Private David Manning of the
28th Infantry Division survives the
Battle of the Hürtgen Forest and unwillingly accepts a battlefield promotion to sergeant by his company commander, Captain Roy Pritchett. Attempts to be discharged under
Section 8 as mentally unfit due to combat stress are fruitless, and Manning takes charge of a platoon of inexperienced replacement soldiers. When Manning puts Private Warren Sanderson on point for a patrol, Sanderson gets separated from the squad and is scorned by his peers when he returns. Manning is berated by newly assigned First Lieutenant Terrence Lukas, and their company continues the advance toward the town of Schmidt and a key bridge. They are fired on in an enemy minefield and forced back. Pritchett asks Manning for volunteers to destroy enemy guns, and promises him a Section 8 if he accomplishes the mission. During the mission, Private Sam Baxter flees in panic, starting a rout. Manning shoots Baxter, igniting the
flamethrower on his back. Horrified by his fiery death, the men resume the attack and led by Sanderson succeed in destroying the guns, enabling Manning's company to attack the bridge. Suffering heavy casualties they secure the bridge but retreat in the face of a German tank counterattack. Lonnie is killed, Despin is captured, and Manning and Sanderson escape. Pritchett cracks under pressure and is ordered off the line before he can uphold his promise to Manning. The battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel George Rickman, asks the traumatized Lukas about the status of his platoon. Lukas snaps, assaults him, and is led away. Manning confronts Rickman with the blood-soaked dog tags Lukas dropped. Despite the insubordination, Rickman reluctantly promotes him to lieutenant to take command of Lukas' platoon. Talbot and Corporal Toby Chamberlain confront Manning for shooting Baxter. In the ensuing altercation, Manning reveals a plan to destroy the German tanks the night before the assault. Chamberlain fears Manning will shoot them as he did Baxter but Sanderson defends Manning who explains the battalion could be wiped out during the next day's attack if they don't destroy the tanks. Manning leads Talbot, Chamberlain, and Sanderson in a pre-dawn raid on the German tanks without the battalion's knowledge. They traverse a minefield and a barbed wire obstacle, and destroy the tanks with a
bazooka. Only Sanderson and Manning, who is left severely wounded, survive the assault. While being carried back to friendly lines by Sanderson, Manning loses consciousness from his wounds. An epilogue states that after three months of heavy combat, the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest claimed more than 24,000 American casualties, with little justification for so great a sacrifice. The battle itself was overshadowed by the
Battle of the Bulge soon afterward. ==Cast==