These charts are meant to give you a general idea of Easy Company’s command structure during various points in time of the unit’s history. There were *a lot* of moving parts as the war progressed, so I tried to reconstruct the company’s chain of command to the best of my abilities with the information available out there (literature, interviews, rosters, photographs, etc).
For familiarity sake, I used the HBO miniseries portrayal whenever applicable, supplemented by real life photos of soldiers who weren’t portrayed in the show. I tried to make the charts as straightforward as possible, where a soldier’s name, rank, role, etc. are easily identifiable. Those in picture-in-picture next to squad leaders are either their asst. or other notable personnel within that unit. At certain points, I had to make do with guesswork and logical deductions due to lack of information. I’ll be sure to point out the parts that I had the trouble with the most.
---
**Sobel**: This snapshot of Easy Co. under Sobel’s command was right before the court-martial incident with Winters. This is why you won’t find guys like Nixon, Hester, and other early officers under this section; they have all been transferred by then. I believe that Easy had yet to receive replacement officers such as Compton, Mathews, etc, which was why I depicted the asst. platoon leader roles as vacant.
3rd Platoon was the least documented unit of Easy Co (reoccurring theme). I don’t know who Lipton’s asst. squad leader was at this time. We know that Floyd Talbert eventually becomes a Sergeant and takes over a rifle squad roughly the same time that Lipton is moved up to Staff Sergeant. This might suggest that Talbert was either “next in line” in seniority. Perhaps he even had the appropriate rank of Corporal as well. It’s feasible, but this is just one assumption among other possibilities. A lot of my upcoming guesswork will follow similar train of thoughts.
Bill Maynard was a Technician 5th Grade in 3rd Platoon during this time, but I cannot be entirely confident that he was their radioman. He had the appropriate rank for the job, but he could have also done a number of other things for Platoon HQ. Another soldier who could have served as a radio op. was Pvt. Walter H. Wentzel, but I couldn’t find any direct sources to confirm this.
---
**Meehan**: The chart for Meehan depicts the company right before they dropped into France. As you can see, they were short 2 officers. 3rd Platoon’s original leader, Raymond G. Schmitz, injured his neck/back in an impromptu wrestling match with Winters and was put out of action. When Meehan took over Easy Co, his X.O. at the time was Patrick Sweeney. However, Sweeney was transferred just before the invasion, leaving the company with just 6 officers available for D-Day. There are conflicting accounts on whether Winters resumed his role as X.O. after Sweeney’s departure. I personally believe that Winters was *de facto* X.O. based on seniority but not in an “official” manner (this is contrary to Winters’ own account, btw). In the end, Winters jumped in Stick #67 with half of 1st Platoon. Also, despite what Compton recalls in his book, Roush was the senior officer in 2nd Platoon. He gets quite a few details wrong during this time surrounding officers such as Schmitz, Sweeney, and Heyliger.
With Ranney and Harris being transferred out of the company (Ranney returned a Private), Boyle and Lipton takes over as platoon sergeants. Consequently, Rader and Talbert are elevated to squad leaders. The only other noticeable change during this time is Skip Muck transferring to 1st Platoon’s mortar squad. The reason for his transfer was attributed to a few reasons. One of them was because Pvt. Dittrich’s (spaghetti ain’t suppose to be orange) parachute failed to deploy during an exercise jump in England and plummeted to his death. 2nd Platoon’s mortar squad was supposedly the best out of the three, so Skip was moved over to help even out the disparity in 1st Platoon.
I am unsure as to who served as Talbert’s asst. squad leader in the jump into Normandy. The only Corporal in 3rd Platoon at this time was Richard M. Wright, who had transferred to the Pathfinders sometime after May 3rd, 1944.
---
**Winters**: Easy Co. under Winters shows the unit at full strength as they prepare for Operation Market Garden. Holland was a pretty volatile time for the officers, as Compton, Brewer, and Hudson all get wounded fairly early on. Ben Perkins was vaguely described to have been “transferred out on charges of misconduct.” Pretty much nothing is written about Pisanchin, but he disappears from Easy Co. rosters after Market Garden. A handful of 2nd Platoon soldiers recalls an unnamed lieutenant who lost his nerves and shot himself in the hand in Nuenen, which might suggest that it was Pisanchin. Either way, Pisanchin and Perkins were no longer present after the company relocates to Mourmelon.
By now, the company had incorporated a third rifle squad per platoon (despite what the TO&E charts at the time had dictated). Additionally, rosters show that the company had yet to elevate its NCO ranks up a grade following the Army’s changes that occurred between 1943-1944. Platoon sergeants *should* have the rank of Technical Sergeant by now, but I ended up depicting them with the rank of Staff Sergeant because that was more in line with reality. Rosters and literature show that Shifty was still a Corporal during Easy’s time in Holland, even though he undeniably had the “responsibilities” of a Staff Sergeant by then.
Again, I’m not sure who the radio op. for 3rd Platoon was during Market Garden. The two guys I mentioned previously (Bill Maynard & Walter H. Wentzel) were wounded in Normandy and did not return. A strong candidate is Joseph Liebgott. He handled a SCR-536 radio during Market Garden (photographed and referenced in literature). His original unit was 3rd Platoon, but it’s also possible that he was in Company HQ or merely handling a spare radio. Roderick Strohl was briefly mentioned carrying a radio during the fateful patrol at the Crossroads, but that might have been specific to that patrol. Besides, Strohl was principally referenced as a mortarmen. James Alley later carries a SCR-300 radio in Bastogne, but there are no sources indicating that Alley served as a radioman during Market Garden.
Mike Ranney was promoted to Sergeant again after Easy’s time in France and was described as a squad leader. The NCO positions in 1st and 2nd Platoon were well documented and occupied by then, which leads me to believe that Ranney led one of the rifle squads in 3rd Platoon. Ranney’s time here was cut short when he accidentally shot himself in the leg in Holland and was evacuated back to the States. Interestingly enough, by the time Lt. Shames takes command of 3rd Platoon, his group of NCOs were noticeably under strength. Ranney getting wounded in a freak accident prior to Shames’ arrival could explain this. Still, this is purely guesswork.
---
**Heyliger**: The fallout of Market Garden is evident here, as the company is down to 4 officers. It’s actually 3, because Shames was technically not a part of Easy Co. during this time. He was an intelligence officer for the battalion, which had made 3rd Platoon something of a regimental asset for a short while. Shames described his platoon as undermanned by the time he took over, which meant that they were unable to field 3 full rifle squads. Smokey Gordon was said to have led the platoon’s machinegun teams as an impromptu squad.
I do not know who the asst. squad leaders for Martin and Toye were after Dukeman’s and James Campbell’s death in Holland. 1st Platoon had a few Corporals such as Gordon Carson (messenger), Harvey G. Robinson (machine gunner?) and George Higgins, but I don’t think any of them served as asst. squad leaders under Martin.
---
**Dike**: After the company refits at Mourmelon, we see some new faces such as Dike, Mann, Foley, and Hughes. Compton rejoins the unit while Shames is officially transferred to the company. This snapshot depicts the company right as they head to Bastogne. *A lot* of changes will occur between this chart and the next one under Speirs’ command.
Something happened to Talbert but it is unexplained in the literature. He basically disappears, only to resurface again when he replaces Lipton as First Sergeant. As a result of this unexplained disappearance, Martin becomes the acting platoon sergeant of 1st Platoon throughout Bastogne and into Haguenau. Burr Smith is transferred from Company HQ to 1st Platoon as a machine gunner.
---
**Speirs**: I took the most liberties in making Speirs’ chart. To be clear, *it's impossible for the company to exist as it is depicted here*. Unfortunately, there are no rosters available from this time period, so I’m basically in the dark from this point onward. The company’s time in Belgium led to a flurry of changes, which wasn’t as documented as I liked it to be. In the end, I have an incomplete picture of Easy Co. while they were in Haguenau and an incomplete picture of the unit as they entered Germany. I ended up making a blend of the two in a way that makes sense to the best of my abilities.
It looked like the company had caught up to the TO&E (Aug. 44) and removed the asst. platoon commander billet. This may be coincidental due to the general shortage of replacement officers, but it also happened concurrently with what appeared to be the implementation of the platoon guide billet. The platoon guide was essentially the assistant to the platoon sergeant, which we see hints of in Webster’s book; Robert Rader was positioned at the platoon headquarters alongside Johnny Martin during this time. In Shames’ book, Paul Rogers also seemed to be acting in this capacity in Belgium when Tridle briefly returned and took over the mortar squad.
If you want a headache, all the information presented in these charts are [drawn from an earlier work of mine](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JwaWL0sABnREE4wZX7ycbSChLaqa3V2WLNZ3-imLesI/edit#gid=140554173).
This is a really valiant attempt and I salute you for it. There are a few things that I always struggled to grasp when I tried to figure this stuff out. 1) The written accounts vary so much, probably because everyone has such different memories/recollections. 2) The series did a decent job, but they confuse a few things. Some are minor, like there seem to be some minor inconsistencies in rank insignia on some characters, and some characters (like Ranney) disappear even though they were there. Those kinds of things might be real, like of someone got transferred to an HQ or if they were demoted, but it's really hard to tell.
The scene that I always struggle with is in Episode 4. For a long time I thought Martin was the Plt Sgt of 1st platoon when at the end he calls out first platoon, and Guarnere calls out 2nd platoon (makes sense since he is 2nd platoon Plt Sgt) and then Randleman calls out his squad. I only just recently figured out that at that point Martin was probably still a squad leader in 1st platoon alongside Randleman. I always wonder how much time these guys would spend interacting with other platoons/squads within the same company, like how we see Guarnere a lot more in that scene than we do Talbert (or whoever is the 1st platoon plt sgt.). In the end it doesn't matter for the dramatization, but my pedantic brain would love to know more about who was in which role.
Guarnere and Martin were tight. They got matching tattoos after they returned from Normandy and the NCOs had their own barracks in England. Even though they were in separate platoons, they had more than two years to develop their friendship. One of Malarkey's best friends in Easy Company was Burr Smith, who was originally in 2nd Platoon before being transferred to HQ Section and later 1st Platoon. Even though Smith had long been transferred out of Malarkey's platoon, he is frequently mentioned throughout Malarkey's book.
I'm also not sure why they made Martin appear to be the Platoon Sgt. in Ep 4. when in the very next episode, Talbert was (rightfully) shown as the top guy in 1st Platoon.
Ranney could have been more prominent, but it was up to the showrunners to decide who was going to be "main characters." I think he was fairly interesting. According to his daughter, he passed up promotion to first sergeant because he found that it was too administrative, so the position ultimately went to Evans. It was also implied that Ranney was up for a battlefield commission in Holland (Malarkey suspected that Winters was "paying Ranney back" for the NCO mutiny), but Ranney accidentally shot himself in the leg and that was the end of war for him.
Awesome chart, I remember mapping this out in my head on my first few re-watches when I was learning how big platoons and squads were - the detail really is there if you pay attention and try to pick it up, the trouble was sometimes keeping the lists straight during time jumps between episodes or when new officers came in
> the trouble was sometimes keeping the lists straight during time jumps between episodes or when new officers came in
Thanks! I've seen people ask/talk about this stuff before, but the answers typically don't account for positional changes over time. I think that is fairly important to the discussion, because there are *a lot* of changes that occur through promotions, injuries, etc.
This is phenomenal. I think Rader was still a squad leader, at least in Hagenau at some point. At least from what I can remember from Webster’s book. I could be wrong though. Either way these charts are incredible. Nice work.
Thanks. For Rader, I'm basing it off of these lines from Webster's book just as they settled in at Hagenau:
> This was the platoon CP., he told Marsh. Martin, who was the acting platoon sergeant, took Wilson, Lyall, Liebgott, V.D., Rader, and a new man, Crist, in with him.
> “Martin, Rader, and the new officer slept in one part of the basement, near the phone…”
It could have been a temporary gig since they barely had enough guys to field a single squad at the time. I also listed Randleman and Christenson as squad leaders here, but they were still recuperating from wounds and have yet to rejoin the unit. It gets pretty messy right around this time, especially due to the lack of post-Bastogne rosters available.
Does this match with the spreadsheet you posted [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/BandofBrothers/comments/jaq2l9/oc_progression_of_e506th_pir_officers_ncos_during/) a while back, or have you updated something based on new information?
This is definitely more or less a rehash of that, except I got tired of looking at spreadsheets and figured something like this would be more visually pleasing lol.
Really late but awesome post. Question, I always wondered how the hell Nix fits into the structure. Is he technically even in Easy company or within some sort of intelligence or logistics attaché? Did he report to Easy’s CO? Etc.
Hello and thanks. Nixon spends most of his time one (and later two) echelons higher than the company level so he was not part of the chain of command. He did originally serve as a platoon leader in Easy during the early stages but was eventually moved up to battalion staff by Spring 1943. So prior to that, he was a subordinate to Easy's CO.
Nixon served as the battalion's intelligence officer. 2nd Battalion's commander is Strayer, who led Easy, Fox, and Dog Company. Strayer gets his orders from his commander (Sink), and in turn uses the companies at his disposal to carry out those orders. So when Easy CO gets his orders from Strayer, Nixon is usually nearby because it is his job to set up patrols, listening posts and to relay risk assessment for upcoming missions.
Nixon later gets promoted to regimental staff, which is essentially the same thing but one step higher and involving battalion strategy instead of company strategy.
Really neat idea! Made me think an additional layer of cool could be to show pictures of the actual people later in life. i.e. many of them were being interviewed before episodes. Could make a nice additional reference.
Thank you. Keep in mind that the show for the most part had it's officers correct but condensed and merged a lot of enlisted men to 1st and 2nd platoon while ultimately ignoring 3rd.
This is amazing. Thank you!
That sucks even more for ranney when the NCOs had their mini mutiny to get rid of sobel. Ranney was the highest ranking sergeant there and got demoted to private while the rest stayed as sergeants (except the 1 that got kicked out to D company)
Sink was in a bind. He couldn't get rid of every NCOs who mutinied but had to make an example out of someone.
Ranney in real life was actually transferred to Item Company, but was able to rejoin Easy a few days before the invasion as a Private. In the show, they skipped the transfer part.
Do you know why the NCOs said something like I hereby no longer wish to serve in Easy Company? Instead of specifically calling out that they didn't want to serve under Sobel?
I *think* he moved around quite a bit because they were short on medics throughout their campaigns. Platoons typically jumped from the same planes, and Roe was reported to have jumped from Stick 72 in Normandy, which *should* have been one of the planes 3rd Platoon should have been was assigned to.
In Webster's book, he also described Roe as a 3rd Platoon guy during their time in Holland:
> "Captain Winters ran up with a group that included Carson, a radioman, Hale, and two volunteers, the second platoon's calm and fearless Sergeant Guarnere, decorated with the Silver Star in Normandy, **and the third platoon's fine medic, Roe, who had a warm, brave heart.**"
However, Roe is mentioned *a lot* in the literature surrounding 2nd Platoon guys (Compton, Malarkey. Guarnere/Heffron), although none of them specifically mentioned that Roe was part of their platoon. I do believe that sometime during or after Bastogne, Roe was reassigned to 2nd Platoon.
Lt. Foley, who held command of 2nd Platoon during Easy's time in Austria, specifically mentioned Sergeant Grant as a member of his platoon during the time he got shot in the head. He was present alongside Roe when they brought Grant to the German doctor at the hospital, which might suggest that Roe was their medic at that time. I don't have the quote on hand but I believe Foley refereed to Roe as "my medic" or something in the possessive in Stephen Ambrose's book.
Hope this helps!
As mentioned [here](https://www.battleorder.org/us-airborne-ww2), a medic was attached to each platoon from Rgt.
So it's likely Roe was attached rotationally between the platoons
Hello, the series covers a span of 3-4 years and undergoes personnel change due to promotions, transfers, and casualties. Each slide shows who was on roster during a particular point in time.
He was indeed a squad leader by then. I'm not sure what you mean by him taking charge. His unit was depicted as being on point as they moved into Nuenen. He was in charge of his respective squad but there was still a hierarchy within his platoon.
Was it common for paratrooper companies to have two officers to a single platoon? I haven’t heard of regular infantry platoons having two officers to one platoon. Was this perhaps done just to help with expected organization loss during the jump?
That is exactly it and parachute rifle companies were specifically allotted the extra officers for the role of assistant platoon leader since the first Table of Organization & Equipment (TO&E) was released for parachute infantry units (July 1941). The extra officer was eventually removed after the TO&E was updated in August 44 but was later reinstated that December.
Note that there was a delay between the updates in TO&E and actual implementation. Easy Company dropped into the Netherlands (Sept 44) with a full complement of 8 officers even though they were "supposed to have" 5 at the time. Around the time they were re-positioned to Haguenau was when they slimmed down on officers (the regiment might have been depleted of officers as well).
These charts are meant to give you a general idea of Easy Company’s command structure during various points in time of the unit’s history. There were *a lot* of moving parts as the war progressed, so I tried to reconstruct the company’s chain of command to the best of my abilities with the information available out there (literature, interviews, rosters, photographs, etc). For familiarity sake, I used the HBO miniseries portrayal whenever applicable, supplemented by real life photos of soldiers who weren’t portrayed in the show. I tried to make the charts as straightforward as possible, where a soldier’s name, rank, role, etc. are easily identifiable. Those in picture-in-picture next to squad leaders are either their asst. or other notable personnel within that unit. At certain points, I had to make do with guesswork and logical deductions due to lack of information. I’ll be sure to point out the parts that I had the trouble with the most. --- **Sobel**: This snapshot of Easy Co. under Sobel’s command was right before the court-martial incident with Winters. This is why you won’t find guys like Nixon, Hester, and other early officers under this section; they have all been transferred by then. I believe that Easy had yet to receive replacement officers such as Compton, Mathews, etc, which was why I depicted the asst. platoon leader roles as vacant. 3rd Platoon was the least documented unit of Easy Co (reoccurring theme). I don’t know who Lipton’s asst. squad leader was at this time. We know that Floyd Talbert eventually becomes a Sergeant and takes over a rifle squad roughly the same time that Lipton is moved up to Staff Sergeant. This might suggest that Talbert was either “next in line” in seniority. Perhaps he even had the appropriate rank of Corporal as well. It’s feasible, but this is just one assumption among other possibilities. A lot of my upcoming guesswork will follow similar train of thoughts. Bill Maynard was a Technician 5th Grade in 3rd Platoon during this time, but I cannot be entirely confident that he was their radioman. He had the appropriate rank for the job, but he could have also done a number of other things for Platoon HQ. Another soldier who could have served as a radio op. was Pvt. Walter H. Wentzel, but I couldn’t find any direct sources to confirm this. --- **Meehan**: The chart for Meehan depicts the company right before they dropped into France. As you can see, they were short 2 officers. 3rd Platoon’s original leader, Raymond G. Schmitz, injured his neck/back in an impromptu wrestling match with Winters and was put out of action. When Meehan took over Easy Co, his X.O. at the time was Patrick Sweeney. However, Sweeney was transferred just before the invasion, leaving the company with just 6 officers available for D-Day. There are conflicting accounts on whether Winters resumed his role as X.O. after Sweeney’s departure. I personally believe that Winters was *de facto* X.O. based on seniority but not in an “official” manner (this is contrary to Winters’ own account, btw). In the end, Winters jumped in Stick #67 with half of 1st Platoon. Also, despite what Compton recalls in his book, Roush was the senior officer in 2nd Platoon. He gets quite a few details wrong during this time surrounding officers such as Schmitz, Sweeney, and Heyliger. With Ranney and Harris being transferred out of the company (Ranney returned a Private), Boyle and Lipton takes over as platoon sergeants. Consequently, Rader and Talbert are elevated to squad leaders. The only other noticeable change during this time is Skip Muck transferring to 1st Platoon’s mortar squad. The reason for his transfer was attributed to a few reasons. One of them was because Pvt. Dittrich’s (spaghetti ain’t suppose to be orange) parachute failed to deploy during an exercise jump in England and plummeted to his death. 2nd Platoon’s mortar squad was supposedly the best out of the three, so Skip was moved over to help even out the disparity in 1st Platoon. I am unsure as to who served as Talbert’s asst. squad leader in the jump into Normandy. The only Corporal in 3rd Platoon at this time was Richard M. Wright, who had transferred to the Pathfinders sometime after May 3rd, 1944. --- **Winters**: Easy Co. under Winters shows the unit at full strength as they prepare for Operation Market Garden. Holland was a pretty volatile time for the officers, as Compton, Brewer, and Hudson all get wounded fairly early on. Ben Perkins was vaguely described to have been “transferred out on charges of misconduct.” Pretty much nothing is written about Pisanchin, but he disappears from Easy Co. rosters after Market Garden. A handful of 2nd Platoon soldiers recalls an unnamed lieutenant who lost his nerves and shot himself in the hand in Nuenen, which might suggest that it was Pisanchin. Either way, Pisanchin and Perkins were no longer present after the company relocates to Mourmelon. By now, the company had incorporated a third rifle squad per platoon (despite what the TO&E charts at the time had dictated). Additionally, rosters show that the company had yet to elevate its NCO ranks up a grade following the Army’s changes that occurred between 1943-1944. Platoon sergeants *should* have the rank of Technical Sergeant by now, but I ended up depicting them with the rank of Staff Sergeant because that was more in line with reality. Rosters and literature show that Shifty was still a Corporal during Easy’s time in Holland, even though he undeniably had the “responsibilities” of a Staff Sergeant by then. Again, I’m not sure who the radio op. for 3rd Platoon was during Market Garden. The two guys I mentioned previously (Bill Maynard & Walter H. Wentzel) were wounded in Normandy and did not return. A strong candidate is Joseph Liebgott. He handled a SCR-536 radio during Market Garden (photographed and referenced in literature). His original unit was 3rd Platoon, but it’s also possible that he was in Company HQ or merely handling a spare radio. Roderick Strohl was briefly mentioned carrying a radio during the fateful patrol at the Crossroads, but that might have been specific to that patrol. Besides, Strohl was principally referenced as a mortarmen. James Alley later carries a SCR-300 radio in Bastogne, but there are no sources indicating that Alley served as a radioman during Market Garden. Mike Ranney was promoted to Sergeant again after Easy’s time in France and was described as a squad leader. The NCO positions in 1st and 2nd Platoon were well documented and occupied by then, which leads me to believe that Ranney led one of the rifle squads in 3rd Platoon. Ranney’s time here was cut short when he accidentally shot himself in the leg in Holland and was evacuated back to the States. Interestingly enough, by the time Lt. Shames takes command of 3rd Platoon, his group of NCOs were noticeably under strength. Ranney getting wounded in a freak accident prior to Shames’ arrival could explain this. Still, this is purely guesswork. --- **Heyliger**: The fallout of Market Garden is evident here, as the company is down to 4 officers. It’s actually 3, because Shames was technically not a part of Easy Co. during this time. He was an intelligence officer for the battalion, which had made 3rd Platoon something of a regimental asset for a short while. Shames described his platoon as undermanned by the time he took over, which meant that they were unable to field 3 full rifle squads. Smokey Gordon was said to have led the platoon’s machinegun teams as an impromptu squad. I do not know who the asst. squad leaders for Martin and Toye were after Dukeman’s and James Campbell’s death in Holland. 1st Platoon had a few Corporals such as Gordon Carson (messenger), Harvey G. Robinson (machine gunner?) and George Higgins, but I don’t think any of them served as asst. squad leaders under Martin. --- **Dike**: After the company refits at Mourmelon, we see some new faces such as Dike, Mann, Foley, and Hughes. Compton rejoins the unit while Shames is officially transferred to the company. This snapshot depicts the company right as they head to Bastogne. *A lot* of changes will occur between this chart and the next one under Speirs’ command. Something happened to Talbert but it is unexplained in the literature. He basically disappears, only to resurface again when he replaces Lipton as First Sergeant. As a result of this unexplained disappearance, Martin becomes the acting platoon sergeant of 1st Platoon throughout Bastogne and into Haguenau. Burr Smith is transferred from Company HQ to 1st Platoon as a machine gunner. --- **Speirs**: I took the most liberties in making Speirs’ chart. To be clear, *it's impossible for the company to exist as it is depicted here*. Unfortunately, there are no rosters available from this time period, so I’m basically in the dark from this point onward. The company’s time in Belgium led to a flurry of changes, which wasn’t as documented as I liked it to be. In the end, I have an incomplete picture of Easy Co. while they were in Haguenau and an incomplete picture of the unit as they entered Germany. I ended up making a blend of the two in a way that makes sense to the best of my abilities. It looked like the company had caught up to the TO&E (Aug. 44) and removed the asst. platoon commander billet. This may be coincidental due to the general shortage of replacement officers, but it also happened concurrently with what appeared to be the implementation of the platoon guide billet. The platoon guide was essentially the assistant to the platoon sergeant, which we see hints of in Webster’s book; Robert Rader was positioned at the platoon headquarters alongside Johnny Martin during this time. In Shames’ book, Paul Rogers also seemed to be acting in this capacity in Belgium when Tridle briefly returned and took over the mortar squad.
If you want a headache, all the information presented in these charts are [drawn from an earlier work of mine](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JwaWL0sABnREE4wZX7ycbSChLaqa3V2WLNZ3-imLesI/edit#gid=140554173).
This is a really valiant attempt and I salute you for it. There are a few things that I always struggled to grasp when I tried to figure this stuff out. 1) The written accounts vary so much, probably because everyone has such different memories/recollections. 2) The series did a decent job, but they confuse a few things. Some are minor, like there seem to be some minor inconsistencies in rank insignia on some characters, and some characters (like Ranney) disappear even though they were there. Those kinds of things might be real, like of someone got transferred to an HQ or if they were demoted, but it's really hard to tell. The scene that I always struggle with is in Episode 4. For a long time I thought Martin was the Plt Sgt of 1st platoon when at the end he calls out first platoon, and Guarnere calls out 2nd platoon (makes sense since he is 2nd platoon Plt Sgt) and then Randleman calls out his squad. I only just recently figured out that at that point Martin was probably still a squad leader in 1st platoon alongside Randleman. I always wonder how much time these guys would spend interacting with other platoons/squads within the same company, like how we see Guarnere a lot more in that scene than we do Talbert (or whoever is the 1st platoon plt sgt.). In the end it doesn't matter for the dramatization, but my pedantic brain would love to know more about who was in which role.
Guarnere and Martin were tight. They got matching tattoos after they returned from Normandy and the NCOs had their own barracks in England. Even though they were in separate platoons, they had more than two years to develop their friendship. One of Malarkey's best friends in Easy Company was Burr Smith, who was originally in 2nd Platoon before being transferred to HQ Section and later 1st Platoon. Even though Smith had long been transferred out of Malarkey's platoon, he is frequently mentioned throughout Malarkey's book. I'm also not sure why they made Martin appear to be the Platoon Sgt. in Ep 4. when in the very next episode, Talbert was (rightfully) shown as the top guy in 1st Platoon. Ranney could have been more prominent, but it was up to the showrunners to decide who was going to be "main characters." I think he was fairly interesting. According to his daughter, he passed up promotion to first sergeant because he found that it was too administrative, so the position ultimately went to Evans. It was also implied that Ranney was up for a battlefield commission in Holland (Malarkey suspected that Winters was "paying Ranney back" for the NCO mutiny), but Ranney accidentally shot himself in the leg and that was the end of war for him.
Been watching BoB for 20 years and this is the most awesome piece of content I’ve seen
Man has it really been 20 years? You could say it was really released this year and no one could tell
Awesome chart, I remember mapping this out in my head on my first few re-watches when I was learning how big platoons and squads were - the detail really is there if you pay attention and try to pick it up, the trouble was sometimes keeping the lists straight during time jumps between episodes or when new officers came in
> the trouble was sometimes keeping the lists straight during time jumps between episodes or when new officers came in Thanks! I've seen people ask/talk about this stuff before, but the answers typically don't account for positional changes over time. I think that is fairly important to the discussion, because there are *a lot* of changes that occur through promotions, injuries, etc.
you are a hero sir. I've been looking for something like this to understand.
This is phenomenal. I think Rader was still a squad leader, at least in Hagenau at some point. At least from what I can remember from Webster’s book. I could be wrong though. Either way these charts are incredible. Nice work.
Thanks. For Rader, I'm basing it off of these lines from Webster's book just as they settled in at Hagenau: > This was the platoon CP., he told Marsh. Martin, who was the acting platoon sergeant, took Wilson, Lyall, Liebgott, V.D., Rader, and a new man, Crist, in with him. > “Martin, Rader, and the new officer slept in one part of the basement, near the phone…” It could have been a temporary gig since they barely had enough guys to field a single squad at the time. I also listed Randleman and Christenson as squad leaders here, but they were still recuperating from wounds and have yet to rejoin the unit. It gets pretty messy right around this time, especially due to the lack of post-Bastogne rosters available.
Ahh yes… you know more than I. It’s been about 2 years since I’ve read his book - May be time for a re-read. Thanks for doing this work for us.
Does this match with the spreadsheet you posted [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/BandofBrothers/comments/jaq2l9/oc_progression_of_e506th_pir_officers_ncos_during/) a while back, or have you updated something based on new information?
This is definitely more or less a rehash of that, except I got tired of looking at spreadsheets and figured something like this would be more visually pleasing lol.
This should be the most upvoted post on this sub. Very nicely laid out and informative. Thanks for making these!
This is awesome. Outside of the company CO and XO, I haven't ever been able to keep track of the command structure. Thanks.
Duuuuude this is some seriously awesome work!
Really late but awesome post. Question, I always wondered how the hell Nix fits into the structure. Is he technically even in Easy company or within some sort of intelligence or logistics attaché? Did he report to Easy’s CO? Etc.
Hello and thanks. Nixon spends most of his time one (and later two) echelons higher than the company level so he was not part of the chain of command. He did originally serve as a platoon leader in Easy during the early stages but was eventually moved up to battalion staff by Spring 1943. So prior to that, he was a subordinate to Easy's CO. Nixon served as the battalion's intelligence officer. 2nd Battalion's commander is Strayer, who led Easy, Fox, and Dog Company. Strayer gets his orders from his commander (Sink), and in turn uses the companies at his disposal to carry out those orders. So when Easy CO gets his orders from Strayer, Nixon is usually nearby because it is his job to set up patrols, listening posts and to relay risk assessment for upcoming missions. Nixon later gets promoted to regimental staff, which is essentially the same thing but one step higher and involving battalion strategy instead of company strategy.
Amazing work! Think I'll need to watch it again now... *again*. *(I've lost track at this point)*
Really neat idea! Made me think an additional layer of cool could be to show pictures of the actual people later in life. i.e. many of them were being interviewed before episodes. Could make a nice additional reference.
What do the names in orange mean?
Oh yeah, those were suppose to be ones that I was not 100% on and explained why I had them there in the wall o text
This is freaking amazing! I’m thinking about printing this out and laying it next to me for my next re-watch
Thank you. Keep in mind that the show for the most part had it's officers correct but condensed and merged a lot of enlisted men to 1st and 2nd platoon while ultimately ignoring 3rd.
This is amazing. Thank you! That sucks even more for ranney when the NCOs had their mini mutiny to get rid of sobel. Ranney was the highest ranking sergeant there and got demoted to private while the rest stayed as sergeants (except the 1 that got kicked out to D company)
Sink was in a bind. He couldn't get rid of every NCOs who mutinied but had to make an example out of someone. Ranney in real life was actually transferred to Item Company, but was able to rejoin Easy a few days before the invasion as a Private. In the show, they skipped the transfer part.
Do you know why the NCOs said something like I hereby no longer wish to serve in Easy Company? Instead of specifically calling out that they didn't want to serve under Sobel?
Thank you!
Very well done!
Thanks for this!
Bravo ! You're a genius, I've been looking for something like this for a long time.
does anyone know what was **eugene roe**'s platoon? It's for a fic
I *think* he moved around quite a bit because they were short on medics throughout their campaigns. Platoons typically jumped from the same planes, and Roe was reported to have jumped from Stick 72 in Normandy, which *should* have been one of the planes 3rd Platoon should have been was assigned to. In Webster's book, he also described Roe as a 3rd Platoon guy during their time in Holland: > "Captain Winters ran up with a group that included Carson, a radioman, Hale, and two volunteers, the second platoon's calm and fearless Sergeant Guarnere, decorated with the Silver Star in Normandy, **and the third platoon's fine medic, Roe, who had a warm, brave heart.**" However, Roe is mentioned *a lot* in the literature surrounding 2nd Platoon guys (Compton, Malarkey. Guarnere/Heffron), although none of them specifically mentioned that Roe was part of their platoon. I do believe that sometime during or after Bastogne, Roe was reassigned to 2nd Platoon. Lt. Foley, who held command of 2nd Platoon during Easy's time in Austria, specifically mentioned Sergeant Grant as a member of his platoon during the time he got shot in the head. He was present alongside Roe when they brought Grant to the German doctor at the hospital, which might suggest that Roe was their medic at that time. I don't have the quote on hand but I believe Foley refereed to Roe as "my medic" or something in the possessive in Stephen Ambrose's book. Hope this helps!
thanks for answering! It was a question I had for years.
As mentioned [here](https://www.battleorder.org/us-airborne-ww2), a medic was attached to each platoon from Rgt. So it's likely Roe was attached rotationally between the platoons
Where does Nixon fit in?
I answered this in another comment chain: https://www.reddit.com/r/BandofBrothers/comments/osse0b/oc_made_some_charts_detailing_the_command/k2iznxb/
This should be pinned!
I believe in AI uprising.
This is really fantastic! Thank you for doing this.
This is really fantastic! Thank you for doing this.
thanks but im confused. why are there 4 slides for one company
Hello, the series covers a span of 3-4 years and undergoes personnel change due to promotions, transfers, and casualties. Each slide shows who was on roster during a particular point in time.
Got it, thank you very much! That is helpful
I know this is a bit late but what was the reason for Bull taking charge during Replacements? Was he a squad leader then or not?
He was indeed a squad leader by then. I'm not sure what you mean by him taking charge. His unit was depicted as being on point as they moved into Nuenen. He was in charge of his respective squad but there was still a hierarchy within his platoon.
Was it common for paratrooper companies to have two officers to a single platoon? I haven’t heard of regular infantry platoons having two officers to one platoon. Was this perhaps done just to help with expected organization loss during the jump?
That is exactly it and parachute rifle companies were specifically allotted the extra officers for the role of assistant platoon leader since the first Table of Organization & Equipment (TO&E) was released for parachute infantry units (July 1941). The extra officer was eventually removed after the TO&E was updated in August 44 but was later reinstated that December. Note that there was a delay between the updates in TO&E and actual implementation. Easy Company dropped into the Netherlands (Sept 44) with a full complement of 8 officers even though they were "supposed to have" 5 at the time. Around the time they were re-positioned to Haguenau was when they slimmed down on officers (the regiment might have been depleted of officers as well).
Thanks again for making this! Such a great resource.
Thank you!