Force of Arms

After brutal combat in the Battle of San Pietro, the division is granted five days of rest. Pete roams a cemetery at night, heavy with guilt and weariness. In those shadows he meets WAC Lieutenant Ellie MacKay, though she brushes off his advances and shows caution about romance.

Major Blackford informs Pete that he has earned a battlefield commission and has been promoted to second lieutenant. Pete processes the news amid the ongoing dangers of combat. The promotion offers a brief moment of optimism before the next dangerous mission.

Pete helps his friend McFee search for a missing letter at the post office, where Ellie is working. She offers to buy him a drink to celebrate his promotion, but again resists romance and keeps her distance. She explains that she almost married another soldier who is now buried in the cemetery.

When the division's leave is cut short, Ellie’s resistance gives way and Pete asks her to marry him on his next leave. They commit to a future together despite the war’s uncertainties. The idea of civilian life begins to bloom amid the chaos of the front.

Pete and his platoon are assigned to take out a German roadblock. He clears the road but discovers two deadly 88 antitank guns firing from a flank. He radios that the road is clear, but Blackford directs the tank column from the lead; the 88s shred Blackford's tank and Pete is wounded by artillery and loses consciousness.

Pete wakes up morose, blaming himself for not acting sooner and for surviving when others did not. He isolates himself and sinks into depression. Ellie visits and pulls him back from despair as he is granted a three-day leave.

Pete and Ellie take a three-day leave and marry in the countryside. The ceremony is a rare moment of happiness in the midst of war. They cling to the hope of a normal life beyond the front lines.

Months pass after the wedding, and Ellie discovers she is pregnant. The pregnancy would trigger a discharge from the army and repatriation to the United States, but she resists that idea. The couple holds onto the possibility of a shared future despite the war.

During a recon mission, Pete becomes trapped in a brutal house-to-house fight while his unit retreats; he is listed as missing and presumed dead. Ellie refuses to accept his disappearance and begins a determined search for any sign of him. The wait gnaws at everyone involved.

Ellie scours towns, battlefields, and hospitals across the front, hoping for word of Pete. Her search persists through dead ends and uncertain reports as the war rages on. The looming question of his fate fuels her resolve.

As Allied forces occupy Rome, Ellie finally tracks Pete to the city. He had been taken prisoner but is freed when the Germans withdraw. His leg injury flares, but the reunion brings relief and the promise of safety and a future family.

The couple reunites and begins to plan a safer life after the long years of combat. They face the future together with relief and renewed hope, choosing to value family and stability above the horrors they survived. The film closes on their steadfast bond and a sense of normalcy returning.