The Movie

In mid-December 1944, Jim Layton (Marshall Thompson) and his buddy, William J. Hooper, replacement soldiers fresh from the United States, are assigned to separate companies in a battalion of glider infantry in the 101st Airborne Division. Holley (Van Johnson) returns to the company after recuperating from a wound. Layton discovers that as the new man in the squad, he is ignored and unwanted.

Instead of going on leave, the squad is trucked back to the front to help stop a surprise German breakthrough in the Ardennes. They stop that night in the town of Bastogne. The platoon is put up for the night in the apartment of a local young woman, Denise (Denise Darcel), with whom Holley hopes to fraternize. Their comfort is brief. The next morning, led by Platoon Sgt. Kinnie (James Whitmore), they march to the outskirts of town and are ordered to dig in. As Layton is the odd man he is forced to dig his foxhole alone. Just as their positions are nearly prepared, they are moved abruptly to a new location and have to begin digging again.

Holley, Layton, and Kippton (Douglas Fowley) stand guard that night at a roadblock. A patrol of German soldiers, disguised as American G.I.s, infiltrates their position and later blows up a nearby bridge. In the morning, the squad awakes to find themselves in a heavy winter storm. Roderigues (Ricardo Montalbán), a latino from Los Angeles, is delighted by the novelty of snow, but his foxhole mate Pop Stazak (George Murphy), awaiting a "dependency discharge" that will send him to America, rolls over and goes back to sleep. Layton discovers that Hooper's company is nearby, so he goes over to see his friend, only to find that he had been killed hours before by a mortar shell.

Kinnie informs the squad about the infiltration and sends out a patrol — Holley, Roderigues, and Jarvess (John Hodiak)— to search the woods. Just before they start out, the platoon is shelled by German artillery, during which Bettis (Richard Jaeckel) panics and runs away. During the barrage, Layton informs his squad leader, Sgt. Wolowicz (Bruce Cowling), of his name and finds for the first time that he has been accepted as a part of the squad. Holley's patrol encounters the same group of infiltrators, and in a brief skirmish, Roderigues is wounded by machine-gun fire from an enemy tank. He is unable to walk, so Holley hastily conceals him under a disabled jeep half-buried in snow, promising to return for him. Unfortunately, Roderigues is left over night and is discovered the next day frozen to death.

Wolowicz, wounded by shellfire, and a sick Standiferd (Don Taylor) are sent back to a field hospital, further depleting the squad. Holley becomes the new squad leader, partnered with Layton, while Pop Stazak is paired with Hansan (Herbert Anderson). The squad, starved for news, finds out from a copy of the Stars and Stripes that they are making a "heroic stand" in Bastogne, from their medic that the field hospital has been captured by the Germans, and from Kippton that the 101st is surrounded.

Moved again and again, 3rd Platoon is attacked at dawn. Just when it appears the platoon will be overrun, Hansan is wounded, and Holley loses his nerve and starts to run away. Layton follows Holley and afraid of being a coward in front of the younger man, Holley regains his courage and leads a flanking counterattack that defeats the German attack. Jarvess's partner, Abner Spudler (Jerome Courtland), is killed while trying to put on his wet boots.

The squad runs into Bettis doing K.P. duty in the rear and gets a hot meal. In the brief respite, Holley shows his indifference to the plight of civilian victims of the war, angering Jarvess, who was a newspaper columnist before the war. Holley discovers that Layton is a quick learner, finding him being entertained by Denise. Later, while on guard duty, they encounter a party of Germans who have come under a flag of truce to offer Brig. Gen. McAuliffe terms for surrender; McAuliffe gives the puzzled Germans his famous answer, "Nuts!"

In the bitter and foggy weather, the squad is short of supplies – bad weather has grounded the transport planes which could have airlifted them in. Several men attend impromptu outdoor Christmas services held by a chaplain (Leon Ames).

That night, the German Luftwaffe bombs Bastogne. During the bombing, Denise's house is shown destroyed and she screams her death cry.

The next morning, the "walking wounded", including Hansan, are called back to duty for a last ditch defense. Bettis, slowed down by his fear of going back into the front lines, is killed in the collapse of a house shaken by an explosion.

As the squad is down to its last few rounds of ammunition, the weather clears, allowing Allied fighters to attack the Germans and C-47 transports to drop supplies by parachute. With the support, the 101st successfully holds its ground. Afterward, the siege lifted, Kinnie leads the survivors of the platoon toward the rear for a well-earned rest.