24 BATTLEGROUND
Plot Summary
In December 1944, new replacements Jim Layton (Marshall Thompson) and Wil-
liam J. Hooper (Scotty Beckett) are dispensed to dif fer ent companies in the
327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Holley (Van Johnson)
returns to his unit after recovering from an injury. The squadron is set to go on
leave, but is instead sent to the frontlines to fight off German forces in the Ardennes
Forest. After stopping for a night in Bastogne, Belgium, Sgt. Kinnie ( James Whit-
more) orders his men to settle in at multiple locations at the town borders. While
guarding a roadblock during the night, Holley, Layton, and “Kipp” Kippton (Doug-
las Fowley) are surprised by German soldiers who are dressed as American G.I.s.
The German soldiers blow up a bridge. A snowstorm greets the squad the next
morning. Roderigues (Ricardo Montalbán) delights in the snow, though a fellow
soldier, “Pop” Stazak (George Murphy), remains unfazed. Layton discovers that his
friend Hooper has been killed by German mortar rounds, and Kinnie sounds the
alarm about the German infiltration. A patrol heads out— Holley, Roderigues, and
Jarvess ( John Hodiak)—to comb through the woods, but before they get far, the
Germans attack and the platoon panics. Bettis (Richard Jaeckel) runs for cover,
Holley’s patrol battles against the infiltrators, and Roderigues is injured in the fire-
fight, left unable to walk. Holley tries to hide Roderigues beneath a jeep while the
men continue to ward off the German fire, but Roderigues freezes to death before
his platoon can retrieve him. Two soldiers are sent off to a field hospital, and Hol-
ley is named the new squadron leader along with Layton. Pop Stazak is grouped
with Hansan (Herbert Anderson). The squadron discovers, by reading Stars and
Stripes, that theirs is a “heroic stand,” and Kippton confirms that the 101st is fully
surrounded. The 3rd Platoon falls victim to an attack at first light, and as they are
overwhelmed, Hansan sustains an injury and Holley flees the scene in panic. After
facing his embarrassment at being cowardly in front of his inferiors, Holley coun-
terattacks. Later, while on guard duty, the squad meets a group of German sol-
diers who have arrived beneath a “flag of truce” to pres ent terms of surrender to
Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe. McAuliffe shocks and confuses the Germans
with his famous reply, “Nuts!” Foggy weather grounds Allied transport aircraft,
and the squad is short of supplies. That night, Luftwaffe planes bomb Bastogne
and Denise is killed. The “walking wounded,” Hansan included, are summoned to
the frontlines in a last- ditch effort to defend the town. Bettis lets fear get the better
of him and delays his return, dooming himself to the cruel fate of a bomb destroy-
ing the house he is staying in. The fog fi nally lifts, and Allied fighters attack the
Germans, enabling the 101st to hold. When the siege lifts, Kinnie leads the suc-
cessful survivors toward a well- deserved respite from the lines. The film ends with
a group of fresh troops marching in to replace those going on leave, with the war
veterans chanting the refrain from “Jody” as they leave the battleground.Reception
Battleground went into general domestic release on 20 January 1950— just five years
after the events it depicted. Contrary to Louis B. Mayer’s dour predictions, the movie
made a healthy profit and won an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Critical notices