| Replacements | |
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Episode: |
4 |
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Preceded by: |
"Carentan" |
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Followed by: |
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Focus: |
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Subject: |
Operation Market Garden |
"You new boys, you pay attention to Sergeant Randleman. Got that? He's the smartest man in the company."
―Sergeant William Guarnere talking to the replacements about Sergeant Denver Randleman
Replacements is the 4th Episode of Band of Brothers. It follows the accounts of Easy Company landing in Holland for Operation Market Garden with a batch of brand new replacements. It follows the point of view of Sgt. Denver Randleman.
Synopsis[]
In hopes of finishing the war, Easy Company partakes in a high-risk operation called Market-Garden with newcomers who must prove themselves. But after a bloody encounter with the Krauts, they must escape willingly. However, Sergeant Denver Randleman is left behind and will do anything just to survive.
Plot[]
Private Edward Heffron with three original Toccoa men
Easy Company men are finally relieved from the war in Normandy and are now enjoying their respite at a pub in Aldbourne, England. 2nd Lieutenant Lynn Compton is playing darts with replacement Private Edward Heffron. Nearby, Sergeant William Guarnere, StSgt. John W. Martin and Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman are scrutinizing Randleman's new squad of replacements: Privates Antonio Garcia, James Miller and Lester Hashey. Guarnere sits down with the squad and lectures them about following orders from Bull in the field.
Private Roy Cobb, seemingly irritated about replacements receiving the battalion unit citation for Easy's efforts Normandy, which the replacement troops didn't participate in, grills Miller about wearing the citation ribbon. Dejected, Miller leaves the table and his citation ribbon behind. Picking up the ribbon, Randleman reminds Cobb that he never fought in Normandy either (Cobb was wounded inside the plane and never was able to jump), much to the latter's humiliation.
Walter Gordon then introduces the new company 1st Sergeant Carwood Lipton who announces that they are moving again, earning silence from the men when they realize that their relief time is over. Captains Lewis Nixon and Richard Winters lecture the men about the upcoming Operation Market Garden where they will jump into Holland and liberate the city of Eindhoven and eventually Holland itself. Easy will be under the command of British forces, drawing groans from the company in their briefing. Upon successful completion of the high-risk operation, they are expected to cross the Rhine River and defeat the German forces quickly to end the war by Christmas. Nixon tells them intelligence has determined that opposing forces in Holland are mostly old men and kids and won't be an imposing force.
While the men are preparing to jump, Captain Herbert Sobel, Easy Company's first CO, arrives at the airfield along with the returning Private Robert Wynn who was wounded in action during the Assault on Brecourt Manor. Sobel, as the newly appointed Regimental S-4, confronts Sergeant Donald Malarkey who had been seen joyriding a stolen motorcycle, which he denies.
September 17, 1944
Sergeant Frank Perconte is given a marshmallow hell by a Dutch lady
Operation Market-Garden starts and the men parachute into Holland, where they are given a hero's welcome to the city of Eindhoven. Nixon and Winters expect more resistance, with the other men struggling to keep moving amid the joyful celebration of the Dutch people, who have clogged the streets. Meanwhile, a group of woman, who had sexual encounters with the Germans, are being publicly humiliated, with their hair being viciously cut. While Nixon and Winters watch local residents harass the women, the Dutch Resistance comes to meet them and eventually the tanks arrive on their way to the bridges. The night before approaching the town of Nuenen, Corporal Donald Hoobler with Privates David Webster and Robert van Klinken encounter a Dutchman who exited his air raid shelter. The Dutchman's son also exits the shelter and Webster gives the nervous child a chocolate bar, much to the kid's delight. The Dutchman states that his son never tasted chocolate before. The next day, the unit approaches the village of Nuenen on patrol. They see one of the women the villagers attacked the previous day for fraternization holding an infant. Corporal Francis Mellet gives her one of his ration boxes.
While entering Nuenen, Lieutenant Robert Brewer, walking too far ahead of the column, is suddenly shot in the throat by a sniper. The men draw out from the tank and quickly into a ditch while Randleman aids the wounded Brewer. Meanwhile, a halftrack is destroyed by the one of the units Sherman tanks. The men manage to reach the town where they hide among the houses and other structures. Sergeant John Martin and Randleman spot a camouflaged Tiger tank. Martin, with Heffron, rushes to warn the Shermans being driven by the British. Oblivious, the British commander, who can't see the tank, refuses to blast out the side of a brick house to target the tank because he is prohibited from destroying property when unnecessary. As it advances, Tiger blasts the lead Sherman. An MG-42 unit opens fire from a nearby parapet. Compton has one of his men equipped with a rifle grenade destroy the parapet. While hiding, Miller is killed by a shell. Hashey and Garcia see the dead body, both are temporarily stunned. While retreating, Compton is shot in the buttock and says that he should be left behind, being too heavy to be lifted by the men. Refusing to leave him behind, the men find a way to carry him by seizing a nearby door and dragging Compton out. Another Sherman is hit by one of several German tank destroyers and bursts into flame, but continues to move forward with no control. Randleman is trapped in a ditch between it and the advancing Germans, unable to get back to his unit.
With many casualties sustained, Easy retreats as the German forces reinforce their hold on Nuenen. Nixon takes a hit in his helmet but isn't killed. Along with the dead is Van Klinken, who tried to get to a ditch but was shot by the enemy.
Randleman takes refuge in a sewer pipe while the Germans patrol around him. Later, he finds a better place to hold out, a nearby barn. While he contemplates how to make his way back to his unit, he is surprised by a local man and his daughter who have also been hiding out in the barn. Seeing that Randleman is injured, a large chunk of shrapnel embedded in his shoulder. The man tries to dig it out but can't get a proper grip on it; Randleman gives him his bayonet and after a few painful moments, the man is able to remove it. While he bandages the wound, a commotion stirs up outside; a small unit of Germans has arrived and begin to inspect every nearby building. Randleman hides his companions in the rear of the barn but they drop the bloody cloth the man was using to pack his wound. One of the Germans finds it and begins to probe deeper into the barn. Randleman attacks the man, covered by the noise of running vehicles outside and eventually kills him, an action that seems to horrify the young woman.
Outside Nuenen, in the retreat area, several of Randleman's comrades, including Wild Bill and Hashey, decide to join up and look for Bull. They move quietly toward the village.
The next morning, Randleman bids goodbye to the man and his daughter, having buried the German he killed in the straw littering the barn. Things have calmed down considerably and it's now safe for him to flag down a passing Army jeep. The jeep brings Randleman back to Easy's rallying point where everyone is overjoyed to see he's alive. As Easy continues their retreat, Nixon remarks that they'll have to find another way into Germany since Market Garden failed.
Casualties and Deaths[]
- 1st Lieutenant Robert Brewer (WIA)
- PFC Robert van Klinken (KIA)
- Pvt. James W. Miller (KIA)