Jeff
Jeff knew Kubrick mostly through Dr. Strangelove and The Shining, so this was a revelation for the directing and cinematography, especially the early tracking shot of the general walking through the trench. He loved Kirk Douglas. The final scene stuck with him: a German girl sings to a room of hollering soldiers who break down in tears. To generals, war can become a game of numbers, but up close these are young men with real depth. He also compared the film's doomed charge with the far better planned tactics used later in the war, having visited the Vimy battlefield in France.
Matt
Matt sees dark satire here that reminded him of Dr. Strangelove, just more muted: a general who calls the attack on the Anthill impossible changes his tune once a promotion is dangled, and casualty estimates of fifty or sixty percent are treated as acceptable. The court-martial of three soldiers for cowardice is a sham. He reads it less as an anti-war film than a film about honoring the individual soldier, in the vein of All Quiet on the Western Front. He loved how compact it is and the choice to shoot in black and white, which makes it feel almost like documentary footage. He wouldn't put it in his top ten war films, and thinks other Kubrick films are more elevated, but for what it sets out to do it's very well made.
Fun fact from Matt: the woman who sings at the end, credited as Susanne Christian, later married Kubrick. It's free to watch on YouTube with ads.