British/ANZAC/Commonwealth Band of Brothers

That actually looks pretty good. Cheers for the links, another episode i was completely unfamiliar with. Did know that my Villa lost 40 in the first show though not sure about the second. So much research, so little time.

Back to watching the BBC doc on a small business owner in occupied France. Just thought i'd mention it in pissing.

 

I think if your looking at a specific unit, I'd almost certainly go for 2 para. From its beginnings and not the brigade. Its rich history in ww2 and even beyond deserves the making of a band of Brothers type presentation.

 

Do you mind giving us an awesome summary?

 

Sorry this is simply not going to happen. Any docudrama with 2 Para would never get a certificate for release in any cinema. The language.. party games....naked bar. and 3 para Mortar platoonesque activities... .

1.

 

Actually you already have one in Foyle's War. Granted fictional characters, but real stories on home front matters. Items made for Britain and migrating to US PBS do well here in the states but a big budget item, especially with exotic locals, (Africa, India, Pacific) ain't gonna happen.

 

3 para mortar platoon....I wouldn't argue with em still...Or better known as the Gay Gordons Bless em and proud of it too they where.

 

So why is America able to make Band of Brothers and Pacific while Britain isn't able to do one for a british company? ITV could do it, BBC doesn't have to.

 

It would take a better man than me to do a summary on that particular unit. From the birth to Goose Green and beyond they have been at the forefront of every military jouney since the airborne were created. Their colours speak for themselves.

 

But 2 para....and once read read on the link update on 2 para outside of ww2.

http://www.paradata.org.uk/units/2nd-parachute-battalion-0

http://www.paradata.org.uk/units/2nd-battalion-parachute-regiment-2-para

 

Come to think of it, the closest thing I've seen to a British BoB was the remake of Sahara, even though it was a straight remake complete with ham acting and ridiculous stereotypes.

 

It is a brag to too far to claim that 2 Para were ""Ubique quo fas et gloria ducunt'" Another Regiment has that claim. Bruneval, Primasole Bridge and Arnhem those were a sample, but far from every military journey.

I don't think that we should look for a British band of Band of Brothers purely from within the airborne brethren. I'm afraid that the paras are johnny come latelys in the story of the British army at war in the world wars. The stories of ordinary infantry battalions like the 9th Battalion Durham Light Infantry's C20th spans two world wars, less of a band of brothers than a military family.
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Maybe mate..but the title of the thread and the understanding is Band of Brothers TYPE. We over this side of the pond as I'm sure you agree don't do the emotional side like that too much...I'm not just picking on them as they are airborne...I'm fed up to the back teeth and have defended that positon, on US airborne coy winning ww2. But if you are to compare like for like, the Durham Light infantry battalions do not fit that requirement. Sorry. I do though recognise and agree on their worth. The story of the Durhams at Dunkirk and Burma are not to be surpassed by many. I do have a bias because....My brother...was mortar platoon 2 para at time I was serving elsewhere, so I am biased I'll admit. 2 para from Bruneval and North Africa and onwards to present day fit the mix of Band of Brothers type story and not because they are airborne like easy coy...There are many units that probably do. Your obviously biased to the Durhams...I don't mean that in a condecsending way. But we'll all have our choices...Mine has nothing to do with them being an elite or the red beret but what I know of the personal stories.. I know some about the Durhams, One of their sgts being a personal hero of mine, in mortar platoon at time of Dunkirk. I however don't know enough of the rest of their war history apart from Burma. As said we all have personal favourites I could also mention the Hampshire Regt and there will be enough supporters for them..Difficult. But don't think its anything to do with easy coy or 2 para airborne worship. It aint. Its a subjective matter. but as Brits...I don't think we'll ever do anything like that anyway. And maybe we shouldn't. We are not after all Americans. Not an insult...just not our thing.

 

I am not biased to the Durhams. I also mentioned 2 RWF as another candidate as a British Band of Brothers. It si a matter of personal delight that the only serious candidate for a band of brothers as a film is going to be based on 53 Field Regiment RA, from the Royal Regiment my own corps, and that the main character is a forward observation officer. www.wartimewanderers.com

My objection is to the automatic assumption that we should seek to further highlight the units which are already over represented in film and print. There have been one feature films that highlight the exploits of 2 Para at Arnhem, "Theirs is the glory " and "a Bridge too Far" and many other documentaries and books.

The experiences of 2 Para or Easy Company was far from typical. These were picked volunteers for raiding and assaults,and rested between operations. I'd like to see a band of Brothers which was A real band of brothers ought to be a celebration of the qualities of every-man not just the elites. I was moved by finding a memorial in Overloon to the East Yorkshires. a day in October 1944 that cost them 200 casualties, about the same as on 6th June - just another H Hour on another D Day. We should celebrate the endurance, courage and determination of the ordinary men, willing and unwilling men who did extraordinary things.

The US units I admire are the 36th Infantry Division who endured a terrible in Italy until they made the break through south of Rome and then served with distinction in France.

 

I would really like to see something in North Africa or Italy, and I wouldn't mind a 'support' unit for a change either... plenty of opportunities to feature other units as a result.

Entirely biased but I'd also love to see something about 1st Bn of the Micks, who were from all over the UK and Eire - tragedy in Norway, victory & a VC in Tunisia chucking rocks at the Germans, defeat in Italy and only managing to scrape together one rifle coy for the 3rd bn in Normandy and beyond. Plenty of real characters who jump out of the page of their Regtl History (FitzGerald), which I'd recommend to anyone just looking for a cracking good read over Xmas.

http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/13436-1st-battalion-irish-guards/?p=154265
http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/13436-1st-battalion-irish-guards/?p=222259

"Quis Separabit"

 

Shelldrake...The experiences of 2 Para or Easy Company was far from typical. These were picked volunteers for raiding and assaults,and rested between operations.

Thats exactly my point, the op I believe is asking for similar to Band of Brothers. Not ww1 history or as with my choice 2 para after ww2 history although both would make a worthwhile program. The whole thread needs to be tied down, are we talking of just ww2.

And yes paras in general have had major outings. But we're not talking about in general we're talking about a small type unit. Easy coy were just that, so suppose 2 para are too large as an battalion to be included.

So if we are to pick similar size and is to be ww2 then we are getting further along. The Durhams don't fit and neither do 2 para. We seem to be talking here of a coy sized unit. Be it inf or any of the logistic and mechanical reg's. So if the original OP would like to expand his requrements then great otherwise I'm going for 14th Army.

 

duplicate

 

The problem with the original posit is that the BBC doesn't actually "make" programmes now It commissions them from private production companies, or the production companies make them then market them and the BBC picks them up. Occasionally, it WILL commission a separate BBC division or studio to do something - Doctor Who has already been mentioned, but don't forget it's VERY much a BBC Cardiff production

Frankly - the BBC has got to be shocking at doing history for entertainment....and even infotainment. My pet hate is the abysmal "Dunkirk" three-parter from a few years back - that trendy "shaky" photography, close-in or off-to-one-side focusing to allow low (cheap!!!) production values etc...and a soundtrack that seeemed to rely on a helicopter chop background noise!

ALL it did was show up that the BBC could take really TREMENDOUS source material and **** it up! it hasn't "done" WWII history as entertainment properly since Secret Army/Colditz

Foyle's War? It wasn't the BBC Someone mentioned the SOE? What about Wish Me Luck??? Island at War about the Occupation of the Channel islands?

Notice anything?.....The BBC certainly didn't make them!

I wouldn't want the BBC to touch WWII....because frankly it would be sh1t. It couldn't be done with the production values and big, wide, detail-filled screens it would need, not on a BBC budget. No harm to them, and no harm meant to anyone who fits into the following minority groups...but in true modern BBC fashion, the Corporation would be far too busy trying to work out how to cram its quota of ethnic minorities or disabled people into the middle of a WWII battle than actually "doing" the battle properly.

The BBC can do....or rather, pay to have done - decent history...but said programmes are the ones they have the lightest hand on.

 

Actually, i thought the prime candidates were the 14th Army and Special Operations Executive. A lot of potential.

 

BBC tends to be a PC organization some days of the week. Maybe ITV could do something. Parade's End was a BBC-HBO joint production, but many people preffered the well made soap opera Downton Abbey. Maybe the BBC should make a ww2 medical drama set in the pacific.

 

By the way - don't expect the BBC to change any time soon, either...

They're in the process of spending tens of millions over the next four years making documentaries, films and series - factual and drama - covering the FIRST World War. All right if you like it, but not my thing.

So don't expect much on other history full stop in the meantime!