
In the United States in 1917, James "Jim" Apperson's (John Gilbert) idleness (in contrast to his hardworking brother) incurs the great displeasure of his wealthy businessman father. Then America enters World War I. Jim informs his worried mother that he has no intention of enlisting, and his father threatens to kick him out of the house if he does not join. However, when he runs into his patriotic friends at a send-off parade, he is persuaded to enlist, making his father very proud.
During training, Jim makes friendships with construction worker Slim and bartender Bull. Their unit ships out to France, where they are billeted at a farm in the village of Champillon in the Marne.
All three men are attracted to Melisande (Renée Adorée), whose mother owns the farm. She repulses all their advances, but gradually warms to Jim. They fall in love, despite not being able to speak each other's language. One day, however, Jim receives a letter and a photograph from Justyn (Claire Adams), which reveals that they are engaged. When Melisande sees the picture, she realizes the situation and runs off in tears. Before Jim can decide what to do, his unit is ordered to the front. Melisande hears the commotion and races back, just in time for the lovers to embrace and kiss.
The Americans march towards the front and are strafed by an enemy fighter before it is shot down. The unit is sent to the attack immediately, advancing against snipers and machine guns in the woods, then more machine guns, artillery, and poison gas in the open. They settle down in a makeshift line. Jim shelters in a shellhole with Slim (Karl Dane) and Bull (Tom O'Brien).
That night, orders come down for one man to go out and eliminate a troublesome mortar crew; Slim wins a spitting contest for the opportunity. He succeeds, but is spotted and wounded on the way back. After listening to Slim's pleas for help, Jim cannot stand it any longer and goes to his rescue against orders. Bull follows, but is shot and killed. By the time Jim reaches Slim, he is already dead. Jim is then shot in the leg. When a German comes to finish him off, Jim shoots and wounds him. The German starts crawling back to his line. Jim catches up to him in another shellhole, but, face to face, cannot bring himself to finish him off with his bayonet. Instead, he gives his erstwhile enemy a cigarette. Soon after, the German dies. Fortunately for Jim, he is not stuck in no man's land for long; the Americans attack, and he is taken away to a hospital.
From another patient, he learns that Champillon has changed hands four times. Worried about Melisande, Jim sneaks out of the hospital and hitches a ride. When he gets to the farmhouse, he finds it damaged and empty. Melisande and her mother have joined a stream of refugees. Jim collapses and is carried off in an ambulance by retreating soldiers.
After the war ends, Jim goes home to America. Before he arrives, his mother overhears Justyn and Jim's brother Harry (Robert Ober) discussing what to do; in Jim's absence, they have fallen in love. When Jim appears, it is revealed that he has had his leg amputated. Later, Jim tells his mother about Melisande; she tells him to go back and find her. When he returns to the farm, Melisande rushes into his arms.

In World War I, four young men from various walks of life sign up as flyers for the Lafayette Escadrille, a military unit known as "The Legion of the Condemned". The unit is composed mostly of American volunteer pilots flying fighter aircraft. All four men are running away from something: the law, love, or themselves. Whenever a dangerous mission comes up, the four men draw cards to see who will fly off to near-certain doom. With his best friend Byron Dashwood (Barry Norton) already having died in combat, Gale Price (Gary Cooper) draws the high card next time around.
As he prepares to drop a spy behind enemy lines, Gale remembers the events leading up to this moment - recounting his ill-fated romance with Christine Charteris (Fay Wray), whom he now believes to be a German spy. As he approaches his aircraft, Gale discovers that his passenger is Christine, who is actually an operative in the French secret service. Before she can explain her true identity, Gale is obliged to fly Christine to her rendezvous point.
Both young people are captured with Christine sentenced to be executed as a spy. Just before they go to the firing squad, a bombing raid takes place. Afterward, they are rescued by their unit and reconciled.

Jane Gershon is engaged to Eric Woodhouse, living in Germany prior to the onset of World War I. When the war breaks out, they are forced to separate, but are reunited months later in Gibraltar, at the British fortress there. Both are supposedly German spies with orders to destroy the British fleet, anchored in the harbor.
Not fully trusting either of them, the German government has sent another agent, the Hindu Amahdi, to ensure that their sabotage plans are carried out. Both Jane and Eric believe the sincerity of the other as a German agent. When it appears that Jane's attempt to destroy the fleet is uncovered, to save her, Eric takes the blame and seemingly commits suicide. However, when Ahmadi uncovers the truth that Jane is really a double agent for the British government, he attempts to go through with the sabotage. When he is about to kill Jane, Eric reappears and kills him. Jane discovers Eric is also a British double agent and they are happily reunited.

In 1953, Jimmy Takata (Nishikawa) suffers from "battle fatigue" (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), to the great concern of his wife, Mary (Tomita). Raised in Hawaii, Takata and some of his friends enlisted in the 100th Battalion, serving in the European Theater of Operations. In a series of flashbacks, he remembers the war and events in his life surrounding it. Following a head injury, he begins to have visions, and believes that he is seeing memories of other men, including his friend Freddy Watada (Watanabe) as he courted Mary (who would later be Jimmy's wife) before entering the Army. Freddy receives a "million-dollar wound" (one which is serious enough to require evacuation to the United States, but not permanently disabling), and he shows Takata an engagement ring, purchased before being sent to Europe, which he intends to give Mary upon his return.
Takata's concern about the visions is dismissed as disorientation caused by the head wound by "Doc" Naganuma, the unit medic, a Medical Doctor who had likewise joined to help his friends. Takata also has a vision of his father, a Buddhist priest in Federal custody, and who tells him "You must accept your fate, here"—pointing to his head -- "the rest of you will follow, here," pointing to Takata's heart. Takata later learns that his father has died, 49 days earlier. Buddhists believe that a spirit will enter Heaven or be reborn 49 days after death.
When his unit is ordered to break through German lines and rescue the 141st Infantry Regiment, Takata is ordered by the doctor to stay in the rear area, due to his head wound. However, as the casualties mount, he defies orders and attempts to find a way through to the trapped men. He is joined by several of his men (including Freddy), who are also unwilling to wait in the rear as their friends face the danger. Asked by a newly transferred soldier if he's ever afraid, Takata confides that his fear is of losing more men.
Joining the rest of the Nisei, Takata and his men fight the Germans, as one-by-one Takata watches his men—nearly all of his friends—being killed in battle. Freddy throws his body on a grenade which had been thrown at Takata, and the men look into each other's eyes as it explodes.
The battle won, Takata accepts the thanks of the lieutenant commanding the rescued unit, and notes that 211 of the 275 had been saved, at a cost of over 800 casualties.
His thoughts return to 1953, where Mary's love and tears finally break through, and he is able to shed his own tears. A vision comes of his lost men and father, standing in the field hospital, and his father repeats his earlier encouraging statement.
Now Takata's vision comes of meeting with Mary after the war, and meeting Mary and Freddy's young daughter, Joanie. Joanie touches the scar on his temple, and as she smiles and looks into his eyes, he is reminded of a refugee girl that he had rescued in the battle which had resulted in the head wound. Takata gives Mary the engagement ring, and explains that, since Freddy had given his life to save Takata's, the least he could do is to bring it home for her. He comforts her as she cries.
As that vision fades, we see Jimmy placing the keepsakes from each of his friends in a suitcase and closing it. Mary, sitting behind the wheel of a car, looks up and asks (hoping beyond hope) if he is okay. He looks at her, is able to smile, and says that he is.

During World War I, a small diverse group of young American women leave for France to answer the urgent need for nurses, despite having little or no experience. Under the leadership of socialite Mrs. Townsend (Hopper), they turn an abandoned building into a hospital.
They are soon joined by teenage blonde Joy Meadows (Page) (who later divulges to a patient she is "nearly nineteen"). Initially, she is teased for being inexperienced and coming from a privileged background. She is welcomed by Barbara "Babs" Whitney (Walker).
Babs attracts the persistent interest of Lieutenant Wally O'Brien (Montgomery), a fighter pilot. Joy has difficulty adjusting to the violent conditions and starts to miss her easy life on the Lower East Side in Manhattan after meeting a wounded New York soldier, Robbie Neil (Ames). She considers giving up, but Mrs. Townsend assures her that she will get used to it. Wally attempts to court Babs, but she is not vulnerable to his advances. They get acquainted, however, after Babs falls off of her bicycle and Wally takes care of her injured ankle.
As the months pass, Joy falls in love with Robbie. She dreams of getting married and having babies, and is certain that Robbie will soon ask her. Babs finally agrees to go out with Wally on her first leave since she arrived in France. The four go to a party, along with Brooklyn-born nurse Rosalie Parker (Prevost) and Wally's friend Frank Stevens (Nugent). The other four leave first. On their way (in a car Wally "borrows"), the couple are subjected to a bomber attack; and Babs finally kisses Wally in the heat of the moment. When they arrive at the party, two drunk men maul her, so they return to her quarters. Wally wants to sleep with her, but Babs rejects him. They get into a major fight when he makes it clear he intends no serious relationship, only to live for the moment, knowing he may be killed at any time. The next morning, Wally announces to Babs that he is leaving on a mission over Germany. Babs is left wondering if she should have given in, while Joy believes she is engaged to Robbie.
Shortly after, Joy is told that Robbie is already married. Devastated, she arranges to be transferred to another hospital. Older nurse "Kansas" (Eddy) is killed by artillery while they are moving to a new location. Joy takes to partying wildly, even with married men, in Paris, causing such a scandal that Mrs. Townsend decides she has no choice but to send her back to America. Desperate to remain, Joy turns to Babs for help; Babs gives her an unofficial position. One day, Joy is shocked to find Robbie among their patients. He tells her that he has always loved her, then asks her to pray for him before dying. This soon causes Joy to crack under the pressure. The hospital is bombed, resulting in many deaths.
Later, Joy dies after giving birth to a son. Babs takes charge of the baby and considers naming him Wally. After the war ends, the adult Wally returns after being freed from a German prisoner-of-war camp, and tacitly admits he loves Babs.
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After returning from a foreign voyage to seek aid with the deadly plague ravaging the city, Corvo Attano travels to the tower of Dunwall and meets with the Empress. After delivering a message, they are attacked by teleporting assassins led by Daud; they magically restrain Corvo, kill the Empress and kidnap her daughter Emily. The Empress' Spymaster arrives and has Corvo imprisoned for her murder and Emily's abduction. Six months later, the Spymaster has seized control of Dunwall as Lord Regent. Interrogating Corvo, the Lord Regent confesses that he masterminded the assassination and framed Corvo. The following day, Corvo is due to be executed. In his cell, a letter from Empire Loyalists is smuggled to Corvo, and he is given the means to escape. After escaping, Samuel ferries Corvo to the Hound Pits pub to meet the Loyalists, led by Admiral Havelock.
While resting at the pub, Corvo is taken to a dream world where he meets the Outsider, who brands Corvo with his mark. Corvo is sent by the Loyalists to eliminate the conspirators behind the Lord Regent's plot, and the player is given the option to kill or otherwise neutralize Corvo's targets, the first of which is High Overseer Campbell. During the mission, Corvo meets Granny Rags and Slackjaw. Corvo removes the High Overseer and discovers that Emily is being held in a brothel called the Golden Cat under the supervision of twins Custis and Morgan Pendleton. Corvo rescues Emily and eliminates the brothers. After returning to the pub, Emily is taken into the care of Callista to prepare her for becoming Empress, while Corvo is sent to abduct the genius scientist Sokolov, who is responsible for the Lord Regent's powerful technologies. Sokolov is taken to the pub for interrogation, under which he divulges the identity of the Lord Regent's financier, Lady Boyle. Corvo infiltrates Boyle's masquerade ball, deduces which of the three sisters is the Lord Regent's mistress, and disposes of her.
After returning to the pub, Havelock confirms they have done enough damage to move on the Lord Regent. Corvo infiltrates the tower of Dunwall and removes the Lord Regent from power and, in the process, learns that the Lord Regent intentionally imported the plague to decimate the lower classes of society, though things quickly got out of hand. Corvo returns to the Hound Pits pub where the Loyalists celebrate their success. After sharing a drink, Corvo goes to his room and collapses. Upon waking he learns that his drink was poisoned by Samuel at the behest of Havelock and his Loyalist allies Treavor Pendleton and Teague Martin to prevent him interfering in their plan to install Emily as Empress and rule through her. Samuel remains loyal to Corvo and had given him a non-lethal dose of poison. Samuel sets Corvo adrift on the river and flees. When Corvo wakes, he is a prisoner of the assassin Daud and his men, who killed the Empress and intend to claim the bounty placed on Corvo's head by the now Lord Regent Havelock.
Corvo defeats Daud and his assassins before traveling through Daud's territory and into the sewers where he finds Granny Rags attempting to cook Slackjaw. Corvo can eliminate either Slackjaw or Granny Rags, who is revealed to be a witch called Vera Moray. Corvo returns to the pub to find it overrun with guards and that Havelock has killed many of the Loyalists. He discovers where Havelock has taken Emily, and can save Piero, Sokolov and Calista. Corvo signals to Samuel, who ferries him to the former Lord Regent's lighthouse. He infiltrates the lighthouse and either subdues Pendleton and Martin or finds that Havelock, to ensure the Loyalists' actions are never known, has already killed them. Once finished with Havelock, Corvo may or may not rescue Emily. Havelock's journal reveals that the Lord Regent suspects that Emily is Corvo's daughter.
The ending varies depending upon the level of chaos the player has caused throughout the game. If Corvo saves Emily, she ascends the throne as Empress with Corvo at her side. If only a small amount of chaos has been caused, a golden age dawns and the plague is finally overcome. After many decades, Corvo dies of natural causes and Empress Emily Kaldwin I the Wise buries him beside Empress Jessamine. If much chaos is caused, the city remains in turmoil and is overrun with the plague. If Corvo fails to save Emily, Dunwall crumbles and Corvo flees the city by ship.

Captain "Gibby" Gibson (Richard Dix) and his close friend "Red" (Joel McCrea) spend the last hours of World War I in the air, shooting down more of the enemy. They then return to America with fellow pilot and comrade "Woody" Curwood (Robert Armstrong) and their mechanic Fritz (Hugh Herbert) to an uncertain future.
Gibby finds his ambitious actress girlfriend Follette Marsh (Mary Astor) with a new boyfriend, one who can do more for her career. Good-natured braggart Red decides not to take back his old job, as it would mean the firing of a married man with a new baby. Woody learns that he is penniless, swindled by his embezzling business partner. Years later Gibby, Red and Fritz ride a boxcar to Hollywood to look for Woody and find work in lean times.
At a movie premiere, they spot a prosperous Woody, who is working as a stunt flier. He offers them well-paying jobs working for disreputable and tyrannical director Arthur von Furst (Erich von Stroheim). Gibby is reluctant, as Follette is now married to von Furst, but finally gives in.
Woody introduces his two comrades-in-arms to his sister, "the Pest" (Dorothy Jordan). She worries constantly about him, as von Furst utilizes dangerously worn-out aircraft and Woody drinks a lot. Both Gibby and Red are attracted to her. Gibby misinterprets her concern for him when he barely survives a crash (caused by parts of his aircraft falling off) as love. When Red impulsively asks the Pest to marry him, she agrees, and Gibby accepts the situation with grace.
Meanwhile, von Furst is aware that his wife still has strong feelings for Gibby. He sabotages the aircraft Gibby is to fly for a dangerous stunt, secretly applying acid to a control wire, not only out of jealousy, but also to add to the realism of his film with a real crash. However, unbeknownst to him, Woody decides to do the stunt in Gibby's place. Red sees von Furst tampering with the wires and alerts Gibby. Gibby takes off in another aircraft and catches up to Woody, but cannot make himself understood over the roar of their engines. The cable breaks, and Woody crashes and is killed.
Red takes von Furst captive at gunpoint, determined to apply vigilante justice. Gibby and Fritz find out. Gibby starts to telephone the police to report a murder over Red's objections. While they are arguing, von Furst tries to escape, and is shot and killed by Red. When police detective Jettick (Ralph Ince) shows up in answer to Gibby's interrupted call, the men hide the body. Sensing something wrong, Jettick insists on searching for von Furst. When he leaves, Gibby loads the corpse into an aircraft and takes off. He then deliberately crashes, killing himself and taking the blame for the crime.

In Paris at the end of the First World War, Sylvia Suffolk and British officer Tony Clyde get married, shortly before Tony leaves for the front. Sylvia, newly pregnant, is given the news that Tony is dead while working as a nurse for surgeon René Gaudin. Sylvia gradually falls in love with René, but is reluctant to remarry since she has no official news of Tony's death. On holiday in Switzerland with René, Sylvia is shocked to find Tony is still alive, and convalescing, and now finds herself torn between duty to Tony and marriage to René.

In the late 1920s in Shanghai during the Chinese Civil War, as throngs of refugees flee the rainswept city, a couple of elderly missionaries welcomes guests to their home for the wedding of Dr. Robert Strike (Gavin Gordon), a fellow missionary, and Megan Davis (Barbara Stanwyck), his childhood sweetheart whom he has not seen in three years. Some of the missionaries have a cynical view of the Chinese people they have come to save. Shortly after Megan arrives, her fiancé Bob rushes in and postpones the wedding so he can rescue a group of orphans who are in danger from the spreading civil war. Megan insists on accompanying him on his mission.
On the way they stop at the headquarters of General Yen (Nils Asther), a powerful Chinese warlord who controls the Shanghai region. While Megan waits in the car, Bob pleads with the general for a safe passage pass so he can save the orphans. Contemptuous of Bob's missionary zeal, General Yen gives him a worthless paper that describes Bob's foolishness. Bob and Megan reach St. Andrews orphanage safely, but the pass only makes the soldiers laugh and steal their car when they try to leave with the children. The missionaries and children eventually reach the train station, but in the chaos, Bob and Megan are both knocked unconscious and are separated.
Sometime later, Megan regains consciousness in the private troop train of General Yen, attended by his concubine, Mah-Li (Toshia Mori). When they arrive at the general's summer palace, they are greeted by a man named Jones (Walter Connolly), Yen's American financial advisor, who tells him that he has succeeded in raising six million dollars, hidden in a nearby boxcar, for General Yen's war chest. Megan is shocked by the brutality of the executions conducted outside her window. Fascinated and attracted by the young beautiful missionary, the general has his men move the executions out of earshot and assures her that he will send her back to Shanghai as soon as it is safe.
One evening, Megan drifts off to sleep and has an unsettling erotic dream about the general who comes to her rescue and kisses her passionately. Soon after, she accepts the general's invitation to dinner. While they are dining, the general learns that his concubine Mah-Li has betrayed him with Captain Li (Richard Loo), one of his soldiers. Later, after General Yen arrests Mah-Li for being a spy, Megan tries to intervene, appealing to his better nature. The general challenges her to prove her Christian ideals by forfeiting her own life if Mah-Li proves unfaithful again. Megan naively accepts and ends up unwittingly helping Mah-Li betray the general by passing information to his enemies about the location of his hidden fortune.
With the information provided by Mah-Li, the general's enemies steal his fortune, leaving him financially ruined and deserted by his soldiers and servants. General Yen is unable to take Megan's life—it is too precious to him. When she leaves his room in tears, he prepares a cup of poisoned tea for himself. Megan returns, dressed in the fine Chinese garments he gave her. She waits on him in the gentle manner of a concubine. When she says she could never leave him, he only smiles, then drinks the poisoned tea.
Sometime later, Megan and Jones are on a boat headed back to Shanghai. While discussing the beauty and tragedy of the general's life, Jones comforts Megan by saying that one day she will be with him again in another life.

British Captain Fred Allison (Leslie Howard) bids farewell to his new wife, Monica (Margaret Lindsay), whom he has only known for six days, and sets out for the war. He ends up a prisoner of war (POW), tortured by the fact that his wife has not written to him since the early days of his two year captivity.
When a fellow inmate shoots a guard, the prisoners make an impromptu unsuccessful dash for freedom, resulting in much bloodshed on both sides. As punishment, they are locked in a crowded cell for about a month. Finally, a new commandant, Oberst Carl Ehrlich (Paul Lukas), takes charge of the camp. Allison persuades Ehrlich (a fellow Oxford alumnus) to rescind the punishment.
One day, a fresh batch of POWs arrives. Allison is delighted to find his oldest and best friend among them, Royal Flying Corps Lieutenant Jack "Dig" Digby (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). For some reason though, Dig is not as pleased to see him. However, Allison attributes that to their situation. Dig is determined to escape, regardless of the consequences to his fellow prisoners. He does manage to break free, stealing an airplane from the nearby airfield.
The Germans find his coat near the dead body of Elsa (Joyce Coad), a woman who delivered fresh food to the camp. Ehrlich writes to the Allies, demanding Dig's return to stand trial for rape and murder. Allison refuses to cooperate, until he recognizes the handwriting on a letter found in the coat. When he reads it, he discovers that Monica and Dig have been carrying on an affair for the last six months. Allison then adds his signature to Ehrlich's request. On the strength of Allison's endorsement, the British do send Dig back.
Dig refuses to defend himself, insisting only that he knows Allison's motive for bringing him back. He is found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad. The real perpetrator, Strogin (John Bleifer), writes a note confessing to the crime, then hangs himself. Allison finds the note, but instead of notifying the Germans, crumples it up. Just before Dig is to be executed, Allison's conscience makes him show the confession to Ehrlich. Afterward, Allison tells Dig he will give Monica up.
All along, Allison has been planning a mass escape. He seizes the machine gun guarding the front gate, then holds off the guards while his comrades escape. The POWs race to the airfield, overcome the aircrews there, and fly off in a squadron of bombers preparing for their nightly raid. Allison is killed by a grenade. When Ehrlich finds his body, he salutes.

When the commander of the United States Navy submarine AL-14 is wounded on its last cruise, Lieutenant Thomas Knowlton (Robert Montgomery), the second in command, hopes to be promoted and take his place. However, Lieutenant Commander T. J. Toler (Walter Huston) shows up and takes over.
Toler orders his officers to attend a ball. The young men dread having to dance with the wives of admirals, but Knowlton and his close friend and shipmate, Lieutenant Ed "Brick" Walters (Robert Young), are pleasantly surprised to discover the beautiful Joan Standish (Madge Evans) among the attendees. When an enemy air raid forces everyone to take shelter, Knowlton takes Joan to his apartment. Though she insists on leaving, he can tell she is attracted to him. However, before anything can happen, Toler shows up to collect his daughter.
On its next patrol, the AL-14 comes upon a German minelayer and hits it with torpedoes. After the Germans abandon ship, Toler sends Brick and a few men to search the sinking vessel for code books. When enemy fighters attack, Toler fights them off, but the arrival of a bomber forces him to leave his detachment behind. Knowlton disobeys his order and remains on deck, manning a machine gun, until he is knocked unconscious and carried below.
Upon returning to port, Knowlton goes to see Joan at the hospital. There he encounters patient Flight Commander Herbert Standish (Edwin Styles), Joan's disabled husband. Knowlton departs, but Joan follows him and confesses she loves him.
Back at sea, Toler tries to get Knowlton to break off the affair, to no avail. Toler has been ordered to merely map where new minelayers, now escorted by destroyers, are planting their mines. However, when Knowlton spots Brick's boat through the periscope, he imagines he sees his friend still alive. He countermands Toler's orders and attacks. Though several enemy ships are sunk, the sole surviving destroyer forces the AL-14 to dive to the sea bottom, 65 feet (20 m) below its maximum safe depth. After a while, Toler decides to surface, preferring to die fighting rather than suffocate. However, a crucial pump will not work. When it appears that they are doomed, one crewman commits suicide. Fortunately, repairs are made and the submarine surfaces, to find the enemy has departed. Eight crewmen are "down" as a result of Knowlton's actions.
He is courtmartialed and discharged from the Navy in disgrace. He and Joan plan to run away together, much to Toler's disgust. When Knowlton goes to the hospital to inform Joan's husband, he learns that a successful operation makes it likely that the man will recover fully. Knowlton puts on an act for Joan and her father, pretending to be so callous that she is repulsed.
Toler is given an extremely hazardous mission. To block the only port in the Adriatic from which German submarines can operate, the AL-14 is loaded with explosives and sent to ram a fortification beside the narrowest point in the channel out of the port. The rubble would block the exit. Knowlton sneaks aboard and reveals his ruse to Toler, who lets him stay. Under cover of a battleship bombardment, the AL-14 surfaces and heads in. The rest of the crew abandon ship as planned, leaving only Toler and Knowlton. Toler orders Knowlton over the side, but he pushes Toler overboard instead and steers the ship to its target, sacrificing his life.

Nurse Laura Mattson (Diana Wynyard) and World War I military pilot Lt. Geoffrey Aiken (Robert Young) fall in love after only knowing each other for a few days. Tragically, he is brought to her hospital and, by chance, put under her care after being fatally wounded on his very first mission. After he dies, Laura realizes she is pregnant. Edward Seward (Lewis Stone) loves her and persuades her to marry him. As far as anyone knows, the child will be his.
By 1940, Laura's son Bob has grown into a young man, newly engaged to Peggy Chase. Laura has raised Bob to embrace pacifism. Meanwhile, Edward Seward, now United States Secretary of State, flies home after having negotiated the Seward Peace Treaty, which he claims will make it impossible for any country to go to war again. However, when the U.S. ambassador to the state of "Eurasia" is assassinated while en route to the Eurasian State Department to discuss an earlier diplomatic incident, the President sends the navy across the Atlantic to underscore the U.S. demand for a formal apology. Eurasia refuses to comply, and another world war becomes inevitable despite the treaty.
Laura speaks at a large peace rally, over her husband's strong objection. The rally is broken up a group of angry men. A mob then gathers at the Seward home and starts pelting the place. Edward manages to disperse the crowd by first reminding the mob of each American's right to voice his or her own opinion in peacetime, and pledging himself wholeheartedly to the struggle once war is declared. When a news reporter interviews him, he insists his son will enlist. Bob categorically denies this, causing Peggy to break off their engagement. Unable to get his son to change his mind, Edward tells him that he at least has no right to sully the Seward name, revealing that he is not Bob's father. Laura confirms it, and tells Bob of his real father and how he died.
War breaks out. Privately, Edward informs his wife that the war is going badly because America fell behind during the years of peace; the "Canal" has been captured by the enemy, and 12,000 U.S. troops killed in two days by enemy gas bombs. When Eurasia launches an air raid on New York City, destroying such landmarks as the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge, hundreds are killed and Laura is injured, though not seriously. Bob changes his stance and enlists, not in the chemical division as a trained chemist as Edward had suggested, but as an aviator like his real father. Bob and Peggy marry, then he departs with his squadron. As she watches Bob's squadron fly over the city, Laura now understands that freedom is not free; that we must always be prepared to safeguard it; and we all have a responsibility to defend it.

The story opens 185 years ago when two families, cotton merchants in England and America, with branches in France and Prussia swear to stand by each other in a belief that a great business firmly established in four countries will be able to withstand even such another calamity as the Napoleonic Wars from which Europe is slowly recovering. Then many years later, along comes World War I and the years that follow, to test the businesses.

With the end of the American Civil War, military industrialists are left with an oversupply of weapons. Some of the more unscrupulous ones view the Indians as possible new customers.
Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper) has just been discharged from the Union Army and is making his way back west. On a paddle steamer, he bumps into his old army scout colleague, Buffalo Bill Cody (James Ellison) and his new bride. Later, Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur) is the driver of their stagecoach to Hays City, Kansas.
John Lattimer (Charles Bickford), an agent for the gun makers, has supplied the Cheyenne Indians with repeating rifles, which enable them to kill half of the troopers at a United States Cavalry outpost. Hickok discovers the rifles and reports it to General George Armstrong Custer (John Miljan). Custer sends out an ammunition train to the fort with Cody as guide. Hickok tries to locate Yellow Hand (Paul Harvey), the Cheyenne chieftain, to find out why the Indians have gone to war.
When Calamity is captured by the Indians, Hickok tries to bargain for her release, but instead gets captured himself. Yellow Hand states that the Indians are fighting because the white man has starting settling land promised to the Indian and is killing off the buffalo. Yellow Hand promises to release his captives if they tell him the location of the ammunition train. After much prodding from Calamity, Hickok professes his love for her just before he is about to be tortured. Calamity then discloses the route of the ammunition train in order to save Hickok from being burned alive. Yellow Hand holds true to his word by releasing his two prisoners.
The Indians ambush the ammunition train. Hickok sends Jane to get reinforcements while he fights alongside the besieged soldiers. After a desperate six-day siege on a river bank, the survivors are saved when Custer arrives with the cavalry.
Back in town, Hickok catches up with Lattimer and tells him to get ready for a gun duel. Instead of going himself, Lattimer sends three cavalry deserters in his place. Hickok kills all three deserters in the gunfight, but this makes him a fugitive from the law. Hickok flees to the Dakota Territory. Calamity leaves for Deadwood separately when the townspeople find out that she was partly responsible for the attack on the ammunition train.
Custer sends Cody after Hickok. After meeting in the woods, the two friends capture an Indian and learn that Custer has been killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and that the Cheyenne are moving to join the Sioux Indians in the Black Hills. They also learn that Lattimer is sending more rifles to the Indians, to be picked up in Deadwood. Instead of arresting his friend, Cody rides off to warn the cavalry, while Hickok goes to Deadwood to deal with Lattimer. Hickok kills Lattimer and detains Lattimer's henchmen for arrest by the cavalry. Hickok is shot in the back by Lattimer's informant Jack McCall (Porter Hall) while he is playing cards with the henchmen. The film ends with a heart-broken Calamity Jane cradling Hickok's body.

Unlike other Alamo films that concentrate on Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, the main protagonists are Almaron (Bruce Warren) and Susanna Dickinson (Ruth Findlay) and their daughter Angelina (Marilyn Haslett). The film gives a fictionalised fast moving account of the restriction on American emigration to Texas, the arrest of Stephen F. Austin by Santa Anna (Julian Rivero), Sam Houston (Edward Piel) appointed General to build the Texian Army, and Dickinson's participation in both the Battle of Gonzales and the Battle of the Alamo.

Two newsreel cameramen (John Wayne, Don Barclay) are sent to photograph a bandit sheik in the desert.

In World War I, French fighter pilot Lt. Claude Maury (Paul Muni) gains a bad reputation in his squadron, flying off on "lone wolf" missions. More importantly, Maury continually returns to base with his air observers/gunners killed or wounded. Others believe he is either "jinxed" or dangerous, and only Lt. Jean Herbillion (George Ibukun) volunteers to fly with him as his observer/gunner. Herbillion has had an affair with his pilot's wife (Miriam Hopkins) and only when he is killed and Maury badly wounded, does the secret come out.
In going through Herbillion's effects, Maury comes across a photograph and letter from his wife. She confesses to the affair and begs forgiveness. In the end, he relents as she nurses him back to health.

After the United States enters World War I in 1917, the limousine carrying Daisy Heath (Margaret Sullavan), a sophisticated Broadway musical theatre star, knocks down Bill Pettigrew (James Stewart), a naive young soldier from Texas. A policeman orders the chauffeur to take Bill back to camp. During the ride, he becomes slightly acquainted with the cynical, but not cold-hearted Daisy.
Upon their arrive at the army camp, Bill lets his buddies assume that Daisy is the date he had lied about. In fact, he has no one. When they find out the truth, they decide to get even. On their next leave, they take Bill to Daisy's show, so he can introduce them. However, Daisy pretends that she is Bill's girl. As they spend more time together, she begins to warm to him, much to the increasing jealousy of her wealthy real boyfriend, Sam Bailey (Walter Pidgeon), who is financing Daisy's show.
When Sam takes Daisy out for an afternoon at his Connecticut estate for the first time, she tells him that Bill has shown her what true love looks like and made her realize she actually does love Sam. She also believes that the rivalry has also given new depth to Sam's love for her.
That same day, Bill learns that his unit is finally going to ship out for the fighting in Europe. When he cannot get a leave, he goes AWOL so he can propose marriage. Daisy opts to accept so that he can sail for France with something to look forward to. Sam objects to the odd arrangement privately to Daisy, but kindly refrains from telling Bill the truth. The two marry; then Bill has to leave immediately.
He sends her cheerful letters every day. Then, a letter comes from the War Department. As Daisy is in the middle of a performance, her maid Martha takes it to Sam, sitting in the audience. When Sam opens the letter, Bill's ID tag falls out. Daisy sees it, tears fill her eyes as she realizes that Bill has been killed, but she bravely finishes singing "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile".

In a New England port town, Pop Thorson (Wallace Beery) and Rocky Blake (Chester Morris) are rival tugboat owners. Thorson's boat has sunk in the shallow water while docked, and he is certain Blake sabotaged it to keep Thorson from winning a lucrative contract to move barges of military supplies. Thorson is a widower who built his own tugboat and lives on it with his adult daughter Susan (Virginia Grey). She loves her father, but also likes Blake (who denies the sabotage) and does not want the two men to fight.
As the United States has now entered World War I, the Navy is recruiting men for anti-submarine warfare. Susan and Pop Thorson trick Blake into enlisting by pretending Thorson is going to enlist himself. Thorson then gets the contract, but when his boat is afloat again and towing a barge, it encounters a German submarine. The Germans order the crew into the lifeboats and sink the tug and the barge.
When Thorson reaches port, he enlists at once. Due to his experience and the war emergency, he is immediately made an ensign and given command of one of the small new fleet of sub chasers based there. Thorson does not take well to naval discipline, particularly when his superior officer, in charge of the fleet, turns out to be Blake, who is now a lieutenant and dedicated to his duty. Blake respects Thorson's experience and tries to teach him how to behave, but there is little time and the message does not sink in well.
On their first mission, Thorson correctly reasons that any submarine would avoid the storm-wracked area where they were ordered to patrol, and would be in the lee of Nantucket Island. He violates orders, taking his ship there alone, and does find a German submarine; the same one. Sinking the sub would make the violation forgivable. But the German captain tricks the inexperienced Thorson into breaking off his attack by releasing oil from his vessel, and sinks a lightship before leaving. A cable then breaks on Thorson's vessel and tangles in the propeller. Thorson goes into the water to free it, but suffers a head injury. Blake then arrives on the scene and rescues him personally.
When Thorson recovers, he is court-martialed for insubordination, demoted to ordinary seaman, and put on shore duty. Desolate, he finally decides to desert and go to Canada with Susan; but Blake stops him just in time and gives him a new assignment. He will now join the crew of a decoy ship: looking like an ordinary fishing schooner, its crew pretending to be civilians, it will actually have a concealed radio to summon the sub chasers as needed.
Joining up with a fishing fleet, the decoy is indeed attacked — by the same submarine again. The Germans board and discover the radio, but Blake's fleet is already on the way. The crew fight with the boarding party and overcome them. With his captain incapacitated, Thorson orders the decoy ship to try to ram the submarine. The Germans sink it and take Thorson on board as a prisoner and hostage, then dive to the seabed. As they wait silently, he seizes an opportunity to shut himself in a room and bang on the hull with a wrench, telling the listening sub chasers where to find the sub.
Blake realizes he must attack despite the risk to Thorson. But fortunately, when the submarine is damaged it is still able to surface, and Thorson as well as its crew are taken off.
The film ends with Thorson receiving the Medal of Honor, restored to the rank of ensign, and again commanding a sub chaser, to the delight of Susan and the residents of the port.

The plot centers on misfit Jerry Plunkett (James Cagney), who displays a mixture of bravado and cowardice. The chaplain, Father Francis P. Duffy (Pat O'Brien) attempts to reform Plunkett. Sgt. "Big Mike" Wynn (Alan Hale, Sr.) loses both his brothers in action due to Plunkett's blunders. Major Donovan ultimately orders Plunkett to be court-martialed. Plunkett is nonetheless returned to duty, as the battalion again goes into the line. Shamed and inspired by Donovan's forbearance, Plunkett redeems himself by fighting bravely. Finally he sacrifices his life to protect his comrades by covering a grenade with his body.
While Jerry Plunkett was a fictional character, Father Duffy, Major Donovan, Lt. Ames, and Sgt. Joyce Kilmer were all real members of the 69th. Many of the events depicted (training at Camp Mills, the Mud March, dugout collapse at Rouge Bouquet, crossing the Ourcq River, Victory Parade, etc.) actually happened.

Hotshot ensign Alan Drake (Robert Taylor), fresh from the flying academy at Pensacola, Florida, wants to be accepted by the pilots of an elite squadron, nicknamed the "Hellcats", to which he has been posted in San Diego. He gets off to a bad start, making a nearly disastrous landing attempt in heavy fog against orders, then disqualifying the squadron during a competitive shooting exercise by colliding with the target drogue when shooting at it. He also asks out Lorna (Ruth Hussey), a woman he has met, not knowing that she is married to the squadron commander Billy Gary (Walter Pidgeon).
But he is earnest and contrite, and both his flying and his social errors are readily forgiven. Although initially reluctant to accept a recent trainee (they nickname him "Pensacola"), soon enough his fellow pilots do. He mixes with them at the Garys' large house, which the sociable couple have opened as an unofficial officers' club.
Drake also proves himself when he helps Lieutenant Jerry Banning (Shepperd Strudwick) solve a problem in a blind-landing apparatus he is developing. Just after Commander Gary is sent out of town on assignment, Banning decides the apparatus is ready to test in fog—but it fails and he is killed. Working with Banning's assistant, Drake soon identifies the problem, but no further testing is allowed.
Banning had been a friend of Lorna Gary's since childhood, and is not her first friend to die. She sinks into a deep depression, made worse because she knows her husband will expect her to hide her feelings, deal with the facts, and carry on. Drake is finally able to reach her and convinces her to keep her mind occupied with activities. She goes out with him for walks, drives, tennis; he amuses her with jokes. At a restaurant she reaches for his hand and realizes she is falling for him. She quickly breaks away and says she cannot see him any more. As soon as her husband returns, she tells him she needs to leave him for a while. She explains that she cannot again hide her feelings and carry on after a tragedy, as he expects; but he just says she should have said so before. Not mentioning Drake, she also says that she has changed. He tells her to leave if she must, but he still loves her and hopes she will come back to her because she loves him.
Because Drake and Lorna were seen together, some of the squadron believe he must have seduced her. Out of respect for her privacy, Drake gives no explanation but merely files a resignation letter, which Commander Gary reluctantly puts through channels. While waiting for a response, they participate in an emergency search and rescue, during which Gary's engine fails and he is badly injured in a crash-landing. Drake acts against orders to rescue him, but San Diego is under a heavy fog. Fortunately Banning's equipment is still on Drake's plane, and he is able to use it to land safely.
In response to a telegram, Lorna Gary returns to San Diego and visits her husband in the hospital; their marriage is saved. She explains what happened between her and Drake; his reputation is saved. And Drake's resignation is refused because he is too junior to leave the Navy; his career with the squadron is saved. All is well.

Mother Bernle is a widow in Bavaria with four sons: Franz, Johann, Andreas and Joseph.
Joseph receives a job offer from the United States, and he is given money to travel there by his mother.
The First World War is heating up. Franz, who is already serving in the German army, is joined by first Johann and then Andreas who is forced into the army after the village learns that Joseph joined the American army. Franz and Johann are killed on the eastern front. After Andreas is forced into the army, he is wounded on the western front and dies in his brother Joseph's arms.
In America, Joseph has married and is running a delicatessen. when America enters the war, Joseph enlists to fight for the American side. This causes problems for Mother Bernle, who is shunned in her village.

The film tells the story of the crew aboard a British tramp steamer named the SS Glencairn on the long voyage home from the West Indies to Baltimore and then to England. The crew is a motley, fun-loving, hard-drinking lot. Among them is their consensus leader, a middle-aged Irishman named Driscoll ("Drisk") (Thomas Mitchell), a young Swedish ex-farmer Ole Olsen (John Wayne), a spiteful steward nicknamed Cocky (Barry Fitzgerald), a brooding Lord Jim-like Englishman Smitty (Ian Hunter), and a burly, thoroughly dependable bruiser Davis (Joseph Sawyer), among others. The film opens on a sultry night in a port in the West Indies where the crew have been confined to their ship by order of the captain, yet they yearn as ever for an opportunity to drink and have fun with the ladies. Drisk has arranged to import a boat-load of local ladies, who along with baskets of fruit, have agreed to smuggle bottles of rum on board where, with the acquiescence of the captain, the crew carouse until a minor drunken brawl breaks out and the ladies are ordered off the ship and denied any of their promised compensation. The next day the ship sails to pick up its cargo for its return trip to England. When the crew discovers that the cargo is high explosives, they at first rebel and grumble among themselves that they won't crew the ship if it is carrying such a cargo. But they are easily cowed into submission by the captain and the ship sails, crossing the Atlantic and passing through what they all know is a war zone and potential disaster.
After the ship leaves Baltimore with its load of dynamite, the rough seas they encounter become nerve-racking to the crew. When the anchor breaks loose, Yank (Ward Bond) is injured in the effort to secure it. With no doctor on board, nothing can be done for his injury, and he dies.
They're also concerned that Smitty might be a German spy because he's so aloof and secretive. After they assault Smitty and restrain and gag him, they force him to give up the key to a small metal box they have found in his bunk which they at first think is a bomb. Opening the box against Smitty's vigorous protests, they discover a packet of letters. When Drisk reads a few, it becomes clear that they are letters from Smitty's wife revealing the fact that Smitty has been an alcoholic, disgraced and perhaps dishonorably discharged from his service with the British navy, and that he is now too ashamed to show himself before his family even though his wife urges him to come home. In the war zone as they near port, a German plane attacks the ship, killing Smitty in a burst of machine gun fire. Reaching England without further incident, the rest of the crew members decide not to sign on for another voyage on the Glencairn and go ashore, determined to help Ole return to his family in Sweden, whom he has not seen in ten years.
In spite of their determination to help the simple, gullible Ole get on his ship for Stockholm, the crew is incapable of passing up the opportunity for a good time drinking and dancing in a seedy bar to which they have been lured by an agent for ships in port looking for crew members. He has his eye on Ole because he is the biggest and strongest of the lot. He drugs Ole's drink, and calls his confederates in to shanghai Ole aboard another ship, the Amindra. Driscoll and the rest of the crew, even though drunk and almost too late, rescue Ole from the Amindra, but Driscoll is clubbed and left on board as the crew makes its escape with Ole. The next morning, the crew straggles back somewhat dejectedly and resignedly to the Glencairn to sign on for another voyage. A newspaper headline reveals that the Amindra has been sunk in the Channel by German torpedoes, killing all on board.

Three men enlist in the United States Army in the summer of 1941. Bill Burke (Edmond O'Brien) is doubtful of his own courage and enlists while intoxicated. Don Morse (Robert Preston), an All-American football player at Harvard, enlists to avoid being engaged to two women simultaneously, told that army privates are not allowed to marry. Jeff Hollis (Buddy Ebsen) is a hillbilly cajoled into enlisting by the daughter of a feuding family.
They meet on the train to Fort Benning, Georgia, for training as parachute infantry. Don and Bill's attempts to become better acquainted with pretty fellow passenger Kit Richards (Nancy Kelly) annoy her father, Bill "Old Thunderhead" Richards (Harry Carey), until they reveal that they are Army recruits.
In camp, they are surprised to discover that Richards is a master sergeant newly assigned to their unit as chief instructor and a pioneer of the concept. Richards reports to the commandant, his old friend and Bill's father. Bill was named after Richards and they agree to keep Bill's identity a secret from the rest of the company to avoid favoritism. Bill accepts a blind date and finds out it is Kit. When Don tries to date her, Richards encourages Bill to "stick around as long as you like."
Bill confesses his fear of parachuting to Kit. When the recruits make their first practice jump, a nervous trainee loses his nerve, pulls a pistol, and demands that the aircraft land. Bill talks him into giving him the gun. Impressed by Bill's nerve, Richards reveals to the company that he is the commandant's son, but Bill confesses his fear and applies for a transfer to another branch. Richards helps him overcome his fear of jumping and Bill saves his life in the process.
Bill's romantic rivalry with Don comes to a head when Don gets word that he is to receive an officer's commission and decides to ask Kit to marry him. Bill's anger at Don makes him careless in packing his parachute. Before Don can propose, Bill goes to Kit and admits he loves her. The rivals brawl just before the start of a demonstration airborne assault in which they are assigned the task blowing up an ammunition warehouse.
Their transport aircraft takes off without them while their sergeant, Tex (Paul Kelly), breaks up the fight. To keep them out of trouble, Tex arranges for a small observation aircraft to take them up. However, when Don jumps, his parachute becomes tangled with the tail of the aircraft. Bill crawls back and cuts the tangled shroud lines as Don hangs on to him.
The two descend together and Don reveals that he repacked Bill's chute, saving both their lives. Friends again, they destroy the objective. At the ceremony awarding them their parachute wings, Richards gives his blessing to Kit and Bill, while Don sets his sights on another woman.

Ace test pilot Bradley Farrell (Richard Arlen), flying for McMasters Aviation Corp., breaks his leg when an overweight prototype crashes. Brad's younger brother Douglas (Don Castle), a recent graduate in aeronautical engineering thinks Doug's flying is too dangerous, and is hired as a design engineer at McMasters. Carol Blake (Jean Parker) wants to interest Brad in her father's design for an aircraft made of plastic. Doug pretends to be Brad because he is attracted to her but Brad meets Carol and takes her out flying. She introduces him to her blind father, Professor Blake (Thomas W. Ross), resulting in Brad becoming immersed in the professor's new designs.
Brad's friend, Johnny Coles (Louis Jean Heydt), loses his life test flying his own, similar design, that breaks apart in the air, leaving behind his wife and child. Despite his friend's death, Brad convinces the company to build Blake's "geodetic" aircraft design, with his brother put in charge of the project.
After Brad returns from setting a new cross-country speed record, he proposes to Carol, but she is in love with Doug. Doug doesn't know Carol's true feelings and with the test of the professor's aircraft imminent, he is at odds with Brad over the new aircraft's design. Brad has to fly the aircraft for US Army officials but is worried that the heavy test equipment will make the aircraft dangerous to fly. Doug will fly with him on the test and when a 9-G power dive is scheduled, Doug passes out. The test equipment breaks free, jamming the rudder. Brad forces Doug to parachute to safety, and then cuts the rudder wires, grabbing them with his bare hands. He manages to land the aircraft safely although his hands are cut badly. With the aircraft accepted, Brad gives up test flying to become a vice-president of McMasters Aviation. Doug and Carol find happiness and marry.

In 1940, American-built North American Harvard training aircraft are flown to just outside Canada, where they are towed across the border for use by Britain. (The procedure is necessary to avoid violating the Neutrality Acts, as the United States is still neutral.) Cocky American pilot Tim Baker (Tyrone Power) decides to fly across the border to Trenton, Ontario, and winds up in trouble with the military authorities, unconvincingly claiming he was looking for Trenton, New Jersey. Baker ferries a Lockheed Hudson bomber to Britain, pocketing $1,000 for his work.
In London, he runs into his on-again off-again girlfriend Carol Brown (Betty Grable), who works in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force by day and stars in a nightclub by night. She is none too pleased to see him, calling him a "worm" for his womanizing ways, lying, and long absence, but he is confident she still harbors strong feelings for him.
He decides to enlist in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Meanwhile, Brown attracts the appreciative attention of two RAF officers, Wing Commander John Morley (John Sutton) and Flying Officer Roger Pillby (Reginald Gardiner). Morley persists in seeing Brown, despite being told at the outset that there is another man. Pillby is unable to persuade either Baker or Morley to introduce him.
After completing training, Baker is disappointed to be assigned to Morley's bomber squadron, rather than to a fighter. He becomes further disgruntled when his first mission is to "bomb" Berlin with propaganda leaflets as Morley's co-pilot during the Phoney War. Pillby pilots another bomber in the raid.
When Baker is late for their date (sidetracked by meeting an old buddy from America), Brown accepts Morley's invitation to spend a weekend at his country estate. There, Morley asks her to marry him. When she tells Baker about it (without revealing who her suitor is), he offers to marry her himself, but in an insultingly casual way. She tells him that they are through. Back at the base, the two rivals learn of each other's involvement with the same woman. Before they can do anything about it, however, the Germans invade the Netherlands and Belgium, and they are given an urgent mission to bomb Dortmund, Germany, this time with real ordnance.
During the nighttime raid, their bomber is hit, disabling one of their two engines. Pillby descends to their aid, knocking out searchlights, but is shot down in flames and perishes. Morley orders his crew to bail out, but Baker disobeys and lands the aircraft on a Dutch beach. Spotting a line of German soldiers, they hide in a nearby building, only to be taken prisoner by a German officer there. A crewman sacrifices himself, enabling the other two to dispatch the German and escape by motorboat.
Baker wakes up in a British hospital, the victim of exposure. Once discharged, he goes to see Brown, pretending to have a broken arm, but blunders and shows himself to be a liar once more. Nonetheless, he produces an engagement ring and forces it onto her finger. After receiving a telephone call from Morley breaking their date, Brown informs Baker that all leaves have been canceled.
Reserves are called up to make up fighter pilot losses, and Baker is reassigned to a Spitfire for the Battle of Dunkirk. He downs two Luftwaffe fighters before being shot down. Carol cannot hide her distress when she cannot find out whether he is alive or not. Morley takes her to the docks, where ships returning from the Dunkirk beaches are bringing back survivors. When Baker debarks, Carol rushes to him and shows him she is still wearing his ring.

In 1942, Chinese guerrillas fighting for the Allied cause in Burma during World War II are helping to build a road. During the construction of a military supply road like the Burma Road and Ledo Road, the project is sabotaged by an English nobleman who is a German agent.
Using a scientific device, the English nobleman is instrumental in the coordination of a Japanese air attack on supply trucks attempting to cross a key bridge. A Chinese school teacher (Anna May Wong) reveals the schemes of the traitor, and brings about his destruction at the hands of Chinese peasants armed with picks and shovels.

Brian MacLean (James Cagney), Johnny Dutton (Dennis Morgan), "Tiny" Murphy (Alan Hale, Sr.), "Blimp" Lebec (George Tobias), and British expatriate "Scrounger" Harris (Reginald Gardiner) are bush pilots competing for business in rugged Northern Ontario, Canada in 1939, as the Second World War is beginning. Dutton, whose ambition is to start his own airline, flies by the book but MacLean is a seat-of-the-pants kind of pilot, mirroring the differences in their personalities.
Dutton saves MacLean's life after he is struck in the head by a still-moving propeller by transporting a doctor under dangerous flying conditions. MacLean is grateful and joins Dutton in a temporary partnership to help Dutton earn the seed fund for his airline. When Dutton rejects MacLean's warning about the gold digging character of Dutton's badly-behaved girlfriend Emily Foster (Brenda Marshall), MacLean marries her in order to save Dutton from a life of misery. Dutton, however, does not understand that MacLean's actions are an act of kindness, and so he abruptly ends their friendship. Depressed, Dutton impulsively gives his savings to charity and enlists in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Erik Toresen (Paul Muni), a widower and peaceful man, is stirred to violence after the Nazis occupy his quiet Norwegian fishing village. German abuses lead Erik to form a Resistance group. He kills the head of the Nazis occupying his village, and then escapes to Britain, and guides some British Commandos to a raid on a secret airstrip the Germans are building on the Norwegian coast.

Assigned to bomb a German railway, Flight Lt. Terrence Forbes (Errol Flynn) presses home an attack but flies too low and the RAF bomber is shot down near the former Polish border. Along with his crew, consisting of Flying Officer Johnny Hammond (Ronald Reagan), Flight Sergeant Kirk Edwards (Alan Hale, Sr.), Flying Officer Jed Forrest (Arthur Kennedy) and Flight Sergeant Lloyd Hollis (Ronald Sinclair) who is wounded, they are captured by the Germans.
Gestapo Major Otto Baumeister (Raymond Massey) interviews Hammond who gives a baffling account of their bomber's technology and suddenly knocks the major unconscious. Forbes then subdues the other soldiers, the group searches the major's office and find papers showing a hidden Messerschmitt aircraft factory. Setting out on their dangerous trip across enemy territory, they first obtain German uniforms and board a train heading west. On their route, they attack and destroy a chemical plant but realize they need a doctor for their wounded crew member. With the help of Kaethe Brahms (Nancy Coleman), a member of the underground, they locate a doctor, but it is already too late to save Hollis.
With Baumeister on their trail, the men lose another of their group when Edwards is killed. Driving as far as their stolen car will go across Nazi Germany, the flyers run out of gas but stumble on a concealed bomber in the Netherlands. The captured British aircraft is being prepared for an attack on England. The three remaining flyers overpower the flight crew but Forrest is shot. Blasting their way past the soldiers on the ground, killing many of them, including Baumeister, the trio take off. On their way to the English Channel, Hammond releases the bomb aboard that destroys a German base. As they reach safety, Forbes and Hammond learn that Forrest will recover from his wounds.

The grandson of Dr. Jack Griffin, the original Invisible Man, has emigrated to the United States and now runs a print shop in Manhattan under the assumed name of Frank Raymond (Jon Hall). In his shop he is confronted by four armed men who reveal that they know his true identity. One of the men, Conrad Stauffer (Cedric Hardwicke), is a lieutenant general of the S.S., while a second, Baron Ikito (Peter Lorre), is Japanese. They offer to pay for the invisibility formula and threaten amputation if it is not revealed. Griffin manages to escape with the formula in his hands.
Griffin is reluctant to release the formula to the U.S. government officials and only agrees to limited cooperation following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. (The condition is that the formula can only be used on himself). Later, while in-flight to be parachuted behind German lines on a secret mission, he injects himself with the invisibility serum. Griffin strips out of his clothing as he parachutes down, much to the shock of German troops tracking his descent.
After landing, Griffin evades German troops and makes contact with an old coffin-maker named Arnold Schmidt (Albert Basserman), who reveals the next step of Griffin's mission. Griffin is to obtain a list of German and Japanese spies within the U.S. The list was in the possession of Stauffer. Griffin is aided in his task by Maria Sorenson (Ilona Massey), a German espionage agent and the love interest of both Stauffer and Stauffer's well-connected second-in-command, Gestapo Standartenführer Karl Heiser (J. Edward Bromberg).
According to their plan, Sorenson attempts to gain information from Heiser during a private dinner, with Griffin as witness. Inexplicably, Griffin uses his invisibility to play tricks on Heiser instead. Finally enraged when the dinner table mysteriously tips and soils his uniform, Heiser places Sorenson under house-arrest. Later, an apologetic Griffin demonstrates his existence to Sorenson by putting on a robe and smearing facial cream on his features. The two are attracted to each other.
Conrad Stauffer returns from his efforts in the United States and tries to manage his shifting alliances with Karl Heiser, Maria Sorenson, and Baron Ikito. When he learns of Heiser's disastrous romantic dinner with Sorenson, Stauffer has Karl Heiser arrested and baits a trap for Griffin, whom he comes to suspect has made contact with Maria. Despite walking into Stauffer's trap, Griffin manages to obtain the list of agents, and start a fire to cover his escape. Griffin takes the list of agents to Arnold Schmidt for transmission to England.
Conrad Stauffer tries to hide the loss of the agent list from the prying Baron Ikito. Baron Ikito has been staying at the local Japanese Embassy. When Stauffer refuses to answer Ikito's questions, the two confess to each other that German and Japanese cooperation is not one of trust. Without revealing their plans to each other, both men start separate hunts for the Invisible Agent.
The plot thickens as Griffin steals into a German prison to obtain information from Karl Heiser about a planned German attack on New York city. In exchange for additional information, Griffin helps Heiser escape his imminent execution. Griffin returns with Heiser to Schmidt, who in the meantime has been arrested and tortured by Stauffer. At the shop, Griffin confronts Maria Sorenson, whom he suspects has betrayed Schmidt, and is captured with a net trap by Ikito's men.
Heiser escapes detection and attempts to save his life and career by phoning in Ikito's activities to Stauffer. Griffin and Sorensen are taken to the Japanese embassy, but manage to escape during the mayhem that ensues when Stauffer's men arrive. For their joint failure to safeguard the list of Axis agents, Ikito kills Stauffer and then commits seppuku, ritual suicide, as Heiser watches from the shadows.
Assuming command, Heiser arrives too late to the local air base to stop Griffin and Sorenson from escaping. The couple acquires one of the bombers slated for the New York attack, and destroy other German planes on the ground as they fly to England. Stauffer's loyal men catch up with Karl Heiser and he is shot.
Griffin succumbs to his injuries before he can radio ahead. England's air defense shoots down their craft, but not before Sorenson parachutes them to safety. Later, in a hospital, Griffin has recovered and is wearing facial cream so that he can be visible again. Sorenson appears with Griffin's American handler, who vouches for Sorenson that she has been an Allied double-agent all along. Sorenson is left alone with Griffin. Griffin reveals that he is actually visible under the facial cream, and they kiss. Sorenson happily accepts the challenge of discovering how Griffin regained his visibility.

In German-occupied Paris, an announcer reports during a blackout that the Second Front has begun, with British forces invading the Continent, and that Royal Air Force bombers have been shot down. Five downed pilots split up and make their way to Paris to try to get help in returning to England. On the way, they break into a tavern in search of civilian clothes. When a German soldier shows up for a drink, Squadron Leader Paul Lavallier (Paul Henreid), a member of the Free French, knocks him out and takes his money.
In Paris, Paul contacts an old teacher of his, Father Antoine (Thomas Mitchell), who agrees to hide the reunited men in the sewers underneath his cathedral. "Baby" (Alan Ladd) has been shot in the shoulder along the way. When he slumps over in the church, it attracts the attention of a Gestapo agent (Alexander Granach). Paul manages to distract him, allowing Baby to slip away, but then the German starts following Paul. Paul tries to hide in a café, where he is served by Joan (Michèle Morgan), but the agent finds him. In his haste to get away, the airman tears the sleeve of Joan's dress. He then enters the first unlocked room he finds in a nearby building. By chance, it is Joan's. She discovers him hiding in her closet when she goes to change. To allay her fears, he tells her that Father Antoine sent him to give her enough money to buy a new dress. He persuades her to deliver a message to Father Antoine, describing his predicament. As they begin working together, they fall in love.
Later, Paul gets Father Antoine to visit a British spy (John Abbott) who has been caught and is to be executed. The priest is able to overcome the doomed man's suspicions and obtains the name of a contact, schoolteacher Mademoiselle Rosay (May Robson). Because the church is being watched by the persistent Gestapo agent, Father Antoine asks the unsuspected Joan to meet Rosay. However, on the way there, she passes the shop where she bought her new garment. A second Gestapo man (an uncredited Hans Conreid) has traced the bank note she used as payment to the robbed soldier and follows her. She and Mademoiselle Rosay barely escape capture. Rosay arranges for a seaplane to land at night on the Seine River to pick up the men.
Gestapo head Herr Funk (Laird Cregar) plays a cat-and-mouse game with Joan and Paul. When Paul is picked up for not having identification papers, Funk apologizes for the inconvenience and releases him so he can lead the Germans to the others.
That night, Paul finally tells Joan his real identity. He promises to marry her when the war is over. However, he is unable to shake the Gestapo agent, so Joan takes the map of the rendezvous point to the others. While they wait for the appointed time, Baby dies of his wound. Meanwhile, Paul finally manages to kill the Gestapo man in a Turkish bath, but too late to reach the rendezvous in time.
Funk then offers Joan a devil's bargain: Paul's life if she will lead him to the hiding place of the other men. She agrees. Finding Paul praying in the cathedral, she tells him that the others are still waiting for him. She then leads Funk on a wild goose chase, giving the airmen time to make good their escape. Later, she faces the firing squad bravely.

Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) and her family live a comfortable life at a house called "Starlings" in Belham, a fictional village outside London. The house has a large garden, with a private landing stage on the River Thames at which is moored a motorboat belonging to her devoted husband, Clem (Walter Pidgeon), a successful architect. They have three children: the youngsters Toby (Christopher Severn) and Judy (Clare Sandars) and an older son Vin (Richard Ney), a student at Oxford University. They have live-in staff: Gladys the housemaid (Brenda Forbes) and Ada the cook (Marie De Becker).
As World War II looms, Vin returns from the university and meets Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright), granddaughter of Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty) from nearby Beldon Hall. Despite initial disagreements—mainly contrasting Vin's idealistic attitude to class differences with Carol's practical altruism—they fall in love. Vin proposes to Carol in front of his family at home, after his younger brother prods him to give a less romantic but more honest proposal. As the war comes closer to home, Vin feels he must "do his bit" and enlists in the Royal Air Force, qualifying as a fighter pilot. He is posted to a base near to his parents' home and is able to signal his safe return from operations to his parents by cutting his engines briefly as he flies over the house. Together with other boat owners, Clem volunteers to take his motorboat to assist in the Dunkirk evacuation.
Early one morning, Kay, unable to sleep as Clem is still away, wanders down to the landing stage. She is startled to discover a wounded German pilot (Helmut Dantine) hiding in her garden, and he takes her to the house at gunpoint. Demanding food and a coat, the pilot aggressively asserts that the Third Reich will mercilessly overcome its enemies. She feeds him, calmly disarms him when he collapses, and then calls the police. Soon after, Clem returns home, exhausted, from Dunkirk.
Lady Beldon visits Kay to try and convince her to talk Vin out of marrying Carol on account of her granddaughter's comparative youth. Kay reminds her that she, too, was young when she married her late husband. Lady Beldon concedes defeat and realizes that she would be foolish to try to stop the marriage. Vin and Carol are married; Carol has now also become Mrs Miniver, and they return from their honeymoon in Scotland. A key theme is that she knows he is likely to be killed in action, but the short love will fill her life. Later, Kay and her family take refuge in their Anderson shelter in the garden during an air raid, and attempt to keep their minds off the frightening bombing by reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which Clem refers to as a "lovely story" as they barely survive as a bomb destroys parts of the house. They take the damage with nonchalance.
At the annual village flower show, Lady Beldon silently disregards the judges' decision that her rose is the winner, instead announcing the entry of the local stationmaster, Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers), named the "Mrs. Miniver" rose, as the winner, with her own rose taking second prize. As air raid sirens sound and the villagers take refuge in the cellars of Beldon Hall, Kay and Carol drive Vin to join his squadron. On their journey home they witness fighter planes in a 'dogfight'. For safety, Kay stops the car and they see a German plane crash. Kay realizes Carol has been wounded by shots from the plane and takes her back to 'Starlings'. She dies a few minutes after they reach home. Kay is devastated. When Vin returns from battle, he already knows the terrible news: ironically, he is the survivor and she the one who died.
The villagers assemble at the badly damaged church where their vicar affirms their determination in a powerful sermon:

In 1942, during the Japanese invasion of China, due to the carelessness of one of the passengers, Albert Pasavy (Otto Kruger), draws attention from Japanese bombers overhead, to a bus travelling to India along a muddy road. The Japanese bomb the road, hitting a munitions truck carrying Chinese troops. The Chinese officer in charge, demands his wounded be put on the bus and brought to a secret air field. Among the stranded passengers met by U.S. pilot Nick Stanton (Robert Preston), are a beautiful Red Cross nurse, Ann Richards (Ellen Drew), and her traveling companion, Madame Wu (Soo Yong), who is on a secret diplomatic mission. There is also Countess Olga Karagin (Tamara Geva), who is caught spying.
Nick and his co-pilot, Captain Po (Victor Sen Yung), are ordered to fly the remainder of the passengers out to safety in India, but the transport aircraft is intercepted by Japanese fighter aircraft and shot down. Nick makes an emergency landing in a jungle. Over the radio, Nick learns that Olga has committed suicide but the spy was trying to get top-secret information to her superior, who is still among the passengers.
Another of the passengers, Doctor Van der Linden (Stephen Geray), goes missing, but returns with food he claims comes from a nearby monastery. The doctor leads everyone on a long hike to the monastery, only to reveal there that he is a Nazi collaborator working with the Japanese. He demands to know where Olga is, not knowing she is dead. All the survivors are captured and held at the monastery.
It is up to Nick to try to come up with a plan to escape, and convinces Van Der Linden to allow Po to repair the aircraft and to allow the hostages to be exchanged for Olga. A coded message is sent to Nick's headquarters but the Nazi soon finds out that Olga is already dead. After Pasavy betrays the others, and is coldly shot, Nick kills Van der Linden. With Japanese troops in pursuit, Major Raoul Brissac (Ernest Dorian) sacrifices his own life to save the others by pulling the pin on a grenade, killing himself along with the Japanese. Nick, Po, Ann and Madame Wu then fly to safety. Having fallen in love, Nick and Ann vow to reunite after the war.


During World War II, well-connected, Harvard-educated Lieutenant Gregg Masterman (Robert Taylor) enjoys his cushy posting as junior aide to Rear Admiral Stephen "Old Ironpants" Thomas (Charles Laughton), playing tennis and arranging social events. During a chance encounter, he gives bad advice to up-from-the-ranks Lieutenant Commander Martin J. Roberts (Brian Donlevy) out of spite. As a result, Thomas gives Roberts command of an obsolete, World War I-vintage destroyer, the Warren. To his dismay however, Masterman finds himself assigned by Thomas as Roberts' new executive officer. When Masterman learns that Henry Johnson (Walter Brennan), the ship's civilian caretaker, was a member of the Warren's original crew, he helps him reenlist and serve aboard his beloved ship.
Despite his awkward beginning, Masterman begins to turn into an effective officer under Roberts' tutelage, though Roberts has to constantly remind him that he cannot put the welfare of one person over that of the mission. On their way to rendezvous with a convoy commanded by Thomas, they are attacked by a Japanese airplane. Then, Johnson sustains a serious head injury during a storm, leaving him delirious and believing he is back in World War I. Finally, they rescue two pregnant women and 20 babies, survivors of a torpedoed ship. For comic relief, the crewmen (especially Masterman) have to deal with their unusual passengers. One woman gives birth just before they sight the convoy.
An aircraft hit cripples Thomas's flagship, damaging the steering mechanism. Thus, when a Japanese battleship sights the convoy, it is all up to the Warren. Roberts informs Masterman of his plan of attack. He intends to set up a smoke screen, hide behind it, and then emerge to launch a torpedo salvo. When the captain is injured, Masterman assumes command. During the battle, Johnson takes over the helm when a crewman is knocked out. It takes two attempts, but the Warren sinks the enemy.

The early portions of the film deal with the history of the Corps, from Colonial times to the 1942. The film's midsection details the arduous training procedure of the Few and the Proud at Parris Island and elsewhere. Finally, wartime newsreel footage is adroitly blended with dramatized re-enactments to illustrate the contributions, and the utter necessity of the marines in World War II.

An American oil tanker, the SS Northern Star, mastered by Capt. Steve Jarvis (Raymond Massey), is sunk in the North Atlantic Ocean by a German U-boat. Along with the first officer, his friend Joe Rossi (Humphrey Bogart), they make it to a lifeboat loaded with other crewmen. When the U-boat crew starts filming their plight they respond with rude gestures and are rammed. The men swim to a raft and are rescued after 11 days adrift.
During their brief liberty, Steve spends time with his wife Sarah (Ruth Gordon), while Joe meets and marries singer Pearl O'Neill (Julie Bishop). At the union hall, merchant seamen, including the Northern Star survivors, spend their time waiting to be assigned to a new ship. Over a round of poker, Johnnie Pulaski (Dane Clark) jokes about getting a shore job.
When pressed by other seaman, Pulaski reveals his fear of dying at sea. The others shame him into signing along with them for another ship. Another sailor, Alfred "Boats" O'Hara (Alan Hale, Sr.), is tracked down by his wife, who has apparently not seen him since he was rescued. She angrily serves him with a summons. O'Hara, knowing he is headed back to sea, gleefully tears it up, saying "them 'Liberty boats' are sure well named."
Then it is back to sea aboard a new Liberty ship, the SS Seawitch, on a convoy carrying vital war supplies to the Soviet port of Murmansk. This ship is armed with a 5-inch gun and anti-aircraft guns, and a small Navy crew boards to operate them. They also instruct some of the Seawitch crew on how to replace them in case they become casualties. In Halifax the captains are instructed on how to sail in the convoy. En route, Convoy 211 is attacked by a wolfpack, a group of German U-boats that hunt for convoys. There are losses on both sides, but the convoy commander is forced to order his ships to temporarily disperse.
A peristent U-boat chasing the Seawitch means it must stay away from the convoy when it re-forms. The sub cannot get close by daylight because of the ship's guns, and during the night the Seawitch eludes the sub by shutting down its engines to prevent detection by passive sonar.
The U-boat contacts the Luftwaffe, and the next day, a pair of Heinkel He 59 seaplanes find the Seawitch and attack. Both aircraft are shot down, with one crashing into the bow, but several seamen are killed and Steve is shot in the leg, so Joe takes command. Then the U-boat returns and torpedoes the freighter. Joe orders the men to set fires and make smoke so that it appears as if the ship is sinking. When the submarine surfaces to finish Seawitch off, the ship rams and sinks it.
Finally a squadron of Russian aircraft appear to escort the Seawitch, with its valuable cargo intact, into Murmansk to a warm Russian welcome.

Policeman Jon Davis (Richard Arlen) informs "Foxy" Pattis (Chester Morris) at his shooting gallery, that his criminal father has died. Foxy blames all policemen, feeling they harassed him all his life and were responsible for his death. John Davis enlists and "Foxy" Pattis is drafted into the United States Army Air Forces where Foxy becomes the instructor at an aerial gunnery school. He makes life miserable for Jon, now a "Flying Sergeant" student, trying to force the former policeman to resign.
Despite Foxy's hostility, Jon is able to pass the course. He later befriends a young Texas boy, Sandy (Jimmy Lydon), whose father was an airman killed at Hickam Field during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Sandy invites Jon and Foxy to his family's ranch, where both men fall for Sandy's sister Peggy (Amelita Ward).
After graduation, Jon is commissioned as a Lieutenant and is assigned as a pilot of a light bomber, with many of his classmates now his crew. A belligerent Foxy serves as his gunner and is not accepted as a team player by the others. During a bombing mission against the Japanese, however, he makes the ultimate sacrifice in trying to protect the other crew members when the bomber is shot down behind enemy lines.

Captain Jeff Dakin (George Montgomery) is shot down over Germany on a bombing raid as he sees his brother, Danny (Richard Graham) serving on the same aircraft, shot dead as he parachutes out of the stricken aircraft. Imprisoned in a camp, Dakin conspires with Alexandra "Alec" Zorich (Annabella), a beautiful Russian doctor, and Captain Paul Husnik (Kent Taylor), a Czech resistance leader, to mount an escape. They escape during an air raid and make their way towards safety, but the Czech is not who he seems.
Husnik is really Gestapo officer Paul van Brock, who wants to get Alec to lead him to the leaders of the Czech underground movement. Killing the underground leader, van Brock summons the Gestapo, but Dakin overpowers him and together with Alec, goes on the run. Reaching the Netherlands, Dakin learns that his bomber is now repaired, with the Nazis planning a mysterious flight to England. Disguised as a German soldier, Dakin finds out his brother's killer, Major. Von Streicher (Martin Kosleck), is to pilot the aircraft on a mission to kill Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Stealing a German aircraft, Dakin exacts his revenge by shooting down Von Streicher. Landing in England, he is reunited with Alec, who has made her way there.

In the opening scene, German troops and tanks are shown invading the Kingdom of Yugoslavia while bombers attack the capital Belgrade. When the Germans, Italians, Hungarians, and Bulgarians invade Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, Serbian army colonel Draža Mihailović forms a band of guerrillas known as the Chetniks, who launch a resistance movement against the Axis occupation. Mihailović's forces then engage in an attack on the German and Italian forces, forcing them to employ seven Axis divisions against them.
The Chetniks capture an Italian supply convoy. Mihailović then radios German headquarters in the nearby coastal town of Kotor in Montenegro and offers to exchange Italian POWs for gasoline. Infuriated, general Von Bauer refuses, but when Mihailović threatens to notify the Italian High Command of his decision, Gestapo colonel Wilhelm Brockner orders Von Bauer to comply.
Brockner, who has been unable to capture Mihailović, is convinced that the Yugoslav leader's wife Ljubica and their two children, Nada and Mirko, are hiding in Kotor. He plans to use them as hostages to blackmail Mihailović into surrendering. Brockner warns the townspeople that anyone caught aiding the Mihailović family will be executed, and prepares the deportation of 2,000 men from Kotor to Nazi Germany.
Brockner's secretary Natalia, however, is a spy for the Chetniks and is in love with Alexa, one of Mihailović's aides. Forewarned by Natalia's information, the Chetniks attack the train transporting the two thousand prisoners and free them. In retaliation, Brockner decrees that no food will be distributed to the citizens of Kotor until Lubitca and her children are turned over to the Germans. Lubitca tries to surrender to Brockner but is stopped by Natalia, after which Mihailović asks to meet with Von Bauer and Brockner.
After Mihailović arrives at German headquarters, however, Von Bauer declares that, since the official Yugoslav government had capitulated, international law does not prevent him from killing Mihailović, even though they are meeting under a flag of truce. Mihailović then reveals to the general that the Chetniks are holding his wife and daughter as hostages, as well as Brockner's mistress, and that they will be executed unless the citizens of Kotor are given food. The general angrily releases Mihailović and provides rations for Kotor.
Mihailović's son Mirko, demonstrating his patriotism, betrays his true identity to his German schoolteacher. After taking Mirko into custody, Von Bauer and Brockner escort Ljubica to Mihailović's mountain stronghold and then inform him that every man, woman, and child in Kotor would be executed unless the Chetniks surrender within 18 hours.
Mihailović informs Ljubica that he cannot surrender. She then returns to Kotor to comfort their children. Mihailović immediately organizes a plan of attack and sends some of his men to the mountain pass to Kotor, where they trick the Germans into thinking that they are surrendering, while the rest of the Chetniks attack the town from the mountains on the other side.
Even though Aleksa, who was assigned to infiltrate the German artillery, is taken prisoner by the Germans, Mihailović's plan succeeds. After an intense battle, the Chetniks gain control of Kotor and free all of the hostages, including Mihailović's family.
In the final scene, Mihailović broadcasts a radio message to his fellow Yugoslavs that the guerrillas will continue fighting until they have regained complete freedom for their people and driven out the invading Axis troops.

A US Navy submarine, the USS Corsair, is operating in the North Atlantic, hunting German merchant raiders that are preying on Allied shipping. Its new executive officer, Lt. Ward Stewart (Tyrone Power), has been transferred into submarines after commanding his own PT boat. At the submarine base in New London, Connecticut, he asks his new captain, Lt. Cmdr. Dewey Connors (Dana Andrews), for a weekend leave to settle his affairs before taking up his new assignment. On a train bound for Washington D.C., Stewart accidentally encounters New London school teacher Jean Hewlett (Anne Baxter) and her students. Despite her initial resistance to his efforts, he charms her and they fall in love.
His infatuation with PT boats irritates Connors but the two become friends after a combat action with a Q ship in which Connors is injured and Stewart sinks it. Connors, unbeknownst to Stewart, is already in love with Jean but delays marrying her until he gains a promotion to commander and the commensurate pay it provided so he could properly support her financially in his view. Tension between the men ensues when Connors discovers that the woman Stewart is wooing is Jean. The film culminates in a commando raid by the Corsair on an island supply base for the German raiders. After the raid, the men make peace, and soon after the Corsair 's return to New London, Stewart and Jean are married.

On Christmas Eve, the submarine USS Copperfin, under the command of Captain Cassidy (Cary Grant), departs San Francisco on a secret mission. At sea, Cassidy opens his sealed orders, which direct him to proceed first to the Aleutian Islands to pick up meteorologist Lt. Raymond (John Ridgely), then to Tokyo Bay to obtain vital weather intelligence for the upcoming Doolittle Raid.
On the way, two Japanese planes attack; both are shot down, but one pilot manages to parachute into the water. When Mike (Tom Tully) goes to pick him up, he is stabbed to death. New recruit Tommy Adams (Robert Hutton) shoots the pilot, but because he was slow to react, Tommy blames himself for Mike's death and volunteers to defuse an unexploded bomb stuck under the deck. When Mike is buried at sea, Greek-American Tin Can (Dane Clark) does not attend the service, which angers the other men until he explains that every Allied death causes him great pain. Meanwhile, Raymond, who lived in Japan, discusses how the Japanese people were led into the war by the military faction.
As the submarine nears Tokyo Bay, the Copperfin has to negotiate its way through protective minefields and a submarine screen. When a Japanese ship enters the bay, Cassidy follows in its wake. That night, a small party, including the ship's womanizer, "Wolf" (John Garfield), goes ashore to make weather observations. Meanwhile, Tommy is diagnosed with appendicitis. "Pills", the pharmacist's mate (William Prince), has to operate following instructions from a book, using improvised instruments, and without sufficient ether to last throughout the procedure. The operation is a success, and "Cookie" Wainwright (Alan Hale) begins to prepare the pumpkin pie he had promised to bake Tommy.
Raymond broadcasts the information the shore party has collected in Japanese in an attempt to avoid detection, but the Japanese are alerted and search the bay. The Copperfin remains undetected, allowing the men to watch part of the Doolittle Raid through the periscope. After recovering Raymond and his team, the submarine then slips out of the bay following an exiting ship.
Later, the Copperfin sinks a Japanese aircraft carrier and is badly damaged by its escorts. In desperation, after long hours being attacked by depth charges, Cassidy attacks, sending a destroyer to the bottom and enabling the crew to return safely to San Francisco.


Corporal John Bramble (Franchot Tone) is the sole survivor of a British tank crew after a major battle with Erwin Rommel's victorious Afrika Korps. Delirious, he stumbles across the North African desert into the Empress of Britain, a small, isolated hotel owned by Farid (Akim Tamiroff). The staff consists of just Frenchwoman Mouche (Anne Baxter), as the cook has fled and the waiter Davos was killed the night before by German bombing.
Before Farid and Mouche can decide what to do with the newcomer, the swiftly advancing Germans take over the hotel to use as headquarters for Field Marshal Rommel (Erich von Stroheim) and his staff. Bramble assumes the identity of Davos to save himself. When Rommel summons him to a private chat, Bramble is stunned to discover that Davos was a valued German spy, but manages to play along. He learns that he is to be sent to Cairo next.
Later, he steals a pistol from genial, music-loving Italian General Sebastiano (Fortunio Bonanova), planning to serve the field marshal a bullet rather than coffee the next morning. Not wanting trouble, Mouche steals the pistol and waits on Rommel herself. When some captured British officers are brought to the hotel for a luncheon with Rommel, one of them (a past guest) realizes that Davos has been replaced. Bramble privately explains who he is and what he plans to do. The officer orders him to use his position of trust to instead gather military intelligence.
At the luncheon, Rommel teases his guests, allowing them to ask him twenty questions about his future plans. Bramble listens with interest. From the conversation and later remarks by Rommel, he eventually deduces that the field marshal, disguised as an archeologist before the war, had secretly prepared five hidden supply dumps, the "Five Graves to Cairo", for the conquest of Egypt. The final piece of the puzzle (their locations) falls into place when Bramble realizes that Rommel's cryptic references to points Y, P, and T refer to the letters of the word "Egypt" printed on his map.
Meanwhile, Bramble and Mouche clash. She despises the British for abandoning the French at Dunkirk. He in turn is disgusted at how she is playing up to the Germans. As it turns out, Mouche's motives are not mercenary; she pleads with Rommel to release her wounded soldier brother from a concentration camp. He is unmoved, but his aide, Lieutenant Schwegler (Peter van Eyck), is more appreciative of her charms. He pretends to help her, showing her fake telegrams to and from Germany.
That night however, when everyone takes shelter in the cellar during an Allied air raid, Schwegler discovers the body of the real Davos (easily identifiable by his clubfoot), uncovered by the bombing. In the noise and confusion of the raid, Bramble and Schwegler play a deadly game of hide and seek in the darkened hotel before Bramble kills his enemy and hides the body in Mouche's part of the servants' room. When Mouche finds out, she threatens to unmask him.
However, she has a change of heart. Schwegler's body is soon found, and Rommel accuses her of killing his aide when she discovered he was lying about his assistance. Mouche does not deny it. Bramble leaves for Cairo, but arranges for Farid to present faked evidence the next day that Bramble committed the crime.
Bramble's information allows the British to blow up the dumps and thus thwart Rommel's plans, culminating in the Second Battle of El Alamein. When Bramble returns in triumph with his unit to the hotel, he is devastated to learn that the Germans had executed Mouche, not for murder, but because she would not stop saying that the British would be back. He takes the parasol he had bought for her, something she had always wanted, and uses it to provide shade for her grave.

The film begins with a tough Greek lieutenant (J. Carrol Naish) announcing that the United States Marine Corps is seeking volunteers for a hazardous mission and special unit. Sgt. "Transport" Anderof (Sam Levene) meets the commander of the unit, Lt. Col. Thorwald (Randolph Scott), who he has served with while stationed in China. Thorwald explains that he left the Corps to serve with the Chinese guerrillas fighting the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War to learn their methods and has decided to form a unit using the qualities of Gung Ho or "work together".
Among the volunteers for the unit are a hillbilly (Rod Cameron), who responds to a gunnery sergeant's (Walter Sande) question whether he can kill someone with the fact that he already has; specifically a romantic rival. Alan Curtis is an ordained minister keeping his vocation a secret. Robert Mitchum is "Pig Iron"; a boxer from a background of poverty and hard work. Harold Landon is a young and small street kid who is initially rejected by Naish but wins him over, as both worked as dishwashers on ships bound to the United States from Piraeus, Greece. Noah Beery Jr. and David Bruce are rivals for United States Navy nurse Lt. Grace McDonald. Volunteers with brief screen time include a Filipino wishing to avenge his sister (who was left behind in Manilla may have been raped or killed by the japanese) who teaches the Raiders knife fighting, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War who sees the war as a continuation of the fight against fascism, and a Marine who honestly admits "I just don't like Japs".
The film moves rapidly in a documentary style, with stock footage of training narrated by Chet Huntley. Those who make it through the training are sent to Hawaii for further jungle warfare training, where they witness the damage of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In Hawaii they hear a radio bulletin of the announcement of the Battle of Guadalcanal. The Marines are ordered to board two submarines, the USS Nautilus and the USS Argonaut, destined for a commando raid on a Japanese-held island.
After a claustrophobic voyage, the Raiders invade the island from rubber boats. The Marine landing is met by fire from snipers hiding in palm trees. The Marines dispose of them, attack the Japanese headquarters, wipe out the garrison, destroy installations with explosives, then board the submarines for their return home.

During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, surgeon Dr. Franticek Svoboda (Brian Donlevy), a Czech patriot, assassinates the brutal "Hangman of Europe", Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski), but his getaway car is discovered and therefore his planned safe house must reject him. When a woman he doesn't know, named Mascha (Anna Lee), deliberately misdirects German soldiers close to finding him, he seeks her home as an alternative safe house. This turns out to be the home of her father, history professor Stephen Novotny (Walter Brennan), whom the Nazis have banned from teaching. This plan works. But because the assassin now can't be found, the Nazi leaders in Prague decide to create an incentive for him to turn himself in or for others to do so. They arrange–with the help of fifth-columnist Emil Czaka (Gene Lockhart), a wealthy brewer–for 400 citizens, including Professor Novotny, to be executed, forty at a time, until the assassin is named. Through a complex series of events, however, the resistance manages to frame Czaka himself for the murder, but not before the Nazis have executed many of the hostages.

In North Africa, experienced Sergeant Kelly (Thomas Mitchell) leads out a British patrol, accompanied by Corporal Colin Spence (Henry Fonda), an unassertive Canadian. When they are attacked by Italian airplanes, they manage to shoot one down, but it crashes on one of their vehicles, killing eight men. Later, Kelly leads the six survivors on an attack of an Italian armored car, but is seriously wounded. He orders Spence to leave him behind; when Spence refuses to obey, he shoots himself.
Spence leads the remaining three men towards an oasis. Before they can reach it though, a transport plane lands and disgorges German soldiers who set up a base. After sneaking in to steal badly needed food and water, Spence has to assert his leadership when one of his men advocates surrendering. Instead, Spence leads them in a surprise attack under the cover of a sandstorm. The British emerge victorious, though one man is killed and Spence is wounded.
The corporal comes to in a Cairo hospital and finds he is to be given a medal and promoted to lieutenant. His newfound assertiveness extends to his personal life. He proposes to his girlfriend Valentine (Maureen O'Hara), whom he had thought of (in flashbacks) throughout his ordeal.

The film chronicles ambassador Davies' impressions of the Soviet Union, his meetings with Stalin, and his overall opinion of the Soviet Union and its ties with the United States. It is made in a faux-documentary style, beginning with Davies meeting with president Franklin D. Roosevelt to discuss his new appointment as United States ambassador to the Soviet Union. It continues to show the Davies' family's trip by boat to Moscow, with stops in Europe.

After a German U-boat drops off Nazi saboteurs, RCMP Corporal Wagner (Flynn) captures the leader, Colonel Hugo von Keller (Helmut Dantine), the only survivor after an avalanche wipes out the rest of the group. When left alone with the Canadian Mountie, von Keller discovers that Wagner speaks German and is of German ancestry, and tries to persuade his captor to help him. After being taken into custody, von Keller leads a jailbreak from a prisoner of war camp, enlisting other German soldiers in his escape. Wagner, seemingly under suspicion by the RCMP of being a Nazi sympathizer, asks to be discharged from the force and is contacted by Ernst Willis (Gene Lockhart), a real enemy agent, who hires him as a wilderness guide.
Wagner and his new confederate set out for the north by train, while a pursuing Mountie who makes contact with Wagner is killed by the agent. Wagner is taken to von Keller and convinces him that he is loyal to Germany and can guide him and his companions through the Canadian wilderness to a mysterious destination. His fiancee Laura McBain (Julie Bishop) is held as a hostage to ensure his loyalty but Wagner, acting as a double agent, manages to send a message to headquarters to alert them of the Nazi saboteurs' plans.
Fellow Mountie Jim Austin (John Ridgely) follows their trail, but is spotted and killed, along with Willis and an Indian porter, before the group reaches a mine shaft where bomber components have been secreted before the war. The bomber is assembled and takes off for its mission: to bomb the main arterial waterway between the United States and Canada to disrupt transatlantic shipping of war materials. Wagner manages to escape, climb aboard the aircraft to shoot the crew, and parachute to safety before the bomber crashes. After recovering from a wound he received during the skirmish on board the aircraft, he and Laura marry.

In 1942, a small group of Allied soldiers and airmen stationed on Java are being bombed by Japanese aircraft daily. With only one working fighter of their own, and five pilots who volunteer to fly a dangerous mission, the Dutch commander, Major Eichel (Steven Geray) chooses George Collins (Franchot Tone) to bomb the Japanese aircraft carrier lying offshore. As the flight progresses, Eichel asks the other pilots to tell him about George. As they recount his rise from brilliant law student, it is apparent that his involvement in a scandal with the state's Governor, has led to attempts to redeem himself, especially for Freddie (Marsha Hunt), his long-time love. With the promise that his mission is "for his country," Collins sacrifices himself in a final dive on the carrier.

While stationed in Burma, buck privates Jerry Miles and Mike Strager are assigned to kitchen duty when they end up captured and taken to a prisoner-of-war camp with other soldiers, including Sgt. Burke, a man they know well.
The three escape and encounter two stranded American women, Connie and Janie, along the way. A clever ruse causes a company of Japanese soldiers pursuing them to plunge off a cliff. An elephant helps enable the five to get back to safety, although not before a Japanese tank begins firing at them. Everyone ends up safe and sound, although Jerry and Mike end up right back where they began, peeling potatoes.

Having being stationed in the Philippines for years as a member of the United States Marine Corps, NCO Sgt. Maj. William Bailey (Beery) is retired after serving for 30 years. This happens several months prior to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and their laying siege to the South Pacific.
When the Japanese invade the Philippines, Bailey confronts and strangles a Nazi secret agent, who is now spreading anti-American, pro-Japanese propaganda. The spy had posed as a religious pacifist until a devastating Japanese air attack caused many casualties against the unarmed civilians that Bailey, his wife, and daughter (Maxwell) had been living among.
Bailey then takes command of the local Filipino militia that he had earlier trained just prior to his retirement. They fight a series of delaying actions against a Japanese ground invasion force, slowing their attack, while waiting for the U.S. Marine island forces to arrive and counter-attack.
Later, while wearing his one time "dress blues" uniform jacket, he takes out an enemy machine gun emplacement as Marines blow up a vital bridge, halting the Japanese advance. Sgt. Major Bailey is suddenly killed by an air bombing attack after his heroic delaying actions have succeeded.
Years later at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, CA, Sgt. Major Bailey is posthumously awarded, by his former commander in the Philippines, the corps' highest medal for valor. His daughter, now a Marine sergeant, gratefully accepts the medal for her late father, as the entire base's assembled corps passes in review.

When only six of eight would-be German saboteurs are sentenced to death by an American court during World War II, an FBI agent complains to his boss, Craig (Ward Bond), about the other two. Craig tells him about one of the men sentenced to prison. A flashback ensues.
American attorney Carl Steelman (Sanders) stuns his German-born parents by telling them that he is a member of the German American Bund. His father (Ludwig Stössel), a loyal American, is particularly incensed. When Carl attends a Bund meeting, his colleague Ernst Reiter divulges that he has been called back to Germany to be trained as a saboteur. The police break up the meeting; fleeing, Reiter draws a gun and is shot dead. Later, Carl meets with Craig; Carl is actually an FBI undercover agent. Craig informs him that he is to impersonate Reiter and infiltrate the school.
In Hamburg, Carl becomes friendly with a woman named Helga Lorenz. Later, Colonel Taeger (Dennis Hoey) informs him that Helga is suspected of being in the German Underground, and orders him to continue seeing her to find incriminating evidence. After Carl accidentally finds some anti-Nazi leaflets, he warns Helga, but a spy with a telescope has witnessed this, so Carl has no choice but to denounce her himself. When she refuses to talk, Taeger orders her sent to a concentration camp. Carl manages to intercept the car taking her away and rescue her.
Then Reiter's wife shows up at his hotel. To prevent her from betraying him, he tells her that Reiter was captured in America, then asks her for a day to explain himself. He then tells Colonel Taeger that his "wife" has lost her mind. After questioning the woman himself, the colonel agrees and has her sent to an asylum.
When Carl's father becomes seriously ill, Craig tells him about his son's real mission, but stresses he can divulge the information to no one, not even his wife. Julius is too overjoyed to obey. He tells his close friend, Dr. Herman Holger (Sig Ruman).
Because of his excellent performance at the sabotage school, Carl is put in charge of the first group of saboteurs to be sent to America after the United States enters the war. He and three others board a U-boat. When Colonel Taeger is notified that a Carl Steelman is an American agent, he goes to see Frau Reiter; she confirms that Steelman was her husband's associate in America. Taeger has her shot to cover up his mistake, then sends an urgent message to the U-boat captain.
The submarine is attacked by American bombers, but escapes unharmed, and the saboteurs depart in a life raft before Taeger's message is received. Then the bomb Carl left aboard blows up, sending the submerged U-boat to the bottom. Ashore, the four men are spotted on the beach and arrested. Craig makes Carl maintain his cover and turn state's evidence against the others, as well as four saboteurs sent to Florida.
Then Carl goes home to see his parents and Dr. Holger. He informs Holger that he has a list of German agents in America, and that the doctor is on it at number eight. He takes Holger away.

In 1938, Brad Craig, the son of a famous Army colonel, arrives to start his freshman year at Texas A&M University. Brad has spent the past four years in the Philippines and has acquired both an intimate knowledge of Japanese culture and a desire to invest in the modernization of Asia. At the train station, Brad is met by cadet “Cyanide” Jenkins, his new roommate; he is also introduced to sophomore cadet “Panhandle” Mitchell, who wastes little time in penalizing Brad for various violations of cadet conduct. As Brad adjusts to life on campus, he becomes romantically involved with Nina Lambert, the daughter of beloved chemistry professor “Pop” Lambert.
Following an artillery exercise, Brad observes that the brakes on his section’s caisson appear to be damaged. Panhandle disregards Brad’s concerns and orders the section to move out; when the brakes fail and the caisson goes careening out of control, Brad risks his life to improvise a solution and prevent a disaster. His actions, which save Cyanide’s life, earn him Panhandle’s respect. Brad is soon promoted to “fish sergeant” and his upperclassmen delight in exhausting him by constantly staging fights and ordering Brad to intervene; he finally discovers the game and gets revenge.
As Brad’s college career progresses, he discusses the prospect of marriage with Nina. She, however, is secretly smitted with Cyanide (and he with her), though each is hesitant to disclose their feelings for one another. During the Field Artillery Ball, Brad encourages Cyanide and Nina to dance together, and they finally admit their mutual attraction; by the following year, they have become a couple with Brad’s blessing. Brad, meanwhile, lands himself in a difficult position when his classmates pressure him on his affinity for Japan, whose colonization efforts he supports as a means to modernize Asia. Though two Japanese- American cadets, Kubo and Matsui, come to his aid, their justification of Japanese war crimes angers the others and earns Brad the contempt of his friends.
While guarding the chemistry building one night, Brad discusses with Pop Lambert an invention of the professor’s, which will protect servicemen from poison gas. Pop hides the formula in his office to prevent tampering, but after he departs Brad is drugged and locked in a closet; he manages to escape and observes Kubo and Matsui ransacking the professor’s office. He trails the pair and confronts their employer, a traveling salesman working for the Japanese. Having taken some papers from Pop Lambert’s office, Brad offers to provide the spies with the formula in exchange for a bribe; he deliberately gives them a version of the formula which is missing a key element whose absence will render it useless.
Brad is accused of treason for his actions and, though the commandant does not have enough evidence to bring formal charges, he is ostracized by the student body and decides to leave the university. Months later, Brad is working for the Japanese Navy recording English-language propaganda for distribution in the United States. He is assigned to give radio commentary on an impending Japanese assault on the Solomon Islands; the maneuver is detected and a U.S. Navy carrier group moves to intercept the Japanese fleet. While airborne to cover the battle, Brad manages to contact the U.S. fighter group, led by Cyanide, revealing his covert infiltration of the Japanese military and offering his services to the American forces. He crashes his own plane into the Japanese aircraft carrier, disabling the flight deck and giving the Americans the advantage; Brad dies as the carrier is destroyed. He is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

In 1943, World War I veteran Jim Butler (Montagu Love), along with his daughter Nona (Inez Cooper) and their English servant and friend, Harry Adams (Ernie Adams), live on Sunday Island, a small island in the South Pacific. Their idyllic life is shattered when an air battle takes place over the island. One pilot bails out of his damaged aircraft while the other pilot manages to land.
A German pilot, Lt. Kurt Heiman (Henry Guttman) finds that the American pilot Allan Scott (Edward Norris) is unconscious, but before he is killed, Mona entreats Helman to bring the wounded American to her home. Butler is afraid that either pilot will contact their superiors about the valuable oil deposits on the island, so he takes control of the situation, confiscating the German's pistol and insisting that both antagonists agree to a truce.
Helman has a secret ally on the island, Captain Van Bronck (Robert Armstrong) and together, the two make plans to have Japanese invaders to take over the island. An uneasy alliance of Butler and the American pilot is needed to beat back the attack, but ultimately, the islanders and their friends are able to summon help from the Americans. Mona and Scott declare their love and prepare for a life together.

Somewhere in the Pacific, Bugs is floating in a box, singing to himself, when 'the island that inevitably turns up in this kind of picture' turns up. Bugs swims towards it, and admires the peace and quiet, when bombs start going off ("The Storm" from the William Tell Overture is also heard in the background). Bugs ducks into a haystack, and soon comes face to face with a Japanese soldier; a short, bucked tooth, bare-footed Japanese man who says his 'Ls' as 'Rs' and who might be rapidly stating the names of Japanese cities whenever he moves. The soldier chases Bugs to a rabbit hole, where the soldier dumps a bomb inside. However, Bugs manages to blow the soldier up with the bomb. When the soldier tries to swing a sword at Bugs, Bugs appears as a Japanese general (presumably Hideki Tojo), but is soon recognized by his trademark carrot eating, prompting the soldier (who says he saw Bugs in the "Warner Bros. Leon Schlesinger Merrie Melodies cartoon pictures", referring to the fact that Bugs was originally exclusive to that series) to ask him "What's up, Honorable Doc?"
Bugs then jumps into a plane and the soldier also jumps into a plane. However, Bugs ties the soldier's plane to a tree, causing the plane to be yanked out from under him. The soldier parachutes down, but is met by Bugs in mid-air, who hands "Moto" (cf. Mr. Moto) some 'scrap iron' (an anvil), causing the soldier to fall. Painting a Japanese flag on a tree to denote one soldier down, Bugs runs into a sumo wrestler, whom he confidently faces off against (cockily marking a second bigger flag on the tree). After getting temporarily beaten by the sumo wrestler (and, to be fair, wipes the second mark off the tree before collapsing), Bugs dresses as a geisha girl and knocks the wrestler out, who repaints a second flag on the tree before passing out.
Seeing a bunch of Japanese landing craft making their way to the island (exclaiming "Japs! Hundreds of 'em!"), Bugs thinks of a plan to get rid of all of them. He comes out in a 'Good Rumor' (a parody of Good Humor) truck, which plays Mozart ("Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" from The Magic Flute). Bugs hands each of the Japanese an ice cream with a grenade inside it. All the Japanese are killed off from the explosions, save for one who was killed after redeeming a 'free' ice cream from Bugs. Having now painted dozens of Japanese flags on the trees denoting all the downed enemy, Bugs comments again about the 'peace and quiet - and if there's one thing I CAN'T stand, it's peace and quiet!'.
Bugs spots an American battleship in the distance and raises a white flag, yelling for them to come get him, but they keep going. Bugs is insulted. "Do they think I want to spend the rest of my life on this island?" With this remark, a female rabbit (dressed in a more Hawaiian outfit) appears saying, "It's a possibility!" Bugs then pulls down the distress flag, lets out a wolf cry, and goes running after her.

The plot of the film revolves around the life of seamen on board an anonymous aircraft carrier. Because of war time restrictions, the name of the aircraft carrier was disguised as "the Fighting Lady", although she was later identified as USS Yorktown. ("Fighting Lady" was the known moniker of the Yorktown, just as "Lady Lex" for Lexington, "The Big E" for Enterprise, etc...) A few shots of aircraft landing were filmed aboard the Yorktown's sister ship USS Ticonderoga.
Frequently mentioned is the adage that war is 99% waiting. The first half or so of the film is taken up with examining the mundane details of life on board the aircraft carrier as she sails through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific Ocean, finally seeing action at Marcus Island (attacked in 1943). The film provides aerial views of a series of airstrikes at Japanese bases in the Pacific theatre.
Following an attack on Kwajalein in early 1944, intelligence reports that an armada of Japanese ships is massing near Truk, a major Japanese logistical base in the Carolines. The Fighting Lady and some of her task force are sent on a "hit and run" mission to neutralize it and return to Marcus, but not to attempt a landing.
Once the ship returns from the massive, two-day Truk raid, it is then sent to the waters off the Marianas and participates in the famous "Marianas Turkey Shoot".
At the very end some of the servicemen who appeared in the film are reintroduced to us, and the narrator informs us that they have died in battle.

Wedge Donovan (John Wayne) is a tough construction boss, building airstrips in the Pacific for the U.S. Navy during World War II. He clashes with his liaison officer, Lieutenant Commander Robert Yarrow (Dennis O'Keefe), over the fact that his men are not allowed to arm themselves against the Japanese. When the enemy lands in force on the island, he finally takes matters into his own hands, leading his men into the fray. This prevents Yarrow from springing a carefully devised trap that would have wiped out the invaders in a murderous machinegun crossfire, with minimal American losses. Instead, many of Donovan's men are killed unnecessarily.
As a result of this tragedy, Yarrow finally convinces the US Navy to form Construction Battalions (CBs, or the more familiar "Seabees") with Donovan's assistance, despite their mutual romantic interest in war correspondent Constance Chesley (Susan Hayward). Donovan and many of his men enlist and receive formal military training.
The two men are teamed together on yet another island. The Japanese launch a major attack, which the Seabees barely manage to hold off, sometimes using heavy construction machinery such as bulldozers and a clamshell bucket. When word reaches Donovan of another approaching enemy column, there are no sailors left to oppose this new threat. In desperation, he rigs a bulldozer with explosives on its blade, intending to ram it into a petroleum storage tank. The plan works, sending a cascade of burning liquid into the path of the Japanese, who retreat in panic, right into the sights of waiting machine guns. However, Wedge is shot in the process and dies in the explosion.

The film is an allegorical campaign film, designed to inspire viewers to register and to vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Democratic Party candidate, Roosevelt, is depicted as a modern streamlined steam train engine, the "Win the War Special", pulling a high-speed freight train of war materiel, whereas his Republican opponent Thomas E. Dewey is depicted as an old creaky steam train engine, the "Defeatist Limited" (numbered 1929 as a nod to the 1929 stock market crash) pulling cars variously representing hot air, high prices, taxes, business as usual ( a sleeper car), poor housing for war workers, a hearse wagon for labor legislation, a small two wheel cart with just a few apples inside for unemployment insurance, and finally a caboose named "Jim Crow."
The conflict in the film centers on Joe, a railroad switch operator who represents the American voting public. He is warned by the station master, Sam (a representation of Uncle Sam), not to fall asleep at the switch as he did in November 1942. Joe must then decide whether to listen to the influence of a cigar smoking gnome-like Dewey supporter and wrecker who tries to make him fall asleep at the switch, or to fight that influence and make sure that the Roosevelt "Win the War Special" stays on the track towards Washington. At one point, the phantasmagoric saboteur briefly metamorphosizes into Adolf Hitler whilst trying to beguile Joe into neglecting his duties. After a notable nightmare sequence, in which Joe fights his way through sales taxes (tacks), 'frozen' wages, and rising prices (depicted by a boxcar always increasing in height so that he's never able to climb on to the roof), he pulls the switch to sideline the Defeatist Limited. The train tries to stop by running into reverse, which damages many of its cars, but when he is not able to slow down and hitting the switch which is against him, the train engine and his cars derail and crash, while the "Win the War Special" advances down the track toward Washington, full steam ahead.
The film ends with a paean to the bountiful post-war world to come; the Win the War Special's caboose is the "Post War Observation Car", and constituencies such as Joe Soldier, Joe Farmer, J. Industrialist, Joe Industrialist, Jr., and Joe Worker are shown examining fold-out brochures depicting the benefits of the American post-war world, including the benefits of the GI Bill and Social Security.

In World War II, Roberta Harper (Loretta Young) leads the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), made up of 25 women who ferry aircraft across the United States allowing male pilots to be released for combat service. Despite their success, her commanding officer, Colonel Andy Brennan (Richard Fraser) says that her pilots may not be able to handle dangerous missions. Roberta also has to contend with her impetuous sister, Virginia "Virgie" Alford (Geraldine Fitzgerald), and other concerns such as an affair involving Nadine Shannon (Diana Barrymore), one of her pilots. Famous aerobatic pilot Gerry Vail (Anne Gwynne), a member of "The Flying Vails", is afraid that her 100th flight may be her last, a fate that befell her father and brothers during their 100th performance. Roberta assures her that her 100th flight has already taken place.
The WAFS soon have a real tragedy when one of their own dies in a crash. With the depression that sets in among the women, a top-secret mission to deliver aircraft to "Easy Queen Island," a front line air base in the Pacific, appears to be the way to prove their worth to their army superiors. Roberta is mortified when publicity-seeking Virgie crashes her aircraft on purpose and is "washed-out" by her older sister. Roberta accepts the blame for tolerating Virgie's reckless behavior, and resigns from the WAFS. She then learns her husband Tommy (Phillip Terry) is "missing in action". Virgie tries to make things right, but after stealing an aircraft to fly to army headquarters in Washington, crashes and nearly kills herself.
Although the WAFS seems to be in disarray, a surprise announcement by Brigadier General Wade (Samuel S. Hinds), a high-ranking Pentagon officer, changes everything. He informs Roberta, who has recently returned as their leader, that the unit is to be part of the military as the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS). The ferry mission to the Pacific has also been reinstated. As the squadron readies for their new mission, Roberta is reunited with her husband, who returned home safely. The squadron is finally able to take off and head to the Pacific to deliver much-needed combat aircraft, including the latest fighter and bomber aircraft from American factories.

The film centres on the trial of Wilhelm Grimm as a war criminal. Each character witness provides a flashback scene to a previous part of Grimm's life. In the trial, it is revealed that Grimm (Alexander Knox), who fought for Germany in the First World War and lost a leg in battle, returns after the war to the small German village of Litzbark (now in newly independent Poland) where he had been a teacher. Despite the recent hostilities, he is welcomed back into the community and resumes his teaching. He also resumes his relationship with Marja Pacierkowski, a local Polish girl to whom he had become engaged before the war.
He is bitter about Germany losing the war and it is obvious he has been changed by the experience. He treats the villagers with disdain, and his upcoming marriage is cancelled. He calls his fiancée a "peasant" only interested in her wedding dowry.
Taunted by the school's pupils, who say he is not fit to marry any Polish woman, he molests one of them, Anna, a young girl. The rape is blamed on her young male friend, Jan Stys, but Wilhelm's fiancée accidentally stumbles on the truth from Anna. The girl subsequently drowns herself in the lake. A mob gathers seeking vengeance, but a trial is required. Nevertheless, Jan throws a stone, putting out Wilhelm's left eye. After the trial fails to convict him, he returns to Germany, after borrowing money from the priest and the rabbi.
In Germany he goes to Munich to the house of his brother Karl, who is married with a young family. Karl clearly despises the Nazis, referring scornfully to "that Hitler creature". Karl cannot dissuade Wilhelm, though, and Wilhelm joins the Nazi Party and rises through its ranks. In 1929 he is sought by the police after the Nazi Party is made illegal. His nephew keeps the police at bay and Wilhelm rewards him with a swastika badge. As the Nazis grow in strength Karl decides he has no option but to leave Germany and go to Vienna. He threatens to reveal Wilhelm's part in the Reichstag fire unless he joins them, but instead of doing so, Wilhelm turns them over to the authorities, sending his own brother to a concentration camp. He then arranges that Karl's son enters the Hitler Youth.
When the Second World War starts, Grimm becomes the commander of the occupying force of the same village where he had previously lived. He treats the villagers brutally. He forces Marja, now a schoolteacher, to burn the children's books, saying they will be replaced by German books. He cruelly says that time has not treated her well and taunts her for rejecting him due to his leg injury. His nephew Willi, whom Wilhelm asserts that he treats as his own son, is now serving under him and pursuing Marja's daughter, Janina.
Grimm, who is now a Reichs Commissioner, next becomes involved in the large-scale deportation of the Jews and other minority groups. He commands the rabbi to quell dissent among the crowd as they are placed on the trains. The rabbi, knowing that they are going to die, instructs the crowd to rebel instead, upon which the Nazis turn machine guns onto the crowd. Wilhelm kills the rabbi with his pistol. Father Warecki exchanges final words with him as he dies.
Willi finds Marja and Janina hiding Jan Stys, who is injured, but he leaves without Jan when Marja rebukes him, and seems to soften in his attitude. Wilhelm sends Janina to work at the "officers' club", the Nazi name for enforced prostitution. Willi begs that she be released, to no avail. When Janina also dies, Grimm's nephew renounces his Nazi allegiance, having realised what an evil path Wilhelm has led him on. While Willi is praying by the side of Janina's body in the church, Wilhelm shoots him in the back.
We return to the courtroom. Wilhelm refuses to accept the authority of the court and continues to spout Nazi propaganda. The judge leaves it to the people to decide Grimm's fate.


In April 1942, after a raid on Japan, eight American aircrew made up of the crews from two North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, are captured. Capt. Harvey Ross (Dana Andrews), becomes the leader of the captives. Initially, the men are picked up by a local government official who is a Chinese collaborator in a Wang Jingwei controlled section of China. The Chinese official delivers the Americans to the Imperial Japanese Army to be put on trial at the Shanghai Police Headquarters. Although international observers and correspondents are allowed to witness the trial, the commanding officer, General Mitsubi (Richard Loo) refuses to allow Karl Kappel (Torben Meyer), the Swiss Consul to contact Washington.
At the start of the trial, Lt. Greenbaum (Sam Levene), an attorney in civilian life (CCNY Law 1939), declares the trial is illegal, as the men are in the military service of their country. When the senior officer Captain Ross refuses to answer the demands of the sly General Mitsubi to reveal the location of their aircraft carrier, the general decides to break the men. The airmen endure harsh interrogation and torture from the Japanese guards with Sgt. Jan Skvoznik (Kevin O'Shea) left in a catatonic state with a permanent head twitch. In court, the men see the pitiful state of Skvoznik. Lts. Canelli (Richard Conte) and Vincent (Don "Red" Barry) rush the Japanese general, quickly felled by rifle butts and are returned to their cell. Canelli, an artist, suffers a broken right hand and arm. Vincent ends up in a catatonic state much like Skvoznik. Sgt. Clinton (Farley Granger) returns seemingly unharmed, but the Japanese have ruptured his vocal cords, and he is unable to speak. The Japanese have a listening device in the cell when Greenbaum (Sam Levene) repeats what the speechless Clinton writes. If anything happens to Lt. Bayforth (Charles Russell), he will tell all. After being tortured, Bayforth returns with his hands and arms useless, covered in black rubber gloves.
In the face of his captives' unshakable resolve and the realization that the Japanese are doomed to destruction, the sadistic General Mitsubi ultimately chooses to shoot himself. The systematic torture and abuse the airmen endured while in captivity, and their final humiliation of being tried, convicted and executed as war criminals is unveiled to the world.

American conductor John Meredith (Robert Taylor) and his manager, Hank Higgins (Robert Benchley), go to the Soviet Union shortly before the country is invaded by Germany. Meredith falls in love with beautiful Soviet pianist Nadya Stepanova (Susan Peters) while they travel throughout the country on a 40-city tour. Their bliss is destroyed by the German invasion.

In February 1942, just two months after the Pearl Harbor attack, the United States Army Air Forces plan to retaliate by bombing Tokyo and four other Japanese cities—taking advantage of the fact that US aircraft carriers can approach near enough to the Japanese mainland to make such an attack feasible.
Lt.Col. James Doolittle (Spencer Tracy), the leader of the mission, assembles a volunteer force of aircrews, who begin their top-secret training by learning a new technique to make their North American B-25 Mitchell medium bombers airborne in the short distance of 500 feet or less, to simulate taking off from the deck of an aircraft carrier.
After depicting the raiders' weeks of hazardous training at Eglin Field, Florida and Naval Air Station Alameda, the story goes on to describe the raid and its aftermath.
While en route to Japan, the Hornet's task force is discovered by a Japanese picket boat, which has radioed their position. It is sunk, and the bombers are forced to take off 12 hours early at the extreme limit of their range. However, the bombers do make it to Japan and drop their bombs.
After the attack, all but one of the B-25s run out of fuel before reaching their recovery airfields in China. As a result, their crews are forced to either bail out over China or crash-land along the coast.
Lawson's B-25 unfortunately crashes in the surf just off the Chinese coast while trying to land on a beach in darkness and heavy rain. He and his crew survive, badly injured, but then face more hardships and danger while being escorted to American lines by friendly Chinese. While he is en route, Lawson's injuries require the mission's flight surgeon to amputate one of his legs.
The story ends with Lawson being reunited with his wife Ellen in a Washington, D.C., hospital.

The film begins with the then-recent US Army Ranger raid at Cabanatuan prisoner-of-war camp. The film then flashes back to March 1942.
As the U.S. Army under General MacArthur struggles to hold on at Bataan against the Japanese, Colonel Joseph Madden (John Wayne) orders one of his officers, Captain Andrés Bonifácio (Anthony Quinn), to shape up. Bonifácio has been under a strain because his sweetheart Dalisay Delgado (Fely Franquelli) is apparently collaborating with the Japanese, broadcasting propaganda over the radio.
Later, Madden is picked to slip through the lines to organize Filipinos to fight as guerrillas against the occupying Japanese forces. His commanding officer lets him know that Delgado is actually using the propaganda broadcasts to secretly transmit valuable information to them, but he is ordered to reveal that fact to no one, not even Bonifácio.
Madden makes contact with one group of Filipino resistance fighters, but as they set out to on their first mission, they encounter middle-aged American school teacher Bertha Barnes (Beulah Bondi). She and her students join the guerrillas after the Japanese hang Buenaventura Bello (Vladimir Sokoloff), the principal of her school and a dear friend, for refusing to take down the American flag.
Setting out on their first mission to destroy a Japanese gasoline dump, Madden and his men stumble upon the Bataan Death March and realize that Bataan has fallen. Many of the Filipinos lose heart, so to fan their will to fight, Madden finds and engineers the rescue of Captain Bonifácio from the Death March. Bonifácio happens to be the grandson of Andrés Bonifacio, a national hero. It works; for the group's first mission the guerrillas come to the Flilipino village and hang the Japanese officer who ordered the killing of Bello; and over the next year, Madden and his guerrillas attack Japanese outposts, supply depots, military airfields and other installations.
Major Hasko (Richard Loo), one of the Japanese commanders, attempts to appease the local population by staging a semi-independence ceremony to reduce popular support for the Filipino resistance. Madden, Bonifácio and the guerrillas attack the ceremony, where Dalisay finally reveals her true alliance when, during her radio broadcast, she urges her people to rise up against the Japanese. Most of the Japanese troops are killed in the raid, but young Filipino boy Maximo Cuenca (one of Barnes' students) is captured. After being beaten, he agrees to lead the Japanese to the Madden's hideout. However, as they near the spot, Maximo grabs the steering wheel of the Japanese truck, sending it careening down a mountainside. He dies in the arms of Miss Barnes.
Later, Colonel Madden is ordered out of the field, leaving Captain Bonifácio in command of the Filipino resistance. Several months later in October 1944, Bonifácio and his group travel to Leyte, where rumors are circulating of the impending American invasion to liberate the Philippines. After arriving on Leyte, Bonifácio is reunited with Madden. They are given the mission of taking and holding a small village to block Japanese reinforcements from repelling the impending American landing.
By trickery, Madden, Bonifácio and their men engage and defeat the Japanese garrison in a fierce pitched battle. However, two enemy soldiers get away on a motorcycle to spread the alarm. Japanese tanks and soldiers attack. The defenders manage to knock out most of the tanks, but are on the verge of being forced to retreat. Just when all seems lost, American reinforcements and tanks arrive and turn the tide of the battle.
The film closes with another short montage of several of the actual released Americans from the Cabanatuan prison camp.

The story concerns Italian-American U.S. Army Major Joppolo, who is placed in charge of the town of Adano during the invasion of Sicily. The title refers to Major Joppolo's attempts to replace the 700-year-old bell that was taken from the town by the Fascists at the start of the war to be melted down for ammunition. Through his actions, Joppolo also wins the trust and love of the people.
Some of the changes Joppolo brings into the town include:
Democracy
Free fishing privilege
The freedom of mule carts
A bell from the American Navy to replace the town bell
The short-tempered American commander, General Marvin, fires Major Joppolo from his position when Joppolo disobeys an order to prohibit mule cart traffic in Adano, which has been disrupting Allied supply trucks, because the mule carts are vital to the survival of the town.
The character of Joppolo was based on the real life experiences of Frank Toscani, who was military governor of the town of Licata, Sicily after the Allied invasion.

In the film, the U.S. government gives Major Steve Ross (Tom Neal) plastic surgery to make him appear Japanese; Ross had lived in Japan and is well versed with Japanese culture. The government assigns Ross to rescue Lewis Jardine, a scientist bearing valuable secrets about the atomic bomb. Ross is also driven by the knowledge that his one true love, Abby, was captured by the Japanese and "is in their hands".
Both Abby and Ross's former college roommate, the treacherous Hideki Okfnura (Richard Loo), are now at the same prison camp where Jardine is being held. Abby (Barbara Hale), does not recognize Steve but senses something strange about the new Japanese soldier from Korea. She detects something about him that makes him different from all the other Japanese who are uniformly portrayed as crazed sadists who, when not busy committing war crimes and stealing, drink themselves into a stupor and then give free rein to their insatiable lust for American women.
Okanura (Richard Loo) is a colonel in the Japanese army who attended American universities to steal industrial secrets and plan sabotage, and was Ross's roommate at the time. He detects something strangely familiar about his new NCO. In addition to committing acts of savagery, Okanura enjoys driving his subordinates to suicide and leering at Abby. When he sees a dog chase Major Ross across the prison yard, Okanura he remembers where he last saw such "superb open field running", recalling a college football game where Steve Ross excelled. Okanura also recalls that his American roommate displayed a nervous thumb gesture identical to the one seen in the mysterious new NCO.
In the film's climax, Major Ross places a bomb in the prison camp's factory, where Allied prisoners are being worked to death by Japanese guards who then steal their food. Okanura has recovered film footage of Ross playing football at university, and is on the verge of exposing him, but is interrupted when the bomb goes off and throws the camp into confusion. Ross kills Okanura with his bare hands, frees Abby and Jardine and then leads the group to a rendezvous with an US submarine just off shore. At the last second, Steve realizes that he cannot go back to the States "looking like a Jap" and bundles his charges into a boat. He stays behind to help some Korean prisoners kill some more of the "yellow monkeys".

The film is divided in three parts. The first takes place prior to the war where cocky Philadelphia steel worker and "Man's man" Al Schmid (John Garfield) despises the idea of marriage and losing his independence until he meets his match in Ruth Hartley (Eleanor Parker). Ruth takes no nonsense from him and impresses Schmid by enjoying a hunting trip he takes her on.
In part two, at the Battle of the Tenaru River on Guadalcanal, Schmid is in the crew of a M1917 Browning machine gun with his buddies Lee Diamond (Dane Clark) and Johnny Rivers (Anthony Caruso) of "H" Company 2nd Battalion First Marines. While the three wait for an enemy attack, they practice gun emplacement procedures– establishing fields of fire, practicing with the range card to estimate firing distances, and determining the optimal traversal and elevation settings for each anticipated line of attack. The subsequent onslaught by the enemy is particularly heavy. Rivers is killed by a bullet through the head, Diamond wounded by three machine gun bullets in his right arm, and Schmid is blinded by a Japanese soldier dropping a hand grenade at the front of the gun pit. In spite of the heavy attack, Schmid is able to fire his weapon by following Diamond's instructions. Together, they kill 200 of the enemy.
The third part is Schmid's humbling rehabilitation, in which he resents being dependent upon others. He hopes that an operation will restore his sight, but the medical procedure wasn't successful. He doesn't want Ruth to know that he is nearly completely blind, and he attempts to break up with her. Schmid learns responsibility through Diamond, hospital rehabilitation officer Virginia Pfeiffer (Rosemary DeCamp) and the other wounded veterans. He is to be awarded the Navy Cross, but is dismayed that the ceremony will take place in his home town. He initially feels anger and discomfort when he becomes dependent upon family and friends, primarily because he doesn't want to be a burden to anyone. In spite of his resentment, Ruth stays by his side and helps him overcome his bitterness, and convinces him that he must learn to live with his new situation.

The untested infantrymen of C Company, 18th Infantry, U.S. Army, board trucks to travel to the front for the first time. Lt. Bill Walker (Robert Mitchum) allows war correspondent Ernie Pyle (Burgess Meredith), himself a rookie to combat, to hitch a ride with the company. Ernie surprises Walker and the rest of the men by deciding to go with them all the way to the front lines. Just getting to the front through the rain and mud is an arduous task, but the diminutive, forty-two-year-old Ernie manages to keep up.
Ernie gets to know the men whose paths he will cross and write about again and again in the next year:
Private Robert "Wingless" Murphy, a good-natured man who was rejected by the Air Corps for being too tall;
Private Dondaro, an Italian-American from Brooklyn whose mind is always on women and conniving to be with one;
Sergeant Warnicki, who misses the young son ("Junior") he has never seen;
Private Mew, from Brownsville, Texas, who has no family back home but finds one in the outfit, exemplified by his naming beneficiaries for his G.I. life insurance among them.
Their "baptism of fire" is at the Battle of Kasserine Pass, a bloody chaotic defeat. Ernie is present at battalion headquarters when Lieutenant Walker arrives as a runner for his company commander; Walker has already become an always tired, seemingly emotionless, and grimy soldier. Ernie and the company go their separate ways, but months later he seeks them out, confessing that, as the first outfit he ever covered, they are in his mind the best outfit in the army. He finds them on a road in Italy, about to attack a German-held town, just as the soldiers are elated or disappointed at "mail call": letters for Murphy and Dondaro, a package with a phonograph record of his son's voice for Warnicki, but nothing for now Captain Walker. Ernie finds that Company C has become very proficient at killing without remorse. In house-to-house combat, they capture the town. Fatigue, however, is an always present but never conquerable enemy. When arrangements are made for Wingless Murphy to marry "Red", his Army nurse fiancee, in the town they have just captured, Ernie is recruited to give the bride away, but can barely keep awake.
The company advances to a position in front of Monte Cassino, but, unable to advance, they are soon reduced to a life of living in caves dug in the ground, enduring persistent rain and mud, conducting endless patrols and subjected to savage artillery barrages. When his men are forced to eat cold rations for Christmas dinner, Walker obtains turkey and cranberry sauce for them from a rear echelon supply lieutenant at gunpoint. Casualties are heavy: young replacements are quickly killed before they can learn the tricks of survival in combat (which Walker confesses to Ernie makes him feel like a murderer), Walker is always short of lieutenants, and the veterans lose men, including Wingless Murphy. After a night patrol to capture a prisoner, Warnicki suffers a nervous breakdown when, finally hearing his son's voice on the record, his pent up frustrations at the war are released. Walker sadly directs the others to subdue the hysterical sergeant and sends him to the infirmary. Ernie returns to the correspondents' quarters to write a piece on Murphy's death and is told by his fellow reporters that he has won the Pulitzer Prize for his combat reporting. Ernie again catches up with the outfit on the side of the road to Rome after Cassino has finally been taken. He greets Mew and a few of the old hands, but the pleasant reunion is interrupted when a string of mules is led into their midst, each carrying the dead body of a G.I. to be gently placed on the ground. A final mule, led by Dondaro, bears the body of Captain Walker. One by one, the old hands reluctantly come forth to express their grief in the presence of Walker's corpse.

In December 1941, a squadron of PT Boats under the command of Lt. John "Brick" Brickley (Robert Montgomery) is sent to Manila to help defend the Philippines against a potential Japanese invasion. However, upon their arrival, instead of a welcome, they are ridiculed by the local military commanders. One of Brick's men, Lt., J.G. "Rusty" Ryan (John Wayne) becomes disgusted when his superiors refuse to see the small boats as viable naval craft and is in the process of writing his request for a transfer to destroyers when news arrives of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which makes transfer at that time impossible.
Ryan and Brickley's demands for combat assignments for their squadron are frustrated for a time as they are assigned to messenger duty, but when the Japanese launch a surprise attack with warplanes, they are hastily pressed into combat duty. They are again subjected to messenger duty, infuriating Ryan who continually requests transfer to a destroyer. Eventually, the local command recognizes the effectiveness of the small boats and use them for intercepting and sinking larger Japanese boats. As they are about to leave on a mission to sink a Japanese cruiser, Brick orders Rusty to the hospital, where it is discovered that he has blood poisoning. While in the hospital, Rusty begins a romance with Army nurse Sandy Davyss (Donna Reed). Brick's boats sink the cruiser, after which the squadron meets with more and more success, even as they suffer the loss of both boats and men. However, the American forces are vastly outgunned and outnumbered by the Japanese forces, and it is only a matter of time before the islands are lost.
With the mounting Japanese onslaught against the doomed American garrisons at Bataan and Corregidor, the squadron is sent to evacuate General Douglas MacArthur, his family, and a party of VIPs. This done, they resume their attacks against the Japanese, who gradually whittle down the squadron. As boats are lost, their crews are sent to fight as infantry. Finally, the last boat is turned over to the Army for messenger duty. Brickley, Ryan and two ensigns are airlifted out on the last plane because the PT boats have proved their worth and they are needed stateside to train replacement PT boat officers and crews. The remaining enlisted men, led by Chief Mulcahey, are left behind to continue the fight with remnants of the U.S. Army and Filipino guerrillas.

Businessman Eddie Clark (Ralph Edwards) tells a reporter the story behind his conglomerate of products branded as the "Bamboo Blonde". During the Pacific War, Captain Patrick Ransom, Jr. ([Russell Wade]]), the pilot of a B-29 bomber is stood up by his fiancée Eileen Sawyer (Jane Greer) on the way to meet his new crew at a New York nightclub, owned by Clark. Instead, he sees Louise Anderson (Frances Langford), a beautiful blonde singer at the nightclub. Although engaged, he falls in love with the singer, but has to leave next day for action in the Pacific, joining an experienced bomber crew as their new pilot. The crew is reluctant to accept their new "skipper" and decide to dump him at the out-of-bounds nightclub, coming back later to find the Captain and the torch singer kissing.
In the Pacific, after realizing that a string of their bad luck has to be broken, Captain Ransom acquiesces to the crew painting the image of "Bamboo Blonde" on the nose of his bomber, as the crew members think that the striking blonde singer they had seen, is his girl. The "Bamboo Blonde" becomes famous when the B-29 sinks a Japanese battleship and shoots down numerous Japanese fighter aircraft. The armed forces decides to bring the "Bamboo Blonde" and its crew back home to sell war bonds across the country and Clark knows that he can exploit his singer's connection to the famous bomber. Back in New York, the Captain leaves his fiancée and seeks out Louise, who has also fallen in love with the pilot.

At an American air base in England in 1943, conniving, womanizing Sergeant Dolan (Tom D'Andrea) manipulates everyone, while insubordinate, maverick ace fighter pilot Major Ed Hardin (Edmund O'Brien) gives his commanding officer and close friend, Colonel Brickley (John Rodney), headaches by ignoring the out-of-date rules of engagement formulated by Brigadier General M. Gilbert (Shepperd Strudwick). When Major General Mike McCready (Henry Hull) promotes Brickley to whip a new squadron into shape, so Brickley recommends Hardin as his replacement.
Despite his misgivings, McCready agrees. To everyone's surprise, Hardin strictly enforces the rules. One rule in particular, forbidding pilots to marry, irks his friend and wingman Captain Stu Hamilton (Robert Stack). As a result, when his tour of duty ends, Hamilton does not sign up for another, and instead goes home to marry his sweetheart. He later returns a married man, however, hoping to persuade Hardin to overlook his transgression.
Hardin refuses to let him back into the squadron, but does weaken enough to let him fly one last mission. Unfortunately, Hamilton is shot down and killed; he admits to Hardin over the radio as his aircraft plummets to Earth, that he was distracted by thoughts of his wife.
McCready decides that he needs Hardin for his staff, but allows Hardin to first finish his current tour. His next mission is providing close air support for the Allied landings on D-Day. His aircraft is hit by flak and goes down in slow spiral. Hardin's final fate, though, remains unknown as his squadron continues to support the D-Day invasion in the days that follow.

Note: the story is told from the viewpoint of Corporal Robert Dunne (Arthur Franz).
Tough-as-nails career Marine Sergeant John Stryker (John Wayne) is greatly disliked by the men of his squad, particularly the combat replacements, for the rigorous training he puts them through. He is especially despised by PFC Peter "Pete" Conway (John Agar), the arrogant, college-educated son of an officer, Colonel Sam Conway under whom Stryker served and admired, and PFC Al Thomas (Forrest Tucker), who blames him for his demotion.
When Stryker leads his squad in the invasion of Tarawa, the men begin to appreciate his methods. Within the first couple of minutes of the battle, the platoon leader, Lt. Baker (Gil Herman), is killed only seconds after he lands on the beach, PFC "Farmer" Soames (James Holden) is wounded in the leg, and PFC Choynski (Hal Baylor) receives a head wound. The marines are aggressively pinned down by a pillbox.
Able Company commander Captain Joyce (John McGuire) takes charge and he begins to send out marines to silence the pillbox. As a result of three unsuccessful attempts to reach the pillbox, two demolition marines and a flamethrower operator are killed and PFC Shipley (Richard Webb) is left mortally wounded in the line of fire. Sgt. Stryker takes action and demolishes the pillbox. Shipley would eventually die of his wounds in front of his best friend Regazzi (Wally Cassell).
Later on, Thomas becomes distracted from his mission, and "goofs off" when he goes to get ammunition for two comrades, stopping to savor a cup of coffee. As a result, though he brings back coffee for his squadmates, he returns too late — the two Marines, now out of ammunition, in the interim are shown being overrun; Hellenopolis (Peter Coe) is killed, Bass (James Brown) badly wounded.
On their first night, the squad is ordered to dig in and hold their positions under the cover of darkness. Bass lies wounded from a distance and begs for help. Conway considers Stryker brutal and unfeeling when he decides to apparently abandon Bass to the enemy.
After the battle, Stryker discovers the truth he forces Thomas into a fistfight. This is seen by a passing officer (Don Haggerty) but Thomas, to Stryker's surprise, deflects the officer's intention of pressing charges against Stryker for violation of military rules in striking a subordinate by claiming that he was merely being taught judo by his superior. Subsequently, ravaged by his conscience over the fate of his fellow Marines, Thomas breaks down and abjectly apologizes for his dereliction of duty.
The squad receives three new recruits: Stein (Leonard Gumley), Fowler (William Self), and McHugh (Martin Milner). Stryker reveals a softer side of his character while on leave in Honolulu. He picks up a bargirl (Julie Bishop) and returns with her to her apartment. He becomes suspicious when he hears somebody in the next room, but upon investigation, finds only a hungry baby boy that his intended paramour is supporting the best way she can. Stryker gives the woman, whose child's father was "gone," some money and departs. The woman had earlier noted that there were "worse ways to make a living than fighting a war," in reference to her current lot in life.
Later, during a training exercise, McHugh drops a live hand grenade. Everybody drops to the ground, except Conway, who is distracted reading a letter from his wife. Stryker knocks him down, saving his life, and then proceeds to bawl him out in front of the platoon.

Freighter owner and captain Mike Dillon (Dana Andrews) reluctantly smuggles Jewish immigrants into Palestine, making it very clear to the Jewish leader, David Vogel (Stephen McNally), he is only doing it for the money. Dillon is annoyed to learn that he will have to go ashore to get paid the $8000 he is owed. When a British patrol boat arrives sooner than expected, Dillon is forced to join the Jews in their flight for freedom. There are casualties on both sides before the illegal refugees get away, including one of Dillon's men.

In April 1942 in the Philippines, an American motor torpedo boat is destroyed by Japanese planes. The survivors, among them Ensign Chuck Palmer (Tyrone Power), make their way ashore on Cebu. Their commander orders them to split up. Chuck pairs up with Jim Mitchell (Tom Ewell) and reaches Colonel Benson on Leyte, only to be told that he has been ordered by General Douglas MacArthur to surrender his forces soon.
Chuck helps Jeanne Martinez (Micheline Presle), a Frenchwoman married to a Filipino planter, get medical assistance for a pregnant woman. Jeanne pleads with Chuck to stay and fight, but he buys an outrigger canoe (banca or bangka) and recruits a crew of Air Corps soldiers in a desperate, but unsuccessful attempt to sail to Australia. When the boat founders, the crew is rescued by Miguel (Tommy Cook), a member of the Filipino resistance. The Americans evade capture and Chuck eventually meets Jeanne again, as well as her husband Juan (Juan Torena), a secret supporter of the resistance movement.
Chuck is ordered to stay in the Philippines to help set up a network to gather intelligence on the Japanese. Later, Juan is beaten to death in front of Jeanne in an attempt to find out where the guerrillas are hiding out. Jeanne joins the resistance and is reunited with Chuck at Christmas 1943. They begin to fall in love.
After three years of fighting, Chuck, Jeanne, Jim and the rest of their band are trapped in a church by a Japanese patrol. Just when it looks as if they will be wiped out, squadrons of American planes appear overhead and explosions are heard, announcing the liberation of the Philippines is underway. The Japanese leave to face this greater threat.

Off-duty American airmen of the 19th Troop Carrier Squadron in Hawaii are ordered to report to their squadron in July 1948. What is briefed as a temporary "training assignment" in the United States becomes a flight halfway around the world to Germany for the C-54 Skymasters of the 19th, where the Soviets have blockaded Berlin in an attempt to force out the Allies by starving the city. Tech Sgt. Danny MacCullough (Montgomery Clift), flight engineer of a C-54 nicknamed The White Hibiscus, is immediately ordered to fly with his crew from Frankfurt into Tempelhof Airport to deliver a load of coal. His friend Master Sgt. Hank Kowalski (Paul Douglas), a ground-controlled approach (GCA) operator, hitches a ride with them to his new station. Hank, a POW during World War II, resents the German people and goes out of his way to be rude and overbearing to them. Danny on the other hand is frustrated at being restricted to the airport because of the necessity of quickly offloading and returning to Frankfurt.
Months later, the crew of "Big Easy 37" (a call sign, airlift shorthand for an eastbound C-54) rename their airplane Der Schwarze (The Black) Hibiscus because of the grimy soot that has accumulated in it from hauling coal. They become temporary celebrities on a mission when they are the 100,000th flight of "Operation Vittles" into Berlin. Danny is immediately enamored of Frederica Burkhardt (Cornell Borchers), an attractive German war widow chosen to thank him on behalf of the women of Berlin. When a news correspondent covering the ceremony recruits Danny for a public relations stunt, Danny jumps at the opportunity as a means of getting a pass in Berlin and seeing Frederica again. During a tour of the city, Danny's uniform is accidentally covered with poster paste, forcing him to wear civilian working clothes until it is cleaned. They meet Hank and his "Schatzi", the friendly and intelligent Gerda, at a night club, where Hank is rude to Frederica and treats Gerda as an inferior. Hank chances to see the former prison guard who tortured him as a POW, and beats him nearly to death. Danny is able to stop Hank only by knocking him down. Mistaken for a German attacking Hank, he is chased into the Soviet occupation zone by military police.
Danny and Frederica narrowly escape back into the American zone, where Hank is waiting for them at Frederica's apartment and has unexpectedly befriended her neighbor and Danny's friend, Herr Stieber (O.E. Hasse), a self-professed Soviet spy. Danny falls in love with Frederica, despite learning from Hank that she lied to him about the backgrounds of her dead husband and father. When Danny receives notice that he is due to rotate back to the United States soon, he arranges to marry Frederica. However, Herr Stieber suspects duplicity in Frederica and intercepts a letter she has written to her German lover living in the United States, revealing that she intends to divorce Danny back in the U.S. as soon as she legally can, and see her lover behind his back until that happens.
In the meantime, Hank, in trying to teach Gerda the meaning of democracy (and now deeply ashamed of the beating he inflicted on the former guard), comes to see that he has been hypocritical in his own actions toward Germans. He begins treating Gerda as an equal and with affection as they meet Frederica to be witnesses to the wedding. When Danny arrives, he tells Fredrica she will have to wait a long time, if ever, to get to America. Herr Stieber has given Danny the letter she wrote. Gerda says she prefers to stay in Germany and do her small part in helping rebuild the country, and Hank reveals to Danny that he is not going home but has switched his temporary assignment in Berlin to permanent duty. Danny's flight out departs, amidst rumors that the Russians will soon end the blockade.

Crime of Korea opens with the narrator reminiscing about what Korea was like when he first arrived in 1945 for the Japanese surrender. He notes how well the Allies were received and how the Korean people were glad to finally be rid of their Japanese colonial masters, as well as "centuries of Russian and Chinese domination." Various public buildings are shown and the many activities for rebuilding the nation are described.
Flash forward to 1950, and the narrator is back in Korea as a war correspondent. The many buildings and public centers are seen gutted or destroyed and many Korean people are shown shot, with their hands tied behind their backs. The narrator gives background information about Communist war crimes, stating that it was monotonous that they found the same stories everywhere. But then, there was the crime of war, the crime of aggression that has sent so many people to their deaths needlessly.
The massacre shown illustrates the true nature of the aggressor, the North Korean invaders. “Everywhere lay the murdered dead”. The field of pits of dead bodies shown in the film is from the Taejon massacre. The film suggests the numbers of victims are 10,000 to 25,000 or more. The narrator tells us that “...perhaps the total figure right now is approximate, if that makes any difference.” The actual number was over 7,000.
There are other details that don't seem to make any difference to the narrator who vows that “we will make these war criminals (meaning the communists who are blamed for the massacre) pay.” According to the historian Bruce Cumings, author of books on the origins and conduct of the Korean War, “this is a complete reversal of black and white done as a matter of policy”. Actually, the Taejon massacre near Seoul was conducted by South Korean police while American military and intelligence people watched. This information was suppressed and the more revealing photos showing the true perpetrators classified until those photos were released in 1999. According to Cumings, the film follows an official policy to deceive viewers into thinking that the massacre was conducted by North Korean aggressors.
Shots are then shown of Kim Il Sung and the Communist leadership, as well as Communist rallies and parades, and the narrator speaks about the need to counter it to stop "other Koreas."
The final segment of the film exerts the home front to keep up production and buy war bonds for the war effort.

Decorated submarine commander Commander William Talbot's (Glenn Ford) boat the USS Bluefin (actually the USS Cusk) is on manoeuvers with the goal of simulating sinking the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41). The Midway is carrying some politicians to view the test firing of a JB-2 missile from its flight deck. Sighting the carrier, the Bluefin attempts a simulated torpedo attack but is detected and "sunk" by a depth charge attack from a destroyer.
After viewing the successful launching of the JB-2 from the surface, Talbot attempts to convince his commanding officer that if his submarine would have had a guided missile his attack on the carrier would have been successful. His commander relays the information that the Navy has been thinking of the same idea and sends the Bluefin to the Pacific Missile Test Center at Naval Air Station Point Mugu for a short period of training and familiarisation. On the way to the base the Bluefin ruins the fishing nets of Lars Hansen 's (John Qualen) fleet, which fishes in the area when the Navy is not testing their missiles.
The crew of the Bluefin are impatient with the training course they must take and attempt to speed things up and gather their own equipment through "midnight supply" (theft), but run afoul of the tight security on the base. Talbot meets and unsuccessfully attempts to seduce the base commander's secretary Karin Hansen, a Danish emigre who is the daughter of the still furious Captain Lars. Talbot does obtain from Karin the location of needed missile parts at an army base and obtains them for his boat.
The unorthodox procedures used so well in wartime cause tragedy to the couple; Karin loses her job for revealing information and Talbot's haste in launching a missile from his boat's deck results in his serious injury and the death of his friend Quartermaster "Fuss" Payne (Joe Sawyer). Talbot's depression leaves him not desiring to walk without braces and in danger of being medically discharged from the Navy.
Karin snaps Talbot out of his whining self-pity to take command of his boat during maneuvers for a submarine flotilla to attack a surface fleet. Talbot gets the idea for the missile-carrying submarines to launch their missiles, but then have them successfully guided to the surface fleet by the nearer submarines originally earmarked for a torpedo attack.

By late 1944, it is obvious that the Germans will lose the war. American Colonel Devlin (Gary Merrill) leads a military intelligence unit that recruits German prisoners of war to spy on their former comrades. "Tiger" (Hans Christian Blech), a cynical older thief and ex-circus worker, is willing to work for the winning side. On the other hand, "Happy" (Oskar Werner) is a young idealist who volunteers to spy after his friend is killed by fanatical fellow prisoners for voicing doubts about the war's outcome. Monique (Dominique Blanchar) trains Happy and the others in espionage techniques; she takes a liking to the young man, despite her hatred for Germans.
One day, Devlin receives word that a German general is willing to negotiate the surrender of his entire corps. Naturally, this is given top priority; because of the importance of the mission, an American officer has to go along. Devlin selects Lieutenant Rennick (Richard Basehart), a newcomer who distrusts the German turncoats. Tiger is chosen because he is the only one who knows the area, but he is under suspicion after returning from his last mission without his teammate. Happy is assigned the related task of locating the 11th Panzer Corps, which might oppose the wholesale defection. They parachute out of the same plane into Germany, then split up.
In the course of his search on bus and train rides, in guest houses and taverns, and braving Allied air raids, Happy encounters Germans with differing attitudes towards the war, some still defiant, such as Waffen SS courier Scholtz (Wilfred Seyferth), some resigned, like the young war widow Hilde (Hildegard Knef). Happy accomplishes his mission by a stroke of luck. Posing as a medic returning to his unit, he is commandeered to stay and treat Oberst von Ecker (O.E. Hasse), the commander of the 11th Panzer, at his castle headquarters. Happy has an opportunity to inject von Ecker with a lethal overdose of medicine, but does not do so.
Afterwards, Happy narrowly escapes being captured by the Gestapo. He makes his way to the safe house in the ruins of the heavily-bombed Mannheim, where the other two agents are hiding out. Meanwhile, Tiger and Rennick have learned that the general they were to contact was supposedly injured, but the hospital where he has been taken is under SS guard; without him, the other German officers cannot and will not surrender to the Allies.
Their radio is knocked out, so Happy, Tiger, and Rennick are forced to try to swim across the heavily defended Rhine River to get to the American lines with the vital information. At the last moment, Tiger loses his nerve and runs away, forcing Rennick to shoot him. He and Happy then swim to an island in the middle of the river. When they start for the other shore, they are spotted by the German defenders. Happy creates a diversion, is captured and executed as a deserter, but his sacrifice enables the lieutenant to make it to safety, with a changed attitude about some Germans.

After hard fighting in the Battle of San Pietro, the infantrymen of the American 36th Division are given five days of much needed rest. Sergeant Joe "Pete" Peterson (William Holden) meets WAC Lieutenant Eleanor "Ellie" MacKay (Nancy Olson) in a cemetery. However, his attempts to become better acquainted are brushed off. Later, Pete's friend and commanding officer, Major Blackford (Frank Lovejoy), tells him he has been given a battlefield commission and is now a second lieutenant.
When Sergeant McFee (Gene Evans) becomes upset because he has not received a letter from his wife in a long time, Pete takes him to the post office to investigate, and finds Ellie working there. This time, Ellie offers to buy Pete a drink in celebration of his promotion. Although he agrees, she still tries to keep things from becoming serious, revealing that she almost married another soldier, except he was killed, and does not want to risk falling in love again. However, when the division's leave is cut short, she cannot stay away. Pete gets her to agree to marry him on his next leave.
Blackford assigns Pete and his platoon to take out a German roadblock. Pete spots two deadly German 88 guns commanding the road on which American tanks are advancing. However, when one of his men urges him to attack the guns, Pete rejects the idea; with Ellie on his mind, he has become overcautious. The 88s knock out the lead American tank, from which Blackford is directing the attack. The major is killed. Pete himself is wounded by an artillery barrage and wakes up in a hospital.
Blaming himself for his friend's death (even though he knows he could not have reached the guns in time anyway), Pete sinks into a depression, unwilling to see anyone. A visit from Ellie brings him out of it. Pete tells her that he has been given a three-day leave before being sent back to the United States, safely out of combat. Together out in the countryside, they get married. However, Pete's guilt makes him decide to rejoin his unit. Ellie does not try to stop him. Afterward, she discovers she is pregnant, which means she will have to leave the army.
Pete is hit when he reconnoiters ahead, and his men are ordered to retreat, leaving him behind. Unwilling to believe her husband is dead, Ellie searches everywhere for him without success. When Rome is liberated, she finds him; he had been taken prisoner, but was freed when the Germans retreated.

During World War II, Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Lawrence (Richard Widmark), a strict disciplinarian, is put in charge of Underwater Demolition Team 4 after its former leader, Lt. Cmdr. Jack Cassidy, is killed in action. The unit's men are distrustful of the professionally aloof Lawrence, and the relationship immediately takes a turn for the worse when they brawl with sailors aboard their transport ship. The ship's captain, Lt. Cmdr. Pete Vincent (Gary Merrill), understands the natural resentment the elite UDT men feel over the death of Cassidy, which they have transferred to Lawrence, and offers to go easy on the team at captain's mast. The "by-the-book" Lawrence, however, elects to hold his own mast and disciplines the entire team just before a dangerous reconnaissance mission to ascertain the safest landing beach during an upcoming invasion of a Japanese-held island. Lawrence is scornfully perceived as afraid when he splits up the platoon and puts team executive officer Lt. Klinger in charge of a diversion to the more dangerous beach, where the main landing is scheduled.
During the mission, Lawrence cuts his leg on coral, and the diversionary section's pick-up boat receives a direct hit from artillery during pick-up operations, killing Klinger and most of his men. Lawrence sees that two frogmen, including Chief Jake Flannigan (Dana Andrews), are still in the water, but rather than risk loss of the information already gathered, orders a rescue boat launched and continues back to the transport. The rescue succeeds in recovering the two swimmers, but Lawrence's apparently cowardly action increases the unit's ill will toward him. An embittered Flannigan and some of the others request transfer to another unit, but Lawrence insists that they first complete the next day's mission to clear the new landing site for the invasion.
The next morning, Lawrence, who is sick with coral poisoning, does not reveal his illness when he puts Flannigan in charge of the mission and stays behind. Convinced now that Lawrence is a coward, the men angrily but efficiently complete their task, although "Pappy" Creighton (Jeffrey Hunter), whose brother is a U.S. Marine, sneaks onto the beach with Flannigan to leave a sign "welcoming" the Marines. Creighton is shot after the prank, but Flannigan tows him to the pick-up boat. Back on the ship, Creighton is put in traction because of the bullets in his spine, and Flannigan confesses to Lawrence that the prank caused Creighton's injuries. Lawrence furiously upbraids Flannigan for giving in to the prank, and soon all of the men request transfers.
While Lawrence is discussing the transfer requests with Vincent, a torpedo hits the ship but does not detonate. Lawrence volunteers to disarm the torpedo, which has lodged in the sick bay next to Creighton's bed, and with Flannigan's help, succeeds. Soon after, Lawrence receives orders to blow up a Japanese submarine pen, and tells the men that although it will be their last mission together, he is proud to have served with them. Although Flannigan voices disdain that Lawrence will again dodge dangerous duty, Lawrence leads the mission, which is discovered when one of the men accidentally trips a signal wire. Japanese sentries shoot at the men as they plant the charges, and Lawrence is stabbed in hand-to-hand combat with a Japanese diver. He orders Flannigan to leave him behind, but Flannigan tows him to safety. The mission is a success, and soon Lawrence is recuperating beside Creighton. Finally won over by Lawrence's bravery, the men show their acceptance of him by asking him to sign the portrait they have drawn of Cassidy to present to his widow.

During World War II, an American submarine, the Thunderfish, under the command of Cmdr. John T. "Pop" Perry (Ward Bond), takes on a group of children and nuns to transport them to Pearl Harbor. including a newborn infant nicknamed "Butch". The sub sights a Japanese aircraft carrier and attacks, but its torpedoes malfunction, exploding halfway to the target. Pursued by the carrier's escorts, the sub manages to escape.
While in Pearl Harbor, the ship's Executive Officer, Lt Cmdr. Duke E. Gifford (John Wayne) goes to visit Butch at the base hospital, and runs into his ex-wife, Mary Stuart (Patricia Neal), a Navy nurse, and they kiss passionately. Unfortunately, Mary is now romantically involved with Navy pilot Lt. (j.g.) Bob Perry (Philip Carey), Pop's younger brother. Duke pursues Mary anyway, but is sent to sea again before anything is settled.
As the sub returns from the patrol, they spot a Japanese freighter, but, again, their torpedoes fail to explode. The enemy ship raises the white flag, and the Thunderfish surfaces and approaches it. The freighter turns out to be a Q-ship that opens fire on the American sub. Mortally wounded, Captain Perry orders the boat to dive, knowing that he will not be able to get below before she does. With the sub now under Duke's command, the freighter is rammed and sunk. The Thunderfish, with her bow damaged as a result of ramming the Q-ship, limps home to Pearl Harbor.
Back at Pearl, Bob Perry believes that the order Duke gave to dive the boat killed his brother, and won't listen to Duke's explanation. Mary tries to comfort Duke, but he rejects her attempts.
Working with the base's torpedo specialists, Duke and the crew of the Thunderfish undertake an investigation to find out why their torpedoes are not exploding. When they finally discover the answer, Duke goes to Mary to celebrate, but she rejects him: since he wouldn't let her into his life when he was at his lowest, she feels that they cannot have a real relationship. Her superior, Cmdr. Steele (Kathryn Givney) overhears the conversation and castigates Mary for throwing away her chance for happiness with Duke.
Once again, the Thunderfish heads out to sea, and finds a Japanese fleet heading for Leyte. Even though it will reveal their position to the enemy, the sub broadcasts the fleet's position. Once Pearl Harbor acknowledges receipt of the message, Duke salvoes all his torpedoes and runs for it, throwing the attacking Japanese ships into chaos. Though she has been knocked about by Japanese depth charges, the sub manages to sink a damaged Japanese aircraft carrier.
In the next phase of the battle American carrier planes arrive to attack the Japanese fleet. The Thunderfish, now assigned to lifeguard duty, helps to rescue shot down American flyers, and does so while under attack from Japanese planes. While rescuing Lt. Bob Perry, the Chief of the Boat and Junior, a seaman from a Navy family, are killed and Duke is wounded by a strafing Japanese fighter.
When the Thunderfish returns to Pearl Harbor after this patrol, Mary is waiting for Duke. The two, reconciled, head to the hospital, intending to adopt Butch.

When an American infantry unit surrenders to the North Koreans, the prisoners of war have their hands bound behind their backs and are then executed. Only Sergeant Zack (Gene Evans) survives the massacre, saved when the bullet meant for him is deflected by his helmet. He is freed by a South Korean orphan (William Chun), nicknamed "Short Round" by Zack, who tags along despite the sergeant's annoyance. Short Round confronts American racial attitudes when he demands that Zack refer to him as South Korean, not a gook.
They come across Corporal Thompson (James Edwards), an African-American medic and also the sole survivor of his unit. Then they encounter a patrol led by inexperienced Lieutenant Driscoll (Steve Brodie). The racial angle arises when white soldiers suggest that the black medic was a deserter. But soon after, a battlefield emergency demands interracial unity when the men are pinned down by snipers. Together, Zack and Sergeant Tanaka (Richard Loo) dispatch the snipers. Zack reluctantly agrees to help the unit establish an observation post at a Buddhist temple. One GI is shortly thereafter killed by a booby trap.
The grouping was "designed" by Fuller to be broadly representative of the Korean War-era US Army. Thus, there is an element of stereotyping in the characters. Among them are Joe, the quiet one (Sid Melton); the former conscientious objector (Robert Hutton); the "intellectual" (the officer); an African-American; the naive radio operator (Richard Monahan); and the Nisei Tanaka.
They reach the apparently deserted temple without further incident, but Joe is killed that night by a North Korean major (Harold Fong) hiding there. The officer is eventually captured. He tries without success to subvert first Thompson, then Tanaka, by pointing out the racism they face in 1950s America. Sergeant Zack prepares to take his prize back for questioning, cynically looking forward to a furlough as a reward. Before he leaves, Driscoll asks to exchange helmets for luck, but Zack turns him down. Then Short Round is killed by another sniper. After the major mocks the wish the boy had written down (a prayer to Buddha to have Zack like him), Zack loses control and shoots the prisoner, who dies soon after.
Then the unit spots the North Koreans on the move and calls down devastating artillery strikes. When the enemy realize the artillery is being directed from the temple, they attack in large numbers, supported by a tank. The attack is repelled, but only Zack, Tanaka, Thompson, and the radio operator survive. When they are relieved, Zack responds to the question, "What outfit are you?" with the statement, "US infantry." As they leave the temple, Zack goes to Driscoll's grave and exchanges his helmet with the one marking the man's grave.

Commander White (William Holden), during an enemy attack, orders that his submarine dive to avoid destruction. Though his action saves his crew, it results in the death of the machine-gunner left topside during the attack. The bulk of the movie follows his career in the Navy after the war as his doubt and guilt wear on his marriage. Then, just as he is about to resign from the Navy to escape the ghosts of his past, the Korean War begins and the movie concludes as an action thriller.

In 1944, at an United States Army Air Forces {USAAF) air base in England, Capt. James M. "Steve" Stevens (Mark Stevens} and his Martin B-26 Marauder bomber crew are assigned to a second bombing mission of the day. The men are exhausted both physically and emotionally because the squadron has been repeatedly attacked by the enemy, possibly because someone has leaked information about the raids.
The men have ben warned that the Germans have clever and insidious ways of extracting vital information from downed flyers. Over their target, however, their bomber is attacked and bombardier Russ Johnson (James Young) is killed. The rest of the crew, Steve, co-pilot Sgt. Frank Crawford (Johnny Sands) and gunners Sgt. Alfred Mitchell (Alex Nicol) and Sgt. Ralph G. Phelps (James Best) who is wounded, are forced to parachute out of the aircraft.
Steve and Al find each other on the ground but are promptly captured by German soldiers and brought to a "holding area" to prepare them for a German prisoner-of-war camp. There, they are greeted by a Red Cross representative, but Steve notices that the form asks for excessive information and both Americans refuse to fill it out.
Nazi intelligence officer Col. Von Broeck (Robert Douglas) then analyzes the little data he has and discovers clues to their personalities, including Steve's intelligence and Al's loyalty to Steve. Next, intelligence officer Capt. Fred Reiner (Gig Young), an American, visits Lt. Webster (Don Taylor), another prisoner, and, by lying that he is an Allied sympathizer has Webster reveal that Ralph is from Atlanta.
At the same time, a beautiful German nurse (Joyce Holden) tends the wounded Ralph, convincing him to fill out the fake Red Cross form and divulge that two new crews were added to the squadron recently. With this information, Von Broeck surmises that the Americans are planning a big bombing raid, pretending he will kill Steve unless Al tells more about the raid. Since raid is top secret, Al only reveals the kind of bombs to be used. After the fake firing squad, Von Broeck deduces the target must be one of four French cities, including Cambrai. Reiner interrogates Frank, who has been beaten by the Gestapo and brought to the intelligence station, and quickly discovers that from his list of possible targets it is the French town of Cambrai, where the Axis gasoline supply is stored,
Al, who has been assigned a cellmate overhearing him brag about what the Nazis have learned, and when the creww iis reunited and about to be shipped out by train, a plan is hatched. With Al and Frank on the train, Steve and Al jump off the train but Frank is shot and killed by a guard.
The two fliers walk all night and come upon a French farmer, whose kind daughter sneaks them into the nearest city, outfits them in peasant clothing, and finds them a ride to a town near Cambrai that harbors French underground agents. Their driver Jean (Steven Geray) tells them about the gasoline supply at Cambrai being moved to another location.
The Americans find an underground bar, where an agent slips Al fake identification papers, but a singer tipa off the Germans. Al is arrested but Steve escapes with the help of the agent and brought to the Underground headquarters, where he finally convinces the leader to send a warning to the Allies. As night falls, Steve and the Maquis leader see the American squadron flying away from Cambrai and realize the raid will succeed.

The film is about an extraterrestrial (played by Brad Dourif) who came to Earth several decades ago from a water planet (The Wild Blue Yonder), after it experienced an ice age. His narration reveals that his race has tried through the years to form a community on our planet, without any success.
The alien also tells the story of a space mission he found out about through his job with the CIA. In the late 1990s debris from the Roswell UFO crash was unearthed and examined. Scientists incorrectly believed that they had contracted an infectious alien disease from the debris. An exploratory mission was launched to Blue Yonder (represented with archival footage from STS-34 and Henry Kaiser's diving expedition in Antarctica) to explore the possibility that a new, uninfected human colony might be established there. After deciding Blue Yonder was suitable for human habitation, the astronauts returned to Earth 820 years later, only to discover that the planet had been abandoned in their absence.

Three American infantrymen—Carter (Arthur Franz), Ferguson (James Griffith) and Small (George Cooper)—are returning from patrol in a bombed-out town when they are pinned down by an enemy machine gun. Meanwhile, Coke (Richard Kiley), who was separated from the patrol, returns on his own to the squad's basement outpost where goof-off Private Collucci (Bonar Colleano) is sleeping, dreaming of beautiful women. A runner from company headquarters delivers a package for a squad member and tells the men that the regiment is moving out of the line that night. Shortly after another patrol returns with Sgt. Mooney (Lee Marvin) and privates Sapiros (Nick Dennis) and Muller (Dickie Moore).
Muller opens the package and finds a fruitcake, which he divides eight ways. Carter and Ferguson manage to get back, but the clumsy Small has been left behind, trapped in a shell hole by the machine gun fire. Sgt. Mooney wants to send out a rescue party, and persuades his platoon leader Lt. Crane (Richard Grayson) to take the request to Capt. Trelawny (Barney Phillips), their company commander. A sniper kills Crane before he reaches the company command post. Mooney goes to Trelawny but the captain orders Mooney not to attempt a rescue, saying that while he doesn't want to leave Small, he also doesn't want to lose men on what seems to be a "wild-goose chase." The men debate the pros and cons of going after Small while Collucci tries to persuade Muller to let him eat Small's piece of fruitcake.
A runner alerts the squad that the company is pulling out in half an hour but another burst of machine gun fire galvanizes Mooney. He disobeys orders and with Coke, Muller, and a mortar, goes for Small. The mortar fire fails to silence the gun, however. Trelawny hears the exploding shells and angrily heads to the squad's outpost where he confronts Carter for not stopping Mooney. Collucci goes out while the two argue, but Carter persuades the captain to overlook the disobedience.
Mooney returns saying they couldn't get close, but if Small had still been alive, he would have made a break for it during the mortar fire. When Collucci is nearly shot by the sniper and returns fire, the squad realizes that he has gone alone to retrieve Small. Using a destroyed tank as cover to get close, he tosses grenades that destroy the machine gun nest. Collucci returns as the squad is rolling up its gear to move out, carrying Small. It turns out that Small sprained his ankle, injected himself with morphine, and slept through the whole ordeal. As all eight men leave their former home, Collucci eats the last piece of fruitcake.

Just prior to the North Korean invasion of South Korea, World War II U.S. Army veterans Colonel Steve Janowski (Robert Mitchum) and Sergeant Baker (Charles McGraw) are teaching South Korean soldiers how to use a bazooka to stop an enemy tank. Linda Day (Ann Blyth) is a United Nations worker assisting refugees. Janowski warns Day and her colleagues to leave the area because hostilities are imminent. Day, however, insists that the North Koreans would not risk the wrath of world opinion. In response, Janowski asks her if world opinion stopped Hitler.
Soon after, Janowski and U.S. Air Force Colonel Joe Parker (William Talman) wake up and find themselves under attack. They compare the attack to Pearl Harbor ("Isn't this where we came in?" "It's even Sunday morning!"). Janowski takes command of an U.S. Army unit which is helping to evacuate Americans and refugees. While doing his job, he keeps crossing paths, and falling in love, with Day. It turns out that she is reluctant to get involved with a soldier because she is the widow of a Medal of Honor recipient.
As part of a desperate situation, Janowski is confronted by a column of refugees which has been infiltrated by armed North Korean guerrillas. He has no choice but to call in an artillery strike. Even though Janowski is remorseful for the civilian casualties, Day initially condemns him for killing innocent people. After she finds out the reason for Janowski's action (and that he was right), she apologizes.
Janowski leads a successful American counter offensive against the enemy.

A Marine battalion is assembled from various sources and sent to Korea. The film depicts the formation and training of the battalion, the amphibious landing at the Battle of Inchon, the advance through North Korea, and the Winter Chinese Communist Offensive sends the Marines into a fighting withdrawal to the staging area at Hŭngnam Harbor "...with rifles, grenades, bayonets, our bare fists if we have to" (quoting the battalion commander).
The private (Tamblyn) goes looking for his older brother and is shown a row of dead Marines. One of them, he discovers, is his brother. The battalion commander (Lovejoy) is supposed to send him home per a regulation covering the last survivor of a family. The Chinese Communist offensive puts this on hold for the moment, and he is nearly killed during the withdrawal in a snowstorm until saved by a joint American-British force.

In November 1944, Chief Boatswain's Mate Sam McHale (Richard Widmark) is aghast to learn that he is being transferred from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise to Argos Detachment 6, a Navy unit operating a weather station in Inner Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Capt. Gates (Willis Bouchey) explains to McHale that accurate forecasts are crucial to the Allies' success in the Pacific, and that his practical experience is required by meteorologist Commander Hobart Wyatt (Russell Collins) and his crew of "balloon chasers": Jenkins (Don Taylor), Walter Landers (Max Showalter), Wilbur "Coney" Cohen (Darryl Hickman), Elwood Halsey (Martin Milner), Frank Swenson (Earl Holliman) and Paul Sabatello (Ross Bagdasarian). Despite his longing for the ocean after six months in the desert, McHale adjusts to the new routine, although his dependence on red tape and the chain of command bemuses Cmdr. Wyatt.
Three weeks before they are to be relieved, the Argos 6 team learns that Japanese cavalry is scouring the desert for the unit, and McHale starts work constructing defenses for the outpost. The group is also baffled when nomadic Mongols camp at the station's oasis. After determining that the Navy men are not interested in the oasis' grass, the Mongol leader, Kengtu (Murvyn Vye), expresses no further interest in them until Elwood attempts to take photographs of the tribe. The Mongols react with hostility until McHale gains Kengtu's respect by showing him how the camera works. The next day, Kengtu orders his people to return the many things they have stolen from the station, although McHale allows them to keep his own cap and Wyatt's dress uniform. Later that day, the Navy men learn that due to increasing pressure from the enemy, they will not be relieved. Former cowboy Jenkins muses that the Mongol horsemen would make an excellent cavalry. Hoping to persuade the Mongols to help them defend the station, McHale makes an emergency requisition for sixty Army cavalry saddles, and although the request is met with bewilderment, the saddles soon arrive and the delighted Mongols begin training with Commander Wyatt, who dubs them the "1st Mongolian Cavalry, U.S. Navy."
The camp is bombed by Japanese planes, killing Wyatt and several Mongols, and destroying the radio. McHale is disappointed when the Mongols disappear, leaving them alone and defenseless. Rather than walking 300 miles to the nearest weather station, which might also have been attacked, McHale decides to evacuate 800 miles to the sea and sail to join US forces on Okinawa. At an oasis where some Chinese traders are camped, they find Kengtu and his people. McHale confronts the chief for failing to help the navy as promised. Kengtu explains that he was protecting his people from the "birds in the sky" but agrees to put the question of helping the Americans to his people. The Mongols return the saddles. Chinese trader Yin Tang (Edgar Barrier) then barters for the saddles, offering four camels, and suggests that the Americans travel with his group. That night the treacherous Yin Tang attempts to kill them, to steal back the camels, but is stopped by the arrival of Kengtu and his men.
Kengtu tells McHale that his people want the saddles back and will escort the Americans to the sea if they disguise themselves in native garb. McHale agrees, although the men worry that they will be considered spies if they are captured. All goes well until they reach the Chinese city of Sangchien, which turns out to be occupied by the Japanese. Mongol Tomec (Rodolfo Acosta) appears to persuade Kengtu to lead Argos 6 into a trap by Japanese soldiers. The Navy men are taken to a prisoner-of-war camp on the coast where they are held as spies to be shot. However, one of Kengtu's men, Wali-Akhun (Leonard Strong), allows himself to be arrested while wearing Wyatt's stolen uniform. Wali reveals that Kengtu has arranged for their escape, and that night they break out of the camp and to the docks, where Kengtu is waiting with a Chinese junk. Kengtu explains to McHale that their capture was a ploy to trick the Japanese into transporting them to the ocean. Coney is killed during the escape, however, and the novice sailors soberly set sail for Okinawa. The junk is spotted by American planes, which are about to bomb it until they see a large sign, with the inscription "U.S.S. Cohen" painted on it. The men are rescued, and soon after, Kengtu and Wali are returned to their people, along with sixty saddle blankets. Kengtu and McHale say farewell, and when McHale tries to explain that he is not the head chief of the Navy, as Kengtu had mistakenly thought, Kengtu replies that it is the Navy's mistake, not his.

Just after World War II, American Steve Pitt (Sterling Hayden) seeks out Father Paolo (David Leonard) at an Italian village. A new priest tells him Paolo was executed by the Germans. Steve recalls the events of 1944, when as a fighter pilot in Corsica, he flew on a last mission over Italy because his friend Captain George Peterson failed to complete his assignment: to blast a tunnel leading to a German ammunition dump. Steve is shot down, however, and parachutes into enemy-held Italy. Getting help from Nina (Joy Page), a young Italian partisan, she brings him to Bruno (J. Carrol Naish), the local partisan leader.
Bruno is afraid of Nazi retaliation if Steve is found with them. When he finds the tunnel, Steve, with Nina's help, convinces the others, including village priest Father Paolo, to help him destroy it. Father Paolo reveals that he has been hiding George Patterson. Before the attack can take place, jealous partisan Aldo (Arthur Caruso) betrays the band to the Germans because Steve is in love with Nina, but is killed himself. The group escapes an ambush and retreats to their cabin hideout.
The next morning, while Steve and George prepare to blow up the tunnel, American aircraft overhead are alerted to its location when Steve lights a flare. While the aircraft bomb the ammunition dump, the Italians attack a German artillery unit, turning the guns on the tunnel, destroying it, but Bruno is killed. Father Paolo and others help Steve and George escape in a small boat, with Steve promising to come back for Nina. As Steve ends his story, the new priest show him that Nina is still alive; the two lovers kiss and embrace.

In 1941, bugler and career soldier Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) transfers to a rifle company at Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes (Philip Ober) has heard he is a talented middleweight boxer and wants him to join his regimental team to secure a promotion for Holmes. Prewitt refuses, having stopped fighting because he blinded his sparring partner and close friend over a year before.
Holmes makes life as miserable as possible for Prewitt, hoping that he will give in. Holmes orders First Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster) to prepare general court-martial papers after Sergeant Galovitch (John Dennis) first insults Prewitt and then gives an unreasonable order that Prewitt refuses to obey. Warden suggests, however, that he try to get Prewitt to change his mind by doubling up on company punishment. The other non-commissioned officers join the conspiracy. Prewitt is supported by his only friend, Private Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra).

In June 1950, while stationed at Kimpo, South Korea, Captain George Slocum (John Hodiak) finds out from his friend, Lieutenant Jerry Barker (Todd Karns), that he has to go to Japan. At the airport, he meets Barker's younger brother, Pete (John Derek), who takes up a Stinson L-5 Sentinel liaison aircraft and begins showing off. George reprimands him for careless flying, but sticks up for him when the military police want to arrest Pete.
Pete later meets Kate (Audrey Totter), an Army nurse, while George's wife Nancy (Maureen O'Sullivan), is surprised by his sudden appearance. Both pilots receive news of North Korea's attack on South Korea and are ordered to Pusan, but are diverted to Seoul. En route, they land at bombed-out Kimpo to find a critically wounded Jerry, who dies when the two aircraft are attacked on the way to safety. Pete is devastated and vows to get back at the enemy.
On another mission, in unarmed L-5s again, Pete and George are flying the U.S. ambassador and the Korean president to safety, but are ambushed by enemy aircraft. George manages to skillfully fly low and force his pursuer into a hillside. Pete wants to take a more active role, rigging up a bazooka under his wings, but when he attacks a group of tanks, despite having some success, he is shot down.
George reports the loss and attempts to convinces Major Hacker (Rex Reason) to mount a rescue mission, but is turned down, as the base is now cut off and under constant attack. However, Pete makes it back to the base, with the help of a group of South Korean Army soldiers. Both pilots continue to fly desperately needed supplies, but George is badly wounded in an attack on the base. Pete flies him out to a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital unit where he meets Kate again; she has to tell Pete that George succumbed to his wounds.
Pete comes back to the front, more determined than ever to take the fight to the enemy. When Private Swenson (Richard Erdman) and Sergeant Maxie Steiner (Harvey Lembeck) install a powerful radio in his L5, it allows Pete to signal fighter jets overhead that North Korean tanks are about to attack. The fighters destroy the enemy tanks, but the L-5 is shot up. A wounded Pete and Maxie make it back to the base, but crash on landing, barely making it out alive.

During the First World War, Lieutenant Richard Saville, a young British naval officer on five days leave, and Miss Lucinda Bentley, a merchant's daughter from Portsmouth, get talking on the train up to London. Halfway along their journey, they miss their rail connection and spend a romantic holiday in the countryside of southern England. When Saville proposes to her, she accepts, but on the day they are due to go back to Portsmouth, she changes her mind, asking Saville to realise that neither he nor she could bear being parted for the long periods he would be at sea. They part, seemingly forever.
Saville serves out the First World War and the inter-war years, and by the first years of the Second World War, he is in command of a squadron of three cruisers on convoy duty in the Pacific. He receives a message from a British merchantman just before it is sunk by the German raider Essen, but HMS Stratford, the flagship of Saville's squadron is too low on fuel for pursuit and the convoy cannot be left unguarded. Saville decides to remain with the convoy while his other two ships - HMS Amesbury and HMS Cambridge - chase after the raider. Cambridge then has to stop to pick up survivors from the merchantman, leaving the Amesbury on her own. Amesbury finds and attacks the Essen, scoring a major torpedo hit on the Essen’s bow, but is sunk with the loss of all but two hands, Petty Officer Wheatley and Signalman Andrew 'Canada' Brown. Brown is the son of a mother keen on the navy and thus knows more about naval tactics, strategy and gunnery than most of his rank.
The Essen picks up the two survivors. Meanwhile, news of the Amesbury’s fate reaches Saville in the Stratford. Saville decides to risk all and go after the Essen with Cambridge. While the Essen is anchored in a rocky lagoon for 36 hours to carry out repairs, Brown manages to escape to the heights around the lagoon with a rifle (back home, he had won marksmanship prizes). He then proceeds to pick off sailors working on the repairs, leading the Essen’s captain to use his ship's AA guns and then big guns in vain attempts to dislodge Brown. Finally he sends a party of marines out to hunt Brown down, but just as they are about to kill him, they are recalled and the Essen departs. Brown collapses, seriously wounded.
As the Essen leaves the lagoon, she is caught and sunk by Saville's force. One of her survivors informs the British of Brown's exploits, which delayed repairs for 18 hours, thus enabling the British to catch up with them. A landing party is sent ashore from Saville's force to find Brown.

In May 1953, a new group of Army recruits at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas encounter their drill sergeants, Sgt. Laverne Holt (Karl Malden) and the tough-as-nails Sgt. Thorne Ryan (Richard Widmark). After Ryan's caustic appraisal of the recruits, Holt vows to make soldiers out of them during their sixteen weeks of basic training. Ryan, a combat veteran who resents his stateside duty, repeatedly applies for a transfer back to the Korean front.
One night, the men cross the border to Mexico for recreation. In a bar, Ryan and Holt see a beautiful woman, Julie Mollison (Elaine Stewart), buying drinks for a group of soldiers. Later that evening, the two sergeants escort the inebriated Julie to her apartment, and Ryan finds himself drawn to her.
Training begins. Ryan exposes his men to tear gas to prepare them for the harsh conditions of battle. Ryan and Holt return to the bar one night, and find Julie sitting alone. When the crude Sgt. Vince Opperman (Bert Freed) insults Julie, she runs out of the bar in tears, and Holt comforts her. Ryan and Opperman fight, and Opperman reveals that Julie was married to a soldier who was killed in Korea shortly after she left him.
One day, recruit Lobo Naglaski (Steve Forrest) visits the camp chaplain to confess his murderous feelings toward Ryan, but comes to see that the sergeant has very little time in which to do a tough job. Tensions arise between Ryan and Holt, both over Ryan's callous treatment of the men and Holt's relationship with Julie. Ryan puts his men through increasingly tough drills, and during a bitter confrontation one day, Holt slugs Ryan and walks away.
Later, Ryan calls on Julie at her apartment, and they fall into a passionate embrace. When she resists his further advances, however, Ryan becomes insulting, casting aspersions on Julie's virtue and chiding her for having left her late husband.
One day, during a field exercise, recruit Donald Quentin Dover IV (Robert Arthur) runs away. Ryan tracks him down and gives the young man a second chance, confessing that his own father had been a deserter.
As the training period draws to a close, Ryan returns to Julie's apartment and discovers she has moved out. He finds Julie and Holt at the train station. After Holt leaves, Ryan apologizes for his behavior and asks Julie to marry him, but she sadly replies that he is married to the Army. Outside the train station, Ryan and Holt silently make their peace. The men finish basic training, and as the new soldiers march by during their graduation exercises, Ryan proudly points them out to a fresh group of recruits.


In May 1950, Major Matt Brady (John Hodiak) is redeployed to Pusan, South Korea. His mission there is to train South Korean pilots in the defensive struggle. Also, there are air support exercises in case the Americans need to be evacuated. Colonel Schuller (Richard Simmons) sends Brady and Captain MacIntyre (Gerald Mohr) to the airbase in Kungju. The American instructors only have 25 days left to introduce the South Korean pilots to U.S. training and tactics.
At the base, Brady meets Donna Cottrell (Barbara Britton), a former fiancé of his. Donna's husband, Red Cross physician Dr. Stephen Cottrell (Bruce Bennett), is said to have been killed in action. When Donna finds out that he is actually alive - he had been captured, but was able to escape - she returns to him. She tells Matt that Stephen cannot work as a surgeon any more, as his hands were badly injured during enemy torture. She is intent on doing the right thing, but she feels torn between the two men.
The training of the South Korean pilots makes progress, which is carefully noted by Dixon (Jess Barker), a reporter. Captain Veddors (Harry Lauter) tells him that Matt does not fly any more because he once caused a fatal crash with a test pilot. Matt receives an encrypted message announcing a serious enemy attack. MacIntyre informs Matt that Lieutenant Kim-Sun is not able to fly due to the illness of his sister, but Matt needs every man. Kim-Sun dies in the crash of his aircraft and, as a consequence, the pilots blame Matt. MacIntyre suspects that Kim-Sun's aircraft was sabotaged.
Colonel Schuller orders the evacuation of all Americans and gives Matt the order to release the South Korean pilots into active service. Stephen stays behind in Kungju to carry on his work, while Donna leaves the base in a convoy. The convoy is attacked by two tanks. Colonel Conners cautions Matt that air support for the convoy is out of the question but, by sanction of the United Nations, intervention by U.S. infantrymen is possible. Matt stays behind on the base with Veddors and MacIntyre.
Soon the news of the invasion of South Korea arrives. Captain Warnowski and his infantry battalion reach Kungju. Due to heavy tank assaults, of the original complement of 400 men, only 30 remain. The infantry find Captain Wyler (Adam Williams), who was driving the truck Donna was in. Before he dies of his wounds, he tells Matt that Donna has successful escaped. As the attacks intensify, North Korean aircraft damage the airfield, subsequently, Matt and Warnowski decide to retreat. The South Koreans identify an old woman as a spy, who has been transmitting information about the base to the enemy by radio, and execute her.
Matt and his remaining troops come under heavy fire with Matt being wounded and Veddors killed. In Chungtu village, they reach a Red Cross hospital, and soon Donna too arrives there. There she hears that Stephen was killed during the fighting. The enemy tanks thrust forward and force the survivors to retreat further. When U.S. aircraft attack and stop the tanks, Matt, Donna and the rest of the convoy escape.

On board the USS Oriskany aircraft carrier in the Sea of Japan during the Korean War, author James A. Michener (Louis Calhern) meets Commander and flight surgeon Kent Dowling (Walter Pidgeon). Dowling relates a "Christmas story" of a near-miracle.
Ensign Kenneth Schecter (Dewey Martin) is one of VF 192 squadron pilots flying Grumman F9F Panther fighter-bombers who are forced to go back to destroy an enemy railroad that is rebuilt after each attack. Their leader, Lieutenant Commander Paul Grayson (Frank Lovejoy), is even shot down during one mission and rescued from the sea. Veteran pilot Lieutenant Commander Ted Dodson (Keenan Wynn) criticizes Grayson for flying too low and risking his life. Ironically, it is Dodson who loses his life in another mission when his damaged aircraft explodes on landing.
For their 27th mission against the enemy target, the squadron flies out on Christmas Day, and Schecter is hit by enemy fire and blinded. Lieutenant Thayer (Van Johnson) guides Schecter by radio to a safe landing on the deck of the carrier. The squadron celebrates his safe return, but also mourns the loss of good men like Dodson.

Prior to the Dieppe Raid, seven US Army Rangers come ashore. Their mission is to destroy a German communications centre that controls the coastal guns that threaten the Canadian amphibious assault.

In the Korean War, Capt. Russ Edwards (Sterling Hayden), the commander of an Air Rescue helicopter team, must show Lt. Pete Stacy (Arthur Franz), a hot-shot former jet pilot how important helicopter rescue work is and turn him into a team player.
Lt. Col. Stoneham (Jay Barney), the overall commander of the unit, is worried that the rescue missions are being jeopardized by the number of helicopters out of service, and leans on Edwards to make his men aware that taking unnecessary risks is hurting their operational readiness. Despite the cautions, on the very next mission, Stacy and his copilot, 2nd Lt. Tim Vernon (Marshall Thompson) and Medic (Michael Colgan) put themselves and a rescued soldier in danger. When the soldier tells them that his patrol is trapped by an enemy tank, Stacy does not wait for the jets on station to come in, but attacks the tank with only his flares, resulting in his helicopter being shot up and put out of commission.
Edwards tries to reinforce the message that the helicopter rescue is important and stations Stacy and his crew at the farthest base, near the enemy lines. Although Stacy accomplishes a risky rescue of a downed airman, his effort to bring back an airman unconscious in the sea, risks not only his life but all the men aboard his helicopter when he runs out of fuel. Stacy successfully pulls it off by refuelling from a damaged North Korean fuel truck but the fuel contaminates the engine and puts his helicopter out of commission.
The repaired helicopter is tested by Stacy and his crew but their test flight is interrupted by an emergency call where Stacy has to face not only the enemy but also rely on a helicopter rescue after he is seriously wounded and his helicopter is downed with the loss of the jet pilot that was just picked up. Edwards arrives to rescue everyone but calls in a jet fighter patrol to mop up an enemy force. When Stacy recovers, he is now convinced that his job is an essential one and that being part of a team is important.

In World War II, newly promoted Capt. John Madison Hoskins (Sterling Hayden) returns home after two years at sea to spend a seven-hour leave with his wife Sue (Alexis Smith) and their children, before taking command of the ship USS Hornet (CV-8) but the ship has been sunk. Hoskins is then reassigned as an instructor at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, much closer to home but "... thousands of miles from the only war he'll get to fight in."
Two years later after teaching some of the US Navy's top students, Hoskins is given command of the USS Princeton (CVL-23) but its present commander, Capt. William Buracker (Hayden Rorke) is retained for the Philippine campaign, During the attack, the ship is crippled and Buracker orders her sunk. Hoskins, severely wounded, his foot is amputated to save his life.
Later, at a naval hospital in Philadelphia, Hoskins meets "Zuggy" (Ben Cooper), another amputee who lost an arm and is being honorably discharged. His disability makes Hoskins eligible for retirement and promotion to rear admiral but he pushes himself to be ready to take over the new USS Princeton being built in the nearby Navy shipyard. With encouragement from Sue, Vice-Adm. Thomas L. Semple (Dean Jagger) reveals that by a navy code, no disabled officer can be compelled to retire.
After long periods of walks and climbing the new ship, Hoskins falls from the scaffolding. Although injured, he comes into his review meeting without crutches, convincing the tribunal that he is fit to serve. The next day, at the launching of the USS Princeton (CV-37), Hoskins is assigned as its commander.
After the war, Hoskins advocates for the use of jet aircraft off aircraft carriers and when he is transferred to San Diego, he is able to demonstrate the capabilities of jets to land on carrier ships. Despite one jet crashing due to mechanical failure, the US Navy is convinced of the viability of jet operations.
Assigned to the carrier division for aircraft operation at sea, Hoskins joins Adm. Arthur Dewey Struble (Morris Ankrum) of the 7th Fleet. Flying the lead aircraft, Hoskins demonstrates that jets can be used safely on aircraft carriers, in time to be effective in Korea.
After celebrating a wedding anniversary with Sue, Hoskins is offered the choice of two important jobs that would further his career, but take him away from active duty. Discouraged by the prospect, when he witnesses the return of wounded men by the Air Transport Service from the Korean front, Hoskins is inspired to show the injured men that they can still lead an active life and turns down both jobs, asking instead to be put in charge of the Pacific Division of the Air Transport Service.

In 1954, Dien Bien Phu, a French-controlled fortress in Indochina, is under siege by Viet Minh rebels. Commanding officer De Castries (Arnold Moss) has been betrayed by a formerly loyal Chinese officer (Philip Ahn) and is desperate for new leadership for his men. He radios Hanoi for help.
At French headquarters in Paris, Captain Guy Bertrand (Jacques Sernas), a prisoner of war for three years during World War II, volunteers to join the fray. He wants to see action as well as rendezvous with a former love, Gisele (Patricia Blair), who is unhappily married to Bonet, a major at the fort. Also on their way are Captain Callaux (Kurt Kasznar), goaded into it by a nagging, social-climbing wife; Lieutenant Heldman (Peter van Eyck), a former Nazi fighter who is now a legionnaire; and the naive but eager Lieutenant Maupin (Norman Dupont).
The men parachute in and, with great difficulty, get to the fort. A monsoon rages and the fight drags on for weeks. Heldman heroically staves off enemy soldiers armed with explosives and kills them with a grenade before meeting his own fate. Bonet attempts to stop the Viet Minh attack by approaching enemy lines under a white flag, but is gunned down. Bertrand tries in vain to rescue him.
Low on ammunition, water and other supplies, Callaux, despondent after having learned in a letter that his wife has been unfaithful, volunteers to get water from a nearby river. He changes his will, leaving her nothing, and has it sent off via helicopter. He returns to the fort with the water, but dies just as he delivers it.
The situation is hopeless. The enemy is tunneling in and, now without ammo, the Frenchmen must resort to hand-to-hand combat. In his final act, de Castries orders Bertrand and Maupin to try to escape. De Castries takes a last look around, realizing that the end for him is near.

During a Korean War skirmish, a United Nations relief worker, Ann Galloway (Peggie Castle), is injured and her assistant killed. As the Communist forces take over the region, Ann accompanies a patrol led by Lt. Tom Flagler (Richard Conte), a soldier's soldier, admired by his men, as they try to rejoin Easy Company and other allied troops.
A sergeant named Kensemmit (Richard Wyler) bears a grudge against all fellow soldiers and is particularly contemptuous of Flagler, as well as possibly interested in Ann romantically. Sgt. Vince Gaspari (Charles Bronson) vouches for Tom completely as a born leader, although he acknowledges Ann's conclusion that Tom cares about nothing else than his military duty to be true.
The patrol discovers that Easy Company has been massacred, leaving Tom discouraged. But under orders to hold the region until help can arrive, Tom and his men fight off North Korean foes. In victory, he also comes to realize that Ann represents the very kind of thing he has been fighting for all along.

A few hours before D-Day, Special Force Six embarks to destroy an especially well-defended German gun emplacement on the Normandy coast. As the ship steams towards it, the officers and men recall what circumstances brought them there, especially Wynter and Parker.
Captain Brad Parker, an American paratrooper invalided out because of a broken leg suffered during a parachute jump is posted to the headquarters of the European Theatre of Operations in London. At the Red Cross club, he meets and, despite being married, falls in love with Valerie Russell, a Women's Royal Army Corps subaltern. Valerie is the daughter of a crusty Brigadier who's been on sick leave since being wounded at Dunkirk. Valerie is also already in love with Captain John Wynter of the British Commandos, a friend of her father.
Both officers are posted overseas, but later return. Parker has volunteered to join what becomes Special Force Six, to be led by his former commander, Lt. Colonel (now Colonel) Timmer.
With only a few hours before the operation is due to embark, Timmer goes to pieces (partly as a result of his earlier bad experiences in the failed Dieppe landing) and is arrested whilst drunk and breaking security. Wynter, now a Colonel, who has recovered from being badly wounded, is brought in to command the operation.
The operation is a success, despite several killed and wounded. Wynter is killed when he steps on a mine. Parker is badly wounded and evacuated.
In hospital, and due to be repatriated, he sees Valerie for the last time. She does not tell him that Wynter has been killed.

The film tells the story in flashbacks of a bottle of Scotch carried by a World War II and Korean War Marine, Captain Sam MacKenzie.

United States Air Force Colonel William Hughes (Paul Kelly) asks Major Paul Peterson (John Payne), who has been called back to active service, to join a team at the Air Research and Development Command conducting tests on a downward ejection seat for bombardiers in the new Boeing B-47 Stratojet bomber. The first tests used articulated dummies, but human test subjects are needed. Besides Colonel Hughes, German scientist Dr. Franz Gruener (Gregory Gaye), also is in charge of the test program, working directly with the test subjects. Captain Jack Nolan (Richard Crane) is also assigned to the project.
The first volunteer, Captain Mike Cavallero (Eddie Firestone), suffers a broken neck when his parachute opens too early. He survives the test but is hospitalized. The next subject is Lieutenant Edward Simmons, to be followed by Paul. When Mike is suddenly rushed to hospital with an appendicitis attack, Paul moves up. Worried because he has a wife and son, Paul is reluctant to go, but then finds out that Captain Nolan has been killed in a B-47 crash, and as the bombardier, he might not have been able to escape the aircraft.
His wife (Karen Steele) begs his commanding officer to release Paul from his commitment. When Paul shows up to take the test, he finds Colonel Hughes suiting up. Imploring him to reconsider, Paul makes the case for doing the test to prove that a bailout is possible from the high-speed jet bomber. Flying with Dr. Gruener, Paul ejects, but when the ground observers ask him to indicate he is well by spread-eagling, he does not respond. On board the rescue launch, they pick up Paul and find he is fine; he was simply concentrating so hard that he forgot to spread-eagle. After he is cleared by the medics, Paul is greeted by Carol and his son Kit (Richard Eyer) and, with their blessing, decides to continue with the project.

During the Western Desert Campaign of World War II, two Allied officers in Egypt are interviewed to lead a dangerous commando mission far behind enemy lines in Benghazi. Major David Brand, a South African, is a regular army officer but lacks experience of combat and of commanding men in the field. He does not speak Arabic and has only a limited knowledge of the area in Libya in which the patrol is to operate. Captain Jimmy Leith, a Welshman, is the opposite; an amateur volunteer with extensive knowledge of the area who knows a local guide and speaks fluent Arabic as well. It is decided that both officers will go, with Major Brand in command. The men see Brand as a disciplinarian - "the only thing he's slept with is the rule book".
Major Brand's wife Jane is a WRAF Flight Officer who enlisted to be near her husband. When Brand invites Leith to drinks with his wife, he picks up the fact that the two had previously had an affair before she married Brand. Leith had walked out on her without explanation.
The unit parachutes behind enemy lines with the mission of attacking a German headquarters and bringing back secret plans from a safe to be opened by Wilkins, an experienced safecracker. Dressed as local civilians, Brand's hand shakes with fright when he has to knife a German sentry; the deed is done by Leith.
The mission is completed successfully with only one death and one man wounded of the British soldiers. The patrol ambushes a German detachment, capturing Oberst Lutze, who Brandt knows was responsible for the secret information. Possibly in the hope of getting rid of Leith, Brandt leaves him alone with two seriously wounded men, one British, one German. Leith decides to put them out of their pain. He shoots the German, who pleads for his life. The Briton encourages Leith to act quickly, and get it over with. Leith puts his pistol to the soldier’s head and fires, but there are no bullets left. Rather than reloading, Leith picks the man up, and sets out to carry him to safety. The ironic use of music here, a heroic march, is unusually powerful. The man cries out in agony and curses Leith’s failure, but dies before Leith puts him down again. Leith, whose Arab friend has joined him, then catches up with the rest of the unit.
The patrol is supposed to escape on camels, but they discover the men left with them have been murdered and the camels taken. During the long march back across the desert, Brand's animosity towards Leith grows, not only due to the affair with his wife, but to Brand's fear that Leith will reveal him as a coward to headquarters and destroy his career. While the group are resting, Brand sees a scorpion climb up the leg of Leith's trousers but does not warn him in time. When Leith is stung, Brand refrains from shooting him as his orders permit and lets him die in pain during a sandstorm. The men believe he killed him.
A patrol eventually picks up the group and takes them back to HQ. Brand's wife is distraught to learn of Leith's death, and when Brand is immediately awarded the Distinguished Service Order, instead of congratulating him, she walks off disconsolate. In the closing shot Brand ruefully pins the medal on a stuffed dummy.

In 1944 London, Major Julien Howard (Nigel Patrick), a British MI6 intelligence agent, meets Captain Bill Ranson (Jeffrey Hunter), his new American security officer. As Howard was previously picked up by German counter-intelligence, Ranson soon realizes that their assignment is to feed misinformation to the Germans about the location of the D-Day landings; they are to make it look like it will be in Holland. Howard tells him the rest of the unit must not know the truth.
One night, while on a date with Rolande Hertog, the unit's radio operator, Ranson becomes concerned and returns to the offices. He is shot at and wounds an intruder. He leaves the unconscious man with Hertog to search further, but the man's accomplice gets away. Hertog kills the captive, claiming he tried to grab her gun. A romance quickly develops between Ranson and Hertog the same night. When Ranson gets back to the office, Howard criticises his actions; MI5 had tipped him off that the Germans were planning to search his offices, so he made it easy for them to get the planted misinformation, until Ranson intervened. Further, he suspects that Hertog is a German agent; Jan Guldt, their liaison with the Dutch underground, had been sent back to Holland, only to be captured immediately. Ranson does not believe it.
Howard sends Piet van Wijt to Holland, supposedly to evaluate the effects of a bombing raid, but actually to test Hertog. They do not hear from van Wijt again. Meanwhile, Howard receives news that the Germans are redeploying troops into the country.
Howard orders Ranson to keep seeing Hertog so she will not become suspicious, but Ranson is an unconvincing actor. Now suspicious, Hertog goes to her sector commander, Hauptman Hans Faber, who is posing as a dentist. Faber is not fully convinced by her claim that it is all a fraud, but needs to make sure. He arranges for the young son of Dr. Mulder, Howard's psychological warfare expert, to be kidnapped. Mulder is forced to reveal the supposed invasion location to save his boy's life. However, he later confides to Hertog that he does not believe Holland is the place. The two men who were sent behind enemy lines were not given poisonous cyanide capsules to avoid capture. If they had, they could have taken them; then they could "count five and die." She tells Muller to go home, that she will alert Ranson. Instead, she tries once more to persuade Faber to change his mind, but without success.
Howard and Ranson speak to Muller and realize the situation. They manage to capture Faber and free Muller's boy, though Martins gets away and Faber takes his poison pill. Meanwhile, Ranson tracks down Hertog, but not before she sends a radio message unmasking the deception. Ranson takes a big gamble, telling her that she did exactly what they wanted her to do and that it was all a "double bluff", then lets her grab a pistol and forces her to shoot him by advancing on her. She transmits a second message, then leaves, believing Ranson to be dead. He is still alive, however. Martins then shoots Hertog.
The epilogue states that on D-Day, "ten German divisions were not in the line. They were north in Holland, waiting for an invasion that never came."

Technical Sergeant Jim Moore, a Drill Instructor on Parris Island, has a thorn in his side, Private Owens (Don Dubbins), who always caves in when the pressure is on. Convinced he can make Owens into a Marine, Moore pushes Owens to the point of desertion.
Barrett's screenplay expanded the play by introducing subplots of Moore having a romance with a local shop girl (played by Webb's future wife Jackie Loughery) and having Owens' mother (Virginia Gregg) make a trip to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot to beg the Corps to keep her son in order to make a man out of him.

The American Buckley-class destroyer escort USS Haynes detects and attacks a German U-boat that is on its way to rendezvous with a German merchant raider in the South Atlantic Ocean. Lieutenant Commander Murrell (Robert Mitchum), a former officer in the merchant marine now an active duty officer in the Naval Reserve, has recently taken command of the Haynes, even though he is still recovering from injuries incurred in the sinking of his previous ship. Before the U-boat is first spotted, one sailor questions the new captain's fitness and ability. However, as the battle begins, Murrell shows himself to be a match for wily U-boat Kapitän von Stolberg (Curt Jürgens), a man who is not enamored with the Nazi regime, in a prolonged and deadly battle of wits that tests both men and their crews. Each man grows to respect his opponent.
Murrell skillfully stalks the U-boat and subjects von Stolberg and his crew to multiple depth charge attacks. In the end, von Stolberg takes advantage of a moment of vulnerability in Murrell's pattern of attacks and succeeds in torpedoing the destroyer escort. The destroyer escort is mortally wounded but still battle capable. However, Murrell has one last trick up his sleeve. He orders his men to set fires on the deck to make the ship look more damaged than it actually is. Then he orders the majority of his crew to evacuate in the life boats. But he keeps a skeleton crew on board to man the bridge, engine room, and one of his ship's three-inch guns. As Murrell had hoped, von Stolberg decides to torpedo on the surface on what he perceives to be a crippled ship. Murrell orders his gun crew to fire thus knocking the U-boat's main deck gun out of action. Murrell orders his executive officer, Lt. Ware (Al Hedison), to steer the ship toward the U-boat at flank speed and ram it. With his boat crippled, Von Stolberg orders his crew to set the scuttling charges and abandon ship.
Murrell, the last man aboard, is about to join his crew in the lifeboats when he spots von Stolberg trapped on the conning tower of the U-boat with his injured executive officer, Korvettenkapitän Heini Schwaffer (Theodore Bikel). Von Stolberg salutes Murrell, who returns it. Murrell tosses a line to the submarine and pulls the injured XO on board while von Stolberg climbs hand over hand to the Haynes. Once on board, it is clear Schwaffer is dying and von Stolberg refuses to leave his friend behind. Murrell's executive officer, Lt. Ware, returns with a group of American & German sailors in the captain's gig to the sinking destroyer in order to help the last three men off the doomed ship. They manage to clear the tangled wrecks just before the U-boat's scuttling charges detonate, sinking the boat. Later, aboard another American ship, the German crew consigns Schwaffer's remains to the deep in a traditional ceremony, as the American crew respectfully observes.

On 6 September 1950, an isolated and exhausted platoon of the 24th Infantry Division is cut off. In addition to losing radio contact, the platoon is harassed by unseen North Korean infiltrators who silently kill the Americans and take their weapons. Platoon leader Lieutenant Benson (Robert Ryan) has only vague instructions to reach a certain hill to link up with American forces.
The patrol stops a jeep driven by Staff Sergeant "Montana" (Aldo Ray) and shell shocked passenger "the Colonel" (Robert Keith) from the First Cavalry Division. The Colonel is unable to speak and is tied to his seat. After the Battle of the Nakdong River, where "our men fell like rain", the tough experienced Montana decided he and his Colonel, whom he treats like his father, have had enough of the war. Benson commandeers their jeep for his platoon's equipment and the battle-fatigued Corporal Zwickley (Vic Morrow).
The platoon makes its way towards the hill. Montana disobeys Benson by instinctively shooting a surrendering North Korean sniper, who turns out to have a concealed weapon inside his hat. Sergeant Killian (James Edwards) is killed while covering the rear after absentmindedly filling his helmet net with flowers. Montana takes his place and feigns fatigue, luring the infiltrators into the open, where he kills them.
The cynical Montana transforms the platoon back into a military formation while also curing Zwickley's neurosis by slapping him around. The platoon successfully carries on through sniper attack, artillery barrage, and land mines during which Platoon Sergeant Lewis panics and is killed.
When they reach the hill, they find it held by the North Koreans. Montana shoots three enemy soldiers disguised as Americans after a North Korean prisoner is used as bait and killed by his own men. Benson and his men launch an attack, but Montana and the Colonel sit it out. The Colonel comes to his senses, joins the assault, and is killed. Shamed, Montana joins Benson. They use grenades and a flamethrower to destroy a pillbox and machine gun nest.
Only Benson, Montana, and Sergeant Riordan (Phillip Pine) survive. When American reinforcements arrive, Montana produces a container of medals that the Colonel meant to award his men. Benson calls the roll of the men in his platoon in alphabetic order (including those killed in the attack) as Montana throws the medals to the dead on the slope of the hill, while Elmer Bernstein's title song plays in the background.

The film begins with a voiceover describing the trench warfare situation of World War I up to 1916. In a château, General Georges Broulard (Adolphe Menjou), a member of the French General Staff, asks his subordinate, the ambitious General Mireau (George Macready), to send his division on a suicide mission to take a well-defended German position called the "Anthill." Mireau initially refuses, citing the impossibility of success, but when Broulard mentions a potential promotion, Mireau quickly convinces himself the attack will succeed.
Mireau proceeds to walk through the trenches, asking several soldiers, "Ready to kill more Germans?" He throws a disturbed private (Fred Bell) out of the regiment for showing signs of shell shock, which Mireau denies the existence of. Mireau leaves the detailed planning of the attack to the 701st Regiment’s Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas), despite Dax's protests that the only result of the attack will be to weaken the French Army with heavy losses for no benefit.
During a nighttime scouting mission prior to the attack, a drunken lieutenant named Roget (Wayne Morris) sends one of his two men ahead as a scout. Overcome by fear while waiting for the scout's return, he lobs a grenade and retreats. The other soldier—Corporal Paris (Ralph Meeker)—finds the body of the scout, killed by the grenade. Having safely returned, he confronts Roget, but Roget denies any wrongdoing, and falsifies his report to Colonel Dax.
The next morning, the attack on the Anthill proceeds. Dax leads the first wave of soldiers over the top into no man's land under heavy fire. None of the men reach the German trenches, and B Company refuse to leave their own trench after sustaining heavy casualties. Mireau, enraged, orders his artillery to open fire on them to force them onto the battlefield. The artillery commander refuses to fire on his own men without written confirmation of the order. Meanwhile, Dax returns to the trenches, and tries to rally B Company to join the battle, but as he climbs out of the trench, the body of a dead French soldier knocks him down. Predictably, the attack was a failure.
To deflect blame for the failure, Mireau decides to court martial 100 of the soldiers for cowardice. Broulard convinces him to reduce the number to three, one from each company. Corporal Paris is chosen because his commanding officer, Roget, wishes to keep him from testifying about his actions in the scouting mission. Private Ferol (Timothy Carey) is picked by his commanding officer because he is a "social undesirable." The last man, Private Arnaud (Joe Turkel), is chosen randomly by lot, despite having been cited for bravery twice previously.
Dax, who was a criminal defense lawyer in civilian life, volunteers to defend the men at their court-martial. The trial however, is a farce, and can accurately be described as a kangaroo court where the rights of the accused are violated. There is no formal written indictment, a court stenographer is not present, and the court refuses to admit evidence that would support acquittal. In his closing statement, Dax challenges the court's authenticity, and requests mercy, saying, "Gentlemen of the court, to find these men guilty would be a crime to haunt each of you till the day you die." Nonetheless, the three men are sentenced to death.
Captain Rousseau (John Stein), the artillery commander who had earlier refused Mireau's order to fire on his own men, arrives to tell Dax about the incident. Dax confronts Broulard as he is attending a ball with sworn statements by the witnesses attesting to Mireau's order to shell his own trenches, and tries to blackmail the General Staff into sparing his men. Broulard takes the statements but brusquely dismisses Dax.
The next morning, the three condemned men are led out into a courtyard, among soldiers from all three companies and senior officers. Arnaud, injured during a desperate outburst in prison, is carried out on a stretcher and tied to the execution post. A sobbing Ferol is blindfolded. Paris is offered a blindfold by Roget, but refuses. Roget, whom Dax has forced to lead the executions, meekly apologizes to Paris for what he has done, eliciting an ambiguous response. All three men are then shot and killed by the firing squad.
Following the execution, Broulard has breakfast with the gloating Mireau. Dax enters, invited by Broulard. Broulard then reveals that Mireau will be investigated for the order to fire on his own men. Mireau leaves angrily, protesting that he has been made a scapegoat. Broulard then blithely offers Mireau's command to Dax, assuming that Dax's attempts to stop the executions were a ploy to gain Mireau's job. Discovering that Dax is in fact sincere, Broulard angrily rebukes him for his idealism while a disgusted Dax calls Broulard a "degenerate, sadistic old man."
After the execution, some of Dax's soldiers are raucously partying at an inn. Their mood shifts as they listen to a captive German girl (Christiane Harlan, later Kubrick's wife) sing The Faithful Hussar, a sentimental folk song. They are unaware that orders have come for them to return to the front. Dax lets the men enjoy a few minutes while his face hardens as he returns to his quarters.

The luxury liner SS Crescent Star sinks in seven minutes after striking a rogue mine in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, taking with her nearly all of the 1,156 people on board. Twenty-seven of the survivors converge on a single lifeboat designed to accommodate only nine. The dying captain passes command to executive officer Alec Holmes (Tyrone Power). Holmes then learns from "Sparks" Clary (John Stratton), the ship's radio operator, that both transmitters were destroyed before a call for help could be sent. Holmes decides to try to reach the nearest land, Africa, 1,500 miles away.
With a major storm approaching, Frank Kelly (Lloyd Nolan) warns Holmes that the overloaded boat will be swamped unless some of the passengers are jettisoned. The mortally injured Kelly then sacrifices himself by jumping overboard. Holmes decides to get rid of the old and injured, over the shocked protests of his girlfriend, ship's nurse Julie White (Mai Zetterling). When he orders Will McKinley (Stephen Boyd) to dispose of an unconscious woman, McKinley obeys, then jumps in after her. One by one, Holmes sends others to certain death, until there are 15 left aboard. Edith Middleton (Moira Lister) observes that an atomic scientist, a brilliant playwright, and a famous former opera singer have been sacrificed to save two "apemen", a racketeer, and a devout coward. Passenger Michael Faroni (Eddie Byrne) demands Holmes go back for the others. When Holmes refuses, Faroni seriously wounds him in the shoulder with a switchblade and is in turn shot dead with a flare gun.
The lightened lifeboat weathers the storm and the rest of the survivors thank Holmes for saving them. Realising he is now a liability due to his wound, Holmes throws himself overboard, but Julie brings him back aboard. Then, they spot a ship. As it comes to pick them up, the others, with the exceptions of Julie White and Edith Middleton, quickly distance themselves from Holmes' actions.

The US Army has decided to form an elite strike force similar to the British Commandos. Major William Darby (James Garner), a staff officer, gets command of the 1st Ranger Battalion, to be formed entirely from volunteers.On June 19, 1942 the 1st Ranger Battalion was sanctioned, recruited, and began training in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. Darby and Master Sergeant Saul Rosen (Jack Warden), who also narrates the film, select a variety of men for training in Scotland by British Commando veterans. Darby tells his men that the Commandos are the best soldiers in the world, but in time they (the Rangers) will be. The Americans are quartered in Scottish homes and several of the Rangers pair off with local lassies: Rollo Burns (Peter Brown) with Peggy McTavish (Venetia Stevenson), the daughter of the fearsome but humorous Scottish Commando instructor, Sergeant McTavish (Torin Thatcher), and vagabond Hank Bishop (Stuart Whitman) with the proper Wendy Hollister (Joan Elan).
The Rangers prove their worth in Operation Torch (the invasion of French North Africa), and two more Ranger battalions are formed, with Darby promoted to colonel. Joining the Rangers is Second Lieutenant Arnold Dittmann (Edd Byrnes), a by-the-book West Pointer. The Rangers fight successfully in Sicily. There are several action scenes in a bombed-out Italian village where the men face a sniper, and a running firefight with the Germans. Lt. Dittmann is humanized by his encounter with Angelina De Lotta (Etchika Choureau).
Darby confides to Rosen a recurring dream of being run over by an oncoming train, foreshadowing the tragic climax. During the Battle of Anzio, the 1st and 3rd Ranger Battalions are sent on a dangerous mission; they are ambushed and wiped out by the Germans in the Battle of Cisterna. Of the 767 men who go in, only seven come back, the majority being captured. Burns is among the dead. Darby leads his 4th Ranger Battalion in an unsuccessful rescue attempt.
After the heavy losses at Cisterna, the Ranger units are disbanded. Brief vignettes show Bishop on leave with Wendy and her family, and Dittman with Angelina. Darby leaves the Anzio beachhead to report to Army HQ, taking salutes from newly arrived troops as he walks alone down the beach to board a landing craft.

During World War II, Japanese troops over-run a sugar cane plantation in the Philippines. Some survivors take over a small boat called the USS Frankenstein and attempt to sail to safety.

During the Korean War, scientist Dean Olmstead (Joseph Hamilton) designs a long-range radio transmitting and tracking device for the United States Air Force. During testing of the device, Capt. Tom Arnett (John Agar), leading an escort of North American F-86 Sabre jet fighters, is unable to prevent Olmstead's North American B-25 Mitchell bomber being shot down in North Korea. His commanding officer, Col. Catlett (George Cisar) plans a rescue of the scientist, whom he believes is still alive and may be undergoing interrogation by Russian intelligence agents working with the North Koreans.
Arnett and Lt. Bill Clairborn (Gregory Walcott) are assigned to go into North Korea and bring back Olmstead. After parachuting behind enemy lines, they meet up with guerrilla leader Capt. Chon (Victor Sen Yung), who takes them to Tanya Nikova (Audrey Totter), a Russian nurse, who has been working as a spy for the guerrillas. Tanya had previously been romantically involved with Arnett, but proves invaluable to the mission. She knows that the scientist may be under care of her boss, Col. Kuban (Robert Carricart), a Russian doctor. After they discover Olmstead's whereabouts and bring him out of the prison camp where he was being treated for a concussion, the group is pursued by North Korean Maj. Wan (Leonard Strong). Tanya is wounded during the escape but manages to drive the Americans to an airfield. She dies, but the two American pilots and the scientist make good their escape in a pair of North Korean Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 jet fighters.

In the final year of World War II, units of the United States Army are in the foothills of the Alps between France and Italy, trying to dislodge a unit of German soldiers from a supply post in the middle of a small village. 1st Lt. Sam Loggins (Frank Sinatra) is in charge of a reconnaissance unit that has just lost its radioman. A truckload of fresh young soldiers arrive, one of whom, Corporal Britt Harris (Tony Curtis) admits to radio training and experience—Harris is immediately appointed the unit's radioman by Loggins.
Harris reveals himself at once as a lady's man and a schemer, acquiring girlfriends, food, and other luxury items. Corporal Lindsay (Edward Ryder), in charge of the unit's paperwork and logistics, reveals Harris' story to Loggins: Harris is the son of a wealthy textile mill owner in New Jersey—in order to avoid criminal charges of trying to bribe a member of the local Draft Board with a car, Harris has "volunteered" for combat duty in Europe. Harris does show bravery while rescuing a group of men trapped in a minefield and while attacking a German bunker single-handed, but Loggins still has his reservations about the man.
The Colonel (Karl Swenson) grants Loggins and his unit leave in the seaside town of Nice. While walking by himself on a quay, Loggins is attracted to Monique Blair (Natalie Wood) -- they go to dinner, and she explains she was born in America, but has lived in France since she was a small child. She's unwilling to go out with Loggins again. Loggins ask her to meet him in the same cafe the next week at 8PM. The next week, Loggins waits at the cafe, Monique doesn't show, and he walks out despondent, only to be asked to have a drink by an older American woman who has apparently been waiting for him. He finds out it is Monique's mother, who was checking him out, he passed, and she takes him to her palatial home to join Monique. The two spend a great deal of time together each time Loggins gets his Saturday night pass. One night he tells her he loves her, and Monique finally reveals to him that she is afraid to get involved with a US soldier because her now-dead father was a Negro, and she has seen the general bigotry all American soldiers seem to have. Loggins is confused and leaves, not sure about his feelings.
After a week of anguished consideration, Loggins decides to put aside the former prejudices he would have had about Monique's parentage, and goes to see her. She and her mother are delighted to see Loggins. Loggins invites Monique to go out on a date with him. They end up going to a smokey jazz cafe, where they are surprised to see Harris play a fantastic jazz solo on a trumpet, to the acclaim of the entire French crowd. Harris joins Loggins and Monique at their table, and Loggins is left on the sidelines as Harris and Monique are immediately drawn to each other. Harris and Monique dance closely late into the night. After Loggins takes Monique home, she asks Loggins to tell Harris about her Negro father.
Back on surveillance duty of a town where the Germans have set up, Loggins does so, and it doesn't seem to bother Harris. Then the Germans begin shelling their observation position. After three days of shelling, Loggins suggests to Harris that they should infiltrate the village on a covert mission to observe from a church tower in the middle of town; Loggins goes in to see the Colonel who says he'll pass the idea on up to Headquarters.
The next weekend, Loggins and Harris return to Nice to visit Monique. Once again, Loggins is forced to the sidelines as the handsome and smooth-talking Harris takes over. Loggins returns to his hotel room alone. Harris and Monique stay out most of the night. When Harris returns to the hotel, he tells Loggins he's asked Monique to marry him, and she has said yes. Loggins is shattered, but he puts on a brave face. He tells Harris about the paperwork he will need to fill out to get the army's permission to marry. When they return to their unit, Harris immediately asks for the marriage permission form. Two months pass, and Harris still hasn't received an answer from the army on his request to marry. On his way to report to the Colonel, while talking to Corporal Lindsay, Loggins finds out that Harris had indeed picked up the completed paperwork 3 weeks earlier. In fact, Harris had told the corporal that the whole thing was a gag. Loggins is furious when he hears this.
Thereafter, the Colonel tells Loggins that Headquarters has approved the covert operation of Loggins with Harris as his radioman—Loggins asks for a few hours leave for both of them to take care of some important personal matters in Nice, to which the Colonel agrees.
Loggins and Harris go to the Blair mansion, and Loggins forces Harris to admit to Monique that Harris is not going to marry her. Monique runs away in tears. Harris tries to explain himself to Loggins ("it was a kick"), and Loggins punches him out. Loggins then goes out to find Monique. It turns out she had tried to drown herself, but a fisherman fished her out of the water while she was still alive. Loggins tries to talk to her, but she doesn't want to talk to him.
Back at the US Army base, Loggins and Harris prepare for their mission. Soon after leaving, Loggins tells Harris he is going to kill him. Harris responds that reaction "works both ways". They eye each other suspiciously and cautiously. However, Loggins clarifies that Harris won't 'get it in the back'.
On the mission, they encounter and kill a German soldier together. The duo establishes themselves at 2 AM in the church tower, calls in, and reports their observations, especially that a hidden section of the village contains an enormous German artillery/ammo dump. Loggins sends an order back to the base to begin a bombardment at 4 AM that will certainly destroy most of the village. They leave the tower, and are soon discovered by a German patrol. Harris is shot by the Germans and dies after Loggins drags him out of the line of fire, but Loggins is pinned down. The German officers, panicking at the thought of American soldiers in the village, order an immediate evacuation. Hearing this, Loggins grabs the radio and tells the US artillery to begin firing right now. Shells fall on the village and the ammo dump, and everything blows up.
The movie ends with Loggins relating how he was found under the rubble still alive by US troops, and brought to a hospital, where his right arm was amputated. He had gotten two letters from Monique. In one of them she says that she has learned that Harris was killed. She also tells Loggins that her mother has died. When Loggins is finally released from the hospital after many months, he decides to go to Nice to visit Monique one last time before returning to the States. He finds that she is now heading up a school for war orphans. She invites Loggins to come into one of the classrooms. As a tribute to Loggins and all the American soldiers who fought to free France, the children sing a song of appreciation. During the singing, Monique and Loggins look earnestly at each other. Will their romance bloom once again?

In Paris during the World War II invasion of France by Nazi Germany, Jewish refugee S. L. Jacobowsky (Danny Kaye) seeks to leave the country before it falls. Meanwhile, Polish diplomat Dr. Szicki (Ludwig Stössel) gives antisemitic, autocratic Polish Colonel Prokoszny (Curt Jürgens) secret information that must be delivered to London by a certain date.
The resourceful Jacobowsky, who has had to flee from the Nazis several times previously, manages to "buy" an automobile from the absent Baron Rothschild's chauffeur. Prokoszny peremptorily requisitions the car, but finds he must accept an unwelcome passenger when he discovers that Jacobowsky has had the foresight to secure gasoline. The ill-matched pair (coincidentally from the same village in Poland) and the colonel's orderly, Szabuniewicz (Akim Tamiroff), drive away.
Jacobowsky is dismayed when the colonel first heads to Reims in the direction of the advancing German army to pick up his girlfriend, Suzanne Roualet (Nicole Maurey), a French innkeeper's daughter. Prior to their arrival, Suzanne attracts the unwanted admiration of German Major Von Bergen (Alexander Scourby), but he is called away before he can become better acquainted with her.
As they flee south, Jacobowsky begins to fall in love with Suzanne. At one stop, Jacobowsky manages to find the group magnificent lodgings at a chateau by telling its proud royalist owner that unoccupied France is to become a monarchy headed by the colonel. A drunk Prokoszny challenges Jacobowsky to a duel, but Jacobowsky manages to defuse the situation. When the Germans, under Von Bergen, occupy the chateau, the foursome barely get away.
They are chased by Von Bergen, but the assistance of a sympathetic Mother Superior (Martita Hunt) enables them to shake off their pursuers and reach a prearranged rendezvous with a British submarine. There, however, the submarine's commander informs them that there is only room for two. Suzanne makes the colonel and Jacobowsky go, while she remains behind to fight the invaders in her own way.

The novel is divided into four Parts: Wave, Argil and Mold, Plant and Phantom, and Wake. Within these parts are Chorus sections, consisting of play-like dialogue between characters, as well as Time Machine sections, which give brief histories and flashbacks of individual characters’ lives. The story takes place on Anopopei, a fictional island somewhere in the South Pacific. American forces are faced with a campaign to drive out the Japanese so that Americans can advance into the Philippines. The novel itself focuses on the experiences of one platoon.
Part One, Wave
Characters are introduced as they wait around for orders. A naval bombardment takes place. The men take their places on a boat and are driven to the invasion shore. Here they fire back and forth at the Japanese. Hennessey becomes so frightened that he soils in his pants. Overcome by panic, he runs out of his foxhole and is killed by a grenade. Part One concludes with this death, which alarms many of the men, since for many soldiers Hennessey’s death is the first comrade death they witness.
Part Two, Argil and Mold
The campaign continues. General Cummings has a soft spot for Lieutenant Hearn, the only officer he can relate to intellectually; they have many discussions together. At one point, the platoon takes a Japanese soldier as prisoner. When Gallagher gives the Japanese soldier a cigarette to smoke, the soldier closes his eyes in relaxation. At this moment, Croft shoots and kills him, demonstrating his coldblooded personality. Later, Gallagher receives word that his wife, Mary, died in childbirth. Although Gallagher’s child survived, he is overcome by immense grief throughout the rest of the novel.
Part Three, Plant and Phantom
Hearn is assigned by Cummings to lead the platoon through the jungle and up Mountain Anaka to find a way to the rear of the enemy. After a clash with Japanese, Wilson is shot and left behind. Croft sends men back to get Wilson. Brown, Stanley, Goldstein, and Ridges then carry Wilson back to the beach on a stretcher. The trip takes several days, and Wilson ends up dying. The men eventually lose Wilson’s body in a river.
Croft manipulates Hearn into walking in an ambush, and Hearn is killed, leaving Croft in charge. The men continue hiking up the mountain due to Croft’s orders, even though many men view it as a hopeless cause. Later, Roth dies while attempting to make a jump on the mountain’s edge. Trudging on, the men eventually give up their task in climbing the mountain. They return to the beach where Brown, Stanley, Goldstein, and Ridges have arrived from their mission with Wilson. Back from their mission, they learn that the battle for the island is almost won. Surprisingly, the ruthless Croft seems to be relieved that he was unable to climb the mountain. At the end of Part Three, the remaining men discuss their future and how it will feel when they return home now that their mission is over.
Part Four, Wake
This part consists of one short chapter. Cummings reflects on the war. He is rather disappointed that the victory was too easy (it came as a result of exhaustion of Japanese troops), and that he cannot take the credit, as Major Dalleson, who acted as his deputy for a day, won the battle just by obeying established procedures. Major Dalleson then wonders about the new training program that will take place with new troops the next day.

Thomas Fowler is a British journalist in his fifties who has covered the French war in Vietnam for more than two years. He meets a young American idealist named Alden Pyle, a CIA agent working undercover. Pyle lives his life and forms his opinions based on foreign policy books written by York Harding with no real experience in Southeast Asia matters. Harding's theory is that neither communism nor colonialism are proper in foreign lands like Vietnam, but rather a "Third Force"—usually a combination of traditions—works best. When they first meet, the earnest Pyle asks Fowler to help him understand more about the country, but the older man's cynical realism does not sink in. Pyle is certain that American power can put the Third Force in charge, but he knows little about Indochina and is recasting it into theoretical categories.
Fowler has a live-in lover, Phuong, who is only 20 years old and was previously a dancer at The Arc-en-Ciel (Rainbow) on Jaccareo Road, in Cholon. Her sister's intent is to arrange a marriage for Phuong that will benefit herself and her family. The sister disapproves of their relationship, as Fowler is already married and an atheist. So, at a dinner with Fowler and Phuong, Pyle meets her sister, who immediately starts questioning Pyle about his viability for marriage with Phuong. Towards the end of the dinner, Pyle dances with Phuong, and Fowler notes how poorly the upstart dances.
Fowler goes to Phat Diem to witness a battle there. Pyle travels there to tell him that he has been in love with Phuong since the first night he saw her, and that he wants to marry her. They make a toast to nothing and Pyle leaves the next day. Fowler gets a letter from Pyle thanking him for being so nice. The letter annoys Fowler because of Pyle's arrogant confidence that Phuong will leave Fowler to marry him. Meanwhile, Fowler's editor wants him to transfer back to England.
Pyle comes to Fowler's residence and they ask Phuong to choose between them. She chooses Fowler, unaware that he is pending a transfer. Fowler writes to his wife to ask for a divorce in front of Phuong.
Fowler and Pyle meet again in a war zone. They end up in a guard tower where they discuss topics ranging from sexual experiences to religion. Their presence endangers the local guards by attracting an attack by the Viet Minh. The soldiers simply want to live their lives, but they are doomed by their contact with foreign intrigue. Pyle saves Fowler's life as they escape. Fowler goes back to Saigon, where he lies to Phuong that his wife will divorce him. Pyle exposes the lie and Phuong must choose between him and Fowler. Like a small country caught between imperial rivals, Phuong considers her own interests realistically and without sentiment. She moves in with Pyle. After receiving a letter from Fowler, his editor decides that he can stay in Indo-China for another year. Fowler goes into the midst of the battlefield to witness events.
When Fowler returns to Saigon, he goes to Pyle's office to confront him, but Pyle is out. Pyle comes over later for drinks and they talk about his pending marriage to Phuong. Later that week, a car bomb is detonated and many innocent civilians are killed. Fowler realizes that Pyle was involved, having allied himself with General Thé, a renegade commander supposed to be the "Third Force" described in Harding's book. Pyle thus brings disaster upon innocents, all the while certain he is bringing a third way to Vietnam. Fowler is emotionally conflicted about this discovery, but ultimately decides to aid in the assassination of Pyle. Though the police suspect that Fowler is involved, they cannot prove anything. Phuong goes back to Fowler as if nothing had ever happened. In the last chapter, Fowler receives a telegram from his wife in which she states that she has changed her mind and will begin divorce proceedings. The novel ends with Fowler thinking about his first meeting with Phuong, and the death of Pyle.

The narrative is presented as the transcript of a Navy tape recording made by Commander Edward J. Richardson, recounting the events resulting in his receipt of the Medal of Honor. The prefatory note that purports to identify the text in this way says it was meant to be used in a war bond drive, but is unsuitable for that because Richardson "failed to confine himself to pertinent elements of the broad strategy of the war, and devoted entirely too much time to personal trivia."
In the spring of 1941, Richardson takes command of a World War I S-16, a submarine retired in 1924, and soon has Jim Bledsoe as his executive officer. They and their crew work at the Philadelphia Navy Yard to fit out and commission her, and in August take her to New London, Connecticut, for training. There he meets Bledsoe's girlfriend, Laura Elwood. The three of them are together when they learn of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Though it took Richardson three years of submarine duty to qualify for command, the war and the prospect of many more submarines coming into service lead Richardson, against his better judgment, to recommend Bledsoe for command in late December, just after learning that Bledsoe and Laura plan to wed.
Richardson is forced to withdraw his recommendation of Bledsoe when Jim performs recklessly on his qualification for command, nearly sinking their boat. Bledsoe is resentful, and Laura despises Richardson for ruining Bledsoe's chance for a command. Richardson and his crew are soon assigned to a newly launched submarine, the USS Walrus, and take her to Pearl Harbor to destroy Japanese shipping in the Pacific Ocean. Laura and Jim wed just before the Walrus departs New London.
During their first war patrol in the Walrus, they encounter the Japanese destroyer Akikaze, skippered by Captain Tateo Nakame (nicknamed "Bungo Pete"), who is responsible for sinking a series of American submarines in the Bungo Suido, including the USS Nerka, commanded by Richardson's longtime friend Stocker Kane. Richardson is wounded in a surface encounter with Bungo Pete and remains at Pearl Harbor while Bledsoe commands the Walrus for three war patrols out of Australia.
Bledsoe establishes a reputation as an aggressive skipper with an outstanding record for sinkings. Between patrols, Bledsoe has an extramarital affair at Pearl Harbor, causing Richardson anguish for Laura's sake. Bledsoe reveals to Richardson that he had only pretended to be a loyal friend and subordinate, but Richardson's conduct as skipper finally persuaded him that he had been wrong all along. During its next patrol, however, Bungo Pete makes the Walrus his seventh victim.
During his stint ashore, Richardson works on reliability problems with American torpedoes and receives another command, the new boat USS Eel. When the news of the loss of Bledsoe and the Walrus arrives, Richardson convinces his superiors to let him hunt Bungo Pete in the Eel. A great battle ensues in a raging storm between the Eel, fighting on the surface, and Bungo Pete's special anti-submarine warfare group, which consists of a Q-ship, a Japanese submarine, and the Akikaze. After Richardson sinks all three vessels, he discovers three lifeboats in the vicinity: Realizing that Bungo Pete and his skilled specialists will be rescued to resume hunting U.S. vessels, he intentionally rams the lifeboats.
Soon after, the Eel is detailed to lifeguard duty off Guam, where Richardson saves three aviators, earning him the Medal of Honor. After the war he returns home, hoping to begin a relationship with Laura Bledsoe.

Sgt. Tom Sloan sees his Lieutenant Joel Brady kill one of their own Marines, Johnny Campbell on Guadalcanal after Brady led a disastrous suicidal attack against Japanese entrenched in caves. As the only survivors of the debacle, Sloan doesn't turn Brady in as he assumes no one will believe his word against an officer's. With Brady's recommendation, Sloan is later commissioned and assigned as an aide to a general (Onslow Stevens) back in the 2nd Marine Division headquarters in New Zealand.
Lt. Sloan meets Campbell's widow, Ruth (Julie Adams) to bring her letters written by Johnny. However he meets Brady who is keeping company with Ruth's sister (Karen Sharpe).
Sloan lands on Tarawa with Brady, now a Captain; each hating each other more than the Japanese.

The American submarine Grayfish, under Lieutenant Commander/Commander Barney Doyle (Glenn Ford), searches for the Shinaru, one of the Japanese aircraft carriers that led the attack on Pearl Harbor. Doyle receives word that the target has an escort, including a transport ship Yoshida Maru carrying his wife and child, who were captured in the Philippines.
As luck would have it, Grayfish finds the ships. Doyle's second in command, Lieutenant/Lieutenant Commander Archer Sloan (Ernest Borgnine) tries to talk his friend out of risking the lives of his family, but Doyle proceeds with the attack. To their horror, their torpedoes sink the transport. The Japanese make no attempt to rescue the survivors, hoping to lure the sub to the surface. Doyle is forced to leave the prisoners to drown.
Doyle manages to follow the Shinaru into Tokyo Bay itself and tries again to sink his nemesis, but fails and barely escapes from Japanese destroyers. The Grayfish then returns to Pearl Harbor. There, Vice Admiral Setton (Philip Ober) wants to promote Doyle to a desk job, but his anguished second-in-command Sloan begs on behalf of his friend and superior officer for and gets one last chance at the Shinaru. Sloan turns down a command of his own to accompany him.
Doyle is assigned a quiet, out-of-the-way patrol area off the Alaskan coast, but fortune is with him. He encounters the Shinaru once more. The sub sustains some damage from a collision and has to launch its attack using sonar alone. After the torpedoes are away, the sub is sent to the bottom by the Shinaru's escort. Fortunately, the crewmen are able to exit and use Momsen lungs to reach the surface, where they are rescued by a sister sub, who sinks the escort. When they are brought aboard, they are told that they have sunk the Shinaru.

Steve Boland (Charles Bronson) is a cynical minor criminal drafted into the US Army during World War II. He has an unspectacular military career with his criminal past getting him into trouble but he comes into his own when his criminal expertise gives him unparalleled opportunities during the American occupation of Germany.
When Werwolf German infiltrators, saboteurs and assassins dressed in American uniform parachute behind the American lines, Boland's superiors neither believe nor trust him. Boland becomes a proficient one man army. He realises that everything happens for a reason.

Christian Diestl is at first a sympathetic Austrian drawn to Nazism by despair for his future but willing to sacrifice Jews if necessary; Noah Ackerman is an American Jew facing discrimination of the American kind; and Michael Whitacre is an American WASP who struggles with his lack of meaning arising from his lack of struggles.
The three have very different wars: Diestl becomes less sympathetic as he willingly sacrifices more and more merely to survive; Ackerman finally overcomes the discrimination of his fellows in the army only to be nearly undone by the horror of the camps; Whitacre, still without meaning in his life, survives them both.

Several American GIs plan an escape from a German prisoner-of-war camp. Among them is a German, Lt. Hans von Kroner, known to them as Sgt. Richardson, who is working undercover, spying on the prisoners and polishing up his American English. Reporting the escape plan to the Camp Commandant, Von Kroner is told he is being removed from the camp as part of a top secret project gathering all fluent English-speaking members of the Wehrmacht for an unstated reason.
Von Kroner is sent to a German castle with others for Operation Greif (called "Operation OK Butch" in the film), where they will dress in American uniforms and spearhead the Ardennes Offensive by committing sabotage, confusing enemy forces, and seizing key objectives for the attacking German forces. Assisting in the training, Von Kroner is assigned a team of three other men with various skills including a Waffen SS Officer, Wilitz, who regales his comrades with stories of his exploits in terrorizing unfortunates whilst a member of the Brown Shirts.
Von Kroner's team's activities and the initial German assault meet with success, but both soon run into unexpected difficulty. Von Kroner's forged orders are countermanded by a decimated American infantry company of the 23rd Infantry that forces them into being replacements, while the bad weather that made the German assault successful ends, enabling American air power to attack the Germans. In their new unit, Von Kroner meets his two fellow American prisoners, Sgt. Ludwig and Cpl. Ennis; they say they were the only survivors of their escape, as the Germans knew about it and ambushed them.
Obtaining plans for an American counterattack against a strategic crossroads, Von Kroner warns the Germans by radio of the American attack but is ordered to stay with the Americans to ensure that the attack fails. Von Kroner's team sabotage a jeep with a bomb, killing the company commander, and attempt to destroy the unit's other vehicle, a weapons carrier, arousing Ludwig's suspicion.
The company attacks a German position with Wilitz using the opportunity to shoot their lieutenant in the back, placing Ludwig in command. Several German prisoners are taken, and Richardson/Von Kroner volunteers to take them to Battalion headquarters. He returns to tell his comrades that the prisoners didn't want to escape; they wanted to surrender to the Americans with Von Kroner taking them in. A furious Wilitz insists that Von Kroner should have shot the lot of them.
With news of German infiltrators behind American lines spreading, Ludwig is further suspicious when Wilitz doesn't know what the American "hot foot" is.

Shot on location in Burma, Thailand and Ceylon, the film follows Captain Tom Reynolds (Frank Sinatra) and his fellow OSS operatives, Captain Grey Travis (Peter Lawford) and Corporal Bill Ringa (Steve McQueen), leading Kachin natives in fighting the Japanese in Burma in World War II despite a lack of support from their commanders.
In 1943 Burma, a unit of American and British forces under the Office of Strategic Services joins with the native Kachin to hold back the Japanese Army. The unit, under the joint command of American captain Tom C. Reynolds and British captain Danny De Mortimer (Richard Johnson), with guidance from Kachin leader Nautaung (Philip Ahn), remains frustrated by their grueling duty, limited supplies and lack of medical care.
After an ambush mission during which the unit wipes out a Japanese squad, Tom's aide, Bye Ya, is severely wounded. Knowing that because they have no morphine Bye Ya (Guy Lee) will die a lingering, painful death, Tom shoots him, dismaying Danny. Tom then angrily contacts army headquarters in Calcutta and demands to meet with his commanding officer. A few days later in Calcutta, Tom and Danny are met by Corporal Bill Ringa (Steve McQueen), who has been assigned as their driver.
That evening at dinner, the men run into the OSS regional commanding officer Col. Fred Parkson (Robert Bray), who introduces them to wealthy merchant Nikko Regas (Paul Henreid) and his girl friend, Carla Vesari (Gina Lollobrigida). Tom is immediately attracted to Carla and asks her to dance, but she mocks his provincial American background. As he departs, Nikko invites the men to his country place at the base of the Himalayan Mountains. The next day at headquarters, Tom demands a doctor for the unit but Parkson informs him that medical officers are in short supply and it will be their responsibility to secure a doctor. After Parkson then unexpectedly orders the men to take two weeks leave, Tom refuses unless the Kachin are also officially provided leave. When Parkson agrees, Tom asks to have Ringa reassigned as his new aide, as he has grown fond of the corporal's ingenuity and fearlessness.
Tom, Danny and Ringa drive to Cowaga and upon arriving at their hotel receive a note from Nikko, inviting them to a party. At the party, Tom seeks out Carla and despite her cool attitude, asks to see her the next day. The following morning after horseback riding, Tom and Carla are joined by Danny for a tour of the Himalayan villages. During the tour, Danny falls ill and, upon returning to Nikko's house, is misdiagnosed as having typhus by military doctor Capt. Grey Travis (Peter Lawford). Danny insists that he is having a recurrence of malaria and after several tests, Travis reluctantly agrees. Nikko offers to put the men up until Danny recovers and, eager to be near Carla, Tom accepts. Noting Carla's attraction to Tom, Nikko cautions her of the unreliability of Americans.
After Nikko departs for China, Carla spends more time with Tom, but continues to refuse his romantic overtures. Upon Danny's recovery, Tom informs Travis that he has had the doctor assigned to their unit as medical officer. Tom then surprises Carla by insisting that she leave Nikko because Tom intends to marry her. Tom and the others return to the Kachin hills in time to spend Christmas with the troops, but their celebration is interrupted when the Japanese unexpectedly attack and wound Tom. Ringa learns from a captured Japanese soldier that the strike was planned with inside information. Nautaung is dismayed when he discovers that one of his men, Billingsley, and a native Shan girl have betrayed them. When Nautaung orders the girl to be shot and Billingsley to be "put into the Circle" and ritually executed in accordance with Kachin custom, Travis protests vigorously, but Tom insists that the dangers of jungle warfare demand harsh measures.
Travis then sends Tom and the other soldiers wounded in the attack to the air base hospital in Calcutta to recover. There, Parkson gives Tom new orders to destroy an airfield in Ubachi, near the Chinese border. When Tom objects that his small unit lacks the supplies to make a successful attack, Parkson assures him they will receive supplies from their Chinese allies. Later, Carla visits Tom and invites him to stay with her when he has recovered. The day before returning to the hills, Tom goes to see Carla, but is disappointed to find her in a luxurious hotel, which she admits is at Nikko's expense. Tom criticizes Carla's inability to put aside her desire for luxury and departs hurt and angered.
Tom rejoins his unit and they proceed on their mission. When the supply convoy fails to arrive at the designated time, Tom decides they must go ahead with the attack anyway. Although the mission is successful, Nautaung and several Americans are killed. While making their way back, the unit comes across the destroyed convoy and finds evidence that indicates that renegade Chinese from across the border were responsible. Tom decides to pursue the renegades, despite Danny's protest. The men find the Chinese camp at nightfall and locating their supply tent, come upon several dozen American dog tags and personal effects. Shocked and outraged, Tom realizes the renegades have been killing American soldiers. Danny translates one of several Chinese warrants from the Chungking government authorizing independent military forces to defend China in and outside their borders against all foreign intruders, and stating that all confiscated materials will be split with Chungking.
Tom rouses the Chinese in the camp and holds them under guard, but when he radios headquarters to report, he receives a message ordering his immediate return as the Chinese have lodged a complaint about his unit's incursion. While Tom consults with Danny about the prisoners, a Chinese soldier surprises them and kills Danny. Tom sends a message back to headquarters rebuffing their demand and orders Ringa to execute the prisoners.
Upon returning to Burma, Tom promotes Ringa to Second Lieutenant and places him in operational command of the unit, then proceeds to Calcutta where he is placed under house arrest on a charge of murder. Carla visits Tom and confesses that she could not tell him earlier that Nikko is with intelligence and she is his assistant. Carla advises Tom to say that battle fatigue caused his defiant incursion into China, but he refuses. Later, Parkson and an officer from Washington, Gen. Sloan, visit Tom, who shows them one of the Chinese warrants. Sloan advises Tom not to mention the warrants and demands that he apologize to the representative of the Chinese government. Tom refuses and offers Sloan the American dog tags found at the renegade camp as his answer to anything Sloan and his people might say. A team of military psychiatrists are then brought in to examine Tom for a possible mental discharge, but Tom refuses to cooperate and admit to anything.
The Chinese representative then arrives, and Sloan unexpectedly sides with Tom, demanding that the warlord who has killed American servicemen be reported and an apology issued from China to the U. S. Stung, the representative departs and Sloan reveals that the Chungking government had already sent an apology with a promise to investigate the murders. Exonerated, Tom is freed and reunites with Carla before returning to his Kachins.
The film diverges from the novel here, in that Reynolds dies in the book but survives in the film and will presumably go on to marry Carla at some point after the war.

A band of USO entertainers is trapped behind enemy lines in Korea in 1950. They include singer Lorry Evering (Meyer), who after being attacked attracts the personal interest of an Army sergeant who attempts to guide the group of civilians to safety.

In 1959 U. S. Navy Rear Admiral Matt Sherman (Cary Grant), ComSubPac, boards the obsolete submarine USS Sea Tiger, prior to her departure for the scrapyard. Sherman, a plankowner and her first commanding officer, begins reading his wartime personal logbook, recalling earlier events.
On December 10, 1941, a Japanese air raid sinks Sea Tiger while docked at the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines. Lieutenant Commander Sherman and his crew begin repairs, hoping to sail for Darwin, Australia before the Japanese overrun the port. Believing there is no chance of repairing the submarine, the squadron commodore transfers most of Sherman's crew to other boats, but promises Sherman that he will have first call on any available replacements. Lieutenant (junior grade) Nick Holden (Tony Curtis), an admiral's aide, is reassigned to Sea Tiger despite lacking any submarine training or experience.
Holden demonstrates great skill as a scrounger after Sherman makes him the supply officer. He teams up with Marine Sergeant Ramon Gallardo, an escaped prisoner (he was caught misappropriating Navy property to run his own restaurant in Manila), to obtain materials desperately needed for repairs, persuading the captain to sign on Ramon as the ship's cook. What Holden and his men cannot acquire from base warehouses, they "midnight requisition" from various military and civilian sources.
Refloated and restored to barely seaworthy condition, with only two of her four diesel engines operable, Sea Tiger puts to sea. She reaches Marinduque, where Sherman reluctantly agrees to evacuate five stranded female Army nurses. Holden is attracted to Second Lieutenant Barbara Duran (Dina Merrill), while Sherman has a series of embarrassing encounters with the well-endowed and clumsy Second Lieutenant Dolores Crandall (Joan O'Brien). Later, when Sherman prepares to attack an enemy oiler moored to a pier, Crandall accidentally hits the "fire" button before the Torpedo Data Computer has transmitted all the settings to the torpedo. It misses the tanker and instead "sinks" a truck ashore, and the Sea Tiger flees amidst a hail of shellfire.

Charlie is a soldier who suffers the scorn of his paratroop unit because he accidentally kills one of their own men. The film is set in World War II in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy.

In April 1953, during the Korean War, a company of American infantry, led by Lieutenant Joe Clemons (Gregory Peck) are to recapture Pork Chop Hill from a larger Communist Chinese army force; they recapture the hill, but are depleted, only 25 of a 135-man unit are left. They prepare for a large-scale Chinese counter-attack which they know will overwhelm and kill them in vicious fire fights and hand-to-hand fighting while the Panmunjeom cease-fire negotiations continue.
Higher command is shown as being unwilling to either abandon or reinforce the hill. They will not reinforce the hill because the value of the hill is not worth further losses. They will not abandon the hill because it is a point of negotiation in the cease-fire talks.
The American negotiators come to the conclusion that the Chinese are pouring soldiers into the battle for a militarily insignificant hill to test the resolve of the Americans in the negotiations. The decision is then made at the last minute to reinforce the hill.

A Korean War test pilot, Major Pike Yarnell (Jeff Chandler), survives a jet crash in the Pacific Ocean, as does his navigator Donald Beasley (Peter Graves). After 12 days on a raft, Donald dies, but Pike is rescued.
Christina (June Allyson), the dead officer's widow, waits for a full explanation of the circumstances of her husband's death, as do his wealthy Georgia parents and sister. Pike gives them very few details, however, particularly disturbing Virginie Beasley (Mary Astor), who wants a Congressman in the family to seek a Medal of Honor for her brave son.
Pike begins to develop feelings for Christina. He cannot bring himself to tell her that Donald was actually a poor officer and under investigation. During the ocean flight, his navigational mistake leads to the crash. While on the raft, Donald proves to be a coward. Donald revealed near the end, that he never loved his wife and hated his mother. Ultimately, he used Pike's gun to kill himself.

In post-war Berlin, British Major Haven (Richard Wattis) recruits members of a returning German bomb disposal unit, Hans Globke (James Goodwin), Peter Tillig (Dave Willock), Wolfgang Sulke (Wesley Addy), Franz Loeffler (Robert Cornthwaite), Karl Wirtz (Chandler) and Eric Koertner (Palance), to defuse unexploded Allied bombs scattered throughout the city.
Delighted by the well-paying position, Karl bets Eric that he will outlive him. Although initially taken aback by the wager, the other men soon agree that half of their salaries will go to the survivors of the dangerous mission in three months' time. The British provide the men new uniforms and equipment, and assign Frau Bauer (Virginia Baker) as their liaison. Karl volunteers to lead the unit, but the men vote for the reluctant Eric instead.
Later, Karl and Eric move into an Allied-approved boarding house run by pretty young widow Margot Hoefler (Carol), a French woman whose German husband died during the war.
Several weeks go by in which the men successfully and safely defuse numerous bombs; then the men are stunned when young Globke is killed while defusing a British 1000-pound bomb. Suspecting that the bomb has double fuses, Eric asks Haven to request information from British armaments on its design. At the boardinghouse, Karl continually flirts with Margot, to Eric's annoyance. One evening when Margot loudly protests Karl's drunken advances, Eric bursts into Margot's room to help her and Karl retreats, ridiculing Eric for his motives. Deducing that Eric disapproves of her behavior, Margot explains that her uneasy situation as a traitor to the French and an outsider to the Germans has left her jaded and willing to take happiness wherever she can find it. When Eric remains critical, Margot accuses him of denying his own desires.
A few days later, Frau Bauer receives a report that Tillig has been trapped under a live bomb by the partial collapse of a ruined building. With the other men away on assignments, Eric and Karl race to the site, and despite Tillig's protests, inspect the bomb. After Eric defuses the bomb safely, a doctor arrives and upon examining Tillig declares there is no chance for his survival. Refusing to accept the pronouncement, Eric hurries outside to request equipment to lift the bomb, but as Karl expresses his doubts, the building collapses on Tillig and the doctor. Distraught, Eric returns to the boardinghouse where he seeks solace from Margot. The next day, Eric takes Margot to another ruined section of the city and reveals that before the war he was an architect. Eric struggles to conceal his growing feelings for Margot, admitting that he is confused about becoming romantically involved while his life is in danger daily.
Back at headquarters, Haven tells Eric that because of the post-war chaos, they have been unable to gather information on the thousand-pound bombs. When Haven discloses that he knows of Eric's former profession, Karl, unaware that his colleague was an esteemed architect, expresses surprise. Eric tells Haven that he was forced into demolitions when he fell into disfavor for making anti-Nazi political statements. Karl and the other men were all pressed into demolitions as punishment for some indiscretion and all vowed to do everything they could to survive the war. Mocking Eric's growing anxiety, Karl urges him to quit the unit and give up the wager, but Eric refuses.
A month before the wager's deadline, Sulke is killed while defusing a double fused bomb. Eric, Loeffler and the men agree to adhere to the terms of the wager but discuss giving the salaries to Sulke's widow and child. When Eric presents the proposal to Karl, he scoffs at the suggestion, explaining that his motto has always been to look after himself. The next day Loeffler is called to defuse a bomb found in a canal. Later, Eric learns that Loeffler has drowned in the attempt. That afternoon when Margot urges Eric to give up the bet and quit the unit, Eric explains he must know whether he can triumph over Karl's greed and selfishness.
A few days later, Karl is assigned to defuse a thousand-pound bomb and Eric joins him at the site to make an inspection. The men discuss a strategy to avoid the potential second fuse, then Eric departs, but worriedly hovers nearby. After removing the top of the bomb, Karl gently handles the cap then abruptly calls for help, claiming the detonator pin has slipped. Eric rushes in and provides a pencil, which he offers to hold in place of the pin while Karl retrieves his tools from the landing. Moments later, Eric is stunned when the rope Karl used earlier to remove the top pulls tautly across his hand, forcing him to release the pencil. The bomb does not explode, however, and Eric realizes that Karl has tried to kill him. Eric punches Karl in the face. Once Karl gets back on his feet, he says, "Guess it's still my bomb." Eric replies, "Still your bomb." Eric then gets his coat and walks away. Karl resumes defusing the bomb. Once Eric is a safe distance away, the bomb explodes, killing Karl.
The film closes after saluting the efforts of the ordnance removal teams, which have allowed Berlin to rebuild.

Lt. Kenneth Braden, a newly trained U.S. Navy Frogman, is unexpectedly ordered to report for duty without being able to notify his new girlfriend, Sally Johnson, in whom he has taken a serious interest. He is informed that she is an officer of Naval Intelligence and was responsible for a recent confirmation of his character and fitness for a special mission.
Submarine commander Stevenson (whose crew's morale is shaky because of the arguably unnecessary death of a crew member on his last mission) is ordered to take Braden to the island of Kosrae to photograph a code book at the Japanese radio station located there. The skipper originally told Braden that he would have to swim a considerable distance, fighting strong currents, but upon arrival he decides to enter Lelu Harbor and remain there while Braden carries out his covert mission.
After Braden returns, Stevenson dictates a letter accusing himself of putting his submarine and crew in danger in order to make Braden's mission easier. When they reach Pearl Harbor, Braden obliquely informs Stevenson that his crew "lost" the letter. To Braden's surprise and delight, Sally Johnson is waiting at the dock to greet him.

Yugoslav partisans grimly crop the hair of a village quintet of women believed to have consorted with the occupational Nazis. Four, for various reasons, have indeed - and their seducer is a lone, swaggering sergeant whom the partisans briskly emasculate. Escorted out of town by the sheepish Nazis, the forlorn ladies link up, patriotically and romantically, with a band of tough mountain guerrillas.

Poitier plays a U.S. Marine sergeant commanding a small, isolated and decimated platoon in the Korean War. The film explores the racial integration of the American military, centering on the African-American sergeant's struggle to win the trust and respect of the men in his unit.
When the platoon commander is mortally wounded in an ambush, he passes the role of platoon leader to the next highest ranking man, Sergeant Towler (Sidney Poitier). Towler initially feels the role should be taken by the combat experienced former Sergeant now Private Kincaid (Alan Ladd) who has eleven years of service as a Marine. However, Kincaid lost his former rank through misconduct and doing things his own way. Kincaid's prowess as a hero is demonstrated in the opening battle scene where he picks up a M1919 Browning machine gun and fires it from the hip into charging North Korean soldiers.
Before he dies, the Lieutenant reminds Towler that he is next in line for command, not Kincaid. One of the platoon, Pvt Bracken (Paul Richards), openly questions Towler's authority in favour of Kincaid.
With their radio destroyed in the ambush, Sgt Towler leads the ten survivors of the platoon to a house strategically located at a pass that the men can hold until the rest of the battalion arrives.

Young Catholic priest Arturo Carrera (Bogarde) sympathizes with the poor in the Spanish Civil War, but finds that his fellow priests have little concern for the poor, because they support the Nationalist rebels. He then resigns from the priesthood. Hours later, the city is bombarded and he takes shelter with a mysterious beautiful woman named Soledad (Gardner).
They part. As night falls, Loyalist speakers induce a mob to torch the church, whose ranking cleric moves to hide the Blood of St John relic by giving his deputy the task of taking it to Franco's Nationalists. Both the deputy and Arturo become hunted men. Arturo seeks shelter in a local cabaret, where he again meets the mystery woman, who turns out to be a prostitute.
Soledad discovers that Arturo was a priest, but because she likes him, she tries unsuccessfully to hide him from the militiamen. Hawthorne, a habitué of the bar and a New York war correspondent (Joseph Cotten) with a platonic relationship with her, does his best to free Arturo. Arturo tells the Loyalist intelligence chief he can make himself useful by comforting Catholic Loyalists who are wavering because of the treatment of the Church.
Out of jail, but under surveillance, Arturo meets Soledad and the priest who has hidden the holy relic. The absence of the relic is causing unrest in the town and unsettling the local Loyalist militia, now suffering massive desertions because of the missing relic, which is fabled to provide victory to those who possess it. This makes it essential for the local Loyalists to secure it. But because of a well-meaning, disastrous attempt to feed the old priest in hiding, Soledad leads Loyalist security men to his hideout.
Despite torture, the old priest refuses to give up the relic's location, and is to be shot at dawn. The security chief then has Arturo hear the condemned priest's confession. Learning of the relic's whereabouts, Arturo takes it, but claims not to know where it is. But he is then arrested and taken to see the torturing of Soledad, for whom he has declared his love.
Soledad is spared by the arrival of the commanding general, an old man who disapproves of torture and dirty tricks. He orders all 250 prisoners to be marched out to the battle lines. There they will be given arms to slowing the Nationalist advance on the city and cover the Loyalists' retreat. On the march, Arturo gives Soledad the relic so she can try to take it to safety. However, in a surprise nighttime rebel attack, she is seriously wounded. The prisoners change hands, but the Nationalist commander decides he cannot trust them or leave them behind; he orders that they be executed. Arturo pleads with the officer assigned the task, but the man does not believe Arturo's story. Before more than a few unfortunates have been shot, however, Soledad and the relic are found. She dies, but the prisoners are set free.

In Depression-era Los Angeles, Guy Gabaldon gets into a fight at school when another boy snitches about his breaking into a grocery store. After Japanese-American Kaz Uni (the brother of Guy's friend George) finds out Guy's mother is in the hospital and his father is dead, he invites Guy to stay with his family. As Kaz's parents speak little English, Guy begins to learn Japanese. Then, when Guy's mother dies, the Unis adopt him. He becomes especially close to Kaz's mother.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US entry into World War II, Gabaldon's foster family is sent to an internment camp: Camp Manzanar. Gabaldon is drafted, but fails his physical exam due to a perforated eardrum. When Gabaldon goes to visit the Unis, he learns that George has been allowed to join the Army and is fighting in Italy. After making sure that "mama-san" does not object, he manages to enlist in the Marines on the strength of his language skills.
Gabaldon does not make a good first impression on S/Sgt. Bill Hazen at Camp Pendleton, but wins him over. When they are shipped to Hawaii to join the 2nd Marine Division, he gets himself, Hazen and Cpl. Pete Lewis bottles of whiskey and dates with two Japanese-American women and standoffish reporter Sheila Lincoln. Sheila is disgusted by the behavior of the rowdy Marines, but eventually warms up to Gabaldon after a few drinks.
Going ashore on Saipan, he freezes at first when he comes under fire for the first time, but regains his composure. During a Banzai charge, Lewis is killed, and later during the bloody campaign for the island, Hazen is shot in the leg and then killed by a Japanese swordsman. Gabaldon then gets mad and starts killing Japanese soldiers ruthlessly, but after he sees two civilians kill themselves, he remembers George and "mama-san" and changes back to the way he was. During the final battle, he convinces the Japanese general to order approximately 1000 Japanese soldiers and 500 civilians to surrender.

In 1944, engineer Major Baldwin (James Stewart) is ordered to blow up an airfield as well as strategic roads and bridges to help American troops in China retreat from the Japanese army. General Loomis (Alan Baxter) is reluctant to send Baldwin due to his inexperience as a commander, but relents. Baldwin, accompanied by reluctant conscripts, Sergeant Michaelson (Harry Morgan), Prince (Mike Kellin), Lewis (Eddie Firestone), Miller (Rudy Bond) and Collins (Glenn Corbett), the demolition team's translator, Baldwin finds out from Colonel Li (Leo Chen), the Chinese commander that the Japanese are about to capture a munitions dump. Colonel Kwan (Frank Silvera) is assigned to the team but before they can embark, Madame Sue-Mei Hung (Lisa Lu), the American-educated widow of a Chinese officer, joins them, with Baldwin gradually becoming attracted to the widow.
Baldwin blows up a bridge and pushes a truck over a cliff to keep on pace, trying to reach the munitions dump before the Japanese. Sue-Mei and Baldwin are at odds over his cavalier treatment of the Chinese when he resorts to blowing up a mountain road, leaving thousands of local Chinese refugees trapped. After stopping at a village because Miller is ill, Collins tries to give out the surplus food the team has brought, but is trampled to death by starving villagers. Baldwin is furious and resolute in trying to complete his mission, finally successful in blowing up the munitions storage, but when one of his trucks is stolen by Chinese bandits, Miller and Lewis are also killed. Baldwin exacts revenge by rolling a gas barrel into the bandits' outpost and setting the village on fire. Baldwin asks Sue-Mei to understand why he had to act that way, but there is no reconciliation between them as the gulf of two divergent cultures is too great and she leaves him. Although recognizing his retribution was fundamentally excessive and brutal, Baldwin radios his report to headquarters, and is praised for fulfilling his mission.

Craig Benson (Audie Murphy) is a civilian working for the Navy helping supply guerrilla insurgents in the Philippines. His main purpose, however, is to find his wife Ruth (Dolores Michaels), from whom he was separated by the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. When he does find her, he learns that she believed him killed and is romantically involved with a Filipino resistance leader, Julio Fontana (Alejandro Rey).

Erickson (Holden) is an American-born Swedish oil man who is pressured by Allied intelligence agents, led by a British agent (Griffith), to spy for the Allies. Erickson begins his job reluctantly, as it causes marital discord and forces him to pose as a Nazi. He agrees because otherwise his business would be destroyed by the Allies, but over time, realizes it is the right thing to do.
He is influenced in making this moral decision by one of his contacts in Germany, a religious woman (Lilli Palmer) who gives him guidance on the meaning of life and right and wrong. Erickson has a number of close calls, but eventually escapes to Sweden in a harrowing sea voyage.

In a forerunner of The Dirty Dozen, Marine Gunnery Sergeant McGrath (Robert Webber) takes 12 Marines from the brig and trains them to blow up a tunnel behind North Korean lines. McGrath's only friend on the patrol is his Korean guide Pak (Dale Ishimoto). Hating their sergeant, the Marines plan to return to their lines without him, seeing that he becomes "a casualty of war". However, en route to their target they find an injured nun (Anna Sten) and a group of Korean convent girls whose bus has been destroyed.
The Marines change their views when Sgt. McGrath protects the group. When one of their squad (Leo Gordon) attempts to rape one of the young girls, the brig rats turn against him. They proceed with their mission as Marines.

Near the end of the Korean War in 1953, a new replacement, Private Loomis (Robert Redford), is assigned to an infantry company in the front line. He notices a quiet Private Endore (John Saxon) and is warned by others in the company not to speak to him. Once night falls, Loomis notices Endore in black face and dark clothing infiltrating enemy lines to gather information and spread terror amongst the enemy by killing enemy soldiers with his knife. Endore's odd ritual of drawing a circle around the body with his knife may indicate that he is, in fact, a serial killer. Company Commander Captain Pratt (Charles Aidman) lets Endore act independently.
Endore's only friend is a Korean orphan whom Loomis wishes to place in an orphanage, a desire which brings him into conflict with Endore. Tension increases when the armistice occurs and the others in the unit wish to return home to the United States, but Endore does not.

In 1943, Captain Buzz Rickson (Steve McQueen) is an arrogant pilot in command of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber nicknamed The Body. While stationed in England during World War II, one of the bombing missions is aborted because clouds obscure all potential targets, but Rickson ignores the order to turn around and dives under the clouds. He completes the mission, at the cost of one of the bombers in his squadron and its entire crew. Rickson revels in the fighting and destruction; when he is assigned to drop propaganda leaflets on a later mission, he makes his displeasure felt by buzzing the airfield. His commanding officer tolerates his repeated insubordination because he is the best pilot in the bomber group. Even so, when he asks the flight surgeon his opinion, the latter is uncertain whether Rickson is a hero or a psychopath. However Rickson's crew, especially his co-pilot, First Lieutenant Ed Bolland (Robert Wagner), trust his great flying skill.
Between missions, Rickson and Bolland meet a young English woman, Daphne Caldwell (Shirley Anne Field). Although she is attracted to both pilots, she quickly finds out what kind of man Rickson is and chooses Bolland. They soon begin sleeping together. She falls in love with him, although she suspects he will leave her behind and return to America at the end of his tour of duty.
Meanwhile, Bolland becomes increasingly disillusioned with Rickson and his arrogance and his callousness. Rickson pressures his navigator, Captain Marty Lynch (Gary Cockrell), into transferring to another crew, because he questions his orders and behaviour. Lynch even says that Rickson is the kind of man who would have fought on either side. Soon afterwards, family man Lynch is killed in action. His friend Bolland takes it hard and blames Rickson.
Rickson meets a prostitute but does not do more than give her money to buy a dress, provided she looks in the mirror and calls herself "Daphne". When the crew is near the end of the required 25 missions to complete a tour and rotate back home, Rickson makes a move on Daphne, visiting her in her flat after Bolland has returned to the base. Rickson plans to embark on a second tour of duty, while his rival goes home. Daphne rejects his forceful advances, telling him she loves Bolland, but Rickson tries to make Bolland think otherwise.
Finally, on a long-range bombing mission to Leipzig, Colonel Emmet (Jerry Stovin) B-17 is shot-down during the attack leaving Rickson in command, Sergeant Bragliani (George Sperdakos) one of the waist gunners is wounded during the Messerschmitt attack run and is hit in the hand but he is still able to shoot, Rickson'S B-17 reaches Leipzig and the B-17's drop bombs during the attack, Rickson's B-17, is badly shot up and one crew member, the ball turret gunner, Sergeant Sailen (Michael Crawford) – known as "Junior" – dies of his wounds. The B-17 limps back over the English Channel, its bomb bay doors stuck in the open position and one armed bomb still partially stuck on its rack in the bay. Approaching the British coastline near Dover, the air-sea rescue is contacted and the rest of the crew (except Sergeant Prien, who was killed off-screen) bails out. As the last two crew members escape, Bolland is waiting to jump out of the open bomb bay with Rickson, when he notices that Rickson isn't wearing his parachute. Rickson then kicks the unsuspecting Bolland out of the B-17's bomb bay, returns to the cockpit and tries to nurse the bomber back to base by himself, only to crash into the white cliffs on the Kent coast.
Bolland reports Rickson's death to Daphne in Cambridge, who says: "It's what he always wanted." The pair of lovers walk away together.

The film begins on December 8, 1941 with the Japanese attacking the Philippines. Dave McVey Jr., the son of a rich American businessman with extensive holdings in the Philippines, is attacked by murderous bandits. He is rescued by Careo, a Filipino patriot who has put together a group of anti-Japanese Filipino guerrillas. Carero hides Dave with an elderly Filpino and his granddaughter who teach Dave Tagalog.
Careo returns again to tell Dave that his father has left the Philippines, but Dave is joined by a fellow American, Joe Trent, a rough merchant sailor who was third mate on a cargo ship that was sunk by the Japanese. Joe's ship was part of a merchant line owned by Dave's father. Joe figures that Dave's father will reward him for keeping his son safe. Joe gets drunk and rapes the teenage granddaughter. When the girl starts screeming, Dave has no choice but to flee with Joe.
They meet a band of armed Filipinos led by Atong and the English-speaking woman Sisa. The quick-thinking Joe tells the band that if they bring them to Colonel Ryker, an American officer in charge of a guerrilla unit, Ryker will reward them. Ryker tells Dave that the Japanese would probably give him a comfortable existence and might repatriate him to the United States due to his father's extensive business dealings with Japan. Dave replies that his father's connections to Japan were from before the war and he would rather fight with the guerrillas. The group join Ryker's unit in fighting the Japanese.
Joe is promoted to lieutenant and is to accompany a Filipino captain on a raid against a Japanese-held sugar refinery and railway. Joe brings Dave, Atong, Sisa and a group of their original band on the mission. After the captain is killed, Atong kills one of his own men over the captain's pistol. Joe makes Atong give the pistol to Dave. Not wishing to complete their mission, Joe sends Dave and Sisa into a village to ask the locals for food. As they are negotiating, Joe's band massacres the villagers to steal their rice, with Joe shooting Atong during the raid. Sisa quickly switches her loyalties to Joe.

In World War II Austria, Col. Alois Podhajsky sets out to protect his beloved Lipizzaner stallions - purebred snow-white horses with centuries of tradition - from starving refugees and from the advancing Soviet Army who might view them as a source of meat, and ensure that they are surrendered into safekeeping. It is known that U.S. General George S. Patton is something of a horse fancier and might help, if he sees the stallions perform. The ending is happy; see the Lipizzaner main article for the historical details.

During the Korean War, three American prisoners of war – Sgt Ed Brent (Rory Calhoun), Staff Sgt Peter Kane (William Bendix), and Pvt Kirk Wilson (Robert Ivers) – escape from their North Korean captors and try to make it back to American lines, about 40 miles away. At the beginning of their trek, they are given shelter by a Korean couple, who have a young son Han (Manuel Padilla). While Han is hiding in nearby hills, the North Korean captors who are pursuing the three escapees kill the couple. The three Americans elude the North Korean pursuers and encounter Han with his companion dog Lobo (Flame, German Shepherd), an abandoned K-9 corps police dog.
While eating some of their few K-rations, which the three shared with Han and the dog, the three Americans discuss whether they should bring Han and the dog with them on their trek to the American lines. Brent, is in favor of bringing them along and, as ranking officer, orders the other two to do so. Kane, opposes bringing the boy and the dog because of the drain they posed on their few rations. Kane appeals to Wilson to out-vote Brent, based on the assertion that after being held captive rank no longer mattered. Wilson, showing no conviction either way, sides with Kane. However, they eventually agree with Brent and the five proceed on the trek.
Along the way. Han confides with Kane that he doesn’t like him because Kane didn’t help save his parents against the North Koreans. Kane convinces Han that there wasn’t anything they could do as escaped prisoners with no weapons. Kane befriends Han and leads him to believe that he could be adopted and go to America.
Cpl John Estway (Richard Jaeckel), a fourth escaped prisoner who was brainwashed, is encountered on their trek. He is carrying a two-way radio recovered from a broken-down Jeep, but the batteries that powered it have been depleted. They agree the radio would be useful in summoning help, if they could find replacement batteries.
While traveling through brush, Wilson, who is in the lead, steps on a land mine and is killed. Han, starts to return to the three remaining men, but is prevented from stepping on a second land mine by the dog Lobo, who is able to sense it through smell. They decided Lobo would be a valuable resource and used him to sniff out more land mines along their path.
After running out of K-rations, they decided to split up in search of food. Han discovers a wild pig in a thicket, which Kane captures and kills. While discussing how to cook it, someone suggested that they first skin it. Han asks if they have pigs in America and says you don’t skin a pig but rather roast it whole over an open fire. After doing so and enjoying a wonderful meal, they muse about how bright Han is for a child that they figure to be 9 or 10 years old.
They come upon a grass-thatched farmhouse and wonder whether it is occupied. Upon seeing a radio antenna on the roof they surmise that they might find batteries for their radio inside. They hesitated to approach the house because enemy North Koreans might occupy it. Han suggests that he should go and ask for food under the assumption that the enemy, if there, would take him as an innocent child. The men were amazed about how clever and brave the boy was and agreed to his plan. There were enemy soldiers inside, but they reacted violently to the presence of the boy. They came out, shot the boy in a leg and searched for the suspected escapees. Two of the enemies approached the three hidden Americans, who ambushed them. Kane and Estway, donned the fallen enemy’s uniforms and pretended to hold Brent under arrest. The three approached the other North Korean soldiers and when they got close, they opened fire and killed them all. The wounded boy meanwhile fled to escape the North Koreans.
After finding batteries in the farmhouse, they made radio contact with a nearby American base, who sent a helicopter to pick them up. They searched for Han, but couldn't find him immediately. The helicopter arrived but the three prisoners of war wouldn't leave without the boy. The helicopter pilot informed them that he could only carry two of them at a time and insisted that two of them get aboard. Eventually Estway got aboard alone and the helicopter flew away. The other two continued to search for Han. The helicopter pilot returned shortly under gunpoint of Estway and dropped a note saying that Han was spotted in the next canyon, which was infiltrated by many enemy soldiers and would soon be under barrage by American forces. Brent and Kane hiked to that canyon and spotted Han, but were caught under fire by both sides. In the process, the dog Lobo was fatally shot and Brent was wounded in the knee. They reached Han and shortly later were rescued by American infantrymen.
After being transported to the American base camp, they were charged with disobeying orders to board the helicopter and Estway was charged in holding the pilot at gunpoint. Kane, however insisted on explaining the entire situation to the commanding colonial who finally agreed they were really heroes. The commander discovers that Han is only seven years old and marvels about how young and brave he is. Kane tells Han that he still has two years left to his hitch and won’t be able to adopt Han and take him to America. However, Kane convinces both the boy and Brent, that Brent should adopt the boy since Brent would be returning to America, because of his wound. Han leaves with Brent to the hospital and Kane is left displaying a feeling of accomplishment at the end.

When the Norwegian resistance leader, Royal Norwegian Navy Lieutenant Erik Bergman, travels to Great Britain to report the location of a German V-2 rocket fuel plant, the Royal Air Force's No. 633 Squadron is assigned to destroy it. The squadron is led by Wing Commander Roy Grant, an ex-Eagle Squadron pilot (an American serving in the RAF before the US entered the war).
The plant is in a seemingly impregnable location beneath an overhanging cliff at the end of a long, narrow fjord lined with numerous anti-aircraft guns. The only way to destroy the plant is by collapsing the cliff on top of it, a job for 633 Squadron's fast and manoeuvrable de Havilland Mosquitos. The squadron trains in Scotland, where there are narrow glens similar to the fjord. There, Grant is introduced to Bergman's sister, Hilde. They are attracted to each other, despite Grant's aversion to wartime relationships.
The Norwegian resistance is tasked with destroying the anti-aircraft defences of the facility immediately before the scheduled attack. When unexpected German reinforcements arrive, Bergman returns to Norway to try to gather more forces. However, he is captured while transporting desperately needed weapons, taken to Gestapo headquarters and tortured for information. Since Bergman knows too much, he must be silenced before he breaks. Grant and newly married Pilot Officer Bissell are sent in with a single Mosquito to bomb the Gestapo building. Though they are successful, their shot-up Mosquito fighter-bomber crashes on its return, and Bissell is wounded and becomes blind. A tearful Hilde thanks Grant for ending her brother's suffering.
Still worried, Air Vice-Marshal Davis decides to move up the attack to the next day. However, the resistance fighters are ambushed and killed, leaving the defences still intact. Although Grant is given the option of aborting, he decides to press on. The factory is destroyed at the cost of the entire squadron, though a few crews are able to ditch in the fjord. Grant crash-lands but a local man helps Grant's navigator, Flight Lieutenant Hoppy Hopkinson, pull the wounded wing commander from the burning wreckage. Back in Britain, Davis tells a fellow officer who is aghast at the losses, "You can't kill a squadron."

Lieutenant Commander Charlie Madison (James Garner), United States Naval Reserve, is a cynical and highly efficient adjutant to Rear Admiral William Jessup (Melvyn Douglas) in London in 1944. Madison's job as a dog robber is to keep his boss and other high-ranking officers supplied with luxury goods and amiable Englishwomen. He falls in love with a driver from the motor pool, Emily Barham (Julie Andrews), who has lost her husband, brother, and father in the war. Madison's pleasure-seeking "American" lifestyle amid wartime rationing both fascinates and disgusts Emily, but she does not want to lose another loved one to war and finds the "practicing coward" Madison irresistible.
Profoundly despondent since the death of his wife, Jessup obsesses over the US Army and its Air Force overshadowing the Navy in the forthcoming D-Day invasion. The mentally unstable admiral decides that "The first dead man on Omaha Beach must be a sailor". A combat film will document the death, and the casualty will be buried in a "Tomb of the Unknown Sailor". He orders Madison to get the film made.
Despite his best efforts to avoid the duty, Madison and his now gung-ho friend, Commander "Bus" Cummings (James Coburn), find themselves and a film crew with the combat engineers, who will be the first sailors ashore. When Madison tries to retreat from the beach, the manic Cummings shoots him in the leg with a Browning .45 pistol. A German artillery shell lands near the limping-running Madison, making him the first American casualty on Omaha Beach. Hundreds of newspaper and magazine covers reprint the photograph of Madison running ashore, alone (in reality trying to escape from Cummings), making him a war hero. Jessup, having recovered from his breakdown, is horrified by his part in Madison's death. He makes plans to use the heroic death in support of the Navy when testifying before a Senate committee in Washington, D.C. Losing another man she loves to the war devastates Emily.
Then comes unexpected news: Madison is not dead but alive and well and at the Allied 6th relocation center in Southampton. A relieved Jessup plans to show him off during his Senate testimony as the "first man on Omaha Beach", a sailor. Madison, limping from his injury and angry about his senseless near-death, uncharacteristically plans to act nobly by telling the world the truth about what happened, even if it means being imprisoned for cowardice. Emily persuades him through his earlier spoken words to her to instead choose happiness with her by keeping quiet and accepting his role as a hero.


The movie centers on three flight crew members of a USAF Air Rescue Service HU-16 Albatross and various experiences in their collective pasts, told in flashback. Some have considered the flashbacks as tedious and boring, but the aircraft sequences are generally considered quite good, especially for fans of the Grumman Albatross. Richard Widmark plays Colonel Stevenson (the pilot in command); Yul Brynner portrays Master Sergeant Mike Takashima (the Pararescue specialist) and George Chakiris portrays the co-pilot, Lieutenant Gregg.

In 1943, British Intelligence in Cairo recruits criminal mastermind Roberto Rocca (Raf Vallone), demolitions expert and Irish Republican Army member Terence Scanlon (Mickey Rooney), forger Simon Fell (Edd Byrnes), cold-blooded murderer John Durrell (Henry Silva), and thief and impersonator Jean Saval (William Campbell) for a dangerous mission. The men are offered pardons in exchange for attempting to rescue an Italian general sympathetic to the Allies who is imprisoned in German-occupied Yugoslavia. The group is led by Major Richard Mace (Stewart Granger), who is trying to expiate his feelings of guilt for sending his own brother on a dangerous mission and waiting too long to extricate him. The fishing boat transporting Mace's team is stopped by a patrol boat, but they dispose of the Germans.
With the assistance of local partisans led by Marko (Peter Coe), they split up and enter Dubrovnik. Durrell is partnered with Mila (Spela Rozin), a recent widow with a baby. They are attracted to each other, but Durrell becomes extremely distraught when he accidentally smothers her crying child to avoid detection by a German patrol. The team is captured and taken to the same fortress where the Italian general is being kept. They are tortured for information, but manage to escape and fulfill their mission, although Mace, Mila, Fell, Scanlon and Saval are killed while fending off German troops.
At the last minute, Rocca and Durrell discover that the man they have freed is an impostor, and he is about to exhort "his" troops to stay loyal to the Axis. Durrell pretends to be a Nazi fanatic and shoots the fake general; he is killed by the outraged Italians. Rocca, the last man standing, directs the Italians' anger to the Germans.

Lieutenant John "Junior" Witkowski (Bob Dornan) and his buddy, Lieutenant York (Steve Early), arrive at George Air Force Base, Tactical Air Command, in Southern California to train to fly the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, with special emphasis on the complicated mid-air refueling maneuver.
Witkowski's congressman father (Carl Rogers), a famed World War II bomber pilot, frequently calls him, concerned about the safety of fighter aircraft. The congressman wants his son to be transferred to a Convair B-58 Hustler or Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber squadron in the Strategic Air Command. Witkowski also finds romance with Mary Davidson (Shirley Olmstead), an Iowa girl.
During training, Major Stevens (Richard Jordahl) sends Witkowski, York and Lieutenant Lyons (Robert Winston) on a cross-country mission. The three trainees are forced to separate as they encounter a storm. Lyons' aircraft goes down in the mountains, while Witkowski is feared lost. Later, they learn that Lyons parachuted safely, and Witkowski has landed safely at an alternate base. Witkowski, who has impressed senior officers and won his father's admiration, is among those selected to be transferred to a unit in Europe and bids a temporary good-bye to Mary.

The Norwegian resistance sabotage the Vemork Norsk Hydro plant in the town of Rjukan in the county of Telemark, Norway, which the Nazis are using to produce heavy water, which could be used in the manufacture of an atomic bomb.
Kirk Douglas plays Rolf Pedersen, a Norwegian physics professor, who, though originally content to wait out the war, is soon pulled into the struggle by local resistance leader Knut Straud (based on Knut Haukelid, portrayed by Richard Harris).
They are both smuggled to Britain to have microfilmed plans of the hydroelectric plant examined, and then return to Norway to plan a commando raid. When a force of Royal Engineers, who were to carry it out, are all killed, Pedersen and Straud lead a small force of saboteurs into the plant. The raid is successful, but the Germans quickly repair the equipment.
The Germans then plan to ship steel drums of heavy water to Germany. Pedersen and Straud sabotage a ferry carrying the drums, and it sinks in the deepest part of a fjord.
Besides this sequence, the raids (Operations Grouse, Freshman, and Gunnerside) and the final attack are depicted in location filming, in which snowy Norwegian locations serve as a backdrop for the plot.

John Wayne stars as U.S. Navy Captain Rockwell "Rock" Torrey, a divorced "second generation Navy" son of a career Chief Petty Officer. A Naval Academy graduate and career officer, Torrey is removed from command of his heavy cruiser for "throwing away the book" when pursuing the enemy and then being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Torrey's executive officer, Commander (later Captain) Paul Eddington (Kirk Douglas), is a wayward sort who resigned as a naval aviator and returned to the surface navy because of an unhappy marriage. His wife's affairs and drunken escapades have become the talk of Honolulu and her death during the Pearl Harbor attack—in the company of an Army Air Corps Officer (Hugh O'Brian), with whom she had a wild fling on a local beach—drives Eddington into a bar brawl with a group of other Army Air Corps officers, a subsequent stint in the Pearl Harbor brig, then exile as the "... officer in charge of piers and warehouses ..." in what he calls a "backwater island purgatory."
After months of desk duty in Hawaii and recuperation from a broken arm he suffered in the attack, Torrey begins a romance with divorced Navy Nurse Corps lieutenant Maggie Haynes (Patricia Neal), who tells him that his estranged son Jeremiah (Brandon De Wilde) is now an ensign in the Naval Reserve on active duty, assigned to a PT boat, and dating Maggie's roommate, a Nurse Corps ensign. A brief and strained visit with Jeremiah brings Torrey in on a South Pacific island-hopping offensive codenamed "Skyhook," which is under command of overly cautious Vice Admiral B.T. Broderick (Dana Andrews). On additional information from his BOQ roommate, Commander Egan Powell (Burgess Meredith), a thrice-divorced Hollywood film writer and Naval Reserve intelligence officer recalled to active duty, Torrey guesses that the aim of Skyhook is to capture a strategic island named Levu-Vana, whose central plain would make an ideal airfield site for Army Air Forces Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress squadrons. Maggie informs him that her unit is to be shipped out to the same area in preparation for the offensive.
Maggie's roommate, Ensign Annalee Dohrn (Jill Haworth), has been dating Torrey's son. Jere is arrogant and conspiring with a superior officer, former congressman Commander Neal Owynn (Patrick O'Neal), to do as little as possible in combat. Dohrn's romance with Jere ends and Eddington develops an interest in her. In the meantime, Torrey's loyal and resourceful young flag lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander William "Mac" McConnell (Tom Tryon), uses a 30-day leave to get reacquainted with wife Beverly (Paula Prentiss), a civilian observer for the Navy who worries that Mac will be killed in action and wants a child.
Come the summer of 1942, Torrey is promoted to rear admiral by the Pacific fleet's commander-in-chief (Henry Fonda), who then gives him tactical command of Skyhook, an assignment requiring the same sort of guts and gallantry he previously displayed as commanding officer of his cruiser. Torrey personally selects Paul Eddington to be his Chief of Staff, and infuriates Broderick by immediately planning and executing an operation to overrun Gavabutu, an island to be used as a staging base for the invasion of Levu-Vana. Owynn is now Broderick's aide, with Jere still by his side.
The Japanese have withdrawn their garrisons from Gavabutu, making it an easy capture. But as Torrey turns his undivided attention to Levu-Vana, his attempts to secure more material and manpower are frustrated by General Douglas MacArthur's simultaneous and much larger campaign in the Solomon Islands. Reconnaissance aircraft prove especially difficult to come by, and surface combatant forces amount to little more than several cruisers and destroyers, including Torrey's former command. When the mission succeeds, Jere recognizes the disloyalty of Owynn and Broderick and gains a new regard for his father.
Eddington's instability drives him to rape Dohrn, who is now engaged to Torrey's son. The traumatized nurse, fearing she might be pregnant, tries to tell him but he doesn't believe her. She then commits suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. As the truth is about to be revealed, Eddington—still a qualified aviator—commandeers a North American PBJ Mitchell patrol bomber and flies solo on an unauthorized reconnaissance flight to locate elements of the Japanese fleet. Engaged, shot and killed by Japanese Zero fighters, he goes down in a fiery death in a redeeming act of sacrifice, finding and giving advance warning of a large Japanese task force centered around the super-battleship Yamato, on its way to blast Torrey's much smaller force off the islands.
Despite the new seaborne threat, Torrey nevertheless mounts the invasion of Levu-Vana and proceeds with a nothing-to-be-lost attempt to turn back the enemy force. Tragically, his son Jere is killed during a nighttime PT boat action when he is rammed by a Japanese destroyer. The following morning sees a pitched surface action off the shores of Levu-Vana, with the Americans drawing first blood and the Yamato decimating much of the U.S. force in response. Many lives are lost, Powell's among them. Severely injured at the height of the battle, resulting in the amputation of his left leg, Torrey is rescued by his flag lieutenant, LCDR McConnell, and is returned to Pearl Harbor aboard a Navy hospital ship under Maggie's care. Expecting to be court-martialed, Torrey is instead congratulated by CINCPAC for successfully repelling the Japanese advance and allowing his Marines to take Levu-Vana. Although Torrey has lost a leg, he is told by CINCPAC he will get a peg leg and then command a task force and "stump his way to Tokyo" with the rest of the Allied forces. CINCPAC and McConnell leave Maggie and a drowsy Torrey. Maggie pulls the blinds which slightly surprises Torrey who calls out "Maggie!". She responds in a calming voice "I'll be here, Rock" and Torrey lapses into sleep. The last shot is of Maggie warmly smiling back at him.

Narrated in English by a Japanese officer named Kuroki (in the form of a journal he is writing for his wife), a platoon of Japanese soldiers is stranded on an island in the Pacific with no means of communicating with the outside world. Lieutenant Kuroki (Tatsuya Mihashi) keeps his men firmly in hand and is supervising the building of a boat for their escape.
An American C-47/R4D transport plane is shot down by a Japanese Zero, which in turn is shot down by an American F4U Corsair, on the same island with a platoon of U.S. marines led by Captain Dennis Bourke (Clint Walker), Sergeant Bleeker (Brad Dexter) and 2nd Lieutenant Blair (Tommy Sands). Confidante to Bourke is the chief pharmacist's mate (Frank Sinatra). As both sides learn of each other's existence on the island, tension mounts resulting in a battle for the Japanese boat. The vessel is destroyed and a Japanese soldier is seriously injured. Calling a truce, Koruki trades the Americans access to water in exchange for a visit from their doctor to treat the wounded soldier, whose leg has to be amputated.
The truce results in both platoons living side by side, although a line is drawn forbidding one from encroaching on the other's side of the island. At first, there is some clandestine cooperation and trading and earnest respect and friendship. When the Americans establish radio contact and their pick-up by a US naval vessel is arranged they demand that the Japanese surrender. As the Americans proceed to the beach, the American captain orders his men to shoot to kill. They are ambushed by the Japanese platoon. The Americans are given no option but to retaliate in self-defense that results in an ensuing bloody and pointless firefight during which all the Japanese (including Kuroki) and most of the Americans are shot dead. The medic, Bourke, Bleeker, Blair and Corporal Ruffino (Richard Bakalyan) are the only survivors of the skirmish. They move onto the beach and wait to be rescued by the American naval vessel, stationed just offshore. Kuroki's final narration calls what he is to do "just another day." The film ends with a long shot of the island, superimposed with the words "Nobody ever wins".

Following the Normandy landings at Omaha Beach, an American squad frees a group of French hostages but takes several casualties in an assault in Vierville-sur-Mer.
They capture a German officer who has treated the French in his jurisdiction with kindness, but the American sergeant discovers that no one on the busy beachhead wishes to be bothered with prisoners.

Colonel Joseph Ryan is a USAAC pilot who is shot down over Italy. He is taken to a POW camp, run by the cruel Major Basilio Battaglia. Ryan insists that Battaglia salute him as a superior officer, which is reluctantly translated by the sympathetic second-in-command, Captain Vittorio Oriani. The camp is mainly populated by British prisoners. The previous Allied commanding officer, who was British, has recently died, due to being placed in the "sweat box" as punishment for hitting Battaglia with a stick. When Ryan arrives in camp, Major Eric Fincham is the senior British officer. Ryan, being senior, assumes command.
Ryan, aware that the Allies are close to liberating Italy, reveals several of the prisoners' escape attempts, infuriating Fincham and the British soldiers. When Battaglia refuses to improve camp conditions, Ryan orders the prisoners to strip and burn their filthy clothes, forcing Battaglia to issue new ones. Battaglia throws Ryan into the sweat box as punishment.
After hearing of the Italian surrender, the guards flee. The British promptly put Battaglia on trial as a war criminal, and allow Oriani to defend him. Battaglia portrays himself as a broken man who has repudiated fascism. Ryan orders him to not be executed, but instead, to be put in the sweat box.
The men head out across the Italian countryside to freedom. Oriani moves forward in an attempt to contact Allied forces. In the morning, the Germans recapture the prisoners. Fincham thinks Oriani has betrayed them. When the POWs are put on a train, they find a severely battered Oriani in the prisoner carriage. They realise Battaglia betrayed them. The Germans shoot all the sick prisoners. Fincham blames Ryan for letting Battaglia live. The train travels to Rome, where a German officer, Major von Klemment, takes command.
Ryan uses a metal bar to pry up the floorboards of the car. That night, when the train stops, Ryan, Fincham, and Lieutenant Orde sneak out from underneath the train and kill several of the guards, then free a carload of POWs, who help them kill the remaining guards. Ryan and Fincham capture von Klemment and his mistress, Gabriella. As the train moves out, another train follows. Von Klemment reveals that the second train is carrying German troops and is on the same schedule. Further, von Klemment is to receive orders at each railway station. A German-speaking Allied chaplain, Captain Costanzo, is enlisted to impersonate the German commander to ensure their passage through the next station in Florence.
Through the documents received in Florence, they learn that both trains are headed towards Innsbruck, Austria. Through trickery, the prisoners switch their train onto a different line at Bologna. The troop train continues on toward Innsbruck. Von Klemment and Gabriella are kept bound and gagged, but Gabriella uses a shard of broken glass to sever their bonds. At a stop, von Klemment and Gabriella escape, killing Orde. Both are shot by Ryan.
Meanwhile, SS troops, led by Colonel Gortz, have discovered the ruse. The prisoners put the train on a siding, but discover that it leads to a German facility, which is subsequently bombed by Allied aircraft. The train races through, bombs exploding everywhere. Several cars catch fire, and several men are wounded. After they leave, the Italian engineer and Oriani disable the signals at one signal box, disabling the station's track displays and confusing the Germans. The prisoners then reroute the train to neutral Switzerland through manual switching.
Gortz and his troops pursue them. As the Alps appear, the prisoner train is attacked by German aircraft. Rocket fire causes boulders to fall and destroy a section of track. The POWs replace the damaged rail as the SS race up from behind. Ryan, Fincham, and others hold off the Germans, but many are killed in the battle. The prisoner train moves out as the men run for the rear platform with the Germans in pursuit. Fincham makes it and reaches back for Ryan's outstretched hand, but Ryan is gunned down by Gortz just as the train crosses into Switzerland.

Prior to the 1944 American invasion of the Philippines a hand-picked team of U.S. Marine Corps amphibious reconnaissance scouts is landed by a PBY Catalina with the mission of contacting an intelligence agent who has crucial information. Each Marine is not only experienced but has a special skill with the exception of the radio operator, PFC Grenier (James Mitchum).
Grenier, an air crew radioman with only six months in the Corps is taken off the PBY's air crew when the original radio operator suddenly became medically unfit for the mission. He is given the sick Marine's radio and camouflage jacket to carry on his first ground combat mission. He serves as a narrator to the audience.
After meeting up with their guide (Manual Amado), the patrol commander Captain Alonzo Davis (Lieutenant Colonel Clement J. Stadler who had been awarded the Navy Cross and who also acted as the film's technical advisor) is killed while ambushing a small group of Japanese soldiers, and First Sergeant Corey (Hugh O'Brian, recognized as one of the youngest Drill Instructors to have served in the USMC) takes command.
Pvt. George George and Pfc. Henry Reynolds are killed while taking out a Japanese tank and patrol. And Cpl. Stanley Parrish(Greg Amsterdam, the son of Morey Amsterdam) is killed by a guerrilla trap soon after. As they walk on, Amado is shot by a Japanese officer while scaling a small hill. The marines let him die to keep their presence secret. Grenier is eventually told by Gunnery Sergeant Wartell (Mickey Rooney) that they were sent to recover some important information from a contact in a tea house whose radio was destroyed, thus explaining the radio's importance to the mission.
Grenier's inexperience and incompetence arouses anger amongst Corey and the other members of the patrol. His only friend is easy going but professional Gunnery Sergeant Wartell who acts as a mediator between the hard no nonsense 1st Sgt Corey and Grenier, explaining each one to the other and the audience. Rooney provides the only comedy relief in the film when his character is captured and interrogated by a group of careless Japanese soldiers.
The surviving squad members eventually arrive at the tea house but, unfortunately, Amado was the one who was supposed to meet the contact as he was the only Filipino in the group. Desperate, Corey decides to met the contact, Miyazaki a Japanese-American woman from Long Beach, California. While sneaking out of the camp with Miyazaki, Corey crashes into a waiter and the two run across a straw bridge then blow it up with a grenade, escaping from the soldiers. Meanwhile, a large skirmish with a Japanese patrol has killed Cpl. Alvin Ross and Platoon Sergeant William Maccone, shot the radio up beyond repair, and wounded Gunnery Sergeant Wartell. Wartell, knowing he will slow the survivors down, tells the reluctant Corey to leave him behind. When they leave, he plants grenades under himself and is captured by the Japanese soldiers. After toying with them a bit during his interrogation he sets off the grenades, taking them all out in the blast, and leaving Corey and Grenier the only surviving marines. The explosion is heard by the survivors and they sadly track on.
Corey and Grenier learn from Miyazaki that the Japanese are expecting the invasion fleet and have placed a mine field powerful enough to destroy the entire fleet in the water around the invasion sites. Arriving at a friendly Filipino village, Corey and Grenier are able to escape a Japanese patrol by boat. But Miyazaki is killed by an officer she seduced to buy the guys some time. At last discovering the principles of mission accomplishment, altruism, and self sacrifice through observation, Grenier becomes a squared away Marine. He and his First Sergeant infiltrate the enemy base to remotely detonate the minefield with the Japanese radio transmitter. As Corey provides a one-man army diversion, Grenier is able to detonate the mines by radio control. Grenier then steals a radio and goes to tell Corey of their success, only to find Corey dead of blood loss from wounds he got while holding off the Japanese. Grenier escapes to the coast and radios for pick up. Leaving him the sole survivor of the mission. The movie ends with Grenier looking at the ocean while he listens to General Macarthur speech as he awaits pick up.

Shortly after the failed 1944 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler (Billy Frick), he appoints General Dietrich von Choltitz (Gert Fröbe) as military governor of occupied Paris. Hitler believes Choltitz will obey his order that the Allies should not be allowed to capture Paris without the Germans destroying it completely, similar to the planned destruction of Warsaw.
The French Resistance learn that the Allies are not planning to take Paris, but are heading straight to Germany instead. The two factions within the Resistance react to this news differently. The Gaullists want to wait and see, while the Communists want to take action. The Communists force the issue by calling for a general uprising by the citizens of Paris and by occupying important government buildings. The Gaullists go along with this plan of action once it is set in motion.
Initially, Choltitz is intent on following Hitler's order to level the city. After his troops fail to dislodge the Resistance from the Prefecture of Police, he orders the German air force to bomb the building but withdraws the order at the urging of the Swedish Consul, Raoul Nordling (Orson Welles), who points out that bombs that miss the Prefecture risk destroying nearby culturally invaluable buildings such as the Notre Dame Cathedral. Choltitz accepts a truce offer from the Resistance (conceived by the Gaullist faction), but the Communists want to keep on fighting, in spite of a lack of ammunition. The truce is, therefore, shortened to one day and the fighting resumes.
After learning that the Germans plan to destroy Paris (the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks are rigged with explosives), a messenger from the Resistance is sent across enemy lines to contact the Americans. He implores the Allies to act and afterwards U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the Free French Forces under General Charles de Gaulle the go-ahead to move on Paris.
As the military situation deteriorates, Choltitz delays the order to destroy Paris, believing that Hitler is insane and that the war is lost, making the destruction of Paris a futile gesture. He chooses instead to surrender shortly after the Allies enter the city.
As the Free French Forces and De Gaulle parade down the streets of Paris, greeted by cheering crowds, a phone receiver off the hook is seen with a voice in German repeatedly asking "Is Paris burning?" From the air, Paris is seen, its buildings still standing.

In the final moments of the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu, a weakened French garrison awaits a last assault by communist Viet Minh troops.
The garrison commander, Basque Lt. Col. Pierre-Noel Raspeguy (Anthony Quinn), has called central headquarters for reinforcements. Headquarters sends only a single plane load of French paratroopers, under the command of Major de Clairefons. Despite Raspeguy's attempts to provide covering fire, the paratroopers are slaughtered as they land. Major de Clairefons is killed when his parachute drags him into a minefield. Raspeguy is enraged that General Melies (Jean Servais) sent only one plane, and further believes that Melies intends to make him responsible for the entire debacle at Dien Bien Phu.
The Viet Minh overrun the French, with the survivors captured and imprisoned. Among Raspeguy's friends are military historian Captain Phillipe Esclavier (Alain Delon), Indochina-born Captain Boisfeures (Maurice Ronet), surgeon Captain Dia (Gordon Heath) and Lt Ben Mahidi (George Segal), an Algerian-born paratrooper who turns down a Viet Minh leader's (Burt Kwouk) offer for preferential treatment because he is an Arab. Raspeguy's leadership keeps the men together in their captivity. When released after a treaty between the Viet Minh and France, Raspeguy leads his men in demolishing a delousing station that they see as a humiliation.
Upon his return home to Algeria, Ben Mahidi is disgusted at the treatment of his people, especially when his teenaged brother is machine gunned by the police for spraying graffiti in support of independence from France. He deserts from the army to join the rebels of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), becoming a guerrilla leader.
Upon his own return from Indochina, Lt. Colonel Raspeguy starts a relationship with Countess Nathalie de Clairefons (Michèle Morgan), widow of the Major who died while trying to reinforce Raspeguy's garrison. The Countess' military contacts result in Raspeguy being given command of the new 10th Regiment of Parachutistes Coloniaux, serving under General Melies in the Algerian war.
The General briefs him that the command is his last chance in the military: if his Regiment fails, Raspeguy's career is finished. Raspeguy recruits his comrades-in-arms from Indochina and trains his battalion with harsh methods, such as using live ammunition on an assault course to encourage speed and initiative.
Soon after beginning counter insurgency operations in both urban and rural environments, Esclavier falls in love with Mahidi's sister Aicha (Claudia Cardinale), who is loyal to the FLN and uses her friendship with Esclavier to smuggle explosive detonators. The previously naive Esclavier begins to have a new view of his nation's conduct as the FLN rebels and French parachutists try to outdo each other in breaking the rules of war. Raspeguy eventually turns on his old comrades who have become too sympathetic to the FLN. Promoted to general, the last scene shows him receiving a medal. Outside the compound Esclavier, who has left the army in disgust, laughs when he sees a child painting a pro-independence slogan on the wall.

The novel describes a life of boredom and sudden battle action, but the chief conflict is between the traditional western ideas, which saw China in racist and imperialist terms, and emerging nationalism. The protagonist, engine mechanic Jake Holman, teaches his Chinese workers—he refuses to call them "coolies"—to master the ship's machinery by understanding it, not just "monkey see, monkey do". The ship is sent to save the China Light Mission from anti-foreign mobs, setting off a debate: "No man who favors the unequal treaties has the right to call himself a Christian!" Others reply "It is time for the Society for Propagation of the Gospel to step aside. It is time for the Society for Propagation of Cannonballs to bring them to their senses." After the crew burn and destroy a war junk, Holman takes a landing squad to rescue the missionaries, including teacher Shirley Eckert whom Jake has met several times and come to love. Holman is pinned down and killed, but Miss Eckert is saved.

Canadian Commando Major Jamie Wilson (Lloyd Bridges), plans an audacious Combined Operations raid on the Axis held French port of Le Clare; if destroyed, the Germans would be stripped of the only dry dock capable of servicing their large battleships. Wilson's plan, code named Operation Mad Dog, is to ram a destroyer packed with tons of explosives into the outer gate of the dock, while his commandos cause havoc to the dock facilities and garrison, and then detonate the explosive laden destroyer. Opposed to Wilson is Royal Navy Captain Owen Franklin (Andrew Keir), whose own son was killed on Wilson's disastrous last Dieppe-type raid on the French coast at Le Plagé.
Under pressure from Winston Churchill, Wilson's plan is given the go-ahead, even though the naval craft requested for the mission are reduced to a minesweeper replacing the destroyer, no escort craft and only four motor launches. The mission's naval commander Lieutenant Commander, Don Kimberly, (Mark Eden) is blinded in a training accident while trying to save an injured commando, who dies from his injuries. With no other option, Franklin is ordered to replace Kimberly, and thus put him in direct conflict with Wilson on the journey to France. As they cross the English Channel Wilson finds himself at odds with Franklin when the supporting air raid seems to be cancelled, but, to Wilson's surprise, Franklin ignores the order to return and changes his view of both Wilson and the mission.
With a united group heading into the port, the Germans discover the approaching minesweeper and its commando carrying escort of motor launches. After briefly stalling the Germans, by pretending they are German ships, the convoy is bombarded by the coastal batteries which line the port entrance, but fail to stop the minesweeper from ramming the dock gate. As the commandos storm ashore, leaving Wilson on the minesweeper's bridge, it is hit once again, this time though, Wilson is mortally wounded. In the port's facilities a running battle rages between the Germans and the commandos, leading to Franklin being captured and taken to the German HQ.
Brought in front of the garrison commander, Colonel von Horst (Walter Gotell), Franklin is mocked for what the Germans see as a fruitless mission. Meanwhile, a German party, led by von Horst's subordinate, Captain Erich Strasser, (George Mikell) boards the minesweeper and heads for the smashed bridge where Wilson, barely alive, notices that the detonating circuit is broken. As Strasser enters the bridge, Wilson, with his last ounce of strength places the two wires together, completing the circuit; the explosives detonate, destroying the dock gate. In the German HQ, Franklin merely grins at the horror on the Germans' faces as the explosion rocks the building before commandos storm the HQ and liberate him, killing von Horst and his men. Franklin and the commandos then depart in the waiting motor launches with their mission completed.

The 30-minute opening sequence of the film depicts an opposed beach landing. Its graphic depiction of the violence and savagery of war was echoed thirty one years later in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. In one scene during the landing a Marine is shown with his arm blown off, similar to Thomas C. Lea III's 1944 painting The Price.
As Americans are shown consolidating their gains, flashbacks illustrate the lives of American and Japanese combatants. Shifting first-person voice-over in a stream of consciousness style is also used to portray thoughts of numerous characters. Like Wilde's previous production of The Naked Prey (1965), the film does not use subtitles for characters speaking Japanese.
The film contains large sections of voice-over narration, often juxtaposed with still photographs of wives, etc. (who are inexplicably dressed in 1967 attire rather than that appropriate for the 1940s). Many soldiers in the film shed tears, and the narrative displays an unusual amount of sympathy for the enemy.
In one scene Cliff who is injured is lying close to an injured Japanese soldier in a scene paralleling the one from All Quiet on the Western Front with Paul Bäumer and Gérard Duval. Just after the two soldiers bond, other Marines appear and kill the Japanese soldier, causing distress to the first Marine.
Director, producer, and co-writer Wilde plays a Marine Captain, the company commander. Rip Torn plays his company gunnery sergeant, who utters the film's tagline, "That's what we're here for. To kill. The rest is all crap!"

In Britain, in the March of 1944, the Advance Section Communications Zone (ADSEC) of the US Army is responsible for planning detail for the D-Day invasion. ADSEC commander Major General Sam Worden has orders for Major John Reisman, an OSS officer, and Reisman's former commander Colonel Everett Dasher Breed of the 101st Airborne Division. The personalities of the three men are shown to clash and the characters of the individualistic Reisman and the domineering Breed are established. Reisman is aided by his friend, the mild-mannered ADSEC Major Max Armbruster.
Worden assigns Reisman an unusual and top-secret mission, code-named Operation Amnesty. He is to train a small band of the Army's worst convicts (selected for him) and turn them into commandos to be sent on a virtual suicide mission, the airborne infiltration and assault on a château near Rennes in Brittany. The chateau will be hosting a meeting of dozens of high-ranking German officers, the elimination of whom will hamper the German military's ability to respond to D-Day by disrupting the chain of command. Those who survive the mission will be pardoned and returned to active duty at their former ranks. However, as Reisman repeatedly tells the men, few of them will be coming back from this one.
After witnessing a hanging in a military prison, Reisman meets his 12 convicts (the 'Dirty Dozen'), all either serving lengthy sentences or awaiting execution. Military Police (MP) Sergeant Bowren reads out the sentences of each man as Major Reisman walks down the line of prisoners:
Reisman visits Franko, Wladislaw, Maggott, Posey and Jefferson in their cells. Some details of their crimes are revealed and he uses a different approach with each in an effort to gain their cooperation.
Under the leadership of Reisman, supported by Capt. Kinder and supervised by Bowren and a few more MPs, the group begins training. After being forced to construct their own living quarters, the 12 men are trained in close combat by Reisman and gradually learn how to operate as a group. For parachute training, they are sent to the base operated by Colonel Breed. Under strict orders to keep their mission secret, Reisman's men run afoul of Breed and his troops, especially after Pinkley - under Reisman's orders - poses as a general and inspects Breed's troops. Angered at the usurpation of his authority, Breed attempts to discover Reisman's mission by having two of his men attack Wladislaw in the latrine, but they are both knocked out by Posey and Jefferson.
The 12 men think Reisman sent the attackers until Breed and his men investigate the Dirty Dozen's camp, and recognize the two men who jumped Wladislaw in the latrine. Reisman, who had been away when Breed and his 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrived, infiltrates his own post and opens fire on the paratroops as the convicts jump them. They disarm the paratroops, Colonel Breed is ordered to take his men and leave, and Major Reisman is called on the carpet by General Worden and his chief of staff, Brigadier General Denton.
Denton, siding with Breed, insists that Reisman has exceeded his authority and urges General Worden to terminate Operation Amnesty. Reisman rises ferociously to the defense of his men, pointing out they had crammed six months of training into as many weeks and deserved a chance to prove themselves. Major Armbruster suggests a test that would show whether Reisman's men are ready—during practice maneuvers in which Breed will be taking part, the "Dirty Dozen" will attempt to capture the Colonel's headquarters. During the maneuvers, the men use various unorthodox tactics, including theft, impersonation, and rule-breaking, to infiltrate Breed's headquarters and hold his men and him at gunpoint. This proves to General Worden that Reisman's men can be used for the mission and that the operation is a go.
Due to the men's nature, and to prepare to backfill in case of someone's death, Reisman makes them memorize by repeated recitation the details of the attack in a rhyming chant to help them remember their roles. The night of the raid, the men are flown to France, and continue to repeat and verbally recite the rhyme they have learned which details their roles in the operation. A slight snag occurs, when upon landing in a tree, one of the dozen, Jiminez, breaks his neck and dies, but as trained, the others proceed with the mission, Gilpin taking on Jiminez's duties. Wladislaw and Reisman infiltrate the meeting disguised as German officers, while Jefferson and Maggott sneak onto the top floor of the building. The others set up in various locations around the chateau.
The plan falls apart when Maggott sees one of the women who had accompanied the officers, abducts her at knifepoint, and orders her to scream. The German officers downstairs ignore her, thinking she is just having sex. Maggott stabs her and begins shooting wildly at enemy and ally alike, alerting the German officers. Jefferson kills Maggott because he has compromised the mission and evidently gone mad.
As the officers and their companions retreat to an underground bomb shelter, a firefight ensues between the Dirty Dozen and the chateau's guard force. As planned, Wladislaw and Reisman lock the Germans in the bomb shelter, then pry open the ventilation ducts to the shelter, drop unprimed grenades down, then pour gasoline inside. Jefferson throws a live grenade down each shaft and sprints for the stolen half-track the team has "liberated," but is shot down as the grenades explode. Over the course of the battle, all but two of the convicts are killed, leaving Reisman, Bowren, Wladislaw and Franko as the remaining survivors of the assault team. As they make their escape Franko, shouting triumphantly that he has survived, is shot by a stray round. Only Reisman, Bowren and Wladislaw (the lone prisoner) manage to get out alive.
A voiceover from Armbruster confirms that General Worden exonerated the surviving members of the Dirty Dozen, and communicated to the next of kin of the rest that "they died in the line of duty".

Two unnamed WWII servicemen, one American (Lee Marvin) and one Japanese (Toshiro Mifune), are stranded on an uninhabited Pacific island. The Japanese soldier suddenly discovers a military plane crash kit near his camp. The American, whose plane it recently came from, watches him salvage the kit and confronts him on the beach. After aggressive gestures from both men, the American notices that the Japanese has a small reservoir of drinking water and makes a dash to drink some, but is run off into the jungle. The Japanese sets fire to the jungle, smoking out the American. After chasing him off again, he wades out into the water to check his fishing trap. While his back is turned, the American makes another run for the drinking water, eventually stealing some and running off.
The next day, the American tries to steal more water, but is caught and falls on the reservoir, destroying it. After escaping, he destroys the fish trap, makes noises and plays tricks on the Japanese. After urinating on him from the cliff above, he's chased into the jungle by the infuriated Japanese, but collapses from dehydration. The Japanese takes him prisoner, binds his arms to a log and makes him walk back and forth in the sand. Eventually, the American escapes, surprises the Japanese and then binds him to the log and makes him walk back and forth in the sand. After getting frustrated trying to cook a meal, the American cuts the Japanese loose so that he can do the cooking. They cease hostilities and share chores and food from then on.
Later, the American notices the Japanese trying to build a raft. He scolds him for stealing "his" log to make the raft and for being sneaky about its construction. After observing what a poor attempt the raft is, he gets the idea that they should build a better one together. They argue over the design, but eventually work together and build a large raft. After setting sail and overcoming the strong waves of the reef, they hit open water.
Days later, they come upon a new set of islands, on one of which appears be an abandoned base. The Japanese takes the lead, since he recognizes it as a Japanese base. The American then spots American supplies and runs after him, imploring any soldiers who might hear to not fire because the Japanese is his "friend". At one point, startled by running into his friend, the American exclaims in relief, "for a moment there, I thought you were a Jap". Realizing that the base truly is abandoned, they rummage around for useful items and luxuries, eventually finding shaving supplies, a bottle of wine, cigarettes and an issue of Life magazine.
That night, each seeing the other clean shaven for the first time, they drink wine together, sing songs and tell each other stories, despite the language barrier. Casually, the Japanese picks up and looks through the Life magazine and is horrified to see photos of dead and imprisoned Japanese soldiers. The American, now a little drunk, gets upset that the Japanese isn't answering a question and the two angrily glare at one another, too upset to notice the increasingly loud sounds of the island getting shelled. The Japanese stands up and walks a few paces away and the American gets up and kicks over the campfire. As the Japanese turns and walks back, a shell hits the building that they're in and destroys it. In the alternate ending (available on home video releases), no shell hit occurs and the two men are shown going their separate ways.

In 1946, after fighting in World War II, two former United States Air Force pilots in North Africa, Brynie MacKay (Rod Taylor) and Mike Brewer (Pete Duel) are forced to work for Lee Harris (Harry Guardino), an international smuggler to get money needed for their return to civilian life. The smuggler wants them to fly to France, with Egyptian cotton cargo. When Brynie finds that their real cargo is contraband cigarettes, he extorts Harris for more money. In retaliation, Harris plants narcotics on Brynie's aircraft and informs Colonel Wilson (Kevin McCarthy) at U. S. Counterintelligence.
With Byrnie's aircraft impounded and his money seized, Elena (Claudia Cardinale), Harris's mistress comes to his aid. Harris exacts a promise for 12 more illegal cargo flights, but Mike warns that they will both be killed if they go ahead with this scheme. When Mike tries to trap Harris by informing Col. Wilson about the smuggling runs, Harris, who is flying with the two pilots, kills Mike, but is knocked out by Byrnie.
Fearing Harris's gang is waiting for him at the prearranged destination, Byrnie lands his aircraft at an abandoned military air strip and informs Wilson where the contraband can be found. With Elena at his side, Byrnie then escapes to North Africa. When Harris tracks them down, Brynie overcomes Harris and turns him over to Wilson, and because of the deal Mike had made, is released. Byrnie decides to return to the United States with Elena and become a teacher, his former profession.

Several brigadier generals (American, British, and French) are unexpectedly taken prisoner by the Italians while arguing military tactics in a sauna - which is a public relations disaster. They are held in an Italian villa run as a top level prison camp by benevolent Italian Colonel Ferrucci. Being all of the same rank, none is in command and they are forced to plan escapes by committee, with predictably ineffective results.
Headquarters devises a plot to free them by sending in Harry Frigg (Paul Newman). Frigg is a private in the U.S. Army who is forever escaping from military stockades; he is usually put inside them as he does not want to be a private in the U.S Army. As an incentive, he is promised a promotion to sergeant after the generals have been freed. Accepting the mission, Frigg is promoted to major general so that he will outrank all the prisoners, assume command and lead the resultant breakout. Parachuted behind enemy lines, Frigg allows himself to be captured, and is imprisoned in the same jail as the brigadiers. While they are initially skeptical of his rank, he has been given a few personal secrets about them that only a senior officer might be expected to know.
Frigg discovers a secret passage from his bedroom to the gatehouse outside the villa's fence, which he intends to use to escape with the other generals; but Frigg's plan is put on hold when he becomes romantically involved with Countess Francesca De Montefiore (Sylva Koscina), the owner of the castle where they are imprisoned. Eventually, after a romantic interlude the escape plan is reactivated.
On the eve of the group's intended escape, Colonel Ferrucci announces that due to the low escape rate in the complex he is to be promoted to general at midnight the following night The group decide to put their escape plans off by a day to ensure the Colonel gets promoted to general at least once, despite knowing that his rank will be stripped once they do escape. During the celebration a Nazi Major arrives and after midnight announces that Italy has surrendered to Germany, and all present are now his prisoners...
The Germans take the generals to a high-security prison camp for officers. Escape seems hopeless; however, Frigg confesses to being only a private, and is separated from the rest to be delivered to a basic holding camp for NCOs. Escaping his guard he then breaks back into the officers camp, eventually freeing them all and capturing the Major in the process.
The film concludes with Frigg ending the war as a Master Sergeant who is offered the assignment of taking charge of a radio station and a promotion to Second Lieutenant. Whilst discussing the role, Frigg passes the countess's castle and decides to use it as the base of the radio station.

In the winter of 1943-44, U.S. Army Brigadier General George Carnaby (Robert Beatty), a chief planner for the second front, is captured by the Germans when his air transport to Crete is shot down. He is taken for interrogation to the Schloss Adler, a mountaintop fortress in the Alps of southern Bavaria, accessible only by cable car or helicopter. A team of seven Allied commandos, led by British Major John Smith of the Grenadier Guards (Richard Burton) and U.S. Army Ranger Lieutenant Morris Schaffer (Clint Eastwood), is briefed by Colonel Turner (Patrick Wymark) and Admiral Rolland (Michael Hordern) of MI6. Disguised as German troops, they are to parachute in, enter the castle, and rescue General Carnaby before the Germans can interrogate him. After their German Ju-52 transport drops them in Germany, Smith secretly meets Mary Ellison (Mary Ure) and Heidi Schmidt (Ingrid Pitt), their presence known only to him; Heidi arranges for Mary to be a maid at the castle.
Although two of the team are mysteriously killed, Smith continues the operation, keeping Schaffer as a close ally and secretly updating Rolland and Turner by radio. The commandos surrender themselves to the Germans; Smith and Schaffer (being officers) are separated from the other three operatives, Thomas (William Squire), Berkeley (Peter Barkworth), and Christiansen (Donald Houston). They quickly kill their captors, blow up a supply depot, and prepare an escape route for use at the end of their mission. Riding atop a cable car, they reach the castle and climb inside when Mary lowers a rope.
German General Rosemeyer (Ferdy Mayne) and Standartenführer Kramer (Anton Diffring) are interrogating Carnaby when the three new prisoners arrive; all three identify themselves as German double agents. Smith and Schaffer intrude, weapons drawn, but Smith forces Schaffer to disarm. He identifies himself as Sturmbannführer Johann Schmidt of the SD of the SS intelligence branch. As proof, he discreetly shows the name of Germany's top agent in Britain to Kramer, who silently affirms it. He now reveals that "General Carnaby" is an impostor, a lookalike U.S. corporal named Cartwright Jones, further claiming that the other prisoners are British impostors. To test them, he proposes that they write down the names of their fellow agents in Britain, to be compared to his own list in his pocket. After the three finish their lists, Smith and Schaffer re-secure the room; the former reveals that he was bluffing and the lists were the mission's true objective.
Meanwhile, Mary is visited by Sturmbannführer (Major) von Hapen (Derren Nesbitt), a Gestapo officer infatuated with her, but he soon becomes suspicious of flaws in her cover story. Leaving her, he happens upon the scene of Carnaby's interrogation just as Smith finishes his explanation. Von Hapen puts everyone under arrest but is distracted when Mary arrives. Schaffer seizes the opportunity to kill von Hapen and the other German officers with his silenced pistol . The group then makes its escape, taking the three agents as prisoners. Schaffer sets explosives to create diversions around the castle, while Smith leads the group to the radio room where he informs Rolland of their success. From there they head to the cable car station, sacrificing Thomas as a decoy. Berkeley and Christiansen break free and attempt their own escape in a cable car; both are thwarted and killed by Smith. The group eventually reunites with Heidi on the ground, boarding a captured bus they had prepared earlier as an escape vehicle. With enemy troops in hot pursuit, they battle their way on to an airfield and escape via their Ju-52 transport, where Turner has been waiting.
As Turner debriefs Smith about the mission, Smith reveals that the name Kramer confirmed as German's top agent in Britain was Turner's own. Rolland had lured Turner and the others into participating so MI6 could expose them; Smith's trusted partner Mary and the American Schaffer (who had no connection to MI6) had been assigned to the mission to ensure its success. Turner attempts to kill Smith with a machine gun, but Rolland, anticipating such a move, has removed its firing pin. To avoid a court martial and execution, Turner is permitted to jump from of the aircraft without a parachute. Schaffer half-jokingly asks Smith to keep his next mission "an all-British operation".

The film opens with the U.S. Army failing to capture the still-intact Oberkassel railway bridge. Lieutenant Hartman (George Segal) is an experienced combat team leader who is becoming weary of the war in Europe. After he is promoted to company commander following the reckless death of the previous officer, he is given orders to advance to the Rhine River at Remagen where he is promised a rest for his men. At the same time, Major Paul Kreuger (Robert Vaughn), an honorable Wehrmacht officer, is given the job of destroying the bridge there by his friend and superior, Colonel General von Brock (Peter van Eyck), who has been given a written order to do it immediately. But the staff officer appeals to Kreuger's sense of honour, giving him a verbal command to defend the bridge for as long as possible to allow the 15th Army trapped on the west bank of the river to escape.
After capturing the undefended town of Meckenheim, four miles from Remagen, Hartman is ordered by his battalion commander, Major Barnes (Bradford Dillman), to continue the advance until encountering resistance. Hartman is disgusted because Barnes is using the men's lives to further his own military career. Kreuger, meanwhile, has been touring the defences above the town of Remagen. He assures the handful of troops, which are just old veterans and boys, that he has a personal guarantee from the general that tank reserves are on the way. But when Hartman's troops attack the town, Kreuger is shown the reality when he calls for the promised tanks and is told they have been sent "elsewhere".
On finding the bridge intact, General Shinner (E. G. Marshall) orders Major Barnes to secure its capture, saying: "It's a crap shoot, Major. We're risking one hundred men, but you may save ten thousand". With only momentary hesitation, Barnes agrees to send in Hartman's company, and orders the troops to gain a foothold across the Rhine River, thus avoiding a costly assault-crossing elsewhere. Sergeant Angelo (Ben Gazzara), one of Hartman's squad leaders and friends, highlights the mood of the war-weary men by striking Barnes after being ordered onto the bridge.
On the other side, as the American soldiers rush the bridge, Kreuger, along with explosives engineer Captain Baumann (Joachim Hansen) and Captain Schmidt (Hans Christian Blech) from Remagen Bridge Security Command, tries to blow up the bridge, but the explosives they use prove to be not the high-yield military grade charges needed for the job, but weaker industrial explosives, which fail to destroy the superstructure. Hartman's troops dig in to consolidate their hold on the intact bridge.
Kreuger, who still believes in victory, shoots two soldiers as they try to desert. He then realises that the futility of the situation has turned him on his own troops and the defensive position has becomes untenable. In desperation, Kreuger returns to HQ to make a personal appeal to the general for more reinforcements, but on arrival he finds that the building has been taken over by the SS and Von Brock has been arrested for being "defeatist". Kreuger is then questioned about the delay before blowing up the bridge. Unable to present a written order, he is not able to justify his actions and is arrested.
Back at Remagen, Hartman leads a raid against a machine gun nest installed by Kreuger on board a barge moored to the bridge, but while taking its crew out, Angelo is hit and falls into the river. Despondent, Hartman marches on foot towards the bridge defenders' post at the same time as a squad of M24 Chaffee light tanks cross the bridge. The remaining German soldiers surrender to the Americans, and in the aftermath Hartman discovers that Angelo has survived after all. The next day, Kreuger is led out for execution by SS firing squad. With the sounds of many planes overhead, Kreuger asks: "Ours or theirs?". The SS officer attending him replies, "Enemy planes, sir!". "But who is the enemy?" muses Kreuger before he is shot. (In reality, Hitler ordered five men responsible for the failed defense shot: one was convicted in absentia, four others killed).
The film concludes with scenes on the bridge, and a screen crawl informing the viewer that the actual structure collapsed into the Rhine 10 days after its capture.

The film opens with long, beautiful shots of ancient European art and sculptures being blown to pieces amidst the sounds of war and dissonant screams; a lone narrator begins his tale of "eight American soldiers" as the scene abruptly flashes back to a few weeks beforehand. Prior to the Battle of the Bulge, a ragtag squad of American soldiers (strongly implied to be some sort of replacement outfit), led by one-eyed Major Falconer (Burt Lancaster) and including Sgt. Rossi (Peter Falk), art expert Captain Beckman (Patrick O'Neal), and the highly intelligent narrator and sole African-American, Pvt. Allistair Benjamin (Al Freeman, Jr.), takes shelter in an ancient Belgian castle, the Maldorais, containing many priceless and irreplaceable art treasures. Although Falconer begins an affair with the young and beautiful Countess, he is surprised to find the Count (Jean-Pierre Aumont) encouraging him; in fact, the impotent nobleman hopes the Major will impregnate the Countess so that his line may continue. Meanwhile, Beckman begins to butt heads with Falconer over both the value of the art (in the context of either saving or destroying it in the event of a German assault) as well as Beckman's own unrequited attraction to the Countess, who seems to symbolize the beauty and majesty of the European art he studied before the war. The enlisted men seek their own pleasures in the brothel of the nearby town, the psychedelic "Reine Rouge" (Red Queen) run by a mystical madam, whilst Beckman marvels at the castle's artworks, many of which are stored beneath the castle for safekeeping. Sgt. Rossi, a baker before the war, falls in love with a baker's widow and decides to go AWOL, resuming his pre-war life; another soldier falls in love with a Volkswagen Beetle; his affection for the foreign vehicle borders on paraphilia and becomes a long running and anachronistic gag throughout the entire movie.
The film from this point on begins to reach a surreal climax, as the soldiers' days of leisure and peace threaten to undermine the very reality of the war itself. A recurring theme throughout their escapades is the very idea of eternal recurrence itself, as one soldier drunkenly ponders out loud if maybe he's "been here before". Although the men are eager to sit out the war that they feel will soon end, the experienced Major Falconer predicts that Germans will attack the thin American positions in the Ardennes and that the castle is a strategic point in the Germans advance towards the crossroads of Bastogne. The Major's theories are confirmed when he sees German star shell signals and successfully ambushes a German reconnaissance patrol led by a German officer who was once billeted in the castle and was a lover of the Countess as well.
Captain Beckman and the Count are horrified that the Major will not abandon the castle, a decision that will surely lead to its destruction; Falconer, however, is adamant that to give the Germans one thing means that they'll just end up "taking everything" later on (see appeasement). Falconer prepares defensive positions around the castle and sends his unit into town. The Germans are initially taken by surprise, as Falconer directs the local sex workers at the "Reine Rouge" to draw them into a trap with Molotov cocktails; however, the defenders soon find themselves outnumbered and outgunned (although two GIs manage to steal and repurpose a working German tank, which they jokingly claim is "better than ours"). Seeing no other choice but to retreat to the safety of the castle, Falconer attempts to rally shell shocked American troops retreating from the Ardennes into the Maldorais, forcing (at gunpoint) a band of zealous, hymn-singing conscientious objectors, led by Lt. Billy Byron Bixto Bruce Dern, to lead the dazed survivors in a bizarre Pied Piper-esque procession; symbolically, they are all mostly killed by an exploding shell, all except for Falconer, who stoically returns to the castle for his last stand astride a pale white horse. He returns to find that the Count has run over to the German lines; Beckman thinks he has a scheme to betray them and let the Germans seize the castle by using the underground storage tunnels to gain access; however, it is soon revealed that the Count was really only trying to buy as much time for the Americans as possible so that they could make it to the castle and strengthen their defenses. As soon as his ruse is discovered, he is gunned down trying to run from the Germans. Falconer and Beckman put aside their personal and ideological differences and grimly prepare for the oncoming assault with a .50 caliber machine gun pointed across the castle grounds.
At the conclusion of the film, everyone defending the castle—with the exception of Pvt. Benjamin and the pregnant Countess, who escape to safety using the art storage tunnels, following the last, direct orders of Maj. Falconer—is killed by waves upon waves of besieging Germans in an absurd battle scene featuring the enemy storming the gates using the ladder carrying fire trucks, and much of the castle (along with its art treasures) is eventually obliterated by artillery, incendiaries and other modern day weapons. Falconer, the last defender left alive, begins to think of all of the people whom he has killed or have died because of his actions as well as the Countess as he guns down the rapidly approaching swarms of German soldiers, implying that he did indeed feel guilty about their deaths and that he had indeed loved the Countess much more than he had ever let on; a shell finally lands on top of his position and explodes as the screen goes white. The film ends where it began, echoing the theme of eternal recurrence, with more long shots of the undemolished Maldorais as it once stood as well as a voice-over of Benjamin's narration from the very beginning before the scene fades to black.

A ghostly British naval officer (Niven) persuades four members of the American Navy to launch an attack on Japanese positions, hoping to redeem the family honor and his own tattered record from the First World War. He had been condemned to sail the seas forever after falling down drunk before his first battle in the Great War. With his typical luck he actually succeeds in sinking a Japanese naval vessel -- after it had officially surrendered to the US Navy. As a result, he is seen again consigned to sailing his ship forever, this time in a children's amusement park lake, to await another chance at redemption.

During a thunderstorm in early September 1944, units of the 35th Infantry Division are nearing the French town of Nancy. One of the division's mechanized reconnaissance platoons is ordered to hold their position when the Germans counterattack. The outnumbered platoon also receives friendly fire from their own mortars.
Private Kelly, a former lieutenant scapegoated for a failed infantry assault, captures Colonel Dankhopf of Wehrmacht Intelligence. Interrogating his prisoner, Kelly notices the officer's briefcase has several gold bars disguised under lead plating. Curious, he gets the colonel drunk and learns that there is a cache of 14,000 gold bars, worth $16,000,000, stored in a bank vault 30 miles behind enemy lines in the town of Clermont. When their position is overrun and the Americans pull back, a Tiger I kills Dankhopf.
Kelly decides to go after the gold. He visits the opportunistic Supply Sergeant "Crapgame" to obtain the supplies and guns that will be needed for the operation. A spaced-out tank platoon commander known as "Oddball" and his three M4 Sherman tanks from the 6th Armored Division invite themselves into the plan. With their commanding officer, Captain Maitland, busy pursuing opportunities to enrich himself and thus severely neglecting the welfare of his troopers, the men of Kelly's platoon are all eager to join Kelly. After much argument, Kelly finally persuades cynical Master Sergeant "Big Joe" to go along.
Kelly decides that his infantrymen and Oddball's tanks will proceed separately and meet near Clermont. Oddball's tanks fight their way through the German lines, managing to destroy a German railway depot, but their route is blocked when the bridge they need to cross is blown up by Allied fighter-bombers. This forces Oddball to bring a bridging unit in on the caper. An American fighter plane mistakes Kelly's group for the enemy, destroying their vehicles and forcing them to continue on foot. They stray into a minefield, and Private Grace is killed. Kelly's troops engage an enemy patrol; Private Mitchell and Corporal Job, still stuck in the minefield, are killed.
The two units rendezvous two nights later. They battle their way across the river to Clermont, losing two of the three tanks and leaving the bridging unit behind. When intercepted radio messages from the private raid are brought to the attention of the gung-ho Major General Colt, he misinterprets them as the efforts of aggressive patrols pushing forward on their own initiative and immediately rushes to the front to exploit the "breakthrough".
Kelly's men find that Clermont is defended by three Tiger tanks of the 1st SS Panzer Division with infantry support. The Americans are able to eliminate the German infantry and two of the Tigers, but the final tank parks itself right in front of the bank and Oddball's Sherman breaks down, leaving them stalemated. At Crapgame’s suggestion, Kelly offers the German tank commander and his crew an equal share of the loot.
After the Tiger blows the bank doors open, the Germans and Americans divide the spoils and go their separate ways, just barely managing to avoid meeting the still-oblivious General Colt, who is blocked from entering Clermont by the French residents who have been deceived by Big Joe into thinking that General Charles de Gaulle is coming. Not long after the freelancers have gone, Captain Maitland enters the bank, to find a Kilroy and the words "Up Yours, Baby" painted by one of Kelly's crew on the wall.

The plot involves a gang of Hell's Angels type bikers called "The Devil's Advocates" involved in the Vietnam War. They are sent to the Cambodian jungle on Yamaha bikes in order to rescue an American diplomat/CIA Agent (Starrett).
The biker gang is led by Link (William Smith), a Vietnam veteran and the brother of an Army Major (Dan Kemp) who has recruited them. His gang consists of Duke (Adam Roarke) also a Vietnam veteran, Limpy (Paul Koslo), Speed (Eugene Cornelius), and another Vietnam veteran Dirty Denny (Houston Savage who was killed in a road accident not long after completing the film). They are under the orders of Army Captain Jackson (Bernie Hamilton).
The gang modifies their motorcycles in a garage run by Vic Diaz. They weld armour plating with submachine guns on the handlebars. Limpy drives a three-wheeler modified from a Harley-Davidson frame with a Volkswagen rear end that is armed with heavy .50 calibre machine guns and a multiple rocket launcher from a helicopter. In order to open fire on enemy soldiers in trees or towers the gang do wheelies whilst firing their weapons.

In August 1939, a trade embargo imposed by the United States is depriving a belligerent Japan of raw materials. Influential army figures and politicians push through an alliance with Germany and Italy in September 1940 and make preparations for war. The newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto reluctantly orders the planning of a preemptive strike on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, believing that Japan's best hope of achieving control of the Pacific Ocean is to annihilate the fleet at the outset of hostilities. Air Staff Officer Minoru Genda is chosen to mastermind the operation while his old Naval Academy classmate Mitsuo Fuchida is selected to lead the attack.
Meanwhile, in Washington, American military intelligence has managed to break the Japanese Purple Code, allowing the Americans to intercept secret Japanese radio transmissions indicating increased Japanese naval activity. Monitoring the transmissions are U.S. Army Col. Bratton and U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Kramer. At Pearl Harbor itself, Admiral Kimmel and General Short do their best to enhance defenses which include increasing naval patrols around Hawaii and calling for Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers to patrol offshore to provide early warning of any enemy presence. Short recommends parking all aircraft at the base on the runways and not in their hangars so as best to avoid sabotage by enemy agents.
Several months pass with diplomatic tensions continuing to escalate between the U.S. and Japan. As the Japanese ambassador continues negotiations to stall for time, the Japanese fleet sorties into the Pacific and soon is in position to begin the assault. On the day of the attack, Bratton and Kramer learn from intercepts that the Japanese plan to commence a series of 14 radio messages from Tokyo to the Japanese embassy in Washington with an instruction to destroy their code machines after receiving the final message. Deducing that this indicates that the Japanese plan to launch a surprise attack on American forces after the messages are delivered, Bratton attempts to warn his superiors of his suspicions but encounters several obstacles – Chief of Naval Operations Harold R. Stark is indecisive over notifying Hawaii without first alerting the President while Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall's order that Pearl Harbor be alerted of an impending attack is stymied by poor atmospherics that prevent radio transmission and bungling when a warning sent by telegram is not marked urgent.
At dawn on December 7, the Japanese fleet launches its aircraft. Their approach to Hawaii is detected by two radar operators but their concerns are dismissed as the duty officer receiving their alert assumes it is a group of American B-17 Flying Fortresses inbound from the mainland scheduled to land later that day. As a result, the Japanese achieve complete surprise and a joyous commander Fuchida, riding in a Nakajima B5N "Kate", sends the code to begin the attack: "Tora! Tora! Tora!" Meeting no opposition, the Japanese planes savage Pearl Harbor with a series of attacks. General Short's anti-sabotage precautions prove a disastrous mistake that allows the Japanese aerial forces to destroy the U.S. aircraft on the ground with ease, thereby preventing an effective aerial counter-attack. The damage to the naval base is catastrophic with the Americans suffering severe casualties. Seven battleships are either sunk or heavily damaged. Hours after the attack is over, General Short and Admiral Kimmel finally receive Marshall's telegram warning of impending danger.
In Washington, the Secretary of State Cordell Hull is stunned on learning of the attack and urgently requests confirmation before receiving the Japanese ambassador. The message that was transmitted to the Japanese embassy in 14 parts – a declaration of war – was meant to be delivered to the Americans at 1:00 pm, 30 minutes before the attack. However, it was not decoded and transcribed in time, with the result that the attack took place while the two nations were technically still at peace. The distraught Japanese ambassador, helpless to explain the late ultimatum and unaware of the ongoing attack, is bluntly rebuffed by a despondent Hull.
Back in the Pacific, the Japanese fleet commander, Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, refuses to launch a further air strike out of fear of exposing his force to American submarines which he believes are in the area. Aboard his flagship, Admiral Yamamoto solemnly informs his staff that their primary targets – the American fleet's aircraft carriers – were not at Pearl Harbor and thus escaped unscathed before lamenting the fact that the Americans did not receive the declaration of war until after the attack began. Noting that nothing would infuriate the Americans more he concludes, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

Joe Bonham, a young American soldier serving in World War I, awakens in a hospital bed after being caught in the blast of an exploding artillery shell. He gradually realizes that he has lost his arms, legs, and all of his face (including his eyes, ears, teeth, and tongue), but that his mind functions perfectly, leaving him a prisoner in his own body.
Joe attempts suicide by suffocation, but finds that he had been given a tracheotomy that he can neither remove nor control. At first Joe wishes to die, but later decides that he desires to be placed in a glass box and toured around the country in order to show others the true horrors of war. Joe successfully communicates these desires with military officials by banging his head on his pillow in Morse code. However, he realizes that the military will not grant his wishes, as it is "against regulations". It is implied that he will live the rest of his natural life in his condition.
As Joe drifts between reality and fantasy, he remembers his old life with his family and girlfriend, and reflects upon the myths and realities of war.

In the closing days of World War II, Irishman Murphy (Peter O'Toole) is the sole survivor of the crew of a merchant ship, Mount Kyle, which had been sunk by a German U-boat and the survivors machine-gunned in the water. Murphy makes it ashore (to a missionary settlement on the Orinoco in Venezuela) where he is treated by a pacifist Quaker doctor, Dr Hayden (Siân Phillips).
When he discovers the U-boat is hiding farther up river, under the cover of the jungle, he sets about obsessively plotting to sink it by any means, including using a surviving Grumman J2F Duck floatplane from the Mount Kyle. The floatplane had been recovered, the wounded pilot later being shot dead in his hospital bed by the U-boat captain, in order to preserve the secret of the sub's location and, presumably, its action in shooting survivors in the water.
Murphy learns how to fly the aircraft in the most daring way, getting it out on the choppy waters of the river and discovering how the controls work by trial and error. Murphy soon finds the U-boat's hiding place and attempts to bomb it using home-made Molotov cocktail bombs, which fails. Meanwhile, word has come that Germany has surrendered, but Murphy is obsessed with revenge and makes plans to ram the U-boat with a floating crane owned by the friendly Frenchman Louis (Philippe Noiret). This also fails as the U-boat dives under him. However, the submerged U-boat becomes stuck in a mud bank. Murphy uses the crane to recover an unexploded torpedo fired earlier from the U-boat and drops it on the trapped crew, killing them. Murphy is also killed, as the explosion from the torpedo causes the crane jib to pin him to the deck as the floating crane sinks to the river bed.

In Libya in 1942, Captain Alex Foster (Burton), an intelligence officer with the British Army, allows himself to be captured by a German Afrika Korps convoy transporting British prisoners, pretending to be injured. Once integrated with the prisoners, remnants of a commando force and a medical unit, Foster outlines his plans to take over the convoy, with the help of the prisoners, and redirect it towards the Libyan port town of Tobruk.
On the way, they find an unexpected concentration of German tanks, and they surmise that a fuel depot must be hidden nearby. Foster, in Afrika Corps uniform, and Major Tarkington (Clinton Greyn), the medical officer as his 'prisoner', gain access to the depot and meet Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (Wolfgang Preiss). During a friendly dispute over philately between Rommel and Tarkington, Foster notices a map which indicates the location of the fuel depot.
They make excuses, leave, capture a tank, and blow up the fuel dump. They escape towards Tobruk, where they destroy a coastal battery. The prisoners are embarked in boats launched by attacking Royal Navy warships. However, Foster and Tarkington are captured by German soldiers. The film leaves their fates unexplained.

Manfred von Richthofen (John Phillip Law), a German cavalry officer is newly assigned to an air squadron under the command of Oswald Boelcke (Peter Masterson). Across the lines, another pilot, a Canadian named Roy Brown (Don Stroud), arrives at a British squadron under the command of Lanoe Hawker (Corin Redgrave).
The two pilots are very different; Brown ruffles the feathers of his squadron mates by refusing to drink a toast to Richthofen, while the Baron awards himself silver trophies in honour of his kills, and clashes with fellow pilot Hermann Göring (Barry Primus) when Boelcke is killed after a mid-air collision and Richthofen assumes command of the squadron. Richthofen becomes outwardly energized by the war. Outraged by an order to camouflage his squadron's aircraft, he paints them in bright conspicuous colours, claiming that gentlemen should not hide from their enemies.
The toll on both squadrons is highlighted when Richthofen is wounded during an aerial battle and Lanoe Hawker is killed. The war becomes personal for both when Brown and his squadron attack Richthofen's airfield, destroying their aircraft on the ground. Revenge comes when Richthofen, with the help of a batch of new fighters from Anthony Fokker (Hurd Hatfield) launches a counterattack on the British airfield. Back at their aerodrome, Richthofen rants at Göring for leaving the formation and strafing medical personnel. He says: "You're an assassin!" Göring defends himself by saying: "I make war to win." Richthofen tells him: "Get out of my sight!", threatening that if Göring does something similar again, he will personally go to the Kaiser to make sure Goring is shot.
Richthofen's passion for the war fades, becoming dismayed and depressed that his squadron is losing so many pilots. He even starts to realize that Germany might lose the war. Caught between his disgust for the war, and the responsibility for his fighter wing, he refuses a job offer from the government deciding to help fight alongside his men, knowing it will probably lead to his death in combat. Brown proves very uncooperative. He says it feels like he has shot down at least 100 German aircraft. He has a rather defeatist attitude and often says that they are all going to die before the war comes to an end.
On April 21, 1918, Richthofen and Brown engage in an aerial duel during which Richthofen receives a fatal wound. He is able to land his aircraft, before he dies. The Allied pilots congratulate Brown on downing Richthofen. The pilot who will take over from Richthofen is Göring.

The movie opens with a German children's song, "Hänschen klein", mixed with black-and-white footage of prewar and war scenes. It then segues to color and a German platoon raid on a Russian forward outpost led by Sergeant Rolf Steiner (James Coburn), during which his men capture a Russian boy-soldier (Slavko Štimac).
An aristocratic Prussian officer, Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell), is posted as a new battalion commander in the Kuban bridgehead on the Eastern Front in 1943. Stransky proudly tells the regimental commander, Colonel Brandt (James Mason), and his adjutant, Captain Kiesel (David Warner), that he applied for transfer from occupied France to front line duty in Russia so that he can win the Iron Cross.
When Stransky meets Steiner for the first time, he orders Steiner to shoot the boy prisoner in strict observance of a standing order. When Steiner refuses, Stransky prepares to shoot the boy himself, but at the last moment, Corporal Schnurrbart (Fred Stillkrauth) saves the boy by volunteering to do it. Later, Stransky informs Steiner that he has been promoted to Senior Sergeant, and is puzzled by Steiner's nonchalant response. Stransky also discovers that his adjutant, Lieutenant Triebig (Roger Fritz), is a closet homosexual after Stransky surreptitiously sees Triebig stroking the cheek of an enlisted orderly, Josef Keppler.
While waiting for an anticipated attack, Steiner releases the young Russian, only to see the boy killed by advancing Soviet troops. As Stransky cowers in his bunker, Lieutenant Meyer (Igor Galo), the respected leader of Steiner's company, is killed while leading a successful counterattack. Steiner is wounded in the same battle trying to rescue a German soldier and is sent to a military hospital to recover. There, he is haunted by the faces of the dead men and the boy (in a dream sequence prior to waking from a coma), and has a romantic liaison with his nurse (Senta Berger).
After he has recovered, Steiner is offered a home leave but decides instead to return to his men. When he arrives, Steiner is informed that Stransky has claimed that he, not Meyer, led the successful counterattack, and has been nominated for the Iron Cross. Stransky named as witnesses Triebig (blackmailing him with his homosexuality), and Steiner. Stransky tries to persuade Steiner to corroborate his claim by promising to look after him after the war. Brandt questions Steiner in the hope that he will expose Stransky's lies, but Steiner only states that he hates all officers, even those as "enlightened" as Brandt and Kiesel, and requests a few days to ponder his answer.
When his battalion is ordered to retreat, Stransky does not notify Steiner's platoon, abandoning them. Making their way back through now enemy territory, the men capture an all-female Russian detachment. While Steiner is busy, Zoll (Arthur Brauss), a despised Nazi Party member, takes one of the women into the barn to rape her. She bites off his genitals and he kills her. Meanwhile, young Dietz, left to guard the rest of the women alone, is distracted and killed as well. Disgusted, Steiner locks Zoll up with the vengeful Russian women, taking their uniforms to use as a disguise.
As the men near the German lines, they radio ahead to avoid friendly fire. Stransky suggests to Triebig that Steiner and his men be 'mistaken' for Russians. Triebig orders his men to shoot the incoming Germans; only Steiner, Krüger and Anselm survive. Triebig denies responsibility, but Steiner kills him and goes looking for Stransky.
At this moment, the Soviets launch a major assault. Brandt orders Kiesel to be evacuated, telling him that men like him will be needed to rebuild Germany after the war. Brandt then rallies the fleeing troops for a counterattack. The same children's song plays again, until the final credits.
Steiner confronts Stransky and, instead of killing him, offers him a weapon in order to see "where the crosses of iron grow". Stransky accepts Steiner's "challenge", and they head off together for the battle. The film closes with Stransky trying to figure out how to reload his MP40, while being shot at by an adolescent Russian soldier who resembles the boy-soldier released by Steiner. When Stransky asks Steiner for help, Steiner begins to laugh. The laughter continues through the credits and pictures of civilian victims from World War II and later conflicts.

 This war drama, which prefigures the similar film Full Metal Jacket, follows the lives of five young Marine inductees from their boot camp training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in 1967 through a tour of duty in the Vietnam War in 1968.
In August 1967, a group of boys arrive at the USMC induction center. They include draft dodger Dave Brisbee (Wasson), who is delivered in handcuffs by FBI agents. The other inductees include Tyrone Washington (Shaw), Billy Ray Pike (Stevens), Vinnie Fazio (Lembeck) and Alvin Foster (Canning). (Like "Joker" in Full Metal Jacket, Foster also keeps a journal and his entries provide the running narrative for the film.)
The five boys go through basic training together. The training is dehumanizing and brutal, designed to make them think and act in unison. They are then shipped to Vietnam; as their ship docks, the shelling begins. Vietnam is a bewildering chaos: bureaucratic incompetence, callous officers concerned only with monthly "body counts," and the constant threat of death. Their first firefight (there are no real battles, just sudden explosions and/or ambushes) occurs while they are bringing "vital supplies" to an army outpost. Those supplies turn out to be crates of cigarettes, liquor, and furniture being sent to a general for his birthday; two men die in the fighting. Indeed, the officers in Company C are mostly incompetents who endanger the lives of their men through blind adherence to rules or timetables; their nervous soldiers open fire on anyone and anything at the slightest provocation.
In January 1968, Company C is ordered by their CO to throw a soccer game against a team of South Vietnamese, in order to bolster the morale of their ally. The Americans are told that, if they lose, they will see no more combat; if they win, they will be sent to Khe Sanh. Despite everything, the Americans win. The game ends with a Vietcong attack, during which Foster heroically throws himself on a grenade to save some children. The film concludes with the final entry in his journal: "...I've decided to give up writing this journal, because I don't know who'd believe it after today. We had a chance to go home, and we blew it off for a soccer game...I guess we'll just keep on walking into one bloody mess after another, until somebody figures out that living has got to be more important than winning."


In 1969, during the Vietnam War, United States Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz has gone insane and now commands his own Montagnard troops, inside neutral Cambodia, as a demi-god. Colonel Lucas and General Corman, increasingly concerned with Kurtz's vigilante operations, assign MACV-SOG Captain Benjamin L. Willard to terminate Kurtz with extreme prejudice.
Willard, initially ambivalent, joins a USN PBR commanded by Chief, with crewmen Lance, "Chef", and "(Mr.) Clean" to head upriver. They rendezvous with surfing enthusiast Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, 1st Cavalry commander, to discuss going up the Nùng. Kilgore scoffs, but befriends Lance after discovering his surfing experience and agrees to escort them through the Nùng's Viet Cong–held coastal mouth. They successfully raid at dawn, with Kilgore ordering a napalm sortie on the local cadres. Willard gathers his men to the PBR and journeys upriver.
Tension arises as Willard believes himself in command of the PBR while Chief prioritizes other objectives over Willard's. Slowly making their way upriver, Willard reveals his mission partially to the Chief to assuage his concerns about why his mission should precede. As night falls, the PBR reaches the American Do Lung Bridge outpost on the Nùng River. Willard and Lance enter seeking information for what is upriver. Unable to find the commander, Willard orders the Chief to continue as an unseen enemy launches a strike on the bridge.
The next day, Willard learns from dispatch that another MACV-SOG operative, Captain Colby, who was sent on an earlier mission identical to Willard's, had joined Kurtz. Meanwhile, as the crew read letters from home, Lance activates a smoke grenade, attracting the attention of a camouflaged enemy, and Mr. Clean is killed. Further upriver, Chief is impaled by a spear thrown by the natives and attempts to kill Willard by impaling him. Willard suffocates him and Lance buries Chief in the river. Willard reveals his mission to Chef but despite his anger towards the mission, he rejects Willard's offer for him to continue alone and insists that they complete the mission together.
The PBR arrives at Kurtz's outpost and the surviving crew are met by an American freelance photojournalist, who manically praises Kurtz's genius. As they wander through they come across a near-catatonic Colby, along with other US servicemen now in Kurtz's renegade army. Returning to the PBR, Willard later takes Lance with him, leaving Chef behind with orders to call in an airstrike on Kurtz's compound if they do not return. Chef is later killed by Kurtz.
In the camp, Willard is subdued, bound, and brought before Kurtz in a darkened temple. Tortured and imprisoned for several days, Willard is released and given the freedom of the compound. Kurtz lectures him on his theories of war, the human condition, and civilization while praising the ruthlessness and dedication of the Viet Cong. Kurtz discusses his family, and asks that Willard tell his son about him after his death.
That night, as the Montagnards ceremonially slaughter a water buffalo, Willard stealthily enters Kurtz's chamber, as he is making a recording, and attacks him with a machete. Mortally wounded, Kurtz, whispers "...The horror... the horror..." and dies. All in the compound see Willard departing, carrying a collection of Kurtz's writings, and bow down to him. Willard then leads Lance to the boat and the duo motor away. Kurtz's final words echo eerily as everything fades to black.

This film opens with the narration: "From early 1942 until the invasion of Europe over a million Americans landed in Britain. They came to serve on other battle fronts or to man the vast U.S. bases in England. Hardly a city, town or village remained untouched."
A small northern town soon finds out that a large U.S. Army base is being established for the build-up to the Normandy landings. Soon thousands of rambunctious American troops, or "Yanks" as they are known to the British, descend upon the area. On leave in the town, an Arizona man, Technical Sergeant Matt Dyson (Richard Gere), encounters Jean Moreton (Lisa Eichhorn) while out to the cinema. She is the fiancée of Ken, a British soldier fighting overseas, and initially rebuffs Matt's advances. He is quite persistent, and she, doubtful about her relationship with Ken, eventually accepts him. The handsome, brash American sergeant is in stark contrast to the restrained Englishmen she has known. Soon, she is keeping company with Matt, though it is largely platonic at first.
For her part, Helen (Vanessa Redgrave) is a bit more worldly in her affairs. Captain John (William Devane) comes to her estate often, and a relationship develops. They are both married, but her husband is away at sea, and his wife is thousands of miles distant.
Eventually, the kind-hearted Matt Dyson is accepted by the Moreton family, notwithstanding Jean's engagement. They welcome his visits, when he, as an army cook, often brings hard-to-find foods normally on wartime rationing and other presents. But when news of Ken's death in action arrives, Jean's ailing mother (Rachel Roberts) condemns their relationship as a kind of betrayal.
Jean and Matt travel together to a Welsh seaside resort, where they make love but without completion. Jean is crushed, although Matt says "not like this." She feels spurned, and that her willingness to risk everything has not been matched by him, concluding that he is "not ready" for her.
Shortly afterwards, the Americans ship out by troop train to Southern England to prepare for D-Day. A characteristic last-minute gift and message from Matt prompt Jean into racing to the railway station. With the town and station a hive of activity, hundreds of the townswomen, some of them pregnant from liaisons with men they may never see again, scramble to catch one last glimpse of their American boyfriends before the train leaves. Matt shouts from the departing train that he will return.

The film begins in black and white in November 1918 at the end of World War I. A private (Marvin), using his trench knife, kills a German soldier who was approaching with his arms raised and speaking in German. When he returns to his company's headquarters, the private is told that the "war's been over for four hours." The 1st Division patch is shown in color.
The film then moves to November 1942, when the soldier, now a sergeant in the "Big Red One", leads his squad of infantrymen through North Africa, where they are initially fired on by a Vichy French general, who is then overpowered by his French troops who are loyal to Free France. Over the next two years the squad serves in campaigns in Sicily, where they are given intelligence by a peasant boy, and are fed by grateful women, Omaha Beach at the start of the Normandy Campaign, the liberation of France where they battle Germans inside a mental asylum, and the invasion of western Germany.
Throughout the film, the sergeant's German counterpart, Schroeder, participates in many of the same battles and displays a ruthless loyalty to Hitler and Germany. At different times he and the sergeant express the same sentiment that soldiers are killers but not murderers.
During the advance across northern France the squad crosses the same field where the sergeant killed the surrendering German at the start of the film, where a memorial now stands. The following short conversation takes place:
Johnson: Would you look at how fast they put up the names of all our guys who got killed?
The Sergeant: That's a World War One memorial.
Johnson: But the names are the same.
The Sergeant: They always are.
The squad's final action in the war is the liberation of Falkenau concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. Shortly after this, the sergeant is in a forest at night, having just buried a young boy he had befriended after liberating the camp. Schroeder approaches, attempting to surrender, but the sergeant stabs him. His squad then arrives and informs him that the war ended "about four hours ago." This time, as the squad walks away, Pvt. Griff (Mark Hamill) notices that Schroeder is still alive; the sergeant and his men work frantically to save his life as they return to their encampment.

During World War II, German submarines are sinking thousands of tons of British merchant shipping. British intelligence, based in India, believes that information is being passed to the U-Boats by a radio transmitter hidden on board one of three German merchant ships interned in Goa, then a colony of Portugal. Portugal was neutral during the Second World War; the ships cannot be attacked by conventional forces.
The head of the Indian section of Special Operations Executive authorises attempts to kidnap and interrogate two known German agents, but these operations both fail. An approach is then made to a territorial unit of British expatriates, the Calcutta Light Horse, to carry out the mission on its behalf. They all volunteer – all are trained in military skills and keen to 'do their bit'.
Whilst the volunteers are trained, Stewart and Cartwright travel covertly to Goa. By a mixture of blackmail and bribery, they arrange diversions on the night of the raid. A party is to be held in the Governor's palace, a brothel will offer free entry to sailors from the German ships and a fiesta will be held. Stewart has a brief affair with Mrs.Cromwell, a mysterious and socially well-connected woman, who turns out to be a German agent and the main conduit for information, known to the Germans and the British by the code-name Trompete (Trumpet). She is eventually killed by Stewart, after she attempts to kill him.
The raiding party sail around the coast in a decrepit and barely seaworthy barge; they set mines on the hull of the German ship in Goa. They then board, catching the depleted crew off-guard. Despite Pugh's order that there be no shooting, several German sailors are killed. The ship is set alight and the party withdraws, watching as the ship sinks.

In 1929, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (Rod Steiger) is still faced with the 20-year-long war waged by patriots in the Italian colony of Libya to combat Italian colonization and the establishment of "The Fourth Shore"—the rebirth of a Roman Empire in Africa. Mussolini appoints General Rodolfo Graziani (Oliver Reed) as his sixth governor to Libya, confident that the eminently accredited soldier and fascist Grande can crush the rebellion and restore the dissipated glories of Imperial Rome. Omar Mukhtar (Anthony Quinn) leads the resistance to the fascists. A teacher by profession, guerrilla by obligation, Mukhtar had committed himself to a war that cannot be won in his own lifetime. Graziani controls Libya with the might of the Regio Esercito (Italian Royal Army). Tanks and aircraft are used in the desert for the first time. The Italians also committed atrocities: killing of prisoners of war, destruction of crops, and imprisoning populations in concentration camps behind barbed wire.
Despite their bravery, the Libyan Arabs and Berbers suffered heavy losses, their relatively primitive weaponry was no match for mechanised warfare; despite all this, they continued to fight, and managed to keep the Italians from achieving complete victory for 20 years. Graziani was only able to achieve victory through deceit, deception, violation of the laws of war and human rights, and by the use of tanks and aircraft.
Despite their lack of modern weaponry, Graziani recognised the skill of his adversary in waging guerrilla warfare. In one scene, Mukhtar refuses to kill a defenseless young officer, instead giving him the Italian flag to return with. Mukhtar says that Islam forbids him to kill captured soldiers and demands that he only fight for his homeland, and that Muslims are taught to hate war itself.
In the end, Mukhtar is captured and tried as a rebel. His lawyer, Captain Lontano, states that since Mukhtar had never accepted Italian rule, he cannot be tried as a rebel, and instead must be treated as a prisoner of war (which would save him from being hanged). The judge rejects this, and the film ends with Mukthar being publicly executed by hanging.

The film begins with stock footage scenes of warfare in Vietnam. An American soldier named Frankie is seen running alone through the jungle as his voice narrates. He explains that he "goes back there every night" right before he wakes up in bed with his wife in their squalid NYC apartment. The distorted cries of his baby are heard, and his pregnant wife wakes up to tend to the boy. They argue over Frankie's unemployment and their son's health. The baby is a mutant, portrayed by a puppet. Frankie assumes it was a result of chemical weapons used during the war.
The bulk of the film consists of long sequences of urban blight underscored by Ricky Giovinazzo's synthesizer soundtrack. A junkie scores from the local kingpin, Paco. Frankie waits in line outside the unemployment office. The junkie desperately searches for a needle to shoot up with. Frankie kills time entertaining a child prostitute. The junkie resorts to dumping the drugs directly onto a wound he opens in his arm and passes out. A random woman comes upon him and steals his gun and ammunition, putting them in her purse.
There is no work for Frankie at the unemployment office. Unexplained arbitrary things happen, such as one social worker asking another if he's seen his Veg-O-Matic. Frankie's social worker spaces out during their meeting and says, "Life is hot, and because life is hot, I must take off my jacket." He then resumes the meeting, imploring Frankie to go back to school because he has no marketable skills. Frankie is desperate for work, having been unemployed for four months.
He calls his father to ask for money. His father thinks the call is a prank, because he believes his son died in Saigon. Frankie explains that he was reported killed 15 years ago but he made it out alive and spent three years in an army hospital recuperating. He tells his father that his wife is pregnant again and they are being evicted, but his father claims that he is also broke and about to die from a heart condition.
Seemingly broken, Frankie comes across the woman who stole the junkie's gun and steals her purse, an out of character criminal act for him. She screams for help. Paco and his thugs chase Frankie. When they overcome him, they mercilessly beat him. The gun falls out of the bag during the pummeling. When Paco goes through the bag, he finds the bullets and realizes there must have been a gun in it. He turns around to see Frankie standing with the gun.
Frankie shoots all three men in a daze. He has been beaten to a pulp, and his voice over explains that his father was right: he had died in Saigon. He explains that his company had come upon a village where everyone had killed themselves to avoid being raped and murdered by the US soldiers. He realizes that he must similarly 'save' his family, and he returns home.
His wife is horrified by his appearance and briefly tends to his wounds. He is catatonic and hallucinates in front of the TV. Eventually, he reloads the gun and prepares to kill himself, but another hallucination reminds him of his purpose for returning home. Frankie walks into the bedroom, tells his wife that he loves her, and then shoots her in the stomach. As she lies on the ground, he shoots her three more times, yelling at her to die. He shoots the baby once and then picks it up from the crib. He cradles it and walks into the kitchen with it.
Frankie lays the baby in the oven, and turns it all the way to the cleaning setting. He then pours himself a glass of spoiled milk and drinks it, before committing suicide via gun. The final shot shows a train passing by into the night.

Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway is nearing mandatory retirement from the Marine Corps. He finagles a transfer back to his old unit, the Second Marine Division. On the bus trip to his new assignment, he meets fellow passenger "Stitch" Jones, a wannabe rock musician who borrows money from Highway for a meal at a rest stop and then steals his bus ticket, leaving him stranded.
When Highway finally arrives at the base, more bad news awaits. His new Operations Officer, Major Malcolm Powers, is an Annapolis graduate who transferred over from Supply and has not had "the privilege of combat." He sees Highway as an anachronism in the new Marine Corps, and assigns him to shape up the Reconnaissance Platoon. "Recon" is made up of undisciplined Marines who had been allowed to slack off by their previous platoon sergeant, an old veteran like Highway who was just about to retire. Among his new charges, Highway finds Corporal Jones. Highway quickly takes charge and starts the men on a rigorous training program. They make a last-ditch attempt to intimidate Highway with "Swede" Johanson, a gigantic, heavily-muscled Marine just released from the brig, but their plan fails miserably after Highway defeats Swede easily. They begin to shape up and develop esprit de corps.
Highway repeatedly clashes with Powers and Staff Sergeant Webster over his unorthodox training methods (such as firing an AK-47 over his men's heads to familiarize them with the weapon's distinctive sound). Powers makes it clear that he views Highway's platoon as only a training tool for his own elite outfit. Major Powers goes so far as to make the Recon platoon lose in every field exercise. However, Highway is supported by his old comrade-in-arms, Sergeant Major Choozhoo, and his nominal superior officer, the college-educated but awkward and inexperienced Lieutenant Ring. After Highway's men learn that he had been awarded the Medal of Honor in the Korean War, they gain respect for him and close ranks against their perceived common enemy.
Highway also has personal problems. Aggie, his ex-wife, is working as a waitress in a local bar and dating the owner, Marine-hater Roy Jennings. Highway attempts to adapt his way of thinking enough to win Aggie back, even resorting to reading Harpers Bazaar and Cosmopolitan to gain insights into the female mind. Initially, Aggie is bitter over their failed marriage, but tentatively reconciles with Highway. Then the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit (Highway's outfit) is deployed for the invasion of Grenada.
After a last-minute briefing in the hangar bay of the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2), Highway's platoon mounts their UH-1 Huey, and are dropped by helocast into the water in advance of the rest of the Battalion Landing Team. While advancing inland, they come under heavy fire. Highway improvises, ordering Jones to use a bulldozer to provide cover so they can advance and destroy an enemy machine gun nest. They subsequently rescue American students from a medical school. Later, when they are trapped in a building by enemy armor and infantry, radioman Profile is killed and his radio destroyed, cutting them off from direct communication. Lieutenant Ring shows initiative and comes up with the idea of using a telephone to make a long distance call to Camp Lejeune and call in air support.
After getting out of the jam on the hilltop, despite Powers' explicit orders to the contrary, Lieutenant Ring, Gunny Highway, and the Recon Platoon take out a key enemy position and capture the Cuban soldiers manning it. When Major Powers learns this, he bawls Ring and Highway out and threatens Highway with a court-martial, but their commanding officer, Colonel Meyers, arrives and reprimands Powers for discouraging the men's fighting spirit, calling Powers "a walking clusterfuck as an infantry officer," strongly suggesting he transfer back over to Supply.
When Highway and his men return to the U.S., they are met by a warm reception, complete with an honor guard and the division band. To Highway's mock dismay, Stitch Jones informs him that he is going to re-enlist and make a career in the Marine Corps, while Highway confides to Jones he is taking mandatory retirement. Aggie is there to welcome him back, and the two of them walk off together.

During the Vietnam War, a group of new U.S. Marine Corps recruits arrive at Parris Island, South Carolina, for basic training. After having their heads shaved, they meet Senior Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, who employs forceful methods to turn the recruits into combat-ready Marines. Among the recruits are Privates "Joker", "Cowboy", and the overweight, bumbling Leonard Lawrence, who earns the nickname "Gomer Pyle" after incurring Hartman's wrath.
Unresponsive to Hartman's harsh discipline, Pyle is eventually assigned to Joker's squad. Pyle improves with Joker's help, but his progress halts when Hartman discovers a contraband jelly doughnut in Pyle's foot locker. Believing the recruits have failed to improve Pyle, Hartman adopts a collective punishment policy: every mistake Pyle makes will earn punishment for the rest of the platoon, with Pyle being spared. In retaliation for Pyle's failures, the platoon hazes him with a blanket party, restraining him in his bunk while beating him with bars of soap wrapped in towels and used like blackjacks. After this incident, Pyle reinvents himself as a model Marine. This impresses Hartman but worries Joker, who recognizes signs of mental breakdown in Pyle, such as him talking to his M14 rifle.
Following their graduation, the recruits receive their Military Occupational Specialty assignments; Joker is assigned to Basic Military Journalism, while most of the others (including Cowboy and Pyle) are assigned to Infantry. During the platoon's final night on Parris Island, Joker discovers Pyle, who is suffering from severe mental breakdown, in the bathroom, loading his rifle with live ammunition. Joker attempts to calm Pyle, who executes drill commands and loudly recites the Rifleman's Creed. The noise awakens the platoon as well as Hartman, who angrily confronts Pyle and orders him to surrender the rifle. Pyle shoots Hartman dead and then kills himself.
In January 1968, Joker, now a sergeant, is a war correspondent in South Vietnam for Stars and Stripes with Private First Class Rafterman, a combat photographer. Rafterman wants to go into combat, as Joker claims he has done. At the Marine base, Joker is mocked for his lack of the thousand-yard stare, indicating his lack of war experience. They are interrupted by the start of the Tet Offensive as the North Vietnamese Army attempts to overrun the base, but are rebuffed.
The following day, the journalism staff is briefed about enemy attacks throughout South Vietnam. Joker is sent to Phu Bai, accompanied by Rafterman. They meet the Lusthog Squad, where Cowboy is now a sergeant. Joker accompanies the squad during the Battle of Huế, where platoon commander "Touchdown" is killed by the enemy. After the Marines declare the area secure, a team of American news journalists and reporters enters Huế and interviews various Marines about their experiences in Vietnam and their opinions about the war.
During patrol, Crazy Earl, the squad leader, is killed by a booby trap, leaving Cowboy in command. The squad becomes lost and Cowboy orders Eightball to scout the area. A Viet Cong sniper wounds Eightball and the squad medic, Doc Jay, is also wounded while attempting to save him against orders. Cowboy learns that tank support is unavailable and orders the team to prepare for withdrawal. The squad's machine gunner, Animal Mother, disobeys Cowboy and attempts to save his comrades. He discovers there is only one sniper, but Doc Jay and Eightball are killed when Doc Jay attempts to indicate the sniper's location. While maneuvering toward the sniper, Cowboy is shot and killed.
Animal Mother assumes command of the squad and leads an attack on the sniper. Joker discovers the sniper, a teenaged girl, and attempts to shoot her, but his rifle jams and alerts her to his presence. Rafterman shoots the sniper, mortally wounding her. As the squad converges, the sniper begs for death, prompting an argument about whether or not to kill her. Animal Mother decides to allow a mercy killing only if Joker performs it. After some hesitation, Joker shoots her. The Marines congratulate him on his kill as Joker stares into the distance, displaying the thousand-yard stare. The Marines march toward their camp, singing the "Mickey Mouse March". Joker states that despite being "in a world of shit", he is glad to be alive and no longer afraid.

A hardened Korean and Vietnam War veteran, Sergeant Clell Hazard (James Caan) would rather be an instructor at the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, to train soldiers for Vietnam but instead he is assigned by the Army to the 1st battalion 3d Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) at Fort Myer, Virginia.
The Old Guard is U.S. Army's Honor Guard. It provides the ceremonial honor guard for the funerals of fallen soldiers and guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Hazard calls them the "toy soldiers" and hates his job until Jackie Willow (D. B. Sweeney), the son of an old friend and fellow veteran, is assigned to his platoon and he sees an opportunity to make sure at least one man comes home alive.
Hazard tries to warn Willow about Vietnam but the young man sees it as his duty as a soldier to fight for his country, no matter what kind of war. Hazard hates how the war in Vietnam is being fought and feels that good soldiers are being wounded and killed in the "wrong" war in which the U.S. is not fighting to win.
Among the others in Hazard's life are his longtime friend and superior, Sergeant Major "Goody" Nelson (James Earl Jones), and his girlfriend Samantha Davis (Anjelica Huston), a writer for the Washington Post who is against the Vietnam War for different reasons.
Willow marries a colonel's daughter named Rachel Feld (Mary Stuart Masterson). Rachel at first refuses to marry Jackie as long as he is a soldier. Rachel also hates the war in Vietnam and is afraid for her husband.
Hazard is divorced and hasn't seen his son in years due to the bitter divorce. After Willow's father, who is a retired U.S. Army master sergeant and a former Korean War comrade in arms of Hazard's as well Sergeant Major Nelson's, dies of a heart attack, Hazard comes to look upon Willow as a "son." He tries to teach Willow all he can about soldiering and surviving in combat.
Willow in turn tries to teach his platoon mate Private Albert Wildman, a chronic screw-up, how to be a soldier. Wildman is later ordered to Vietnam, where he distinguishes himself as a heroic soldier and effective combat infantryman. He returns from Vietnam promoted to the rank of sergeant and is a recipient of the Medal of Honor for heroism in combat. Sergeant Flanagan (Larry Fishburne), a fellow member of Hazard's platoon, receives his orders for Vietnam at the same time.
Willow excels, is promoted to the rank of sergeant and then is recommended to attend Officer's Candidate School, which he completes and is commissioned as a second lieutenant. He is ordered to serve in a combat unit in Vietnam. Willow writes Hazard from Vietnam about all the good men in his platoon that he is losing in combat. Hazard then finds out that Jack Willow has been killed in action when he sees the burial orders for Jackie's remains at Arlington National Cemetery while on duty with the "Old Guard" at Fort Myer.
Hazard requests to be sent to Vietnam for his third tour of duty as a platoon sergeant in a combat infantry unit. He places his Combat Infantryman Badge, on Willow's flag-draped coffin at the chapel at Arlington National Cemetery. Jackie had aspired to serve in combat and receive his own C.I.B., just like his late father had in Korea. Wildman and Flanagan, at that time sergeants and just recently returned from Vietnam, are also present at Willow's funeral.
The film ends with military honors being rendered at Willow's graveside at Arlington and Hazard speaking to the mourners prior to the firing of the rifle salute and the playing of "Taps".

In 1965, Adrian Cronauer arrives in Saigon to work as a DJ for Armed Forces Radio Service. Cronauer is met at the airport by PFC Edward Garlick. Cronauer's attitude and demeanor contrasts sharply with many staff members. His show consists of irreverent humor segments and rock and roll, which are frowned upon by his superiors, Second Lieutenant Steven Hauk and Sergeant Major Phillip Dickerson. Hauk adheres to strict Army guidelines in terms of humor and music programming, while Dickerson is generally abusive to all enlisted men. However, Brigadier General Taylor and the other DJs quickly grow to like the new man and his brand of comedy.
Cronauer meets Trinh, a Vietnamese girl, and follows her to an English class. Bribing the teacher to let him take over, Cronauer instructs the students in American slang. Once class is dismissed, he tries to talk to Trinh but is stopped by her brother Tuan. Instead, Cronauer takes Tuan to Jimmy Wah's, a local GI bar, to have drinks with Garlick and the station staff. Two soldiers, angered at Tuan's presence, initiate a confrontation that escalates into a brawl.
Dickerson reprimands Cronauer for this incident, but his broadcasts continue. While relaxing in Jimmy Wah's one afternoon, he is pulled outside by Tuan, who says that Trinh wants to see him. Moments later, the building explodes, killing two soldiers and leaving Cronauer shaken. The cause of the explosion is determined to be a bomb; the news is censored, but Cronauer locks himself in the studio and reports it anyway. Dickerson cuts off the broadcast and Cronauer is suspended. Hauk takes over his shows, but his corny humor and the polka music he plays lead to a flood of letters and phone calls demanding that Cronauer be put back on the air.
In the meantime, Cronauer spends his time drinking and pursuing Trinh, only to be repeatedly rebuffed. At the radio station, Taylor intervenes on Cronauer's behalf, ordering Hauk to reinstate him, but Cronauer refuses to go back to work. Garlick and Cronauer's vehicle is stopped in a congested street amidst a convoy of soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division, who persuade him to do an impromptu "broadcast" before they go off to fight. The incident reminds him why his job is important, and he soon returns to the air.
Dickerson seizes an opportunity to get rid of Cronauer by approving his request to interview soldiers in the field, knowing that the highway to An Lộc is controlled by the Viet Cong. Cronauer and Garlick's Jeep hits a mine and they are forced to hide from VC patrols. In Saigon, Tuan learns of the trip after Cronauer fails to show up for English class. He steals a van and drives off after them. After finding them, the van breaks down and they flag down a Marine helicopter to take them back to the city.
At the station, Dickerson tells Cronauer that he is off the air for good. His friend Tuan is revealed as a VC operative who was responsible for the bombing of Jimmy Wah's. Dickerson has arranged for an honorable discharge. General Taylor arrives and informs Cronauer that, regrettably, he cannot help him since his friendship with Tuan would damage the reputation of the US Army. After Cronauer leaves, Taylor informs Dickerson that he transfers him to Guam, citing Dickerson's vindictive attitude as the reason.
Cronauer chases down Tuan, decrying his actions against American soldiers. Emerging from the shadows, Tuan retorts that the US army has devastated his family, and for him that makes the United States the enemy. On his way to the airport with Garlick, under MP escort, Cronauer sets up a quick softball game for the students from his English class, where he says goodbye to Trinh. As he boards the plane, he gives Garlick a taped farewell message; Garlick – taking Cronauer's place as DJ – plays the tape on the air the next morning.

War and Remembrance completes the cycle that began with The Winds of War. The story includes historical occurrences at Midway, Yalta, Guadalcanal, and El Alamein as well as the Allied invasions at Normandy and the Philippines.
The action moves back and forth between the characters against the backdrop of World War II: Victor "Pug" Henry takes part in various battles while separating from his wife. Pug's older son Warren, a naval aviator, and younger son, Byron, a submarine officer, also participate in combat. Warren is killed at the battle of Midway. Byron's wife Natalie is trapped in Axis territory with her uncle, celebrated author Aaron Jastrow, and another major strand focuses on their story as Jews caught in Europe. Like most Americans, Natalie and Aaron fail to believe that the civilized German culture with which they are familiar could possibly engage in genocide. As a result of their rash decision to stay when they could escape, they gradually get absorbed into the Jewish population that is first interned, then sent to concentration camps. As Byron attempts to find out what is happening to them, eventually tracking them down amidst the chaos of wartime Europe, the story of the Holocaust is gradually revealed to the American government and people.

The story is presented as a flashback of Max Eriksson, a Vietnam veteran.
Lt. Reilly leads his platoon of American soldiers on a nighttime patrol. They are attacked by the Viet Cong after a panicked soldier exposes their position. While on flank security, the ground cracks under Eriksson and he ends up partially stuck in a Viet Cong tunnel. Eriksson's squad leader, Sergeant Tony Meserve, pulls Eriksson out of the hole and eventually, the platoon retreats out of the jungle.
The platoon takes a break outside a river village in the Central Highlands. While relaxing and joking around, one of Meserve's friends, Specialist 4 "Brownie" Brown, is killed when the Viet Cong ambushes them. Brownie's death has a major impact on Meserve. Shortly afterward, the platoon is sent back to their barracks at Wolfe Base. Private First Class Antonio Dìaz arrives as the replacement radio operator.
Frustrated because his squad has been denied leave for an extended period, Meserve orders the squad to kidnap a Vietnamese girl to be their sex slave. Eriksson strenuously objects but Meserve, Cpl. Thomas E. Clark, and Private First Class Herbert Hatcher ignore Eriksson's objections. Before the five-man squad disembarked, Eriksson talks about his concerns to his closest friend, Rowan. At nightfall, the squad enters a village and kidnaps a Vietnamese girl, Than Thi Oahn.
As the squad treks through the mountains, Dìaz begins to reconsider raping Than and begs Eriksson to back him up. The squad and Than eventually take refuge in an abandoned hooch, where Eriksson is confronted and threatened by Meserve, Clark, and Hatcher. As the taunting continued, Dìaz decides to go along with the rape in order to avoid ridicule. Eriksson, who is now outnumbered, is ordered to the guard the hooch as the rest of the men take their turn raping Than.
At daybreak, Eriksson is ordered to guard Than while the rest of the squad takes up a position near a railroad bridge overlooking a Viet Cong river supply depot.
Through his acts of kindness, Eriksson manages to earn Than's trust and prepares to go AWOL and return Than to her family. However, Meserve sends Clark to get Eriksson and Than to go to the bridge before Eriksson can carry out his plan.
Meserve has Dìaz order air support for an assault on the depot and then orders Than to be stabbed to death by Dìaz. Before Dìaz can kill her, Eriksson fires his rifle into the air, exposing them to the nearby Viet Cong. In the midst of the firefight, Than tries to escape. Eriksson tries to save her but is stopped by Meserve, who knocks Eriksson down with the butt of his gun. Eriksson watches helplessly as the entire squad shoots Than numerous times until she falls off of the bridge.
After the battle, Eriksson wakes up in a field hospital on Wolfe Base. Eriksson eventually bumps into Rowan and tells him everything that happened. Rowan suggests that Eriksson sees Lt. Reilly and Company commander Captain Hill. Both Reilly and Hill prefer to bury the matter and Eriksson is told that he will be reassigned to a Tunnel Rat unit. In addition, the other four men were to be split up and reassigned to other units.
Later that evening an attempt on Eriksson's life is made by Clark, who tries to frag Eriksson while he is using the latrine. Eriksson takes action by confronting Meserve and his men, and using a shovel, strikes Clark across the face, scaring the rest of the men.
Eriksson then meets a chaplain at a bar and tells him the story of what happened during the patrol. There is an investigation and the four men who participated in the rape and murder are court martialed: Meserve receives ten years hard labor and a dishonorable discharge, Clark is sentenced to life in prison, Hatcher receives fifteen years hard labor, and Dìaz receives eight years hard labor.
At the end of the film, Eriksson wakens from a nightmare to find himself on a J-Church transit line in San Francisco, just a few seats from a Vietnamese-American student who resembles Than (same actress). She disembarks at Dolores Park and forgets her scarf and Eriksson runs after her to return it. As she thanks him and turns away, he calls after her in Vietnamese. She surmises that she reminds him of someone, and adds that he's had a bad dream. They go their separate ways and Eriksson is somewhat comforted.

Nikolai Petrovitch Rachenko, a Soviet Spetsnaz operative is sent to an African country where Soviet, Czechoslovakian and Cuban forces are helping the government fight an anti-communist rebel movement. He is tasked with the mission to assassinate the rebel leader. In order to infiltrate the rebel movement and get within striking distance of his target, he stirs up trouble in the local bar and gets arrested for disorderly conduct. He is put in the same cell as a captured resistance commander and gains his trust in facilitating the escape. Upon finally reaching the rebel encampment he is met with distrust by the rebels. During the night he attempts to assassinate his target but does not succeed when the distrustful rebels anticipate his actions.
Disgraced and tortured by his commanding officers for failing his mission, he breaks out of the interrogation chamber and escapes to the desert, later to be found by native bushmen. He soon learns about them and their culture, and after receiving a ceremonial burn scar in the form of a scorpion (hence the title), he rejoins the freedom fighters and leads an attack against the Soviet camp after a previous attack on the peaceful bushmen. Nikolai obtains an AO-63 from the armory, confronts his corrupt officers and hunts down General Vortek, who attempts to escape in a Mil-24 Hind only to be shot down after takeoff. Nikolai defeats and kills Vortek, as the freedom fighters finally defeat the Soviet oppression.

A stevedore in Thessaloniki, Greece, Salamo Arouch's passion is boxing. Captured along with his family and fiance Allegra in 1943 and interned in Auschwitz, Arouch is used by his SS captors as entertainment, forced to box against fellow prisoners. He knows that if he refuses, his family will be punished; if he wins, he will be given extra rations which he can share with them; if he loses, he will be sent to the gas chamber. As his family and friends die around him, he has only his love of Allegra and his grim determination to keep him alive.
The film follows the early life story of Salamo Arouch, though it takes some artistic liberties including the early introduction of wife Allegra (a pseudonym for Marta Yechiel), whom Arouch did not actually meet until after the liberation of the camp.

While serving in the Gulf War, Lieutenant Colonel Serling (Denzel Washington) accidentally destroys one of his own tanks during a confusing night-time battle, killing his friend, Captain Boylar. The US Army covers up the details and transfers Serling to a desk job.
Later, Serling is assigned to determine if Captain Karen Emma Walden (Meg Ryan) should be the first woman to receive a (posthumous) Medal of Honor. She was the commander of a Medevac Huey that was sent to rescue the crew of a shot-down Black Hawk. When she encountered a T-54, her crew destroyed it by dropping a fuel bladder onto the tank and igniting it with a flare gun. However, her own helicopter was shot down soon after. The two crews were unable to join forces, and when the survivors were rescued the next day, Walden was reported dead.
Serling notices inconsistencies between the testimonies of Walden's crew. Specialist Andrew Ilario (Matt Damon), the medic, praises Walden strongly. However, Staff Sergeant John Monfriez (Lou Diamond Phillips) claims that Walden was a coward and that he led the crew in combat and improvised the fuel bladder weapon. Sergeant Altameyer, who is dying in a hospital, complains about a fire. Warrant Officer One Rady, the co-pilot, was injured early on and unconscious throughout. Furthermore, the crew of the Black Hawk claim that they heard firing from an M16, but Ilario and Monfriez deny they had one.
Under pressure from the White House and his commander, Brigadier General Hershberg (Michael Moriarty), to wrap things up quickly, Serling leaks the story to newspaper reporter Tony Gartner (Scott Glenn) to prevent another cover-up. When Serling grills Monfriez during a car ride, Monfriez forces him to get out of the vehicle at gunpoint, then commits suicide by driving into an oncoming train.
Serling tracks Ilario down, and Ilario finally tells him the truth. Monfriez wanted to flee, which would mean abandoning Rady. When Walden refused, he pulled a gun on her. Walden then shot an enemy who appeared behind Monfriez, but Monfriez thought Walden was firing at him and shot her in the stomach, before backing off. The next morning, the enemy attacked again as a rescue party approached. Walden covered her men's retreat, firing an M16. However, Monfriez told the rescuers that Walden was dead, so they left without her. Napalm was then dropped on the entire area. Altameyer tried to expose Monfriez's lie at the time, but was too injured to speak, and Ilario was too scared of the court-martial Walden had threatened them with and remained silent.
Serling presents his final report to Hershberg. Walden's young daughter receives the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony. Later, Serling tells the truth to the Boylars about the manner of their son's death and says he cannot ask for forgiveness. The Boylars tell Serling he must put down the burden at some point and grant him their forgiveness.
In the last moments, Serling has a flashback of when he was standing by Boylar's destroyed tank and a medevac Huey was lifting off with his friend's body. Serling suddenly realises Walden was the Huey pilot.

A blind veteran of the First World War returns home to run his family's industrial empire.

Colonel Duncan Grant (Brian Aherne) is a British officer during World War I. When the British high command get wind of a German plan, titled The W Plan, from the lips of a dying German officer, Major Ulrich Muller (George Merritt), they send Grant behind enemy lines to learn the details. After successfully being dropped by airplane near the German town of Essen, where he makes his way to home of the dead German who was responsible for the plan. Grant is chosen because he speaks fluent German, having spent a significant amount of time in Germany prior to outbreak of hostilities. While in Essen, he runs into an old girlfriend, Rose Hartmann (Madeleine Carroll). When he and Rose go to a nearby café, he is approached by German officers and asked for his papers. While he has the documents taken from Muller, the Germans become suspicious, and Grant has to make a quick getaway. Unfortunately, the plane he is supposed to meet with to make his escape is shot down, after which Grant is arrested for desertion.
When he is about to be shot, he is instead sent to the very project he had been sent to Germany to learn about, The W Plan. It consists of a very elaborate series of underground works which are being dug beneath the British controlled territory, in order to collapse their lines. Grant succeeds in destroying a vital portion of the German underpinnings, and makes his escape back to British territory. The film ends with the allusion that he will meet up with Rose in Switzerland in the coming days.

In 1893, Betty Brown meets a debonair young naval officer and falls in love. She conceals her pregnancy from him, and he rejoins his ship. The boy, Albert Brown, is brought up by his mother and joins the navy as soon as he is old enough.
Brown's ship is posted to the Pacific during the First World War. He is marooned on the remote Galapagos island of Resolution when the cruiser he is serving on, HMS Rutland, is sunk. A German battlecruiser (the fictitious SMS Ziethen) takes him prisoner whilst it defeats an inferior British force. It then suffers damage in a second encounter and her captain plans to pull into an isolated Pacific anchorage to try to repair his vessel. There, the resourceful Brown escapes, steals a rifle and a small amount of ammunition, and makes his way ashore.
The German vessel's main battery cannot be brought to bear on Brown, and he is able to pick off exposed crew-members who are trying to repair her punctured hull plates. The anchorage is an impenetrable tangle of scrub and thorn bushes, making it difficult for shore parties to run him to ground.
Brown is eventually killed by a German shot, never learning that his actions delayed the repairs long enough for the raider's British pursuers to catch her up and destroy her. Brown becomes a hero, the British erect a cross on the highest point on the island to commemorate him, and the commander of the British ship discovers that Brown was the illegitimate son he always denied he had.

During the First World War, Russian forces attempt to take out an Austrian artillery position.

The Lion Has Wings is recounted in various "chapters" with a linking story revolving around a senior Royal Air Force (RAF) officer, played by Ralph Richardson, his wife and his family.

In September 1938, advanced British aircraft prototypes carrying experimental and secret equipment are vanishing with their crews on test flights. No one can fathom why, not even spymaster Major Hammond (Ralph Richardson) or his sister Kay (Valerie Hobson), a newspaper reporter, who is working undercover in the works canteen used by the crews at the Barrett & Ward Aircraft Company.
At first Major Hammond is seen as an outsider at the aircraft factory, especially by Mr. Barrett, the owner (George Merritt), who is working under a government contract but he soon finds a friend in a star pilot, Tony McVane (Laurence Olivier) who helps him try to solve the case. Hammond becomes convinced that Jenkins (George Curzon), the company secretary at the factory, is a foreign agent and mole but Jenkins is killed by unseen gunmen before he can give up the names of his contacts.
McVane returns to the aircraft factory, determined to make the next test flight. His aircraft, like the others, is brought down by a powerful ray beamed from the S.S. Viking, a mysterious salvage ship manned by a foreign crew. Although the nationality of the crew and agents aboard the Viking is only implied, it was understood by audiences: "All of the crew speak with German accents and little doubt is left who the villains are," wrote Variety.
Along with his aircraft, McVane and his flight crew are taken hostage on the ship, where he discovers many other missing airmen have suffered the same fate. Gathering up weapons, McVane leads the British survivors in an attempt to take control of the ship. Major Hammond learns the truth and directs a Royal Navy ship (HMS Echo) to come to their rescue. Kay and McVane form a relationship and Hammond learns, to his chagrin, that his long-time lady friend, whose plans with him are repeatedly being cancelled as the action escalates, has married someone else.

In 1917, Captain Hardt (Conrad Veidt), a World War I German U-boat commander, is ordered to lead a mission to attack the British Fleet at Scapa Flow. He sneaks ashore on the Orkney Islands to meet his contact, Fräulein Tiel (Valerie Hobson). Tiel has taken over the identity of a new local schoolteacher, Miss Anne Burnett (June Duprez), who German agents had intercepted en route to the island. Hardt finds himself attracted to her, but Tiel shows no interest. The Germans are aided by a disgraced Royal Navy officer, the former Commander Ashington (Sebastian Shaw) who, according to Tiel, has agreed to aid the Germans after losing his command due to drunkenness, and Tiel implies that she has slept with Ashington to obtain his cooperation.
The plan is almost disrupted when Burnett's fiancé, Rev. Harris, arrives unexpectedly, but the spies take him captive. Then the local minister, Matthews, and his wife (who had already met Harris) come to the house, but Tiel manages to get them to leave. Now equipped with the crucial information he needs about the British fleet movements, Hardt makes rendezvous with his submarine to arrange for a fleet of U-Boats to attack. Returning to the house, and confident that all is going to plan, Hardt make advances to Tiel, but she rebuffs him. She leaves the house, believing she has locked Hardt in his room, but he gets out and secretly follows her, discovering that she has gone out to meet Ashington. Hardt overhears them talking and learns the truth: the British are fully aware of his presence, and have turned his mission into a trap for the U-Boats. Hardt's "contacts" are really British double agents – Ashington is in fact RN Commander Blacklock, and "Fräulein Tiel" is Blacklock's wife, Jill.
As Jill prepares to leave the island, Blacklock returns to the house to arrest Hardt, only to find he has eluded them. Disguised in Rev. Harris's clothes, Hardt manages to board the island ferry, which is also carrying Jill, a number of civilian passengers, and eight German POWs. Blacklock reports Hardt's escape to the base commander, who explains that the British had learned of the Germans' plan because the real Anne Burnett luckily survived the German agents' attempt to kill her by throwing her into the sea.
At sea, Hardt manages to free the German prisoners and they seize the ferry. The Royal Navy pursue them, but before they can catch up, the ferry is intercepted by Hardt's submarine, and Hardt's first officer (Marius Goring) decides to sink it. As the U-boat surfaces and prepares to fire, Hardt realises it is his own submarine. He frantically attempts to signal them, but too late – the U-boat shells the ferry, which begins to sink. By this time the British ships have arrived, and they drop depth charges, destroying the fleeing U-boat. As Jill, the other passengers and the crew abandon the sinking ferry, Hardt realises all is lost, and chooses to go down with the ship.

Before the film, several text cards explain bombers and the Royal Air Force chain of command. The film begins with an observation aircraft flying over and dropping a box of undeveloped film. Bomber Command develops the film and analyses the resulting photographs, which are presented for the audience to see. There has been a massive build-up by German forces in the subject area for the past few months. The film shows the planning of the mission, even detailing how the bomber wing chooses munitions for the task. The weather forecast is expected to be good and the pilots are briefed. The crew of "'F' for Freddie", the bomber that is the focal point of the film, suit up and take off. While over Germany, the crew bombs the target, dead on for one bomb, but their aircraft is hit by flak from "faceless" anti-aircraft gunners. The radio operator is hit in the leg, and Freddie is the last aircraft to return. Mist covers the water, prompting worry at the Command. Meanwhile, Freddie cannot climb after the flak hit. They are not losing altitude, but are in a bad situation. Tension builds in the film until finally, 'F for Freddie' lands. No aircraft are lost and the mission is a complete success.

This is a propaganda film in which the British strategy of the economic blockade of Nazi Germany is illustrated through a series of scenes and sketches, combined with documentary footage.

As the Germans invade Poland in September 1939, the former horse racing-correspondent Metcalfe is placed as a foreign correspondent in neutral Norway. Eight months later, he meets a Norwegian fisherman called Alstad in a sailors' bar, where a scuffle breaks out between British and Norwegian sailors (singing "Rule Britannia", egged on by Metcalfe) and German ones (singing the Nazi Party anthem the "Horst-Wessel-Lied"). Alstad takes him aboard his boat during a sea voyage in Norway's territorial waters, during which they sight the Altmark and are fired upon by a German U boat, despite Norway's neutrality. They then come back to his home port of Langedal, and Metcalfe goes to Oslo to report this to the British embassy there, despite the best efforts of the German Kommandant and the German-sympathising local police chief Gunter. There Metcalfe meets Lockwood en route back to England from the Winter War in Finland. It was Lockwood who had got him the foreign correspondent job at the outbreak of war, but he now passes on the news to Metcalfe that he has been fired from it for sailing out with the fisherman rather than staying on dry land where the paper can contact him. Metcalfe informs the embassy, and also warns his paper of signs that a German war on Norway is imminent. Alstad's daughter Kari (who had accompanied them on their voyage) also meets him to tell him of suspicious German merchant ships at Bergen which her father suspects have troops on board.
The pair say goodbye and Metcalfe, getting into what he thinks is a taxi, is kidnapped by the Germans and put on board a ship bound for the German port of Bremen. Meanwhile, Germany invades, Metcalfe is scooped on the news of the invasion, and – back in Britain – Chamberlain's government falls and Churchill becomes prime minister. A British warship intercepts the ship on which Metcalfe is held and liberates him but she is re-routed to Cherbourg to help Operation Ariel, the evacuation of British troops from north-western France, before she can get Metcalfe back to Britain. Amidst the carnage on the docks at Cherbourg, Metcalfe finds Lockwood, dying of wounds.
Back in Britain as the Blitz begins, Metcalfe is convinced not to join up and instead to start a press campaign for the public to make economies on the Home Front to help win the Battle of the Atlantic. Just about to set out on it, he is called upon by the Admiralty to be parachute-dropped back into Langedal, sabotage a camouflaged U-boat base nearby, and escape across the border into neutral Sweden. On landing, he is spotted and pursued by the Germans, but manages to escape and gain shelter. There he finds that Alstad has been interned by the Germans, and Kari has brought shame on herself by getting engaged to the traitorous Gunter. However, when at a tense "Norwegian-German friendship dance" the Germans arrive to demand Metcalfe's papers, Kari saves him by inciting a riot and hiding him at her house. There she reveals she only took on the engagement to obtain her father's release.
Alstad is released and agrees to help Metcalfe to signal to British bombers with torches to guide them in on their raid on it, and Kari and Metcalfe bid a romantic farewell. The signalling is successful and the base destroyed, but Alstad is shot dead. Metcalfe returns to tell Kari the news, just as Gunter and the Germans take eight random hostages who will be shot if the British spy they are sheltering is not given up. Metcalfe overhears this, and gives himself up. Gunter returns to Kari to try to save her from the firing squad she too will face for sheltering the spy, but she refuses and is locked up with the hostages, though Gunter shows her the kindness of not separating her from Metcalfe. They prepare to die, and the first party for the firing squad are taken out, but then a British commando raid arrives. In the chaos, Gunter is shot by the Kommandant as the latter makes a hasty escape, and the hostages are all freed unharmed. The raiders capture the town and its German garrison and then leave almost immediately, taking Metcalfe, Kari, the hostages and their families to safety in England.


Welsh factory foreman Fred Carrick (Clifford Evans) goes to France on his own initiative to retrieve several pieces of valuable machinery ahead of the German invasion. Along the way, he is helped by two soldiers (Tommy Trinder, Gordon Jackson) and an American woman (Constance Cummings). To get to France, Fred has to get round the opposition of his firm's bosses and British civil servants. While in France, he has to learn about the rôle of the fifth column. His gradual realisation of how authority can trick him has been argued to be an allegory of Britain learning not to be too trusting; but also, through the rôle of Anne Stafford, the American woman, an anticipation of an eventual alliance with the United States. During the race to the coast with the machines, the film evokes the huge scale of the flood of refugees that fled the advancing Nazis in France in 1940.

The film opens with the narration: "This is the story of a ship" and the images of shipbuilding in a British dockyard. The action then moves forward in time showing the ship, HMS Torrin, engaging German transports in a night-time engagement during the Battle of Crete in 1941. However, when dawn breaks, the destroyer comes under aerial attack from German bombers.
Eventually the destroyer receives a critical hit following a low-level pass. The crew abandon ship as it rapidly capsizes. Some of the officers and ratings manage to find a Carley float as the survivors are intermittently strafed by passing German planes. From here, the story is told in flashback using the memories of the men on the float. The first person to reveal his thoughts is Captain Kinross (Coward), who recalls the summer of 1939 when the Royal Naval destroyer HMS Torrin is being rushed into commission as the possibility of war becomes a near certainty.
The ship spends a relatively quiet Christmas in the north of Scotland during the Phoney War. But by 1940, the Torrin is taking part in a naval battle off the coast of Norway. During the action, a young terrified sailor (Attenborough) leaves his station while another rating (Mills) returns to work his gun after its crew is knocked unconscious by a torpedo strike. The damaged Torrin is towed back to port, all the time being harried by dive-bombers.
Safely back in harbour, Captain Kinross tells the assembled ship's company that during the battle nearly all the crew performed as he would expect; however one man didn't. But he tells everyone present they may be surprised to know that he let him off with a caution as he feels as Captain he failed to make them understand their duty.
Returning to the present, the float survivors watch the capsized Torrin take on water as the badly damaged ship slowly sinks. The raft is again strafed by German planes. Some men are killed, and "Shorty" Blake (Mills) is wounded. This leads to a flashback in which Blake remembers how he met his wife-to-be, Freda, on a train while on leave. It is also revealed, she is related to the Torrin's affable Chief Petty Officer Hardy (Miles). When both men return to sea, Freda moves in with CPO Hardy's wife and mother-in-law.
The Torrin participates in the Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force, (portrayed in the film by the 5th Battalion of the Coldstream Guards). Meanwhile, the nightly Blitz takes its toll on British towns. Blake soon gets a letter from home to say that Freda has given birth to his son during one raid. But the letter also says that Hardy's wife and mother-in-law were killed in the same attack. Stoically he goes to the Petty Officers' Mess to tell Hardy (who is in the process of writing a letter home) the bad news.
The flashback ends as the survivors on the life raft watch the capsized Torrin finally sink. Captain Kinross leads a final "three cheers" for the Torrin when suddenly another passing German plane rakes the raft with machine gun fire, killing and wounding more men. A British destroyer soon appears and begins rescuing the men. On board, Captain Kinross talks to the survivors and collects addresses from the dying. He tells the young man who once deserted his post that he will write and tell his parents that they can be proud that he did his duty; the critically injured young man smiles and dies peacefully. Relatives soon receive telegrams informing them about the fate of their loved ones.
Captain Kinross and the 90 surviving members of the crew are taken to Alexandria in Egypt. Wearing a mixture of odd clothing and standing in a military depot, Captain Kinross tells them that although they lost their ship and many friends, who now "lie together in fifteen-hundred fathoms", he notes that these losses should inspire them to fight even harder in the battles to come. The ship's company is then told they are to be broken up and sent as replacements to other ships that have lost men. Captain Kinross then shakes hands with all the ratings as they leave the depot. When the last man goes, the emotionally tired captain turns to his remaining officers, silently acknowledges them before walking away.
An epilogue then concludes: bigger and stronger ships are being launched to avenge the Torrin; Britain is an island nation with a proud, indefatigable people; Captain Kinross is now in command of a battleship. Its massive main guns fire against the enemy.

The British are preparing a secret raid on the German-held French coastal village of Norville, where a lightly defended submarine base has been newly set up. Major Richards is assigned as the security officer for the 95th Brigade, the unit chosen for the task. German intelligence learns that the 95th are being moved to Westport for training for some mission via Miss Clare, an attractive showgirl who has a talkative admirer in Lieutenant Cummins.
They send agents 23 and 16 to England to discover the intended target by piecing together information from different sources, including conversations overheard in pubs, railway stations, shops and other public places. 16 is caught when he claims to be a soldier with the same company as Private Durnford, but 23 reaches his contact, Mr Barratt, a bookseller at Westport. When Richards spots Miss Clare in a pub in Westport having a drink with Cummins, he has the police search her belongings, not expecting them to find anything. However, they discover spy equipment and she is arrested. Agent 23 witnesses this and departs hastily, having already come to the attention of Richards. Barratt assigns him to 16's job, to infiltrate an ordnance depot. After he helps an ATS driver with a punctured tyre, she invites him to a dance. There he learns that the 95th have top priority for special equipment.
Certain that the mission is imminent and without any agents to spare, Barratt forces his employee, Dutch refugee Beppie Leemans, to take on the task of finding out where and when the 95th are going from her soldier boyfriend in exchange for the safety of her parents in German-occupied Holland. She informs him that the 95th are expecting aerial photographs. Barratt sends 23 to London to contact another agent to try to obtain the photographs. When Leemans realises the seriousness of what she has done, she stabs Barratt to death, but 23 returns unexpectedly and knocks her out. He then turns on the gas and makes it look like a murder–suicide. An agent manages to steal the briefcase containing an aerial negative, carelessly left unattended at a cafe by a wing commander. The officer believes his briefcase was taken by mistake and is relieved when it is returned to the cafe (after a photograph is developed). The photograph is smuggled to German intelligence and used to identify the 95th's objective. As a result, the Germans are waiting in ambush.
Originally, the commando raid depicted was intended to be a complete failure. However, the War Office were uncomfortable about showing such a defeat. In the final version, the raid is successful, albeit with heavy losses. Winston Churchill reportedly wanted the film banned as a threat to morale, but was eventually persuaded of the importance of its message.
Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne appear in cameos at the end of the film as two "careless talkers" on a train, in the same compartment as 23. The two men made many appearances together in British films of the 1940s, following their successful pairing as "Charters and Caldicott" in Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes.

"B for Bertie" is an RAF Vickers Wellington bomber whose crew was forced to bail out over the Netherlands near the Zuider Zee after one of their engines was damaged during a nighttime raid on Stuttgart. Five of the six airmen find each other; the sixth goes missing. The first Dutch citizens they encounter, led by English-speaking schoolteacher Else Meertens (Pamela Brown), are suspicious at first as no aircraft is reported to have crashed in the Netherlands (the abandoned bomber actually reaches England before hitting a pylon). After much debate and some questioning, the Dutch agree to help, despite their fear of German reprisals.
Accompanied by many of the Dutch, the disguised airmen, led by the pilots (Hugh Burden and Eric Portman), bicycle through the countryside to a football match where they are passed along to the local burgomeister (Hay Petrie). To their astonishment, they discover their missing crewman playing on one of the teams. Reunited, they hide in a truck carrying supplies to Jo de Vries (Googie Withers).
De Vries pretends to be pro-German, blaming the British for killing her husband in a bombing raid (whereas he is actually in England working as a radio announcer). She hides them in her mansion, despite the Germans being garrisoned there. Under cover of an air raid, she leads them to a rowing boat. The men row undetected to the sea, but a bridge sentry finally spots them and a shot seriously wounds the oldest man, Sir George Corbett (Godfrey Tearle). Nevertheless, they reach the North Sea. They take shelter in a German rescue buoy, where they take two shot-down enemy aviators prisoner, but not before one sends a radio message. By chance, two British boats arrive first. Because Corbett cannot be moved, they simply tow the buoy back to England. Three months later, he is fully recovered, and the crew board their new four-engine heavy bomber, a Short Stirling.
The attitude of the Dutch people towards the Nazi occupation is exemplified by two Dutch women who help the airmen at great personal risk to themselves and these explain why the Dutch were willing to help Allied airmen even though those same airmen were sometimes dropping bombs on the Netherlands and killing Dutch people:

During the Second World War, two British army officers, Garnett and Gowan, together with Private Clark, who used to live in France and ran a café with his French wife, and Raoul, a member of the Free French forces, are dropped off on the coast of occupied France. Their mission is to collect intelligence on German military strength in the area, prior to an airborne raid. They rendezvous at the chateau used as German headquarters, which is Raoul's ancestral home. His sister Michele still lives there, but is resigned to cooperation with the occupiers, and is too frightened to assist in the men's mission.
As part of the mission, Garnett and Gowan masquerade as champagne salesmen, aided by a personal letter from Ribbentrop. Having thus established their bona fides, they do deals with German officers for supplying their mess. They also extract much information from the unwary Germans. They also discover that a local businessman, M. Fayolle, hated by some of the locals for his open collaboration with the occupying forces, is in fact secretly working with the French resistance and has assisted many Allied servicemen to escape.
The agents manage to gain access to a secret factory, which is so well disguised that it cannot be bombed, and show a light for arriving paratroopers, who land and overrun the factory. However, Raoul is killed.
As the other agents embark by boat to return to England, Michele refuses an offer to leave with them and promises to start working with the Resistance.

British Captain Bill Hamilton meets and is attracted to American fashion designer Ann Morgan in Paris during the Phoney War stage of hostilities. He also makes the acquaintance of Sydney-Chronicle reporter Butch. Later, he is assigned by MI5 to investigate Ann. The fashion house where she works is a center of German fifth columnists, headed by Van Der Stuyl and Madame Florien. MI5 suspects Ann herself is a spy, but Bill is certain she is innocent. Her friend, Count Raul De La Vague, however, has been gulled by Van Der Stuyl and Madame Florien into believing that they are working for Franco-German peace and cooperation against communism. The count is told to donate an ambulance to the French cause. A German spy conceals a message inside the door.
Then the Germans invade France through neutral Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium, bypassing the Maginot Line. Ann is ordered to drive the ambulance to the front line. Unable to convince her that her employers are enemy agents, Bill stows away in the back. The pair are forced to take cover when German bombers appear overhead. A direct hit destroys the vehicle, but a waiting agent finds the message. Bill takes the man prisoner, but he escapes with the message on the way to a French military headquarters. As a result, the Germans are able to capture a vital bridge intact, and tanks pour across it into France.
Bill is given a staff car, but it is later commandeered by French officers, forcing the pair to walk. On the way back to Paris, they find a small, abandoned amusement park. Only the owner, Popinard, is left. He refuses to leave with the couple. He remains behind, holding an antiquated gun. Bill and Ann reach Paris and exchange words with the triumphant Madam Florien before joining the stream of refugees.

In May 1940, Bob Randall (Greene), a war correspondent with a (fictional) London newspaper, the Gazette, is evacuated with British troops from the beaches of Dunkirk. He writes a hard-hitting story of his experiences, but it is censored by the Ministry of Information. Randall goes to see Lamb (Radford), the clerk responsible, but Lamb will not change his decision.
As London burns in the Blitz, and the newspaper struggles to stay in business, Randall writes several more eye-witness stories, and then learns of People For Peace, a pacifist organisation. He suspects the members of being Nazi tools and investigates the group. He finds the Gazette's fashion journalist, Carole Bennett (Hobson), at the group's meeting, also there after a story. Later, following up the story at the group's offices, Randall is surprised to see Lamb there and obviously familiar with the leading members. Afterwards, Lamb tells him he is with British counter-intelligence and that Randall's suspicions are correct, but with the group under investigation, Randall must drop his coverage of the story.
Trapes, one of the group's members, changes his views after his own home is bombed, and he sends Bennett a statement denouncing the organisation, but, still suffering from shock, he naively informs his fellow "pacifists". Revealing themselves to be Nazi agents, they force him to contact Bennett in an attempt to retrieve the letter. However, at the rendezvous, they are captured after a shootout with the authorities. The two reporters think they have a great story, but Lamb makes it clear that the incident must be an unpublished story.

The story is told in flashback by a villager, played by Mervyn Johns, as though to a person visiting after the war. He recounts: one Saturday during the Second World War, a group of seemingly authentic British soldiers arrive in the small, fictitious English village of Bramley End. It is the Whitsun weekend so life is even quieter than usual and there is almost no traffic of any kind. At first they are welcomed by the villagers, until doubts begin to grow about their true purpose and identity. After they are revealed to be German soldiers intended to form the vanguard of an invasion of Britain, they round up the residents and hold them captive in the local church. The vicar is shot after sounding the church bell in alarm.
In attempts to reach the outside world, many of the villagers take action. Such plans include writing a message on an egg and giving them to the local paper boy for his mother, but they are crushed when Mrs Fraser's cousin runs over them. Mrs Fraser then puts a note in Cousin Maude's pocket, but she uses it to hold her car window in place; her dog, Edward, then chews it to shreds after it blows onto the back seat. Mrs Collins, the postmistress, manages to kill a German with an axe used for chopping firewood, and tries to telephone elsewhere. The girls on the exchange see her light and decide that she can wait. Mrs Collins waits until she is killed by another German who walks into the shop moments afterwards. The girl at the exchange then picks up the phone, getting no reply.
The civilians attempt to escape to warn the local Home Guard, but are betrayed by the village squire, who is revealed to be collaborating with the Germans. Members of the local Home Guard are ambushed and shot by the Germans. They begin to bow in until a young boy, George, succeeds in escaping; despite being shot in the leg, he alerts the army. British soldiers arrive, and – aided by some of the villagers, including a group of Women's Land Army girls, who have managed to escape, barricade themselves in, and arm themselves – defeat the Germans after a short battle. The squire is shot dead by the vicar's daughter, who had discovered his treachery, as he attempts to let the Germans into the barricaded house. During the battle, many of the villagers who left to fight are wounded or killed; Mrs Fraser is blown up by a grenade and Tom's father wrenches his ankle. The British troops then arrive at Bramley End and all ends well.
The villager retelling the story to the camera shows the Germans' grave in the churchyard and explains proudly that "this is the only bit of England they got".

On 3 September 1939, at the start of World War II, several East End Londoners join the London County Council Auxiliary Fire Service. Tommy Turk (Trinder) is a light-hearted gambler who avoids work, living with his mother (Varley) who runs a local fish and chips shop. Tommy has bought a greyhound pup he names "Short Head" and hopes to race. Bob Matthews (Friend) is a newcomer to the East End who just lost his job and has to postpone his wedding to Nan Harper (Hiatt) as a result. Tommy and Bob meet in The Hopvine, a pub run by Ma and Pa Robbins (Muriel George and Pierce), whose son Ted (Mason) is a fireman with the London Fire Brigade. Ted's girl Susie has just joined the brigade as a dispatcher, but Ma Robbins' cannot hide her thinly disguised disapproval of Susie's love of dance halls. The Army won't accept new enlistments, so Tommy persuades Bob to join the AFS with him. Sam, a small-time thief of Guinness, inadvertently joins the service trying to avoid the clutches of Eastchapel Police Constable O'Brien (Richard George), who dogs him with the persistence of Javert. The three are assigned immediately to the "Q" sub-station of the East End's District 21, set up in a school to train under Ted.
"Q sub" responds to its first call at Christmas. Although the fire is out when they arrive, crusty District Officer MacFarlane (Currie) is impressed with Ted's efforts and posts him, along with Tommy, Sam, and Bob, as a crew at District 21's superintendent's station. Nan and Bob finally marry and take a flat near Benjamin's Wharf. She becomes pregnant, suffering fainting spells, and befriends Ma Turk. Ted is reluctant to marry, so Susie goes dancing with ladies' man Tommy as a means of making Ted jealous, while Ted rides Tommy for his apparent aversion to fighting fires. Tommy races Short Head, who perpetually loses, costing not just Tommy, but his fellow firemen who have wagered on her. Sam continues to steal barrels of Guinness, but O'Brien begins to close in.
In August 1940 the Battle of Britain is raging, but London has not been bombed. The 21-Q crew have yet to fight a serious fire and has become sensitive about it. Tommy discovers Short Head has been losing because Ma Turk has been feeding her doughnuts, and he enters her in a high-stakes race on 7 September, planning to wager all his money. His plans are interrupted that afternoon by the first massive German air raid on London, which targets the East End Docks. The widespread fires cause chaos as water lines are broken and AFS crews are pressed into front-line service. Ted saves Tommy's life by using a high-pressure hose to knock him away from a delay-action bomb just before it explodes. The second night of the blitz, the 21-Q crew, still struggling to bring the Docks' fire under control, have forged bonds with their full-time counterparts and officers in action. Ted's parents are unaccounted for, and Susie goes to find them. The Hopvine has been bombed, but through Susie's persistence, they are found in the cellar and rescued. The next morning, during a break, Tommy learns that Short Hand won her race—but he forgot to place the wager.
The third night German bombers return again, creating a huge fire at Benjamin's Wharf, and the District 21 crews are shifted there. Bob ironically finds himself fighting a warehouse fire from his inside own burning flat, which has been declared expendable. However he takes comfort in the knowledge that Nan, about to give birth, is safe with Ma Turk at St John's Hospital. P.C. O'Brien arrives to arrest Sam, but a bomb explosion blows him into the Thames River, where Sam rescues him from drowning. Soon they learn that St. John's Hospital is also on fire. Chief MacFarlane transfers Ted's crew to the hospital fire and enters the burning building to direct efforts to save the main building. Bob learns that Nan is safe and he has a new son. Another bomb strikes the hospital, trapping Chief MacFarlane. Tommy beats Ted to the ladder and finds the chief, but the building collapses, killing both. Some time after the fire is out, all the survivors and their families gather to christen the baby, who Nan and Bob have decided to name "Tommy".

In May 1940, as German forces sweep across France and Belgium, the remains of the Belgian Air Force are bottled up near the Flemish coast, and billeted at a farm in the Flemish countryside. Ordered by their government to surrender, the commander gives orders that the regimental colours be honourably buried, rather than surrendered to the invaders. The few pilots with serviceable aeroplanes fly to England to join the Allied air forces, while those remaining are forced to surrender.
Six months later, after fighting in the Battle of Britain, Jean Duclos, now a squadron leader, is persuaded by a fellow officer to return with him to retrieve the colours. The latter is killed before he can leave, and Duclos persuades the authorities to parachute him into Belgium. He contacts his former commanding officer, now living as a civilian in Ghent and secretly operating a resistance group feeding intelligence to the Allies. Provided with a false identity and a cover story, Duclos returns to the farm, where his late colleague's wife and child still live. She is initially unwilling to reveal where the colours are buried, believing that they are not worth dying for. But she relents and the colours are retrieved.
Duclos must now travel through several hundred miles of dangerous and heavily guarded country to reach neutral Spain, from where he returns to England. On his return, the colours are paraded and formally re-presented to the Belgian Air Force.

Major-General Clive Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesey) is a senior commander in the Home Guard during the Second World War. Before a training exercise, he is "captured" in a Turkish bath by soldiers led by Lieutenant "Spud" Wilson, who has struck pre-emptively. He ignores Candy's outraged protests that "War starts at midnight!" They scuffle and fall into a bathing pool.
An extended flashback ensues.
Boer War
In 1902, Lieutenant Candy is on leave from the Boer War. He has received a letter from Edith Hunter (Deborah Kerr), who is working in Berlin. She complains that a German named Kaunitz is spreading anti-British propaganda, and she wants the British embassy to do something about it. When Candy brings this to his superiors' attention, they refuse him permission to intervene, but he decides to act anyway.
In Berlin, Candy and Edith go to a café, where he confronts Kaunitz. Provoked, Candy inadvertently insults the Imperial German Army officer corps. The Germans insist he fight a duel with an officer chosen by lot: Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook). Candy and Theo become friends while recuperating from their wounds in the same nursing home. Edith visits them both regularly and, although it is implied that she has feelings for Clive, she becomes engaged to Theo. Candy is delighted, but soon realises to his consternation that he loves her himself.
First World War
Candy, now a brigadier general, believes that the Allies won the First World War because "right is might". While in France, he meets nurse Barbara Wynne (Kerr again). She bears a striking resemblance to Edith. Back in England, he courts and marries her despite their twenty-year age difference.
Candy tracks Theo down at a prisoner of war camp in England. Candy greets him as if nothing has changed, but Theo snubs him. Later, about to be repatriated to Germany, Theo apologises and accepts an invitation to Clive's house. He remains sceptical that his country will be treated fairly.
Barbara dies between the world wars, and Candy retires in 1935.
Second World War
In 1939, Theo relates to an immigration official how he was estranged from his children when they became Nazis. Before the war, he had refused to move to England when Edith wanted to; by the time he was ready, she had died. Candy vouches for Theo.
Candy reveals to Theo that he loved Edith and only realised it after it was too late. He admits that he never got over it. He shows Theo a portrait of Barbara. Theo then meets Candy's MTC driver, Angela "Johnny" Cannon (Kerr again), personally chosen by the Englishman; Theo is struck by her resemblance to Barbara and Edith.
Candy, restored to the active list, is to give a BBC radio talk regarding the retreat from Dunkirk. Candy plans to say that he would rather lose the war than win it using the methods employed by the Nazis: his talk is cancelled at the last minute. Theo urges his friend to accept the need to fight and win by whatever means are necessary, because the consequences of losing are so dire.
Candy is again retired, but, at Theo's and Angela's urging, he turns his energy to the Home Guard. Candy's energy and connections are instrumental in building up the Home Guard. His house is bombed in the Blitz and is replaced by an emergency water supply cistern. He moves to his club, where he relaxes in a Turkish bath before a training exercise he has arranged.
The film has now come full circle. The brash young lieutenant who captures Candy is in fact Angela's boyfriend, who used her to learn about Candy's plans and location. She tries to warn Candy, but is too late.
Afterward, Theo and Angela find Candy sitting across the street from where his house once stood. He recalls that after being given a severe dressing down by his superior for causing the diplomatic incident, he had declined the man's invitation to dinner, and had often regretted doing so. He tells Angela to invite her boyfriend to dine with him.
Years before, Clive had promised Barbara that he would "never change" until his house is flooded and "this is a lake". Seeing the cistern, he realises that "here is the lake and I still haven't changed". The film ends with Candy saluting the new guard as it passes by.

Dick Marlow, a British agent, has parachuted into the occupied Netherlands to retrieve vital documents. Whilst on the trail of the papers, he poses occasionally as an American journalist and a Gestapo officer. He meets and falls in love with a Dutch woman who professes solidarity with the British, but matters become complicated and dangerous when it transpires that the woman's brother is in possession of the documents Dick Marlow needs, and is far less kindly disposed towards the British than his sister – or is she?

The film is a reconstruction of the story of the salvage of the British tanker, MV San Demetrio. Carrying a cargo of oil home from Galveston, Texas, she was abandoned by her crew after having been set on fire by shells from the German cruiser Admiral Scheer. Of the three lifeboats which escaped the damaged tanker, two were picked up by other ships. After drifting for three days, the occupants of the third, who included the chief engineer and the second officer, reboarded the burning San Demetrio, extinguished the fires, and, having managed to restart the engines, returned to Britain, sailing into the Clyde ten days later.

The film opens with a title card outlining the story of Lidice. It then moves on to an image of the stream running through the village of Cwmgiedd (half a mile from Ystradgynlais in west Wales), and an eight-minute opening sequence interspersed with images and sounds of everyday life in a community in the Upper Swansea Valley; men are shown working at the colliery, women engaged in domestic tasks in their homes and the inhabitants singing in the Methodist chapel. Most of the dialogue in this section is spoken in Welsh, with no subtitles provided. The section closes with another title card stating "such is life at Cwmgiedd...and such too was life in Lidice until the coming of Fascism".
The German occupation is heralded by the arrival in the village of a black car, blaring military music and political slogans from its loudhailer. Little is shown of the occupation itself, its violence being implied by a soundtrack of marching boots, gunfire and harshly amplified orders and directives, in the sound-as-narrative technique Jennings had previously developed in Listen to Britain. The identity of the community is eroded, with the Welsh language being suppressed and no longer permitted as the teaching medium in the school, and trade union activity being made illegal. The villagers resistance takes the form of covert activities including the publication of a Welsh news sheet. Eventually, even the singing of Welsh hymns in the chapel is outlawed.
The murder of Reinhard Heydrich, whose assassination (Operation Anthropoid) by British-trained Czech agents in Prague sparked the actual Lidice massacre, is the catalyst for the systematic obliteration of Cwmgiedd in reprisal. The children of the village are marched out of school and join the womenfolk as they are loaded onto trucks. The men, defiantly singing "Land of Our Fathers" as they go, are lined up against the wall of the village churchyard.

In the early years of the Second World War, the Nazis have overrun the Netherlands and have taken over the shipyard co-owned and run by Jaap van Leyden (Ralph Richardson). The yard was making submarines for the Royal Dutch Navy. The German 'Protector' Von Schiffer (Esmond Knight) demands that they resume making submarines, but for the Germans. By lowering food rations to starvation point, they induce some of the skilled workers to return to the yard.
This leads to many problems for van Leyden and his wife (Googie Withers) when everyone sees them as collaborators. But van Leyden works out a way to appear to do what the Nazis want, but keep his conscience clear as well. He undertakes a covert campaign of sabotage of his own work, leaving notes and graffiti signed under his nom de guerre Piet Hein (a reference to the Dutch naval hero Piet Hein, whose victory over a Spanish "Silver Fleet" gives the film its title).
One submarine is taken over by the Dutch crew and sailed to England, which leads to greater security. Finally, van Leyden sabotages a submarine during its first sea trial, killing himself and the many Nazi officials on board.

Erich Kohler (Portman), a crack Luftwaffe pilot who speaks fluent English, is instructed by his superiors to drop a cargo of bombs on the Belgian city of Ghent and then to bail out of his plane wearing a British RAF uniform, gain the confidence of the local populace and then try to convince them that the British are responsible for the bombing of civilian targets in Belgium. The plan goes awry when he falls into the hands of the Belgian Resistance, who believe they are doing him a favour by arranging for him to be smuggled to Britain among a group of downed RAF pilots who are being returned that night.
On arriving in Britain, Kohler escapes and makes his way to London where he tries to get in touch with old contacts, only to find that most have been interned on the Isle of Man. He does however manage to contact British nurse Barbara Lucas (Dvorak), an old flame who once had Nazi sympathies, and takes refuge with the Krohns (Martin Miller and Beatrice Varley), a couple who are reluctant Nazi agents due to threats being made of harm to family members in Germany if they fail to co-operate.
Kohler finds himself being hunted both by the British MI5 and by German officials furious at his bungled mission in Belgium. He is traced by Dr. Schultz (Henry Oscar), a ruthless Gestapo officer, who accuses him of inefficiency and cowardice. A shoot-out follows and Schultz is killed. Meanwhile, MI5 agent Milne (Walter Fitzgerald) picks up Kohler's trail. Kohler manages narrowly to avoid arrest and steals a Hawker Hurricane in which to fly back to Germany. Over the English Channel, he is spotted by German fighters who believe they are engaging a British pilot, and shoot the plane down.

Lieutenant Taylor (John Mills) and the rest of the crew of the submarine Sea Tiger are given a week's leave after an unsuccessful patrol. Hobson (Eric Portman) goes home to save his marriage, while a reluctant Corrigan (Niall MacGinnis) heads off to his wedding. Then the crew are called back to duty, much to Corrigan's relief, though he later has second thoughts. Sea Tiger is assigned the top secret mission of sinking Nazi Germany's new battleship, the Brandenburg, before she enters the Kiel Canal to begin sea trials in the Baltic Sea.
On their way, the submarine picks up three shot-down Luftwaffe pilots from a rescue buoy. When the submarine enters a minefield, an airman panics and reveals that the Brandenburg is further ahead than believed. Taylor decides to take a desperate gamble and enter the German-controlled Baltic in pursuit.
When the Brandenburg is spotted, Sea Tiger fires all its torpedoes, then dives to evade German destroyers dropping depth charges. By expelling oil and other debris, Taylor fools the Germans into believing that the submarine has sunk. They leave, but Sea Tiger no longer has enough oil to return to Britain.
Taylor decides to have his crew abandon ship near a Danish island. Hobson, a former merchant seaman who speaks German and knows the port on the island, persuades Taylor to let him go ashore in one of the airmen's uniforms to find oil. He succeeds. Sea Tiger refuels while Hobson and other crewmen hold off the German garrison. While they hold them off, Pincher (the cook) is killed and Oxford and Lieutenant Johnson are wounded, but they all get back to the sub.
When they return to base, the crew hear they sank the Brandenburg. Waiting for them are Corrigan's fiancée and Hobson's wife and son.

The story is loosely based on the secret conference in Cherchell, Algeria, in October 1942, between American General Mark W. Clark and a group of high-ranking French Vichy commanders, where they agreed not to resist the Operation Torch landings in Vichy controlled French North Africa a month later.
Ahead of the conference, British agent Alan Thurston (James Mason) has been assigned to travel to Algiers to recover a camera containing pictures that reveals where it will take place. He doesn't know anything about the meeting or what the pictures in the camera may reveal, but has been ordered to prevent the camera from reaching the Germans. He does know, however, that he is being shadowed by German spy Dr. Müller (Walter Rilla), who intends to steal the camera as soon as Thurston gets it. So how will he be able to get the camera without Müller discovering it?
Susan Foster (Carla Lehmann), an American sculptress living in Biskra, agrees to help Thurston. In Algiers, she steals the camera from the bedroom of collaborating nightclub singer Martiza (Enid Stamp-Taylor), but instead of handing over the camera to Thurston, she plans to take it to the American consulate. However, her opinion of Thurston quickly changes when he rescues her from the clutches of Müller. The duo takes cover in a kasbah with Thurston’s French friend Yvette (Pamela Stirling), and they develop the film there. Thurston recognises the place in the photos, so they shoot their way out of the kasbah and race to the meeting place to warn the Allied officers.


In the days after the Dunkirk evacuation in Second World War, recently commissioned Second Lieutenant Jim Perry (David Niven), a pre-war Territorial private soldier, and a veteran Sergeant Ned Fletcher (William Hartnell, of the British Expeditionary Force, is posted to the (fictional) Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry, known as the "Dogs", to train replacements to fill its depleted ranks. A patient, mild-mannered officer, he does his strenuous best to turn the bunch of grumbling ex-civilians into soldiers, earning himself their intense dislike.
The conscripts also believe that their sergeant is treating them with special severity; in fact, he is pleased with the way they are developing and has his eye on some of them as potential NCOs. Eventually. however, the men come to respect their officer.
After their training is completed, their battalion is shipped out to North Africa to face Rommel's Afrika Korps. Their troopship is torpedoed en route, and they are forced to abandon ship. Sergeant Fletcher is trapped by a burning vehicle sliding on the deck as the boat heels to one side, but is rescued by Perry and several of the men. The survivors are able to come aboard a destroyer and are sent to Gibraltar, missing the invasion.
When they eventually get to North Africa, the group is assigned to guard a small town. Perry appropriates a cafe as his headquarters, much to the disgust of the pacifist owner, Rispoli (Peter Ustinov). When the Germans attack, Perry and his men fiercely defend their positions, aided by Rispoli. At one point, the Germans invite them to surrender, with their response: "Go to Hell!"
The besieged British soldiers mount bayonets and join other surviving units in advancing on the enemy, hidden in the smoke from explosions. At home, the veterans from the "Dogs" appreciably read about the men's bravery.

The film is set between March 1939 and June 1940 in a small fishing port in Cornwall, whose inhabitants have a historic but largely benign rivalry with their counterparts from another port over the water in Brittany whose men fish the same grounds. Legally the French may not fish within three miles of the British coast, and vice versa, and alleged breaches of this rule are the cause of frequent spats between hot-headed Cornish harbour-master Nat Pomeroy (Tom Walls) and Lanec Florrie (Françoise Rosay), an equally redoubtable widow from the Breton port. Beneath all the bluster and posturing however, there is a mutual understanding and respect between the two communities.
Widower Nat's daughter Sue (Patricia Roc) has been friends since childhood with local boy Bob Tremayne (Ralph Michael), and their eventual marriage has been taken as a given. During a visit by the Cornish contingent to Brittany a wrestling match is arranged between Bob and Lanec's son Yan (Paul Dupuis), during which Yan breaks a bone, to the concern of Sue. Yan is attracted to Sue and begins actively to woo her, with great success. Sue is torn between her own attraction to Yan and her unspoken commitment to Bob, a situation which leads to increased friction between the two communities. However when war-related danger ensues, both sides realise that their unity in common cause against the mutual enemy is more important than petty squabbles. Bob is called up to serve in the British navy, and in a showdown conversation with Yan before he leaves, the two agree that Sue must be allowed to follow her own heart.

Two RAF aircrew cadets, Jack Wilton (Richard Attenborough) and John Aynesworth (Jack Watling) become friends. A friendly rivalry develops between the two while they are training, and it ends in a bet. They both pass their initial training and are sent to the United States for more advanced instruction. However, once there, it becomes clear that Corporal Wilton, while he is otherwise a great pilot, cannot land a plane because of his inability to judge height. Wilton is devastated, and the feeling worsens when he sees that Aynsworth is a natural pilot. Aynsworth proceeds with his pilot’s training, and Wilton is sent up to Canada to be trained as a navigator instead.
He turns out to be a good navigator, but he shows no interest in his training, and falls behind his peers. Then, on a practice flight, through the connivance of his trainer and Aynsworth, he realizes how important his job is. After graduating, he serves as navigator to Aynesworth on a bombing operation. During the raid, the plane is hit and begins to lose fuel; Wilton must demonstrate everything he learned when they have to land in the sea and he communicates their position. It turns out that he perfectly calculated their position, and the rescue plane quickly finds them.

A group of men who have spent two years in an internment camp are sent by the Vichy Government to build a railway in the Sahara. One escapes and returns to London to find his lover believes him to be dead and that she is being pursued by his deadliest enemy.

Pilot Officer Peter Penrose (John Mills) is posted in the summer of 1940 as a pilot to (the fictional) No. 720 Squadron, at a new airfield, RAF Station Halfpenny Field. He is a very green "15-hour sprog" Bristol Blenheim pilot and is assigned to B Flight, under Flight Lieutenant David Archdale (Michael Redgrave).
When No. 720 Squadron's commanding officer, Squadron Leader Carter (Trevor Howard, in his second but first credited film role), is shot down, Archdale takes over. While Penrose develops into a first-class pilot, he meets Iris Winterton (Renee Asherson), a young woman living with her domineering aunt at the Golden Lion hotel in the nearby town. Archdale marries Miss Todd (Rosamund John), the popular manageress of the hotel, who is known to everyone as Toddy. The Archdales later have a son, Peter.
The action flashes forward to May 1942. The squadron is now flying Douglas Boston bombers. When Penrose shows signs of strain from extensive combat, Archdale has him posted to controller school, but is himself shot down and killed over France on Penrose's last mission. Penrose had been courting Iris, despite her aunt's disapproval, but Archdale's fate weighs heavily on his mind. Not wanting Iris to suffer if the same happened to him, he stops seeing her.
No. 720 Squadron is sent to the Middle East, but Penrose remains behind as a ground controller for a United States Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortress bombardment group, which takes over the airfield. He befriends USAAF Captain Johnny Hollis (Douglass Montgomery) and Lieutenant Joe Friselli (Bonar Colleano). On 17 August 1942, the American airmen participate in the first attack by the USAAF on Occupied France, later ruefully acknowledging that they underestimated the difficulties involved. Afterwards, Penrose is posted to flying duties with an RAF Avro Lancaster bomber unit.
In 1944, Penrose, now a squadron leader and pathfinder pilot, makes an emergency landing at Halfpenny Field, where he meets Iris again. Iris had decided to leave her aunt for good and join up. Toddy persuades a still-reluctant Penrose to propose to Iris, saying that she did not regret her own marriage in spite of her husband's death. Hollis, who has formed a platonic relationship with Toddy, is killed while crash-landing a damaged returning bomber rather than bail out and risk it crashing into the village.

In the summer of 1940, Captain Karel Hasek (Michael Redgrave) of the Czech army escapes from Dachau concentration camp and assumes the identity of a dead British officer, Captain Geoffrey Mitchell. When he is caught, he joins thousands of British prisoners of war, captured during the Fall of France, on a march to a prison camp.
He is suspected of being a spy by his fellow soldiers because of a few small errors and his fluency in the German language. Captain Grayson (Guy Middleton) wants to lynch him forthwith, but Major Dalrymple (Basil Radford), the senior British officer, hears Hasek out and believes his story.
To avoid suspicion, he has to maintain the fiction that Mitchell is still alive by corresponding with Mitchell's widow Celia (Rachel Kempson). Prior to the war, Mitchell had abandoned his wife and their two children, but the letters rekindle Celia's love.
After their escape tunnel is discovered, the prisoners resign themselves to a long stay. In 1944, when Herr Forster (Karel Stepanek), who ran Dachau during Hasek's stay, visits the camp, Hasek fears he may be unmasked. The official compliments him on his nearly perfect German and seems to recognise him, but cannot quite place him. Hasek is sure time is running out; it is announced that some prisoners are to be repatriated, but when he goes for his medical examination to see if he qualifies, he is turned away. A plan is devised to save him (without his knowledge). Private Mathews (Jimmy Hanley), a burglar in civilian life, breaks into the Kommandant's office late at night with two other men. They find the list of those to be repatriated and replace Mathews' own name with Mitchell's. On the way back to the barracks, Mathews is attacked by a guard dog and rescued by Hasek. The plan works, and Hasek is "returned" to Britain.
He goes to see Celia. He breaks the news of her husband's death and that he has grown to love her. She is devastated, and Hasek leaves. After she recovers, she begins rereading his letters and realises that she has come to love the writer. When Hasek calls her on the telephone on the day that Germany surrenders, she is eager to speak with him.

During the Second World War, a refugee Swedish scientist is unwittingly passing information to Germany through the neutral Irish Free State. British intelligence attempts to break this link.

A group of British scientists work to develop a radar system. School for Secrets tells the story of the 'Boffins' - research scientists - who discovered and developed radar and helped avoid the German invasion of Britain in 1940. Five different scientists, led by Professor Heatherville (Ralph Richardson), are brought together to work in secrecy and under pressure to develop the device. Their dedication disrupts their family lives as they are forced to sacrifice everything to make a breakthrough. Their success is illustrated by the effect radar has on the fighting abilities of the RAF over the skies of Britain in the summer and autumn months of 1940. However, Germany is also planning its own radar capability and British commandos are dispatched to strike a German installation. The scientists then complete their work just in time for the Battle of Britain.

In late 1944, the Hongerwinter famine is starting to bite in the occupied northern and western Netherlands and Nazi persecution is rife. The farm of Jan Alting (Lovell), a Dutch patriot who has disowned his son for his collaboration with the occupying German forces, is known by the Dutch Resistance as a place of refuge for those who are in danger from the Germans. With the help of his daughter Elly (Carol van Derman), Alting is currently providing shelter for Jewish couple Mark and Mary Meyer (Martin Benson and Agnes Bernelle); van Nespen (Bruce Lester), an aristocrat with active links to the underground movement, and Bakker (Julian Dallas), a Communist wanted by the Germans for sabotage. All are aware of the constant risk of betrayal and exposure.
Jan's son Anton (Jordan Lawrence) returns unexpectedly to his former home, and discovers that his father and sister are harbouring subversives. He orders his father to turn them out immediately, threatening to shoot them all if this is not done. Jan is faced with the seemingly irreconcilable demands of patriotism and responsibility for the safety of his shelterers, set against the feelings he still has for Anton, despite the latter's betrayal of all Jan stands for. He faces the stark moral choice of failing those to whom he has given refuge, or conspiring with them to kill his own son.

In Burma during the Pacific War in 1945, a group of wounded Allied soldiers are at makeshift British military hospital in the jungle. As they've all been there for quite some time, they have a strong bond. "Yank" (Ronald Reagan) is the lone American there, recovering from malaria, along with Tommy (Howard Marion-Crawford), the Englishman, Kiwi (Ralph Michael), the New Zealander, Digger (John Sherman), the Australian, and Blossom (Orlando Martins), the African. They are all under the care of the friendly nurse, Sister Margaret Parker (Patricia Neal).
The commanding doctor of the hospital, Lt Col Dunn Anthony Nicholls, tells the men that they will be receiving a new patient soon, and that they should be extra nice to this man. He is a Scot, and while he seems to have recovered from his operation, his abnormal kidney means that he will die within a few weeks. Dunn tells the men that the Scot will be outwardly healthy until one day he will suddenly die when his kidney fails. When the Scot arrives, Cpl. Lachlan 'Lachie' MacLachlan (Richard Todd) is very gruff and mean. He is constantly suspicious of his bunkmates attempting to make friends with him.
Margaret tries to convince Lachie to buy a regimental kilt, something he feels is too expensive to purchase since he had recently bought a house in Scotland to which he intends to return. However, during Lachie's 24th birthday party, Margaret gives a him a kilt and the rest of his bunkmates all contribute something for his uniform. Lachie is proud, and they all have a photoshoot, with the bunkmates trying to answer the question of whether he wears any underwear under his kilt or not.
Lachie warms to the soldiers, and opens up about his past, and tells them, "They say sorrow is born in the hasty heart." He reveals to Margaret that his aloof and suspicious behavior is the result of great cruelty inflicted on him in his youth as an illegitimate child. Later, Lachie confesses to Yank that he is in love with Margaret and will propose to her. Yank tries to convince him otherwise, but when Lachie proposes to her, she accepts because that is what will make him the most happy.
Soon, Dunn returns and tells Lachie that he can return to Scotland if he wants. When Lachie ask why he is getting special treatment, Dunn tells him the truth and that his death is imminent. Lachie explodes at his friends, thinking they were his friend only because he was sick and dying. He decides to return to Scotland, but as he is leaving, he breaks down and says he does not want to die alone. Blossom offers him a necklace, but when Lachie rejects it, Yank explains that Blossom does not speak English and therefore could not have known that Lachie was dying. Once he realizes that, Lachie softens and decides to stay and take pictures with the men in his kilt.

Sammy Rice (David Farrar) is a British scientist working with a specialist "back room" team in London during the Second World War. Rice is embittered because he feels military scientific research is being incompetently managed. He is also enduring unremitting pain from his artificial foot. The painkillers he has been prescribed are ineffective, and his use of alcohol as an analgesic has led to his alcoholism. His girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron) puts up with his self-pitying, self-destructive behavior as long as she can, but finally breaks up with him, telling him that he lacks the ambition to better himself.
Rice is brought in by Captain Stuart (Michael Gough) to help solve the problem of small booby-trapped explosive devices (mines) being dropped by Nazi bombers, which have killed four people, including three children. They receive some useful information from a critically wounded young soldier (Bryan Forbes in his debut). Two further mines are found at Chesil Beach: they look like common thermos flasks. Stuart is first on the scene but has difficulty getting Rice on the telephone in his flat because Rice is alone following his breakup, angry, drunk and destructive. Rice quickly sobers up, and travels to Chesil Beach only to find that Stuart tried to defuse one of the mines and has been blown up. Rice sets to work on the second mine after listening to the notes Stuart dictated to an ATS corporal (Renée Asherson) during his effort earlier in the day. He discovers that the mine has two booby traps, not one, and manages to defuse them both.
When Rice returns to London, his self-esteem somewhat restored by his success, he is offered an officer commission as of head of the Army's new scientific research unit. He accepts. Susan returns to him and they return to his flat to find Susan has repaired everything he damaged while drunk.

The story is set after the end of the Second World War and concerns a British submarine, HMS Trojan, which is out on a routine exercise to test its new snorkel mast when it encounters a derelict floating magnetic mine left over from the war. The submarine dives, but sets off the mine. The mine blows the bows of the submarine off, and floods the after section through the displaced snorkel mast, killing the 53 crew-members in the bow and stern sections. The submarine settles to the bottom leaving twelve crew members alive amidships, who have been saved by the watertight doors which had been closed by order of the captain when he realised the imminent danger.
When the shore base becomes aware that Trojan is overdue, surface rescue vessels are sent out to investigate. The captain of the submarine, Lieutenant Commander Peter Armstrong (John Mills), sensibly provides an indication of their position to these vessels by expelling a quantity of oil which rises to the surface. Following standard escape procedure, a diver is sent down with an air line while everyone prepares for the rescue. Armstrong selects the first four for release; they escape safely without incident, and are picked up on the surface. The eight remaining crew assume there are plenty of breathing sets for them all to escape successfully. However, the captain discovers that all but four have been destroyed in the blast. This means the final four will have to remain under water until a full salvage operation can be carried out, which may take a week or more.
Armstrong assembles the others to draw lots through a pack of cards he deals out, to decide who goes and who remains. Two, the cook A/B Higgins (James Hayter) and the first lieutenant, Lieutenant Manson (Nigel Patrick), with the lowest cards, select themselves to stay behind along with Armstrong. The top three, to go first, also select themselves with high cards. Of the other two, there is a tie, both knaves, between Stoker Snipe (Richard Attenborough) and E.R.A. Marks (George Cole). On losing a re-deal, young Snipe goes berserk with fear and has to be physically restrained. Armstrong approaches Marks and asks if he will forfeit his place for Snipe, sensing difficulties if Snipe is left behind. Marks agrees.
They begin to prepare for escape, but Snipe now hangs back, falsely claiming he has hurt his arm in the scuffle. He insists that Marks should go. Marks and the other three escape safely through the hatch and are picked up by the salvage vessels. Below, Manson has a fainting fit but Snipe catches him using both arms without difficulty. Cheerfully at first, the four begin the wait for the salvage operation.
Above, all goes well to begin with, in fine weather. Divers manage to secure cables under the submarine, which is slowly winched up, but only fifteen feet per day can be achieved. However, as the days go by, the weather turns, and soon there is a full storm at sea. As a result, the submarine shifts on the cables, and sinks again to the floor of the sea. Manson has remained in ill-health below, nursed with care by Snipe. However, chlorine begins to leak from a site next to his bunk. Manson is overcome by the gas, and dies.
The storm is so bad that the captain of the salvage ship decides his own men are at risk, and abandons the salvage operation altogether. The three left in the submarine sense that there is no hope for them. The film ends with Armstrong reading from a naval prayer book.
From early scenes in the film, and from dialogue throughout, the viewer is given insights into the personal and home lives of the crew, their hopes, and their now thwarted ambitions. For example, Snipe is married to a wayward wife, whom he idolises; whilst Armstrong has been offered a lucrative shore job by his wealthy father-in-law, and had been planning to leave the Navy to take it up as soon as this patrol was over.

During the middle years of the war, three men are called up to serve in the British Army. The Englishman Philip Hamilton (Underdown), the American David Morgan (Clanton) and the Irishman Smoke O'Connor (Michael Brennan) are conscripted into the Guards Division and report to their barracks at Caterham, Surrey. After going through strict training (including real Coldstream Guards Regimental Sergeant Major Brittain) they find themselves receiving emergency promotions. Philip and David are promoted to 2nd lieutenant and Smoke to corporal and are attached to a tank company of the Welsh Guards, where Philip and David command their own tank and Smoke is part of David's crew. Months of 'real' training follow, where they learn about tank warfare and also their comrades.
The film follows the three main characters as the Guards Armoured Division lands at Normandy weeks after D-Day, and on into action as part of the break-out. They cope with different aspects of fighting a war on another continent, such as being separated from family and loved ones and coping with the loss of comrades. Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge are depicted, but with the Welsh Guards as the pivotal British Army unit. During Market Garden, the Welsh Guards are shown linking up with American paratroopers at the Grave bridge before moving on to Nijmegen and the failure of the operation. The film ends with the Ardennes Offensive and the Guards' unknown operations around the east side of the River Meuse, and only Smoke left alive of the three friends.

In 1940, a replacement, Pilot Officer T. B. "Septic" Baird (John Gregson), is landing his Hawker Hurricane at "Pimpernel" Squadron's airfield. Just as he touches down, however, a straggler from an earlier mission taxis across his path. Septic's quick reactions allow him to "leapfrog" the other Hurricane, averting a costly disaster. His action, however, causes him to crash his replacement aircraft into the bungalow of Squadron Leader Barry Clinton (Cyril Raymond) at the end of the runway.
This earns Septic the wrath of his new squadron leader, Bill Ponsford (Andrew Osborn), because he damaged his fighter aircraft. The crash also injures the ligaments in Septic's neck, which he is able to self-diagnose, as he had been a medical student before the war. The next morning, Septic is told by Group Captain "Tiger" Small (Jack Hawkins) that he will not be able to fly until his neck is healed, so he will instead serve in the operations room for the time being.
Several days later, with the risk of a bombing attack on the airfield, and all of Pimpernel Squadron's Hurricanes scrambled, Tiger orders all aircraft to take-off and fly out of harm's way until the raid is over. With Tiger quickly assembling all available pilots and finding aircraft to fly, Septic wins a foot race with Small to claim the last spare Hurricane for himself. He then proceeds to shoot down a Messerschmitt Bf 110 from the attacking force. His delight is short lived however when he is admonished by Small and Sqn Ldr Peter Moon (Michael Denison) for leaving his radio set to transmit, preventing the returning Hurricanes from being diverted to an undamaged airfield. A crestfallen Septic returns to his ground duties.
Eventually a reinstated Septic joins in Pimpernel's operations, but he is mortally wounded while shooting down another enemy aircraft. His last words are heard over the Sector control room tannoy (public-address system), when he tells Small that their planned return foot race will have to be "postponed indefinitely". Small replies "Your message received and understood. Out." The final shot is of Squadron Leader Clinton's wife Nadine hanging an oil lamp in the ruins of their bungalow to aid returning pilots.

The escape tunnel for the Allied prisoners at a German prisoner-of-war camp for naval officers is discovered.
Lieutenant Ainsworth devises a scheme with the escape committee to use a dissembled mannequin named Albert to convince the Germans that all prisoners sent outside the camp for a bathhouse wash up are returned to the camp. A piece of Albert is smuggled with the prisoners going to the bathhouse and reassembled for the return. Ainsworth also has a woman pen pal he has never seen; he plans to marry her once he is free. Though the originator has the right to try out his own idea, Ainsworth insists that his hut mates draw cards for the privilege; Erickson wins and gets away.
After waiting a while, they decide to reuse the ploy. This time, Ainsworth's friend, after hearing that his pen pal has not written in a while, sees to it that the draw is rigged so that he wins. Ainsworth, however, auctions off his place, only to have Captain Maddox, the senior prisoner of war, order him to go. Ainsworth is recaptured the same day.
Later, the camp commandant informs the men that Erickson was shot while resisting arrest by the Gestapo; his ashes are handed over.
When SS Hauptsturmführer Schultz expresses interest in American Lieutenant "Texas" Norton's chronometer, Norton notes Schultz is in charge of the camp's boundary lights and asks him to see that they malfunction during the next Allied nighttime bombing raid. However, it is a trap. Schultz signals his men to turn the lights back on while Norton is cutting thought the barbed wire fence, then shoots him down in cold blood.
Schultz tries to suborn Ainsworth, but Ainsworth tells him he will see to it he is prosecuted for murder after the war. When Schultz becomes the new kommandant, Ainsworth insists on trying to escape again, using Albert. He gets away, but waits at night to confront Schultz outside the camp. After a struggle, he gets Schultz's pistol. When Allied bombs drop uncomfortably close by, Schultz runs for it. Ainsworth is unable to bring himself to shoot the fleeing German in the back, but a bomb kills him. Ainsworth takes back Norton's chronometer from the dead man and walks away.

Wing Commander Tim Mason (Dirk Bogarde) is nearing the end of his third tour of operations, meaning that he has flown nearly 90 missions over Germany. Having twice volunteered to continue operational flying, Mason is keen to make it a round 90 "ops", but just as he is nearing the end of his tour he receives orders banning him from further flying. Meanwhile, losses are mounting and several raids are being seen as failures, so that some of the members of his crews, Brown (Bill Kerr) and "The Brat" Greeno (Bryan Forbes) among them, are thinking that there must be a "jinx" at work. Soon afterwards, "The Brat" is caught sending unauthorised telegrams off the station. These turn out to be written to his wife, Pam (Anne Leon), rather than anything more sinister; however, Mason reprimands Greeno for the lapse in security. A few days later, Greeno's aircraft fails to return from a raid and Mason agrees to meet Pam, who has asked to see him.
With only one more flight to go, he accepts that the decision to ground him was for his own good, and he visits Brown's aircraft as Brown and his crew prepare to take off on a mission. As the crew board the Lancaster the large 4,000 lb "cookie" bomb that is part of the bomber's load, slips from the bomb shackles and injures one of the crew. With no time to obtain a replacement crew member, US observer Mac Baker (William Sylvester) takes his place. Mason decides to go as well, to reassure the crew's worries about the jinx, and the bomber takes off.
During the attack on the target, the Pathfinder plane directing the raid is shot down, causing the remaining bombers to begin bombing inaccurately. Hearing and seeing this, Mason takes the Pathfinder's place on the radio, broadcasting corrections and accurate instructions, and the bombing becomes accurate again. Listening-in to the Pathfinder's broadcast back in Britain, Mason's commanding officer, Group Captain Logan (Ian Hunter) hears Mason's voice and realises that he's disobeyed orders and flown on the operation. However, Mason's intervention turns the raid from a probable a failure to a success, so on Mason's return Logan greets him at his aircraft.
At the end of the mission, Mason, along with Eve Canyon, Brown and Greeno's wife Pam, take a taxi to Buckingham Palace to receive an award from King George VI.

In 1942 Britain is trying hard to hold on to Malta while invasion seems imminent; Italians and Germans are regularly bombing the airfields and towns. The RAF fight to survive against the odds using the few fighter aircraft remaining on the island. Flight Lieutenant Peter Ross (Alec Guinness), an archaeologist in civilian life, is on his way to an RAF posting in Egypt but is stranded in Malta due to the air attacks. He is assigned to the RAF squadron there, being an experienced photo reconnaissance pilot.
Peter meets Maria (Muriel Pavlow), a young Maltese woman working in the RAF operations room. The two fall in love and spend a few romantic hours in the Neolithic temples of Mnajdra and Ħaġar Qim on the island. In the meantime the situation at Malta becomes desperate. Every day civilians are buried under the rubble of air attacks, and famine threatens their survival, as relief convoys are easy prey to the numerous bombings. The island relies on the last few ships of a convoy for supplies. 
Peter proposes marriage to Maria, although they realise that wartime is not favourable to lasting love affairs, as Maria's mother suggests; nevertheless, the young couple remain hopeful of the future. Giuseppe, Maria’s brother (Nigel Stock) is arrested while trying to infiltrate the island from Italy, where he had been studying since before the war. He admits to being on a spying mission, which he tries to justify by saying he wants to save Malta from further destruction. Maria’s mother lives a double family drama knowing that one of her children will almost certainly be executed, and the other is in a doomed love affair. .
The RAF holds on, and, along with Royal Navy submarines, is eventually able to take the offensive, targeting enemy shipping on its way to Rommel in Libya. Many air raids take place either to defend the island with Spitfires or a number of attack aircraft, including Bristol Beaufighter fighter-bombers, Bristol Beaufort and Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers, which succeed in sinking Italian tankers and warships. There comes the moment when the most important enemy convoy is on its way to Libya under cover of poor visibility.
Peter's commanding officer (Jack Hawkins) needs desperately to locate this target and orders him to find it at any cost, realising that this will be virtually a suicide mission. Peter, flying in his Spitfire, finally finds it, but has to stay close in order to keep contact. He is attacked by six Messerschmitt Bf 109Fs. Peter stays calm, but cannot escape his fate; he is shot down and killed, while Maria in the operations room listens helplessly to his final radio transmissions.
Later the next day, Maria sits by the beach, thinking of her beloved Peter. In the end, a newspaper article notes that the attack was a success, as the Afrika Corps has lost the Second Battle of El Alamein (in part due to supply shortages) and thus their foothold in Africa.

Steve MacKendrick (Alan Ladd), nicknamed "Canada" because he claims he is from there, volunteers in 1940 for the British Army's paratroop school. He obviously has a good deal more experience and leadership skills than he lets on. Canada tries to become better acquainted with a pretty parachute rigger named Penny Gardner (Susan Stephen). She is initially put off by his attitude, but they eventually start dating. Both Penny and his new commander, Major Snow (Leo Genn), see potential (and a mystery that does not add up) in him, despite his strong efforts to avoid assuming any responsibility. Canada turns down Snow's offer to send him to officer school.
After completing parachute school, Canada's unit goes on a raid on the German radar station at Bruneval. An RAF radar expert, Flight Sergeant Box (John Boxer), accompanies the raiders to retrieve a key component to take back to Britain. The mission is a success, but Corporal Dawes (Michael Kelly), one of the men in Canada's outfit, hurts both his legs in the drop.
Back in Britain, after visiting Dawes, Canada is recognised by an American airman. He tells Penny that he resigned his commission from the USAAF after ordering his best friend and co-pilot to parachute out of their bomber when an experimental rocket got stuck. His friend was killed when his parachute did not open properly. Canada blamed himself and refuses any responsibility that might endanger anyone's life. When Snow confronts Canada with what he has learned (from a security investigation that he has ordered), Canada wrongly assumes that Penny told what she learned, and he breaks up with her.
The unit's next operation involves attacking and destroying an airfield at Bône during the invasion of North Africa. With Lt Col Snow wounded and the men trapped in a minefield, Canada must risk others to extricate the unit. One of his friends, who is Polish, finds a Bazooka, so he decides to use it to blow a path though the minefield. Canada, the Pole and Taffy Evans (Donald Houston) use it to extricate their unit, while Snow and the rest of the men cover them. Although Snow and most of the men get out, the regimental sergeant major (Harry Andrews) dies from the wounds he received when he entered the minefield. Afterward, Canada promises to think about the commission Snow offered him.

During the First World War, Lieutenant Richard Saville, a young British naval officer on five days leave, and Miss Lucinda Bentley, a merchant's daughter from Portsmouth, get talking on the train up to London. Halfway along their journey, they miss their rail connection and spend a romantic holiday in the countryside of southern England. When Saville proposes to her, she accepts, but on the day they are due to go back to Portsmouth, she changes her mind, asking Saville to realise that neither he nor she could bear being parted for the long periods he would be at sea. They part, seemingly forever.
Saville serves out the First World War and the inter-war years, and by the first years of the Second World War, he is in command of a squadron of three cruisers on convoy duty in the Pacific. He receives a message from a British merchantman just before it is sunk by the German raider Essen, but HMS Stratford, the flagship of Saville's squadron is too low on fuel for pursuit and the convoy cannot be left unguarded. Saville decides to remain with the convoy while his other two ships - HMS Amesbury and HMS Cambridge - chase after the raider. Cambridge then has to stop to pick up survivors from the merchantman, leaving the Amesbury on her own. Amesbury finds and attacks the Essen, scoring a major torpedo hit on the Essen’s bow, but is sunk with the loss of all but two hands, Petty Officer Wheatley and Signalman Andrew 'Canada' Brown. Brown is the son of a mother keen on the navy and thus knows more about naval tactics, strategy and gunnery than most of his rank.
The Essen picks up the two survivors. Meanwhile, news of the Amesbury’s fate reaches Saville in the Stratford. Saville decides to risk all and go after the Essen with Cambridge. While the Essen is anchored in a rocky lagoon for 36 hours to carry out repairs, Brown manages to escape to the heights around the lagoon with a rifle (back home, he had won marksmanship prizes). He then proceeds to pick off sailors working on the repairs, leading the Essen’s captain to use his ship's AA guns and then big guns in vain attempts to dislodge Brown. Finally he sends a party of marines out to hunt Brown down, but just as they are about to kill him, they are recalled and the Essen departs. Brown collapses, seriously wounded.
As the Essen leaves the lagoon, she is caught and sunk by Saville's force. One of her survivors informs the British of Brown's exploits, which delayed repairs for 18 hours, thus enabling the British to catch up with them. A landing party is sent ashore from Saville's force to find Brown.

Bill Forrester (Gregory Peck), a RCAF pilot serving in the Royal Air Force in Burma, flying de Havilland Mosquitos, a two-seat fighter-bomber. Forrester is emotionally distraught after losing his new wife in the ‘’Blitz’’ in London and has become self destructive, seeking to end his life in action. "You'd think that would be easy in a war", he explains to a Burmese woman, Anna, "but I just kept getting medals instead." With Anna's support, Bill begins to recover his emotional stability.
Forrester and his new navigator, Carrington (Lyndon Brook), on a routine non-combat flight to Myitkyina, with Flight Lieutenant Blore (Maurice Denham) as passenger in the Mosquito's bomb bay, because of an engine fire, is forced to go down in a remote desert area of Burma's central plain controlled by the Japanese. As the three men struggle to survive in the hostile environment, the self-destructive Bill finally realises that he can depend on support from others and that he may have someone to live for. Blore, however, abandons them to attempt to return to the crash site and commits suicide.

The Royal Navy is concerned about constant attacks on convoys by German submarines and having to keep "half the fleet" watching for the German battleship Tirpitz. The Tirpitz is 60 miles from the sea inside a Norwegian fjord and attempts by the Royal Air Force to sink her have failed. Commander Fraser (Mills) is determined to prove that an attack by human torpedoes is practical, despite scepticism from the higher echelons that such an operation would be feasible.
Fraser assembles and trains a force of British commando frogmen officers and ratings to use the Mk I Human Torpedo manned torpedoes (Chariots) at their Scottish base. After receiving a refusal to allow the operation to go ahead from an admiral, the team use dummy mines to attack the admiral's own ship using the Chariots.
An attack is authorised on the Tirpitz with the initial operation using the Chariots. The attack fails and the crew are forced to abandon ship and land in Norway. They walk to neutral Sweden from where they are returned to Scotland.
For the next operation the crews are trained to use three small X-Craft submarines: X1, X2 and X3. They are initially towed by conventional submarines and are then left to penetrate the area where the Tirpitz is anchored.
They manage to approach the ship under their own power to lay their "side-cargoes", each containing 2 tons of amatol, under the ship's hull undetected. Two crews then scuttle the submarines and are picked up by the crew of Tirpitz, to be taken away as prisoners of war. The third (X2) is too badly damaged to re-surface and the crew decide to stay on board to prevent "giving the game away".
The mines explode as planned, badly damaging the Tirpitz. Meanwhile, X2's side cargoes have flooded. The flooding causes them to spontaneously explode, destroying X2 and killing her crew.


During the Second World War, British, French, Dutch and Polish Prisoners of War (POWs) (along with other nationalities), who have made unsuccessful escape attempts are sent to Oflag IV-C when they are recaptured. This Renaissance castle in Saxony in the heart of Germany, acts as a secure holding place for the most troublesome allied captives.
At first, the different nationalities try to initiate their own independent escape plans, but these cause friction and conflict. Eventually, Colonel Richmond (Portman), the Senior British Officer, steps in and suggests co-operation between the different contingents via the appointment of a number of Escape Officers. An agreement is reached and coordinated escape plans are set in motion. But soon, these too fail via early detection by the German guards. Eventually, a spy is discovered amongst the Polish captives and, after his removal, escape plans run more smoothly.
The prisoners of Colditz are high-spirited and eager to needle the Germans. There are many escape attempts made, both planned and opportune. For example, prisoners tunnel underground, leapfrog over fences during physical training, hide in mattress being taken out of the camp. Some of these escapes are successful, some are not.
A British officer Mac McGill (Rhodes) comes up with a well thought out plan to escape disguised as German officers. The planning and preparation go well, but a few days before the escape attempt McGill is confronted by Colonel Richmond. The senior officer is concerned that McGill's extreme height (he is well over 6ft) will comprise his disguise and that of his fellow escapees. McGill is devastated by this blow, though he accepts the Colonel's judgement. On the eve of the escape, he makes a reckless attempt to scale a wire fence during daylight hours and is shot dead by German guards.
His fellow escapee, Patrick Reid (Mills), is at first confused as to why his friend would do such an action just hours before the planned programme. It is left to Colonel Richmond tell him that McGill had given up his place on the main escape plan to protect the disguises of his fellow escapees. The escape goes ahead, the German's having been distracted by a stage show put on by the inmates. Days later, Colonel Richmond receives a postcard with a cryptic message. He announces to the assembled and cheering prisoners that this means that Reid has successfully crossed into neutral Switzerland.

The film begins with a tank battle where blonde-haired Captain Holland (Anthony Steel) is sprawled unconscious beside his tank on the sand. When he comes to, he walks over the dunes until collapsing near a Bedouin encampment at an oasis. He is found by the sheik's daughter, Mabrouka (Anna Maria Sandri), who takes him to the camp which consists of several black tents.
The film skips forward to a point after the war when Captain Holland's brother, Colonel Sir Charles Holland (Donald Sinden), is guided into the desert by Ali (Donald Pleasence) in search of his brother. They were drawn by a promissory note that had been given by Captain Holland to the Bedouin for their help and eventually taken to the British embassy for payment. Sir Charles sets off to discover the fate of his brother and eventually reaches the Bedouin camp. He is entertained by the camp's chief, Sheik Salem ben Yussef (André Morrel) and sees a young blonde boy in the camp. Later, the Sheik becomes angry at Sir Charles's line of questioning about his brother, the boy, and note and asks them to leave. Before they leave, Mabrouka gives Ali a sock containing Captain Holland's diary which he gives Sir Charles. The film skips back in time to recount the story within the diary.
Captain Holland, having been tended by Mabrouka, recovers. He learns that Mabrouka is the sheik's daughter and is betrothed to Sheik Faris (Michael Craig) from another tribe. When a German reconnaissance vehicle arrives at the camp, Captain Holland hides in some Roman ruins. The senior German officer then finds Holland's service revolver in a tent.
Mabrouka and Captain Holland become romantically involved to the obvious annoyance of Sheik Faris. He colludes with the Germans who return to the ruins where Holland and Sheik Yussef kills them and Faris. The romance between Captain Holland and Mabrouka deepens and they marry.
Learning of the British victory at El Alamein, Captain Holland seeks to return to the British lines but finds that his wife is pregnant. A group led by the Sheik and Captain Holland travel toward the British lines but came across a column of retreating Italian vehicles. Captain Holland sustains a fatal injury rescuing the Sheik.
The film returns to the present day with the Sheik handing Sir Charles a letter with his brother's will bequeathing his estate to his son. Sir Charles discusses this with his nephew but the boy decides to remain with the tribe and burns the letter.

During the retreat of 1951, a small force of British soldiers is in danger of being cut off by the advancing Chinese army. The plot emphasizes the plight of the National Service men who, as they say, were "old enough to fight, but too young to vote."
The film also depicts a "friendly-fire" incident, in which the British are bombed by the Americans.
The film opens in Korea with a British Army patrol, led by Lt. Butler. In the patrol is tough veteran Sergeant Payne, a slightly psychotic Corporal Ryker, and the cowardly signaller Wyatt. As they search a small village, one of the party falls victim to a bomb planted in a small shack. With the death of one of his men, Butler moves the patrol out of the village. Out in the open plain, Butler and Payne discover a large force of Chinese soldiers heading directly for them. Sending Payne and the patrol back towards their own lines, Butler and three of his men stay behind to cover the withdrawal. After fending off two attacks, Butler discovers Lance Corporal Hodge is dead. Payne returns with the patrol, informing Butler that they were cut off by other enemy forces.
The patrol heads through the village and up a winding path towards an isolated temple located on a hill, with only a steep cliff to its rear. On the way, Wyatt throws away the only radio because he cannot be bothered to carry it up the hill. Then they run into an enemy patrol on the path. They ambush the Chinese, and continue up to the temple. With the Chinese knowing now exactly where they are, Butler must keep his troops together, and fend off the enemy attacks.

In 1943, Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu (Clifton Webb) comes up with a scheme to deceive the Nazis about the impending invasion of southern Europe. It entails releasing a dead body just off the coast of Spain, where strong currents will almost certainly cause it to drift ashore in an area where a skilled German secret agent is known to operate. The corpse will appear to be the victim of an airplane crash, the non-existent Royal Marine Major William Martin, who is carrying letters that describe a forthcoming Allied invasion of Greece, rather than the obvious target of Sicily. Time is short, but the impatient Montagu is finally given approval to carry out the mission.
On the advice of a medical expert, Montagu procures the body of a man who died of pneumonia (so that he will seem to have drowned) from the grieving father. Then, after proper preparations, he and his assistant, Lt. Acres (Robert Flemyng), take the corpse (concealed in a canister) to a waiting submarine. The submarine evades a depth-charge attack and later surfaces at night to release the body. As hoped, it washes ashore. Montagu is at first disappointed when it appears that the documents were not tampered with, but an expert assures him one of the letters was cleverly opened and resealed.
Hitler is convinced the document is genuine, but the German officer in charge of intelligence is skeptical. He orders an IRA Nazi spy Patrick O'Reilly (Stephen Boyd) dispatched to London to investigate. What he uncovers is inconclusive, in his mind, until he checks out Martin's "fiancée", Lucy Sherwood (Gloria Grahame). She is actually the roommate of Montagu's assistant, Pam (Josephine Griffin). O'Reilly shows up at their flat, posing as Martin's friend. By chance, Lucy has that same day received news that her real boyfriend has been killed in action, so her genuine grief mostly convinces O'Reilly. As a final test, however, he leaves the address of his lodgings with her, telling her to contact him if she needs anything. He then radios his superiors to expect a message from him in an hour, then waits to see if British counterintelligence comes for him. Montagu almost makes a mistake, but realises in time why O'Reilly left his address and, with some difficulty, convinces his superior to order that O'Reilly be left alone. Convinced, the Germans transfer some of their forces to Greece.
After the war, Montagu leaves a medal he was awarded at the grave of the man who never was.

In 1928, Douglas Bader joins the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a cadet. Despite a friendly reprimand from Air Vice-Marshal Halahan for his disregard for service discipline and flight rules, he successfully completes his training and is posted to No. 23 Squadron at RAF Kenley. In 1930, he is chosen to be among the pilots for an aerial exhibition.
Later, although his flight commander has explicitly banned low level aerobatics (as two pilots have been killed trying just that), he is goaded into it by a disparaging remark by a civilian pilot. He crashes.
Mr Joyce, surgeon at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, has to amputate both legs to save Bader's life. During his convalescence, he receives encouragement from Nurse Brace. Upon his discharge from the hospital, he sets out to master prosthetic legs. At a stop for some tea, he meets waitress Thelma Edwards. Once he can walk on his own, he starts courting her.
Despite his undiminished skills, he is refused flying duties simply because there are no regulations covering his situation. Offered a desk job instead, he leaves the RAF and works unhappily in an office. He and Thelma marry.
As the Second World War starts, Bader talks himself back into the RAF. He is soon given command of a squadron comprising mostly dispirited Canadians who had fought in France. Improving morale and brazenly circumventing normal channels to obtain badly needed equipment, he makes the squadron operational again. They fight effectively in the Battle of Britain. Bader is then put in charge of a new, larger formation of five squadrons. Later, he is posted to RAF Tangmere and promoted to wing commander.
In 1941, Bader has to bail out over France. He is caught, escapes, and is recaptured. He then makes such a nuisance of himself to his jailers, he is repeatedly moved from one POW camp to another, finally ending up in Colditz Castle. He is liberated after four years of captivity. The war ends (much to Thelma's relief) before Bader can have "one last fling" in the Far East.
On 15 September 1945, the fifth anniversary of the greatest day of the Battle of Britain, Bader, now a group captain, is given the honour of leading eleven other battle survivors and a total of 300 aircraft in a flypast over London.

In early 1943, World War II British prisoners arrive by train at a Japanese prison camp in Burma. The commandant, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), informs them that all prisoners, regardless of rank, are to work on the construction of a railway bridge over the River Kwai that will connect Bangkok and Rangoon. The senior British officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), informs Saito that the Geneva Conventions exempt officers from manual labour.
At the following morning's assembly, Nicholson orders his officers to remain behind when the enlisted men are sent off to work. Saito slaps him across the face with his copy of the conventions and threatens to have them shot, but Nicholson refuses to back down. When Major Clipton (James Donald), the British medical officer, intervenes, telling Saito there are too many witnesses for him to get away with murdering the officers, Saito leaves the officers standing all day in the intense tropical heat. That evening, the officers are placed in a punishment hut, while Nicholson is locked in an iron box.
Meanwhile, three prisoners attempt to escape. Two are shot dead, but United States Navy Commander Shears (William Holden), gets away, although badly wounded. He stumbles into a village of natives who help him leave by boat.
Nicholson refuses to compromise. Meanwhile, the prisoners are working as little as possible and sabotaging whatever they can. Should Saito fail to meet his deadline, he would be obliged to commit ritual suicide. Desperate, Saito uses the anniversary of Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War as an excuse to save face and announces a general amnesty, releasing Nicholson and his officers from manual labour.
Nicholson conducts an inspection and is shocked by the poor job being done by his men. Over the protests of some of his officers, he allows Captain Reeves (Peter Williams) and Major Hughes (John Boxer) to design and build a proper bridge, despite its military value to the Japanese, for the sake of maintaining his men's morale. The Japanese engineers had chosen a poor site, so the original construction is abandoned and a new bridge is begun downstream.
Shears is enjoying his hospital stay in Ceylon with a beautiful nurse (Ann Sears), when British Major Warden (Jack Hawkins) informs him that the U.S. Navy has transferred him over to the British to join a commando mission to destroy the bridge before it's completed. Shears is appalled at the idea of returning to a place from which he nearly died during escape. He confesses he is not an officer, but merely had appropriated an officer's uniform prior to his capture, expecting that this revelation will invalidate the transfer order. However, Warden responds he already knew the truth and tells Shears that the American Navy's desire to avoid dealing with the embarrassment of his actions is the very reason they agreed to his transfer. Assured that he will be allowed to retain the privileges of being an officer and accepting that he actually has no choice, Shears relents and "volunteers" for the mission. The commando team consists of four men.
Meanwhile, Nicholson drives his men hard to complete the bridge on time. For him, its completion will exemplify the ingenuity and hard work of the British Army for generations, long after the war's end. When he asks that their Japanese counterparts join in as well, a resigned Saito replies that he has already given the order.
The commandos parachute in, with one man killed on landing, leaving three to complete the mission. Later, Warden is wounded in an encounter with a Japanese patrol and has to be carried on a litter. He, Shears, and Canadian Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne) reach the river in time with the assistance of Siamese women bearers and their village chief, Khun Yai. Under cover of darkness, Shears and Joyce plant explosives on the bridge towers below the water line.
A train carrying soldiers and important dignitaries is scheduled to be the first use of the bridge the following day, so Warden waits to destroy both. However, at daybreak the commandos are horrified to see that the water level has dropped, exposing the wire connecting the explosives to the detonator. Making a final inspection, Nicholson spots the wire and brings it to Saito's attention. As the train is heard approaching, they hurry down to the riverbank to investigate. The commandos are shocked that their own man is about to uncover the plot.
Joyce, manning the detonator, breaks cover and stabs Saito to death. Aghast, Nicholson yells for help, while attempting to stop Joyce from reaching the detonator. As he wrestles with Nicholson, Joyce tells Nicholson that he is a British officer under orders to destroy the bridge. When Joyce is shot dead by Japanese fire, Shears swims across the river, but is fatally wounded as he reaches Nicholson. Recognising the dying Shears, Nicholson exclaims, "What have I done?" Warden fires his mortar, mortally wounding Nicholson. The dazed colonel stumbles towards the detonator and collapses on the plunger just in time to blow up the bridge and send the train hurtling into the river below. Witnessing the carnage, Clipton shakes his head muttering, "Madness! ... Madness!"

In 1944 London, Major Julien Howard (Nigel Patrick), a British MI6 intelligence agent, meets Captain Bill Ranson (Jeffrey Hunter), his new American security officer. As Howard was previously picked up by German counter-intelligence, Ranson soon realizes that their assignment is to feed misinformation to the Germans about the location of the D-Day landings; they are to make it look like it will be in Holland. Howard tells him the rest of the unit must not know the truth.
One night, while on a date with Rolande Hertog, the unit's radio operator, Ranson becomes concerned and returns to the offices. He is shot at and wounds an intruder. He leaves the unconscious man with Hertog to search further, but the man's accomplice gets away. Hertog kills the captive, claiming he tried to grab her gun. A romance quickly develops between Ranson and Hertog the same night. When Ranson gets back to the office, Howard criticises his actions; MI5 had tipped him off that the Germans were planning to search his offices, so he made it easy for them to get the planted misinformation, until Ranson intervened. Further, he suspects that Hertog is a German agent; Jan Guldt, their liaison with the Dutch underground, had been sent back to Holland, only to be captured immediately. Ranson does not believe it.
Howard sends Piet van Wijt to Holland, supposedly to evaluate the effects of a bombing raid, but actually to test Hertog. They do not hear from van Wijt again. Meanwhile, Howard receives news that the Germans are redeploying troops into the country.
Howard orders Ranson to keep seeing Hertog so she will not become suspicious, but Ranson is an unconvincing actor. Now suspicious, Hertog goes to her sector commander, Hauptman Hans Faber, who is posing as a dentist. Faber is not fully convinced by her claim that it is all a fraud, but needs to make sure. He arranges for the young son of Dr. Mulder, Howard's psychological warfare expert, to be kidnapped. Mulder is forced to reveal the supposed invasion location to save his boy's life. However, he later confides to Hertog that he does not believe Holland is the place. The two men who were sent behind enemy lines were not given poisonous cyanide capsules to avoid capture. If they had, they could have taken them; then they could "count five and die." She tells Muller to go home, that she will alert Ranson. Instead, she tries once more to persuade Faber to change his mind, but without success.
Howard and Ranson speak to Muller and realize the situation. They manage to capture Faber and free Muller's boy, though Martins gets away and Faber takes his poison pill. Meanwhile, Ranson tracks down Hertog, but not before she sends a radio message unmasking the deception. Ranson takes a big gamble, telling her that she did exactly what they wanted her to do and that it was all a "double bluff", then lets her grab a pistol and forces her to shoot him by advancing on her. She transmits a second message, then leaves, believing Ranson to be dead. He is still alive, however. Martins then shoots Hertog.
The epilogue states that on D-Day, "ten German divisions were not in the line. They were north in Holland, waiting for an invasion that never came."

Tunisia 1943
As the end of the North African Campaign draws to a close, and the German and Italian forces are being pushed back on Tunis. A company of British Infantry are tasked with holding a small Arab farm against an expected last-ditch counter-attack; the farm's water tower will be used as an observation point by a few Royal Artillery spotters. To defend the farm British Lt. Colonel Derry picks a company led by Major Alan Gerrard; these men have been in the thick of the fighting around Tunis and are greatly reduced in number (described by the narrator as down to barely two platoons). So Gerrard's company set out on foot for the farm; on the way they are joined by Captain Dickie Mead and his signaller, Ames. Arriving at the farm, Gerrard's men chase out the occupants and dig slit trenches out in front of the farm. With the water tower and its ladder in clear view, Mead decides to wait until just before dawn to climb the tower while it is still dark. The next day Mead uses the his position to target the artillery onto the German forces, all is going well until the Germans send out a reconnaissance patrol to pin point the observation post, which Gerrard's men dispose of. With the Germans sure of their position, it becomes a test of nerve for Gerrard's men, seasoned troops and new boys alike. All of them stick it out until they are finally ordered to retreat with their job done. Mead decides to stay behind and cover their escape with artillery fire, leading to the death of Sergeant Major Gill and Private Middleditch. And when Mead finally succumbs to German fire, only the wounded Gerrard is left. With the Germans in the farm and his surviving men well on their way to safety, the mortally wounded Gerrard radios for the artillery to totally destroy the farm, killing Gerrard and the Germans' last chance at the same time.

The film tells the story of a Polish Resistance group which discovers details of the manufacture of the German V-1 'Flying Bomb' at Peenemünde in 1943. Liaising with service chiefs in London, the group manage to pass on enough information to convince them to launch a bombing raid and, in the climax to the film, are able to steal a V-1 which lands in a field during testing and arrange for its transport back to Great Britain.
Messages are got out from the camp via the dentist (at the loss of one tooth). The Poles are warned that a British bombing raid on Pennemunde is imminent and that they should prepare to escape during the raid.
Following their escape, the second part of the film looks at the attempts to find an entire V-1 to send back to Britain. They are eventually rewarded by an unexploded V-1 landing in a field and managing to quickly conceal it from the German search team. Through convoluted means, they manage to send the dismantled weapon back to Britain just before the critical first use of this terrible weapon.

As the Pacific War draws to an end, the commandant of the Blood Island prisoner-of-war camp has let it be known that should Japan surrender, he will order the massacre of the entire captive population. When the prisoners hear through underground sources that Japan has indeed surrendered, they mobilise themselves to try to prevent the news reaching the commandant. Colonel Lambert (Morell), the authoritarian self-appointed leader of the prisoners, deems that they must sabotage communications between the camp and the outside world, and arm themselves in however makeshift a way in readiness for a final showdown.
Lambert's unilateral assumption of military authority is not universally welcomed, as other prisoners including Piet van Elst (Möhner), diplomat Cyril Beattie (Fitzgerald) and priest Paul Anjou (Michael Goodliffe) chafe against his quasi-dictatorial personality, obstinacy and refusal to listen to any views other than his own. Lambert is forced continually to justify his at times apparently illogical and counter-productive decisions. Matters are not helped by the growing suspicion that the camp harbours a collaborator in its midst.
Van Elst is given the task of chief saboteur, while Anjou passes messages and instructions to the captives via coded sermons. When the endgame becomes inevitable, the prisoners rise up against their captors in a bloody insurrection, feeling that they have nothing left to lose and the survival of a few is better than the alternative. When Allied relief planes finally arrive they find a mere handful of survivors on either side.

Violette Bushell is a young woman whose father is English and mother is French, living in London early in the Second World War. She meets French Army officer Etienne Szabo, stationed in the city, and they become engaged to be married. They have a daughter, Tania, but Etienne never sees the child as he is killed fighting in North Africa; Violette Szabo and her daughter move into her parents' home.
Because of her linguistic skills, the widowed Szabo is recruited as a spy by the British government for operations in France. On her first mission, she is teamed with Captain Tony Fraser (Paul Scofield), a man she had met earlier socially and liked. She arrives by small plane in France, and shares a train compartment to Rouen with curious Nazi soldiers. The French Resistance group Fraser had set up in Rouen has been betrayed. The job of the new arrivals is to contact any survivors and to blow up a major railway viaduct. One Resistance member who Szabo contacts tells her that another survivor, a garage mechanic (André Maranne), is suspect, but Szabo takes the risk of meeting him anyway. He informs her that only three of 98 group members remain. Nonetheless, she persuades him to try to blow up the viaduct. Szabo is picked up and questioned by the Gestapo. She is released and meets in Paris with Fraser, who congratulates her: the viaduct was destroyed.
They return to Britain, and Szabo reluctantly agrees to another mission. Once again, she is under Fraser's command, this time in the Limoges region. She sets out with a guide to contact the various Resistance units to coordinate their actions. She and her guide become involved in a firefight with German soldiers. They are outnumbered and they flee. Szabo injures her ankle, and she insists on remaining behind. She runs out of ammunition and is captured.
Though tortured, she defiantly refuses to provide any information. Eventually she is reunited with two fellow women agents she had befriended during their initial training, Lilian Rolfe and Denise Bloch, in a Nazi prison. As Allied forces advance on Paris, the women are placed on a train for Germany. When the train is bombed by Allied aircraft, the women have a chance to attempt to escape, but Szabo instead fetches water for male prisoners. One of them is Fraser. That night, Szabo and Fraser acknowledge their love for each other.
The men and women are separated. The three women are taken to a concentration camp, where they are executed.
After the war, Tania and her grandparents go to Buckingham Palace, where the King gives the child her mother's posthumous George Cross. Afterwards, they meet Fraser.

Captain Anson (John Mills) is the officer commanding a British RASC motor ambulance company. During the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War when it is apparent that Tobruk is about to be besieged by the German Afrika Korps, Anson and most of his unit are ordered to evacuate to Alexandria. During the evacuation, Anson who is suffering from battle fatigue and alcoholism, MSM Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews), and two nurses, Diana Murdoch (Sylvia Syms) and Denise Norton (Diane Clare) become separated and in an Austin K2/Y ambulance, nicknamed 'Katy', decide to drive across the desert back to British lines.
As they depart they come across an Afrikaner South African officer, Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle), who carries a large pack, to which he seems very attached. After the South African shows Anson two bottles of gin in his backpack, van der Poel persuades Anson to let him join them in their drive to the safety of the British lines in Alexandria, Egypt.
Anson motivates himself by thinking of the ice cold lager he will order when they finally reach the safety of Alexandria – the 'Alex' of the title. En route, the group meets with various obstacles, including a minefield, a broken suspension spring (during its replacement, van der Poel's great strength saves the group when he supports 'Katy' on his back when the jack collapses), and the dangerous terrain of the Qattara Depression.
Twice the group encounters motorised elements of the advancing Afrika Korps; in one encounter they are fired upon, and Norton is fatally wounded. Van der Poel, who claims to have learned German while working in South West Africa, is able to talk the Germans into allowing them to go on their way. The second time however, the Germans seem reluctant, until Van der Poel shows them the contents of his backpack.
This pack becomes the focus of suspicion. Pugh, already troubled by Van der Poel's lack of knowledge of the South African Army's tea-brewing technique, follows him when he heads off into the desert with his pack and a spade (supposedly to dig a latrine). Pugh thinks he sees an antenna. Later, at night, they decide to use the ambulance headlights to see what Van de Poel is really up to. He panics, blunders into some quicksand, and buries his pack, though not before Anson and Murdoch see that it contains a radio set. They drag him to safety. While he recovers, they realise he is probably a German spy but decide not to confront him about this. During the final leg of the journey Katy must be hand-cranked in reverse up an escarpment, and Van der Poel's strength is again crucial to achieving this.
When they reach Alexandria they make their way to a bar where Anson orders a cold beer, which he consumes with relish. But before they have drunk their first round, a Corps of Military Police officer arrives to arrest Van der Poel. Anson, who had prearranged this at a checkpoint as they entered the city, orders him to wait. Having become friends with Van der Poel and indebted to him for saving the group's lives, Anson tells him that if he gives his real name, he will be treated as a prisoner of war, rather than as a spy (which would mean execution by firing squad). Van der Poel admits to being Hauptmann Otto Lutz, an engineering officer with the 21st Panzer Division. Pugh notices that Lutz is still wearing fake South African dog tags and rips them off before the police see them. Lutz, after saying his farewells and concluding that they were "all against the desert, the greater enemy", is driven away, with a new respect for the British.

In North Africa during the Second World War, a squadron of British tanks is destroyed in battle by panzers of their German adversaries.
A tank commanded by American Sgt. David Thatcher (Victor Mature) is hit and he and driver Trooper "Tiger" Noakes (Anthony Newley) bail out. The squadron's attached reconnaissance vehicle, commanded by Sgt. Kendall (Leo Genn), becomes stuck in the sand and the crew bail out too.
The three survivors are quickly captured and transported to an Italian-run POW camp. Thatcher has a secret and tries to escape at every turn.

Colley Dawson lives a quiet life at home with his mother, but his real life is lived as an expert safecracker at weekends, breaking into wealthy homes and stealing valuable art. When he's eventually arrested and convicted, Colley is approached in prison by Army Major Adbury. He's offered a deal by the Major in exchange for helping with the war effort. Colley will be given his freedom if he uses his safecracking expertise to perform a mission behind enemy lines. The dangerous mission is to break into a difficult safe in a Nazi chateau and steal a list of German spies operating in England. Colley agrees and soon finds himself being trained up as a commando and parachuted into Belgium for the caper of his life.

On the eve of the Battle of El Alamein, Captain Tim Cotton leads a patrol on a raid to destroy a German fuel dump located deep behind enemy lines. Captain Williams of the Royal Engineers is posted to Cotton's patrol to deal with a minefield surrounding a German petrol dump. As a regular soldier, Williams takes time to adjust to the non-regulation way the LRDG operates. He finds a girl's torn up picture in Cotton's billet, who dismisses her as "old news". Later on Williams shows Cotton a picture of his son; Cotton says he has everything to live for.
The mission, which begins with five Chevrolet 30 cwt trucks, starts with a perilous journey through Axis-occupied Libya where the LRDG encounter Luftwaffe spotter planes and Africa Korps patrols. Six of their men are killed and two of their Chevrolets are destroyed by a German armoured car. On reaching the German supply depot, Williams does his job and creates a path through the minefield with the help of Corporal Mathieson. The rest of the group destroys the stocks of petrol but Sergeant Hardy is killed in the escape. However hidden within the dump is a large number of German panzers. Unfortunately Cotton cannot report this to base because the radio is smashed in a German ambush, during which 'Blanco' White is wounded in the leg.
Knowing the importance of the information, the group knows they must return and report it to base while there is time for it to be acted upon. During their return journey they are relentlessly pursued by a German officer determined to stop them. When two half-tracks attack them Cotton is wounded in the arm and Sergeant Nesbitt is killed. Eventually - with just 40 miles to go to the Allied base - the last truck runs out of fuel. Blanco volunteers to stay behind and man a Vickers machine gun, Brody offers to stay with his friend but Cotton says "Everyone who can goes on". While the others head towards base, Blanco sacrifices himself slowing up the last pursuing German halftrack.
The group, with their water exhausted, sight another LRDG patrol on a truck. But before they can signal them, the chasing Germans are spotted. Williams grabs a Sten gun and leads the Germans away from his group. His actions allow the LRDG patrol to outflank and destroy the half-track; however, he is killed. Cotton laments that he had everything to live for.
The film concludes with Cotton reporting the tanks to his CO back at base. They also speak of Williams and the sacrifice he made for the group. The opening barrage of El Alamein starts.

The film takes place in Burma and India during World War II.
A British officer falls in love with his Japanese instructor at a military language school. They start a romance, but she is regarded as the enemy and is not accepted by his countrymen. They marry in secret and plan on spending his two weeks leave together. When one of the other officers is injured, he is sent into the field as a interrogator. Later he is captured by the Japanese army when he is patrolling with a brigadier and an Indian driver in a Japanese-controlled zone. He escapes and returns to his own lines, only to discover that his wife is suffering from a brain tumor although the doctor initially gives her good odds of surviving; she dies after an operation.

A cleverly planned escape attempt, which seemed guaranteed to work, ends in disaster: the would-be escapee is caught and killed by sadistic Capitano Benucci (Peter Arne) within seconds of leaving the POW camp. This incident is witnessed by the other prisoners, who notice that Benucci seemed to be waiting for the escapee to arrive before shooting him dead in cold blood.
Afterwards, the escape committee led by Lieutenant Colonel David Baird (Richard Todd) are convinced that there is an informer within their ranks. The prime suspect is a Greek officer, Lieutenant Coutoules (Cyril Shaps). However, when Coutoules is found dead in an escape tunnel, suspicions that there is a traitor living among the POWs die down. In an effort to explain away his death to the Italian captors, Coutoules' body is placed in an abandoned escape tunnel within the camp and the Italians are informed he was suffocated by a roof fall.
Based on the flimsiest of evidence, Benucci charges Captain Roger Byfold (Donald Houston) with the murder of Coutoules. It is obvious to the POWs that although Byfold is completely innocent, Benucci will ensure that he is found guilty and executed. The escape committee forms a desperate plan to get Byfold and two other officers (played by Peter Jones and Michael Wilding) out of the camp before Byfold goes on trial. The three POWs scale the camp fence with a ladder constructed from two rugby posts. Unfortunately, Benucci and his men are concealed just outside the fence with a machinegun mounted on the back of a truck, which promptly mows them all down. This is the second occasion on which Benucci has deliberately killed escaping POWs in cold blood, when it would have been very easy to capture them alive, instead. The POW escape committee realise that Benucci knew exactly when and where the three POWs planned to escape, and that he had positioned himself in the best place to ambush them. The only logical explanation is that there genuinely is a traitor among the POWs who has betrayed them by passing information to Benucci. This also means that Benucci must already know about another tunnel they are working on, intended for a mass escape of POWs. The prisoners realise that Benucci could easily intervene to prevent the next escape attempt from taking place, if he wanted to. However, Benucci prefers to let preparations continue for sinister reasons: the informer is certain to pass on the date and time of the escape, allowing Benucci to wait at the other end of the tunnel with a machinegun to shoot as many POWs as he can.
The race is then on to find the informer and for the rest of the inmates to escape en masse before the camp is handed over to the Germans as part of the Italian Armistice. The escape plan devised by Lieutenant Colonel Huxley (Bernard Lee) is for the prisoners to make their escape during the day, under cover of a production of Hamlet in the theatre hut by a group of POWs led by Captain Rupert Callender (Dennis Price). Benucci would never imagine that the POWs will try to escape in broad daylight, which is precisely why the POWs intend to do it.

In May 1940, as the German invasion of the Netherlands is under way, the British government decides to send a team to the Netherlands on board HMS Walpole  to secure stocks of industrial diamonds before the invaders can get to them. Accordingly, two Dutch diamond experts, Jan Smit (Peter Finch) and Walter Keyser (Alexander Knox) with a British Army Intelligence officer, Major Dillon (Tony Britton), are dropped by ship off the Dutch coast. Dodging German bombs and suspicious Dutch police and soldiers, they commandeer a car driven by Anna (Eva Bartok), whom they have just saved from trying to commit suicide. The four of them drive to Amsterdam.
They meet Jan's father at his diamond business house and he agrees to try to persuade other dealers to bring their diamonds later that day for transport to Britain. But as many of the stones are stored in a time-locked bank vault which won't open for 24 hours, they recruit a group of sabotage experts to break in.
With the Dutch police, including suspected fifth columnists, on their trail, the group manage to break into the vault and recover the diamonds. The three visitors make their escape whilst the armed Dutch helpers hold down the police and soldiers. They drive back to the coast, barely dodging German bombers.
As they embark on a commandeered tugboat to take them back to the waiting ship, Anna elects to remain in the Netherlands and work with the nascent resistance movement.

During World War II, a Royal Artillery officer is assigned to an anti-aircraft battery that is filled with female soldiers of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. His wife who has enlisted is mistakenly posted to the battery in violation of regulations of husbands and wives serving together in the same formation. She becomes jealous of what she perceives as his paying too much attention to the other Auxiliary Territorial Service women.

During the Second World War, Norman Pitkin, a roadmender with the St Godric's Borough Council, enjoys annoying the soldiers of the nearby British Army camp, even a general. Despite the efforts of his boss, Borough Engineer Mr Grimsdale, Colonel Layton (the camp commander) has both of them called up for service in the Pioneer Corps to exact retribution. They begin training at the same camp under the supervision of one of Pitkin's former victims, Sergeant Loder. The only bright spot for Pitkin is falling in love at first sight with the beautiful ATS officer Lesley Cartland, who is preparing to go behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France.
Pipkin and Grimsdale board the wrong lorry and end up parachuting into France, where they are put to work on road repairs. They inadvertently advance four miles into enemy territory, and Grimsdale is captured and taken to local headquarters in a chateau. Meanwhile, Pitkin (out of uniform) goes to the nearby town of Fleury to purchase sugar and eggs, but does not notice German soldiers standing to attention and saluting him. It transpires that he is looks exactly like the ruthless local commander, General Otto Schreiber. In a cafe, he recognises the waitress as Lesley Cartland. She is working with the local resistance group, but Pitkin inadvertently blows her cover and she is arrested, along with the cafe owner.
Pitkin and Henri Le Blanc, the local resistance leader, break into the chateau through a tunnel that Pitkin digs to try to rescue them, but Henri is himself captured. Pitkin, unaware of this, climbs into Schreiber's suite. When Gretchen, the general's girlfriend (an opera singer of Wagnerian proportions), arrives, Schreiber leaves strict orders not to be disturbed, no matter what. In the next room, Pitkin dresses in one of Schreiber's uniforms and awaits his chance. He watches through a keyhole as the couple dine, then unexpectedly sing a duet. When Schreiber leaves the room to attend to his throat, Pipkin is mistaken for him by Gretchen and has to attempt to sing Schubert lieder with her. Luckily, Schreiber has locked himself in the bathroom. Eventually he gets out, but after some further hijinks, including a rendition of the Marx Brothers' mirror routine from Duck Soup, Pipkin knocks Schreiber out (Gretchen having fainted after seeing two Schreibers). By pretending to be Schreiber, Pitkin manages to free the prisoners. They escape, but Pitkin is caught and sentenced to be shot at dawn. As the execution is about to be carried out, he inadvertently falls into the camouflaged tunnel he dug and escapes.
After the war ends, Grismdale is still Borough Engineer, but Pitkin is now the mayor.

The lost remnants of a British Army Brigade headquarters make their way through the Burmese jungle, retreating from the Japanese. The group, numbering over thirty, is led by Captain Langford because the most senior officer, the Brigadier, is one of several who are wounded. The group arrives at a small village which is enemy-occupied. After a short but costly battle, the small detachment of Japanese in the village is wiped out.
Among the Japanese dead is a colonel, an unusually high-ranking officer to be with such a small group. The dead officer possesses a map with unknown markings. A Burmese man is caught trying to flee and he is revealed to be an informer employed by the Japanese. Langford interrogates the man about the dead Colonel and the map and when he refuses to talk, Langford selects two men from amongst the villagers, saying he will have them both executed if the informer does not co-operate. The villagers plead for mercy and the Doctor, a civilian correspondent named Max and the Padre angrily protest at Langford's decision but the Captain is un-moved. The two hostages are killed by Langford's men, prompting the informer to begin devulging what he knows. The map contains plans for a major Japanese flanking attack which aims to cut off the British army from its supply lines and leave it surrounded. Langford is anxious to send a warning back to British lines but the group's radio has been damaged.
Langford orders Sgt McKenzie to execute the informer and then announces that the British wounded are to be left behind so as not to impede the group's progress back to Allied territory. The Doctor, along with Max and the Padre, are enraged by the decision but the dying Brigadier and the other wounded agree to remain in the village. The group's presence in the village is discovered by enemy scouts so Langford decides to send Sgt Mckenzie, the Doctor and two others back to British HQ to raise the alarm, thinking a smaller group will have a better chance of getting through whilst the remainder of the group will remain to defend the village and delay the enemy as long as possible. Langford offers Max and the Padre the chance to go with them but the latter both refuse, suggesting that another two men go in their place. Mckenzie's group leave the village but they are soon ambushed and all are killed.
Langford takes a party of men out to ambush the approaching Japanese, leaving Lt Hastings and the others to defend the village. The surviving Burmese evacuate, an English-speaking woman remarking bitterly to Hastings, 'Japanese, British- all the same'. After a bloody engagement, Langford's group are all killed or captured. The enemy, using the POWs as a human shield, approach the village but Langford shouts at Hastings to open fire. Just before the village falls, the radio operators manage to send out a weak signal from the repaired set to alert HQ of the enemy's plans, although it is not clear if the message gets through. The handful of surviving British are now all POWs. The Japanese commander, Major Yamazaki, who speaks English, demands to know about the missing Colonel and the map, suspecting that Langford knows about the attack plans.
Yamazaki lines up all of the prisoners in front of a firing squad and informs Langford that unless he agrees to talk, the Major will order his troops to shoot them. Given just two minutes to make his choice, Langford bolts towards the transmitter in an attempt to signal HQ but he is shot dead. Impressed by Langford's courage, Yamazaki bows to his corpse, saying 'I would have done the same' whilst outside, the Padre calmly leads the other prisoners in the Lord's Prayer as they await their execution. The final image is a silent shot of the Btitish war memorial in Burma.

A Canadian officer (Bradford Dillman) is sent on a secret and dangerous mission during the Second World War with false information in an attempt to mislead the Germans about the Normandy Landings of 1944.

The story starts with a clip of actual German newsreel footage from February 14, 1939, when Nazi Germany's largest and most powerful battleship, Bismarck, is launched in a ceremony at Hamburg with Adolf Hitler attending the ceremony. The launching of the hull is seen as the beginning of a new era of German sea power.
Two years later, in 1941, British convoys are being ravaged by U-boats and surface raider attacks that cut off supplies essential for Britain's abilities to continue the war. In May, British intelligence discovers the Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen are about to break out of the Baltic and into the North Atlantic to attack convoys.
Meanwhile, a spy in Norway spots the Bismarck and its escort Prinz Eugen at anchor in Grimstadtfjord, while perched on a ledge overlooking them; he attempts to alert the Admiralty by telegraph but he is discovered by a German guard and his German Shepherd and gets fatally shot. The spy is only able to message that one of the ships is Prinz Eugen but is killed before he can complete the message saying that the second ship was the Bismarck.
The man assigned to coordinate the hunt is the Admiralty's chief of operations, Captain Jonathan Shepard (Kenneth More), who has been distraught over the death of his wife in an air raid and the sinking of his ship by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, commanded by Fleet Admiral Günther Lütjens (Karel Štěpánek). Upon receiving his new post, Shepard discovers Lütjens is the fleet commander on the Bismarck. Shepard's experience of conflict with Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine and his understanding of Lütjens allow him to predict the Bismarck's movements. Shepard acts coldly to his staff but comes increasingly to rely on the coolness and skill of his assistant, WRNS Second Officer Anne Davis (Dana Wynter).
Lütjens is also bitter. After the First World War, he considered that he had received no recognition for his efforts in the war. Lütjens promises the captain of the Bismarck, Ernst Lindemann (Carl Möhner), that this time, he and Germany will be remembered as the victors.
Next morning near the Denmark Strait Bismarck and Prinz Eugen encounter HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales. The four warships engage in a heavy battle. During the battle a shell from Bismarck hits the Hood slightly damaging her. Bismarck‍ fires another salvo from her main battery guns and both sides watch as three shells hit the water near the Hood, but the fourth hits it just below its mast and a penetrating the thin deck armoir above the magazines; suddenly the ship's deck simultaneously disintegrates and explodes in a massive fireball, even blowing the turrets off and sending them flying into the ocean. Both sides are shocked and horrified at the devastation as the Hood's sinking remains are enveloped by smoke. The captain of the Prince of Wales, John Leach asks the yeoman to send a message to Admiralty saying that the Hood has catastrophically sunk Now Prince of Wales is alone and gets fired at by the two German ships and is severely damaged. The ship makes smoke and retreats. The Bismarck's escape is shadowed by smaller British ships. Meanwhile, Shepard, obsessed with Bismarck, must endure the likely death of his son as an air-gunner on a Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber from HMS Ark Royal, one of the British ships deployed to the hunt. He gambles that Lütjens is returning to friendly waters where U-boats and air cover will make it impossible to attack.
Shepard commits large forces stripped from convoy escort and uses Catalina flying boats to search for the battleship. His hunch proves correct, and Bismarck is located, apparently steaming towards the German-occupied French coast. British forces have a narrow window to destroy or slow their prey before German support and their own diminishing fuel supplies prevent further attack, as Admiral Lutjens says to Captain Lindemann. Swordfish aircraft from HMS Ark Royal have two chances. The first fails: they misidentify HMS Sheffield as Bismarck; also the new magnetic torpedo detonators are faulty and most explode as soon as they hit the water. Switching to conventional contact detonators, the second attack is successful, with one torpedo hitting the midships, causing minor damage, while a catastrophic second hit detonates near the stern, causing extensive damage jamming Bismarck's rudder and slowing her speed to 25 knots.
Unable to repair the rudder, the German battleship steams in circles. During the night Bismarck is attacked by two British destroyers. They fire torpedoes at Bismarck, and one torpedo hits the battleship, but Bismarck returns fire, sinking the destroyer HMS Solent. The main force of British ships (including battleships HMS Rodney and HMS King George V) find Bismarck the next day and rain gunfire on her. Lütjens in his final moments insists to Lindemann that German forces will arrive to save them, but he dies when a shell destroys Bismarck's bridge. After that, the remaining officers declare "Abandon Ship!" In the King George V Admiral Tovey orders the newly joined cruiser HMS Dorsetshire to finish Bismarck off with torpedoes. The cruiser fires a salvo of six torpedoes at the already sinking and severely damaged vessel. Four torpedoes strike the hull, causing the ship to list faster than the men can get out. The Captain in King George V lowers his head as the Bismarck rolls over and sinks beneath the waves. The Admiral orders Dorsetshire to pick up the remaining survivors, and finally says tersely: "Well gentlemen, let's go home."
After the sinking of the Bismarck, and having been told that his son has been rescued, Shepard asks Davis out for dinner, believing it to be nine o'clock at night, only to realise it is nine in the morning after stepping outside and seeing the sky. Davis suggests breakfast instead, and they walk off together, just as the movie ends.

Sergeant-Major Charles Coward (Dirk Bogarde) is a senior British NCO incarcerated in the Prisoner of war camp Stalag VIII-B. He encourages his fellow inmates to escape, and tries to humiliate the Nazi guards at every opportunity.
Coward first attempts to escape by leaving a forced march and finding refuge in a farmhouse that is requisitioned by a Nazi unit needing a field hospital. Inadvertently thought to be a wounded German soldier, he is taken to a hospital, where his identity is revealed, but not before being awarded the Iron Cross as Coward lies in his hospital bed.
Coward is transferred back to a POW camp but on the way to the camp, he engineers the destruction of a passing ammunition train. At the camp, he is involved in the elaborate tunnel schemes and plans an escape with fellow prisoner Bill Pope (Alfred Lynch). When Coward attempts to deceive his camp commander and Luftwaffe officials that he has knowledge of a secret bomb sight, he receives special favours which are used to bribe the guards.
When his ruse is discovered, Coward is transferred to a new camp where he is being set up as a traitor with the commanding officer hoping to use his fellow prisoners to kill Coward. When that scheme is unsuccessful, he blackmails the commanding officer (Richard Marner) who thinks he was responsible for a devastating fire. Coward extracts an extraordinary privilege in being able to go to the neighbouring town on his own, without an escort. When he makes contact with an attractive Polish resistance agent (Maria Perschy), he attempts to leave Germany by rail with his new friend providing assistance, but the pair are captured at a railway station.
After the failure of that escape, Coward, along with his other escape partner, Pope, are assigned to the IG Farben work camp but manage to escape again by masquerading as workmen clearing rubble in a rural area. After learning that the American front line is only a mile away, they steal an unattended fire engine to get past the enemy soldiers who block their escape. Their plan works - a Nazi troop convoy on the road moves aside to allow them to speed past to get to a non-existent fire - and they drive off to freedom.

When Major Roy Bell (Walsh) and his company are trapped by the advancing German army, Bell decides to embark on a suicide mission to blow up a bridge which is of strategic importance to the enemy. However, the only resource available to him is a group of rag-tag army failures, made up of drunks, thieves and deserters. According to the officer's handbook, 'an officer will perform whatever task confronts him with whatever men are available'. Under Bell's guidance, these men must now rise to the challenge and prove themselves as heroes if they are to fulfil the mission and come back alive.

In 1943, Captain Buzz Rickson (Steve McQueen) is an arrogant pilot in command of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber nicknamed The Body. While stationed in England during World War II, one of the bombing missions is aborted because clouds obscure all potential targets, but Rickson ignores the order to turn around and dives under the clouds. He completes the mission, at the cost of one of the bombers in his squadron and its entire crew. Rickson revels in the fighting and destruction; when he is assigned to drop propaganda leaflets on a later mission, he makes his displeasure felt by buzzing the airfield. His commanding officer tolerates his repeated insubordination because he is the best pilot in the bomber group. Even so, when he asks the flight surgeon his opinion, the latter is uncertain whether Rickson is a hero or a psychopath. However Rickson's crew, especially his co-pilot, First Lieutenant Ed Bolland (Robert Wagner), trust his great flying skill.
Between missions, Rickson and Bolland meet a young English woman, Daphne Caldwell (Shirley Anne Field). Although she is attracted to both pilots, she quickly finds out what kind of man Rickson is and chooses Bolland. They soon begin sleeping together. She falls in love with him, although she suspects he will leave her behind and return to America at the end of his tour of duty.
Meanwhile, Bolland becomes increasingly disillusioned with Rickson and his arrogance and his callousness. Rickson pressures his navigator, Captain Marty Lynch (Gary Cockrell), into transferring to another crew, because he questions his orders and behaviour. Lynch even says that Rickson is the kind of man who would have fought on either side. Soon afterwards, family man Lynch is killed in action. His friend Bolland takes it hard and blames Rickson.
Rickson meets a prostitute but does not do more than give her money to buy a dress, provided she looks in the mirror and calls herself "Daphne". When the crew is near the end of the required 25 missions to complete a tour and rotate back home, Rickson makes a move on Daphne, visiting her in her flat after Bolland has returned to the base. Rickson plans to embark on a second tour of duty, while his rival goes home. Daphne rejects his forceful advances, telling him she loves Bolland, but Rickson tries to make Bolland think otherwise.
Finally, on a long-range bombing mission to Leipzig, Colonel Emmet (Jerry Stovin) B-17 is shot-down during the attack leaving Rickson in command, Sergeant Bragliani (George Sperdakos) one of the waist gunners is wounded during the Messerschmitt attack run and is hit in the hand but he is still able to shoot, Rickson'S B-17 reaches Leipzig and the B-17's drop bombs during the attack, Rickson's B-17, is badly shot up and one crew member, the ball turret gunner, Sergeant Sailen (Michael Crawford) – known as "Junior" – dies of his wounds. The B-17 limps back over the English Channel, its bomb bay doors stuck in the open position and one armed bomb still partially stuck on its rack in the bay. Approaching the British coastline near Dover, the air-sea rescue is contacted and the rest of the crew (except Sergeant Prien, who was killed off-screen) bails out. As the last two crew members escape, Bolland is waiting to jump out of the open bomb bay with Rickson, when he notices that Rickson isn't wearing his parachute. Rickson then kicks the unsuspecting Bolland out of the B-17's bomb bay, returns to the cockpit and tries to nurse the bomber back to base by himself, only to crash into the white cliffs on the Kent coast.
Bolland reports Rickson's death to Daphne in Cambridge, who says: "It's what he always wanted." The pair of lovers walk away together.

When the Norwegian resistance leader, Royal Norwegian Navy Lieutenant Erik Bergman, travels to Great Britain to report the location of a German V-2 rocket fuel plant, the Royal Air Force's No. 633 Squadron is assigned to destroy it. The squadron is led by Wing Commander Roy Grant, an ex-Eagle Squadron pilot (an American serving in the RAF before the US entered the war).
The plant is in a seemingly impregnable location beneath an overhanging cliff at the end of a long, narrow fjord lined with numerous anti-aircraft guns. The only way to destroy the plant is by collapsing the cliff on top of it, a job for 633 Squadron's fast and manoeuvrable de Havilland Mosquitos. The squadron trains in Scotland, where there are narrow glens similar to the fjord. There, Grant is introduced to Bergman's sister, Hilde. They are attracted to each other, despite Grant's aversion to wartime relationships.
The Norwegian resistance is tasked with destroying the anti-aircraft defences of the facility immediately before the scheduled attack. When unexpected German reinforcements arrive, Bergman returns to Norway to try to gather more forces. However, he is captured while transporting desperately needed weapons, taken to Gestapo headquarters and tortured for information. Since Bergman knows too much, he must be silenced before he breaks. Grant and newly married Pilot Officer Bissell are sent in with a single Mosquito to bomb the Gestapo building. Though they are successful, their shot-up Mosquito fighter-bomber crashes on its return, and Bissell is wounded and becomes blind. A tearful Hilde thanks Grant for ending her brother's suffering.
Still worried, Air Vice-Marshal Davis decides to move up the attack to the next day. However, the resistance fighters are ambushed and killed, leaving the defences still intact. Although Grant is given the option of aborting, he decides to press on. The factory is destroyed at the cost of the entire squadron, though a few crews are able to ditch in the fjord. Grant crash-lands but a local man helps Grant's navigator, Flight Lieutenant Hoppy Hopkinson, pull the wounded wing commander from the burning wreckage. Back in Britain, Davis tells a fellow officer who is aghast at the losses, "You can't kill a squadron."

The Norwegian resistance sabotage the Vemork Norsk Hydro plant in the town of Rjukan in the county of Telemark, Norway, which the Nazis are using to produce heavy water, which could be used in the manufacture of an atomic bomb.
Kirk Douglas plays Rolf Pedersen, a Norwegian physics professor, who, though originally content to wait out the war, is soon pulled into the struggle by local resistance leader Knut Straud (based on Knut Haukelid, portrayed by Richard Harris).
They are both smuggled to Britain to have microfilmed plans of the hydroelectric plant examined, and then return to Norway to plan a commando raid. When a force of Royal Engineers, who were to carry it out, are all killed, Pedersen and Straud lead a small force of saboteurs into the plant. The raid is successful, but the Germans quickly repair the equipment.
The Germans then plan to ship steel drums of heavy water to Germany. Pedersen and Straud sabotage a ferry carrying the drums, and it sinks in the deepest part of a fjord.
Besides this sequence, the raids (Operations Grouse, Freshman, and Gunnerside) and the final attack are depicted in location filming, in which snowy Norwegian locations serve as a backdrop for the plot.


Summer 1941. Over German-occupied France, a Royal Air Force bomber becomes lost after a mission and is shot down over Paris by German flak. Three of the crew, Sir Reginald, Peter Cunningham and Alan MacIntosh, parachute out over the city, where they run into and are hidden by a house painter, Augustin Bouvet, a puppet show operator, Juliette, and the grumbling conductor of the Opéra National de Paris, Stanislas Lefort. Involuntarily, Lefort, Juliette and Bouvet get themselves tangled up in the manhunt against the aviators led by Wehrmacht Major Achbach as they help the airmen to escape to the free zone with the help of Resistance fighters and sympathisers.

Canadian Commando Major Jamie Wilson (Lloyd Bridges), plans an audacious Combined Operations raid on the Axis held French port of Le Clare; if destroyed, the Germans would be stripped of the only dry dock capable of servicing their large battleships. Wilson's plan, code named Operation Mad Dog, is to ram a destroyer packed with tons of explosives into the outer gate of the dock, while his commandos cause havoc to the dock facilities and garrison, and then detonate the explosive laden destroyer. Opposed to Wilson is Royal Navy Captain Owen Franklin (Andrew Keir), whose own son was killed on Wilson's disastrous last Dieppe-type raid on the French coast at Le Plagé.
Under pressure from Winston Churchill, Wilson's plan is given the go-ahead, even though the naval craft requested for the mission are reduced to a minesweeper replacing the destroyer, no escort craft and only four motor launches. The mission's naval commander Lieutenant Commander, Don Kimberly, (Mark Eden) is blinded in a training accident while trying to save an injured commando, who dies from his injuries. With no other option, Franklin is ordered to replace Kimberly, and thus put him in direct conflict with Wilson on the journey to France. As they cross the English Channel Wilson finds himself at odds with Franklin when the supporting air raid seems to be cancelled, but, to Wilson's surprise, Franklin ignores the order to return and changes his view of both Wilson and the mission.
With a united group heading into the port, the Germans discover the approaching minesweeper and its commando carrying escort of motor launches. After briefly stalling the Germans, by pretending they are German ships, the convoy is bombarded by the coastal batteries which line the port entrance, but fail to stop the minesweeper from ramming the dock gate. As the commandos storm ashore, leaving Wilson on the minesweeper's bridge, it is hit once again, this time though, Wilson is mortally wounded. In the port's facilities a running battle rages between the Germans and the commandos, leading to Franklin being captured and taken to the German HQ.
Brought in front of the garrison commander, Colonel von Horst (Walter Gotell), Franklin is mocked for what the Germans see as a fruitless mission. Meanwhile, a German party, led by von Horst's subordinate, Captain Erich Strasser, (George Mikell) boards the minesweeper and heads for the smashed bridge where Wilson, barely alive, notices that the detonating circuit is broken. As Strasser enters the bridge, Wilson, with his last ounce of strength places the two wires together, completing the circuit; the explosives detonate, destroying the dock gate. In the German HQ, Franklin merely grins at the horror on the Germans' faces as the explosion rocks the building before commandos storm the HQ and liberate him, killing von Horst and his men. Franklin and the commandos then depart in the waiting motor launches with their mission completed.

Canadian Commando Major Jamie Wilson (Lloyd Bridges), plans an audacious Combined Operations raid on the Axis held French port of Le Clare; if destroyed, the Germans would be stripped of the only dry dock capable of servicing their large battleships. Wilson's plan, code named Operation Mad Dog, is to ram a destroyer packed with tons of explosives into the outer gate of the dock, while his commandos cause havoc to the dock facilities and garrison, and then detonate the explosive laden destroyer. Opposed to Wilson is Royal Navy Captain Owen Franklin (Andrew Keir), whose own son was killed on Wilson's disastrous last Dieppe-type raid on the French coast at Le Plagé.
Under pressure from Winston Churchill, Wilson's plan is given the go-ahead, even though the naval craft requested for the mission are reduced to a minesweeper replacing the destroyer, no escort craft and only four motor launches. The mission's naval commander Lieutenant Commander, Don Kimberly, (Mark Eden) is blinded in a training accident while trying to save an injured commando, who dies from his injuries. With no other option, Franklin is ordered to replace Kimberly, and thus put him in direct conflict with Wilson on the journey to France. As they cross the English Channel Wilson finds himself at odds with Franklin when the supporting air raid seems to be cancelled, but, to Wilson's surprise, Franklin ignores the order to return and changes his view of both Wilson and the mission.
With a united group heading into the port, the Germans discover the approaching minesweeper and its commando carrying escort of motor launches. After briefly stalling the Germans, by pretending they are German ships, the convoy is bombarded by the coastal batteries which line the port entrance, but fail to stop the minesweeper from ramming the dock gate. As the commandos storm ashore, leaving Wilson on the minesweeper's bridge, it is hit once again, this time though, Wilson is mortally wounded. In the port's facilities a running battle rages between the Germans and the commandos, leading to Franklin being captured and taken to the German HQ.
Brought in front of the garrison commander, Colonel von Horst (Walter Gotell), Franklin is mocked for what the Germans see as a fruitless mission. Meanwhile, a German party, led by von Horst's subordinate, Captain Erich Strasser, (George Mikell) boards the minesweeper and heads for the smashed bridge where Wilson, barely alive, notices that the detonating circuit is broken. As Strasser enters the bridge, Wilson, with his last ounce of strength places the two wires together, completing the circuit; the explosives detonate, destroying the dock gate. In the German HQ, Franklin merely grins at the horror on the Germans' faces as the explosion rocks the building before commandos storm the HQ and liberate him, killing von Horst and his men. Franklin and the commandos then depart in the waiting motor launches with their mission completed.

Three British paratroopers are cut off from their unit and are lost behind enemy lines. Sheltering in a deserted farmhouse, they are awaiting the return of their Sergeant who has ventured out in an attempt to locate their unit. The three soldiers are Tom, a world-weary cynical veteran, John, a middle-class educated thinker who despises war and Cliff, an eager soldier who loves his work. All three are highly trained professional killers who, regardless of their own personal thoughts, do not hesitate to perform their duties.
Two German soldiers approach the farmhouse and the paratroopers dispatch them both. The second of the enemy attackers is stalked by the paratroopers who virtually toy with their victim before John kills him, finishing the man off up close, although the experience renders him sick. As the three men eat a meal, they are surprised and captured by a third German named Helmut, a paratrooper like themselves. The British soon turn the tables and capture Helmut but the latter, who speaks English, manages to manipulate his captors into keeping him alive. The group leave the house in search of their Sergeant whom they eventually find dead in the woods, his throat cut. The men continue on, trying to find their way back to Allied lines. They come across a farmhouse, where a trio of Germans are sheltering. The paratroopers cautiously approach and shoot them, only to find that the Germans are already dead.
After spending the night in the house, the group continues their walk back to the British lines, only to run into a German patrol. In the ensuing battle, all of the Germans are killed but Cliff is fatally wounded. John and Tom reach the frontline, taking their prisoner Helmut with them but nearby British troops mistake them all to be German and open fire, mortally wounding Tom. Both injured themselves, John and Helmut take cover in a muddy ditch. There, John decides to kill Helmut with a small skewer he has always carried with him. Delirious with exhaustion and trauma, John staggers into the open, yelling that he is a pacifist before the British troops open fire again, shooting him dead.

In the winter of 1943-44, U.S. Army Brigadier General George Carnaby (Robert Beatty), a chief planner for the second front, is captured by the Germans when his air transport to Crete is shot down. He is taken for interrogation to the Schloss Adler, a mountaintop fortress in the Alps of southern Bavaria, accessible only by cable car or helicopter. A team of seven Allied commandos, led by British Major John Smith of the Grenadier Guards (Richard Burton) and U.S. Army Ranger Lieutenant Morris Schaffer (Clint Eastwood), is briefed by Colonel Turner (Patrick Wymark) and Admiral Rolland (Michael Hordern) of MI6. Disguised as German troops, they are to parachute in, enter the castle, and rescue General Carnaby before the Germans can interrogate him. After their German Ju-52 transport drops them in Germany, Smith secretly meets Mary Ellison (Mary Ure) and Heidi Schmidt (Ingrid Pitt), their presence known only to him; Heidi arranges for Mary to be a maid at the castle.
Although two of the team are mysteriously killed, Smith continues the operation, keeping Schaffer as a close ally and secretly updating Rolland and Turner by radio. The commandos surrender themselves to the Germans; Smith and Schaffer (being officers) are separated from the other three operatives, Thomas (William Squire), Berkeley (Peter Barkworth), and Christiansen (Donald Houston). They quickly kill their captors, blow up a supply depot, and prepare an escape route for use at the end of their mission. Riding atop a cable car, they reach the castle and climb inside when Mary lowers a rope.
German General Rosemeyer (Ferdy Mayne) and Standartenführer Kramer (Anton Diffring) are interrogating Carnaby when the three new prisoners arrive; all three identify themselves as German double agents. Smith and Schaffer intrude, weapons drawn, but Smith forces Schaffer to disarm. He identifies himself as Sturmbannführer Johann Schmidt of the SD of the SS intelligence branch. As proof, he discreetly shows the name of Germany's top agent in Britain to Kramer, who silently affirms it. He now reveals that "General Carnaby" is an impostor, a lookalike U.S. corporal named Cartwright Jones, further claiming that the other prisoners are British impostors. To test them, he proposes that they write down the names of their fellow agents in Britain, to be compared to his own list in his pocket. After the three finish their lists, Smith and Schaffer re-secure the room; the former reveals that he was bluffing and the lists were the mission's true objective.
Meanwhile, Mary is visited by Sturmbannführer (Major) von Hapen (Derren Nesbitt), a Gestapo officer infatuated with her, but he soon becomes suspicious of flaws in her cover story. Leaving her, he happens upon the scene of Carnaby's interrogation just as Smith finishes his explanation. Von Hapen puts everyone under arrest but is distracted when Mary arrives. Schaffer seizes the opportunity to kill von Hapen and the other German officers with his silenced pistol . The group then makes its escape, taking the three agents as prisoners. Schaffer sets explosives to create diversions around the castle, while Smith leads the group to the radio room where he informs Rolland of their success. From there they head to the cable car station, sacrificing Thomas as a decoy. Berkeley and Christiansen break free and attempt their own escape in a cable car; both are thwarted and killed by Smith. The group eventually reunites with Heidi on the ground, boarding a captured bus they had prepared earlier as an escape vehicle. With enemy troops in hot pursuit, they battle their way on to an airfield and escape via their Ju-52 transport, where Turner has been waiting.
As Turner debriefs Smith about the mission, Smith reveals that the name Kramer confirmed as German's top agent in Britain was Turner's own. Rolland had lured Turner and the others into participating so MI6 could expose them; Smith's trusted partner Mary and the American Schaffer (who had no connection to MI6) had been assigned to the mission to ensure its success. Turner attempts to kill Smith with a machine gun, but Rolland, anticipating such a move, has removed its firing pin. To avoid a court martial and execution, Turner is permitted to jump from of the aircraft without a parachute. Schaffer half-jokingly asks Smith to keep his next mission "an all-British operation".

Stephen "Hannibal" Brooks is a British prisoner of war Lance corporal who is put to work in Munich zoo, looking after an Asian elephant called Lucy. When the zoo is bombed by the Americans, the zoo's director decides it is unsafe for the elephant to remain there. So he sends Brooks along with hostile German soldier Kurt, a friendly German soldier named Willy, and Vronia, a female cook to accompany the elephant to Innsbruck Zoo via a train.
They are forced to walk when Colonel von Haller, an SS officer tells Brooks that the elephant is not allowed on the train. In Austria, Kurt threatens to shoot Lucy while drunk and Brooks accidentally kills Kurt. Brooks, Lucy, Willy and Vronia are forced to run towards the Swiss border. They are helped along the way by an American escapee named Packy who has formed a group of partisans to fight the Germans in Austria, after many run-ins with the Nazis. Half way there, Lucy gets mumps, so Brooks finds an Austrian doctor to look after her, while Vronia and Willy run to Willy's parents house. Vronia and Willy are captured, and are later joined by Brooks. Brooks and Willy are rescued by Packy and continue to race towards Switzerland with Lucy. Unfortunately, along the way Willy is shot by the Nazis while helping Brooks to escape.
When Brooks gets close to the border with Lucy, he is met by von Haller, who tells him to walk to Switzerland and Vronia, who has changed sides after being captured. Von Haller proposes the three go together to Switzerland as he intends to defect due to Germany's deteriorating military position. They are joined by Packy and his partisans near a German border post. The plan is to use von Haller to bluff their way though, but he betrays them. Vronia dies trying to warn the others and is shot in the back. After another long fight with the Germans, Brooks and Lucy eventually get to Switzerland with Packy and his remaining partisans.

It is the Second World War and the Royal Air Force attacks German V-1 flying bomb installations during the early summer of 1944.  The de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bomber aircraft of Squadron Leader David "Scotty" Scott (David Buck) is shot down during a low-level bombing raid on a V-1 launching site, and Scott and his navigator/bomb-aimer are reportedly killed. His wingman and friend, then-Flight Lieutenant (later insignia Royal Canadian Air Force squadron leader) Quint Munroe (David McCallum) comforts Scott's wife Beth (Suzanne Neve) and a romance soon develops, rekindling one that they had had years earlier.
After nearly losing his own life on a photographic reconnaissance mission over the Chateau de Charlon in Northern France, Munroe, under orders from a somewhat exuberant Air Commodore Hufford (Charles Gray), leads a Barnes Wallis-type land-use "bouncing bomb" (referred to as "Highball") attack against the chateau. There, following the reported capture by the Gestapo of a French Maquis resistance fighter who supposedly talked under torture, Allied prisoners, including a very-much-alive Scott and men from their group, are held as "human shields." This is seen in a disturbing film dropped by a Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter that, in tandem with one other, raided the base, strafing the airfield and killing many personnel.
The Royal Air Force target is an underground tunnel in the grounds of the chateau where new weapons based on the V-1 are being constructed. In a coordinated raid, the prisoners are held in the chapel during Sunday morning mass in order to concentrate them in one place, thus allowing French Maquis resistance fighters to get them out once a Mosquito has used one of the "Highballs" to blow a hole in the outer wall close to the chapel, only not before Father Belaguere (Michael Anthony), a Catholic priest and Maquis agent, is killed by an enraged German army officer, Leutnant Schack (Vladek Sheybal), for refusing to order the RAF men to go back to their cells. The senior RAF officer amongst the captives, Squadron Leader Neale (Bryan Marshall) is killed by German machine-pistol fire during the breakout as comrades make their way with the help of the resistance fighters out of the chateau grounds while the bombing raid continues with a second wave of Mosquito bombers dropping conventional bombs with the intention of completely destroying the building.
Munroe and Scott are briefly reunited after the former's aircraft is brought down by flak, though Scott, still suffering from amnesia and unable to remember even his own name (hence, he sports a chalked "X" on his uniform), rebuffs Munroe's attempt to get him to remember who he is, ignoring mention of even his wife's name. Scott then sacrifices himself while stopping a German tank, saving Munroe and others, but too late to save Munroe's navigator, Flight Sergeant Wiley Bunce (Nicky Henson), but not before Scott says his wife's name.
The next day, after rescue by a submarine, Munroe, along with survivors from the raid, is repatriated and comes back to the base in one of two Avro Anson transport aircraft. There, after being congratulated by his commanding officer, Wing Commander Penrose (Dinsdale Landen), as well as Air Commodore Hufford, he is reunited, albeit separately, with Beth and her brother Flight Lieutenant Douglas Shelton (David Dundas), an ex-pilot who had lost his right hand on operations (he sports a hook in its place) but now serving with the same squadron and in charge of training. However, he deliberately still conceals the secret from her that her now-dead husband had survived the crash that he had witnessed, although, thanks to the German film, both he and Shelton had, in fact, known for some time that he had not been killed as first generally believed.

During the North African Campaign in World War II, Captain Douglas (Caine) is a British Petroleum employee seconded to the Royal Engineers to oversee incoming fuel supplies for the British 8th Army. Colonel Masters (Green) commands a special raiding unit composed of convicted criminals, and after a string of failures he is told by his commander, Brigadier Blore (Andrews), that he must have a regular officer to lead a dangerous last chance mission to destroy an Afrika Korps fuel depot, lest his unit be disbanded. Despite Douglas' objections, he is chosen for his knowledge of oil pipelines and infrastructure. Douglas is then introduced to Cyril Leech (Davenport), a convicted criminal rescued from prison to lead Masters' operations in the field.
The next day, Douglas and Leech are provided with armed jeeps and lead six other men out into the desert disguised as an Italian Army patrol. They endure a long and arduous trek across the desert: encountering enemy tribesmen, sandstorms, and a booby-trapped oasis, among other dangers. While Leech and his men are often insubordinate towards Douglas' command, they eventually reach their objective, only to discover that the depot is fake. They then head to a German-occupied port city hoping to steal a boat and escape; Douglas sees the fuel depot there and convinces Leech that destroying it would aid their plan. Meanwhile, Masters is confronted by Blore with aerial photographs of the (supposed) depot intact — confirming the mission's failure. Having lost contact with the men for some time, Masters is ordered to leak intel on the team to the Germans; the British Army is now on the offensive, and they wish to keep any enemy fuel depots intact for capture.
Under the cover of night, the men don German uniforms and sneak into the port depot to plant their explosives, but one of them sets off a trip flare and they are quickly surrounded; an officer on a loudspeaker calls each of them out by name, revealing Masters' betrayal. The men scatter as the depot is detonated; Leech and Douglas manage to slip away while the rest are caught and killed. After taking shelter, Leech admits to Douglas that he is being kept alive only because Masters is paying him £2000 for his safe return.
The 8th Army arrives the next morning; Douglas and Leech (still donning their German uniforms) decide to surrender to the British. Unfortunately, a trigger-happy British soldier opens fire — killing them before they have a chance to speak.

In 1941 Lieutenant Commander Jeffords *James Franciscus), an American serving with the Royal Navy is assigned to Valletta, Malta, to command a flotilla of Motor Torpedo Boats for a top secret mission. Jeffords is granted permission to take his friend Chief Petty Officer Yacov (Reuven Bar-Yotam), an Israeli/Palestinian with him.
Through scrounging spare parts from sunken craft, the battered flotilla is able to piece together three seaworthy craft. Jeffords' mission is to destroy a former Italian submarine base in Augusta, Sicily, that now contains the German's Fritz X glide bombs that have been taking a heavy toll of British shipping. As the bombs are stored in former submarine pens tunnelled inside a mountain, an aerial attack is unfeasibile. It is up to Jeffords to determine how he will accomplish his mission.
Off duty, Jeffords meets Alison Ashurst (Elizabeth Shepherd) bathing in the nude who turns out to be the wife of his commanding officer Commander Ashurst (Ronald Allen). Jeffords turns down her offer of having an affair.
Jeffords first decides to make a reconnaissance of his target by being taken into the base by the Sicilian Resistance. Jeffords' mission is successful, but at the cost of the lives of his Resistance escort.
Jeffords schemes to capture a German E-Boat in a manner similar to Commander Ian Fleming's Operation Ruthless. By sending a false radio message that General Alexander's aeroplane has gone missing in a certain area, Jeffords and crew pose as survivors of the crash then capture the boat attempting to pick them up. Jeffords uses the captured craft as a Trojan Horse to penetrate the harbour, having the other boats in the flotilla follow his captured craft in once the Germans have lifted their boom gate. Jeffords and two others don Scuba sets to swim into the tunnels and plant explosive charges.
The Allied invasion of Sicily took place in July 1943.

At a Prisoner of War (POW) camp for Germans in the north of Scotland, Kapitän zur See Willi Schlüter (Helmut Griem) - a submariner – challenges the authority of the camp’s embattled Commanding Officer, Major Perry (Ian Hendry). British Army Captain Jack Connor arrives to investigate what's happening at the McKenzie POW Camp.
Connor believes the camp disturbances are a cover for an escape attempt. During a mass brawl two POWs escape dressed as British soldiers and Connor notices an outcast German POW named Neuchl (Horst Janson), being dragged from the barracks and fleeing from the Germans. He is badly beaten and later that night in the hospital is strangled before Connor gets the chance to learn about Schlüter's plans.
With Connor investigating the camp, Schlüter leads his 28-man escape party out of a tunnel the next day. Meeting the two escapees who have arranged a U-boat to pick them up, they all head for the coast. Unknown to Schlüter, Connor has broken the code used in letters sent by POWs to Germany and knows the plan.
Connor, along with General Kerr (Jack Watson), starts searching for the prisoners. The Germans head for the coast and burn their escape lorry, which is seen by a reconnaissance plane. Drawn by the burning lorry, Connor (now in an aircraft) locates the Germans attempting to paddle towards a surfaced U-boat at dusk. Connor calls in a Royal Navy motor torpedo boat (MTB) with depth charges to engage the U-boat. With only 50 yards to go, Connor orders the pilot to 'buzz' the inflatable dinghies, delaying Schlüter's craft, and with the MTB arriving, the U-boat dives, leaving Schlüter and three comrades stranded.

In the closing days of World War II, Irishman Murphy (Peter O'Toole) is the sole survivor of the crew of a merchant ship, Mount Kyle, which had been sunk by a German U-boat and the survivors machine-gunned in the water. Murphy makes it ashore (to a missionary settlement on the Orinoco in Venezuela) where he is treated by a pacifist Quaker doctor, Dr Hayden (Siân Phillips).
When he discovers the U-boat is hiding farther up river, under the cover of the jungle, he sets about obsessively plotting to sink it by any means, including using a surviving Grumman J2F Duck floatplane from the Mount Kyle. The floatplane had been recovered, the wounded pilot later being shot dead in his hospital bed by the U-boat captain, in order to preserve the secret of the sub's location and, presumably, its action in shooting survivors in the water.
Murphy learns how to fly the aircraft in the most daring way, getting it out on the choppy waters of the river and discovering how the controls work by trial and error. Murphy soon finds the U-boat's hiding place and attempts to bomb it using home-made Molotov cocktail bombs, which fails. Meanwhile, word has come that Germany has surrendered, but Murphy is obsessed with revenge and makes plans to ram the U-boat with a floating crane owned by the friendly Frenchman Louis (Philippe Noiret). This also fails as the U-boat dives under him. However, the submerged U-boat becomes stuck in a mud bank. Murphy uses the crane to recover an unexploded torpedo fired earlier from the U-boat and drops it on the trapped crew, killing them. Murphy is also killed, as the explosion from the torpedo causes the crane jib to pin him to the deck as the floating crane sinks to the river bed.

On D-Day, a mixed group of forced labourers held by German forces take shelter from the bombardment inside a German bunker, but are then entombed when the entrances are blocked by shelling damage. By coincidence, the bunker is a storehouse, so the prisoners have enough food and wine to last them for years. However, they are trapped not for years but permanently, and the film analyzes how they deal with their underground prison, with their relationships, and with death.

Set in Nazi-occupied France, the story follows Major Robinson of the British Army. Installing himself at a Parisian brothel, he assists the French resistance and works with Madame Grenier and her girls who find themselves eliminating high ranking German officers (using ingenious rigged beds and killer flatulence pills) right under the noses of the Gestapo. The girls find themselves enlisted in the Free French Forces and finally help to foil Hitler's plan to blow up Paris. They later receive medals from the French president.

The book makes use of the false document technique, and opens with Higgins describing his discovery of the concealed grave of thirteen German paratroopers in an English graveyard. The characters discuss the real life rescue of Hitler's ally Benito Mussolini by Otto Skorzeny. A similar idea is considered by Hitler, with the strong support of Himmler. Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr (German military intelligence), is ordered to make a feasibility study of the seemingly impossible task of capturing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and bringing him to the Reich. Canaris realizes that although Hitler will soon forget the matter, Himmler will not. Fearing Himmler may try to discredit him, Canaris orders one of his officers, Oberst Radl, to undertake the study, despite feeling that it is all just a waste of time and effort.
An Unteroffizier on Radl's staff finds that one of their spies, code named Starling, has provided a tantalizing piece of intelligence. "At any other time, in any other place, this information would be useless", Radl said. "And then synchronicity rears its disturbing head." Winston Churchill is scheduled to spend a relaxing weekend at a country house near the village of Studley Constable, Norfolk, where Joanna Grey, an Afrikaner woman and longtime Abwehr agent, lives. She detests England because she was abused and raped by British soldiers, and her husband, daughter, and parents were killed during the Anglo-Boer War. As a result of her reports, Radl devises a detailed plan to intercept Churchill and return with him to Germany. Although Radl is certain the plan has real possibilities, Admiral Canaris orders him to abandon it.
Himmler, however, has already learned of the scheme and summons Radl. He orders him to proceed, but without notifying Canaris. In response, Radl arranges for Liam Devlin, a member of the Irish Republican Army, to be smuggled to Norfolk by way of Northern Ireland. Posing as a wounded veteran of the British Army, he contacts Mrs. Grey, who arranges a position for him as game warden to the estate of Studley Grange. While awaiting further developments, Devlin becomes romantically involved with Molly Prior, a girl from the village.
Meanwhile, Radl selects the members of the "commando style" unit, led by disgraced Fallschirmjäger commander Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Steiner, which is supposed to carry out the operation. While returning from the Eastern Front, Steiner had intervened when SS soldiers were rounding up Jews at a railway station in Poland. To the outrage of the SS and Polizei, he took one of their men hostage and helped a teenage Jewish girl to escape on a passing freight train. For this he was court-martialled, along with his men, who backed his actions. Too highly decorated to face a firing squad, Steiner and his men were allowed to transfer to a penal unit in the Channel Islands. There they are forced to make high-risk attacks with manned torpedoes against Allied ships in the English Channel.
Radl travels to Alderney and recruits Steiner and his surviving men. Steiner's father, General Steiner, is being tortured by the Gestapo for his alleged ties to the German Resistance. This serves as an additional incentive for the Colonel to accept the mission. Radl relocates Steiner and his men to an airfield on the north western coast of Holland, where they familiarise themselves with the British weapons and equipment they will be using. The team will be air dropped into Norfolk via a captured C-47 Dakota with Allied markings. The commandos outfit themselves as Free Polish troops, as few of them speak English; the plan is to infiltrate Studley Constable, capture Churchill, rendezvous with an E-boat at the nearby coast and make their escape. As part of the ruse they arm themselves with Sten guns, M1 Garands, Bren guns and revolvers, as well as Browning Hi-Powers instead of German weaponry.
At first, the plan seems to go off without a hitch. Then, however, one of Steiner's NCOs rescues a young girl who fell into a mill race. He is killed by the water wheel and his German uniform (worn, by Himmler's order, under the Polish uniforms, as protection against being executed as spies) is seen by several of the villagers. Determined to continue the mission, Steiner arranges for the locals to be rounded up, but the sister of Father Vereker, the local priest, escapes and alerts a nearby unit of US Army Rangers. Colonel Robert Shafto, an inexperienced but glory-seeking officer, rallies his forces to retake the hostages. Without notifying headquarters, he orders a foolhardy assault in which many Americans are killed. After the Colonel is shot in the head by Mrs. Grey, Major Kane organizes a second, successful attack.
Steiner, his second-in-command Ritter von Neumann, and Devlin manage to escape with Molly's aid. Determined to finish the mission, Steiner allows Devlin and Neumann to escape without him and decides to make one last attempt at Churchill. He succeeds in reaching Churchill, but hesitates, is shot and supposedly killed. (However, Steiner reappears alive in The Eagle Has Flown, a sequel.) In Germany, Radl has had a heart attack, implied to be fatal, although at about the same time, Himmler, upon discovering that the mission has failed, orders Radl's arrest for high treason.
As in many novels of Higgins, this story is surrounded by a 'frame story' with a prologue and epilogue. The author, whilst doing historical research in Norfolk, supposedly meets various surviving characters. Some paperback editions have more historical backstory than others, including a meeting with an older Liam Devlin in a Belfast hotel. The final revelation comes from an aged and terminally ill Father Vereker: at the time of his supposed visit to Norfolk, Churchill was actually en route to the Tehran Conference. The "Churchill" that Steiner almost killed was an impersonator, meaning that even if Steiner had shot him, it would not have mattered.

The movie opens with a German children's song, "Hänschen klein", mixed with black-and-white footage of prewar and war scenes. It then segues to color and a German platoon raid on a Russian forward outpost led by Sergeant Rolf Steiner (James Coburn), during which his men capture a Russian boy-soldier (Slavko Štimac).
An aristocratic Prussian officer, Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell), is posted as a new battalion commander in the Kuban bridgehead on the Eastern Front in 1943. Stransky proudly tells the regimental commander, Colonel Brandt (James Mason), and his adjutant, Captain Kiesel (David Warner), that he applied for transfer from occupied France to front line duty in Russia so that he can win the Iron Cross.
When Stransky meets Steiner for the first time, he orders Steiner to shoot the boy prisoner in strict observance of a standing order. When Steiner refuses, Stransky prepares to shoot the boy himself, but at the last moment, Corporal Schnurrbart (Fred Stillkrauth) saves the boy by volunteering to do it. Later, Stransky informs Steiner that he has been promoted to Senior Sergeant, and is puzzled by Steiner's nonchalant response. Stransky also discovers that his adjutant, Lieutenant Triebig (Roger Fritz), is a closet homosexual after Stransky surreptitiously sees Triebig stroking the cheek of an enlisted orderly, Josef Keppler.
While waiting for an anticipated attack, Steiner releases the young Russian, only to see the boy killed by advancing Soviet troops. As Stransky cowers in his bunker, Lieutenant Meyer (Igor Galo), the respected leader of Steiner's company, is killed while leading a successful counterattack. Steiner is wounded in the same battle trying to rescue a German soldier and is sent to a military hospital to recover. There, he is haunted by the faces of the dead men and the boy (in a dream sequence prior to waking from a coma), and has a romantic liaison with his nurse (Senta Berger).
After he has recovered, Steiner is offered a home leave but decides instead to return to his men. When he arrives, Steiner is informed that Stransky has claimed that he, not Meyer, led the successful counterattack, and has been nominated for the Iron Cross. Stransky named as witnesses Triebig (blackmailing him with his homosexuality), and Steiner. Stransky tries to persuade Steiner to corroborate his claim by promising to look after him after the war. Brandt questions Steiner in the hope that he will expose Stransky's lies, but Steiner only states that he hates all officers, even those as "enlightened" as Brandt and Kiesel, and requests a few days to ponder his answer.
When his battalion is ordered to retreat, Stransky does not notify Steiner's platoon, abandoning them. Making their way back through now enemy territory, the men capture an all-female Russian detachment. While Steiner is busy, Zoll (Arthur Brauss), a despised Nazi Party member, takes one of the women into the barn to rape her. She bites off his genitals and he kills her. Meanwhile, young Dietz, left to guard the rest of the women alone, is distracted and killed as well. Disgusted, Steiner locks Zoll up with the vengeful Russian women, taking their uniforms to use as a disguise.
As the men near the German lines, they radio ahead to avoid friendly fire. Stransky suggests to Triebig that Steiner and his men be 'mistaken' for Russians. Triebig orders his men to shoot the incoming Germans; only Steiner, Krüger and Anselm survive. Triebig denies responsibility, but Steiner kills him and goes looking for Stransky.
At this moment, the Soviets launch a major assault. Brandt orders Kiesel to be evacuated, telling him that men like him will be needed to rebuild Germany after the war. Brandt then rallies the fleeing troops for a counterattack. The same children's song plays again, until the final credits.
Steiner confronts Stransky and, instead of killing him, offers him a weapon in order to see "where the crosses of iron grow". Stransky accepts Steiner's "challenge", and they head off together for the battle. The film closes with Stransky trying to figure out how to reload his MP40, while being shot at by an adolescent Russian soldier who resembles the boy-soldier released by Steiner. When Stransky asks Steiner for help, Steiner begins to laugh. The laughter continues through the credits and pictures of civilian victims from World War II and later conflicts.

In 1944 Allied prisoners at a POW camp on an unnamed island are forced to excavate ancient Greek artifacts. The camp Commandant, Major Otto Hecht (Roger Moore), who was an Austrian antiques dealer before the war, is sending some of the valuable pieces to his sister living in Switzerland. However the prisoners have discovered they will be sent to other camps once the artifacts run out, so they arrange to keep ‘discovering’ the same pieces.
While Hecht is content to sit out the war, the SS Commandant of the nearby town, Major Volkmann (Anthony Valentine), is his complete opposite. He and his lieutenants rule brutally, enforcing their discipline with executions of civilian residents.
The only opposition to the Germans is Zeno (Telly Savalas), a former monk, and his few Resistance fighters who use the local brothel, run by his girlfriend Eleana (Claudia Cardinale) as an undercover headquarters. Zeno, who is in contact with Allied Headquarters, is ordered to break the prisoners out of their camp to increase his numbers in order to liberate the town from the Germans and secure a U-Boat refuelling depot.
Two captured USO artists, Charlie (Elliott Gould) and Dottie (Stefanie Powers), perform a concert as cover while the prisoners and the Resistance take over the camp. With the choice of being killed by Zeno or helping them, Hecht joins forces with the Allies, helping them eradicate Volkmann's troops as well as capturing the fuel depot.
On completing the mission, Charlie asks Zeno to lead him and two other prisoners, Judson and Rotelli (Roundtree and Bono) up to the monastery on Mount Athena to steal Byzantine treasures kept there by the monks. However Zeno tells Charlie that the treasure belongs to the Greek people and the situation ends in impasse.
Zeno now receives word that the Allied invasion of the islands has been brought forward. It means that the German garrison in the monastery atop Mount Athena will have to be neutralized. Without revealing the whole truth, Zeno tells Charlie, Rotelli and Judson that in return for helping liberate the monks from the Germans, whatever they find is theirs.
But on climbing to the monastery, the group discover a heavily armed garrison. Zeno uses gas to neutralize most of the soldiers but not before the garrison's commander orders a V-2 launch to destroy the invasion fleet. Judson knocks out the missile control room using grenades, but one of the Germans survives long enough to set the base's self-destruct mechanism. Not realizing the danger immediately, Charlie and Rotelli scour the monastery for the treasure while Judson frees the monks. Zeno finds the self-destruct clock, but cannot deactivate it.
With Zeno and the monks, the Americans escape the monastery before it explodes. Searching for treasure up until the last minute, Charlie escapes the explosion with the only treasure the Germans left behind - tin plates adorned with Hitler's face.
During the victory celebration in the village, Hecht, Charlie, and Dottie make plans to capitalize on treasures Hecht has already looted - making copies to sell to Americans. Professor Blake (David Niven) learns from one of the freed monks that their treasure - Byzantine plates made of gold - are safe, having been hidden in the brothel the entire time.
The final scene cuts to the modern day, by which time Zeno's former headquarters have been turned into a state museum housing the treasures of Mount Athena.

This film opens with the narration: "From early 1942 until the invasion of Europe over a million Americans landed in Britain. They came to serve on other battle fronts or to man the vast U.S. bases in England. Hardly a city, town or village remained untouched."
A small northern town soon finds out that a large U.S. Army base is being established for the build-up to the Normandy landings. Soon thousands of rambunctious American troops, or "Yanks" as they are known to the British, descend upon the area. On leave in the town, an Arizona man, Technical Sergeant Matt Dyson (Richard Gere), encounters Jean Moreton (Lisa Eichhorn) while out to the cinema. She is the fiancée of Ken, a British soldier fighting overseas, and initially rebuffs Matt's advances. He is quite persistent, and she, doubtful about her relationship with Ken, eventually accepts him. The handsome, brash American sergeant is in stark contrast to the restrained Englishmen she has known. Soon, she is keeping company with Matt, though it is largely platonic at first.
For her part, Helen (Vanessa Redgrave) is a bit more worldly in her affairs. Captain John (William Devane) comes to her estate often, and a relationship develops. They are both married, but her husband is away at sea, and his wife is thousands of miles distant.
Eventually, the kind-hearted Matt Dyson is accepted by the Moreton family, notwithstanding Jean's engagement. They welcome his visits, when he, as an army cook, often brings hard-to-find foods normally on wartime rationing and other presents. But when news of Ken's death in action arrives, Jean's ailing mother (Rachel Roberts) condemns their relationship as a kind of betrayal.
Jean and Matt travel together to a Welsh seaside resort, where they make love but without completion. Jean is crushed, although Matt says "not like this." She feels spurned, and that her willingness to risk everything has not been matched by him, concluding that he is "not ready" for her.
Shortly afterwards, the Americans ship out by troop train to Southern England to prepare for D-Day. A characteristic last-minute gift and message from Matt prompt Jean into racing to the railway station. With the town and station a hive of activity, hundreds of the townswomen, some of them pregnant from liaisons with men they may never see again, scramble to catch one last glimpse of their American boyfriends before the train leaves. Matt shouts from the departing train that he will return.

The film deals with the relationships among four men in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the Second World War — Major Jack Celliers (Bowie), a rebellious South African with a guilty secret from his youth; Captain Yonoi (Sakamoto), the young camp commandant; Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence (Conti), a British officer who has lived in Japan and speaks Japanese fluently; and Sergeant Hara (Takeshi), who is seemingly brutal and yet humane in some ways and with whom Lawrence develops a peculiar friendship.
Just as Celliers is tormented with guilt, Yonoi is haunted with shame. Having been posted to Manchuria previously, he was unable to be in Tokyo with his Army comrades, the "Shining Young Officers" of Japan's February 26 Incident, a 1936 military coup d'état. When the coup failed, the young army officers were executed. Yonoi regrets not being able to share their patriotic sacrifice. Jack Celliers had betrayed his younger brother while the two of them were attending boarding school in South Africa. Although Celliers confesses this only to Lawrence, Captain Yonoi senses in Celliers a kindred spirit. He wants to replace British RAAF Group Captain Hicksley (the ranking Allied officer and prisoner representative) with Celliers as the spokesman for the prisoners.
As Celliers is interned in the camp, Yonoi seems to develop a homoerotic fixation with him, often asking Hara about him, silently visiting him in the small hours when Celliers is confined. However, later on, Yonoi becomes enraged by Celliers' behaviour and has him and Lawrence thrown into the punishment cells under the charge of possessing a radio. Celliers, who is known by the nickname of "Strafer" Jack (a strafer is a "soldier's soldier"), instigates a small number of rebellious actions, one of which is supplying the men with food after their rations have been suspended for two days for their actions during a seppuku of a Korean guard, which Yonoi deems as "spiritually lazy". Yonoi's batman (personal servant) suspects the mental hold that Celliers has on Yonoi so he tries to kill Celliers but fails in the attempt. Celliers manages to escape his cell and rescues Lawrence, only to be thwarted by Yonoi unexpectedly. Yonoi challenges Celliers to single combat saying "If you defeat me, you will be free" but Celliers refuses, thrusting his prior assailant's bayonet into the sand. Yonoi's batman then commits seppuku in atonement after urging Yonoi to kill Celliers before Celliers can destroy Yonoi.
A transmission radio is later discovered in the possession of the POWs by the Japanese when Celliers deliberately broke the ration suspension, with Celliers and Lawrence forced to take the blame. Thrown into nearby holding cells, the two men reminiscence about their pasts before their planned execution. During Christmas Eve, a drunken Sergeant Hara orders both Celliers and Lawrence to be brought to him. Hara then tells them that he is playing "Santa Claus," and orders for their release due to another prisoner confessing to having been responsible for the radio. As the men leave, he then calls out for the first time in English, "Merry Christmas, Lawrence!"
Although Yonoi was shocked at Sergeant Hara's release of both Celliers and Lawrence, Sergeant Hara is only mildly reprimanded by Yonoi for exceeding his authority and was to be redeployed elsewhere (with some of the prisoners) to oversee the construction of an airstrip. Hicksley, constantly worried that Yonoi wanted to replace him as the POW camp commander then demanded an explanation.
Furious that Hicksley pressed for an answer (and at the same time consistently denying Yonoi the information that he seeks), the whole camp is paraded on Yonoi's order. All prisoners are prompted to form lines outside the barracks, including sick and moribund ones. The climax of the film is reached when Yonoi is ready to kill the POW's commander for not having all the men present for parade. Celliers breaks the rank and walks decisively in Yonoi's direction, between him and the man about to be executed and ends up resolutely kissing Yonoi on each cheek with a straight face. This is an unbearable offence to Yonoi's bushido honor code; he reaches out for his katana against Celliers, only to collapse under the conflicting feelings of vindicating himself from the offence suffered in front of his troops and his own feelings for Celliers. Celliers is then attacked and beaten up by the Japanese soldiers.
Captain Yonoi himself is then due to be redeployed and his successor who declares that "he is not as sentimental as Captain Yonoi" immediately has Celliers buried in the ground up to his neck as a means of punishment and then left to die. Captain Yonoi goes to Celliers when there is no one around and cuts a lock of hair. He then pays his respects and leaves, and Celliers dies shortly afterwards.
In 1946, four years later, Lawrence visits Sergeant Hara, who has now been imprisoned by the Allied forces. Hara has learned to speak English while in captivity and reveals that he is going to be executed the next day for war crimes, stating that he is not afraid to die, but doesn't understand how his actions were any different from those of any other soldier. Lawrence tells him that Yonoi had given him a lock of Celliers' hair and told him to take it to his village in Japan, where he should place it in a shrine. Hara reminisces about Celliers and Yonoi. It is revealed that Yonoi himself was executed just before the war ended. Hara reminisces about that Christmas Eve and both are very much amused. The two bid each other farewell for the last time and just before Lawrence leaves, Hara calls out again, "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence!"

The young and patriotic student Demachy joins the French army in 1914 to defend his country. But he and his comrades soon experience the terrifying, endless trench war in Champagne, where more and more wooden crosses have to be erected for this cannon fodder.

Billy Lynch (Jimmy McNichol) is a high school student whose parents died in a car accident and has been raised by his aunt, Cheryl (Susan Tyrrell), who is overly protective of him. A gifted basketball player, Billy is offered a chance at a scholarship to attend the University of Colorado, but Cheryl dismisses the idea, assuming that Billy will stay with her to "contribute." At school, Billy is bullied by one of his basketball teammates, Eddie (Bill Paxton), who is jealous of Billy's close friendship with their coach, Tom Landers (Steve Eastin), while Julia (Julia Duffy), the school's journalism photographer, begins to take romantic interest in Billy.
On Billy's seventeenth birthday, Cheryl changes her mind about the scholarship, and asks Billy to stop by the television repair shop to have the technician, Phil Brody, come by to look at their set. That night, after Phil works on their television, Cheryl makes aggressive sexual advances toward him; when he refuses, Cheryl stabs him to death with a kitchen knife. Billy and Cheryl's neighbor friend, Margie arrive immediately after the ordeal, and Cheryl claims Phil attempted to rape her.
A bigoted police detective, Joe Carlson (Bo Svenson) is assigned to the case, and is skeptical of Cheryl and the alleged rape. After discovering that Phil Brody was homosexual, and that he was in a same-sex relationship with Billy's coach, Tom Landers, he incorrectly assumes the murder to be a result of a love triangle between the three men.
Det. Carlson begins regularly questioning Billy, accusing him of being a "fag", and harasses Coach Landers, forcing him to resign from the high school for being gay. Det. Carlson also inquires from Julia about her and Billy's sexual relationship. Meanwhile, Cheryl drugs Billy's milk which causes him to perform poorly at his scholarship tryout, and cleans out the attic so he can have an apartment space in the house. Sergeant Cook (Britt Leach), who has been casing Cheryl's home, believes Billy to be innocent, and is suspicious of Cheryl.
After walking in on Billy and Julia having sex, Cheryl becomes increasingly enraged with Billy. In the attic, Billy finds a photo of a man named Craig, whom Cheryl claims was one of his mother's old boyfriends. Billy asks Julia to come by the house to distract Cheryl so that Billy can investigate further; locked in a box upstairs, he finds his birth certificate, indicating that Cheryl is actually his mother, and that Craig was his father. Meanwhile, downstairs, Cheryl strikes Julia in the head with a meat tenderizer in a fit of jealousy, and again drugs Billy with milk, knocking him unconscious.
Julia awakens in a secret room in the basement, where she discovers Craig's mummified corpse and his severed head in a jar of formaldehyde, next to a makeshift shrine. Cheryl's suspicious neighbor, Margie, arrives shortly after to investigate the goings-on on the property, and is followed into the woods behind the house by Cheryl, who stabs her to death with a machete. Sergeant Cook then enters the house in search of Julia, who has been reported missing by her mother, and is also murdered by Cheryl after discovering Julia in the basement. Cheryl chases Julia out of the house, and they both fall in a pond near the forest, where Cheryl again knocks Julia unconscious.
Billy awakens in the attic, which Cheryl has adorned with his childhood toys, and stumbles downstairs to call the police. While attempting to dial 911, Cheryl attacks him with a knife, and a violent struggle ensues, ending with Billy impaling her with a fireplace poker. Billy calls Coach Landers, asking for help. Shortly after, Det. Carlson arrives at the house, where he finds Coach Landers treating Billy's stab wounds, and sees Cheryl's lifeless body on the floor.
In a rage, Det. Carlson blames Billy and Tom for the crimes, and draws his gun on them, despite Julia's insistent cries that Cheryl was responsible. Coach Landers and Det. Carlson get into a scuffle, during which Billy is able to grab the gun, shooting Carlson multiple times. Carlson bleeds to death in front of the living room piano while Billy and Julia embrace, both crying.

It is June 1940, during the Battle of France. After five-year-old Paulette's parents and pet dog die in a German air attack on a column of refugees fleeing Paris, the traumatized child meets 10-year-old Michel Dollé whose peasant family takes her in. She quickly becomes attached to Michel. The two attempt to cope with the death and destruction that surrounds them by secretly building a small cemetery among the ruins of an abandoned watermill, where they bury her dog and start to bury other animals, marking their graves with crosses stolen from a local graveyard, including one belonging to Michel's brother. Michel's father first suspects that Michel's brother's cross was stolen from the graveyard by his neighbour. Eventually, the father finds out that Michel has stolen the cross.
Meanwhile, the French gendarmes come to the Dollé household in order to take Paulette. Michel cannot bear the thought of her leaving and tells his father that he would tell him where the stolen crosses are, but in return he should not give Paulette to the gendarmes. His father doesn't keep his promise: Michel destroys the crosses and Paulette ends up going to a Red Cross camp, but at the end of the movie is seen running away into a crowd of people in the Red Cross camp, crying for Michel and then for her mother.

During the Western Desert Campaign of World War II, two Allied officers in Egypt are interviewed to lead a dangerous commando mission far behind enemy lines in Benghazi. Major David Brand, a South African, is a regular army officer but lacks experience of combat and of commanding men in the field. He does not speak Arabic and has only a limited knowledge of the area in Libya in which the patrol is to operate. Captain Jimmy Leith, a Welshman, is the opposite; an amateur volunteer with extensive knowledge of the area who knows a local guide and speaks fluent Arabic as well. It is decided that both officers will go, with Major Brand in command. The men see Brand as a disciplinarian - "the only thing he's slept with is the rule book".
Major Brand's wife Jane is a WRAF Flight Officer who enlisted to be near her husband. When Brand invites Leith to drinks with his wife, he picks up the fact that the two had previously had an affair before she married Brand. Leith had walked out on her without explanation.
The unit parachutes behind enemy lines with the mission of attacking a German headquarters and bringing back secret plans from a safe to be opened by Wilkins, an experienced safecracker. Dressed as local civilians, Brand's hand shakes with fright when he has to knife a German sentry; the deed is done by Leith.
The mission is completed successfully with only one death and one man wounded of the British soldiers. The patrol ambushes a German detachment, capturing Oberst Lutze, who Brandt knows was responsible for the secret information. Possibly in the hope of getting rid of Leith, Brandt leaves him alone with two seriously wounded men, one British, one German. Leith decides to put them out of their pain. He shoots the German, who pleads for his life. The Briton encourages Leith to act quickly, and get it over with. Leith puts his pistol to the soldier’s head and fires, but there are no bullets left. Rather than reloading, Leith picks the man up, and sets out to carry him to safety. The ironic use of music here, a heroic march, is unusually powerful. The man cries out in agony and curses Leith’s failure, but dies before Leith puts him down again. Leith, whose Arab friend has joined him, then catches up with the rest of the unit.
The patrol is supposed to escape on camels, but they discover the men left with them have been murdered and the camels taken. During the long march back across the desert, Brand's animosity towards Leith grows, not only due to the affair with his wife, but to Brand's fear that Leith will reveal him as a coward to headquarters and destroy his career. While the group are resting, Brand sees a scorpion climb up the leg of Leith's trousers but does not warn him in time. When Leith is stung, Brand refrains from shooting him as his orders permit and lets him die in pain during a sandstorm. The men believe he killed him.
A patrol eventually picks up the group and takes them back to HQ. Brand's wife is distraught to learn of Leith's death, and when Brand is immediately awarded the Distinguished Service Order, instead of congratulating him, she walks off disconsolate. In the closing shot Brand ruefully pins the medal on a stuffed dummy.

Shortly after the failed 1944 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler (Billy Frick), he appoints General Dietrich von Choltitz (Gert Fröbe) as military governor of occupied Paris. Hitler believes Choltitz will obey his order that the Allies should not be allowed to capture Paris without the Germans destroying it completely, similar to the planned destruction of Warsaw.
The French Resistance learn that the Allies are not planning to take Paris, but are heading straight to Germany instead. The two factions within the Resistance react to this news differently. The Gaullists want to wait and see, while the Communists want to take action. The Communists force the issue by calling for a general uprising by the citizens of Paris and by occupying important government buildings. The Gaullists go along with this plan of action once it is set in motion.
Initially, Choltitz is intent on following Hitler's order to level the city. After his troops fail to dislodge the Resistance from the Prefecture of Police, he orders the German air force to bomb the building but withdraws the order at the urging of the Swedish Consul, Raoul Nordling (Orson Welles), who points out that bombs that miss the Prefecture risk destroying nearby culturally invaluable buildings such as the Notre Dame Cathedral. Choltitz accepts a truce offer from the Resistance (conceived by the Gaullist faction), but the Communists want to keep on fighting, in spite of a lack of ammunition. The truce is, therefore, shortened to one day and the fighting resumes.
After learning that the Germans plan to destroy Paris (the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks are rigged with explosives), a messenger from the Resistance is sent across enemy lines to contact the Americans. He implores the Allies to act and afterwards U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the Free French Forces under General Charles de Gaulle the go-ahead to move on Paris.
As the military situation deteriorates, Choltitz delays the order to destroy Paris, believing that Hitler is insane and that the war is lost, making the destruction of Paris a futile gesture. He chooses instead to surrender shortly after the Allies enter the city.
As the Free French Forces and De Gaulle parade down the streets of Paris, greeted by cheering crowds, a phone receiver off the hook is seen with a voice in German repeatedly asking "Is Paris burning?" From the air, Paris is seen, its buildings still standing.

New York drug dealer Monty Brogan is arrested for drug possession with intent to sell, and sentenced to seven years in prison. He spends his last night of freedom with two friends, contemplating his uncertain future and the decisions he made that brought him to this point.

The film starts off with a man, named Schlomo (Lionel Abelanski), running crazily through a forest, with his voice playing in the background, saying that he has seen the horror of the Nazis in a nearby town, and he must tell the others. Once he gets into town, he informs the rabbi, and together they run through the town and once they have got enough people together, they hold a town meeting. At first, many of the men do not believe the horrors they are being told, and many criticize Schlomo, for he is the town lunatic, and who could possibly believe him? But the rabbi believes him, and then they try to tackle the problem of the coming terrors. Amidst the pondering and the arguing, Schlomo suggests that they build a train, so they can escape by deporting themselves. Some of their members pretend to be Nazis in order to ostensibly transport them to a concentration camp, when in reality, they are going to Palestine via Russia. Thus the Train of Life is born.
On their escape route through rural Eastern Europe, the train sees tensions between its inhabitants, close encounters with real Nazis as well as Communist partisans, and fraternization with gypsies, until the community arrives just at the frontlines between German and Soviet fire.
Its ends with the voice-over of Schlomo himself, who tells the stories of his companions after the arrival of the train in the Soviet Union: Some went on to Palestine, some stayed in the Soviet Union, and some even made it to America. As he is telling this, a cut to a close-up of his face happens as he says, "That is the true story of my shtetl...", but then the camera makes a quick zoom-out, revealing him grinning and wearing prisoner's clothes behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp, and he ends with, "Ye nu, almost the true story!" Thus, it is implicated that he became mad because of having seen most of his companions exterminated, having made up the whole story for himself in his lunacy.
