A Band of Brothers: Part II
After Easy company arrived back in England, they were fitted with replacements and ammunition, ready to go back into combat at a moments notice. All throughout the rest of summer, they were assigned a few combat jumps into France, but every time they arrived at the airfield, the ground troops had over run their drop zone so the mission was cancelled. This happened on and off several times. Finally in September, the allies devised a plan to drop thousands of troops into Nazi-Occupied Holland.
Easy Company was assigned to hold bridge at the southern end of the country. They were to hold the surrounding area until tank reinforcements arrived. The jump went very smoothly. Unlike D-Day, all the troops landed in their assigned areas and assembled quickly. They were told by Allied Intelligence that the Germans is Holland were old men and young boys who did not want to fight. This turned out to be completely wrong. Crack panzer divisions left in reserve attacked the allies from all sides.
Almost everything went wrong. Easy company’s assigned bridge was destroyed halting the allied advance for several hours. With a week, the entire operation failed and the quick drive into Germany would not happen. Easy took up defensive positions and tried their best to keep a level head in spite of constant German attacks and dwindling ammo. They were soon pulled off the line and sent back to the Allied lines to refitting.
Within a few months, Hitler launched an all-out assault on Western Europe by throwing every bit of equipment he had in a last ditch effort to halt the allied advance. In the freezing cold of winter, Easy Company alone with the rest of the 101st Airborne division was ordered to hold the town of Bastogne. This town was of vital importance because of its road network. If the Germans took this town, there would be nothing to stop them from launching an attack in every direction.
The battle-hardened troops dug foxholes in the snow and created a defensive perimeter around the town. Soon they were surrounded and running low on supplies. For more than month, they had endure attacks while fighting in the freezing cold with barely any ammunition. General Patton was able to fight his way through the German advance and save the besieged paratroopers. To this day, members of the 101st Airborne felt they could have held out without Patton’s help.
