In a flashback story, Sgt. Saunders recalls experiences around the D-Day invasion. This includes tales about Braddock, who won the pool for when the invasion would take place; Doc, who was reluctant to go into battle; Caje (called "Caddie" in this episode) who is accompanied by another Cajun; and Lt. Hanley, who was still a sergeant, and had little battle experience compared to Saunders. Following the landing, the men move inland to a farmstead held by a squad of Germans.
While in a French town, Hanley takes refuge in a church basement during a bombing raid. An unexploded bomb brings down heavy timbers that trap him beside the bomb, which is still timed to explode. Help arrives in the form of a British demolition expert who is suffering battle fatigue and is angry at Hanley for trying to pick up his girl at a local bar.
Taken prisoner, Sgt. Saunders is transported until the prisoners are freed by Resistance fighters. With the help of Annette (Micheline Presle), who provides ration coupons in exchange for a ride, they buy gasoline to transport the Allied soldiers to Paris. Annette resists providing further help when they reach Paris, but agrees to take in Saunders for a few nights. Her lover, Maj. Kurt Hoffman (Alf Kjellin), complicates things.
The squad gets an amiable replacement from Georgia named Moseby Lovelace (Jonathan Bolt), who comes complete with a coveted, new pair of boots. Lovelace is eager to see action, but not interested in the ordinary work of soldiering such as digging foxholes and following orders. He has a hair-raising adventure on a night reconnaissance patrol, but handles it with aplomb.
Jeffrey Hunter stars as tanker Sgt. Dane, a man mad at the world, mad at the war, and mad at God. He's not too thrilled with Hanley and Saunders, either. During a German advance, Hanley and squad are cut off behind enemy lines. They are saved from an ambush by the appearance of Dane and his tank. But Dane’s recklessness and anger takes on a savage edge and they discover the secret he can’t live with: that he’s a failed priest now turned killer.
When communications with the "Black Rook" patrol that was sent to get the location of a German big gun is suddenly cut off, Saunders and his men ("White Rook") go in to find out what happened. In a dye factory, they find the missing patrol all dead and a hidden German deserter. Saunders must decide if the prisoner lives or dies when the squad makes their escape.
A mission to retrieve downed wing commander Col. Jafko (Howard Duff) goes awry when Lt. Hanley's squad mistakenly shoots the messenger who delivered the pilot's whereabouts to them. A "Maquisard" truck driver transports them to the farm where French Resistance have hidden the wounded pilot, and where he has fallen in love with the farmer's daughter, Denise (Maria Machado).
On the frontline, the squad receives three new replacements straight from rear echelon duty in England. They are Gainsborough (a scared, overweight cook), Temple (an equally scared ex-ballet dancer), and Crown (a radio announcer whose cocky attitude masks his fear). Saunders reluctantly takes these newcomers on a dangerous recon mission and discovers that his survival depends on the ingenuity of these misfits.
Doc, Braddock and others take refuge in a French château owned by wealthy aristocrat Count de Gontran and his lovely daughter Gabrielle. The Count wants no part of them and orders them off the property, but a large German force moves in to use the château as an artillery observation post. The Americans are taken prisoner. The Count sees a kindred spirit in the seemingly cultured commander Major Richter, but doesn't realize that Richter wants the château's treasures—including Gabrielle.
This is Braddock's (Shecky Greene) comedy episode. He is "appropriated" by tough-talking, overbearing Colonel Clyde (Keenan Wynn) as jeep driver. The Colonel insists on driving himself, and his reckless driving results in an accident. Braddock is captured by the Germans, who think he is a Colonel because he is wearing the colonel's coat. At first he resists, but Pvt. Braddock begins to enjoy the role.
Lieutenant Hanley is captured and interrogated. General von Strelitz (Albert Paulsen) takes him away for further questioning, but instead calmly kills his chauffeur and forces Hanley to replace him. The General refuses to explain what he's plotting, and Lt. Hanley doesn't appreciate the promotion to Kapitan in the Heer. Things get complicated when von Strelitz involves his daughter, Maria (Joyce Vanderveen).
Del Packer (Tab Hunter), a famous baseball star who was drafted into the army, is a replacement in the squad. While Kelly tries to make money by setting up a baseball game with a neighboring outfit, Billy—a devoted baseball fan—is awestruck by his hero. However, Packer has his own demons to fight, and while the others are too star-struck to notice that something may be wrong, Saunders isn't.
Pvt. Grady Long, Saunders' friend and the squad's B.A.R. (Browning Automatic Rifle) man, is killed. Kirby expects Saunders will give him the B.A.R., but Saunders decides to give it to the new man, Pvt. Delaney (Joe Mantell), a cook that had qualified on the B.A.R. in basic training. After Delaney is killed, Saunders finds his reasoning for giving it to him didn't matter.
Lt. Hanley is pulled off the line and sent to London, where he is assigned to a secret mission to aid a French physicist to escape occupied France before the Gestapo captures him. Hanley once spent the summer in France at the family's home and is the only man the scientist will trust - especially since it has been discovered that someone in the French resistance is a double agent.
A worn out Sgt. Saunders must lead Sgt. Jenkins & his men into an area where he had already seen lots of casualties. Jenkins assumes Saunders is a bad soldier. All are killed except Saunders and Jenkins, who find themselves trapped in a new German command post. Jenkins wants to escape ASAP, then has a surprising change of plan.
After the battalion pushes the Germans out of a small French town, Pvt. Paul Villers (Chris Robinson) asks permission to look for his father, Emile, a French doctor. Villers was born in France but his mother, an American, took him back to the US. With Sgt. Saunders, Villers finds out some things about his father that he wasn't counting on.
A Frenchman with important information and Pvt. Temple (his last appearance in the series) are injured by a land mine. The squad takes refuge in a convent of cloistered nuns. Hanley was bringing a doctor, but he dies of a heart attack on the way. Saunders and Caje go into the village in search of another doctor, but have to take bold steps to get one.
Saunders becomes one of the walking wounded and falls under the mercies of three broken souls more deeply wounded than he: a beautiful nurse, a doctor who has lost his nerve, and a driver who never had any nerve.
Close friends D'Amato (Joseph Campanella) and Wharton (Frank Gorshin) become separated from the rest of the men when the platoon is ambushed by a German tank. D'Amato flanks and captures the armor and turns the machine gun on the supporting German infantry, but is gravely wounded. When the rest of the platoon reaches the position, it appears that Wharton single-handedly captured the German armor.
Thirteen-year-old French boy Gilbert Barole (Serge Prieur) wants to join the squad when he sees their glory after liberating his town. Told that he can't, he follows the squad anyway. When Lt. Hanley is wounded, Caje tells him to take Hanley back to town. They find the Germans have moved back in and are setting a trap. Gilbert must find Sgt. Saunders and tell him about the Germans. Gilbert discovers that soldiering is not all gallantry and glory.
When Lt. Hanley and the squad escape from a POW camp, Saunders is left behind. In enemy territory, his hands badly burned, Saunders weaves a treacherous path back to his own lines.
Lieutenant Hanley and his men have just three hours to rescue an old man, pretty librarian, and 5 children from the Germans before the Americans bomb the building they are in.
Corporal Cross (Ben Cooper) is the newest addition to the squad. For once, the new man is a veteran, but he is tormented by a fatal mistake he'd made on another hill. That mistake has crippled him, stripping away not just his ability to fire a rifle, but also his ability to be a soldier. Although not part of the main plot, Dick Peabody has a very strong episode as Littlejohn.
While on a night patrol to take a prisoner, Sgt. Saunders and his squad discover an American lieutenant waging the war on his own and living in a cave.
PFC March runs into his wife, Lt. Amelia March, at a field hospital. He asks for a pass to spend time with her. While he is waiting for his pass, Kirby goes AWOL and ends up at the hospital. March must go out on a mission in place of Kirby.
Saunders resents a cold-hearted, reckless photojournalist (Elizabeth Allen) who accidentally causes a town to believe they are liberated. When the Nazis move in and the resistance workers are exposed, she learns the seriousness of human suffering during war.
A young woman who cannot face the horrors of the war isolates herself in an idyllic garden which is unscathed by German bombs and refuses to leave. Saunders attempts to evacuate her before more Germans come.
Kirby is court-martialed, accused of desertion under fire by Sgt. Metcalf (Robert Culp). The potential sentence is death. As the trial proceeds, Sgt. Saunders and Caje try to gather evidence to prove his innocence. Conlan Carter, who plays Doc beginning in Season 2, appears here as an MP.
A never-say-die German stays behind after the German withdrawal to wage his own private war, aided by a beautiful but bitter Frenchwoman who has her own reasons to hate the town that her German lover terrorizes.
The squad discovers an orphaned baby in a barn, and must decide whether to bring the infant with them as they traverse through enemy territory en route to their own lines.
Rob Lawson (Dean Stockwell) joins the squad with the belief that his fate his sealed, and with a reputation as a one-man army. Hanley, Saunders and their men are worried that his reckless bravery will get them all killed.
Caje must deal with killing a Frenchman. He does this by turning his attention to the dead man's daughter, shirking his duty and worrying the squad. Sgt. Saunders must find a way to bring Caje back to reality before losing him. Saunders finds what he needs when the town is attacked by the Germans.
When the Americans liberate a town, the French shoot a man for collaborating. His daughter, Marie Marchand (Marisa Pavan), is angry at everyone and leaves town. The Americans soon learn her father was actually an undercover allied agent, and Saunders' squad is sent to find her. Saunders needs her help more than he thought, and must overcome her bitterness.
Sgt. Turk (Lee Marvin) commands a small demolition team that Saunders and his squad is ordered to take behind German lines to destroy a bridge. Turk had a close friend killed on a previous mission, and does not believe the squad can handle the job. He is hostile and abrasive. As casualties mount, it begins to appear that his doubts may be well placed.
Phillip (Eddie Albert) is an American WWI veteran who survived severe shell-shock and lives on a farm with his French wife, Marie (Alida Valli). During shelling from a huge German gun nearby, he becomes confused and believes he is still fighting WWI. At first he takes Saunders prisoner, thinking he is a German spy, but he still has enough wits about him to help in the current war.
While returning from patrol, Saunders and his men are captured by a German platoon. They are taken to be interrogated by SS Captain Steiner (Richard Basehart). Sgt. Akers (Simon Oakland) and his men have been prisoners there some time and are broken and resigned to their fate. Against Akers' wishes, Saunders plans to let Billy escape to get information back to Headquarters.
Interred in a German P.O.W. camp, Sgt. Saunders and his squad must find a way to escape before they all die in the hands of SS Capt. Steiner. Billy, who escaped, reaches Lt. Hanley, but no help is coming. Saunders plots a scheme to escape. He convinces Sgt. Akers and his men to work with them.
A wounded Lt. Hanley is pursued by a squad of Germans, and takes refuge in a French farmhouse at great peril to the mother and daughter living there.
Hanley orders Saunders and his squad to take a bridge which is guarded by a heavily fortified house. Pvt. Mick Hellar (Nick Adams) is a self-centered, wise-cracking private who only cares about saving his own skin. He reveals that he is a jazz drummer and is soon to be leaving the front to play in an army band entertaining troops and wants to be sure he keeps himself in one piece. The mission demands heavy sacrifices from the squad.
Cpl. Arnold Kanger (James Coburn) and a lieutenant have a captive German colonel when their jeep hits a land mine. Saunders and his squad bring them to their Company HQ for first aid. Saunders slowly begins to suspect there is something wrong when Kanger makes slight mistakes while speaking and interacting with the other men.
Lt. Hanley and his men encounter Sister Therese and three young Postulants looking for the Americans to get help for their Mother Superior, who Doc finds has passed. The men quickly get the nuns out before the Germans get to the town. Sister Therese steals back for the statue of the infant Jesus of Prague, sending Lt. Hanley and Caje back into the town full of Germans and right to a German HQ.
The squad captures a village with a German field hospital. Sgt. Saunders and German Sgt. Bauer (Karlheinz Böhm) must travel together to get a truckload of plasma, but they have an uneasy alliance with each other.
Saunders' squad encounters orphan boy Bijou (Michel Petit) gobbling rotted food in a bombed-out village. The squad gives him K-rations and chocolate, but Kirby distrusts him and suspects he is feeding information to the Germans. The squad races to bomb an oil depot. When Caje is captured, they begin to think Kirby may be right.
Sgt. Saunders and his squad become trapped in a cellar of a French village as the Germans sweep through and capture the town. Billy Nelson is seriously wounded, delirious, screaming, and endangering the squad. Saunders leaves him in the street in hopes the Germans will take care of him. German Captain Neubauer (Kurt Kreuger) is bent on making Nelson reveal the whereabouts of the squad, as Saunders desperately devises an escape plan.
This episode is strictly for laughs. The squad is left in a French village to wait for a ride to meet up with Saunders and Kirby is placed in charge. Three good looking gals smile at our guys as they pass by. Kirby, Caje, and Billy immediately want to delay their ride so they can woo the gals. Three Explosive Ordinance Disposal sergeants already have dates with the gals, and our guys connive to beat the sergeants out of their dates.
When a U.S. reconnaissance plane crashes, Sgt. Saunders' men race a German patrol to recover the pilot and his film. The Americans get there first, but carrying the wounded airman on a stretcher over heavily wooded hills slows them down. The wily German Sgt. Beckman (James Caan) and his squad counter Saunders' every trick.
In the first of a two-episode story, amid an Allied retreat, Saunders and his men must get the retreat order to a British infantry unit behind enemy lines. After they fight through German lines to bring the message, British Captain Johns orders Saunders and his men to help him defend the rail depot. Does Capt. Johns value his reputation over the lives of his men?
In the conclusion to a two-episode story, Capt. Johns, a Sandhurst graduate and son of a general, insists on holding the depot against a much larger and better equipped enemy force. Whether his motivation is his reputation or strategy is unclear, but Saunders fears it is suicide. A series of withering attacks and bloody battles test Johns' will.
Lt. Hanley orders Sgt. Saunders up a hill to locate German artillery that has eluded all attempts to find and destroy it. But the hill is crowned by a dense ring of machine gun nests, and casualties have mounted. They separate and Saunders is wounded in the leg. He crawls until he falls into an abandoned mine, where he has an unusual encounter with Hans Oberst (Alf Kjellin).
Lt. Hanley and the squad are en route to meet a commander of the Free French Army, but require a guide. Massine (Peter Whitney) is a strong-willed, determined man who has a small band of underground fighters. Before Massine will lead Lt. Hanley to Capt. Boulange, he has an agenda of his own to accomplish, and bends Hanley to his will.
While falling back under intense pressure from the attacking Germans, Lt. Hanley stops to help a severely wounded man. The Germans are advancing rapidly, so they take refuge in a vacant pillbox. As the rain begins to fall, Hanley attempts to head for his own lines, but is stopped when three German soldiers enter the pillbox.
Saunders' squad finds a concentration camp occupied by a few starving Poles. In their hurry to flee, the Germans left them behind. The squad has orders to move on, but few of the prisoners are able to walk. A German platoon is approaching. The men's leader begs Saunders to stay and protect them, while their former overseer, also a Pole, wants to walk out with the squad before the prisoners kill him.
John Dehner and Vic Morrow have the title roles, but they play two characters from two wars nearly thirty years apart. Upon liberation of a French village by King Company, French General Armand Bouchard, a veteran of WWI, wants to take command of Saunders' squad. While Bouchard apparently suffers from some form of dementia and is the object of ridicule by some of the villagers, he obviously has personal pride and character.
After capturing a town, Saunders, Caje, and Doc briefly enjoy a hot shower, when they are captured by SS Captain Aptmeyer (Mark Richman) and Sgt. Ecktmann (Hans Gudegast aka Eric Braeden). Doc is called well beyond his duty again and again to save his comrades, almost losing himself in the effort.
Sgt. Saunders must deliver radios to the French underground with the radio expert, Sgt. Perkins. Perkins is arrogant, self-centered, and has never been in combat. With an endearing French family in jeopardy, Saunders and Perkins clash over duty and service to the greater good.
Private Jessie Burgess is assigned to guide Sgt. Saunder's squad to a hidden German artillery site because he has done detailed reconnaissance. Saunders is warned to keep a close watch on Burgess but he doesn't know why. Burgess is popular with people who don't work with him.
As the Germans make a breakthrough, rear-echelon troops are ordered to prepare for battle. Never able to form into a fighting force, they become stragglers separated from any cohesive unit. Saunders and Caje are also separated and pick up several of the rear-echelon stragglers, now deep in German territory. While the rear-echelon troops have no combat experience, they each contribute in their own way in the effort to punch back and return to their lines.
Sgt. Saunders' squad blames his bad treatment of a likable new member, Trenton, on a foul mood caused by a letter he has just received. Actually Saunders believes Trenton is a coward who fakes injuries to avoid battle.
Saunders and Kirby search an abandoned French winery when they are spotted by two Germans who are using the tower for an observation post. Kirby is badly wounded and captured by Hauptmann Heismann while Saunders is busy dealing with the other German. Heismann, a professional hunter, uses and abuses Kirby, while tracking Saunders with his hunting rifle.
Lt. Hanley aids a French girl, in shock and mentally scarred. She returns to where she feels safe. When Hanley goes alone to look for her, he discovers the Germans are setting up a command post there.
A new squad member is aggressive and naive. When Putnam puts his unsubtle moves on a knowing French bartender, Fauvette, she befriends him and learns he is really only 15. In a perilous situation, he panics, endangering himself and Sgt. Saunders.
This episode is all Lt. Hanley in a tightly constructed plot. Concussed during an artillery barrage and separated from his platoon, Hanley starts to come out of his daze to find he is being taken prisoner by an SS soldier. The surprising plot twists start immediately and keep on coming, so one needs to pay attention.
A wounded Hanley is replaced in the field by Lieutenant Douglas (Joseph Campanella), who is surly and opinionated even by Saunders' standards. At one point, he orders a soldier to burn a picture of his daughter, and then grinds it into the dirt with his boot. Saunders discovers what led to Douglas's leadership style and helps him get past it.
When the one person that is detested by most of the squad is wounded, the Germans use him as bait to try and get the men to come after him. Several rescue attempts fail, and each member of the squad must face his conscience in taking a position. Directed by Vic Morrow, this episode differs notably in tone from most episodes of Combat!
Sent to the rear to recover from injuries, Kirby and Caje encounter Harry White (Mickey Rooney), a cheater and schemer who has been fighting the war from a bar stool. White escapes from the gamblers he fleeced just before an artillery attack. Kirby stumbles out of the village, stunned and injured. He finds White and they are taken in by Claudette (Claudine Longet) and her grandfather, but the challenges keep mounting.
After a major German advance, Saunders, Little John and Doc find Sgt. Larkin, who they know, then encounter an unruly Pvt. Henry Murfree, who they don't. Murfree constantly accuses them of being German infiltrators, and there are other indications that German SS are infiltrating, under the command of SS Hauptmann Klepner.
Saunders, Caje, and Kirby must scout a route through the Alps for a large troop movement. They hire an embittered French trapper and loner as a guide. They are captured by Germans and left to freeze but manage a daring escape. Caje (Pierre Jalbert, the top Canadian skier of his time), takes the German alpine troops to skiing school in a spectacular downhill run.
The Germans, caught in an allied pincer movement, launch an all-out assault. Sgt. Saunders, alone, encounters an American supply truck and hitches a ride. While a flat tire proves very difficult to change, Saunders plays cat and mouse with an approaching Panzer and its commander.
Lt. Hanley and his men are rescued by Greek Colonel Kapsalis and his squadron of fast moving jeeps with mounted machine guns. Kapsalis is a gung-ho, no-holds-barred soldier fighting a personal vendetta against the Germans. He orders Lt. Hanley and his men to join him in an attack. Between actions, he shares his gonzo life philosophy with Hanley.
After losing an intelligence officer in the field, Saunders and squad allow themselves to be captured by the enemy to liberate a famous American correspondent being held by the Germans.
Bringing a wounded Doc to safety, Saunders, Caje, and communication Sergeant Meider stumble upon a German unit setting up a command post. Under constant harassment from Meider, Saunders must balance life, death, and the opportunity to capture an infamous German Colonel.
Hanley must take the place of a G-2 officer on a mission to spy on a German HQ. He is to meet three men for the mission. He discovers that one of them has been killed and although the corpse is dressed in a German Uniform, he is recognized by Kirby as an American G.I. They now suspect that one of the three men is a German disguised as an American G.I.
Saunders assigns Caje as acting squad leader for 3rd squad until the replacement Sergeant arrives. Jackson (Mike Kellin) believes the job should have been his.
Saunders faces a possible court-martial after a machine gun sergeant accuses him of bad judgment under fire when two of his men are killed.
Cocky replacement Eddie Cane (Frankie Avalon) joins the squad. He is the kid brother of Kirby's old friend, who apparently died saving Kirby's life. He starts making demands on Kirby. Saunders wisely counsels Kirby, "That's quite a debt. Don't let the interest get too high."
During a barrage, Saunders is trapped under a beam and the only man who can rescue him is Pvt. Kogan. The scared Kogan abandons Saunders as the enemy moves into town.
Despite having just having liberated a French town, Saunders is demoralized and angry. In this emotional episode, he lashes out at a 13-year-old girl whose one ambition is to serve the troops as a nurse. After he gets some sleep, she wins over his heart and gains his support, but she still manages to crosses his line.
Sgt. Keeley has lost faith in humanity and invests all his devotion to his carrier pigeons, which he has trained for military use.
Saunders, Caje, Doc and a disgruntled straggler, Pvt. Garrett, are flushing a winery when a squad of Germans enter carrying a badly wounded Lt. Hanley. They need the help of the old winemaker to try and get away with Hanley. The winemaker might be able to teach Garrett something about courage.
Hanley reluctantly accepts a captured German lieutenant's offer to disarm the mines his men have hidden.
Saunders learns that his hero and role-model has feet of clay. Sergeant Avery, thought killed in action, shows up alive and well. and must clear himself of suspicion of desertion.
Hanley takes three men to rescue a U.S. flying ace who has been shot down behind enemy lines. When they find him, he turns out to be all attitude and no gratitude, making it difficult to safely return to American territory.
Littlejohn receives a birthday cake from his mother with the explicit instructions not to open it until the 21st. He carries it on a dangerous patrol into enemy territory.
K Company enters a town in force and routs the Germans, but an officer remains behind to destroy a strategic bridge. Failing at first, he escapes to a church, where he dons a cassock and takes on the guise of a priest. He struggles to maintain the disguise long enough to finish the job.
In this largely comedic episode, Hanley and the men are sent to evacuate the town of Bonnaire, which is targeted for German attack. The mayor, his three beautiful daughters, and the townspeople thwart Hanley's every effort with elaborate ruses and deception.
A German shell strikes a prison, releasing convicted criminals into the countryside. One unscrupulous convict assumes the identity of a French resistance fighter, from whom Saunders needs help.
Saunders, Caje, and Kirby try to rescue a paratrooper captain before he is spotted by the Germans.
The Americans are in full retreat, and many are killed on both sides. Saunders and a young soldier, Private Carey (Tommy Sands), are in a fight for their lives. Carey has never killed anyone or anything, and will not defend himself. Still, in the end, Saunders can teach Carey a lesson in humanity.
A German machine gun pins down Saunders and company along with four badly wounded GIs, a load of munitions, and a truck driver. Saunders must weigh getting the wounded men to medical aid against getting the munitions to the more than 100 men who need them at the front, while being unable to go anywhere until the machine gun emplacement is destroyed.
Hanley's efforts to bring a Frenchman with information valuable to the Allies to London is hampered by a lynching party that wants him for themselves.
In a village devastated by both sides' artillery, a desperate woman searches for her missing baby as American and German soldiers watch helplessly from opposite ends of the street.
Hanley and Kirby escort Corporal Velásquez (Charles Bronson), an artsy demolition expert, on a dangerous mission to destroy a heavily fortified and guarded observation post so that the Americans can advance through the valley below.
When their jeep hits a land mine, Saunders, a tank captain, and private Gavin attempt to maneuver an abandoned German tank through enemy territory.
Lieutenant William Benton, the son of celebrated General Bull Benton, leads a mission to locate a big artillery piece that is cutting up the American lines. It is his first field experience, and he has a lot to prove.
Lt. Hanley gets word that the wife of one of his men, Steve Kovac (Chad Everett), is dying. Hanley decides not to bring him in from patrol until they get confirmation from Red Cross, but the patrol soon becomes trapped in the basement of a German command post.
After a devastating German advance, Saunders wakes up at a German aid station wearing a German uniform. So begins what is as much an odyssey of the heart as it is a literal odyssey.
A hostile signal corps sergeant, Barney McKlosky, balks at having Saunders as escort on a mission to lay wire. McKlosky was a lineman in Wyoming who nearly died depending on his co-worker. Since then, McKlosky trusts no one and holds everyone in contempt.
Saunders' latest green replacements are a boxer and his cocky fight manager, Murphy (Jack Carter), who wants to run both the war and Saunders.
During a heavy firefight and facing overwhelming numbers the Allies are being beaten back and scattered. Sgt. Saunders, alone and deafened by a grenade, tries to make his way back to American lines.
After losing a superior officer in the field, Hanley goes alone to locate a wounded intelligence officer in a German-held village. Hanley's search for and rescue of the OSS officer is hampered by a precocious French boy and his dog.
A failed night mission leaves Hanley wounded in the shoulder, and the rest of his squad dead . . . except for Private Wilder, a nervous young replacement, who is now trapped in quicksand and ready to signal their German pursuers for help. It's up to the lieutenant to free him before Wilder drowns, or panics.
Lieutenant Hanley is a POW in an ancient castle. Because he has strategic information, his fellow prisoners provide him with a fake Albanian uniform and papers for his escape, which begins a long and harrowing trip to the Allied lines.
Caje forces a Frenchman to aid a wounded Hanley and himself. The Frenchman takes them to a German occupied chateau. There the Countess de Roy (two-time Academy Award winner Luise Rainer) walks a dangerous tightrope as she entertains a château full of German soldiers, while tending Hanley's wounds and keeping their presence a secret.
Facing a German advance, Saunders and squad are ordered to destroy a valley of construction equipment, to keep it out of the hands of the Germans. The owner, Vertrain (Fernando Lamas), is willing to kill to save the equipment.
Troubled when the squad forcibly evacuates a French farm family, Iowa-bred Pvt. Noah plants the family's crops. His love for the land and farming overshadow his obligations as a soldier.
Hanley is captured by the infamous SS Captain Reichhardt. Saunders captures Reichhardt's men but does not learn the location of Hanley.
Saunders returns from patrol with one of his squad, a decorated veteran of Omaha Beach, under arrest for disobeying an order and thereby getting two other GIs killed.
An explosion destroys the cellar of a German communication center where Saunders, Marsh, and Wallace were tapping lines. Trapped beneath a beam and fearing he will be left behind, Private Marsh claims he has valuable intelligence — that will go back with him or not at all.
The squad, worn-out and exhausted, receives four green replacements. The story follows these four teenagers as they attempt to survive their first day on the front line.
Kirby rejoins the squad in the field, bringing with him a new replacement, Kalb (John Cassavetes). Fleming believes Kalb is a coward who ran at Omaha Beach and has been running ever since. The controversy deepens when Kalb turns up with an apparent self-inflicted wound (SIW).
Hanley, Little John, and Kirby attempt to salvage film from a crashed reconnaissance plane. They are interrupted by a swaggering British Major who commandeers the film and abandons the squad as Germans approach.
Lt. Hanley flies in a rickety observation plane with a wisecracking pilot. He acquires intelligence which could save hundreds of lives. Returning from their mission, they see a German convoy and fly in for a closer look, but the plane is shot down. The old plane will be tough to repair, but there are no good options.
On patrol to snatch an enemy prisoner, the squad is saddled with three over-aged replacements: an injured vet of the Italian campaign who refuses to accept that he is incapable of fighting as he did as a youth, a homesick family man, and a politician with senatorial ambitions.
Saunders is trying to get a wounded Kirby to medical help. He tries to commandeer the truck of an embittered French woman who resists his efforts, determined to give her son a proper burial.
Marsini, the sole survivor of a squad, blames Saunders for the fate of his fellows after Saunders could not help because he had orders to keep his position. Marsini volunteers to lead the sergeant on reconnaisance of the same deadly area.
Kirby embarks on a personal vendetta against an SS Colonel who killed his sister's fiancé.
Lt. Hanley, Caje, Kirby, and Pvt. Banning are sent behind German lines to find an American intelligence officer, Capt. Thorpe, who has important intelligence to get back to American G2. Three days before a big German advance, a German spy poses as a downed American flyer, Lt. Asher, to secure information on the French underground.
This two part Combat! episode is the story of the futility of war as viewed through the eyes of surviving infantrymen. An American division of troops is making an assault all along their lines. Lt. Hanley's platoon is ordered to take a strategic hill that overlooks a needed road, but it is protected by two concrete bunkers with machine guns. Saunders gets hit in the first assault while several other GIs are killed. Hanley finds it almost hopeless with Saunders wounded.
In part 2, things look bleak for the men of King Company, but Lt. Hanley's platoon gets the support of a tank to help take the hill. The tank is destroyed by a German bazooka. Now Hanley plans to use the tank as cover to attack the last German bunker.
Saunders' squad, with radar expert Sgt. Rawlings, is sent behind enemy lines to find, study, and destroy a German radar installation. A French resistance fighter, Marchand, is along to guide them. But the Germans are controlling the operation every step of the way.
Vinnick (Sal Mineo), a tough G.I. who is fearless in battle, clashes with Burke (Tom Skerritt), a soldier who covers his own cowardice with big talk.
Saunders is imprisoned in a German POW compound where a German lieutenant poses as an American POW and learns the locations of key American units.
A suspicious Pvt. Adams (Mart Hulswit) slaps some dirt on his clean uniform and joins Saunders' squad. He earns Saunders' wrath and distrust by repeatedly disregarding orders. He behaves erratically, endangering the lives of the squad.
After losing his entire squad to Saunders' men, a wounded German sergeant escapes and vows to kill the Americans, saving Saunders for last.
Establishing an observation post in a deserted church, Saunders meets the daughter of a German soldier.
In his first battle, Private Corey freezes. Afterwards, the squad commends him for his actions, believing he destroyed a machine gun nest.
Kirby, who is given command of the squad in Saunders's absence, finds the challenges mounting quickly and learns a lesson in leadership.
Saunders and his squad accompany a tank to destroy a German bunker. After their tank is destroyed, Saunders decides to use a German cannon for the mission. Moving the gun to the target is a physical and mental challenge.
Saunders and Littlejohn are ordered to destroy an enemy bridge with the help of six men -- who are dead or evacuated. Instead they find four GIs being held for court-martial. This is Combat's version of The Dirty Dozen.
Saunders is blinded and a companion killed by a land mine explosion as they attempt to get vital information back to their lines. Saunders is rescued by a German chaplain who pretends to be English to get Saunder's help in carrying a wounded German captain to safety.
Saunders rankles his squad members by showing too much concern for a replacement. The young G.I. bears a disquieting resemblance to the Sergeant's kid brother, who just dropped out of high school and enlisted.
Saunders' squad suffers from exhaustion and lack of sleep. After two days of continuous patrol in bad weather, their low morale and raw nerves jeopardize a vital mission. Surprisingly, the worst case of this ISN'T Kirby . . .
Saunders' men are ordered to take a farmhouse that is defended by a determined squad of teenage German soldiers. With time running out, Saunders tries to find a way to get the teens to surrender.
Lt. Hanley and his reconnaissance patrol are jeopardized by two Frenchman vital to the mission: a veteran Resistance fighter and his frightened brother.
When Private Vincent is killed shortly before he is to go on a week's furlough, Saunders travels to England to deliver his bequest to Ann Tinsley, the director of an orphanage. During his time in London, he gets to know the children, and sees how they have suffered during the war. In addition, he becomes friendly with Ann, and an attraction begins to develop between them.
On a mission to destroy an observation post, Hanley's patrol encounter a German machine gun nest. They lose two men and pick up a German medic, who is forced to choose between duty to his country and his compassion for humanity.
Saunders's squad is disrupted by Ollie Joe Brown, a young soldier determined to be "GI Perfect." Ollie Joe's commanding officer dies before he can warn Saunders about Ollie.
French gypsies, led by the wily Barbu (Ricardo Montalban), vie with Saunders' squad over possession of a German prisoner. The German officer slaughtered over half the men, women, and children in their camp; the gypsies want revenge.
Saunders is saddled with 18 German prisoners with only four men to guard them. Transporting them by foot, he encounters unexpected hazards and complications from a mysterious prisoner, Corporal Wiltz, who had allowed himself to be captured.
A French resistance fighter who has lost his wife and daughter in the war becomes a lone avenger killing Americans and Germans alike.
The squad didn't take to Culley, a poor farmer from Virginia with a chip on his shoulder. Culley bitterly recalls the events that put him in the hospital.
Kirby and Littlejohn volunteer to drive trucks to the front lines, but are plagued by a tyrannical Sergeant Rose (Claude Akins), the enemy, a rickety bridge, and a dangerous cargo.
A group of children finds a wounded Littlejohn. They take him prisoner and try to sell him to the Americans, then the Germans.
Saunders is uneasy about Pvt. Charles Harris, who is with the squad as a demolition man. The assignment is to destroy a communications station. On the way, Doc learns that Harris is a doctor. Harris must make a decision whether to continue running away from what he is.
Captured by Germans, Saunders is aboard a prison train bound for Germany. He escapes and is saddled with Sgt. Decker (Tom Skerritt), who would have been content to sit out the war in a POW camp. Saunders is hounded by dogs, wounded, and, in a German uniform, taken to a German aid station where he trips on morphine and tries to run again.
After rescuing captive French resistance fighters, the squad regroups in an abandoned mine. When the Germans attack, Germans, French, and Americans are all trapped. They form a pact to work together to dig their way out of the cave, and soldiers learn something about the humanity of the enemy.
After an exhausting 24 hour pass that left him broke, hungover, and happy, Kirby gets a new guy to back him in a poker game.
No one can tell friend from foe as Germans infiltrate dressed as Allied solders. Kirby, separated from the squad, takes Carl Driskoll prisoner, not sure if he is an American or a German. They are both then captured by British Cpl. Tommy Behan, who is unsure who to trust. Along the way they pick up yet another dressed as an American.
Captain Cole (James Daly) is reunited with his son, Jack (James MacArthur), who he hasn't seen in years. Jack is now a reporter who is sent to cover the war at the front. When Jack and his father meet, it is evident that their relations are strained. When they are pinned down in a farmhouse and the situation is desperate, they finally speak from the heart.
A USO jazz troupe, led by an insufferably arrogant Bernie Wallace (Dan Duryea), twice gravely endangers his band and the soldiers protecting them. Saunders rescues them from a German attack and their gratitude is underwhelming.
Hanley sends Saunders' patrol to scout for artillery shelling the factory they've been ordered to hold. Ambushed by a German squad, Saunders is knocked out and Caje is badly wounded and captured. Saunders finds refuge in the home of blind Babette (Claudine Longet) and her boyfriend Michel (Robert Duvall), who is not who he claims.
A new replacement, Hank Dolan (Tom Simcox), believes he is bad luck. When things start happening to the others in the squad, they start believing him.
