Original subtitles

- Come on you guys.

See what they got on 'em, come on hit it.

Check 'em for grenades.

- Potter!

- Yeah, lieutenant?

- Did you order this attack?

- Well I guess I did, sir.

- And what was the provocation?

- Provocation?

Well, I took a look-see down the hill

and I saw about half a dozen krauts.

Now the sight of krauts always seems

like a provocation to me, lieutenant.

- Cover up those bodies with snow

and join me in that clump of pines.

- You got the word, girls.

Cover them bodies.

What's the skinny, lieutenant?

- I don't want to have to remind you again, sergeant,

that this is strictly a recon patrol.

We're to avoid all enemy contact.

- They saw us first, sir.

Up there on the hill?

You were out scouting, you wouldn't have noticed.

- Roost get regiment? - Yes sir.

- All right, now hear this.

- Baker queen five to baker queen.

- You did a good job back there

but that's not what we came for.

- Baker queen baker queen. - As long as this weather

stay socked in the Ski Troops are the division's only eyes

behind the German lines.

- Baker queen five to baker queen. Over.

- Hello baker queen five, this is baker queen. Over.

- Stand by baker queen.

- Baker queen, this is CO baker queen five.

I'm on your map 75D14 at coordinates K32 and six minutes.

Over.

- Make your report baker queen five. Over.

- Engaged and destroyed enemy patrol.

Shoulder patches indicate seventh wotham SS.

Any orders? Over.

- Conditions static, you are to proceed as ordered.

Over and out.

Permission to add, sir?

- No, we'll go on for a couple of miles

then we'll make camp.

All right, let's move out.

Okay, we shack up here. Chow down, sir.

- When I get home, I'm gonna buy me a hammock.

- Boy I sure wish we could heat this stuff up.

- The only thing to do with sea rations

is throw 'em up.

- Lieutenant sir. - Yes, Grammelsbacher?

- Do you think them krauts

is really gettin' ready to throw somethin' big at us?

- I don't know.

But if they're going to they better try it fast.

The other side of that range is Rhineland.

75% of all German war industry is centered there.

- Oh heck, if we take that we sure enough win the war.

- If you say so, Grammelsbacher.

- Herman outta know, he's been to military school.

- And what's the matter with that?

And it ain't school, it's academy.

- Nah, I used to get you cruds in basic.

Big guns who'd been play acting

captains and majors in school.

Couple of days of my treatment shaped 'em up fast.

- Now that's not right, sergeant.

All the teachers in our academy were Army officers.

Now I learned a lot more there

than in eight weeks of basic training.

- Well aren't you a smart young cracker?

I wish I'd had you in my outfit.

- And what would you have done with him, sergeant?

- I make 'em or break 'em, 'cause the Army needs men.

But it takes time.

You can't make an Army man in eight weeks.

Or 90 days.

- That's a shrewd observation, sergeant.

We'd better get some shut eye.

We're going to ridge 805 in the morning.

Right, lieutenant.

- What did you go to military school for?

- I was made to. - Yeah, who made you?

- My family.

This may sound funny, but I don't really believe in war.

- I don't believe in Santa Claus but my kid does.

I don't think those Germans out there care

whether you believe in war or not.

- How many kids you got?

- Just one. - How old is he?

- 3 1/2. When I left home he had the chicken pox.

He's okay now.

You want to see his picture?

- Well, he don't look nothing like you at all.

- Oh, yeah? - No, he's good lookin'.

- Oh, come on.

- Ciccola, you know how many times

you've showed me this picture?

- I've never showed it to you before.

- Only about four or five times.

You never showed me a picture of your wife

but you showed me a picture of your boy.

- I never get lone, except at night.

I wish my wife was here with me right now.

- I'd just like to be anywhere but here.

I don't even mean home necessarily.

- Mississippi? - Biloxi.

- You got a girl? - Back home?

- Anywhere. - I got a girl in Biloxi.

- Are you gonna marry her? - I don't know.

We'll see how things are when I get back home.

- Is she one of those Southern girls?

- Yeah, big girl.

- Big how?

Big.

- Ciccola, are you still smokin' that thing?

How long you been smokin' that?

- Two weeks.

- Boy you must really like those.

- I been smokin' 'em since I was a kid.

- Maybe that's what stunted your growth.

- You smoke, lieutenant? - Sometimes.

- Didn't stunt your growth none, did it?

- You are a smart cracker.

- I didn't mean to offend you, lieutenant,

I was just tryin' to be friendly.

- Grammelsbacher, that's a German name, isn't it?

- Yes sir.

- You don't seem to have inherited

any of their respect for authority.

- No, I respect authority, sir.

It's just that I think that they're human beings

and I'm a human being.

Now if we was in some base somewhere

we wouldn't be talkin' like this.

Where you from, lieutenant? - Seattle.

Seattle, Washington. Land of the rain.

- Does it rain a lot there?

- I guess they get about 40 inches of rain a year.

They have great skiing in the winter, though.

- They don't have anything on us here.

- Hey, what's with Potter, lieutenant?

- Potter's all right. He's a good soldier.

He's regular Army.

I guess he feels we're just a bunch of civilians in uniform.

- I don't think he likes me.

- I don't think it's anything personal.

He just resents what you represent.

- I resent what you represent too, Grammelsbacher.

- Oh come on, cut it out. - All right, that's enough.

Now tomorrow we're gonna split up into two groups.

We can cover more area that way.

Roost will go with Potter, you two will stick with me.

We'll join up with them just below 805

at approximately 09:00.

There's one other thing.

This is a reconnaissance patrol.

The less German reconnaissance knows about us

the easier our job's gonna be.

That means no contact with the enemy

unless absolutely necessary.

That clear?

Okay.

We got an early start in the morning

so you'd better hit the sack.

Ciccola, you take the first watch.

- All right.

Everybody down!

Anybody see where it came from?

- Down that gully.

- All right, Ciccola.

You circle around to the left,

try to get in behind them.

I'll go around to the right.

Grammelsbacher, you cover us from behind that log.

- This road isn't marked on the map.

- Hey what the heck is that noise?

- What noise? Everybody off the road!

Get regiment fast.

- It's like a big push, lieutenant.

- It's the first indication of a passing division

within 50 miles of here.

- Baker queen, this is baker queen five.

Baker queen, this is baker queen five. Over.

- Keep at it, Roost.

They couldn't hear if you set up a cannon.

- They're just sitting ducks, lieutenant.

- So are we, sergeant.

- Yeah, but I'd rather be killing krauts

than sitting on my duff.

- Baker queen five to baker queen.

- Baker queen to baker queen five.

What do you want, make it quick. Over.

- What's goin' on back there? Over.

- Don't you have ears, buddy? Over.

- This is CO baker queen five.

I have a Panzer division on an unmarked road.

Your map 75D14 at coordinates K34 and eight minutes. Over.

- Sorry sir, the whole front is blown apart.

I think regimental command was caught in the first assault.

Over. - Can you give me any idea

of the extent of the offensive, over.

- It looks like several divisions.

They're pushing a bulge in the Ardennes sector.

The whole front's wide open.

They say von Rundstedt's directing it.

Over and I've gotta get out! - Okay.

And if you find anyone of authority

tell me I'm proceeding independently, over and out.

- Sure has gotten quiet all of the sudden.

- It's always like that, just before something happens.

We can expect another convoy in a few minutes.

Follow me, we're gonna have a conference.

Conference?

Lieutenant, you said we was gonna have a conference?

- That's what I said, Sergeant Potter.

In the last 10 minutes the situation

has changed in every respect.

Not only for this patrol

but probably for the entire Western Front.

Now there are two things we can do,

we can turn back and try to rejoin the outfit

or we can keep going,

marking the roads and scouting the enemy advance.

Now, the final decision up to me

but I'd like to hear any ideas you might have.

- Lieutenant sir? - Yes, Grammelsbacher?

- In my opinion, this patrol find itself

in a position of a rare opportunity.

We're in the rear of a disorganized front

and we probably constitute the only reconnaissance unit

available to the allied forces.

I think we should keep right on going, sir,

and report everything we see.

- What do you have to say, Sergeant Potter?

- Well lieutenant, I think we oughta go back

where the fighting is.

Where any man with guts would want to be, sir.

- I can sympathize with your opinion, Sergeant Potter.

But Private Grammelsbacher's right.

We do have a rare opportunity

to report directly to headquarters

what the Germans are up to.

We're gonna take that opportunity.

We'll follow that road,

marking it and scouting the enemy advance.

We'll use the weather as a time limit.

When it clears up and our planes are able

to come over and scout then we'll start back.

All right, let's move out.

- Nice work, Napoleon.

- That's all right, son, just a simple command problem.

- We can always get you a division, Grammelsbacher.

- All right, let's knock off the skylarking and move out.

- When this war is over I'm goin' to Miami.

- It's sorta nice, I remember one winter back in Salt Lake-

- You guys ain't seen nothin'

'til you spend the winter in the stockyard.

- Whoo.

- Potter!

- They'll be here in about a minute.

There's no place to hide,

what are you gonna do now, lieutenant?

Well, what did they teach you about this in OCS, lieutenant?

- There's a German patrol heading straight for us.

Roost? - Yes sir.

- Get up on that ledge.

When the patrol gets near, open fire.

Get moving. - Good luck, Roost.

- Now, the rest of us will go around to the right.

As soon as Roost draws their fire

we'll attack from the rear.

We time this right they won't have a chance.

- What chance will Roost have?

- Let's move out!

- All right you guys, search them bodies for food.

- Something amusing happen, sergeant?

- No sir, not thing one.

We're out of rations, lieutenant.

Looks to me like we're gonna have to go back,

no matter what the deal is.

- Not at all, remember that log cabin

about three miles northeast of here?

- Yeah, I remember it.

- I noticed some shacks behind it,

looked like chicken coups.

We're gonna go back there tonight

and see what we can pick up. - Fried chicken?

Well shut my mouth. - At ease, Grammelsbacher.

Fall in and clean them pieces.

Looks like we're gonna stage a little attack

on Heidi and her grandfather.

- Now don't move, baby, just don't move.

It's okay Sarge.

- You speak English, fraulein?

Grammelsbacher, search your weapons,

check over at the window.

- You're Americans?

Here in Germany?

- I'm afraid so, sweetheart.

- This can't be.

- She's right, the fuhrer promised, you know?

- The hasenpfeffer and the wiener schnitzel

are the watch on the rang.

- What's that, Grammelsbacher?

- I said, how are ya', sweetheart.

The rabbit stew and the veal cutlet

are the watch on the rang.

- You said what?

- But that's all the German that I know.

- You do speak English, fraulein?

Are there any German troops around here?

- You had better leave.

Stop!

- Easy sergeant.

- Out in the forest, there are hundreds of German troops.

You had better leave or you will all destroyed.

- She's lyin', lieutenant. - I know.

Ciccola, Grammelsbacher, take another look around outside

then get the chickens.

Leave a couple for her.

Hail to the conquering hero.

Here chick, chick, chick.

Come on so I can cut your head off.

- What the crud are those guys doin'

to them chickens, lieutenant?

Whatever it is, it's against the law.

- Go ahead, have some. Do you good.

Feel better?

- Dankeschön.

- How 'bout fixin' us a pot of coffee?

- Cafe?

I'll fix your cafe. if you like burnt bally seeds.

Just so long as it's hot.

- What do you think our women would act like

if a stinkin' kraut patrol

came waltzin' in on them, lieutenant?

- 'Bout the same, I imagine.

We all think it's impossible to lose.

- What'd she do, lieutenant?

- She put poison in the coffee.

- Well that lousy no good son of a-

- Sergeant!

Start packin' up the chow.

- Yes, sir.

- Your husband?

- Yes. He's fighting in Russia.

- Russian front, that's pretty rough.

Looks like he'll be coming home pretty soon.

- Not soon.

The Russian front is being shortened and adjusted.

Karl will be home after the German victory in Moscow.

- Do you really believe that?

- Hitler has never lied to the German people.

The new secret weapons are almost ready

and then you will see the trap into which you have walked.

At this moment von Rundstedt is crushing your Eisenhower.

Soon the victory will be ours, then we have peace.

- Well, it was nip and tuck for awhile but we got 'em.

Now what do we do with 'em?

- You killed all my chickens?

- Ah shucks, fraulein, we left a couple for ya'.

A boy and a girl.

- Don't call me fraulein. I'm Frau Heinsdorf.

Take everything from my house.

Soon I shall have it all back.

From your house too.

- I'll pick and clean 'em.

- I never thought the spoils of war would taste so good.

- What'd I tell ya'?

- I never thought I'd be embarrassed of taking it.

- What do you care, she's a stinkin' kraut, ain't she?

- Well that's no way to talk about her.

- Well what the crud did I say?

She is a stinkin' kraut, ain't she?

She can't help it, she was born that way.

- Do you think all Germans are freaks, sergeant?

- Well lieutenant, you gotta be a freak

to start a stinkin' war with the whole world.

You gotta be off your stick.

- Why do you say we started the war?

- Who else, sweetheart? The Eskimos?

- The Poles started the war.

Then the French and the English declared war on us.

Why do you bomb our cities and kill our children

and then say we started the war?

Why?

- Fraulein, you're able sugar.

As ape as that stinkin' crick you got up there on the wall.

- All right, pack up your gear and move out.

- Yes sir.

- Well boys, merry Christmas. - Thank you, lieutenant.

- Likewise and more of the same.

- We hope. - Christmas, 1944.

In the land of the Christmas tree.

It's a little bit unreal. - Yes sir, it is.

I'm looking forward to next Christmas.

- In the land of the beer and the hot dogs.

- Well heck, this is the land of beer and hot dogs, sarge.

- What do ya' mean?

- Sure, beer's the national drink.

The hot dogs are frankfurters. From Frankfurt.

- And hamburgers are from Hamburg.

- What?

- And sauerkraut is from Kreuzberg.

- Oh, yeah, well how 'bout Coca-Cola?

From Cocacolasberg!

- Well, what did you see, Grammelsbacher?

Grammelsbacher. I'm gonna call ya' Herman.

- Thank you, sir.

I didn't see a cotton pickin' thing.

- Hey, maybe we can spend New Year's Eve

with the outfit, huh?

- Really sergeant? How do you figure that?

- Well we done our job and we done her good.

We've been over every inch of 75D14,

we marked down every cruddy road and bridge

and tunnel and railroad, we're done.

And I drink to us.

- You're right, Sergeant Potter.

You're absolutely right.

We have finished with 75D14, now take a look at 75D16.

- Six?

- The Germans are still coming through

and it looks like they're coming through this sector.

I want to find out where.

- Lieutenant, I don't see what that-

- Sergeant! I guess I didn't make myself clear.

We are going on and we're going to avoid all enemy contact.

Are there any questions, sergeant?

- No sir.

- Merry Christmas.

- Will you look at that mamma-jammin' bridge, sarge?

- It took a lot of sweat to build a bridge like that.

- Which way to Mississippi?

- Straight up, boys, straight up.

- Sure looks like a perfect target to me.

- Nah, it's a lousy target.

- Why she's a sittin' duck for a dive bomber.

- Sergeant Potter's right.

An almost impossible target from the air,

but not impossible from the ground

so we're gonna blow it up.

That's the way the Germans are movin' up.

We're gonna do what the planes can't do.

- How, lieutenant?

- Let's take cover and figure out how.

If we take this nest we can get enough mortar shells

to blow up anything in sight.

They'll be after us in a hurry

so we can't afford to leave tracks.

We'll climb the face of the cliff

and come down on them from the top,

skipping the trail all together.

- Yeah, but suppose the krauts in the nest

happen to look up while we're climbin' down the ropes?

- If that happens, sergeant,

you may have the honor of dropping the first grenade.

- How are we gonna convert mortar shells

into charges for the bridge?

- Well I can handle that, I had demolition training.

- Give the kid an A+.

Okay, let's get the skis hidden.

Come on girls!

- I think I dropped something, boys.

- You fathead. - Never mind the talk.

Let's get this stuff packed up and beat it

before the relief shows up. - What's this?

- Teller mine, we can plant that on some road, lieutenant.

- Sarge, we can use that to set off the charges.

- Set that on the railroad track, a train hits it,

kablooey, that's all she wrote.

- Good, ensures this arm,

pack it up and let's get outta here.

Okay, take five.

- I hope you guys are good mountain climbers.

Sure looks like Everest to me.

- I'll tell ya' sarge, I plum forgot my oxygen tank.

- One thing's for sure, if we can't reach the top

we can always reach the bottom.

- There's a shelf to the right of the bridge.

That's our main objective.

When we get there we'll arm the mine, and the mortar shells.

Check the stress points, okay, let's go.

- As General Robert E. Lee once said,

"Off we go into the wild blue yonder."

- We'll move up and to the left.

- Whatever you say, lieutenant.

- Krauts! - What do we do now?

- We keep movin'. - We could lay for 'em easy.

- Nothin' doin', the bridge is the most important thing.

If we can keep our lead we can blow it.

We'll worry about them later, come on.

- Take a look at this.

- We can't go back now, lieutenant.

They could knock us out for sure.

- Now let's start cutting steps.

- Ciccola!

Get back down there and give us cover.

Ciccola!

Fall back!

Blow the steps.

Let's get out of here.

Duck!

- What was that?

- That was a grenade.

Just blew out about five feet of ledge behind us.

I don't think we'll have to worry

about them Germans anymore, lieutenant.

Even if I do say so myself.

- You stupid bonehead, do you realize what you've done?

- Huh?

- You've cut off our retreat off this iceberg,

how are we supposed to get back down the mountain?

- Sorry sir, I didn't figure. - You didn't figure.

You better start figurin', mister.

I've heard nothin' but your big mouth

talkin' about the regular Army

and how smart old sergeants are supposed to be.

I hope you get smart by the time we're ready to go.

All right, there's a sheltered area

at the end of this ledge,

we'll make that our base camp

and the attack on the bridge, let's go.

We'll make camp for tonight.

I want two men on guard at that rock at all times.

Ciccola and Grammelsbacher first.

- Ciccola, did you ever stop to think

that there might be a bullet somewhere

with your name printed on it?

- Are you crazy or something?

- I got a mental picture of some fat, old German woman

in some factory somewhere stuffin' bullets into a clip.

One of 'em has my name on it.

In that black heavy German type.

I can imagine that clip being sent up to the front.

Sometimes I pretend that the box of ammo

that the clip is in falls off a truck

or gets swiped by some kids,

or maybe gets sent up to Russia by mistake.

There are other times I can see that old bullet

comin' right for my head and I duck,

sticks right into a tree and I walk over,

take the bullet and put it in my pocket

and then I know I'm okay for the rest of the war.

- Supposin' they make two bullets with your name on it.

- Now there's a hundred million soldiers

fightin' these here krauts

and they couldn't make two bullets for every one of them.

- No, but they could accidentally print your name twice.

Look, supposin' the machine got stuck, see,

and it began to print your name on every bullet.

Miles and miles of bullets.

Printed. Herman Grammelsbacher.

Now come on, Yankee.

Well, somebody just got a million dollar wound.

- That wasn't no real hand.

- It was a real hand holding it.

- At least now we know we can go back over the gap.

- All right, keep this ledge covered.

I'm gonna get a closer look at the bridge.

Now one man can hold this ledge indefinitely

as long he watches out for grenades.

Now the bridge is about 100 feet above us.

Three of us will go on ahead tonight and arm the charges.

As soon as it gets light we'll plant them on the bridge.

Herman, I want you stay here and hold this position

while the rest of us go on ahead.

Let's move.

This appears to be the best spot for planting the charges.

Here, here, and here.

- I sure wish we could do it now, lieutenant.

- So do I but it's too dark.

When the first light appears we'll plant the mortar shells,

that's the easy part.

The tough job is planting the mine on the tracks

and getting back here before a train comes along.

- Okay, lieutenant, but who plants the mine?

- Well, I won't order anybody to do that.

Odd man gets lucky.

- Well I guess I lucked out.

- Better luck next time, princy!

- Time to move out. - Wow.

When will I ever be warm again?

- Sure hope this stuff works.

That Grammelsbacher swings a lot of bull, ya' know.

- Train hits the mine, it hits the batteries too,

I don't see how we could miss.

- What happens if the mine don't work?

- You sound like you hope it won't.

- No lieutenant, but I'd rather be killin' krauts

than messin' around with this cruddy homemade bomb.

- Don't worry sergeant,

you're gonna have plenty of fightin' before we're done.

And if nothing happens and they spot us from the train

you won't have to go lookin' for a fight.

- All right, lieutenant, I'm not worried.

You'll find a place for us to hide.

- Pick up your stuff and move out.

The three main supports.

I'll take the one on the center.

Potter, you take the one on the left.

Ciccola, the one on the right.

Got it? - Okay, lieutenant.

- Let's go.

Help me!

- Hand!

- Thanks lieutenant. - Forget it.

Sergeant, I'm worried about something.

- What's that, sir? - We shouldn't all be out here

without a guard back at the cliff.

- We'll be okay, sir.

Grammelsbacher can take care of anything that comes up.

We got to set these charges. - I guess maybe you're right.

Here's your end of the wire.

Make it secure and then drop the other end down.

I'll run it on over to the center support.

- Yes, sir, here, let me get outta your way.

- Okay Ciccola, get set to place the mine,

but wait for my signal to be sure you're in the clear.

- Yes, sir, from that tree over there?

- That's the one, now, do you need anything else?

- Yes sir, have you got a parachute?

- I'll see ya' later. - Yeah.

- Take it easy, Ciccola. - Yeah.

- Grammelsbacher!

- Support Herman, I'm goin' up that tree.

- Is Ciccola coming? - No.

- They're up there behind that cliff, sergeant,

they're afraid to show their faces.

- Good. Let's make a play for the ledge, come on.

- What happened to Ciccola? - He didn't make it.

Let's go.

- Hey, you can't-

- Potter cover us.

Grammelsbacher, get the skis.

Potter, get your skis, I'll cover ya'.

All right, let's get out of here!

You all right, Herman? - Yes sir.

I guess those krauts finally got me.

- Can you make it? - I think so.

- Here, grab hold of this ski pole.

- Can you get up? - Not anymore, sir.

You guys go on, I'll cover ya' as long as I can.

- Okay Herman, good luck. - Thank you, lieutenant.

- Take it easy boy.

- Thank you, sarge.

- Potter.

Drop a grenade.

Well sergeant, did you get enough fighting?

- I guess so, lieutenant.

- Okay.

Let's get outta here.