In the first winter of the Korean War, during the Red Chinese intervention, a 48-man platoon is left to defend a choke point while covering the withdrawal of their division over an exposed bridge.

Fox had been impressed with Fuller's The Steel Helmet and sought to make another film about the contemporary subject of the Korean War.

[2] After having problems with The Steel Helmet, the army assigned Medal of Honor recipient Raymond Harvey as the film's technical advisor.

Fuller, himself a decorated World War II veteran, forged a lasting bond with Harvey, who again served as technical adviser in the 1958 film Verboten!.

A production assistant was able to find some dancers from a musical and Fuller convincingly simulated the soldiers' fatigue and depression by loading the extras' uniforms and packs with heavy weights.