Twelve bearded, filthy G.I.s wait behind barbed wire, prisoners of their own army. Murderers, thieves, rapists – they wait to be sentenced to death or hard labour for life. They are the damned of the American Army.

          Suddenly, almost miraculously, they are offered a chance of salvation: a mission just before D-Day. The chances of their getting away with it were about one in a million – but the damned don’t care; and certainly don’t count chances…..