The Pipeline to Disaster Raid

"The Pipeline to Disaster Raid" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of The Rat Patrol. It first aired on January 1, 1968.

Synopsis
The Rat Patrol rescue General Owen Lansbury (John Anderson), a British intelligence officer, in the desert before the Germans can capture him.

Lansbury, who is injured and seems to be suffering from sun&shy;stroke, orders the Rat Patrol to attack a German oil pipeline. Private Pettigrew calls headquarters, confirming that the pipeline exists and destroying it is a mission of the highest priority.

Troy thinks Lansbury is too ill to be on duty, but Moffitt thinks that's mutiny. However, Lansbury gives the coordinates of the pipeline in an area of solid rock; it would take the Germans de&shy;cades to dig through it. This makes Moffitt doubt the general's sanity.

Aware that the men are questioning his judgment, Lansbury calls them traitors and tries to arrest them. Troy and Moffitt lay down their pistols, but then Lansbury passes out. It turns out that the general's injuries were more severe than he let on. Moffitt says that even if they get Lansbury to a field hospital, he might not survive.

The Rat Patrol carry out the attack on the pipeline, blowing it up. Private Hitchcock gets shot and collapses, but it looks like he'll live. However, Lansbury dies of his wounds, probably never realizing that the Rat Patrol carried out his orders after all.

After Hitchcock gets patched up, Troy thinks the patient is well enough to go back on duty. Hitchcock tells them that's not the case, that he needs a night to recuperate and to send in the nurse.

The nurse goes into the tent where Hitchcock is resting, turns off the light, then comes back out to make sure none of her medical colleagues are looking. She seems not to notice Troy, Moffitt or Pettigrew, and goes back in the tent, presumably to have sex with Hitchcock.

Main cast

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

Supporting cast

 * John Anderson as General Lansbury
 * Morgan Jones as Captain Boggs