US soldiers parachute into Japanese-occupied Burma and blow up a radar station but have difficulty getting back out.
After General Stilwell retreated from Burma, he trained men to invade. Col. Carter (Warner Anderson) sends Captain Nelson (Errol Flynn) to parachute into Burma. Nelson briefs his men that they are to destroy a Japanese radar station and then fly back. Journalist Mark Williams (Henry Hull) tells Nelson he is going along. They board the plane and are nervous about jumping. They bury the parachutes and then hike through the jungle. Radio reports a Japanese patrol, and they hide as it passes. As they get near the station, they quietly kill three sentries. Nelson orders an attack at 8:54 on the mess hall and radio room. Machine guns and grenades slaughter the Japanese, and no US troops are wounded. A demolition team blows up the radar tower.
While the Japanese mobilize troops, they hike in the jungle to an old landing strip. They imagine where they would like to be, and Williams plans his story. As the plane is about to land, Nelson learns of 200 Japanese and radios the pilot Barker (Mark Stevens) where to meet them in two days. Then Nelson hurries the men away.
Col. Carter says that all the airfields are swarming with Japanese, and so Nelson and his men will have to walk 150 miles out. Nelson divides his men into two groups with Lt. Sid Jacobs over the others for the thirty miles to the next landing field. Nelson's group gets there, but radio can't reach Jacobs. The plane drops supplies for them, and Barker radios they will have to walk. They plan to drop supplies again in four days. They wait for Jacobs and eat. Hollis says the others were killed, and Nelson orders a stretcher for Hollis.
Some Burmese raise their hands and offer to help them. They say that fifty Japanese left the town, and only two remain. These two are killed without gunfire. They find dead bodies of the other men. A man asks Nelson to kill him and dies. Nelson collects the dog tags, and they bury the bodies. The Japanese return, and many are killed. Nelson orders machine guns to cover a retreat. One man is left dead. Barker is told to order Nelson to go north, and he drops supplies. An ambush starts a gun battle. They leave the supplies, and the radio is smashed.
Col. Carter gets reports from pilots and cancels the search for Nelson. Williams collapses, and Nelson orders him carried. Nelson signals Barker's plane with a mirror, but there is no response. Nelson gives Gabby (George Tobias) his water purification tablets. They climb the mountain that is their destination and find nothing. Nelson orders them to dig in. Later they find Williams dead. They signal Barker's plane, and he drops supplies. Nelson has booby traps set. At night the Japanese attack in a fire fight, but in the morning they are gone. They see many planes invading Burma with paratroopers. Planes land, and vehicles roll out. Nelson and ten men make it back to the lines and are flown out.
No woman appears in this propaganda war movie about
a heroic American mission in the Asian theater, and it concludes
that the Japanese are evil.