Directed by Sutton Roley
Written by Robert Sherman
A mentally unstable SS officer, Captain Wansee (Richard Davalos), shows up at a village under truce to arrest Miss Arno (Doreen McLean), leader of the local Red Cross branch, and confiscate the typhus vaccine doses she's giving out. Wansee doesn't care that Dietrich agreed to the truce.
When Sergeant Troy confronts Dietrich about this breach, he insists that he wasn't the one who broke the truce. Dietrich goes to confront Wansee, who says that he'll release Arno and the serum in exchange for at least one member of the Rat Patrol, which has always been his goal.
One of Arno's desperate co-workers, LaDuc (Jay Novello), reluctantly lures Moffitt into a trap, allowing Dietrich to capture him. Moffitt makes a serious attempt to escape, but Dietrich knocks him out, then leaves a water bag on a milepost. Dietrich delivers Moffitt to Wansee, but instead of holding up his end of the bargain, the increasingly unhinged SS man decides to hold on to Arno (whom he intends to interrogate and torture) and the serum. Wansee then kills Hassam (Socrates Ballis), Arno's driver, to prove he's serious (and because he enjoys it).
After talking with one of the villagers, Troy, Hitchcock and Tully go looking for Moffitt. They find the water bag at a juncture suggesting they should go in a particular direction, but it could also be a red herring. They decide to risk it and go in the indicated direction, which leads them to Moffitt, Dietrich and Wansee.
Dietrich tries to talk some sense into the deranged Wansee, who responds by ranting about how all's fair in war, then pulling a gun on Dietrich and forcing him to leave. However, Wansee soon has a bigger problem on his hands: the Rat Patrol, who have been hiding nearby, waiting for a chance to strike. Finally, the Rats attack, rescuing Arno and mowing down most of the Nazis. Wansee then tries to execute Moffitt, but is shot before he can pull the trigger. Moffitt promises to buy champagne for whichever of his comrades saved his life, but the other three Rats realize that none of them killed Wansee.
Back in the village, Arno and LaDuc resume distributing the vaccine. Meanwhile, Troy and Moffitt discuss the day's events. Piecing things together, they realize that there was one person who was secretly helping them all along: letting the villager they talked to know which way the Germans were heading; leaving the water bag on the milepost; and finally killing Wansee. Moffitt wonders what kind of champagne Dietrich enjoys.
Tropes:
- Ax-Crazy: The psychotic SS Captain Wansee. Lampshaded by Dietrich when he calls out Wansee's sanity. Dietrich killing him was like putting down a mad rabid dog.
- Brick Joke: Moffitt promising champagne to whichever of the Rats shot Wansee, then realizing that the person he owes it to is Dietrich.
- I Lied: After securing Moffitt, Wansee admits that he has no intention of keeping his promise to release Arno and the serum. Dietrich doesn't take it well.Dietrich: As a member of the SS, you are supposed to have a sense of honor.
- Karma Houdini: We never see LaDuc suffer any consequences for his role in capturing Moffitt. Admittedly, he was acting under duress.
- Knight of Cerebus: Wansee is quite a disturbing, mood-swinging nut job and an unusually dark Villain of the Week for the time the show was made. When he's not going on deranged rants about how all is fair in war, he's going back on his word or needlessly killing a prisoner just to show how serious he is. Even Dietrich, who may be a Nazi but at least has a code of honor, is repelled by this psycho.
- Large Ham: Richard Davalos' performance as the twitchy, increasingly crazed Wansee.
- Last-Name Basis: We never learn Wansee's first name.
- Noble Demon: Dietrich, as he often is. In this episode, his sense of morality contrasts with Wansee's attitude that all's fair in war.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After Captain Wansee reneges on the bargain with Dietrich to trade Moffitt for Miss Arno, Dietrich shoots him to save them both.
- Translation Convention: Almost all of the dialogue between Dietrich and Wansee is in English.
- Villainous Breakdown: Captain Wansee is prone to this due to his psychotic mood-swinging episodes.
- You're Insane!: One of Dietrich's lines during his confrontation with Wansee zig zags this trope.
