The Fifth day of Peace, Italian title: Dio è con noi, is an Italo-Yugoslavian movie from 1969

1969 in film

The year 1969 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Last year for prize giving at the Venice Film Festival until it is revived in 1980...

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Synopsis

Two German deserters, Ensign Bruno Grauber (Franco Nero) and Corporal Reiner Schultz (Larry Aubrey) are captured by the Canadians at the end of World War 2. They are interned in a Canadian run POW camp where the senior German officer, colonel Von Bleicher, is a career officer. Their fellow German prisoners of war, led by Von Bleicher, discover that they are deserters. They are put through a formal military court martial organised by Von Bleicher and charged with cowardice. They are sentenced to death and are to be executed on the "fifth day of peace". Von Bleicher pressures the Canadian camp commandant to allow the execution to be carried out and requests rifles and ammunition to carry out the sentence.

A Canadian General, Snow, persuades (but does not order) the Canadian camp commandant, Captain Miller, to allow the execution to be carried out for the higher purpose of preserving military discipline. He also motivates Miller with a promotion to Major.

This movie is based on the true story of two German sailors, leading seaman Bruno Dorfer and machinist's mate Rainer Beck, both executed for desertion on May 13, 1945 after being found guilty of cowardice by fellow POWs. The sentence was carried out by German POWs who were under Canadian command.

Casting

• Bud Spencer
  Bud Spencer
  Bud Spencer is an Italian actor, filmmaker and former swimmer . He is known for past roles in spaghetti westerns together with his long time filmpartner Terence Hill...
  
   as Cpl. Jelinek
• Richard Johnson
  Richard Johnson (actor)
  Richard Johnson is an English actor, writer and producer, who starred in several British films of the 1960s and has also had a distinguished stage career. He most recently appeared in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.-Life and career:...
  
   as Capt. John Miller
• Franco Nero
  Franco Nero
  Franco Nero is an Italian actor.-Early life:Nero was born Francesco Sparanero in San Prospero Parmense , the son of a sergeant in the...
  
   as Ens. Bruno Grauber
• Larry Aubrey as Cpl. Reiner Schultz
• Helmuth Schneider
  Helmuth Schneider
  Helmuth Schneider was a German actor. In Great Britain his best known role could be Uncle Dimitri in The White Horses. He died in a traffic accident in Rio de Janeiro in 1972.-External links:...
  
   as Col. von Bleicher (as Helmut Schneider)
• Michael Goodliffe
  Michael Goodliffe
  Lawrence Michael Andrew Goodliffe was an English actor best known for playing suave roles such as doctors, lawyers and army officers. He was also sometimes cast in working class parts....
  
   as Gen. Snow
• Relja Basic
  Relja Bašic
  Relja Bašić is a Croatian actor.A native of Zagreb , Bašić is one of the most prolific and versatile Croatian actors with a career which lasts for more than half a century. He first appeared on screen in 1954 classic film Koncert...
  
   as Lt. George Romney
• Emilio Delle Piane as Gleason
• Enrico Osterman as Trevor
• Renato Romano as Canadian Doctor
• Sven Lasta as German Officer
• Demeter Bitenc
  Demeter Bitenc
  Demeter Bitenc is a Slovenian film actor. He has appeared in 75 films since 1953. He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia.-Selected filmography:* Target for Killing * Private Vices, Public Pleasures...
  
  German Major

External links

• "The Execution of German Deserters by Surrendered German Troops Under Canadian Control in Amsterdam, May 1945" Madsen%20-%20Victims%20of%20Circumstance%20-%20the%20Execution%20of%20German%20Deserters%20by%20Surrendered%20German%20Troops%20Under%20Canadian%20Control.pdf