Pinroy Bijayan Presents
Frank, it's four A.M.
Shot down, when?
Where?
Is he alive?
Not that that helps us.
If he's caught, the Germans can be extremely persuasive.
Call Gubbins.
I want every resistance cell from here to the Danube
hunting night and day.
- Sergeant, Sergeant! - Frank, if they catch him
and he talks, there is no Operation Overlord.
There is no damn D-Day and we will lose this war.
William, shake Maurice out of bed.
Get him to ready my car.
Get me the Prime Minister.
Stop!
Freeze, hands up.
Hands up!
Get them above your head now!
Get down.
One bad move and he will shoot your horse
and then I will shoot you.
Kneel down.
Von Richter, you're sure?
If there's anyone in Europe that knows
where Victor Lawrence is,
you can be sure it's Sturmbannfuhrer Von Richter.
Where is he now?
So he'll be in UK airspace in what, six hours?
Von Richter is slippery.
Who do we have to meet him?
Have an agent from Baker Street
join Nichols at the airfield.
I appreciate you're stretched, we all are Frank.
Try John Seabourne,
he's just got in from that ugly mess in Yugoslavia.
Leave?
Well, who gave him leave?!
Tell him his country needs him tonight.
He can see his daughter afterwards.
And Frank.
Need to know eh?
Tell Seabourne we just need him to confirm
its Von Richter.
Oh, and one last thing.
Make sure he understands we need Von Richter alive.
And there it is, 2,000 little pieces
to make it all work in perfect time.
How do you even begin to know where they all go?
Actually, you would if anyone would!
Let's hope I can remember eh?
You will.
The trick is knowing what each part does.
Everyone, if one piece is missing,
just one piece, then none of this works.
I don't wanna go, Dad.
I don't want you to go either, but...
Why is there a "but"?
There's always a "but".
Your mother is looking forward to seeing you.
That's not the point.
This was our week.
We've had it planned for months.
Well unfortunately Mister Hitler
must have lost the copy our diary this month.
I did send it to him.
I hate this war.
I'll make it up to you.
I promise.
It can't be time already.
You promise you won't carry on and fix it without me.
How could I?
You're my co-pilot.
My right hand girl.
I don't do anything important without you.
Got your tickets?
And map?
And you'll wait for your mother
to pick you up at the station.
Dad, I've done this a million times.
Not by yourself.
I'm not on my own.
I mean not without me or your mother.
Call in sick.
You know I can't.
I know you won't.
Here comes your Aunt Betty now.
Last chance.
Hurry up and make this horrid war end.
I'm doing my best.
Hello, Betty.
Hi, John.
Hello, darling.
Hi, Aunt Betty.
Jane has got all our telephone numbers
and addresses written on there.
Put it in an inside pocket.
We'll be fine, won't we poppet?
We're off on an adventure.
Thank you.
I'll wait in the car.
Bye dad.
Win this war.
And come home.
I promise.
- John. - Danny.
You really didn't have to come, you know.
Everything all right?
I could have identified him just as well as you.
See?
Right on time.
You worry to much, John.
Sturmbannfuhrer Richter.
Well?
It's him.
Welcome to England, Sturmbannfuhrer Richter.
We have much to talk about.
This goes against every code
of the Geneva convention.
You do not get to lecture us about codes,
Geneva, or any other.
What did he say?
He wants his cuffs back.
Don't move.
Home guard!
Who goes there?
Special Operations.
Don't shoot.
The battle for Monte casino
has ended in victory.
Polish troops of the 2nd Polish Corps
led by General Wadyslav Anders
captured German positions around the hilltop fortress
in the early hours of this morning Italian time.
Men and officers of His majesty's Eighth Army's
and soldiers of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division
and the 5th Canadian Armoured Division
are pursuing the Germans north to the Hitler line.
Eyewitnesses describe a German army in disarray
as commonwealth and allied soldiers harass and dog
at the heels of the retreating Germans.
In home news, the south east of Britain
suffered another wave of daylight bombardment,
suggesting the German command are getting desperate.
In Watford a munitions factory was hit causing a large fire
and 103 casualties.
In East Anglia, a passenger train
on the Norwich to London Liverpool street line
suffered a direct hit at approximately four P.M.
just as the train was pulling out of Sudbury, in Suffolk.
A statement by John Roberts of the Auxiliary Fire Service
at 9 A.M. this morning confirms 15 people were killed,
including six children.
Whilst there are no other casualties from the bombardment,
a ministry spokesman asks all members of the public
to continue their vigilance in respect of unexploded bombs.
We are gathered here today to remember before God
our dear sister Jane,
to give thanks for her life,
to commend her to God her merciful redeemer and judge,
to commit her body
to be buried.
We have entrusted our sister to God's merciful keeping,
and we now commit her body to the ground:
earth to earth,
ashes to ashes,
dust to dust.
Hello?
You're late.
Lathyrus odoratus.
Need to be hardened off in April
or they won't survive a cold snap.
May we go inside?
My sincerest condolences, old boy.
You know it wasn't your fault.
It was just wrong place, wrong time.
It's a damn ugly war.
Danny could have identified Richter,
I needn't to be there.
He could have, had things gone smoothly.
But, as it turns out,
you rather did need to be there.
I didn't know that when I sent Jane packing.
And if you'd gone with her?
You'd have all been hit with the same damn bomb.
No.
Neither of us would have gone to London
in the first place.
If I could change that, I would.
But I can't.
What are you doing here?
John, we've got a situation.
Candidly, a real pickle.
A senior planner at Baker Street's gone and got himself
shot down over the continent.
Haute De France.
The SS picked him up near Lille.
You told his family it's an ugly war?
It's Victor Lawrence, John.
The thing is, John.
The SS don't know who they have.
If they did, well.
At the moment they think he's a just another airman.
That Sturmbannfuhrer you picked up at Dunwichon Saturday,
seems you got him in his sciatic nerve.
Jolly painful I understand.
Sung like a canary.
We're quite sure they don't know who they have.
They're not idiots.
They'll find out.
No, they won't, because you're going to go over there
and get him out.
Before he talks.
We already know where he is.
They've got him in a holding camp.
But if they move him to Germany,
or should I say when...
I'm a Balkan specialist.
I don't even speak French.
To mangle Delaphine Corortain's wonderful quote:
"Tyrants and dissemblers create worlds
"in which good people are forced to make terrible choices".
You don't live in that world.
It certainly feels like I do.
You do not.
You don't have a choice.
I'll be just outside.
If he talks before you get him,
we lose our only real chance of ending this war.
Have local resistance get me a flying jacket
and some identity tags.
Good man.
I'll wait in the car.
Notre.
Dame.
I could have killed you.
He's fine.
We heard your aeroplane.
We followed you, we had to be sure.
If you heard the plane,
we must assume others did.
Is there somewhere we can go?
Get your coat.
My name is Ellie and him Anatole.
John Seabourne.
We should get off the road.
The Germans do not patrol
on this side of the forest.
We can travel faster this way.
Where are we going?
We see many aeroplanes at night
and now even in the day, high up.
Spies?
Something big is coming.
It's safe here?
Safe?
You are in occupied France, Mr. Seabourne.
No where is safe.
Where's everyone else?
That's?
You are it.
A boy, a girl and an old priest?
Father Bernard lets us use this place,
but he does not fight.
So?
Where is everyone else?
The resistance have been ordered north, into the Ardennes.
Some have gone to the coast, even to Normandy.
The last two left yesterday.
They didn't even say goodbye.
He wants to know if the Americans are coming.
Nobody will be coming.
Not if I don't complete my mission.
So speak.
I need to find a man.
A British officer.
Shot down last week.
We believe he was taken to a Durchgangslager,
a holding camp where they host POWS...
I know what a Durchgangslager is.
Do you know Chateau Craique?
Chateau Craique?!
Gestapo.
Will you show me the way?
And then you can go to the Ardennes,
and whichever part of this wretched war you want.
We will show you the way to the Chateau.
Thank you.
And then we are leaving.
And you will be "tout seul".
What did he say?
He wishes us luck.
Come on, let's go and find your prisoner.
The Germans broke the dykes and flooded the fields from here
to the chateau.
They don't patrol this side.
Watch out for the snakes.
There, in between the trees.
I see it.
How do we get closer?
More swamp.
Lead the way
Chateau Craique.
How do we know your Victor is still there?
We don't, not yet.
You trying to get yourself killed?
There.
By the low out-buildings.
It's him?
It's him.
Come on, let's go.
I'll get my gun.
We go in now.
No, wait.
Ellie, wait for me.
I said no.
Are you crazy.
We must go now.
They still don't not know who he is.
It's the best advantage we've got.
So we create a diversion.
We have explosives, TNT...
This is not a military operation.
This is a burglary.
We go in silently and we leave no trace.
And that requires careful planning.
What if the Gestapo discover him
while you are making this plan?
Will you stay?
A few days.
I need your help.
I must learn everything about that camp.
Ellie?
You would have let him kill us.
No.
I let you get wet.
Will you help me get that man out?
We can give you two days.
That'll be enough.
But tell him, they must not suspect a thing.
We must be silent, like ghosts.
What did he say?
He said the ghosts are already dead.
Okay, we have two days
to find a way into the chateau
and get him out.
Here is our plan.
We must survey every inch of the chateau.
The boy waits at the outer ditch.
You and I, we get as close as we dare
and learn everything we can about that camp.
We study it from all four points of the compass.
We move quickly,
we move silently and exploit our crucial tactical advantage.
We will know where they are and what they are doing
at every minute.
They don't even know we are here.
This is our secret weapon,
and this what will get us inside.
Knowledge, intelligence.
We note every gun post, every field of fire,
every patrol route,
'till we can create a birds eye view from memory.
Every time they take the prisoners out, we make a note.
Every guard position, write it down,
every shift change, every patrol, every guard,
the loners, the chatterers, the paranoid,
- the lazy... - We write it down.
We write, it, down.
He knows his tactics their commander.
Those machine guns, elevated, overlapping arcs.
Six men could defend this place against a whole platoon,
a company probably.
Before the war, I used to play with my brother
on this swing.
Perhaps you will again.
It's not the same for you in England.
Here children will never be children any more.
Bilbo calling Oakenshield, over.
Oakenshield calling Bilbo.
Smaug's still lurking in Rivendell.
Oakenshield out.
Message received.
Bilbo out.
The British are strange.
They're characters from a children's book about dwarves.
Actually I think he was a hobbit.
A "Hobbit"?
A little person who, who sneaks into a dragon's cave.
Stop!
The chateau's defences are designed
against a full military assault.
The Nazis don't consider a small team to be any threat.
They certainly aren't expecting infiltration
buy one or two men or they'd have tighter defences.
This is why we do our homework.
Look, it's a back door, a way in.
What are you saying?
There's a blind spot.
Right
there.
An invisible corridor from one end of the field
to the other that I don't think can be seen
by either machine gun.
If we can make it that far, make it across the field,
we'll be out of sight.
There is still a chance he'll see you
before you get there.
It's not about chance, we need to test it.
If I'm seen, open up.
Make it look like an attack.
Resistance.
Like clockwork eh?
So we go tonight?
- No. - Again "no".
That's our way in.
That's the easy bit.
Now we need to find a way out.
But not now.
We'll come back.
Come on, the patrol will be on their way.
We have less than a minute.
Where have they gone?
Where have they taken them?
Don't get us caught now.
We're too close.
They've got other prisoners, French Resistance.
My comrades.
I can't see anyone.
They took them to that low building.
There's no one there.
They took them inside.
This is why they didn't say adieu.
It changes everything.
It changes nothing.
We do not go in until we have an escape plan.
You know what they do to the resistance.
What they will already be doing.
Those men knew the risk.
How can you be so cold?
What don't you understand?
She was only a little girl when the Germans
came through in 40.
A girl with pigtails and a crush on the boy
who lived down the lane.
Her parents were killed by the Luftwaffe.
Her brother and she survived.
Anatole is your brother?
No, commandos from England,
parachuted in on New Year's Day.
They convinced us both to spy for them.
The Gestapo found our safe house.
Only I escaped.
They took my brother to Chateau Craique.
When they returned him he had no skin.
So you see.
I do.
Quite clearly.
You don't want to save those boys or stop this war,
you want revenge.
If we go in tonight without an escape plan
and we are caught, Victor talks.
Then there will be hundreds,
thousands of boys like your brother, for years to come.
We do not go tonight!
I will help you get your people out if I can.
They aren't my people.
They are just people.
But it can not be tonight.
I will shoot you all if you try.
Including him.
Deadly.
Bilbo calling Oakenshield, over.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
It was a mistake.
I panicked.
Let it go, it's done.
I'm sorry.
My gun, you distracted me.
What was I supposed to do?!
I said let it go.
We must hide them.
Let me think.
We strip them, we take them to the swamp
and weigh them down.
They must be found.
They must be found today.
Found?
I don't understand.
Once they are discovered missing,
the SS will search these woods.
So we move from the church.
It doesn't matter if they find us or not,
they are certain to reinforce the guards at the Chateau.
The Germans must find these bodies.
What difference will that make?
They will still come hunting for whoever did it,
and when they can't find anyone,
they will still put more guards up,
like you said.
Then they need to find who did it.
If they know who did it they might,
just might think the matter is closed.
Please, no.
Or think they know.
They only have to think they know.
What do you mean?
You need to find someone to take the blame, and quickly.
They will come for everyone and they will kill them all.
In March, near Alvelina German staff car
came off the road on oil, they blamed us.
Everyone in the village was shot.
Everyone.
It's not the same for you.
Your family is safe in England.
What do you know about my family?
He's a child.
He's old enough.
What did he say?
What is he saying?
What's he saying, what does he want?
Pitie, what's pitie?
Pitie is pity.
He says we must bring the dead soldiers to the church.
And perhaps the Germans will show pity to a man of God.
And make it quick.
It is a damn ugly war.
Von Rhor's commander
is on his way to Chatueau Craique.
Compromised, mission compromised.
Tonight, you must go in tonight.
Mission compromised.
What's going on?
News from London.
They got Hitler with a bomb?
Our lads intercepted a message.
They're taking Victor to a POW camp in Germany tomorrow.
The regional Gestapo Commander, Von Rhor,
is arriving to supervise the transfer.
When, when does he come?
Tomorrow.
He knows who Victor is.
So it is lost.
No.
How no?
So tonight?
We go in tonight?
I go in.
What's happening?
The ones, they came before you.
I need you to stay and help him hide the dead Germans
so they're never found.
What about me, where's mine?
We are no longer hiding in ditches.
Where I'm going, there is every likelihood I will be caught.
Wearing these tags, I'm just an unlucky airman.
You can not come.
You know what they will do to you.
You must stay here.
If I am not back by morning, then come for us.
And bring everything you have.
I will get your boys out if I can.
I swear.
Don't shoot.
What are you doing here?
I've got news.
There was an escape attempt this morning.
No, no, the Nazi's caught it.
But they've moved all the allied prisoners
into the manor house.
How do you know?
It's all over the village.
They say they have cellars.
They must have put them there.
They did the same with my brother.
Come on, let's go.
I told you...
You know the chateau from the outside.
I know the inside.
I need you to get us out.
I'm coming with you.
And if you don't like it, too bad, we're out of time.
Stay close to me.
I brought explosives.
We can set charges, blow them when we leave.
I said no sound.
Leave them here.
What do we do?
There's no other way.
We're gonna have to swim it.
In your sketches,
there is a low bank on the other side.
We wait 'till dark.
Boots 'n all.
No footprints in the chateau.
Your feet will dry in minutes, shoes won't.
Where is Victor?
Where are the other prisoners?
Where's the rest of them?
Where are the allies?
Where are the POWs?
They have moved them back to a barn.
You lied to me.
They have moved them.
They were never here and you know it.
You lied to me.
We cannot take them.
What?
No, we have to take them.
If the Germans find these men missing,
they will lock down the whole manor house.
You are saying we leave them there?
We can't take them.
You know what will happen to them
if they stay.
And you know, as well as I know,
what will happen to the whole world if we are caught.
Ask them what we should do.
I'm sorry, Monsieur Seabourne.
Our missions have now separated.
I promise.
Once we have got Victor out, I will come back for these men.
But right now...
And if they don't last that long?
Right now, we get Victor out.
It is no exaggeration but millions of lives depend on this.
Tell them.
Tell him I'll be back for him.
No, please.
Victor Lawrence?
Where us is Victor Lawrence?
For God's sake.
I am Victor Lawrence.
John Seabourne, Special Operations, we need to go.
What are you doing here
You're coming with us.
Who are you?
SOE, sir.
Oh, you fools.
Hurry up.
We need to go, now.
Get out before the guard comes back.
I'm not leaving without you.
He doesn't want to come, let's go.
We're here to break you out, Sir.
This is a rescue.
Look around you.
You think I couldn't have got out of here myself
without you.
Its a barn.
A mediaeval barn.
You can kick through the walls.
We could have been gone the first night.
All of us.
I can't leave.
I can't risk it.
The Nazi's don't know who I am.
I intend to keep it that way.
Which means not cavorting around in some boys
own adventure of an escape.
Hit him on the head.
There is a senior Gestapo officer on his way,
Sturmbannfuhrer Von Rohr.
I know who Von Rohr is.
Then you know he knows you.
We have to get you out of here before they realise
who you are.
And you think busting out of here in a blaze of glory
is going to make that less likely?
No.
We're sneaking out the way we came in.
Sir, I know how important you are.
I am certain you don't.
But as far as you think you understand,
you will realise I only need to remain undiscovered
for a few more days.
Once our boys and the Americans land,
none of this will matter.
Then you can play hero with whomever you please,
there will be plenty of need for that
I can assure you.
The course of action with the highest chance of success
is for me to remain here and you both to leave.
My friends are the dungeons of that chateau
and if we do not get you out, we can not get them out,
and if we do not get them out,
they will be tortured to death.
And it will be your fault, and his.
This isn't about your friends in the cellar,
this is about years of damn war
and thousands of lives.
I am truly sorry for your comrades,
but he is right.
If they find out who you are then...
Then I will take what I know to the grave.
You have never been a prisoner of the Gestapo.
Sir, I'm sure you know what this is.
I'm not taking a damn cyanide pill.
Then you leave me no choice.
You'll bring the guard.
You'll be caught.
All of you.
Chaps, Brandt's on his way.
Merde!
Is that the same guard?
The same guard as what?
The same guard as usual.
Has he seen Victor?
Bright lady.
If the head count still matches,
that's all he'll care about.
Attention please.
Chaps, fall in.
Good.
What kind of fool breaks in to become a prisoner of war?
Ellie, come out.
You're taking Victor out of here.
Again?
I said I won't, and I said why not.
I was crystal clear.
Yes, you did.
Indeed you were.
Specifically, you said they don't know who you are.
And you said if the head count hasn't changed,
you or me, they won't know or care.
You would do that?
We're switching.
Ellie!
Oh, no.
She must have slipped out when the guard...
Oh, you think so?
Where'd you find her?
Please, shut up, let me think.
Enterprising woman.
If they catch her,
what's that?
Lights out.
Don't s'pose you brought a torch.
No plan survives contact with the enemy eh?
Well, his didn't survive contact with friends.
It's him.
It's Von Rohr.
You recognise him?
It's him.
- Can you hear them? - I could if you'd be quiet.
Be quiet.
- Hide. - No.
If the head count still matches,
there's a chance he won't recognise me.
And if he does?
Then I'm sure you will do what is required.
Fall in chaps.
Nice and neat for the Gestapo.
He didn't recognise you.
He did.
He just can't remember where from.
Yet.
If it was up to me...
It is up to you.
I'll tell them what happened here.
Tell my Alice, I...
Just tell her.
- The RAF? - No.
The Resistance?
Ellie.
This is no longer a burglary.
What is it?
War.
Gather what you can.
Scrounge weapons off dead crouts.
Anything loaded, open it up and pour hell on 'em.
You, stay right beside me.
We have to go.
Think you can take him?
We need to draw his fire.
I'll go.
Good luck.
Don't miss.
Let's go.
We are pinned down in a inferior position, Sir.
As soon as they realise they'll be on us
with everything they've got.
We can't stay here, Sir.
If we don't help her, she's dead,
and so are her boys.
If they find him, he's as dead as she is.
Him or her, sir.
Are you mobile?
Legs are fine.
I need you to draw their fire.
I want them to think we're retreating that way.
We can certainly do that.
Make it as obvious as possible.
You going back for her?!
I made a promise.
- Come on, Sir. - No.
He's coming with me.
Back there?!
He's my mission, Captain.
On me.
It's working.
You are a fanatic.
I'll give you that much.
She saved your bacon, Sir.
I'm not leaving her.
You came back.
You didn't leave me much choice.
There's always a choice.
I made a promise.
To me, or my boys in there?
You, stay here.
Are you joking?
Don't move.
What is your plan?
One last time.
Where will the resistance take Victor Lawrence?
Where is he?
I am Victor Lawrence.
That's the signal.
That's your boat.
You're not coming.
I told you, I made a promise.
She would have been proud.
Catch up with you after the final whistle eh?
Good luck.
And to you.
One and all.
What now?
What's the date?
Fifth of June.
What are you doing tomorrow?
Come on, let's end this horrid war.
By Pinroy Bijayan