Heroes Die Young

During World War II, eight American soldiers with expertise in demolitions and radio communications are brought together for a vital assignment. After intense training, Col. Banners informs the men they are to perform a crucial bombing raid on the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania that supply the German army with over a third of its fuel. Banners explains that their small squad will attempt to evade the dense array of German anti-aircraft guns and elaborate radio warning system that aid in Ploesti's defense. The squad will then gain access to one of the major fields and set fire to the oil tanks that will serve as beacons to the bomber groups that will be flying under the range of German radar in complete radio silence. Transported by submarine across the Black Sea, the men, led by Lt. Easton, land at night on the shores of Romania. The squad is immediately attacked by a German patrol and one of the American radio technicians is killed. At dawn, the squad continues to a forest rendezvous with a partisan assigned to provide them with supplies and lead them inland to the oil fields near Bucharest. Upon scouting the meeting area, young private "Hoofer" Hudson comes upon a young girl with five burros laden with supplies. The girl identifies herself as Nitza, the daughter of the partisan, who has been killed in a recent American bombing raid. Although concerned that Nitza might be part of a trap, Easton decides to trust her and asks her to lead them to the oil fields. Nitza initially refuses, but Easton forces the resentful girl to comply. Hoofer, who dislikes the pack animals, is angered when his buddy Mule names his burro after him. During a rest, Nitza watches in fascination as Stan Manjack, a former carpenter, begins carving a small block of wood from a tree branch. Later, as the squad moves further inland, Mule is forced to intercede when Hoofer becomes impatient with the burros and attempts to strike one. As the squad nears a river, Hoofer's irritation causes one of the little animals to stumble and fall, sending its supplies tumbling into the water. Manjack tries to recover the supplies, which contain the food rations, but they are swept away. Forced to kill the burro, which has broken its leg, Easton angrily chastises Hoofer and the men soon set off again. The squad then successfully evades a German guard station while Manjack guards the nervous Nitza. As twilight falls, Hoofer flirts with the unresponsive Nitza, but when he tells her he can help her escape, she promises to meet him that night when he is on guard duty. That night Nitza goes to Hoofer, who tries to force himself on her until Manjack intervenes. The following morning, Easton's second-in-command, Sgt. Phelps, worries that with another day and night of travel ahead of them, the men will surely grow weak without food. Nitza tries to explain to Manjack why she met with Hoofer, but he refuses to hear her explanations. The men admire Manjack's carving of a burro, which the soldier describes as noble and hard-working. Having noticed that Hoofer is hoarding a chocolate bar, Mule convinces him that burros are capable of smelling gold if they are provided with treats and that the Romanian countryside is full of gold. Gullibly accepting Mule's story, Hoofer begins giving his namesake bits of chocolate. The squad comes upon the radio station where they are to leave radio technician Swietzer, who speaks German and will send the requisite signals to the next station. The squad surrounds the station but is spotted by the two German radio operators. In the ensuing firefight, the Germans are killed and Manjack is mortally wounded, but pleads with Nitza to continue leading the squad to Ploesti. Deeply moved by the soldier's death, Nitza agrees and takes his carved burro as a memento. Swietzer stays at the station and the remaining soldiers continue on another full day before reaching the main Ploesti refinery. Easton advises Nitza that she need not go further, but she insists and accompanies the squad to the refinery fences. The squad evades the guard patrol and reaches a tank that Hoofer discovers is empty. Finding all the surrounding tanks empty, the men retreat to confer and Easton decides they must risk crossing the refinery to reach the largest tanks. The men again successfully avoid the guard and set the charges and timer on the largest tank. Meanwhile, the air force bomber groups and their fighter escort have departed their base in Libya and, closing in on Bucharest, begin searching for the signal fire. Easton and the men grow anxious when the explosive charge fails to go off and Wilson and Phelps return to the tank to set a manual detonator. Phelps insists on setting off the blast and is wounded in the subsequent explosion. Wilson struggles to drag him away, but the men are cut down in a hail of bullets as the German guards respond to the blaze. Hoofer and Mule plead with Easton to wait for the two men, but when the bombing raid begins Easton orders them to flee. The group reaches Nitza and the burros at the fence and manages to escape as bombs rain down upon the refinery. On a small road the men find a working jeep and Easton forces Nitza to abandon the burros. Hoofer rushes back to the animals and, removing their supplies, sends them off safely into the brush. Racing back to the jeep, Hoofer is caught and killed in an errant bomb blast. Easton, Mule and Nitza drive back to the radio station where they discover that Swietzer has been attacked and killed. With only a few hours left before their scheduled pickup, the trio drives until the jeep runs out of gas, forcing them to walk to the beach. At the appointed time the American submarine surfaces to retrieve the survivors who report their mission accomplished.