The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission

Major General Worden informs Major Wright that Germany can launch V-2 missiles filled with nerve gas. Wright is ordered to recruit convicts and take them into France to the Saint-Michel monastery to destroy gas containers and rescue the scientists. The mission requires assembling a hand-picked unit known as the Deadly Dozen.

Wright selects his 12 convicts: Joe Stern, Swede Wallan, Pops Ferucci, the Webber brothers, Fontenac, Martinez, Kelly, Ballews, Sturdivant, Chacon, Spencer and Hallet. They begin one week of intensive training with Sergeant Holt to prepare for the mission.

As the threat of leaks looms, Worden reveals an intelligence breach and increased security at the monastery. With flights to France being monitored, the dozen must enter by sea instead of air.

In France, Colonel Krieger captures resistance leader Paul Verlaine and his British contact and has them executed. Pierre Claudel, a scientist at the monastery, identifies Verlaine talking with lead scientist Flamands, prompting Krieger to tighten security.

The team lands by sea and heads into the forest where they meet Marie Verlaine and other resistance fighters. Marie reveals that Flamands' family has already been brought to the monastery, complicating the rescue. They decide to travel by river to avoid patrols and eventually capture a patrol boat, but Sturdivant is killed.

The Deadly Dozen rest at a resistance farmhouse while Wright and Fontenac prepare the next move. The unit replenishes morale and studies the monastery layout for the impending assault.

Wright and Fontenac travel to the monastery disguised as monks to meet Flamands and inform him of the plan. Their cover allows them to brief Flamands and align their rescue against Krieger’s tightened security.

Wright and Fontenac re-enter the monastery to trigger the attack, while the others infiltrate the compound. Wright destroys the communications center, Stern penetrates the basement, and Fontenac opens the back door to admit Marie, Swede, Martinez and the resistance with explosives.

Chacon and Spencer are killed; Ferucci is wounded during the chaotic fight. They also locate Flamands' son Fredric and learn Flamands and his wife Julia have been taken to a villa for a recital with a German general.

Wright and Stern infiltrate the villa, rescue Flamands and head to the rendezvous. The scientists and their families are loaded onto a truck heading for a British airlift, while decoy trucks are deployed to mislead pursuers.

German patrols destroy the decoy trucks, and the Webber brothers, Martinez and Ballews are killed in the pursuit. Krieger and his men race to the area as the escape plane lands and begins taking fire.

Fontenac sacrifices himself by drawing fire from the approaching patrols, giving the plane enough time to take off. He is mortally wounded, but the rescue succeeds and the plane escapes back to England. Wright, Holt, Stern, Wallan, Ferucci and Kelly survive, earning their freedom.