page_title: Battleground (film)
section_title: Historical accuracy
hierarchical_section_title: Battleground (film) / Historical accuracy
caption_attribution_description: Bastogne, Battle of the Bulge
context_page_description: Battleground is a 1949 American war film that follows a company in the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division as they cope with the Siege of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, in World War II. It stars Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalbán, and George Murphy, features James Whitmore, and was directed by William A. Wellman from a script by Robert Pirosh.
  The film is notable for portraying American soldiers as vulnerable and human. While they remain steadfast and courageous, each soldier has at least one moment in the film when he seriously considers running away, schemes to get sent back from the front line, slacks off, or complains about the situation he is in. Battleground is considered to be the first significant American film about World War II to be made and released after the end of the war.
context_section_description: Although the film is a fictionalized version of the siege of Bastogne, there were no Germans disguised as Americans GIs operating around Bastogne. Operation Greif only focused on the front of the 6th SS Panzer Army, many miles to the north. The scenes depicting US troops quizzing each other about their culture (like sports and films) to verify they were not German infiltrators did occur once news of the operation became known.
  The unit portrayed in the film is the fictional "2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon of Item Company" of the real 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. The 327th Glider Infantry Regiment never had an Item Company. When the airborne divisions were conceived early in World War II, glider regiments were given two battalions; the first had companies named Able, Baker, Charlie, and Dog while the second got Easy, Fox, George, and How. The 327th held the western perimeter of Bastogne.
caption: The 327th Glider Infantry Regiment held the western perimeter during the Siege of Bastogne.
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