Combat!
On television, war is heck.
Combat! is an American television program that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans in France during World War II. The program starred Rick Jason as platoon leader Second Lieutenant Gil Hanley and Vic Morrow as Sergeant "Chip" Saunders.
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Ep 1Forgotten Front
Saunders and his squad, "White Rook", go in to find out what happened to another squad, "Black Rook" that went silent while on a patrol to find the location of a German big gun. Saunders finds the missing squad in a dye factory and all are dead. While searching the dye factory for Germans, they find a hidden German deserter. Saunders must decide if the prisoner lives or dies when the squad make their escape.
Ep 2Rear Echelon Commandos
On the frontline, the squad receives three new replacements straight from rear echelon duty in England. They are Gainsborough (a scared, overweight cook), Temple (an equally scared ex-ballet dancer), and Crown (a radio announcer whose cocky attitude masks his fear). Saunders reluctantly takes these newcomers on a dangerous recon mission and discovers that his survival depends on the ingenuity of these misfits.
Ep 3Lost Sheep, Lost Shepherd
Jeffrey Hunter stars in "Lost Sheep, Lost Shepherd" as tanker Sgt. Dane, a man mad at the world, mad at the war, and mad at God. He's not too thrilled with Hanley and Saunders, either. During a German breakthrough, Hanley and a squad of men become cut off behind enemy lines. They are saved from a German ambush by the unexpected appearance of Dane and his tank. Their gratitude is short-lived however, as Dane’s recklessness and anger takes on a savage edge and they discover the secret he can’t live with: that he’s a failed priest now turned killer.
Ep 4Any Second Now
While in a French town on leave, Hanley's leg is pinned by some debris during a bombing raid. In the church building with him is an undetonated German bomb which is still timed to explode. Help arrives in the form of an British demolition expert who is suffering battle fatigue and is angry at Hanley for trying to pickup his girl at a local bar.
Ep 5Far from the Brave
The squad B.A.R. (Browning Automatic Rifle) man who is also Saunder's friend is killed. Kirby believes the Saunders will give him the B.A.R. Saunders decides to give it to the new man, a cook that had qualified on the B.A.R. in basic training. After the new man is killed his reasoning for giving the B.A.R. to the new man didn't matter.
Ep 6Missing in Action
Retrieving a downed pilot becomes even more nerve-wracking, because Lt. Hanley's battle-fatigued squad mistakenly shoots the messenger who delivered the U.S. war hero pilot's whereabouts to them. Lt. Hanley doesn't want this mission, but he's assured that a grizzled Maquisard truck driver will transport them safely to the farm where the French Resistance have hidden the wounded bomber pilot.
ABC
US
