Dan Snow's History Hit - Band of Brothers: Yanks in Britain

Episode Date: November 15, 2022

In the first of this 2-part series dedicated to the legacy of Easy Company and the American 101st Airborne Division, Dan visits the idyllic country village of Aldbourne in Wiltshire, where the 'Band of Brothers' were stationed. Joined by a group of volunteers, including military veterans and archaeologists, Dan and the team dig into the 'friendly invasion' of the Second World War and see what can be learned from the treasures that the Allied troops left behind.This episode was produced by Marian Des Forges and James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!Download History Hit app from the Google Play store.Download History Hit app from the Apple Store.

Hello everyone, welcome to Dan Snow's History. 80 years ago, millions of American soldiers started arriving in Britain. It was, as everyone called it at the time, a friendly invasion. Brits, Americans, Canadians and other nationalities preparing for the liberation of Europe. Among those first Americans to arrive was Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne. They would become the most famous military unit of the Second World War. The Band of Brothers, so-called because they were featured in a book written by historian Stephen Ambrose and then

obviously the TV drama series. Well, the Band of Brothers have left their mark in more than just celluloid. They actually have left things behind. They dropped stuff. They threw stuff away. And now a team of volunteers, including archaeologists and military veterans, spent May of this year digging under the beautiful village of Oldbourne in Wiltshire, to where Easy Company did their training. It's actually where Easy Company spent more time than anywhere else in their history as a unit during the Second World War. Team history hit went down to the dig.

We joined the dig. We camped. It was unbelievably cold at night. We snuggled together for warmth. And during the day, we joined the team as they searched for traces of these extraordinary individuals. It was very nice. The people of Old Bourne were very friendly, particularly grateful for the family that invited us for dinner in their house.

And then the gentleman who turned up and lent us a World War II Willis Jeep that he happened to just be driving past in. So on the whole, very hospitable, as it was for those lovely Americans back there in 1942. The archaeologists, the team, they found some good stuff. It's exciting, so stay tuned. In the meantime though, enjoy this first episode of our Band of Brothers pod. T-minus 10. Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. God save the king. No black-white unity till there is first and black unity.

Never to go to war with one another again. And liftoff, and the shuttle has cleared the tower. These are the beautiful country lanes of Wiltshire. Quiet, peaceful. You'd never guess that 80 years ago, this was the site of an invasion of Britain, but not by an enemy force, by Britain's ally, the Americans. On the 26th of January 1942, as war raged across the world, the first of millions of US soldiers started arriving on British shores. Amongst them, perhaps the most famous military unit of World War II, the men that would become known as the Band of Brothers. Now a group of volunteers is digging

beneath an idyllic English village to discover the traces those men left behind. In this two-part series we'll follow their search. There's an Emrand rifle clip. Oh my goodness. Just found another one. Look at that. What they find will reveal remarkable personal stories. That's interesting. So what do you think that's doing in a hut full of men? And connect us to one man with a truly extraordinary tale. 1942, after the outrage of Pearl Harbor and Hitler's declaration of war against the USA, America joined the Allies, which meant Britain was about to get a shock. The streets of towns and villages across the country

were filled with the stomp of marching feet, the skies above with the roar of aircraft, the fields and plains with the rumble of tanks and armour. The Americans were here. Britain wasn't just a staging post. The US forces came here to finish off their military training and prepare for the invasion of France. That meant creating new facilities where the GIs could live, train and relax.

Over two million American servicemen passed through Britain during the Second World War. The so-called Friendly Invasion. Their contribution to victory was absolutely essential. But they also had a huge impact on the communities on which they were billeted. This is the beautiful, quiet little village of Oldbourne in Wiltshire. Typical of the kinds of places where Americans would be sent from Cornwall right up to Scotland it was near an airfield and there's

useful terrain nearby on which training could take place this village has a particular association with the 101st Airborne a division of paratroopers known as the Screaming Eagles, and among them was Easy Company, the famous Band of Brothers. The 101st Airborne was founded in 1918 towards the end of the First World War, but was dissolved the very same month. It was then resurrected in 1921, but as organised reserves. It wasn't until 1942 that the Screaming Eagles were set on their course, when Major General William C Lee read out General Order Number 5. The 101st Airborne Division has no history, but it has a rendezvous with destiny. The plan was to use infantry carried

in aircraft as part of the invasion force that would retake mainland Europe. It was a bold idea. Soldiers jumping out of planes with parachutes attached to their back wasn't an entirely new idea. There had been some limited examples of it before the Second World War. But the first major use of paratroopers came with the German army's blitzkrieg in Europe in 1940, when they achieved mixed results. The Allies now decided to adopt that way of fighting, but that would

require new thinking about training, tactics and equipment. They also need to find a lot of very brave young men. Many of those volunteers ended up in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. That included Easy Company, whose story is told in the famous series. They were sent to Georgia for their initial training, where they were given the nickname the Currahees after the nearby mountain they had to climb repeatedly. Then, in 1943, they came to Britain to continue their training. Many of them ended up in Alborne. Now, almost 80 years on, volunteers, including military veterans and archaeologists, have come to see if any traces of those soldiers remain.

In charge of the dig is archaeologist Richard Osgood. Richard. Good to see you, Dan. Good to see you again, man. Welcome to Oldbourne. Yeah, I mean, it's not a place that I associate with the Second World War. It doesn't have that vibe, does it? I know. I mean, you're standing on a football pitch,

but in 1943 and 4, this was a shanty town it was absolutely crammed with wriggly tin shelters and buildings connected to some of the most famous soldiers of the Second World War which is of course Easy Company. For the famous history book and in the tv series. Exactly so these are Banda brothers based in this little village in Wiltshire uh The longest time they were together at any one point was here in this village and on this football pitch. And are we able to know precisely where they would have been within this village? Well, we're really fortunate because, as it's an American base, there are a lot of American Air photographs that are taken during the time to look at where they were.

And we do have a collection of some of these. You'll notice these ones. They're a series of what they call Quonset huts. And that's where we think Easy Company was. So this field was almost a parade square in the middle and then huts all around the edge. It's exactly that. You've got a parade ground, it's a perimeter forming pretty much a quadrangle. You can imagine them doing practice all the way around this field. But this is where they live. This is where Easy Company spent more time together as

a unit than any other place in the whole of the second world war so from here i think there's a lot of forging of that unit and so you've got these aerophotos how then as an archaeologist you decide right where we're going to dig because it's a big old field you can't just take the whole topsoil no that's a good point as well it's a big field and there's not a single hut as we look at it so they are no longer here luckily we've got some techniques that we can bring to bear. We've tried geophysical survey on it, a technique called magnetometry, and you look at the magnetic responses below the ground.

We wanted to see if that would work or whether the local story that it had all been bulldozed was correct and there would be nothing left. Well, our geophysical survey came up with some results. Now, we've zoomed in a little bit to that end of the field. You'll notice the huts and the area we thought was easy company. You can see that the colour on here, that's a superimposition of where we got traces of something on the geophysics.

Which corresponds exactly to the aerial photograph. It's an absolute one-to-one. So we felt fairly confident that the geophysics confirmed there was something where those huts were. But the question is, what? the only way to find out is to dig they're concentrating in the area identified by the aerial photographs and the geophysical survey if they're right this marked out rectangle was the location of one of Easy Company's huts. But this is no ordinary archaeological dig. Many of the volunteers are former military veterans

brought together with archaeologists by Operation Nightingale. Joe, one thing I said to myself when I left the army is I would never dig a hole again. People we've got on this programme called Operation Nightingale, they're all people that have done it for real themselves, so they can empathise with those men of easy company from the 1940s because they've done it in the 21st century. They've suffered those privations of being in huts,

of being cold around a stove and then being deployed into operational theatres. So they bring a certain pathos, I think, in some ways, to the whole experience, but they're also very good physically. There he goes. We have. Come here, Dan. I've got bad uncle. Oh!

Can you imagine trying to get a turf cut? With so many fit and eager hands, progress is quick. And it's not long before the first evidence that they're on the right spot it's our paper there and the first concrete pier there we are

Richard where's Richard gone oh he's way off he's missing the action base with rebar and how close was that to where we pegged it for the geophysics? I think the geophysics was pointing to that, so within about an inch or two. He's about five centimeters out. We'll wind him up. That's amazing isn't it, brilliant. So that is the first sign of the hut. Yep and if we take off this one. Yeah, yep, there. So that ties the building into it doesn't it but we're getting that edge there and super it feels like the edge is out there well that gives us a really nice depth to work to more tarp paper again so yeah so we'll be really careful with that

solid the waterproofing of the building so just work to that level and along so you're happy with that as well chris that that's the sort of level we're we're looking at so it is it's a really shallow turf straight onto the building nice see that's a good solid piece of honest structure isn't it richard is confident that this is the concrete foundation of what's called a nissen hut these huts were a standard design that had been used since the First World War. The invention of engineer Major Peter Nissen. The tar paper they've uncovered was part of a waterproof layer

to stop damp coming up through the wooden floor. Such a hut would have had space for around 20 men to sleep and relax in, whilst meals would have been taken elsewhere. These prefabricated structures had most likely been installed here before the Americans had even arrived. Whilst one team is digging for the Easy Company huts, another team are busy investigating a different part of the field.

So Easy Company's over here, they're different phonetic alphabets, so whereas we'd be Alpha Bravo, Charlie, Delta Echo, Foxtrot, they are Abel, Baker, Easy Company, Fox Company and Dog Company. Those are the three letters we're looking at. Now Easy Company we think, from a sketch map we've seen it all over here, there's certainly a photograph of some of the famous characters that are based in the huts over in that direction. But there were huts here, you can see it on the air photographs, and that reckons that it's probably Dog Company and Fox Company.

There were huts here that we can see we can pick them up on the geophysics and so we're trying a different technique here we're looking at a metal detecting survey over the top of those areas to see if we can trace huts features within them finds within them and then if there are areas where there isn't any metal reading which is also important because it's probably the hedgerow or where the tents were okay i know it's a very early days but are you getting any readings? Yeah we're getting plenty of readings. Oh good.

So the signals are there, before I start going in I just want to discriminate what it is first, but yeah they're there, it's giving me the depth, solid tones, so there's definitely signals in there at the minute so it could be big iron could be trash but it could be anything so okay well that's really promising it's just a different different tool to use to see what we can find out about the camp and it's good that we're measuring it all in and we'll eventually work out precisely what's going on yeah great nice one you listen to dan snow's history we're looking for the Band of Brothers. More coming up. Over on the Warfare podcast by History Hit, we bring you brand new military histories from around the world. Each week, twice a week, we release new episodes with world-leading historians,

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As Richard and the team continue the investigation of Oldbourne football field, I've come to have a look around the beautiful village centre. Many of the buildings around this green were taken over by the officers. It is so remarkable to think about these young men who were drawn from all over America, from the prairies of the Midwest to the shores of the Pacific, arriving in bucolic villages like this, with buildings older than the United States of America itself. Many of them did say it was dreamlike or compared it to arriving on a movie set. And many of them would have found themselves, like me, drawn to the local pub.

Setting the scene for an interesting social experiment, when the, drawn to the local pub. Setting the scene for an interesting social experiment when the Brits met the Yanks. What's the worst that could happen? Well, authorities judged quite a lot. So they invested in a big education programme, producing, among other things, this rather wonderful film. film. This game won't be won by any single player, it'll be won by a team. A team called the United Nations. A tough little guy from China, Big Joe Russia, John Britain, and a guy called Yank. So let's take a look at the men who carry the ball with us.

Let's start with the one that's toughest to understand, the one we know just enough about to confuse us, John Britton. Here's where he lives. A little island no larger than the state of Idaho. Half a million people live in Idaho. 96 times that many live in Britain. And in the sardine can called Britain, they learn to get on with their neighbors. They have to.

He's too damn close. That's why they have so little crime in Britain. Believe it or not, even in wartime, the British cop does not carry a in wartime, the British cop does not carry a gun, nor does the professional crook. And one of the first things the Americans told their men

about British life was, of course, the pub. Come on. Oh, wait. Before we go in, let me tell you a little about an English pub. It's not like a saloon. It's more like a club.

A club for men and women who haven't a great deal of money and who don't drink for the sake of drinking, but for the company. Now, these pubs are open for a couple of hours in the middle of the day and then again in the early evening. And men and women, after their day's work, and they work long and hard hours, come in for a bitter or mild. Oh, that's beer to you. And incidentally, the beer isn't cold in England. No, they don't like it cold, and they haven't any ice. See, so if you like beer, you better like it warm. What's that? Difference between bitter and mild?

I don't know. I don't know. One's bitter and one's mild. You better find out for yourself. Anyway, these same people have been coming into this same pub for many years. And their grandfathers and their great-grandfathers came in before. This particular pub, for instance, was founded about the time that our country was founded. So, well, come on, take a look.

There you are, you see? That'll give you a general idea. To back up the film, every serviceman was issued with a little additional reading. This wonderful booklet. The lessons in here have very much stood the test of time. Let's have a look. Introduction. You are going to Great Britain as part of an Allied offensive

to meet Hitler and beat him on his own ground. For the time being, you will be Britain's guest. The purpose of this guide is to start getting you acquainted with the British, their country, and their ways. America and Britain are allies. Hitler knows they're both powerful countries, tough and resourceful. He knows that they, with the other United Nations, mean his crushing defeat in the end. So it's only common sense to understand that the first and major duty Hitler has given his propaganda chiefs is to separate Britain and America and spread distrust between them. If he can do that, his chance of winning might return.

But the fellow that calls the signals on the Axis team knows his only chance of winning is to split our team up. So his team plays a game at which they've had a lot of practice, a game called divide and conquer. It is manifestly ridiculous for the warmonger Roosevelt to tell the American people that they have anything in common with the British. On the contrary, they are different in every respect. The whole book is full of observations and advice to young Americans to getting along in Britain. This is one of my favourite pages. The people, their customs and manners.

The first important thing to remember is that the British are like the Americans in many ways, but not in all ways. You'll quickly discover differences that seem confusing and even wrong, like driving on the left of the road, and having money based on an impossible accounting system and drinking warm beer. But once you get used to things like that, you'll realise that they belong to England just as baseball and jazz and Coca-Cola belong to us.

I'll drink to that. They have a little number called cricket. Very well played, sir. And anyone who ever drank coffee over there knows why they'll always be in England. Is your coffee all right, sir? To us, this might feel like a bit of a joke, some very funny observations.

But actually, if you take yourself back and put yourself in their shoes, this is a very important little document. You're a young man, thousands of miles away from home in a strange land. This could be the difference between having a good time and being lamped in a pub. And also, it meant that the war was no longer something that was distant, going on on foreign shores. They were now in amongst it, and they could expect to go into battle soon. The men were here to train for war.

And back at the football field, they're hoping to find hard evidence of all that military activity. Do you remember that conversation we had earlier? Yeah. About the first find I had in 20 whenever it was was an Emrand rifle clip. Oh my goodness. Just found another one. Look at that if we wanted to find something palpably American in this field you've just done it on the first morning look at that so that links us to the 101st airborne in 1943 and 4 this one find yeah day one brilliant it seems

nothing at all but any war aficionado will tell you you watch any war film and you see an American soldier using an M1 Garand and he gets to his last round and you get that famous ping as the clip comes out the rifle that's that look at that isn't comes out of the rifle. That's that. Look at that. Isn't that great? All we need to do now is... That's a good feeling. Just find the eight rounds to go in it now. Well done. The M1 Garand rifle was one of the most important weapons in World War II,

with over five million made. General Patton called it the greatest battle implement ever devised. It was used by every branch of the US military, but not the British, so we can be confident this eight-round clip came from an American. In 1943, these hills would have echoed the sound of Garand rifle fire, as the men of Easy Company and other units went through brutal training to prepare them for what was to come. To find out what the training would have been like, I've come to explore one of the wartime practice areas with former Marine Dickie Bennett. Very obvious valley, is this a good place? Is this a good place to come and practice your

weapon skills? This is a brilliant place because you can see the natural ground it lends itself to shooting really. You've got all this safety behind you so you've got the backdrop here which stops any stray rungs from hitting anything important. You don't want to shoot people by accident miles away. Well and that's the danger, that's what's so complicated about using ranges today, it's so regimented and laid out because exactly that, you don't want your bullets to ricochet off and hit somebody by accident. They're firing their weapons here, are they running up and down a few of these hills for physical fitness? How are they training? Without a doubt, they've been using the landscape. I mean we're in a really hilly place here so this would have been good for squad runs, troop runs, all that sort of thing. So they're getting the physical exercise going around.

And then when you look at the landscape here, they're not just bimbling around, they're running up to the firing points, they're running to the next one. When they stop firing and it's time to change weapons, they're running down and changing their butts, putting the patches on to make the targets ready for the next person. And also, you look around the general area, we've got another range complex just at the back over there, and that's more advanced than this one. This is a very basic range

for just practicing the low-level tactics of shooting, where to shoot, how to shoot, and then maybe coordinating with any team about giving a fire control. The other range is more about how you'd attack something. So you can use all these different weapon systems you can bring all this basic knowledge you've learned here you can then go and advance it on the other range so it shows how this whole landscape is building the individual ready for that

jump ready into going France and start fighting the Germans. And also jumping out of planes presumably doing practice jumps. And I think they were doing that just over there in the airfield yeah so everything around it they've got everything they need on the doorstep. The training they're doing right here in this landscape it set them up so well they perform very well after D-Day. That's exactly it it's the little things that make a good soldier so it's having command and control it's being able to talk to the person next to you effectively it's to be able to spot a target and to be able to bring everybody else onto that target quickly it's about understanding if your oppo's run out of bullets or his magazine's empty it's about upping your rate of fire to enable him to change his magazine

safely and carry on. So it's all these little things, the learning here, which leads to the success of having it out there. Without these personal skills and drills you're not effective. So you're a former marine, so do you find that you're bringing quite a lot when you're talking about this archaeology with the experts you're able to say, hang on they would never have done this they would have done that must be bringing your own experience to it yeah being in the military gives me a different perspective of what the guys have got so they're professional archaeologists they understand the foundations my job is the tactics and and the weapon training so i can look at the landscape and say you know

what that would be a brilliant place to put a machine gun that'd be a brilliant place to fire your bazookas from this is a great area to put your target it's understanding the landscape and knowing how to utilize it best for what you've got really and you also find that there's a therapeutic effect doing all this work if you've been made unwell because of bombs and guns and war why immerse yourself in it as a form of therapy that's really interesting that um and it's a bit of a paradox isn't it? The reason why our participants get the benefit from this is because they understand it. They can take that knowledge of being in the military and make it useful again and they can understand where the bombs are, where these other bits and bobs are and they can read the landscape

so they feel like they're contributing again and also it's the social aspects of being on the dig and there's all these different factors what really play into it. The bottom line is it just makes them feel useful and I think that's what's key here. The training the GIs went through here was gruelling but it was nothing compared to what was to come as the men of Easy Company would fight in some of the most pivotal battles of the Second World War.

In the next episode, we'll discover more about Easy Company's date with Destiny. So this could be a D-Day veteran that we just tossed out. It's D-Day. Wow! And the team finds something that links us directly to one of the band of brothers. A.K.A. the dog tag.

It's a dog tag. What are you talking about? What have you got? What have you joking?