Band of Brothers Brief Summary of Beyond

Band of Brothers

Brief Summary of Beyond Band of Brothers

The book "Beyond Band of Brothers" has been written by the commander of the army, Dick Winters. Winters and his team was referred to as the Easy Company. However, the mission that they were trying to accomplish was far from being easy. Commemorated as the Band of Brothers, Winters and his soldiers suffered 150% casualties while they tried to liberate the European region. The way that Winters led his army and the way they fought the war is an unparalleled example of bravery. Many historians claim that commanders like Winters are very rare and they believe that he was the best leader of the forces during the World War II. He told his story and explained his experiences of the combat in this book.

On the day of the commencement of the combat, Dick Winters landed into France and took control of the Band of Brothers as their commander after their former leader was killed. He guided them throughout the Battle of the Bulge and then also led the army when it entered Germany. By this time, most of the soldiers of his army had been wounded. Even though the content of this book is not any different from what other historians have stated about the World War II, this book contains the untold stories of the comrade. The way the writer has penned down the incidents of the war, they truly pay tribute to the kind of human spirit that was possessed by the soldiers of his army and him during the times of war.

Apart from just getting inspired from the bravery of men and the human spirit, this book has more to offer. There is no doubt in the fact that Winters was an outstanding commander and leader. He used his experience and expertise to list some of the principles of becoming a successful and effective leader. The discussion of all these principles is beyond the scope of this paper, however we shall bring into limelight one of the principles stated by Winters.

Principles for the Selfless Leader

The ten principles that have been listed by Dick Winters in his war memoir can be used as a leadership model. In this part of the paper, we shall be discussing one of these principles in depth. We will discuss how this one principle was used by Dick Winters throughout the war and how it helped him and his army to overcome the problems that emerged during the battle. One of the ten principles that we shall be focusing on is "strive to be leader of competence, courage and character" (Winters, 2008).

The aforementioned principle might sound quite simple to follow, but in fact it is one of the most difficult principle to stick to and especially when one is being tested under fire.

Winters joined the U.S. military in the year 1941. From the very beginning, he was considered to be a man of character. Even his fellow paratroopers were also men who had received training of manhood from their fathers who belonged to the culture of 19th of century, which gave them a lesson of preserving their morality and values irrespective of the circumstances. When Winters was training in Georgia, he sought for men who possessed a tough mind. However, he was not aware that he will have to lead these men for such a long period of time. The combat training prepared the boys who were immortalized as the Easy Company for a mission in Normandy that was rather deadly. This meant that they had to be a part of a fierce battle and fighting for three days with an anticipated casualty rate of 80%. When the duration of the mission was expanded to months from days, the lesson of courage and manhood given by Winters to his soldiers made it possible for the Easy Company to get through hardship that cannot be even imagined. Even though Winters witnessed his men and soldiers bleed to death throughout the war, he did not lose focus of the main objective and kept on moving ahead with increased courage and consistency. He inspired the soldiers to think like men, act like men, fight like men, be patient like men and if the times comes to be ready to give their lives like men. Winters kept on fighting courageously and leading his army though Europe. Throughout the war, he made sure that his real demonstrated courage, competence and character by setting an example in front of them. His maturity and that of his real men were tested in this war. Each one of the soldiers was inspired by the humble courage and character of their leader, Dick Winters.

Winters was a young man and, therefore, his enemies believed that it was easier to bring him down by first putting down his morals. They wanted to destroy the moral backbone of Winters and his army, however Winters always passed the moral tests that were put forth him. He was a man and a leader of character. Nazi soldiers tried their best to kill him for months. However, Winters was aware of the fact that life is uncertain and that he might die while fighting the enemy. Not even once did he take a break to peep into his heart and the way he was feeling and neither did he complain about the challenges he faced throughout the war. He was indeed very sensitive for his soldiers and made sure that they were also on the same page as him. Winters and his army mainly focused on the enemies as well as their mission; both the things were equally important to them. The courage of Winters and his soldiers can be seen from the fact that they did not even hesitate to jump out of the airplanes amidst the Nazi army, that was firing blindly. It should be noted here that the commander of the army instructed the soldiers to do so, so as to show the enemy that they were a band of courageous people. There was one occasion when the soldiers led by Winters were separated from each other in the dark at night. The commander of the company was murdered before he landed on the ground. This was the first time that the soldiers of the Easy Company saw a real Nazi and that was the time when they first experienced the fright of a war. Since the soldiers were young, they felt inexperienced, helpless, lost and thought they were completely under the control of the Nazi army. It will not be wrong to say that these young men were afraid, but they were not lost morally. Their moral stamina and their moral orientation were intact as if they had some kind of a backbone that assured their morality. They were able to sustain themselves as real men because of their inner strength. The question that arises here is that what was the thing that made it possible for the Easy Company to deal with such an unsettling situation?

The answer to this question is that these young American soldiers were being led by a commander who had the ability to think and assess the situation calmly with the confidence of manhood that kept him upright. He led the army under great pressure of moral test and was confident enough to make decisions even under that sort of pressure. He had the ability and the courage to inspire other men to act bravely. He demonstrated manly thinking throughout his adult life and at every step that he took.