History Awesome / BandOfBrothers

** As an even better "fuck you" to the man, Winters takes Sobel's own pen, corrects his misspelling of the word "court martial," offers it as his endorsement, and salutes him--all while making it very clear just how little respect he has for the jerk sitting in front of him.

* During the first episode, Sobel's attempts to break Winters leads to a spiteful attempt to accuse Winters of insubordination over latrine duty. He tries to stick Winters between two harsh choices: accept the punishment (which would go on Winters' record) or request a court martial (which could make things worse for Winters if found guilty), thinking the lieutenant would take the lesser choice. Winters' own sense of justice compels him to request the court martial, which stuns Sobel (who suddenly realizes the court martial would look bad on ''[[DidntThinkThisThrough himself]]''). The [[OhCrap look on]] Sobel's face alone is worth it.

* ''All'' of Easy's noncoms banding together to mutiny against Sobel, knowing fully well that this could result in them getting ''shot,'' but doing it anyway because they obviously don't want any of the men under them, as well as themselves, to be killed in battle.

* As the Germans make their march of defeat, Webster delivers an enraged ReasonYouSuckSpeech that becomes [[TearJerker/BandOfBrothers surprisingly poignant]] at the end.
--> '''Webster:''' Hey, you! That's right, you stupid Kraut bastards! That's right! Say hello to Ford, and General fuckin' Motors! You stupid fascist ''pigs!'' Look at you! You have ''horses!'' What were you thinking? [...] Dragging our asses half way around the world, interrupting our lives, for ''what?'' You ignorant, servile ''scum!'' What the ''fuck'' are we doing here?! '''''Huh?!'''''

*** The cool thing is, in the series, the grenade hits the German in the back. In real life, Buck threw the grenade the equivalent distance between home plate and second base on a baseball diamond with no arc[[note]]a grenade is significantly heavier than a baseball and it's possible to wrench a shoulder even when lobbing one normally[[/note]] and it hit the German IN THE HEAD. That's right: they had to tone Buck's awesomeness ''down'' because it would've been too damn unbelievable.

-->'''Maj. Winters:''' This morning, President Truman received the unconditional surrender of the Japanese. War's over.

[[AC: Meta]]
* When you realize that everything that happened in the series, happened in real life, minus heresay and possible exaggeration.
** When you realize that some things had to be TONED DOWN because, despite them actually happening, people thought that no one would believe that they actually did.

* As the Nazis make their march of defeat, Webster delivers an enraged ReasonYouSuckSpeech that becomes [[TearJerker/BandOfBrothers surprisingly poignant]] at the end.
--> '''Webster:''' Hey, you! That's right, you stupid Kraut bastards! That's right! Say hello to Ford, and General fuckin' Motors! You stupid fascist ''pigs''! Look at you! You have ''horses''! What were you thinking? [...] Dragging our asses half way around the world, interrupting our lives...for ''what''? You ignorant, servile ''scum''! What the ''fuck'' are we doing here?! '''''Huh?!'''''

* Bill Guarnere running out of his foxhole after a German assault when he hears one of his best friends, Joe Toye, crying for help. A second round of artillery starts to hit while he's trying to drag Toye to safety and he ends up [[spoiler:having his right leg wounded so badly it needs amputating]]. Even so he's still worrying more about Toye and cracks jokes when others come to help them.

* Winters defying Colonel Sink's orders and not sending out the patrol a second night after they lost a man on the first patrol. He feeds them the exact (fake) report they are to give him the next morning, explaining how they conducted the patrol and did not secure any prisoners, and tells them all to get a good night's rest.

* When [[CrazyAwesome Welsh]] sees an MG firing at Shifty, he immediately runs out into the open, armed with only a grenade, lobs it into the German soldier's hiding place, and takes cover beneath the exploding building.

* The assault on Brecourt Manor, with Easy taking out four heavy guns so successfully that ''to this day,'' the maneuver is still taught at West Point as an ideal assault on a fixed position.

* Resident sharpshooter Shifty managing to shoot not one, but ''two'' snipers, all while being pinned down behind a wall.
* When [[CrazyAwesome Welsh]] sees Shifty being pinned, he immediately ''runs out into the open,'' armed with only a grenade, lobs it into the German soldier's hiding place, ''and takes cover beneath it.''

-->'''Roe:''' "You two are officers! You are grownups! You oughtta know!"

* The ending title cards of "Bastogne"

* Shifty Powers taking down the sniper hiding in a bell tower with ease. The best part? When Lip and Popeye Wynn, Shifty's best friend, went to check on the body, the bullet ''was right between the man's eyes.''

** The shocked look on Nix's face as he whips off his aviators and takes in all the liquor. The man looks like he'd just died and gone to heaven! And to make things even better, it's ''''''V-E Day,''''' giving them all a very good reason indeed to celebrate.

* ''All'' of Easy's NCOs banding together to mutiny against Sobel, knowing fully well that this could result in them getting ''shot,'' but doing it anyway because they obviously don't want any of the men under them, as well as themselves, to be killed in battle.

** Another Welsh moment: firing at an ''oncoming tank'' with only a bazooka and McGrath for help. It's no wonder the men are so delighted when he runs back to them.

* In "Crossroads", Winters leads a single platoon against two entire companies of German troops and [[CurbStompBattle manages to rout them with only one man dead and a few wounded]]. Winters even made the initial assault on his own as a diversionary tactic, with his men coming up several seconds behind. Winters doesn't even bat an eye at how many Germans he's facing. He just raises his rifle and starts shooting. [[OneManArmy The first thing the Germans do when they realize Winters is firing at them is to run for their lives.]]
* After the main battle in "Crossroads", Easy Company captures a number of German prisoners and tasks Liebgott with escorting them back to base. Liebgott's enthusiastic reply makes Winters worry that he might just execute the prisoners instead, so he orders Liebgott to drop all of his ammo and leaves him with only a single bullet, telling him that if he decides to kill a prisoner, he'd have no way to defend himself from the others. The book mentions that one of the prisoners overhears the conversation, and Winters muses that he probably understood English due to the look of relief on his face.
* A small but memorable one in the final episode, "Points": while witnessing the official surrender of a group of German soldiers, Winters, now a major, encounters Sobel, still a captain. When Sobel curtly acknowledges Winters as he walks by, Winters coldly says, "Captain Sobel! We salute the rank, not the man." Deeply reluctant, Sobel salutes Winters. Winters keeps his cool, but Nixon and Liebgott, watching nearby, can barely suppress their smiles at this victory over their hated former CO. Winters himself considers this one of the most satisfying moments of his life.
* Dick Winters, unarmed, walks up to Bill Guarnere, the most aggressive man in Easy Company, shoves him against a wall, and chews him out for disobeying his orders. Bill, defiant yet obviously knowing he's being put in his place, only manages a gruff, "Yes, sir."
* During the battle to take Carentan, a German machine gun is firing up the road that Easy Company is using for their attack. The men take shelter in a ditch to avoid being shot. Dick Winter stands ''in the middle of the road'' screaming at the men to press the attack. And he doesn't get a scratch on him as bullets fly by. In fact, the only injury he takes is from a ricochet at the end of the battle.
* Eugene "Doc" Roe giving an ''EPIC'' WhatTheHellHero to Winters and Welsh after he sees the WorstAid they gave Moose when he was shot.
-->'''Roe:''' "You two are officers! You are grownups! You oughtta know!"
* One has to go to the Red Devils (British Airborne) when Easy come rescue them after they are cut of during Market Garden all 100 or so of the Brits manage to get within spitting distance of Easy without them noticing.
* Bill Guarnere runs out of his foxhole during a German assault when he hears Joe Toye crying for help. A second round of artillery starts to hit while he's trying to drag his friend to safety and he ends up [[spoiler:having his right leg wounded so badly it needs amputating]]. Even so he's still worrying more about Toye and cracks jokes when others come to help them.
* Upon securing Herman Goering's house in Berchtesgaden, Easy Company "impounds" the massive, and incredibly well-stocked, wine cellar. Nixon thought he died and went to heaven.
* The ending title cards of "Bastogne"
-->''"The story of the Battle of the Bulge told today is one of General Patton and his Third Army coming to the rescue of the encircled 101st." [next card] "No member of the 101st has ever agreed that the division needed to be rescued."''
* The scenes with Nixon and the German Officer's Widow. The two do not speak a word to each other, but the looks they give speak volumes:

** When he sees her being forced to move bodies at Dachau, it is his turn to give her the "how dare you" look.

* Throughout "The Last Patrol", everyone writes off Lt. Jones as useless since he's fresh out of West Point and has no experience. He then proves himself to be a capable leader when Private Vest freaks out over Jackson's injury, draws his sidearm, and points it at the prisoners Easy just captured. Jones slams Vest against the wall, disarms him, and tells him they're not going to go back for more prisoners because he killed the ones they had.
* Winters defying Colonel Sink's orders in "The Last Patrol" and not sending out the patrol a second night after they lost a man on the first patrol. He gives them the exact (fake) report they are to give him the next morning explaining how they conducted the patrol and did not secure any prisoners.
* This exchange from the end of "Crossroads":
-->'''Lt. Rice:''' A panzer division's about to cut the road south. Looks like you'll be surrounded.
-->'''Winters:''' [[BadassBoast We're paratroopers, lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded.]]

* In "The Breaking Point", Easy Company is pinned down and Lieutenant Dike is completely frozen, Speirs runs in, immediately takes control of the situation, and the proceeds to run THROUGH a town full of German troops, hooks up with I Company before running BACK to reassume command of Easy. This really happened and Lipton muses that the only reason why Speirs managed to survive was because his mad dash was so insane that the Germans had a hard time believing it was actually happening.
** Horrified by how poorly the attack falls apart when Dike freezes up, Winters starts charging in to take direct control of the company. He ''has to be ordered back'' by Col. Sink who insists Winters has to fulfill his captain's duties outside of the firefight. While Sink tries to talk Winters down with "I know you're attached to Easy Company..." Winters ''ignores'' his superior officer and calls out "SPEIRS!" to give him command of Easy Company. It's one confirmed badass calling up another confirmed badass to [[BigDamnHeroes save the day]][[note]]In the actual event, Winters did start to charge down the field, but stopped himself when he realized that he had command responsibilities and couldn't risk getting pinned down with a single company (he had responsibility for the battalion). The rest of the scene otherwise plays out accurately[[/note]].
* During the first episode, Sobel's attempts to break Winters leads to a spiteful attempt to accuse Winters of insubordination over latrine duty. He tries to stick Winters between two harsh choices: accept the punishment (which goes on Winters' record) or request a court martial (which could make things worse for Winters if found guilty), thinking the lieutenant would take the lesser choice. Winters' own sense of justice compels him to request the court martial, which stuns Sobel (who suddenly realizes the court martial would look bad on ''[[DidntThinkThisThrough himself]]''). The [[OhCrap look on]] Sobel's face alone is worth it.

* When you realize that everything that happened in the series, happened in real life, minus heresay and possible exaggeration.
** When you realise that some things had to be TONED DOWN because, despite them actually happening, people thought that no one would believe that they actually did.
* The assault on Brecourt Manor, taking out four heavy guns so successfully that to this day it's taught at West Point as an ideal assault on a fixed position.

*** The cool thing is, in the series, the grenade hits the German in the back. In real life, Buck threw the grenade the equivalent distance between home plate and second base on a baseball diamond with no arc[[note]]a grenade is significantly heavier than a baseball and it's possible to wrench a shoulder even when lobbing one normally[[/note]] and it hit the German IN THE HEAD.

* In "Currahee", when the sergeants are discussing whether they should go through with their mutiny to get Winters back and free Easy company of Sobel.
-->'''Lipton:''' We all better be clear of the consequences.\\
'''Martin:''' I don't care about the consequences.\\
'''Lipton:''' John, [[SeriousBusiness we could be lined up against a wall and shot]]. Now, I'm ready to face that. And every one of us had better be too.\\
(beat)\\
'''Guarnere:''' I will ''not'' follow that man into combat. \\
'''Bull:''' Me neither.\\
'''Lipton:''' All right, then let's do it. (They all begin writing their resignation letters)

* During the first episode, Sobel's attempts to break Winters leads to a spiteful attempt to accuse Winters of insubordination over latrine duty. He tries to stick Winters between two harsh choices: accept the punishment (which goes on Winters' record) or request a court martial (which could make things worse for Winters if found guilty) thinking the lieutenant would take the lesser choice. Winters' own sense of justice compels him to request the court martial, which stuns Sobel (who suddenly realizes the court martial would look bad on ''[[DidntThinkThisThrough himself]]''). The [[OhCrap look on]] Sobel's face alone is worth it.

* Bill Guarnere runs out of his foxhole during a German assault when he hears Joe Toye crying for help. A second round of artillery starts to hit while he's trying to drag his friend to safety and he ends up [[spoiler:having his right leg wounded so badly it needs amputating]]. Even so he's still worring more about Toye and cracks jokes when others come to help them.

* Winters accepting the German colonel's formal surrender in Austria. While he doesn't share the colonel's fondness for war, he does respect the cononel's professionalism and decorum, so much so that he allows him to keep his sidearm and returns his salute.

* Winters accepting the German Major's formal surrender in Austria. While he doesn't share the Major's fondness for war, he does respect the Major's professionalism and decorum, so much so that he allows him to keep his sidearm and returns his salute.

* During the first episode, Sobel's attempts to break Winters leads to a spiteful attempt to accuse Winters of insubordination over latrine duty. He tries to stick Winters between two harsh choices: accept the punishment (which goes on Winters' record) or request a court martial (which could make things worse for Winters if found guilty) thinking the lieutenant would take the lesser choice. Winters' own sense of justice compels him to request the court martial, which stuns Sobel (who suddenly realizes the court martial would look bad on ''himself''). The [[OhCrap look on]] Sobel's face alone is worth it.
** It indirectly leads to Sink - who figures the court martial would go badly for the Army - reassigning Sobel to a non-combat role and sweeping the whole matter under the rug. Sobel is [[AlasPoorVillain genuinely broken by the loss]] of his chance at a battlefield command, but it frees Easy Company to receive more competent leadership (eventually under Winters).

** Horrified by how poorly the attack falls apart when Dike freezes up, Winters starts charging in to take direct control of the company. He ''has to be ordered back'' by Col. Sink who insists Winters has to fulfill his captain's duties outside of the firefight. While Sink tries to talk Winters down with "I know you're attached to Easy Company..." Winters ''ignores'' his superior officer and calls out "SPEIRS!" to give him command of Easy Company. It's one confirmed badass calling up another confirmed badass to [[BigDamnHeroes save the day]].

* In "Crossroads", Winters leads a single platoon against two entire companies of German troops and manages to rout them with only one man dead and a few wounded. Winters even made the initial assault on his own as a diversionary tactic, with his men coming up several seconds behind. Winters doesn't even bat an eye at how many Germans he's facing. He just raises his rifle and starts shooting. [[OneManArmy The first thing the Germans do when they realize Winters is firing at them is to run for their lives.]]

This is definitely evoked several times in the series.

-->'''Winters:''' [[BadassBoast We're paratroopers, lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded.]]

* A small but memorable one in the final episode, "Points": while witnessing the official surrender of a group of German soldiers, Winters, now a major, encounters Sobel, still a captain. When Sobel curtly acknowledges Winters as he walks by, Winters coldly says, "Captain Sobel! We salute the rank, not the man." Deeply reluctant, Sobel salutes Winters. Winters keeps his cool, but Nixon and Liebgott, watching nearby, can barely suppress their smiles at this victory over their hated former CO.

-->'''Winters:''' We're paratroopers, lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded.

** Horrified by how poorly the attack falls apart when Dike freezes up, Winters starts charging in to take direct control of the company. He ''has to be ordered back'' by Col. Sink who insists Winters has to fulfill his captain's duties outside of the firefight. While Sink tries to talk Winters down with "I know you're attached to Easy Company..." Winters ''ignores'' his superior officer and calls out "SPEIRS!" to give him command of Easy Company. It's one confirmed {{Badass}} calling up another confirmed {{Badass}} to [[BigDamnHeroes save the day]].

* Throughout "The Last Patrol", everyone writes off Lt. Jones as useless since he's fresh out of West Point and has no experience. He then proves himself to be a capable leader when Private Vest freaks out over Jackson's injury, draws his sidearm, and points it at the prisoners Easy just captured. Jones slams Vest against the wall, disarms him, and tells him they're not going to go back for more prisoners because he killed the ones they had.