The Touch and Go Raid

"The Touch and Go Raid" is the twentieth episode of the second season of The Rat Patrol. It originally aired on 5 February 1968.

Synopsis
The Rat Patrol win a battle against a German unit, and are greeted by Allied infantrymen. Maybe they're Australian? Actually, they're German, it was a ruse by Dietrich to capture the Rat Patrol and their Jeeps.

Posing as Sergeant Troy, Dietrich reports to an Allied commander (Robert Knapp) and learns about Operation Diamond. Dietrich doesn't know it's just about the logistics for baseball games between Allied enlisted men.

Meanwhile, the Rat Patrol escape their captors and commandeer a German tank. Troy calls the base, an Australian soldier answers. He's skeptical about the impostors, but agrees to pass the message along. Before he can do that, though, one of Dietrich's men stabs him, and sends a fake acknowledgement. Troy's not fooled.

At the ammunition depot, Dietrich sets up a timer for 45 minutes. Then he goes to the major's office and orders the major's aide at gunpoint to open the safe and give him the documents for Operation Diamond.

The Rat Patrol arrive at the base, and after some arguing with the corporal at the gate, are allowed aboard. Moffitt and Tully find and disarm the bomb in time. Troy tells Dietrich to release the major and the Operation Diamond documents. The major tells Troy that Dietrich must not be allowed to leave with those documents, but Troy agrees to Dietrich's offer: the documents for the major.

Once he's back behind Nazi lines, Dietrich realizes he's been had and admits this to Colonel Behr (Charles Bastin). But Behr thinks all the baseball terminology could be some kind of code, and orders everyone at the cryptography department to work on cracking the code.

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

 * Robert Knapp as an U. S. Army Major
 * Peter Church as Lt. Hartford
 * Carl Crow as First Sentry
 * Charles Bastin as a Nazi Colonel
 * Tom Heaton as a comm operator
 * Mike Krempels as "Second German"
 * Robert Dornan as a German Sergeant
 * Nick Dimitri as U.S. Soldier (uncredited)