Band of Brothers Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

Chapter 17. Drinking Hitler’s Champagne; Berchtesgaden, May 1–8, 1945

Summary

The Allied Command fears the Germans are planning a “last stand” in Berchtesgaden, where Hitler and his SS command have luxury homes. General Eisenhower feels especially anxious to secure the Berchtesgaden area before Nazi resistance can organize. On May 4, the 101st moves out by convoy, and the following morning Easy Company enters Berchtesgaden without firing a shot. The legendary Berchtesgaden Hof becomes regimental headquarters, while officers and sergeants settle into sumptuous homes situated on the mountainside. The Germans surrender in droves, while the Allied men loot at a frantic pace. General Tolsdorf, who had been the leader of the division Easy had battled at Bastogne, comes down from the mountain with a thirty-one-vehicle convoy of all his possessions. He expects to surrender with full honors and maintain his lifestyle in a POW camp. Private Heffron is manning the checkpoint that day and confiscates the general’s Luger and a briefcase containing military medals and 500 pornographic photos. As Allied commanding officers filter into Berchtesgaden over the next couple of days, the troops joyride in German luxury vehicles and plunder cellars filled with the finest wines and liquors.

On May 7, the Germans formally surrender in Reims to General Eisenhower. Everyone in Europe celebrates the war’s end. Winters finds Goering’s Officer’s Club, stocked by a cellar with over 10,000 bottles of premium alcohol including champagne. He gives his friend Captain Nixon the first crack at looting the cellar before letting the men of Easy Company and the 101st have their share.

Analysis

The spoils of war represent a perennial warfare concept. In ancient times, a victorious army looted or took anything of value from the battlefield, with soldiers stripping bodies of armament and personal items such as jewelry and money. The American GIs engage in pillage in Germany, taking the personal belongings of civilians when they stay in their homes as well as from the dead enemy combatants. Looting supplements their meager pay, functions as recreation, and serves as a psychological boost in the power it conveys. Many soldiers send the plunder home to their families for later liquidation. They feel no guilt about stealing from the Germans, who had begun the conflict and perpetrated the atrocities of slave labor and extermination camps.

The Nazis systematically plundered the treasures of every country they invaded. They created organizations to identify the public and private collections most valuable to the regime. The Nazis believed their superior race entitled them to dominate the world, and this included taking possession of the best the world had to offer. General Tolsdorf’s surrender with his convoy of belongings and retinue of girlfriends exemplifies this hubris. The author’s inclusion of the small detail about Tolsdorf’s 500 pornographic photos alludes to the corruption in the Nazi organization. Art, antiques, and fine wines and liquor were among the plunder. In an act of poetic justice, rank-and-file GIs celebrate the German surrender on V-Day with the Nazi hoard of the world’s finest champagne plundered from France. The world turns topsy-turvy, and the Allied soldiers make a mockery of the Nazis’ attempts to enrich themselves. To Easy Company, champagne is not a status symbol, it’s just alcohol to party with. Their world has no room for class distinctions.

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