PROFILBARU.COM

*Fireball Forward*
Fireball Forward
Genre	Action; Drama; War
Written by	Edmund H. North
Directed by	Marvin J. Chomsky
Starring	Ben Gazzara; Ricardo Montalbán; Dana Elcar; Edward Binns; Morgan Paull
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Frank McCarthy
Cinematography	Robert L. Morrison
Editors	Harry Coswick; Charles L. Freeman; Pembroke J. Herring
Running time	98 minutes
Production company	20th Century Fox Television
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	March 5, 1972

Fireball Forward is a 1972 American made-for-TV movie. It was directed by Marvin J. Chomsky and written by Edmund H. North. It was produced by Frank McCarthy who called it "son of Patton": it follows a hard luck Army division in 1944 France, and the General who must lick it into shape. The film was a pilot for a proposed TV series.^[1]

Plot

After D-Day, Maj. General Joe Barret is decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross medal, but Gen. Omar Bradley transfers him to the 14th Division due to poor performance in battle.

Barret finds the 14th Division with a bad combat record, lack of morale and discipline. After two disastrous battles against the German army, Barret discovers that he has a mole, who turns out to be the head of the French Resistance, Jean Duval. Barret had learned, through Sgt. Collins, that before each battle the enemy knew their strategy.

Once Barret discovered the spy, the 14th Division wins its next battle and begins a successful push all the way to Gen. Patton, near Berlin. However, all U.S. Forces are ordered to hold on the west side of the Elbe river, with everything east of the Elbe was left for the Russians. Only after the surrender did the Western Allied forces enter Berlin, per the Potsdam Agreement.