Cross of Iron

Cross of Iron is a BritishGerman 1977 war film directed by Sam Peckinpah, featuring James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason and David Warner. The film is set on the Eastern Front in World War II during the Soviets Caucasus operations against the Wehrmachts Kuban bridgehead on the Taman Peninsula in late 1943.

The movie opens with German childrens song Hnschen klein mixed with blackandwhite footage of prewar and war scenes. It then segues to color and a German platoon raid on a Russian forward outpost led by Sergeant Rolf Steiner James Coburn, during which his men capture a young Russian boysoldier Slavko timac.An aristocratic Prussian officer, Captain Stransky Maximilian Schell, is posted as a new battalion commander in the Kuban bridgehead on the Eastern Front in 1943. Stransky proudly tells the regimental commander, Colonel Brandt James Mason, and his adjutant, Captain Kiesel David Warner, that he applied for transfer from occupied France to front line duty in Russia so that he can win the Iron Cross. ........

Source: Wikipedia