Toy Soldier » Band of Brothers

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝟷𝟹

𝚂𝙴𝙿𝚃𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁 — 𝙽𝙾𝚅𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁 𝟷𝟿𝟺𝟹

On September 15, the S.S Samaria docked in Liverpool. The next day a train took the men south to the station at Ogbourne St. George, where trucks picked them up and carried them to their new home. They marched the last mile and a half,after dark, with only flashlights to show the way.

This was the first time Tommy had been in a wartime blackout, and it impressed upon her that she was in a combat zone. Even though her family had fled from the war torn Poland in 1939, it was so early into the German invasion that they were out through the Carpathian's into Czechoslovakia and then into Hungary before Warsaw fell, so she had never experiences the effects of long term war.

They got to their barracks around 0200. They were long Nissen huts, made of half-cylindrical skin of corrugated iron, heated only by twin potbellied stoves. Tommy was given a mattress cover and shown the straw she could stuff into it, along with a heavy wool blanket that itched terribly. 

Quietly, for all of them were all too tired and frankly wary of the new surroundings they had found themselves in, all the men quickly complied and went to sleep.

When Tommy woke up the next morning and came outside of the barracks she thought she had walked out onto a Hollywood movie set. All around the area were fairytale cottages with thatched roofs and rose vines creeping up their sides. Heavy, large hoofed cart horses stomped down narrow winding cobblestone lanes, wooden carts clattering behind them. A lush village green set off a weathered old grey eleventh century Norman church whose clock chimed the hours. Five ancient public houses lined the side of the lanes, their signboards swinging in the breeze, bidding welcome to the young Americans.

Aldbourne was vastly different than Toccoa, Benning, or Bragg. Here they were in the midst of a small English village, where people were conservative, and rather set in their ways. They were less than thrilled by the young Yanks in their midst. It was completely different from what Tommy had grown used to in the past year: self-contained, isolated, and completely military. 

Luckily, the army had predicted the high likelihood of friction between the villages inhabitants and the incoming Regiment, and set up an orientation program. In their first week in Auldborne, every morning, the soldiers were given detailed briefs of English customs, manners, and habits. 

They were taught to eat what the British ate, tucking into bland meals of powdered milk, powdered eggs, dehydrated apricots, dehydrated potatoes, horse meat, Brussels sprouts, turnips, and cabbage.

Even the PX goods were rationed. They were given seven packs of cigarettes per week, three candy bars, one pack of gum, one box of matches, one cake of soap, and one package of razor blades. 

The only thing that never changed was Sobel. 

They were in England to prepare for the invasion of Europe, and the training schedule was hellish— Sobel made sure of that. Tommy thought she was back in Toccoa with spending six days a week, eight to ten hours a day in the field. On top of that, they returned to their usual routine of forced marches, went on night operations, spent an hour daily in close combat exercises, did some street fighting, and got training in map reading, first aid, chemical warfare, and the use and characteristics of German weapons. And beyond the regular training there were also specialized courses on booby traps, communications, removal of mines, and the like. 

About once a week they would go out on two to three day training exercises, where the problems were designed not only to give the soldiers a working knowledge of the mechanics of combat— how to live off the terrain and use it to your advantage.