The RAT PATROL Episode and (shameless) Ratings Guide
The B Negative Raid
Season 1 Episode 19 (Airdate: Jan 30, 1967)

Low, very low

One confirmed kill

Just one

Blond and combed back
He did assist Troy with minimal resistance until the very end. He would have gone to look for Moffitt if he had successfully captured Troy and Hitch.
Guest Cast:
Fabian -- Corporal Pennell

Writer: Don C. Richman
Director: Herschel Daugherty

commentary: Moffitt is seriously wounded in a raid on a German convoy. The Patrol is far from help and so Troy decides to obtain blood from a nearby German field camp. Dietrich is in charge of the base; Troy encounters him and orders him to help him find a donor. Dietrich sends for Corporal Pennell, a captured Yank deserter. Pennell refuses to cooperate but Troy takes him at gunpoint. On the way back to Moffitt, Dietrich catchs up to them and it is up to Pennell to do the "impossible" to prevent them from all being recaptured. He rises to the occasion and they make it back to Moffitt and Tully in time to save Moffitt's life.

Read Jan's Notes: All I vant is your blood

Read Jan's Notes: All I vant is your blood

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Jan's notes: The B-Negative Raid, a.k.a. All I vant is your blood. (Said in your best Dracula accent)
20 April 1999 (Gary Raymond's Birthday)

This episode has some really neat dialogue between Dietrich and Troy. I really like it when Dietrich and Troy exchange wisecracks. Also, there is a comment on war and how the ordinary man is totally unprepared for the horror and brutality of it all. Troy's comment about being scared at the end of the episode is a real truth.

The Patrol is looking for a German convoy but there is no sign of them. We see Troy gazing off into the distance looking throughly disgusted. Hitch, Tully and Moffitt are by the jeeps looking very antsy. Like, Get us some Germans to shoot up. Then the a message comes in informing the guys that the "bottle babies?" are taking the Mississippi river, not the Danube. How come code always has to sound like code? If you were a German monitoring Allied transmissions, wouldn't you be able to figure this out? There can't be that many different routes crossing the North African desert.

Anyway, the Patrol heads off to where the German convoy is and engage it in action. They manage to destroy 1 tank, 1 half track and 2 trucks, plus kill an assortment of Germans. One of the trucks actually stops so the soldiers in the back manning the machine gun can get a better shot. They hadn't taken "shooting from a moving vehicle" yet. Unfortunately, these guys have mastered "shooting from a stationary vehicle" and they manage to hit Moffitt. Troy and Hitch follow up and make sure they don't do any more damage. Also I would like to point out that between finding the convoy and engaging it, Tully managed to put on a jacket. He started off with just a shirt. What a talented guy.

When the patrol regroups after its sortie, Moffitt turns out to be very seriously injured and in dire need of some blood. The guys don't think Moffitt will make it to the nearest field hospital, which is two days away. Moffitt needs blood now. Think vampire after a long day's sleep. Unfortunately, none of the guys have the same type of blood as Moffitt. RP Trivia time: What are the blood types of Hitch, Tully, and Troy? Moffitt has B negative. Troy comes up with a brilliant plant to get blood for Moffitt. Go ask Dietrich for the loan of one of his men with the appropriate blood type. Dietrich of course will be more than happy to assist. Whatever makes Troy happy makes Dietrich happy.

So Troy and Hitch go off in their jeep to get a victim, I mean donor, leaving Moffitt in the capable, loving hands of Tully. This is the last we see of Moffitt and Tully until the final scene. Meanwhile, Captain Dietrich is chewing out the luckless officer in charge of the convoy that the Patrol attacked. The poor officer is trying to defend himself, saying they come from nowhere. Dietrich is having none of it. "Two jeeps and four men against an German convoy, armed?" Hey, Dietrich, your track record isn't very much better. You have managed to lose entire ammunition dumps and radar stations. And things are about to get worse.

While Dietrich and unlucky officer are making out the casualty report, Hitch and Troy have arrived and determined their course of action -- to create a massive disturbance which will result in the German soldiers running around like chickens with their heads cut off. And they succeed brilliantly as only Troy and Hitch can do. Dietrich and friend come running out of their tent to see their troops standing around wringing their hands and hiding behind half-trucks -- the only time they seem to hide behind anything. Dietrich calls to one soldier, played by Manfred Lating, I believe, who acts like a miniature Sergeant Schultz -- "I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing." Dietrich barks something at the poor guy and he still appears extremely confused about why he is there. Maybe he doesn't speak Dietrich's brand of German. Then Dietrich says something else and the soldier figures he'd better salute and get out of there. [note from the editor: This may be the episode in whih some astute fans (familiar with German, Plattdeutsch, and able to say more than "Have you had enough to eat," which is about all I can manage) believe Hans Gudegast is ad libbing in an idiom his hapless co-star can't understand.] Dietrich then heads back to his tent. He takes a brief moment to survey the surrounding hills, maybe looking for the silhouette of an Australian hat, but nothing. Surprise, Dietrich, he's in your tent.

Troy jumps out and says BOO! No, he doesn't, I just wished he had. Troy actually very politely lights Dietrich's cigarette for him and tells him not to make a sound. He then informs him that he requires Dietrich's help. Dietrich's response is quite witty. "You have a strange way of asking for it, Sergeant." Hitch then shows up with the proper equipment for a transfusion. Troy tells Dietrich that he wants to borrow one of his men who has B-negative blood. Dietrich then tells Troy he is welcome to peruse his personnel files. Why the Germans would be carting personnel records all over the desert is beyond me. Isn't that the reason for dog tags? Dietrich then remembers that he has the perfect victim/donor for Troy. He asks one of his soldiers who just happens to hanging around outside totally oblivious to the fire or what is going on inside the tent to get this individual. The soldier returns with Cpl. "Rabbit-face" Pennell, a American deserter. We get another great line from Dietrich here when Troy tells him "No tricks," and Dietrich responds, "I have a very good teacher."

Cpl. Pennell is not a very cooperative fellow. He wants to spend the rest of the war watching from the sidelines, I gather. He ran from the first battle he was in (like a scared rabbit) and claims that he just isn't cut out for war. Hey, news flash, Rabbit-face, most of the guys fighting that war hadn't listed that as their career objective. Pennell whines and tries to escape. While Hitch and Troy are wrestling with Rabbit-face, Dietrich rushes out of his tent and tries to get the attention of his soldiers who are still trying to put out the fires caused by Troy and Hitch.

Troy and Hitch take Rabbit-face out the back way and jump into the back of a truck which is immediately driven away by a soldier who is going to pick up more fire extinguishers. When he stops to pick the extinguishers, Troy kills him and then they all drive off into the desert to their hidden jeep. Boy, they left their jeep a long ways away.

Dietrich, meantime, runs back into his tent, grabs his hat and jacket, and jumps into a waiting vehicle manned by two soldiers. He then instructs the soldiers to drive directly to the hidden jeep because somehow he manages to get there before Troy and company, disable the jeep, and then hide. We don't actually see Dietrich do all this but, when Troy, Hitch, and Rabbit-Face arrive at the jeep and try to drive off, the jeep won't start. Dietrich then pops up from his hiding place and says BOO! Actually he says "It won't start without this." Troy reminds Dietrich that he has a dying man out there ,and Dietrich offers to take Rabbit-face and go get him. At this point, Rabbit-Face remembers that he is a soldier and grabs a grenade out from the jeep. Dietrich figures he is bluffing. Stupid, stupid Dietrich. A cornered rabbit will bite. I know from personal experience.

Pennell pulls the pin and throws the grenade at Dietrich and soldiers. They dive for cover and Troy, Hitch, and Rabbit-Face grab the truck they arrived in and head toward Moffitt and Tully.

They got back in time and successfully transfuse blood from Rabbit-Face to Moffitt. Troy then gives Rabbit-Face a pep talk and a few home truths about the war. Tully asks Troy what he plans to do with Rabbit-Face, and Troy tells him he is going to return him to his unit. "After all, he isn't the first guy to get separated from his unit." Rabbit-Face doesn't know how lucky he is to have met up with Troy. He gets a second chance instead of being court-martialed for desertion, cowardice and for looking like a rabbit.

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