Michael Fassbender's Burton and Tom Hardy's John among the other soldiers in Band of BrothersImage via HBO
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Michael John Petty
Published 19 minutes ago
Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features and reviews, and has interviewed the cast and crew of Dark Winds. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His first work of self-published fiction – The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain – became a #1 Best Seller in "Religious Fiction Short Stories" on Amazon in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.
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As we head into the time of year when we ought to be thankful, there may be no better time to rewatch HBO's Band of Brothers. The World War II miniseries puts the horror of war into perspective for audiences in a way that few other dramas are able to. Off the heels of Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg reunited for a deeper, more intentional take on the brave men who fought and died against the Axis Powers during the global conflict. Following "Easy" Company as they make their way across the Western Front, the HBO miniseries dramatizes the lived experience of the American soldiers who helped secure the world's future. But out of all 10 episodes of the war drama, the toughest to stomach isn't an hour full of high-stakes battle sequences or personal turmoil, it's the penultimate chapter, "Why We Fight," a harrowing tale that emphasizes the ugliness of war and the dangers of demonization.
'Band of Brothers' "Why We Fight" Confronts a Horrible Truth
A soldier is hugged by a concentration camp survivor in the 'Band of Brothers' episode "Why We Fight"Image via HBO
While every episode of Band of Brothers has its tough moments, the ninth episode arguably takes the cake as the most sobering chapter in the entire drama. Much of the episode follows the burnt-out Captain Lewis Nixon (Ron Livingston) as he wanders around occupied Nazi Germany looking for his favorite whiskey and reeling from the news that his wife is divorcing him. As the men struggle with the silence, they force themselves to keep up morale with a powerful rendition of "Blood on the Risers," but that all changes when "Why We Fight" takes a dark turn over halfway through as the Allied soldiers discover the darkest truth of the war. When an Easy Company patrol stumbles upon the Kaufering concentration camp, the response is a melancholy mixture of shock, anger, and a brokenheartedness that had been building up since many of these men watched their buddies die in battle. It's a brutal, senseless, and historically accurate display that reveals the true nature of the Nazis' attempts to rule the world, showcasing the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust.
Watching Easy Company tackle the war machine that was the Third Reich in the eight episodes leading up to this offered a bloody, violent, and seemingly senseless picture of 20th century warfare that is quite difficult to watch on its own. And throughout the ninth chapter, many of the men have grown disillusioned with the war itself, with those who had been on the Western Front for years silencing the younger newcomers who are itching to see some action. In many respects, men like Nixon are wondering what this was all for, and we see this clearly when Private David Webster (Eion Bailey) yells at the surrendered (yet still proud) German forces as they march on by. "Dragging our asses halfway around the world, interrupting our lives. For what?!" he laments. The men of Easy Company are given more downtime to think than they had been offered throughout the entire war, and the weight of what they've done, what they've seen, begins to crush them in the process. But before they can fully despair, Webster's question of why they had to fight is answered — and no one would be the same.
Upon arriving at the Kaufering concentration camp, Easy Company is met by walking human shells. Men who have been beaten, abused, tortured, starved, and are in dire need of medical attention have been left behind the locked gates of Kaufering IV, one of the many camps in the larger complex. It's clear that writer John Orloff and director David Frankel did their homework here, having reportedly recreated the vile conditions of the camp through historical photos and personal testimony of the men who liberated Nazi Germany in the first place. It's in the last 20 minutes of the episode that Band of Brothers reminds the audience why everything Easy Company and the Allies did had to take place, shedding a powerful light on not just the actions of the Nazis themselves, but on the German people who deliberately chose to ignore what was going on just outside their own town. The citizens, who continually profess to not be Nazis, are forced to aid in the cleaning up of the camp, burying the bodies of the men they pretended didn't exist. The episode ends with a title card that notes that, between 1942 and 1945, the Nazis killed over six million Jews and five million ethnic minorities — and that's not including those put in the camps because they dissented by aiding those in dire need.
'Band of Brothers' Episode 9 Is Difficult To Get Through
Major Dick Winters (Damian Lewis) and Burton Christenson (Michael Fassbender) in the 'Band of Brothers' episode "Why We Fight"Image via HBO
With an incredible eye for detail and historical accuracy that only adds to the disturbing nature of Easy Company’s discovery, "Why We Fight" is an aptly titled hour that speaks to the very soul of the viewer. It’s certainly an episode that's difficult to forget and even harder to make it through once the patrol makes it to the Kaufering camp. Later, Major Dick Winters (Damian Lewis) reveals that other Allied forces discovered other camps throughout Nazi Germany, many of which were far worse than what Easy Company (and the audience) experience here, complete with execution chambers and ovens meant to burn the bodies. "You've never seen anything like this, it's complete shock that just stumps every feeling of emotion that you have," the real-life Winters once explained in an interview decades later. "The horror of it, you could never imagine something like this before."
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Posts By Billy Fellows Jan 18, 2025But it's not just the visuals of "Why We Fight" that make it such a profound and pivotal chapter in not just Band of Brothers, but the war as a whole. It's the way that the men respond to what they've encountered that truly breaks our hearts. Private Roy Cobb (Craig Heaney) is abruptly embraced by an elderly prisoner who just weeps in the soldier's arms, and Winters is clearly at a loss for words the moment he walks in. But it's Private Joseph Liebgott (Ross McCall) who is especially of note here, as he is called in to translate the moment Easy Company breaks into the death camp. McCall proves himself an expert at his craft here, forcing Liebgott to bury his own feelings about what he is hearing from the survivors in order to relay the truth to his superiors. As he does so, we can feel the aching in his voice as he stumbles through the explanation, hardly able to come to terms with what he's seeing, let alone hearing.
In an interview with HBO Max's official Band of Brothers podcast, McCall reveals that there was actually more footage cut out of the final episode. "In fact, there was a longer cut of this episode with about five more minutes in it, and it was all concentration camp stuff where they saw even more horrible things," the actor recalled. "This was one of the very few times when [HBO] said, 'You know, we love this episode, but it's just one step too heavy.'"
The HBO Miniseries 'Band of Brothers' Remains at the Top of World War II Storytelling
There are few television productions that are simply as masterful as Band of Brothers. Although "Why We Fight" meditates on the very worst of humanity in the Nazi war machine and the German people who refused to stand against it, the miniseries also offers a challenging (if not at times conflicted) picture of the very best. "The Greatest Generation" overcame some of the most egregious horrors of their day, in all of modern history, and fought back against the forces that would have enslaved the whole world. Mixing in actual interviews with the very Easy Company men who served during World War II with dramatic interpretations of their exploits across war-torn Europe, Band of Brothers is a triumph of filmmaking that goes the extra mile far beyond what Saving Private Ryan could ever do — and that's even including the D-Day sequence. It's no wonder that Spielberg and Hanks were not finished with this period in not just American, but world history.
Armed with a powerful cast that shines masterfully in each episode, Band of Brothers is the war drama to end all war dramas. It's a historical epic worth regularly revisiting so that we are reminded of what these brave men fought and died for. "Why We Fight" is a harrowing reminder that pure evil does exist in our world, and that standing against it may cost us everything, but it is far more honorable (and right) than standing idly by, remaining purposefully ignorant to the truth. It's been two decades since Band of Brothers — still one of the greatest miniseries ever made — hit HBO viewers like a truck on the front lines of battle, and it still leaves a powerful dent.
Band of Brothers is available for streaming on HBO Max.
Band of Brothers
Like Follow Followed TV-MA Drama War & Politics Action War Release Date 2001 - 2001 Network HBO Showrunner Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks Directors David Frankel, David Nutter, Mikael Salomon, Phil Alden Robinson, Richard Loncraine, Tom Hanks Writers Bruce C. McKenna, Graham Yost, John OrloffCast
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Damian Lewis
Richard D. Winters
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Donnie Wahlberg
C. Carwood Lipton
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Steven Spielberg
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