Plot

Saunders, Caje, and Kirby are on a night mission moving through an abandoned French village when they notice an American paratrooper hanging from the church steeple in his entangled parachute - and the paratrooper is still alive. Immediately after they enter the church to rescue the paratrooper, two German trucks full of troops enter the village, stop just outside the church, and set up an armed perimeter with the apparent intention of establishing a command post. Saunders and his men ascend the steeple steps with the hope of rescuing the paratrooper under the cover of darkness and before the Germans take notice of him. The paratrooper's helmet falls to the ground attracting the Germans' attention, and they shine a spotlight on him. Saunders had already told the paratrooper to play dead. Even with the spotlight on him, he certainly looks dead as he dangles limply in his harness. Assuming he is dead, the Germans forget him for the rest of the night. Daylight comes and Saunders is still trying to figure a way to get the paratrooper inside the steeple and back to safety without being seen by the Germans below. Then a German soldier on the ground looks up and notices the "dead" paratrooper is wearing some very nice new boots, and he considers his own boots which are virtually worn out. Wanting some new boots, the German decides to go up the steeple to pull the paratrooper inside and take the boots for himself. Saunders kills the German with a bayonet as he arrives on the steeple bell level, dons the German's uniform, and then proceeds to pull the "dead" paratrooper inside. The other Germans on the ground cheer him on thinking Saunders is their comrade. They do manage to rescue the paratrooper who turns out to be an Army Captain who was on a commando mission that also played a key part of this episode, but the rescue was not completed until after Saunders and his men are involved in a firefight as they withdraw from the village.—David Wile