“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.
Episodes
1. Forgotten 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.
2. Rear 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.
3. Lost 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.
4. Any 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.
5. Far 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.
6. Missing 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.
7. Escape to Nowhere
While playing possum behind enemy lines, the wounded Hanley is captured, then interrogated. A When Hanley won't cooperate, General Von Strelitz takes Hanley away for further questioning. The German general calmly kills his chauffeur and forces Hanley to replace him. Von Strelitz refuses to explain what he's plotting, and Lt. Hanley doesn't appreciate the promotion to Kapitan in the Heer.
8. The Celebrity
Del Packer is a famous baseball star who was drafted into the army. He winds up as a replacement in the squad. While Kelly looks for a way to make some money by setting up a baseball game with a neighboring outfit, Billy, a devoted baseball fan, is awestruck to be in the same squad as one of his heroes. However, Packer has his own demons to fight, and while the other squad members are too star-struck to notice that something may be wrong, Saunders isn't.
9. Cat and Mouse
A worn out Sgt. Saunders must lead Sgt. Jenkins and his men into an area that had already seen lots of casualties. All of the men except Saunders and Jenkins are killed before they reach their objective. After his capture Jenkins uses capture to enable Saunders to obtain the information needed.
10. I Swear by Apollo
A wounded Frenchman has important information. He and another man are injured when a land mind goes off. The squad takes refuge in a Convent of Cloistered Nuns. When Hanley arrives, he brings information that the medic died of a heart attack on the way. Saunders and Caje go to the village in search of the local doctor. The only doctor they find is a German doctor. They take him back with them.
11. A Day in June
In a flashback story told as the men rest on a rainy night, Sgt. Saunders recalls the experiences of himself and several other men on the day of the D-Day invasion. This includes tales about Braddock, who won the platoon pool on when the invasion would take place; Doc Walton, who was reluctant to go into battle; Caje (called "Caddie" in this episode), who is accompanied by another Cajun; and Lt. Hanley, who at the time was still a sergeant and had little battle experience compared to Saunders. Following the landing, the men move inland and come upon a farmstead held by a squad of German infantry.
12. The Prisoner
Braddock, while on duty as Lt. Hanley's runner, is "appropriated" by a tough-talking, overbearing colonel as his jeep driver. Unfortunately the colonel decides to drive the jeep himself and his reckless driving results in an accident in which both men are knocked unconscious. When Braddock awakens he is captured by a German patrol, but since he happens to be wearing the colonel's coat--which he put on to keep warm while the colonel was zooming around the countryside--the Germans think that he actually IS a colonel, and nothing Braddock can say or do will convince them otherwise.
13. Reunion
After the battalion pushes the Germans out of a small French town, Pvt. Paul Villers, a member of Saunders' squad, asks permission to look for his father, a French doctor. Villers' was born in France but his parents divorced when he was four and his mother, an American, took him back to the U.S. He knows the town they're in is where his father was born and looks for him there. It doesn't take him long to find his father, but it takes him a bit longer to find out some things about his father that he wasn't counting on.
14. The Medal
D'Amato and Wharton, two close friends within the platoon, become separated from the rest of the men when the platoon comes under fire from a German tank and its machine gunner. D'Amato manages to flank the armor and capture the machine gun, which he then uses against the supporting German infantry. D'Amato is wounded in the process and by the time the rest of the platoon reaches the position, Wharton has taken over the machine gun making Lt. Hanley think that it was Wharton, not D'Amato, who singlehandedly captured the German armor.
15. Just for the Record
Sgt. Saunders is taken prisoner by a German patrol. He is being transported with three other men, two Canadians and a French civilian, when they are freed by a group of Resistance fighters. The civilian turns out to be a Resistance operative as well. With the unwitting help of a woman named Annette, who provides ration coupons, Saunders is able to buy gasoline to transport the three Allied soldiers to Paris. Annette initially resists providing further help when they reach Paris, but reluctantly agrees to take in Saunders for a few nights, but it seems Annette has some secrets of her own ...
16. The Volunteer
A thirteen year old French boy wants to join the squad. After he is told he can't, he follows the squad. After Hanley is wounded, Caje tells him that he is now part of the group and his orders are to see that the Lt. gets back to town. When they get back to town, Lt. Hanley and the boy discover that the Germans are setting a trap for the Americans. Hanley sends the boy to find Saunders and the men and to tell Saunders about the Germans so he can radio the information to HQ.
17. The Squad
Saunders' and Hanley's platoon is joined by a replacement soldier from Georgia named Moseby Lovelace, who comes complete with a new set of boots that the other troops, especially Saunders, highly covet. Lovelace is eager to see action, but not interested in the ordinary work of soldiering such as digging foxholes. He jumps at the chance to join a night reconnaissance patrol headed by Hanley that will check to see whether the Germans have pulled back their lines.
18. Next In Command
Ben Cooper plays Corporal Cross, the newest addiyion to the squad. For once, the new boy is a veteran. He is tormented by a fatal mistake he'd made on another hill. That mistake has crippled him, stripping away not just his ability to fire a rifle, but also his ability to be a soldier.
19. The Chateau
Doc, Braddock and several wounded GIs take refuge in a French Château owned by a wealthy aristocrat and his daughter. The father is concerned only with saving his estate and wants no part of them and orders them off the property. Unfortunately, a strong German patrol shows up intending to use the Château as an artillery observation post. The G.I.s are taken prisoner. While the captured soldiers make plans to escape, the aristocrat sees a kindred spirit in the seemingly cultured German commander, but doesn't realize that the officer has designs on the Château's treasures including the aristocrat's daughter.
20. Off Limits
P.F.C. Marsh runs into his wife Lt. Amelia Marsh at a field hospital. He asks for a pass to spend time with her. While he is waiting for his pass, Kirby goes AWOL and ends up at the hospital. Marsh has to go out on a mission in place of Kirby and is wounded.
21. No Time for Pity
Hanley and men must take town where Germans hold children hostage
22. Night Patrol
The squad meets up with a lieutenant living in a cave.
23. Survival
Hanley and his men are taken prisoners. The encampment comes under artillery fire. The Germans get all but Saunders out. The men use the artillery barrage to make their escape. When they get far enough away Hanley does a head count. They find that Saunders is not with them and the men want to go back to look for him. Hanley won't let them. Saunders follows them with both his hand badly burnt from the fire that burned the ropes he was tied up with. They raid a German camp looking for food and Kelly gets killed while he is putting on boots to replace those a German soldier took from him earlier. They get back to their lines with a delusional Saunders not far behind carrying a dead German thinking it is his brother.
24. No Hallelujahs for Glory
Sauders resents a female photo journalist until he sees the final results.
25. The Quiet Warrior
Hanley is pulled off the line and sent to London. He discovers that he is to be used in a secret mission to aid a French physicist to escape occupied France before the Gestapo captures him. Hanley and the man's son were friends in college and Hanley spent one summer in France at the family's home. Hanley is the only man the scientist will trust, especially since it has been discovered that someone in the French resistance who is helping them is a double agent.
26. Battle of the Roses
A young woman who cannot face the horrors of the war isolates herself in an idyllic garden which is unscathed by German bombs and refuses to leave. Saunders attempts to evacuate her before more Germans come.
27. Hill 256
Kirby is on trial accused by Sgt. Midcaff who claims Kirby ran from the enemy. Kirby said there was a machine gun nest. After Kirby convinces Saunders he is telling the truth, Saunders and Caje must prove that Kirby is telling the truth about the machine gun nest.
28. The Sniper
A never say die German stays behind after the German withdrawal to wage his own private war. He is aided by a beautiful but bitter Frenchwoman who has her own reasons to hate the town that her German lover terrorizes
29. One More for the Road
The squad finds a baby in a barn and the mother had been killed. Saunders won't let them bring the baby along and the men don't like it. Saunders gives in and sends Littlejohn and Doc back for the baby. After finding out that the convent was destroyed and with time running out, Caje goes to a bombed out farmhouse and dresses like a civilian to get the baby across the river. The rest of the squad cross downriver from the bridge. They get across as the artillery barrage starts.
30. The Walking Wounded
Saunders becomes one of "The Walking Wounded" and falls under the mercies of three broken souls more deeply wounded than he.
31. High Named Today
Hanley, Saunders and their men are worried that the reckless bravery of a reputed one-man death-squad will get them all killed.
32. No Trumpets, No Drums
Caje must deal with killing a Frenchman. He does this by turning his attention to the dead man's daughter.The squad becomes worried about Caje. Saunders must find a way to bring Caje back to himself. before losing him. Saunders finds what he needs to bring Caje back when the town is attacked by the Germans.
Cast & Crew
Rick Jason
Lieutenant Gil Hanley
Vic Morrow
Sergeant Chip Saunders
Jack Hogan
William G. Kirby
Pierre Jalbert
Paul "Caje" Lemay
Conlan Carter
Doc
Dick Peabody
Little John
Tom Lowell
Billy Nelson
Steven Rogers
Doc Walton
Story & Production Details
Reviews & Thoughts
My dad used to talk about this when I was a kid... well... his entire life. And I can relate. He sounded a lot like I probably sound when I still talk about the A-Team: "And then, and then Mr. T did this and.... ahhhh... it was awesome." "How old are you again?" "40." Anyway, hearing about that all my life, when I finally got to watch it, Thank you MeTV, I felt obligated to take the opportunity. After all, Combat! And All in the Family were the only television shows I ever heard my father reference. And.... WOW. It humanizes. The Nazi soldiers are just, well, soldiers. They totally ignored the habit of making them characterless monsters and instead just made them soldiers who may or may not be political. That is pretty amazing right there. That sort of says "Yeah, we are going to be focused on writing and telling compelling stories more than anything else," and of course, it still manages to keep the O. Henry style moral twists that came with the era despite not making a statement of absolute evil. It makes for a really smart show.
