What are the key story phases in Breakthrough?

The story of Breakthrough progresses through these phases: Eastern Front Retreat, Stolen Surrender Plot, Sabotage and Ambush, Defection and Liberation.

How does Breakthrough end?

In the final act ("Defection and Liberation"): Steiner survives execution, disables explosives, and turns against his former commanders. Civilians are evacuated and hostilities conclude.

Breakthrough (1979) — AI Story Visualization

Name: Breakthrough
Genre: drama, history, war
Released: 1979
Rating: 5.8

Plot Analysis Summary

A wartime drama tracing a German sergeant's moral defection and tactical intervention to prevent civilian massacre.

Story Structure — 4 Plot Phases

Eastern Front Retreat

Stolen Surrender Plot

Sabotage and Ambush

Defection and Liberation

Starting in late May 1944, during the German retreat on the Eastern Front, Captain Stransky (Helmut Griem) orders Sergeant Steiner (Richard Burton) to blow up a railway tunnel to prevent Russian forces from using it. Steiner's platoon fails in its mission by coming up against a Russian tank. Steiner then takes a furlough to Paris just as the Allies launch their invasion of Normandy.

Directed by

Andrew V. McLaglen

Key Cast

Richard Burton — Sergeant Steiner
Rod Steiger — General Webster
Robert Mitchum — Colonel Rogers
Véronique Vendell — Yvette
Werner Pochath — Keppel

Rating: 5.8/10 (36 votes)