Get ready! Grenadiers in front!
Gilbert, you got my home address?
This is for France, my friends.
Make it good.
We have to take that village back.
It's ours!
Everyone ready?
- After you, Lieutenant. - Why? Are you afraid?
Me? I'll be the first in line.
Morache is getting cold feet.
Oh, no, he'll go, even if it's tougher than court-martialing them.
First group, advance!
Forward!
Forward, men!
Hello? We can't hear anything.
The village will be tough to capture. It's swarming with machine guns.
They're a good regiment. They'll get through.
Get down!
Keep close to the walls!
They've broken through the first line. They're continuing to advance.
Good work! You're brave men! My thanks, boys.
Let's break through their third line!
Third Squadron, on my command!
The captain's dead!
Come on, boys!
Dear God!
IT WENT ON FOR TEN DAYS
TEN DAYS
- Where's Sulphart? - Don't worry. He took cover.
- He may be wounded. - Doesn't he wish!
Let's use him as a parapet.
Yeah, better than nothing until our turn comes.
Sulphart, you out there?
When they sight this ridge, we're done for!
Here come the Krauts!
Aim lower! Ground level!
It's starting again!
- You hit? - No.
Poor guy's dead.
He asked me to write to his mother.
Just a little further and their post is ours!
Keep advancing?
He's lost his mind!
Forward!
Wait a second.
Good God, it really is a cemetery!
We've gotta get organized. They'll counterattack for sure.
No noise. They're right on the other side.
Don't worry. We're not about to start singing.
Killed defending a cemetery -
that's too much.
They'll bury us alive to save time.
This is just the right length.
Good news, Gilbert?
"...I danced so much that I broke a heel..."
Sure.
What are you singing?
The mass for the dead.
Bouffioux, anything left in your flask?
Afraid to show your face, tub of lard!
Not a drop to drink all day. I'll die!
Gilbert will buy us buckets of wine on leave.
We'll dunk our heads in like horses at the trough.
Look.
My tongue's dry as plaster.
If the corporal would just do his job!
I'm gonna tell him.
Give me your flasks.
Hurry up.
Listen, Breval.
No one has water. You've gotta to send someone to the well.
- Whose turn is it? - Not mine!
I just came in from grenade duty.
- So you won't go? - When it's my turn, I will.
Very well. I'll go myself.
Hey, Breval's hit!
- Breval's dead! - Where?
- By the well. - Dear God! Trying to get water?
- I'm going. - You crazy? You'll get killed too!
- Where's Breval? - By the well.
Come on. It's not all bad.
Now they have to evacuate you.
No, it's all over.
I'm not crying for myself
but for my little girl.
Don't talk. It'll wear you out.
It doesn't matter now.
Gilbert...
swear you'll do something for me.
Go see my wife and tell her
what she did was wrong.
It hurt me real bad.
What's going on?
She has to know.
Tell her
I cursed her name before I died,
that I spit in her face...
her and that other guy.
I'm asking you, in God's name!
Make sure everyone knows
she was living it up while I was dying at the front!
The bitch!
No, don't.
For my little girl's sake, don't do it.
Tell my wife
she has to behave herself now.
That this was my dying request.
And tell her...
that I forgive her.
They're attacking!
Help!
They're slaughtering us!
Oh, yes, you'll get your cross
It might be bronze It might be wood
But you'll get your cross
If not the Croix de guerre then a wooden cross
Ain't you got any happier songs?
Shut up! I wrote that for the guys to sing on leave.
- Who wants brandy? - Shove your brandy!
If not the Croix de guerre then a wooden cross
You weren't so cocky last night in the cemetery.
I was sure we'd all die.
Was it tough, boys?
This is all that's left of the company.
That wasn't a battle - it was a massacre.
I disagree.
- What? - I'd call it a victory.
He's flipped his lid.
I mean it. I consider it a victory
because I made it out alive.
I gave orders to assemblel
- Morache! - He's worse than the plague!
No sign of him last night. - Berthier did all the work.
Sergeants, hurry and line up your men.
We're parading in the village. The general's waiting.
What?
A parade? They've gotta be kidding!
- We're dead as it is. - It's to see who's not dead yet.
Well, I'm not going.
Lieutenant, they can't make us parade in this condition.
Yes, the general wants to see us.
Reinforcements have arrived.
We have to show them we're not little girls.
We're barely hanging on.
Come now, just a bit more. You can rest later.
Get those packs on!
This is too much.
They'll squeeze every last drop out of us.
Line up in the road in rows of four!
Fix bayonets! Right shoulder arms!
Get in step! March!
Attention!
Present arms!
We're the ones who saved the town!
We saved the town!
Will lots of guys go on leave today?
Maybe ten percent. Colon went to ask.
Ten percent? You're kidding. We'll never get out of here.
- Shame on you! - Wait till you've suffered like us!
You can argue later! Third Section, First Squadron!
Present!
Here's some guys back from leave.
Hey, Lemoine, what did you bring us to drink?
- The 25 days flew by! - Bet you had time to hoe your beets!
Bet you'd like a sip of this Calvados from back home!
Don't get mad, hayseed.
Here's my corkscrew. Pop that cork!
- What's new at home? - They're holding up.
The war could last seven years and the theaters would still be full!
And when's the war gonna end?
No one cares about the war anymore but old biddies with sons at the front.
Sulphart!
Gilbert, old buddy!
I saw your parents! I'll tell you all about it!
They were so nice!
I saw them last Sunday. They asked me to stay for lunch.
What a feast!
And the winel
I told them all about our life in the trenches, the rain, the mud,
and how rotten Morache is.
I told them about the last attack and the town we captured.
They don't know much about the war.
They were very interested,
but they just don't understand.
They wouldn't believe that you could have lice.
Listen, Gilbert, that little maid of yours -
She's awful nice.
I tried to get a date, but nothing doing.
Next time. I'm going on leave tonight. I'll talk to her.
It's your turn? Lucky devil!
But what about us?
We're stuck here!
Look at this.
A steady stream of wounded since this morning.
Seems things aren't going well.
You men going on leave, let's go!
I'm coming! Where are my sacks?
I got back just in time to say good-bye.
Good-bye, my friend.
Hear that attack? Time to clear out!
Looks like reinforcements.
They're welcoming us back.
Hurry it up, boys!
- Corporals! - Present, sir.
Assemble your men in the square in 30 minutes.
- What about us? - Who?
- We're going on leave. - All leaves are canceled.
Keep to the right!
And the party goes on.
Slow down up front.
We can't keep up. - Tough!
Quiet!
Quiet! Pass it down.
They coming to relieve us?
Are the Krauts far?
Don't know anymore. It's been four days of attack and counterattack.
Waterl
- Who's that? - One of ours.
Two men got killed already trying to bring him in.
If you can do anything...
This place is sturdy! Let 'em fire all they want!
Sturdy or not, they're really shelling.
Is someone still up there?
A reduced guard.
That's not enough. Send someone up.
Bouffioux, your turn.
Me? I can hardly see. I can't be a lookout.
Enough. You can snivel about it later.
I told you I can't see a thing!
I'll find you some glasses. Get ready.
- Corporal! - He said to get ready.
This is too much! I can't even see!
Your whining makes me sick.
I'll take your place.
Lemoine!
Don't worry, pal. My time's not up yet.
Well, it didn't miss by much.
Fat bastard.
We're safe here, with 12 feet of earth above us.
But we have to go outside tomorrow.
Are we really attacking at dawn?
Seems that way.
Lemoine!
Well?
Another lookout.
I guess it's my turn.
Waterl
I'm with the Seventh Regiment.
Don't leave me out here, boys.
I have a mother.
Don't leave me out here.
Where's the captain?
Very well. We're all staying here.
Too bad.
No hiding in the craters! We have to break through now!
I'm hit! I'm wounded, boys.
Get to first aid, quick!
Another one!
Forward!
- We have to cut off two fingers. - Go ahead. I'm no pianist.
I hope Gilbert makes it back.
That hurts.
Oh, the pain.
- Medic! - Get down!
Hey, buddy!
Over here! I'm hit!
God, I swear I won't move...
but just make it stop hurting.
When it gets dark, the medics will come.
I gotta stay conscious until then.
I gotta wait for nightfall.
They won't see me on the ground like this.
They'll leave me to die.
I don't want...
It hurts!
The pain!
Helpl Get me out of herel
Hurry up, boysl
Come on, boysl It's so darkl
Hey, medicsl
No, I won't!
I can't fall asleep.
I can't.
Returning from Montmartre
From Montmartre to Paris
I saw a plum tree
Heavy with fruit
Fair weather's here
Fair weather's here, tra-la-la
Fair weather's here as long as it lasts
Fair weather's here for lovers
Fair weather's here
As long as it lasts
Translation by JOHN GUDELJ and LYNN MASSEY for SUBTEXT SUBTITLING