In December 1944, military intelligence officer and Army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Kiley is on a reconnaissance flight over the Ardennes forest when he locates a German staff car and photographs its occupants. Spooked by the low-flying plane, the German driver abandons the car. His passenger, Colonel Hessler (a Heer Officer), scolds him and they continue on to a briefing at an underground base. General Kohler explains a plan to recapture Antwerp and tells Hessler he will lead the attack with a brigade of new King Tiger tanks. English-speaking German paratroopers led by SS Lieutenant Schumacher (based on Colonel Otto Skorzeny) prepare to be dropped behind American lines disguised as American MPs. Hessler's orderly and driver, Conrad, reminds Hessler that his King Tigers will be commanded by inexperienced replacements. Hessler reviews the commanders of his new brigade, dismissing them as mere "boys" until they break into a chorus of the Panzerlied. Kiley presents his intelligence findings to Major General Grey and his executive officer, Col. Pritchard, but they don't believe Kiley's conclusion that the Germans are planning an offensive. Kiley travels to an outpost on the Siegfried Line to capture prisoners for interrogation to find out more. Major Wolenski sends callow Lieutenant Weaver and gung-ho Sergeant Duquesne on patrol. Col. Pritchard feels vindicated when the patrol returns with inexperienced German replacements with unfired weapons, but Kiley concludes the Germans are keeping their best men back for an offensive. His warnings are again dismissed. Hessler's tanks start the offensive a day later, overrunning Wolenski's unit in the Schnee Eifel. Allied tanks led by Sergeant Guffy find the King Tigers vastly superior and are forced to retreat to Amblève. Guffy's crew retrieves their black market goods from a farmhouse while Guffy professes his love for his Belgian partner in crime, Louise. Lieutenant Schumacher's disguised troops secure the Our River bridge for the passage of Hessler's heavy tanks and switch signs at a vital intersection of roads connecting Amblève, Malmedy, and the Siegfried Line. Wolenski's troops follow the changed signs and arrive at Malmedy by mistake, where they are captured and massacred by SS troops, though Weaver successfully escapes, with Duquesne saving his life at the expense of his own. US engineers, suspicious of Schumacher's fake MPs pretending to demolish the Our bridge, are killed in a confrontation with Schumacher's men. Hessler's tanks cross the Our and approach Amblève where the Americans have improvised a strong defense. Kohler orders Hessler to bypass the town, but Hessler convinces him it is important to break the Americans' will to fight by bombarding Amblève, then occupying its ruins. Wolenski is captured when the town falls, but senior staff escape to the Meuse River to regroup. Guffy learns that Louise died in the shelling. Kiley flies a dangerous aerial reconnaissance mission in dark and fog. He manages to locate and radio the position of Hessler's tanks before the plane is shot down, killing the pilot and wounding Kiley, who is evacuated to an American fuel depot. When Hessler revels in the thought the war might go on forever, an exasperated Conrad curses him and demands a transfer. Hessler transfers him to the German fuel supply column. General Grey's division prepares to defend the fuel depot when Kiley reports the Germans are desperate for gasoline. The American tanks lure the Germans into using the last of their fuel in an open-field confrontation, suffering great losses but leaving the Germans nearly out of gas. A group of stragglers led by Weaver and Guffy kill Schumacher and his fake MPs attempting to secure the fuel depot. Kiley urges the men to burn the depot, while Hessler orders his tanks to capture the depot at all costs. The Americans flood the road with gasoline and ignite it with grenades, immolating the German tanks and crews. Hessler refuses to quit, takes the controls of his tank, and burns to death when a fuel drum hits it. The surviving Germans abandon their vehicles and begin a long walk back to Germany. Conrad throws aside his weapon, done with the war, and joins them.
Screenwriter Bernard Gordon claims to have rewritten John Melson's original screenplay. Some of the original choices for director were the experienced and successful Richard Fleischer, who turned it down, and Edward Dmytryk, with whom Jack L. Warner of Warner Bros. Pictures refused to work. Ultimately, the job went to Ken Annakin who had made The Longest Day.
The film was one of the most popular films at the British box office in 1966.
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