Force 10 from Navarone Page #3

any spare penicillin here, do you?

What are we going to do, keep

walking until we reach the Adriatic?

I don't think the iron maiden

will let us get that far.

Halt!

What did I tell you?

We are three miles past the spot

where you were picked up.

Well, where is this

wonderful treasure?

In your imagination?

No, ma'am,

it's not in our imagination.

I think it's a bit further on,

don't you?

Yes, it is. Well, I mean,

it's not much further than this.

It's hard to tell,

the whole country looks alike.

You will start digging

within five minutes.

What if we haven't found it

in five minutes?

Then you will be digging

your graves.

Hey, colonel.

Wait a minute,

now this looks familiar.

Isn't this our little hollow

down here?

Yes, I think it is.

I remember this knoll over here.

Ma'am, this is it.

I think this is it.

- This knoll over here?

- Right.

You see, comrade, we lined it up

between them...

There you are!

There's our pile of stones.

Gotta get them closer

and we use the spades.

You take the two

that are closest to you...

...and I'll take the other one

and the broad.

I'm gonna get them

closer now, okay?

Fritz. Fritz, come!

It's here.

- Ready?

- All right.

You can get up now.

They're dead.

I put firewood in people's cases

and hide their high explosives.

Don't sit there gawping.

Get out of here.

Keep moving in that direction.

Try to find Petrovitch's Partisans.

Now, go.

Excuse me,

good comrade soldier...

...but exactly what story are you

gonna tell Schroeder about all this?

You took us by surprise.

You got away.

Here, hit me.

Did you expect me to go back there

with my hair combed?

Hit me!

Well, all right. I'm sorry.

Harder!

Come on, colonel.

I hope that man Schroeder

believes that girl's story.

If he doesn't believe her, he'd better

think twice about calling her a liar.

What about Miller and Reynolds?

What about them, colonel?

Yes.

I suppose they...

Let's move it.

Do you have the feeling

we're being followed?

About the last 10 minutes.

Next time you can play the corpse.

Yeah, you seem pretty good

with that thing, though.

Could have been luck.

- Germans?

- Yes, or Drazak, I suppose.

Partisans, thank God!

Good morning.

Good morning.

What's the matter with him?

We've been looking for you.

Be quiet.

You will make your report

to Maj. Petrovitch.

I think we've run into

bad company, colonel.

Yes, the leader.

- What about him?

- Afraid I know him.

- Nicolai.

- Who the hell is Nicolai?

It's Nicolai Lescovar.

The man I was sent to kill.

Dam, if it's the one I think it is.

I know where we are.

So do I. Right in it.

Do you think he's recognized you?

Yes, I think so.

Lt. Col. Barnsby,

United States Rangers.

Maj. Mallory, sir.

You got away from the Germans.

How?

We escaped.

Capt. Lescovar

has his doubts about that.

If you escaped, why were

the Germans not pursuing you?

We observed you for five miles

before we picked you up.

You shoulve observed that we killed

two Chetniks that were following us.

- The men with the bandaged faces.

- Exactly.

Hardly a cause for congratulation.

Those two men were Partisans.

Comrades of ours whom we had

infiltrated into the Chetnik camp...

...so now all links with our agent there

are broken, thanks to you.

I'm sorry.

The fact remains

that we're Allied officers.

There's no reason

we should be treated this way.

I'm in command of Force 10.

I insist that we be allowed...

...to contact the Allied mission.

I'm sure London informed you.

We are informed

of many things by London...

...very few of them

ever seem to materialize.

However, you are right.

I was informed of your mission.

Personally, I doubt if it was

ever a practical one...

...but now that you are here without

equipment, the question is academic.

And you, major, you came here

as an observer, perhaps?

No, sir.

I was charged with a mission

of my own.

It's confidential.

Confidential!

Sometimes I get the impression...

...that London looks

on this theatre of operations...

...as a convenient place for conducting

what they call "war games. "

- May I speak to you personally?

- You are speaking to me personally.

- I mean alone.

- No.

The People's Army does not conduct

military business in secret.

Very well, sir.

I was sent here to identify a German

agent, code name Nicolai.

We are reliably informed...

...that he has infiltrated the People's

Resistance Army, and is now known...

...as Capt. Lescovar.

And having identified this man,

what were your further orders?

I was to eliminate him, sir.

- Eliminate. Don't you mean kill?

- Yes, sir. I do mean kill.

Do you hear that, Lescovar?

The gentlemen from London

want us to shoot you.

I'm sorry, major.

I must admit you are

indeed partly right.

There was an agent

named Nicolai...

...operating somewhere south of here

and also calling himself Lescovar.

But he was identified many

months ago. And eliminated.

The British were informed.

- But London were very specific, sir.

- Yes, they frequently are specific...

...and just as frequently wrong!

Lt. Marko,

see that these gentlemen...

...give you a full report on their

activities in the Chetnik camp.

A specific report.

Well, captain, I guess we owe you

a bit of an apology, don't we?

Well, it happens. We all

get badly briefed sometimes.

Wish we had been briefed

about the men with the bandages.

Replaced them with a couple

of your own, that's a good trick.

They were messengers to our agent

at Schroeder's headquarters.

Is your agent small, dark, pretty...

...beautiful grey eyes

and shoots from the hip?

You mean Maritza?

Yes.

She took a big chance for us.

She isn't Petrovitch's daughter

for nothing.

We hold this end of the bridge.

Over there, the Germans

prepare for the final attack.

We have been ordered to prevent

them crossing at all costs.

What exactly do they have

over there?

Three divisions, perhaps more.

We hold a brigade here.

Soon they will bring up tanks, then...

- Why haven't you blown the bridge?

- We have tried several times.

Each time we lost valuable men.

Maj. Petrovitch has decided

it is impractical.

Well, he's wrong about that.

There's no bridge in the world

that can't be blown.

That's what Force 10

was here to prove.

I told you before, you have no men,

you have no equipment.

I can radio London for equipment.

Get me an airstrip operational.

Oh, call London, prepare an airstrip

for a plane that may never arrive.

- Have you anything else to suggest?

- Yes.

Give me 20 men,

I can blow that bridge to hell.

You mean you can blow 20

of my men to hell, for nothing!

That bridge is indestructible.

Excuse me, sir,

you don't need 20 men.

You need Miller.

- Miller?

- He's an expert with explosives, sir.

He's probably the best in England.

- This Miller is in England?

- No, sir.

- Prisoner in the Chetnik camp.

- Then he's already dead.

Not necessarily, major.

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