Band of Brothers

"Carentan" deals with Easy Company's involvement with taking the very important town from the Germans, which is need strategically by both sides. The town is critical strategically, because it is in a location where the forces from Utah Beach and Omaha Beach will link up before moving further inland. The gritty, gore-splattered episode was directed by Mikael Salomon (Hard Rain) and written by E. Max Frye (Something Wild).

It begins as a few soldiers from Easy including Sgnt. Floyd Talbert, still lost after the chaotic night jump into Normandy and fighting with the 502, come across Private Albert Blithe (Marc Warren), standing alone in a field, staring into the sky.

When the troops try to enter Carentan, they find the road leading into Carentan is covered by German machine gun fire, Which leaves the men pinned down. There is a bloody fight for the town, and Blithe sinks to the ground, overcome with fear and blindness. The Germans, shell the town, before retreating. Retreating was hard for the Germans because they were being shot at from American machine guns. Blithe is examined by a Doc Roe, who finds nothing wrong with him, despite his claim that he can't see. Lieutenant Winters (Damian Lewis) speaks with him, and comforts him, and Blithe recovers. Doc Roe calls it hysterical blindness. As the soldiers start discussing the skirmishes they've been in, and displaying the grim souvenirs they've obtained, Blithe is nervously evasive. After leaving the aid station where Doc Roe examined him because he could not see (he had hysterical blindness, Winters talked to him in the aid station and comforted him, which helped Blithe see again), Blithe hears some soldiers discussing rumors about Lieutenant Speirs (Matthew Settle), who has joined Easy Company. Some have heard that he gave 20 German POWs cigarettes before shooting all but one down (an incident shown in the previous episode). There is also a rumor that Speirs shot one of his own men for being drunk.

Winters knows the Germans will be planning a counter-offensive, because the town is equally important to them and us. That night, one soldier mistakenly bayonets Sgnt. Tlbert, who was checking the line wearing a German rain poncho. Ultimately, Blithe overcomes his fear and leads a scout party, only to be shot, a shot that would prove to be fatal in the long run (his family reported that he was in fact not shot in the neck but in the shoulder, lived, fought in Korea, and was buried in Arlington National cemetery with full military honors).