Band of Brothers (2001) - 5 questions

Question: BoB is virtually free from major script "errors" like in Saving Private Ryan. I am referring to strongly questionable military tactical behavior, which bother me a lot with SVP. (Miller making his own interpretation of military priorities, the strange assault on the machine gun nest etc.). To which extent did the BoB crew consider the script "errors" of SPR when they made BoB? Or is it a mere coincidence that the feeling of military amateurism one gets from watching SPR, is completely gone with BoB?

Answer: The makers of Band of Brothers were very particular about getting things right. It helped immeasurably that BoB was initially based on the book by the military historian Stephen Ambrose, who based it entirely on interviews with the real individuals. Scripts for the episodes were shown to some of the surviving members of Easy Company, and their suggestions were incorporated into the show, as, indeed, were they. It's not so much that they actively considered the 'errors' of SPR - it's more that the source material (the recollections of those who were really there) that was available to them was so accurate that none of these types of errors ever entered the equation.

Question: Near the end of the episode, how exactly is it that Heffron cuts his hand?

Answer: He is attempting to open a can of c-rations and because his hand his trembling due to the cold, it slips and cuts the skin on the open portion of the c-rations can.

Question: How exactly do the M1 Garands work? I noticed that after the clip is emptied a metal type plate comes out the top of the rifle, what is that?

Answer: That actually is the clip. It is loaded into the top of the rifle, and is ejected with the last round. See http://www.wwiitech.net/main/usa/weapons/m1/.

Question: When Bull is hiding in the barn after being hit by shrapnel, he takes something from the end of his rifle and bites a big chunk off it and starts chewing. What is this?

Answer: It's chewing tobacco.