I love World War II-set movies. Really, I can’t get enough of them. I’m pretty sure that I have seen just about every single World War II-set movie made in the last 30 years. It’s one of those genres that appeals to the historical buff in me, and so when I heard about “Brothers in Arms”, I knew I would see this thing as soon as it hit theaters. It sounds that good. So what’s it about?

From Variety:

Based on a true story, drama is set at the end of WWII, when Gen. George S. Patton ordered up a top-secret mission to rescue his son-in-law from a POW camp 60 miles behind German lines. The brass said 3,000 men were needed for the job; Patton allotted 294 and a leader who wouldn’t quit, a 24-year-old captain named Abe Baum.

What a premise. A U.S. General sends a small band of soldiers on what is probably a suicide mission led by a 24-year old! But remember, back in those days, C.O.’s were a lot younger, so 24-year old Captains were no big deal.

The movie will be based on the non-fiction book “Raid! The Untold Story of Patton’s Secret Mission” by Richard Baron, Baum and Richard Goldhurst.

Here’s more from Random House:

The orders came from Patton himself: Take a strike force behind enemy lines–with no air or ground support–and liberate a POW camp at Hammelburg, where Patton’s son-in-law was held. Captain Abe Baum and an armored task force answered the call, crashing through an enemy-held town, plunging into German territory, and fighting their way to Hammelburg. With the German army closing in around them, the raiders kept going, until they had liberated 1,500 prisoners of war.

Baum’s Raiders had just achieved an impossible objective. Now they had to get back out….RAID!

Written by the men who were there, Raid! is the gripping real-life story of a controversial mission in the heart of World War II. From the belly of a Sherman Tank pelted with enemy fire to the POWs waiting behind barbed wire, this is a thrilling, you-are-there chronicle of human courage–in the face of impossible odds.

Marcel Langenegger, who helmed “The Tourist”, has been handed the directorial job, with filming set to begin March 31st, 2008 in the Czech Republic.