Why We Fight (Band of Brothers)

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Why We Fight is the ninth episode of television miniseries Band of Brothers. The episode was directed by David Frankel and written by John Orloff. It first aired on October 28, 2001 on HBO.

[edit] Plot

With major combat all but over, the episode follows Easy Company in the last days of the war, as attention passes from combat to creature comforts and thoughts of home. The episode also focuses on Captain Lewis Nixon, whose service on loan to the 17th Airborne during Operation Varsity gives him more combat jumps than most other 101st troopers (though ironically, he has never fired his weapon in combat). Replacement Private Patrick O'Keefe's eagerness for battle highlights the war weariness of Easy Company's veteran survivors, and the necessity of the sacrifices Easy Company has made in four years of war is highlighted by the discovery of a concentration camp near Landsberg.

The latter half of the episode focuses on the discovery of a German concentration camp on a routine patrol. This plot element serves to further explore the futility and atrocities of the war, while also humanizing some of the typically tougher characters, such as Joseph Liebgott, himself a Jew.

[edit] Trivia

• The episode title Why We Fight is a direct reference to the Frank Capra-directed US World War II propaganda films Why We Fight, produced to stiffen resolve among the English-speaking Allies. To this end, the episode provides its own reasons for the fighting of the war.
• The piece of music played by the German string quartet is "String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131," by Ludwig van Beethoven and one of the members of the quartet, the one playing the violin and wearing spectacles looks remarkably like William L. Petersen who currently stars in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
• During the previous episode "The Last Patrol", Private David Kenyon Webster volunteers to go on patrol as a German translator in place of Spc. Joseph Liebgott, where he gives several commands in German to enemy hostages. In this episode, however, his ability to speak German is ambigious, even as he confronts a German merchant in a bakery; the baker's German is translated by another soldier. Oddly still, he is shown speaking German in the final episode, Points"". It should be noted, however, that he does respond to the baker, but in English, indicating that he does understand him. In the previous episode, when Sgt Martin asked does he speak German Webster replied "yeah, a little bit". Its possible that little bit is some simple phrases or order, or a few phrases for the sake of military usage.
• This is the only episode in the series to show any (partial) female nudity and sex.