Italien, 1943
En deling soldater, ca 44 stks, under ledelse af en løjtnant Rand bliver sat i land og skal erobre en gård ti kilometer inde i landet. Allerede i landgangsbåden er Rand lidt uforsigtig, bliver ramt af en granatsplint i hovedet og dør efter at være bragt i land. Delingen har været i kamp i Sicilien inden den aktuelle landgang og har før klaret sig i lang tid uden løjtnant. Sergent Halverson tager over, men han bliver dræbt af et tysk maskingevær. Sergent Eddie Porter tager over. Sanitetssoldaten, menig Ransom McWilliams har taget sig af Rand og slutter sig til resten. Blandt disse er maskingeværskytten Rivera, menig Jakie Friedman, korporal Bill Tyne, korporal Kramer, sergent Haskins, menig Archimbeau, menig Trasker, sergent Ward og riffelskytten menig Rankin, Desuden menig Cousins, menig James, menig Carraway, menig Dugan, menig Smith, menig Phelps, menig Judson, menig Tranella og menig Johnson.
De kommer væk fra stranden, hvor landgangen stadig er i fuld gang. Nogle få tyske bombefly dukker op og generer nogle af skibene. Lidt senere dukker tre Messersmith-jagere op og McWilliams bliver ramt og dræbt ude i det åbne landskab, mens Trasker, sergent Hoskins og menig Giorgio bliver ramt inde i skoven, hvor de egentlig troede sig sikre. Trasker bliver dræbt, Hoskins er ramt i læggen og Giorgio har fået skulderen smadret. Tyne har taget løjtnand Rands korttaske med og delingen begiver sig på vej mod målet, mens Hoskins og Giorgio bliver tilbage og venter på at verden bliver lidt mere organiseret og sikker omkring dem. Hoskins er erfaren og fortæller Tyne at Porter ser ud til at være ved at gå op i limningen. Tyne er fra Providence, Rhode Island og ville egentlig være tilfreds med at være der, men Hoskins har blik for at Tyne egentlig er en fin leder. På vej til målet dukker en Focke-Wulf op og dræber Dugan og sårer Smith. Tre allierede fly dukker op og skyder Focke-Wulf'en ned.
Sergent Porter bryder sammen i gråd og Tyne overtager ledelsen. Et par italienske soldater dukker op, men de ved ikke noget om noget og får løbepas igen. En motorcykelordonnans dukker op og de beder ham kigge lidt på vejen foran dem, men han vender ikke tilbage, hvilket jo er dårlige tegn. Lidt senere kommer en tysk panservogn trillende på vejen, men uden at opdage dem. Da den vender tilbage, giver de den det glatte lag og nedkæmper den uden egne tab.
De rykker frem til gården, men første forsøg på at erobre den slår fejl og Rankin bliver dræbt. Tyne reorganiserer dem og får sprængt broen i luften, samtidigt med at de går til angreb.

Bogen slutter ganske fornuftigt under angrebet på gården, så man selv kan overveje om det gik godt eller skidt. ( )

This book was originally written in 1944 and describes in vivid imagery the life of an army platoon during the first few hours following their landing on a beach in Italy. Their objective is simple: reach an isolated farmhouse near a bridge and guard that bridge. Ill luck dogs their path from the moment they get on the landing craft ' First their new lieutenant is killed by a stray shell fragment - it was his first engagement. Their old, well experienced sergeant who had commanded the platoon through several actions, is stitched by a German machine gun on a vehicle that just happened to pass their way. The platoon is then strafed by 3 enemy fighters, and the remaining sergeant slowly begins to lose command. The result is a very realistic account (I assume) of men fighting during the Second World War.

( )

Despite the fame of works like [The Naked and the Dead], and [The Thin Red Line], I find this to be the most nearly perfect novel about military action in World War II. It is very concise, taking a single action in a single battle by one platoon, and sustains interest in an astonishingly large group of characters for such a short book. The dialogue is wonderful--not very realistic, but artfully crafted to individualize each particular soldier while revealing the essential sameness of all G.I.s.

Were it just the above, it would still be a very entertaining read and make the basis for a fine movie--which it did. But what sets it above most other novels is that it goes beyond character study and exciting descriptions of battle, and really gets into the concept of What Is Leadership? The platoon loses its officers long before really starting on its assignment, and as the rank system is tested by action, the natural leadership qualities that exist in some individuals assert themselves, and in the end the non-com Tyne, inferior in rank to other non-coms in the platoon, finds command devolving upon him, and is surprised, perhaps, to find that he is up for it.

This sounds rather didactic, but it isn't that way at all as one reads it, and a casual reader might miss this aspect of the book altogether. The fact it functions so well as an entertainment may, in fact, have prevented it from getting the recognition it deserves. ( )

Brown wrote a concise account of one day in the War with a platoon of US soldiers as they land in Italy and work their way inland to attack their farmhouse objective. Each man faces his own demons differently as they come under attack from artillery, planes of enemy armour. This was turned into a wonderful 1945 film by the same title starring Dana Andrews & Richard Conte. ( )