Bitter Victory Page #3

Seems a bit sulky, doesn't he, sir?

And he's probably right about the patrols.

Colonel, you come with me.

Capt. Leith, we have to go on.

You stay behind with the wounded.

Casualty report, sir.

We lost Perkins and Hunter.

Roberts very badly wounded, sir.

Browning got a small

chunk taken out of his leg.

- And the Germans?

- They're all dead...

except the Colonel here,

and one badly wounded.

- Thank you, Sergeant.

- Sir.

Yes.

Yes, what?

I'll stay.

Then take the men you need. Wilkins.

Sgt. Dunnigan, you'll stay with Capt. Leith.

Sir.

With your knowledge of the desert...

you should be able to overtake

us before tomorrow night.

- Barton, fall in the men.

- Yes, sir.

What are we going to do

about the two wounded men?

Maybe we could rig up a

stretcher of some sort.

No. They'd bleed to death in an hour.

Anything I can do for you?

Would you like a cigarette?

Easy, easy. Try to take it easy.

What are you going to

do, guv? Knock them off?

I'm the one for that job, you know.

They're no good to you.

Stand in your way.

There's no profit in it.

Why don't you let me do it for you?

Follow the others.

I'd like to stay here

with you, sir, if I may.

- Follow the others!

- Sir.

All right, Jackie, I'll take that.

- I can manage.

- Come on, give it to me.

- Thanks, Sergeant.

- Get along with you.

- I still don't get it.

- What?

- Not waiting for Leith.

- Maybe he's trying to lose him.

Maybe not. Training for the postwar Olympics.

I wonder when that'll be.

We were so happy before the war.

Help.

Help me.

No more war.

Hurry up.

Any family?

Don't drag things out.

Do what you've got to do.

But be quick about it.

You're a brave man.

Damn you!

Let me down, damn it! You're hurting me!

You coward! Leave me alone!

I have been watching you, my friend.

He's dead.

Dead.

I kill the living...

and I save the dead.

It's written for everyone to die.

It makes no difference.

Yes. Except for that little

matter of when, and for what.

German.

- All right, Browning, let's have a look at it.

- Doesn't hurt much.

This is not a break.

We have to reach the

camels as soon as possible.

If we don't make an effort...

This little piggy went to Benghazi...

and this little piggy stayed

home. You sensible fellow.

And this little piggy had roast Jerry.

Wilkins, don't you want to reach the camels?

It's not me, sir, it's them.

Get up.

I don't think we can go on,

sir. The men are worn out.

It's none of your business, Bob. Get up!

Ask me nicely, Major.

Death for death, I'll take this one.

It's quicker.

- He's right off his rocker.

- He's gone barmy. Nutty as a fruitcake.

Who is? Wilkins or the Major?

Jimmy and Jane. Jane and Jimmy.

- Who's Jane and Jimmy?

- Jane and Jimmy. Jimmy and Jane.

Take a break.

All right, let's take a look at that leg now.

Hadn't we better make sure

that Wilkins is all right?

He'll come out of it.

More than we will. He always does.

All right, come on.

- Yes, sir.

- Fall in the men.

Yes, sir. Come on, men. Let's get moving.

- Sergeant.

- Yes?

Why do they call it Crown City?

It looks like a crown.

Does it?

Yes. Why, it goes in and out.

Tents and things.

- Can't you see that?

- No.

No. It looks like Piccadilly Circus.

Yeah. If the camels are there.

- Tired, Sergeant?

- I'll be all right for another five days, sir.

Soon as I get my tablespoonful full of water.

I'm glad someone isn't thirsty.

Evans.

It's Evans, sir.

Where are the camels?

Mokrane.

Captain Leith.

It's Mokrane and Capt. Leith, sir.

What happened to you?

I had to hide from a

German plane after you left.

When that had gone, you'd gone.

Mokrane knows the desert.

- Without him, I'd probably be dead, too.

- Too?

- The wounded you left me to kill.

- I left you to save them.

- One man to save three?

- You should have waited.

- Barton.

- Sir?

- Detail a party to bury those men.

- Sir.

- Sergeant.

- Yes, sir?

- Get up a burial party, will you?

- Yes, sir.

- Spicer, Anderson, over here.

- You broke the rules.

- I know.

- It's inhuman.

War is inhuman.

No good trying to shift the responsibility.

What else have you been doing all this week?

I have my orders.

What were your orders about

attacking the sentry in Benghazi?

I've been in the army for 13 years.

I still find it very difficult

to kill a man in cold blood.

But not to arrange for him to die by himself.

You said the wounded hadn't a chance.

Without Mokrane, I didn't have a chance.

You're imagining things.

That's exactly what I mean.

- What?

- You're running away again.

And you are running into a court-martial.

Capt. Leith, if you have

any complaints against me...

we'll take them up in Cairo.

I suppose there was nothing else

to do. About the wounded, I mean.

I broke the rules.

What would you have done?

I don't know.

I don't know enough to break the rules.

You're lucky.

- How many others?

- The entire party.

- Evans, too, I suppose?

- Yes, sir.

Camels?

- No sign of them.

- I see.

- Any trouble with Lutze?

- Not so far, sir.

- This must have been quite a city.

- I can't make it out.

Berber, I think. Tenth century.

Built, I suppose, to protect

themselves from Arab invasions.

I'm not very good in this period.

It's too modern for me.

Without camels...

how long do you think it will

take us to reach headquarters?

I hadn't thought about it.

Blimey, the camels are here.

What about that bloke Mokrane, then? Come on!

The camels are coming, hooray, hooray!

Hooray! Let's go!

This is it.

You couldn't find any more?

This is it. Only one.

- Load the documents on him.

- Yes, sir.

Come on.

Leith, as soon as the

burial detail is completed...

will you fall in the men? We'll move out.

All right.

Here we go. It's coming up.

He got some!

Wait!

- It may be poisoned.

- Cheerful Charlie.

I don't mind a bit of arsenic in mine.

Get back, Wilkins. Mokrane knows his desert.

Get back!

Yes, he knows his Jerries, too. It's

an old German trick, poisoning wells.

How about letting him

take the first drink, sir?

We do not poison wells.

Then it will be all right

to drink this, won't it?

You'll take a Crown City

cocktail with us, won't you?

- With or without a cherry, Jerry?

- I tell you, we do not poison wells.

Who is poisoning wells?

Mokrane's afraid the Germans

may have poisoned the well.

So, suddenly nobody's thirsty anymore.

This water is not poisoned.

It's too soon to tell yet.

Come and get it.

Are you disappointed, Jimmy?

Would you be happier if the

poison were burning out my guts?

Why did you drink the water, Brand?

Was it to make yourself a

hero in front of the German?

We may be missing an officer.

Drink, sir?

Thank you, no.

All right, fall in. Let's get underway.

What's so funny?

- Courage.

- What about it?

It's odd that you had the

courage to drink that water...

but you didn't have the

courage to kill the sentry...

and you don't have the courage to kill me.

- Why should I want to kill you?

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