During the Battle of France, as German forces push across the country, the 7th Transmission Company endures an air raid near the Machecoul woods and quietly slips into the sheltering trees. Capitaine Dumont, [Pierre Tornade], orders Sergent-chef Chaudard, [Pierre Mondy], Soldat Pithiviers, [Jean Lefebvre], and Soldat Tassin, [Aldo Maccione], to scout the area. They carefully bury a radio cable beneath a sandy road, creep across a field, and climb a nearby hill to take position inside a cemetery. A misstep—one man digs up the wrong tree for camouflage—pulls up the radio cable and exposes their position to the advancing German infantry. The Germans sever the cable, encircle the woods, and demand surrender from the puzzled 7th Company. The small group tries to reach their unit, but what they see is the capture of their comrades, and they are forced to flee once more into the brush.
That night, under a quiet sky, the trio holes up in the woods. Pithiviers is determined to bide his time, hoping the German forces will move on, while Chaudard and Tassin keep watch. The next day, Pithiviers wades into a lake in sight of potential German fighters, and Chaudard and Tassin wake to find him resolved to stay where he is. Chaudard, trying to manage the situation, teaches his men how to swim, but their plans are interrupted when two German fighter planes sweep overhead. A French pilot, Lieutenant Duvauchel, [Érik Colin], makes an emergency landing and escapes as his aircraft explodes behind him. The trio is stunned, yet the presence of a real-alive ally adds a flicker of hope to their precarious stance.
On a separate mission, Tassin is sent on patrol to find food and a new pair of shoes for Pithiviers. He reaches a farm but only finds a dog, so he returns empty-handed. After night falls, Chaudard heads to the same farm, hoping for supplies or shelter. The farmer returns with her daughter-in-law and Lt Duvauchel, who is hiding behind the door until the moment he reveals himself and steps forward to greet Chaudard. Duvauchel’s arrival changes the dynamic, as he quietly decides to meet Chaudard’s men and offers a practical, if wary, alliance.
When Chaudard and Duvauchel come back to the hidden camp, Tassin and Pithiviers are roasting a rabbit they captured. Duvauchel quickly realizes that Chaudard has been telling tall tales to keep morale high, and he takes charge, shaping the plan with a sharper edge and steadier hand.
The following day, the men slip from the woods and seize a German armored tow truck after killing its two drivers. Their original plan had been to abandon the truck and leave the dead Germans behind, but they realize the vehicle can be repurposed as a disguise to reclaim the 7th Company. They don German uniforms and bring back another escaped member of their unit, along with resources obtained from a collaborator who mistakes them for Germans.
Along their journey, they encounter a National Gendarmerie patrol, who view them with suspicion as potential fifth-columnists. The patrol injures a young member of their group, and in a swift counterstrike, Tassin takes decisive action. In retaliation, the squad uses the tow truck’s cannon to destroy a German tank, worsening the momentum on their side and accelerating their escape.
A crucial misdirection follows: the colonel’s misguidance sends them away from Paris, but they finally locate the 7th Company behind guards who are escorting them toward Germany. With a successful bit of ruse, the trio uses their cover to spook the guards, who sprint in front of the tow truck and allow the rescued company to slip away. Chaudard, Tassin, and Pithiviers ride the German tow truck, and with a broad, almost defiant smile, salute the German commander as they slip away from danger.
Fast forward four years, to June 1944, when Lt Duvauchel flies in a mission over France. Chaudard, Tassin, and Pithiviers parachute in with him, but their approach is imperfect: they exit the aircraft too soon, and Pithiviers slips from the hold as the trio descends. The plane’s craftwork has kept them alive long enough to make a final, fragile reentry into their homeland, where new dangers and uncertain loyalties await.
Across this arc, the film threads a mix of risk-filled scouting, improvised warfare, and daring improvisation as the three soldiers improvise to keep their unit intact and to return home. The bond between Chaudard, Tassin, and Pithiviers is tested and reinforced through each close call, a testament to stubborn courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
