It's 1944 and Lieutenant Brüchner leads a German reserve defensive unit hemmed in by guerrilla attacks from Italian partisans and desperate for food supplies and reinforcements from Mussolini's remaining loyalists. Hungry, filthy, and demoralized, the Germans suffer constant threat from the local partisans and allied bombings almost daily. Yet when the Italian reinforcements of Lieutenant Gianini arrive, they are reluctant to fight against fellow Italians in a war that many of them already see as a lost cause.