Die Brücke von Zupanja (1975)

Yugoslavia, 1944, during the late stages of the Second World War. The German Wehrmacht is in retreat. A motley group of eight German soldiers—the senior sergeant Schuster, Lieutenant Schnell, the corporals Haake and Lindner, and a major, all very different characters—are ordered toward Županja, a town in eastern Croatia. They set off in two trucks, carrying plenty of gasoline and a considerable amount of dynamite. Their mission is to blow up the titular bridge over the Sava in that small provincial town, to secure the retreat of their own troops while also stopping the advance of the Yugoslav Tito partisans. But the enemy has already been informed and plans to lure the Germans into an ambush, since the Yugoslavs are also determined to get their hands on the explosives. Eventually, the German squad on this suicide mission is surrounded by the partisans, and a fight to the death seems inevitable.