In 1944, twelve Death Row convicts are selected by Major Reisman (Lee Marvin) for a suicide mission. With the aid of his assistant, Sergeant Bowren (Richard Jaeckel), Reisman gradually moulds his gang of murderers, rapists, thieves and psychotics into a tough fighting unit. He leads them into occupied France in an attempt to infiltrate a chateau where the Nazi top brass are holding a summit. Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes and a then-unknown Donald Sutherland are among the dozen.