to the front lines
  22. Germans held Foy
  23. Bastogne
  24. Easy Company’s 153 men were taken to Haute Station between Bastogne and Foy
  25. Dug into frozen forest
  26. Were surrounded by the Germans
  27. Heavy artillery attacks
  28. One of the coldest winters on record
  29. Did not have the clothing or the supplies to bear the cold
  30. Lost about half of the men in Bastogne
  31. Germans demanded surrender
  32. General Anthony McAuliffe replied
  33. “Nuts”
  34. Never any talk about surrender
  35. December 23 – weather let up
  36. Air operations could begin
  37. 3 days later tanks from General Patton’s 4th armored division arrived to relieve the 101st
  38. Easy Company was not sent to the rear
  39. Jan. 2, 1945
  40. 506th regiment launched series of battles around Bastogne
  41. Halted Germany’s offense
  42. Jan. 19, 1945
  43. 506th would be relieved after a month
  44. 15 killed
  45. 67 wounded
  46. Hardly any of the 153 were left unscathed
  47. Spring of 1945
  48. March 7, 1945
  49. 1st Army division crossed the Remagan Bridge on the way to Berlin
  50. Late April
  51. 506th was ordered to take Hitler’ Headquarters
  52. “Eagle’s Nest” – Berchtesgaden
  53. Bavarian Alps
  54. On the way the 101st would come across a concentration camp
  55. Emaciated people within the gates
  56. Eagle’s Nest
  57. May 5, 1945
  58. Easy Company would enter Berchtesgaden
  59. Very honored to take the town
  60. Castle on the mountain
  61. Captain Nixon
  62. Allowed the troops to take what they wanted
  63. Champagne, liquor, orange soda
  64. Had freedom for about 5 days
  65. Began to behave again afterwards
  66. May 8, 1945
  67. Allies accepted the Germans unconditional surrender
  68. VE Day – victory in Europe
  69. Hitler had committed suicide
  70. It would be another few months until the Japanese would surrender
  71. Easy Company would train to go to the Pacific if necessary
  72. Would finally hear the words “You Are Going Home”
  73. September 1945
  74. The 101st Airborne would return to the US

Lesson Plan Ideas

  1. Newspaper Article Lesson –
  2. Students will be asked to choose a battle from the video and write a newspaper article recounting the events and details from each conflict. Students may also include articles depicting the 101st Airborne’s discovery of the concentration camps or their arrival at the Eagle’s Nest.
  3. Write a Letter Lesson –
  4. Students will imagine that they are a member of the 101st Airborne in Easy Company as they are enduring the German onslaught at Bastogne. They will be asked to write a letter home to a friend or family member describing their journey thus far through the war and the conditions they currently face during the infamous “Battle of the Bulge” at Bastogne.
  5. A Journey on the Front Lines –
  6. Students will be asked to create an outline, poster, map, or storyboard following the path of the 101st Airborne throughout the European theater. Beginning with their training in England, students will trace the conflicts, battles, and conditions endured by the members of the Screaming Eagles up to their arrival at the Eagle’s Nest.
  7. Major Dick Winters “Quiet Piece of Land” -
  8. During the video Major Winters says that after the war all he wanted was a piece of land, and peace and quiet. Students will be asked to write a reflection as to what they would wish for if they had endured the hardships faced by the 101st Airborne.
  9. Servicemen from Pa –
  10. Several of the members of the 101st airborne were from Pennsylvania. Students will be asked to research these members of Easy Company and summarize their efforts and sacrifices during WWII.

Connection between the content and the method –

The connection between the content and the method is the personification of the hardships endured by the members of the 101st Airborne. Students will be able to put themselves in the shoes of the men and comprehend their long journey beginning with D-Day and ending with their arrival at the Eagle’s Nest.