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Combat! Season 1
Combat! Season 2
Combat! Season 3
Combat! Season 4
Combat! Season 5

 

 

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Season One Episodes (1962-63)
(one-line descriptors written by Nancy Durgin)

Based on the pilot episode, ABC put Combat! on its fall schedule along with their other World War II drama, “The Gallant Men.” But ABC wanted changes, the first of which was to replace Robert Pirosh as producer. Wisely retreating to the safety of the movie wars, Pirosh was the first of many production staff that would be casualties to Combat!

Robert Blees was among several applicants interviewed for series producer. When offered the job, he had only one condition: that they also sign Robert Altman to direct every other episode. This was so Altman could prepare one episode while the next was being shot. Blees had worked often with Altman on the anthology series "Life in a Small Town" and been very impressed with his ability. “I think I discovered Bob Altman,” says Robert Blees. “He'd never done any 'A' project up until then.”

Combat! aired Tuesday nights at 7:30 pm opposite NBC’s “Laramie” and CBS’s “Marshal Dillon” and “The Lloyd Bridges Show.” The first season episodes show a progression of events that trace the history of the Normandy campaign. Events of season one cover D-Day, Falaise, the assassination attempt on Hitler, and the battle around Avranches. There was a time continuity to the first season as the squad drew closer to the liberation of Paris. The show also showed a consistency of casting throughout most of the first season. The squad was not peopled with ever changing faces. Under Altman, the same actors reappeared as the same characters from week to week: Crown, Baker, Davis, Brockmeyer, and others became friendly faces that we came to know. And others, such as Temple and Kelly, we got to know and then see fall to the war. It was a unique continuity for its time and helped create the feeling of a real squad.

  • A Day in June Flashback to D-Day, when Braddock won company pool.
    Guests: Max Dommar, Lisa Montell, Dean Stanton, Frankie Ray, Tom Skerritt(U)
  • Any Second Now Hanley is caught under rubble in church — with unexploded bomb.
    Guests: Alex Davion, Donald May, Ellen Willard, Emile Genest, Jacques Roux
  • Just for the Record Saunders is captured, and helped to escape by reluctant French woman.
    Guests: Micheline Presle, Alf Kjellin, Norman Bowler, James Forrest,...
  • The Squad Southerner joins squad on patrol, captures Germans while barefoot.
    Guests: Jonathan Bolt, James Callahan, Claude Johnson, John Mayo,...
  • Lost Sheep, Lost Shepherd Squad encounters a tank driver who is a failed priest.
    Guests: Jeffrey Hunter, Joby Baker, Martin Brandt, Rex Holman, Tony Mordente
  • Forgotten Front Saunders and Caje must decide fate of German deserter.
    Guests: Albert Paulsen, Tom Skerritt
  • Missing in Action Squad rescues downed pilot who has been helped by French girl
    Guests: Howard Duff, Louis Mercier, Marira Machado, Paul Busch(U),...
  • Rear Echelon Commandos Squad gets three replacements -- a cook, a dancer, and a radio announcer.
    Guests: Stephen Coit, Arnold Merritt, John Considine
  • The Chateau Doc and his patients take refuge in chateau that is occupied by Germans
    Guests: Dan O'Herlihy, Ben Wright, John Milford, Joan Hackett, Paul Thierry, Frank Sutton...
  • The Prisoner Braddock is taken prisoner, and mistaken for a Colonel
    Guests: Keenan Wynn, Tom Skerritt, Adam Williams, Walter Koenig,...
  • Escape to Nowhere Hanley is captured, and becomes involved in plot to kill Hitler
    Guests: Albert Paulsen, Joyce Vanderveen, Sasha Hardin, Roger Til...
  • The Celebrity Baseball hero joins the squad, but almost (?) gets Billy killed
    Guests: Tab Hunter, Joby Baker, Tony Mordente, Dennis Robertson, Virginia Stefan
  • Far from the Brave Grady Long (BAR man) is killed, and Saunders assigns job to new man
    Guests: Joe Mantell, Fletcher Fist, Dennis Robertson
  • The Quiet Warrior Hanley parachutes into France to bring out important French scientist
    Guests: J.D. Cannon, Leno Franchen, Rolfe Sedan, Brendan Dillon,...
  • Cat and Mouse Exhausted Saunders guides another squad into area where his squad died.
    Guests: Albert Salmi, Hans Difflipp, William Bryant, Ted Knight,...
  • Reunion Saunders helps soldier reunite with his French father -- a collaborator
    Guests: Chris Robinson, Emile Genest, Will Kuluva, Angela Clarke, H.Rowland,...
  • I Swear by Apollo
    Squad takes refuge in a nunnery with wounded French informer
    Guests: Gunnar Hellstrom, John Considine, Maya Van Horn, Arnold Merritt,...
  • The Walking Wounded
    A wounded Saunders encounters a surgeon who has lost his nerve
    Guests: Gary Merrill, Geraldine Brooks, Stephen Joyce, Berkeley Harris,...
  • The Medal Soldier takes credit for destroying tank, when his dead friend did it
    Guests: Frank Gorshin, Joe Campanella, Ed Knight, Dennis Robertson, F.Fist,...
  • The Volunteer Young French boy tags along after squad and saves Hanley's life
    Guests: Serge Prieur, Ted Knight, Kurt Lewin, Ed Gilbert, Veronique,...
  • Survival Squad is captured, then escapes, but Saunders is wounded and alone
    Guests: Joby Baker, John Siegfried, Donald May, Mike Murphy, Matty Jordan
  • No Time for Pity Hanley and men must take town where Germans hold children hostage
    Guests: Denise Alexander, Gunnar Hellstrom, Michael Davis, Paul Busch,...
  • Next in Command An anti-social corporal joins squad, and Saunders doesn't trust him [audio]
    Guests: Ben Cooper, Fletcher Fist, Bill Harlow, Dennis Robertson
  • Night Patrol Saunders and squad encounter mysterious Lt. who is living in cave
    Guests: Skip Homeier, Bill Harlow, Hans Gudegast
  • Off Limits Soldier reunites with his bride -- a nurse who has been unfaithful
    Guests: Jeremy Slate, William Windom, Peggy Ann Garner, Mark Ryan, Arnold Merritt
  • No Hallelujahs for Glory Squad encounters ambitious female reporter who learns a lesson about war
    Guests: Elizabeth Allen, Maurice Marsac, Ted Roter, Angela Clarke,...
  • Battle of the Roses
    Saunders encounters strange French girl and her nurse
    Guests: Antoinette Bower, Penny Santon, Fletcher Fist, Bill Harlow
  • Hill 256 Kirby faces court martial after running from machine gun
    Guests: Robert Culp, Curt Conway, Conlan Carter, Liam Sullivan, W.Zuckert,...
  • The Sniper Squad takes town, but German sniper begins picking them off one by one.
    Guests: Jordan Grant, Gail Kobe, Hans Gudegast, Fletcher Fist, Michel Petit,...
  • One More for the Road Saunders and squad find orphaned baby and bring it along
    Guests: Fletcher Fist, Don Edmonds, Monroe Twins
  • High Named Today
    A GI who seems foolhardy is brave because he thinks he's doomed to die
    Guests: Dean Stockwell, Lew Brown, John Apone, Steven Gaynor, Burt Burger
  • No Trumpets, No Drums
    Caje feels guilty after accidentally killing a French girl's father
    Guests: Andrea Darvi, Ted Roter, Billy Beck, Jean Del Val, Nicky Blair

[ Combat! Season 1 episodes ] Combat! Season 2 episodes ] Combat! Season 3 episodes ] Combat! Season 4 episodes ] Combat! Season 5 episodes ]


Copyright 1993, 1994 by Nancy Durgin. All Rights Reserved
Compiled from various sources including THE TV COLLECTOR and EPI-LOG magazines (and the episodes themselves!).

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