One of the most moving, memorable scenes in the movie

One of the most memorable and compelling scenes takes place right after the Intermission. (There was a time when movie theaters provided a 5 to 10 minute intermission in a long movie so that patrons could use the restroom.)


The second half of the movie opens with Herr Hauptman returning to the German airfield, his biplane riddled with bullet holes and shrapnel tears. Only his skill and experience have enabled him to survive. The chivarlrous and brave squadron commander was serving as a reconnaisance scout for his own squadron.

You see the sad times the squadron has fallen upon. All the pilots from the movie's first half are gone. The only survivors are LT Heidelman and LT Stachel. LT Heidelman is an aristocrat who might seem at times snobbish but the man is down-to-earth and possesses perspective and compassion, much like his squadron commander.

All the other pilots look like very young men, not much more than in their very early twenties. Worse, as the squadron adjutant describes, they are only half-trained. This means those young men, unlike Bruno Stachel, didn't have the benefit of 18 months of flying training. Perhaps they had a year at best. Those young men have not mastered their flying craft and are about to be thrown into the cauldron of combat. Also, none appear to have the 'Eye of the Tiger' as did Bruno Stachel, the deeply-rooted sense of ruthless determination and bitter ambition.

In the briefing tent, Herr Hauptman briefs the desperate war situation at the front to a somber group of German pilots, the only recognizable ones being Heidelman and Stachel. It is only Herr Hauptman's strength of courage, leadership, personality, and determination that keeps the squadron together.

This is all historical fact. The Germans suffered the same fate in World War I and World War II. They ran out of experienced pilots before they ran out of airplanes and then fuel. In the last six months of WWI the air war progressively began turning into a slaughter for the Germans as the inexperienced and inadequately trained German pilots could not even defend themselves. Similar attrition struck the Allies as well but they could make up the difference with greater numbers of replacement pilots who had the benefit of adequate training. Ironically 18 years later Nazi Germany tried to avoid this situation by training more pilots but even then they couldn't train enough to avoid the horrendous casualty rate.