1x09 Why We Fight - Band of Brothers Episode Guide

Band of Brothers

- Episode 01x09

Episode: 01x09
Title: Why We Fight
Type: Regular Episode
Production Code: N/A
First Aired: Oct. 28, 2001

Season 1 » Episode #09 - Why We Fight

Summary: Easy finally gets into Germany and is met with little resistance. While on a patrol, the members of Easy discover and abandonned concentration camp. The German guards have left, but all the prisoners are still in the camp.

Who appeared in this episode?

German Girl with Egg	played by Kristina Br�nd�n
Pvt. Patrick O'Keefe	played by Matt Hickey
Pvt. Lester 'Leo' Hashey	played by Mark Huberman
Major Louis Kent	played by Corey Johnson
Prisoner with Janovec	played by Malcolm Kaye
Prisoner with Corpse	played by Goran Kostic
German Grandfather	played by Martin Lawton
SSgt. Floyd 'Tab' Talbert	played by Matthew Leitch
MP at Lansberg	played by Christian Malcolm

Episode Quotes

[none added]

MISTAKES/GOOFS

FACT: At the beginning of "Why We Fight", the date states April 10, 1945 Thalheim, Germany and the scene is with Capt. Nixon addressing a couple of the men on a balcony watching musicians play a Beethoven piece. Then it flashbacks to a month earlier. At the end, it flashes forward to the original scene and Capt. Nixon states Hitler shot himself. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945.
FACT: Two German children watch the parade of German POWs from a bridge and talk about the passing American armor. One of the children says "Schau mal, es hat da gerade ein Flugzeug abgeschossen", which means "look, a plane has just been shot" and is obviously not the case. The other child answers "Wow, cool!" which would definitely not be said by a five-year-old German in 1945.
CHAR: When Capt. Nixon is asking the clerk about finding some whiskey, Pvt. Janovec walks in and says, "Did you hear the news? 300,000 krauts just surrendered! We're moving out in an hour." Nixon asks, "One hour?" and Janovec responds, "Yeah." Although the men of Easy Company were generally laid back socially, Janovec was supposed to have answered with "Yes, sir" (or something similar) due to Nixon being a superior officer.
CONT: When Easy Company are giving out food to the prisoners at Landsburg, they are told by the regimental surgeon that the prisoners must be kept in the camp to monitor their health/nutrition. However when Nixon returns the next day to see the German citizens burying the bodies of the prisoners in accordance with martial law, none of the prisoners can be seen in the camp.

TRIVIA

The music for the end credits in this episode are different and more somber than the other episodes, using a string only orchestra, rather than a full orchestra.
When Easy Company enters the concentration camp, Winters asks Sgt. Christenson if any of his men speak German and he replies, "No, sir." Michael Fassbender, who portrays Christenson, is a German-born British actor who speaks German as a first language.
The string quartet at the beginning and then end is playing "Dido's Lament," by Henry Purcell. (Also see goofs.) "Dido's Lament" is also interwoven into the background music throughout this episode.