The Decoy Raid

Captain Wansee as he comes to arrest Mrs. Arno and confiscate the typhus vaccine.

### Episode no.

Season 2
Episode 19

## Production information

### Written by

Tom Gries (creator)
Robert Sherman

### Guest appearances

Richard Davalos as Captain Wansee, Jay Novello as La Duc, Doreen McLean as Miss Arno, Socrates Ballis as Hassam

## Episode chronology

### Next episode

"The Touch and Go Raid"

**"The Decoy Raid"** is the nineteenth episode of the second season of *The Rat Patrol*. It originally aired on 22 January 1968.

## Synopsis

A Nazi SS officer, Captain Wansee (Richard Davalos), shows up at a village under truce to arrest Miss Arno (Doreen McLean), an International Red Cross/Red Crescent nurse, and confiscate typhus vaccine doses. He doesn't care that Captain Dietrich (Eric Braeden credited as Hans Gudegast) agreed to the humanitarian truce because of the percolating typhus epidemic in the town.

Sergeant Troy confronts Dietrich about this breach, and Dietrich goes to confront Wansee. Wansee proposes a "deal" -- he will exchange the nurse and the vaccine supply for one of the "desert scavengers" who "infest" the area (i.e. a member of the Rat Patrol).

Dietrich captures Sergeant Moffitt to deliver him to Wansee, but Moffitt makes a serious attempt to escape and is knocked out cold by Dietrich. Dietrich, who obviously despises Wansee and the SS, seems to come to a realization after this scuffle with Moffitt -- we see him consider the situation for a few moments and then leave a water bag carefully positioned on a nearby milepost.

Dietrich then delivers Moffitt to the SS officer, and now it's up to Wansee to hold up his end of the bargain. But Wansee, who seems increasingly unhinged and incoherent, balks at the deal and says he will keep Miss Arno and perhaps release her after she's been interrogated. When Dietrich protests and tries to appeal to Wansee's "honor as an SS officer," Wansee pulls a gun on him and Dietrich, steely now in his hatred of this lying SS creep, is forced to back away and drive off.

Meanhile, Troy, Hitchcock and Tully go looking for Moffitt. They find the water bag on the milepost, and understand it as suggesting they should go in a particular direction, but it could also be a red herring. Troy intuits, though, that it's meant as an authentic clue to the direction they should go, and they decide to risk it. They come upon the tableau of the nearly delirious Wansee threatening Dietrich, so they wait in the heights of the hills until Dietrich is safely away from the area before they attack to rescue Moffitt and the nurse.

The Rat Patrol open fire on Wansee and his men. The usual havoc ensues, with dead Germans everywhere. They successfully rescue Moffitt and Miss Arno. When they come upon the dead body of Wansee, though, they are puzzled. Who shot him? They all look at each other -- who deserves the celebratory champagne for offing Wansee? None of the Rat Patrol can claim that shot. So who killed the SS officer?

In the pre-credits stinger, Troy and Moffit are still puzzled about who exactly took out Wansee. They mull all the evidence and come to the simultaneous conclusion: "I wonder what kind of champagne Dietrich drinks?" Moffitt quips.

Interesting episode because it draws a clear line between the Wehrmacht (regular German army), who by many accounts ran a relatively clean and honorable war in the desert (as these things go...) and the SS, notorious for their atrocities, perfidies and cruelty. Dietrich himself draws that line when one member of the Rat Patrol conflates the two; Herr Hauptmann protests that the German army and the SS are two very different things. (WhatEVER, says the Rat Patrol...it's a distinction that means more to Dietrich than it does to them.) But in this episode we see just how far Dietrich will go to defend his honor and his word, plus his ice-cold hatred of the cruelty and war crimes of the SS: to the extent that he might leave clues for the enemy and SHOOT ONE OF HIS OWN COUNTRYMEN. Just consider the sheer audacity of that.

## Main cast

* Christopher George as Sergeant Sam Troy
* Gary Raymond as Sergeant Jack Moffitt
* Hans Gudegast as Hauptmann Hans Dietrich
* Lawrence Casey as Private Mark T. Hitchcock
* Justin Tarr as Private Tully Pettigrew

### Supporting cast

* Richard Davalos as Captain Wansee
* Jay Novello as La Duc
* Doreen McLean as Miss Arno
* Socrates Ballis as Hassam