Plots(1)

D-Day. A swarm of planes packed with tense paratroopers cross the English Channel into French airspace. The planes run into intense German flak, and disoriented pilots are forced to drop the troops indiscriminately in the Normandy countryside. Landing in a field, Winters finds he has lost his rifle and supply bag. He teams up with a private from another company, John Hall, and sets out to find their units. During the night they link up with a few more soldiers, and ambush a horse-drawn German supply convoy — their first enemy encounter. Regrouping in a nearby town, Winters runs into Easy's Lt. "Buck" Compton, who tells him that Lt. Meehan is unaccounted for — which puts Winters in charge. His orders are to lead an attack on a nearby cluster of German artillery pieces endangering the seaborne infantry at Utah Beach. Winters deploys a small group on the entrenched enemy positions, and eventually takes four artillery pieces in succession, disabling them with TNT. The euphoria is tempered, however, when Winters finds Hall dead, killed by machine-gun fire. The mission is successful, but Winters has lost his first man as acting company commander. (Home Box Office)

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Cast