The film takes its name from the practice of setting a small fire to clear out nearby brush, allowing a fast-advancing forest fire to pass by harmlessly.

CNN: U.S. manages disease, not health

"When they put fire retardant down on the leading edge of the fire, it's very effective in keeping the fire from advancing, " the lieutenant colonel said.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

With Nazi forces advancing rapidly on the valley and British Spitfires desperately trying to draw German fire, the transport planes evacuated about 1, 000 wounded partisans in a matter of hours.

ECONOMIST: Wartime derring-do on a bleak black mountain