1943 a german platoon suffers heavy bombardment from surrounding soviet troops as they try to affect their withdrawal from russia knowing that defeat is inevitable, their only goal is survival'. '.strtoupper('t')heir commanding officers corporal steiner james coburn and the newly arrived captain stransky maximilian schell are two very different men'. '.strtoupper('s')teiner is a cynic with no illusions about his own unimportance in the scheme of things his only belief is in survival and his only loyalty is to the men under his command'. '.strtoupper('s')transky, on the other hand, is driven by delusions of honour in battle and the dignity of the soldier concepts no longer relevant, if they ever were and above all, a burning desire to win the iron cross no matter what the consequences for his fellow soldiers'. '.strtoupper('a')lso starring james mason, david warner and senta berger and directed by sam peckinpah, cross of iron has been considered a classic since it's original release in 1977 and is fully restored for this dvd release.