Synopsis / Summary / Plot
March 25, 1945, Captain America leads a mission of paratroopers from the 2nd Ranger Battalion on a perilous mission: to drop inside Germany and secure a dam, holding it against the enemy until reinforcements arrive. Landing near the dam, several Rangers are assigned to dismantle the bombs placed by the Germans to destroy the structure should it be threatened, while others undertake to capture the guards’ pillbox. Corporal Molodec’s team is spotted by a guard and an alarm is sounded. Losing the element of surprise, Cap leads the assault on the pillbox, bringing a soldier close enough to toss a grenade inside. Molodec and others open fire on fleeing Germans, with some American casualties as well. Inside the pillbox is the sole surviving German soldier who surrenders. An angry Molodec wants to shoot him down but is stopped by Captain America who reminds him of the Geneva Convention rules regarding prisoners. Cap questions the prisoner, Klaus Hartmann, regular army, not a Nazi, and advises him to comply with the rules as well for his own safety. Word of German reinforcements comes and Cap leaves Molodec to guard the prisoner while he leads the Rangers against the oncoming tanks. Cap’s agility allows the Americans to capture one of the tanks then maneuver it to destroy the other tank. The Rangers then discover that the German reinforcements are Waffen-SS and know they will be in for a fight. Capt meets with the Nazi leader, Hermann Veitel, under a flag of truce to arrange for turning the wounded Hartmann over to his own people. Veitel refuses and orders his troops to fire on Cap. The Living Legend exerts all his speed to make it back to the American emplacement under covering fire by the Rangers. Word then comes that the American armored regiment has been held up and will not be able to relieve them soon. Hartmann apologizes to Captain America for the Nazi Veitel, expressing despair at how his country was so easily deceived by Hitler and his thugs. As Hartmann has some medical training, Cap releases him (over Molodec’s protests) to help treat the American wounded. The Nazis attack and press the assault through the night; Hartmann proves himself a hero by saving the lives of several wounded—and then collapses from his own injuries. Meanwhile in the German camp, the Heer (Army) Commander, Leutnant Hruber, arrives and berates Veitel for refusing to accept the return of a wounded soldier and for firing on an American officer under a flag of truce. Hruber heads to the American line and negotiates the return of Hartmann, who salutes Captain America as he leaves. On their way back to the German side, Hruber and Hartmann are shot down on orders from Veitel. Over the next few days, the Americans hold off German assaults until the armored regiments arrives. Cap leads only fourteen survivors; Veitel and several of his men are taken prisoner—and Corporal Molodec is last seen kneeling by the body of Klaus Hartmann.