Top 10 Best Moments Scenes in Band of Brothers

“Crossroads”
In this scene, Easy Company and the rest of the 101st Airborne Division are charged with defending Bastogne, a strategic crossroads town. However, Easy is short on ammo and other crucial supplies. As other soldiers retreat after already facing the Germans in the area, the Easy boys take what ammo they can get from the shell-shocked troops. They also receive additional ammunition from Lieutenant George Rice. This scene leaves its mark because it illustrates how heroic the characters are in a quiet way. Underprepared, underdressed, and outgunned, we see them march into the darkness with the flashes of guns in the distance. What kings of men they were!

“Currahee”
Humor is sprinkled throughout “Band of Brothers.” It helps the men of Easy Company deal with the horror around them. However, one of the funniest moments in the series happens before they enter the war. The Company’s original commanding officer, Captain Sobel, isn’t the best leader in the field. During a training exercise, he gets his group lost in a field. George Luz is goaded into pranking Sobel to get the group moving again. He impersonates Major Horton’s voice perfectly, instructing Sobel to cut through a farm’s fence. It’s some great payback for all the grief Sobel puts his men through. The only thing funnier than the herd of cows running loose is Sobel’s face when he realizes what happened!

“Carentan”
Around a week after D-Day, Easy Company must retake the French town of Carentan. It’s their first major urban engagement and it gets incredibly chaotic. Right from the start, they take heavy fire on their approach, losing many men. Additionally, fighting in a town creates a ton of collateral damage and puts civilians in harm’s way. Easy Company has a rough time of it throughout, with some of the grisliest injuries in the series, not to mention Blithe’s mental trauma. And just when it seems like it’s all over, Richard Winters is hit by a ricochet! It’s an explosive and impactful battle that left a major impression.

“Day of Days”
June 6th, 1944: D-Day. Easy Company and many other paratroopers take part in the Normandy invasion. The sequence depicting the nighttime battle on the coast of France is harrowing from beginning to end. The planes take fire throughout. Some men are injured before they even jump. An entire plane goes up in flames. And all around them are explosions and utter chaos. Not only is it impressive that the real Easy company (and other real soldiers) managed to survive something this dangerous, but the scene is also incredible from a production perspective! “Band of Brothers” was released in 2001! And yet, the visual effects of this battle have aged amazingly well! Truly, it was a miniseries ahead of its time!

“Bastogne”
One of the most gripping episodes in the series follows one of Easy Company’s medics, Eugene “Doc” Roe. His efforts to keep his men alive in the cold hell of the forests around Bastogne often seem fruitless. Nevertheless, a major bright spot is his friendship with Belgian nurse, Renee Lemaire. The pair’s quiet conversation in the ruins of Bastogne is particularly memorable. Renee offers Doc chocolate, and he notices the state of her hands. He insists her skill with healing the men is a gift, though Renee feels it’s the opposite. Nevertheless, when the time comes to continue helping others, she leaps at the chance. This quiet moment of humanity is made even more poignant by Renee’s death when the aid station is bombed.

“Day of Days”
Arguably Easy Company’s first major engagement on the ground on D-Day, this battle sees them charged with taking out a group of cannons at Brécourt that are targeting one of their landing zones. Easy’s assault on the guns captures the frenetic nature of combat perfectly, while still making everything coherent and relatively simple to follow. The action is fast and frequent, and even manages to inject a few comedic moments. Some incidents with grenades, a shot in the behind, and the loss of one man aside, this is still a textbook attack on a fixed position. And as the end card of the episode indicates, we mean that literally!

“The Breaking Point”
Easy Company’s stay in the forest surrounding Bastogne sees the group hit several times by German artillery. And while the one that Carwood Lipton compares to the 4th of July is awe-inducing, a far more impactful one occurs later in the episode. During this barrage, several of the longstanding fixtures of the series are killed. Joe Toye and Bill Guarnere are wounded and lose limbs in a brutal sequence. And while he’s not injured himself, Buck Compton is torn up seeing them torn up. It’s a scene that hammers home that even soldiers who aren’t injured still suffer emotional trauma.

“The Breaking Point”
During their time in Bastogne, Easy is saddled with Lieutenant Dike who…isn’t exactly a battlefield commander. So, when the time comes to take the town of Foy, Dike freezes. Captain Winters wants to go himself, but is refused. Enter, then-Lieutenant Ronald Speirs! Speirs quickly takes charge, assessing the situation and leading the men forward quickly and decisively. While that alone is awesome enough, he soon after charges straight through the German lines to hook up with another company! And to top off this sundae of badassery, Speirs returns in the same direction from which he came! The leadership and valor on display here is simply unmatched! Plus, he really did it! What a boss!

“Why We Fight”
In the Second World War, the Holocaust always looms. When Easy Company men first find a concentration camp, they don’t understand what they’re seeing and even knowing what’s coming, it’s still shocking. The imprisoned men are all emaciated and malnourished. The production reportedly hired cancer patients, to help make it more authentic. Seeing the Easy men uncover each new horror is hard to watch. Liebgott having to tell the liberated prisoners that they can’t leave is the ultimate heartbreak though. Even if it’s a show, just knowing that real people were treated this way turns the stomach.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Bull in the Barn, “Replacements”
Stranded & Alone, “Bull” Randleman Fights to Survive

Lipton’s Promotion, “The Breaking Point”
He Held Easy Together & He Didn’t Even Realize It

The Mark of a True Soldier, “Carentan”
Blithe Deserved That Edelweiss

Winters Kills a Young Soldier, “Crossroads”
It’s an Event That Haunts Easy’s Leader

Picking Up Laundry, “Carentan”
Not Everybody Made It Back

“Points”
Every war ends eventually, and the conclusion of Easy Company’s time in Europe brings with it a tremendous sense of relief. The last scene of the last episode sees a montage of the men playing a game of baseball as Winters recounts everyone’s lives after the war. It’s touching to know that after everything these men went through, many of them went on to succeed and stay connected in civilian life. As if that wasn’t perfect enough, it’s followed up by the final interview with the real members of Easy Company, with their names finally revealed. The real Winters’ final speech about a question he got from his grandson is so moving that we struggle to hold back the feels every time we hear it!

Is there a “Band of Brothers” moment we missed? Sound off your favorites, and a “Currahee!” in the comments!