It is the height of the Second World War. Someone decided it was time to have a Joint Readiness Brigade. Many did not want to see it succeed so it was t consist of the bottom of the barrel US troops and crack Canadian troops. Naturedly to head this up was Lt. Col. Robert T. Frederick (William Holden), Maj. Alan Crown (Cliff Robertson), and Maj. Cliff Bricker (Vince Edwards).
The film is formula (a “Dirty Dozen” knockoff) where they must give a rag tag motley crew the incentive to become a cohesive fighting machine will a will to win in unorthodox ways. In the process they will become Die Teufelsbrigade or The Devil’s Brigade.
I have to admit that this is fun to watch over again as we see the slow metamorphoses and ask what would I do in their shoes.