During WWII, a platoon of American soldiers trudge through the Italian countryside in search of a bridge they have been ordered to blow up, encountering danger and destruction along the way.

In the 1943 invasion of Italy, one American platoon lands, digs in, then makes its way inland to blow up a bridge next to a fortified farmhouse, as tension and casualties mount. Unusually realistic picture of war as long quiet stretches of talk, punctuated by sharp, random bursts of violent action whose relevance to the big picture is often unknown to the soldiers.—Rod Crawford <[email protected]>

1943. A disparate group of infantrymen form the lead platoon of the Texas Division, they who have to rely on each other despite their differences, both to accomplish their mission but also to survive especially in combat. In the overnight hours against possible enemy fire, they have just landed on a beach in Salerno, Italy, where they discover their mission is to commandeer a farmhouse approximately six miles away - they having no idea who or what is inside - as a strategic base to blow up a nearby bridge. With injuries and casualties in that beach landing, the person who leads them on their march to the farmhouse - the highest ranking injury-free man - is Sgt. Eddie Porter, not the most well equipped mentally to take on this task, compared to some others, such as Sgt. Bill Tyne. While there are possible dangers all along the way to the completion of the mission, if they are able to accomplish their task, there are dangers in the form of Porter himself and the scattered leadership possibly leading to lack of focus on the task at hand.—Huggo

September 1943. The Allied invasion of mainland Italy at Salerno has begun. A platoon of US infantrymen is tasked with taking a farmhouse and blowing a bridge several kilometres inland. After several setbacks they set off for their objective, facing an enemy of unknown strength and location.—grantss