Summary
- Band of Brothers depicts the chaos and stress of war, but questions remain about the accuracy, such as whether Speirs killed prisoners on D-Day.
- Speirs' alleged stories of harsh killings circulate within his unit, including rumors about his treatment of Nazi prisoners on D-Day.
- The true story of Speirs remains murky and speculative, as reports confirm the "take no prisoners" sentiment during the Normandy landings.
Band of Brothers is a realistic depiction of war, but there are some questions about how accurate it is such as the lingering question of did Speirs kill prisoners on D-Day. The miniseries chronicles some of the real-life stories of the 101st Airborne's "Easy Company" during World War II. It depicts the sheer chaos and weighty, life-or-death stress that accompanies soldiers on the battlefront. One such soldier is Captain Ronald Speirs yet intense officer with a rumor asking did Spiers kill prisoners in Band of Brothers and was the incident based on fact.
Played by Matthew Settle, Speirs stands out in the Band of Brothers cast. He learns how to compartmentalize the horrors he faces throughout the show and remain an efficient soldier in the face of it. Understandably, some alleged stories of harsh, stone-cold killing by Speirs circulate within his unit, receiving constant speculation and reinvention by Easy Company throughout Band of Brothers. One of these rumored stories has to do with how he treated Nazi prisoners during the bedlam of D-Day's Normandy landings with the show never giving a clear answer on if it actually happened or not.
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The Speirs Nazi Prisoners Controversy
The question of did Speirs kill prisoners arises on the second episode of Band of Brothers, "Day of Days." There's a scene in the post-landing timeframe where Speirs es out cigarettes to a group of German prisoners, and it is implied that he shoots them all off-screen. Of course, such an event would violate the Geneva Conventions. In the show, it almost comes across as if he does so out of pure indifference or sadism. But, although it seems that Speirs acted as his character did on Band of Brothers, the situation also appears to have been a much more nuanced act of wartime violence than that.
According to details fellow Band of Brothers-featured serviceman Don Malarkey recounting General Taylor's orders during the D-Day battles: "If you were to take prisoners, they’d handicap our ability to perform our mission. We were going to have to dispose of prisoners as best we saw fit."
Of course, ronaldspeirs.com clearly has a positive bias toward the late war veteran. But, even so, other reports seem to confirm the "take no prisoners" sentiment during the Normandy landings as well. David Webster of Easy Company also acknowledged this thought process in one of his books about the war, and Band of Brothers-famous Dick Winters has also mentioned Speirs' POW story in his writing — but said that he had only heard it as a rumor, neither confirming nor denying its validity. The concept of shooting prisoners is blatantly wrong and shouldn't be excused, but, at the same time, rumors have a way of changing stories over time. The full true story of Band of Brothers' Lt. Speirs remains murky and speculative.
War is chock-full of hellish conditions, of people being routinely pushed to their physical and psychological limits while fearing for their lives and the lives of their comrades. It's easy to cast judgment regarding an incident like the one with Speirs and the prisoners. Nevertheless, it's impossible to truly know how one would handle a split-second decision in such continually harrowing circumstances, especially if orders had been given not to take prisoners. As Band of Brothers illustrates, war often blurs the lines of what is decisively right or wrong. It's a messy and tragic affair, and there's never a "correct" path or choice within it.
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Speirs Was Part Of Another War Controversy
The question of did Speirs kill prisoners as shown in Band of Brothers is still unclear, but it seems Speirs was involved in another controversy during the war which seems a little more definitive. In Band of Brothers, there are rumors among the of Easy Company that Speirs shot and killed a soldier for being drunk on patrol. As it turns out, there is more truth to that than just adding to Speirs’ intimidating legend.
In the book, Beyond Band of Brothers, eyewitness s describe an incident when Speirs was commanding Dog Company. While holding position, one soldier who had been drinking insisted on pushing forward. Speirs repeated his command to hold position and ordered the soldier to move back in line. When the soldier leveled his rifle at Speirs while continuing to defy orders, Speirs shot him in self-defense. Speirs immediately reported the incident to his superior officers but nothing more came of it.
