Tank Commando

In 1944, in a large Italian city, a young Italian boy, Diano, witnesses German tanks crossing a strategically vital river via an underwater bridge invisible to Allied air forces. Spotting the boy, German soldiers give chase, but Diano evades them by disappearing into the maze of sewer tunnels that run under the city's streets. After making his way through the tunnels, Diano hears a gun battle on the streets above and, upon surfacing, the boy is saved from danger by American Lt. Jim Blaine, head of a demolitions squad. After Allied artillery clears the German position, Jim and the exhausted squad members, Lazzotti, Shorty, Sands and Todd, take Diano and return to the American lines on the other side of the city. Jim reports to his commanding officer, Capt. Praxton, who demands to know how German tanks continue arriving in the city when all known bridges have been destroyed. Praxton then orders Jim and his men on a reconnaissance mission to pinpoint the location of the German tanks and find the mystery bridge. Disheartened by being on continual combat duty, Jim visits the medical station, where his girl friend Jean is a nurse, and is saddened to learn of the death of two of his wounded men. After a night of gambling and drinking, the squad departs early the next morning. Jim orders the men to remain on guard just past the enemy line and proceeds with only Lazzotti and Todd. Deep in enemy territory, the three soldiers ambush two German guards and force one to reveal the tanks' location. Jim then orders Lazzotti to take the guard prisoner, but upon heading back to camp, Lazzotti is surprised when a local woman leaps out from a doorway and stabs the German. Lazzotti, who speaks Italian fluently, comforts the distraught woman and remains with her. Meanwhile, Jim and Todd reach the top of the highest remaining building in the city. From there, Jim easily spots the tank division and radios their coordinates to Praxton, then waits to verify the accuracy of his report. Jim sends Todd to report to the men, but as he makes his way through the ruined city streets, Todd is startled by the unexpected appearance of Lazzotti and the woman and accidentally shoots the woman. When the stunned Todd stumbles back to the squad, they inquire anxiously about Jim's position and set off to find him. Jim, meanwhile, continues calling in coordinate adjustments for the artillery barrage against the German tanks. The Germans send out patrols in search of Jim and consequently, the American squad finds the lieutenant pinned down under fire. A gun battle ensues in which Sands is severely wounded before the others can retreat with Jim. Hoping to save Sands, Jim then steals a German truck and races back to the American lines. After some anxious moments at the American checkpoint, the squad gets through and while Sands is taken to the medical station, Jim reports to Praxton. Jim finds the squad and Diano at Sands's bedside just as Jean announces his death. Diano stays with a distressed Lazzotti until Praxton summons them to assist in the interrogation of an Italian prisoner. When Diano sees the prisoner, he attacks him and tells Lazzotti that the man was an informer, responsible for many deaths, including Diano's parents. After Praxton demands Lazzotti force the prisoner to disclose how the tanks are getting into the city, Diano reveals that he saw them crossing the river on an underwater bridge. When Lazzotti questions the boy on how to reach the bridge, Diano explains that he can lead the men through the sewer tunnels. Although Jim is angered that Praxton did not have intelligence on the tunnels, a factor that might have reduced American losses, he agrees to take the remaining squad members to the bridge and destroy it. Unknown to the Americans, the Germans have been patrolling the sewers since Diano spotted the bridge. Midway in their journey through the tunnels, Diano is shot and killed by the Germans, forcing the Americans to kill the attackers then continue through the maze on their own. At a fork, Jim and Lazzotti pair off and Shorty and Todd take the other route. When Shorty and Todd run into another German patrol, Todd panics and abandons Shorty, who is quickly overpowered and killed. Todd is wounded, then executed by the Germans for his cowardice. Jim and Lazzotti escape a pursuing patrol, surface onto the streets near the river and, spotting signal flags in the water, realize they have found the bridge. The men use oxygen tanks in order to set the explosives underwater, and as they make their way back to the tunnels, the bridge detonates. The Germans quickly flood the sewer tunnels to prevent the Americans' escape, but the men have enough oxygen in their tanks to swim partially through. When Jim and Lazzotti are finally forced to surface, they hear a tremendous battle going on in the streets above. The men cautiously exit to the street where they are surprised to run into an American division who inform them they have succeeded in pushing the German forces out of the city.