"Battle Patrol"

The shell craters we played in as children were made by German guns; the old man in the market square was a resistance fighter; a tragic part of the story . . .

FADE IN:

EXT. ITALIAN COUNTRYSIDE – DAY

ESTABLISHING SHOT

Early on a sunny day. The green foothills of the mountains shelter a sleepy valley with vineyards crossed by dusty country lanes and waving cypress trees.

EXT. CAMPAGNA DI CIELO – DAY

A charming ancient village of stuccoed villas with terra cotta roofs.

TITLE: ITALY, 1944

It seems impossibly peaceful until the view shifts to the outskirts of town where acres have been destroyed in a Nazi attack.

ANGLE ON SCORCHED RUINS

Over a dozen villas are roofless and crumbling, razed by German artillery. The blackened earth is treeless and pocked with shell craters and not even a sign of life.

EXT. VILLAGE PLAZA – DAY

A bell TOLLS in the antique tower of the church, which looks down upon empty market stalls and a fountain with a marble pieta.

Villagers, mostly gaunt women and malnourished children, enter carrying meager baskets of wares for sale.

EXT. HILLTOP – DAY

The high flat meadow above a pine grove affords a perfect view of the village.
The RUMBLING sound of steel treaded vehicles disturbs the calm; two German halftracks carrying gun crews and towing cannons slow to a halt near the edge of the meadow.

A NAZI OFFICER stiffly stands in the lead vehicle and SHOUTS out his orders.

NAZI OFFICER: Gun crews dismount and prepare your weapons.

The gun crews quickly unlimber their cannons and swing them around so that they face the village. While men unload and prepare shells, an ARTILLERY CORPORAL sets up ranging binoculars on a tripod. He sights down at the village.

BINOCULAR ANGLE ON VILLAGE PLAZA

The cross-hairs are aimed at the church bell tower.

ANGLE ON CORPORAL AND CREW

ARTILLERY CORPORAL: Range is 950 meters! Impact fuses. Load your weapons.

The crewmen adjust range on their guns, then load shells in the breeches and slam them shut.

ANGLE ON NAZI OFFICER ATOP HALFTRACK

He unholsters his luger pistol and points it in the air.

NAZI OFFICER: Ready on the firing line? Commence firing!

He SHOOTS his pistol.

BACK TO ARTILLERY CREW

The gunners PULL their lanyards and both cannons FIRE and RECOIL.

EXT. VILLAGE PLAZA – DAY

Huge EXPLOSIONS rock the bell tower, followed by BILLOWS of black smoke.

EXT. HILLTOP – DAY

The gun crews rapidly reload and FIRE again.

EXT. VILLAGE PLAZA – DAY

CHAOS has descended upon the miserable inhabitants of Campagna di Cielo. Dead and injured lie in bleeding scorched heaps all around the flame-filled cratered plaza.

Survivors SCRAMBLE for cover as more shells come HURTLING in. The bell tower TUMBLES down.

CLOSE UP: CHURCH STEPS

A pile of stone covers the victims; a battered child tries to struggle loose, and another EXPLOSION throws debris CASCADING over him.

EXT. HILLTOP – DAY

The Germans continue their attack. The Officer is exultant as he BARKS orders at the crews.

NAZI OFFICER: Hold your target. And fire at will!

EXT. HUNTER’S SHACK – DAY

In a pine grove. The shack SHAKES on its foundations as the guns FIRE.

INT. HUNTER’S SHACK – DAY

Cowering pathetically on a straw bed in the corner is LUIGI FRATELLANO, friendly faced, broad-shouldered peasant – a hunter of small game and the kind of peaceful anti-Fascist who tries to keep out of the action. Now he feels as if his life has ended.

Tears stream from his swollen eyes and his lips are twisted in anguish.

LUIGI: Oh Jesus! Oh God!

EXT. GOAT PATH – DAY

The narrow trail comes out of the pine grove midway down the hillside. Carrying a shotgun and string of fowl, Luigi furtively looks up behind him, sees that the trees shield him from view, then timidly moves along.

Loud EXPLOSIONS from the hilltop above are followed by more EXPLOSIONS further away.

Luigi STUMBLES, falling on one knee and he MOANS. Another EXPLOSION brings him back to his feet and he starts RUNNING at top speed.

EXT. MOUNTAIN PASS – DAY

As Luigi crouches behind a boulder, tremblingly watching his village crumble into ashes, the eerie sound of a soldiers’ CHORUS singing the Nazi Horst Wessel anthem is heard, together with the rumble of military trucks. He pulls back further.

ANGLE ON THE ROAD BELOW

Three open-topped infantry trucks carrying rifle and bayonet armed troops roll through the pass and down a terraced vineyard toward the flame engulfed village.

MONTAGE: FACES OF SINGING SOLDIERS

The grim, stone-faced, sadistic, vicious, even gleeful infantrymen are all obedient mindless Nazis – the type who are “only following orders” – with obvious satisfaction over the massacre of innocent civilians that has just occurred.

MONTAGE ENDS

ANGLE ON LUIGI

He’s ENRAGED. For an instant, the self-pity is gone, though not the caution.
Staying in a crouch, he clambers down onto the road and quickly jogs to the other side. He mournfully looks back down at Campagna di Cielo –

EXT. VILLAGE PLAZA – DAY

In soundless slow motion, we see the survivors attempt to flee, wading into a tide of engulfing SMOKE and FLAME, their faces tortured into expressions of despair.

EXT. MOUNTAIN PASS – DAY

Luigi also despairs, but forces himself to turn away; he climbs back onto the goat path, which leads over the pass into the next valley.

EXT. GOAT PATH – DAY

Luigi wanders aimlessly along the edge of a craggy cliff, too much in anguish to shield his eyes from the bright morning sun. His mind is tortured by thoughts of the massacre he just witnessed.

SLOW DISSOLVE

The trail takes him below an open stand of deep tan grass toward an evergreen thicket. He pauses as voices ECHO up ahead, together with the sounds of approaching footfalls.

Instantly alert, he runs off the path and hides in the deep grass.

Seven Gestapo soldiers come up the trail. They have two captives: a frightened PEASANT WOMAN followed by a brave young boy, her SON. The woman struggles painfully as the soldiers drag her roughly by the arms. The child angrily tries to argue with a PRIVATE.

BOY: Let her go!

The soldier DRAGS the woman even more roughly.

PRIVATE (to woman): Move faster or you’ll also get a beating!

The woman suddenly frees an arm and the private pushes her forward so that she TRIPS and FALLS. The boy YELLS.

BOY: Pig!

He LUNGES at the soldier and the private unshoulders his rifle and pushes the boy away with it. The boy grabs for the rifle strap and the private takes a step back and brings the butt of the weapon down hard on the child’s shoulder. The boy falls SOBBING. His mother violently tries to free herself.

PEASANT WOMAN: What do you do? Scum –

The private handles the woman sadistically, laughing at her tears.

PRIVATE: Worry more about yourself!

The other soldiers laugh as he gropes her.

The boy suddenly JUMPS up and RUNS. The private aims and FIRES a shot into the child’s back, causing him to PLUNGE forward to the ground. He walks over and SHOOTS him again. The mother SCREAMS in agony.

PEASANT WOMAN: Murderer!

CLOSE UP ON LUIGI

Hugging the ground. Trembling hands cover his face and muffle his cry.

ANGLE ON NAZIS

They drag the SCREAMING woman by her wrists and ankles until they are out of sight.

ANGLE ON DEAD CHILD

Face down in the grass. There's a rustling sound, and Luigi kneels at his side. He gently turns the boy over, choking back a sob, then cradles the body and carries it off the path laying it under bushes nearby.

He prays silently for a moment and makes the sign of the cross, then cautiously walks on, vigilantly looking out for more German soldiers.

EXT. FIELD – DAY

A boulder strewn meadow overlooking a wide high plain. The walls and spires of another town can be seen in the hazy distance.

Six German scouts armed with submachine guns and grenades reconnoiter. The leader is a burly SERGEANT in a cloth cap with a permanent sneer disfiguring his otherwise bland features.

SERGEANT: Careful. Here there are resistance fighters.

His men look behind every boulder but they find nothing.

The sergeant walks toward an ancient stone wall that runs along the edge of the field. He halts and listens closely.

REVERSE ANGLE ON LUIGI

Hunkered down close to the wall with his shotgun gripped tightly in hand.

ANGLE ON SERGEANT

He leans far forward; something seems wrong. Without turning, he waves the other men up behind him.

SERGEANT: Over here!

BACK TO LUIGI

Sweating hatred from every pore.

WIDE ANGLE SHOT

As the sergeant inches forward, the other soldiers fan out holding their weapons at the ready.

Suddenly, Luigi JUMPS up and YELLS. The sergeant swings his gun around, but too late as Luigi BLASTS him point blank with both barrels, THROWING the German backward to the ground.

The rest of the men are STUNNED. Luigi drops his weapon and SCRAMBLES for the sergeant's submachine gun.

A CORPORAL draws his pistol and FIRES, missing.

CORPORAL: Attack!

Luigi SNAPS back the bolt on the submachine gun, falls flat and FIRES off a BURST that takes down the corporal.

A private FIRES back, then suddenly CATAPULTS into the air; he's been HIT from behind. The CRACKLING sound of automatic weapons is heard off camera.

The Nazis SPIN wildly as each one is STRUCK, some several times before they fall.

Silence descends like a pall. The meadow is like an open graveyard with unburied corpses, but harshly lit by the noonday sun.

LOW ANGLE ON MARCHING COMBAT BOOTS

FULL SHOT

A four man U.S. Army squad covers the field, their smoking weapons aimed down at the dead enemy.

They are the Battle Patrol: SGT. JOHN MADISON, CPL. STEVE GREENE, PFC PETE DIXON and PVT. MIKE EGAN, courageous members of an elite task force assigned to drive all enemy from the area, some of the toughest troops in the American military.

They quietly survey the devastation, then warily check out the fallen enemy one at a time, making sure the Nazis are dead before carefully removing weapons and ammunition.

Luigi stays stock still on the ground with his face pressed down into the dirt. Sgt. Madison kneels and calls to him reassuringly.

MADISON: Eh paisan! Get up. Siamo amici. We're friends, Americani.

Luigi rises trembling and stands dazed as the sergeant comes over to shake hands.

MADISON: You were very brave.

Luigi relaxes a little.

LUIGI: I'd be dead if not for you.

MADISON: I'm Sgt. John Madison, U.S. Infantry.

LUIGI: Luigi Fratellano.

MADISON: Resistance fighter?

LUIGI: No, I'm a hunter. And a coward.

MADISON: Why do you say that?

The other Americans have finished and gather round waiting to be introduced, keeping a wary eye out for more enemy. Cpl. Greene SLAPS Luigi on the shoulder.

GREENE: Cpl. Steve Greene. Proud to know you. That's Mike Egan and there's Pete Dixon. You won't meet a better bunch of guys anywhere.

EGAN: You spit in the devil's eye, eh?

DIXON: Pete, from Virginia, U.S.A. Come stai, signor?

LUIGI (laughing): Bene. Molto bene!

MADISON: We better move out. Luigi, stay close to me.

EXT. PLAIN – DAY

The sounds of combat ECHO in the distance as the patrol marches toward an ancient walled town. Madison and Luigi talk as the other men keep a watch.

MADISON: Was it the first time the Nazis attacked your town?

LUIGI: No, many of our villagers had been killed by soldiers in earlier raids, especially those who were suspected of joining the resistance.

MADISON: Did they?

LUIGI: Possibly.

MADISON: Why did you call yourself a coward before? Do you regret not joining the resistance?

LUIGI: I saw a child murdered. (choking) And I did nothing to help him.

Egan is loaded down with captured enemy weapons; he walks up beside Luigi and studies him for a beat, then grins comically to cheer him up.

EGAN: These ain’t toys like that popgun you were carrying, goombah! Hey, you wanna burp gun?

Luigi swings around the gun he took from the Nazi sergeant.

LUIGI: I already have one of my own.

Egan unshoulders a schmeisser and forces him to take it.

EGAN: Well take another; I got so many I don’t know what to do with them.

Luigi smiles gratefully. Egan chuckles and drops back in line by Dixon. He pulls out a luger and shows it off.

EGAN: See what I got?

DIXON: That’s great, but what you gonna do with it when you run outta ammunition?

EGAN: I guess I’ll kill me another Nazi officer!

DIXON: I think you gonna get us all killed instead.

Cpl. Greene whistles and motions them apart.

GREENE: Save the scuttlebutt for camp!

EGAN: Okay, Corporal.

They pick up the pace, and head for a dirt road that leads to a military depot outside the town.

EXT. COMPANY HEADQUARTERS – DAY

There are perimeter units of machine gun armed guards behind sandbags, a motor pool that includes a half dozen Sherman tanks, and a row of field tents where a reserve platoon mills about restlessly waiting for battle.

The patrol wearily trudges to the center of the camp, halting in front of a large tent on a rake with a wooden sign in front.

CLOSE UP ON SIGN: MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

FULL SHOT

MADISON: I’ll introduce Luigi to Lt. Nash. The rest of you take a breather.

DIXON: And a load of chow. (to Luigi) I’ll save the leftovers for you, goombah.

Luigi grins affectionately and the others walk off. Madison holds back the tent flap for Luigi to enter.

INT. INTELLIGENCE TENT – DAY

Chief intelligence officer LT. JIM NASH, standing by a mapboard on an easel, speaks to Luigi as Madison looks on.

NASH: Help me put some pins on the map.

As Luigi points to each locality, Nash adds a pin to the map.

LUIGI: Here . . . here . . . and here. The bodies may still be found.

NASH: Do you have any idea where the Nazis were based?

LUIGI: I believe they fled the fighting in this valley.

MADISON: Lt. Nash, they may have attacked his village so that they could move their base of operations there.

NASH: Very likely. I’ll try and get confirmation from aerial recon.

LUIGI: I am worried about what will become of the rest of my villagers.

NASH: So we’ve no time to waste. Are you sure you’re willing to act as our guide?

LUIGI: It will be an honor.

NASH: It may get hot. You’ll probably see more action tomorrow than you’ve ever seen in your life before.

LUIGI: I said yes.

NASH (to Madison): We’ll be traveling off the main road and behind cover. (points at the map) You and your men scouting up near the ridge line here; I’ll be in a halftrack on this vineyard road below; and a pair of tanks will parallel our movements on the valley floor.

MADISON: Any time to rest up, Jim?

NASH: Hit the sack early. I want you ready at 0400 hours tomorrow. And make sure this man gets anything he needs.

MADISON (to Luigi): I’m giving you the royal treatment, paisan. Have you ever tasted spam?

LUIGI: I’m sure I’ll love it.

NASH: There’s a good soldier. (to Madison) Don’t forget, 0400 hours.

MADISON: Right, Lieutenant.

They salute and Madison exits with Luigi. Nash spreads another map out on a field table and begins to draw lines with a compass and ruler.

INT. B SQUAD TENT – NIGHT

Luigi cleans and looks over his new Garand rifle while Madison makes notes in a handbook and Greene packs rifle clips in an ammo case. Egan jokes with Dixon who seems unamused.

EGAN: C'mon Dixon, lemme show you a couple of moves, in case you suddenly find yourself out of ammo and staring up the barrel of a burp gun like poor Luigi did this morning.

Egan looks over at Luigi, and the peasant chuckles politely but continues cleaning his rifle.

MADISON (to Luigi): Don't pay any attention to them, they're always fooling around.

Egan gets up and starts to clown with Dixon, shadow boxing in front of his nose.

EGAN: Like this: a jab, bing! Another jab, bing! And a right, bop! See? And you can do nothing!

Egan picks up a broomstick and holds it right under Dixon's nose.

EGAN: See, I'm the enemy. Now do like I showed you. Make your move.

Dixon turns cross-eyed, then brings a foot up onto Egan's chest, and sends him FLYING backwards over his bunk onto the floor. Egan BOUNCES back up into a fighting stance.

EGAN: Not bad! Wanna try best out of three falls?

DIXON: You a class A idiot, Egan!

Cpl. Greene locks his ammo case and looks at them hopelessly.

GREENE: Lights out. Hit the sack.

Without waiting, he snaps off the light.

JUMP CUT:

It’s still dark but Luigi can’t sleep. Tears silently fall from his eyes; tears of RAGE. Dixon watches silently, wondering what’s in his mind.

EXT. CROSSROADS – DAY

Dawn the next day, a U.S. Army convoy halts at the base of a ridge covered with brush. There are two Sherman tanks, a halftrack with machine gun and an infantry truck loaded with men, including the Battle Patrol.

Lt. Nash steps out of the halftrack and stretches as Sgt. Madison jogs over from the truck. Madison's wearing a full battle pack, his carbine and carrying a walkie-talkie.

MADISON: We're all squared away, Jim.

NASH: Let's go through it again. According to aerial recon, the enemy has set up ambush positions all along the main road.

MADISON: So we stay off the main road and take them by surprise.

NASH: Find them, radio their coordinates to me and I'll direct tank fire onto the target.

MADISON: And the patrol does not engage the enemy?

NASH: Not unless absolutely necessary. I may call in close air support if you encounter stiff resistance; your squad can retreat to the cover of my machine gun.

MADISON: I'll radio first.

NASH: Just try not to let Gerry see you. (pauses) . . . and best of luck!

MADISON: Same here, Jim.

They clasp hands. Madison jogs back to the truck and motions his four men, all wearing full battle packs, down onto the road. With Madison in the lead, they march up the ridge.

EXT. HILLSIDE – DAY

The squad crouches behind bushes in a clearing that looks 200 yards down slope at a vineyard and farmhouse above the main road. Madison and Greene scrutinize the position through binoculars.

EXT. VINEYARD – DAY

Over a dozen German soldiers have set up an impromptu ambush behind camouflage. Invisible from the main road, the enemy are entirely visible to the American squad above – anti-tank gun, anti-aircraft gun (AA) and machine gun.

The leader is a leather trenchcoated NAZI MAJOR with an eye patch and the death’s head emblem on his cap.

A pair of guards along the rear perimeter scan the hillside but do not detect the patrol.

EXT. HILLSIDE – DAY

Luigi seems very upset.

DIXON: What’s the matter, paisan?

MADISON (offering his binoculars): Here, Luigi, want to take a look?

LUIGI: I can see. That Nazi in the black trenchcoat . . . . He is the same officer who ordered the arrests of 40 peasants suspected of being members of the resistance.

MADISON: Recently?

LUIGI: Last week their bodies – some of them children – were discovered in caves outside the town.

MADISON: He’s Gestapo, maybe SS. Will there be any peasants in that farm house down there?

LUIGI: I think not; I know the family who lived there and they fled the valley a month ago when the first Nazis arrived.

MADISON: Any other civilians nearby?

LUIGI: Not likely.

MADISON (to Greene): Call it in.

Green reaches for the walkie-talkie.

GREENE (over radio): Alpha niner, this is T-bone double 5, read me?

EXT. DIRT ROAD – DAY

A double furrowed trail thickly concealed behind hedges – just wide enough for Lieutenant Nash’s halftrack. The machine gunner covers the main road through a little break in the cover.

INT. HALFTRACK CRIB – DAY

Nash speaks into his radio microphone.

NASH: Roger T-bone 55, this is alpha niner.

INTERCUT NASH AND MADISON

MADISON: We are in map square sigma 60 looking at map square sigma 64. Brunhilda has two pianolas and a big bass drum. Suggest you get the square dance started.

NASH: Roger-wilco, T-bone 55.

Nash works on a map board set up on an easel. He draws lines between grid squares using a protractor, then checks the distances with a compass.

JUMP CUT

Nash turns a radio dial and starts speaking again.

NASH: Kappas 3 and 4, do you read me, pronto?

There’s a brief pause and then an answer comes crackling through.

RADIO VOICE: Roger.

NASH: Time to dosey do. Sixty niner, niner zero eight –

EXT. OLIVE ORCHARD – DAY

The turret on Sherman tank no. 1 turns, the gun elevates and it FIRES twice. The infantry squad guarding its flanks shudders.

EXT. STREAM BED – DAY

The gun on Sherman tank no. 2 FIRES a volley of three at a high angle. Its squad of foot soldiers is spread out among boulders.

EXT. WALLED VINEYARD – DAY

Shells EXPLODE all over the Nazi encampment causing the enemy to SCATTER like hens surprised by a ravenous wolf.

The anti-tank and machine guns are in SMOLDERING ruins and six Nazis are injured or dead.

The death’s head major YELLS angrily at the other survivors, but no one can hear him.

NAZI MAJOR: Man your positions! Cowards!

The major grabs the arm of a running soldier, but the soldier tears loose and SPRINTS for the farmhouse, where another shell EXPLODES, riddling him with shrapnel.

The major coolly marches over to the AA gun, sits and swivels it around. As he does so, he sees a bright reflection from the hillside above. He presses his good eye up against the weapon’s telescope and carefully adjusts aim.

EXT. HILLSIDE – DAY

Madison looks at the lens of his binoculars in dismay and turns excitedly to Green.

MADISON: We’ve been seen!

GREENE (to the patrol): AA gun, center of the vineyard opposite the farmhouse door. Fire at will!

Greene knocks the safety on his BAR and lets loose a stream of FIRE. He’s already loaded a second clip as the other men start SHOOTING.

EXT. WALLED VINEYARD – DAY

The enemy major FIRES the AA gun. A shell EXPLODES nearby but he pays no attention.

EXT. HILLSIDE – DAY

Madison is prone looking through his binoculars again. He shouts at Greene.

MADISON: You’re hitting three yards left of the target.

FLACK from the AA gun lands nearby, SHOWERING the squad with dirt and pebbles. They all cover their heads.

Greene is first up, CURSING; he adjusts aim before squeezing off another five rounds. The rest of the patrol are right behind him.

CLOSE UP ON LUIGI

FIRING with grim satisfaction.

CLOSE UP ON MADISON

YELLING into the radio.

EXT. WALLED VINEYARD – DAY

A pair of German riflemen are HIT and fall.

Suddenly, the major stops shooting. His head falls away from the AA gun telescope, whose glass is shattered. He’s been hit in the eye by a bullet that came right through the telescope.

CLOSE UP ON MAJOR’S FACE

He seems just as smug dead as he was alive.

EXT. HILLSIDE – DAY

Madison SHOUTS hoarsely at the squad.

MADISON: Cease fire!

They obey, but keep their weapons aimed down at the vineyard, which is engulfed in smoke and flames. Madison grabs the walkie-talkie.

MADISON: This is t-bone double 55, do you read me?

Nash’s voice CRACKLES back.

NASH (O.C.): What is your situation?

Another shell EXPLODES in the vineyard.

MADISON: The party’s over. Send the fiddler home.

NASH: Roger t-bone! Will rendezvous toute de suite!

The tank shelling ceases, leaving an eerie silence. Black smoke drifts up the hillside as the patrol warily heads down slope.

AUTHOR CONTACT INFO: If you are an industry professional and might be interested in producing or representing this screenplay, write to Matthew Buchwald, 47-52 44th St., D3, Woodside, NY 11377, or call 718-433-3890, or email [e-mail].