Yeah, from what I remember, he attempted suicide, but actually managed to botch that. The bullet intended for his brain wound up severing his optic nerves, leaving him blind for the rest of his life.

I seem to recall that, in the wake of the success of the miniseries and the resulting renewed interest in Ambrose's book, that the children of Captain Sobel took a lot of exception to their father's characterization in both the book and the series. That one, I find a bit harder to believe, especially because his kids…

That'd be me. See my comment to the main post of this thread.

The thing is, I think that a lot of his onscreen characterization is inaccurate. Webster, who's the focus of this episode, describes him in his own memoir as "invariably good-natured". The drunken attack of Lieutenant Foley, his court-martial, and dishonorable discharge are all true enough, but it's probably more…

It ain't Fassbender peen, though (he played Sgt. Christensen in this), nor is it Kieran O'Brien peen (who played Private Vest, who has a small spotlight in this episode, and later starred in Michael Winterbottom's mainstream hardcore movie 9 Songs, in which he has unsimulated sex for the better part of 70 minutes).

The sheer volume of "Look who's famous now?" talent that's in this series blows my mind. Never in a million years would I have believed that Bane and Janovec the Fraternizing Private were played by the same person. Toss him on the list with Simon Pegg, Michael Fassbender, Stephen Graham, James McAvoy, Jason O'Mara,…

According to the book, Sink was probably too drunk and/or asleep to notice that nothing happened. He ordered the second patrol mostly to show off to the regimental staff, then went off to tie one on for the rest of the evening.

I think Alan was right in his assessment. Webster gets a ton of time in Ambrose's book because his journals, (then) unpublished memoirs, and letters home provided a good insight from a soldier who also happened to be a professional writer. His exposure in the last three episodes of the series in which he was…

Regarding the first one, I've never seen it any other way than the way it is on my DVD box set, but what you're describing is two parts of the same scene, which is the disgraced Dutch woman on the side of the road, holding a baby (it's not said, but I think it's somewhat implied that the father of the kid is a German…

The Julian story is an interesting one, and it makes Babe's story even sadder. Although in the series, he's described by Babe as a replacement that seemingly just joined the unit, in real life, the two were best friends in Jump School and both wound up assigned to Easy at the same time. The promise Babe made to…

I have read Malarkey's book (it might be my favorite, alongside Babe and Guarnere's), but I don't remember that about it. Ironically, it was Webster's own characterization of Cobb in his then-unpublished memoir that contradicts the way the series depicted him, as Webster describes him as "invariably good-natured". The…

No sweat. Just to point you in the right direction, I'm almost positive it's when Lt. Welsh gets bombed after lighting his fire "in the dell".

Not quite. The miniseries is an adaptation of a book to which the producers had the rights, which is all the clearance they needed to tell anyone's story.

He stepped on it while bolting out of the foxhole the two were in at the time to treat someone after a "Medic!" call rang out, cutting it in the process. The scene happens at night, and it's not terribly well-lit, so it's tricky to pick up on if you've only seen the episode once or twice. I think I noticed it around…