Producer Dore Schary had the idea for "Battlegound" when he was still head of production at RKO. His superiors were less enthusiastic about the project, because they thought the American public was not yet interested in a war movie. Schary instead wanted to save the American people from the same kind of disillusionment they suffered from after WWI. For him the Second World War was the first conflict in more than 100 years where something was at stake. The soldiers had been used but fought against a "very evil and strong force" [Suid, 2002, 104]. He wanted the film to show the American public the the terrible losses had not been in vain.
Searching for an appropiate historical situation that would allow to illustrate his point, Schary came up with Battle of the Bulge in Winter 1944. For the first time after D-Day the allies were brought on the brink of a massive defeat - an ideal constellation to portray the battle for freedom.
In April 1947 Schary won script writer Pirosh for his project. When asked what he knew about the Battle of the Bulge, Pirosh replied: "Know anything about it? I was there!". It was Pirosh`s idea to tell the story of a single group of rifleman who would representatively experience what soldiers on all front had to experience. Not having served with the 101st Airbourne himself he asked former commanding officer general McAuliffe for advice. McAuliffe said that he did not need his held as Pirosh himself had fought under the conditions as the men of the 101st. He should simply write it the way he felt it.
In early 1948 when Schary had finally convinced his superiors of "Battlegroud", RKO was taken over by Howard Hughes who canceled the project.
A little later Schary went to MGM where, again, he had convince the studio bosses, Louis B. Mayer especially. Eventually he won their support and bought the script from Hughes. Against all expectations "Battlegroud" did very well at the box office.

Ever since Pirosh first encounter with general McAuliffe the army was very sympathetic to "Battleground". The 101st provided trucks and tanks, and even send 20 soldiers from Fort Bragg who were assigned to train the rest of the extras in military behaviour and appeared in the film themselves.

Won two "Oscars" for best script and best cinematography at the Academy Awards in 1950 and two "Golden Globes" in the same year.