Herbert Sobel, The Early Band Of Brothers Villain
Wikimedia CommonsHerbert Sobel was an early antagonist for many characters featured in Band of Brothers, though his real-life soldiers begrudgingly credited him with helping them survive the war.
Before they faced the Nazis, the men of Easy Company had an enemy in training camp: their first commanding officer, Herbert Sobel. According to Dick Winters, Sobel was “just plain mean” to the soldiers.
An early antagonist for the men of Easy Company, Sobel’s life story is often overlooked. He was born on January 26, 1912, in Chicago, to a Jewish family, and attended a military academy in his youth. In adulthood, Sobel enlisted in the Army Reserve Officer Corps, then the Military Police Corps, and later became the first member of Easy Company — and its commanding officer.
Sobel was tasked with turning civilians into soldiers, and often resorted to harsh methods. As depicted in Band of Brothers, he forced his men to run up and down a mountain after eating spaghetti — causing many to vomit — and punished men for infractions like getting lint on their chevrons.
HBONot only was Herbert Sobel portrayed as a villain in Band of Brothers (played by David Schwimmer), but he had a difficult life after the war, which included a suicide attempt and estrangement from his family.
As in the show, Sobel and Winters also clashed in real life. After Winters arrived late to inspect soldiers cleaning the latrines — Sobel had changed the time of inspection — Sobel threatened him with punishment. But rather than taking the punishment, Winters requested a “trial by court-martial.”
The men of Easy Company disliked Sobel so much that he was replaced as commander of Easy Company by First Lieutenant Thomas Meehan. That said, Sobel did participate in D-Day and also parachuted into Normandy.
What’s more, though the men of Easy Company hated him, many begrudgingly gave him credit for helping them to survive the war. Paratrooper Donald Malarkey remarked, “When the war ended, I wondered if he wasn’t a big reason some of us were still alive,” and even Winters admitted, “one of the reasons that Easy Company excelled was undoubtedly Captain Sobel.”
