Editing The Battle of San Pietro (section)

==Production==
[[File:John-Huston-uniform-cropped.jpg|thumb|left|upright|John Huston in uniform]]
The film was made to be intentionally more realistic than other examples of its genre. One scene includes close-up views of the faces of dead soldiers as they are being loaded into [[body bag]]s, a level of realism unheard of in both fictional portrayals as well as newsreel footage of the time.
The [[United States Army]] delayed its release to the public because it showed dead GIs wrapped in mattress covers; some officers tried to prevent soldiers in training from seeing it, for fear of damaging morale.<ref name="oneill258">{{cite book| first= William L. |last= O'Neill| title= A Democracy At War: America's Fight At Home and Abroad in World War II| publisher= Free Press| year= 1993| page= 258 |isbn= 0-02-923678-9}}</ref> General [[George Marshall]] came to Huston and took the film's defense, stating that because of the film's gritty realism, it would make a good [[training film]]. The depiction of death would inspire soldiers to take their training more seriously.<ref name="oneill258"/>

Huston quickly became unpopular with the Army, not only for the film but also for his response to the accusation that the film was anti-war. Huston responded that if he ever made a pro-war film, he should be shot.<ref>{{Cite episode|series=TCM Spotlight|title= Five Came Back|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/1104934 |access-date=15 September 2015 |first= Ben| last= Mankiewicz| authorlink= Ben Mankiewicz| network=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|date=8 September 2015}}</ref> The film was screened to U.S. troops in North Africa in 1944, where [[John Horne Burns]] described it in a letter as "almost more than any heart can stand".<ref>{{cite book|last=Margolick|first=David|title=Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns|year=2013|publisher=Other Press| location= New York |page= 108| isbn= 9781590515723| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3Bv5Ym9atTgC&pg=PT118 }}</ref> Huston was no longer considered a pariah; he was decorated and eventually promoted to major.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}