I believe that Major STeinkopt at some time during this great story will be forced to eat his words. And the poor guys were sent into a trap that every one knew was a trap but yet off they went - our heroes. I wonder how many Nazi officers had the moral attitude of Capt Dietrich toward caring for his men as part of his attitude toward the war. Te capture of the guys was definitely one sided and thus inevitable; Separating the guys is not a good sign, But I'm sure Troy will come up with a plan in one of the following chapters Because Steinkopt's plans call for "extermination , which sounds like Susie 's recent stories where Tory had a horrible dream. I'm going to try to get in another chapter tonight

Guess what? I never posted this review of chapter 1 so I will do that now

I loved this last chapter; and it ended up in a much more surpriseing way than I expected. The only thing is that I'm disappointed about now that the story is over and I have to wait until your next story appears. Troy spent alot of time beating himself up about "leaving Hitch behind". Moffitt seemed to be incredibly smart to be able to guess that perhaps the Germans are keeping Hitch alive as "bait". Silly me, I thought well that's how the story will end - a happy exchange - Hitch for the 2 German officers. (Little did I expect that the story was not over and there were more surprises to come.) Even poor suffering Tully agreed that they should leave him behind the dune and hope Hitch can be rescued somehow.I thought the 2 nasty German officers who were so eager to torture the privates surrendered rather quickly and were very demanding as to what rules of war they should be able to plead for (ha ha - all those "silly" rules of war.) And surprise, surprise! The Arabs turned up again with the solution! All right Nahul. If anyone needed/deserved punishment it was the Germans of course. So at this point., to me the question was what was Hitch's status? captured? dead? not sure? In my prejudiced opinion the story did end too soon - what about all those important comfort scenes in the hospital for the privates? Of course Hitch had been "treated by the Arabs" and Tully had had a "shot of morphine" to counter how many minutes of being beaten. But of course they both are "fine" . Another great story - multi chapters so that many side dramas could be included in the story. suspense, emotions, action. H/C. this story had it all.

I really enjoyed this story with Dietrich dealing with his conscience and the ideology of the Third Reich. You did a very good job at having Dietrich be able to maintain his honor and principles as a German officer but yet not outwardly showing his disagreement with the actions of his superiors. I like stories were Dietrich has to debate with himself on what action he should take and can he live with himself with the action he chooses. Also, very nice ending with all parties involve seem content with the results, well except for one party but as long as Dietrich happy, I'm happy.
Love the Dietrich heavy stories. Keep them coming and keep them long like this. I can wait for a good Dietrich story. Cheers :)

Another suspense chapter and a hint at the end as to how Hitch is going to escape while not endangering the other guys. (I was wondering how Troy, the magic maker was going to ever figure that ne out) I rather enjoyed the Major's temper tantrum at the beginning just like a spoiled child. (Gee, I've heard that phrase quite recently) . Dietrich wasamazingly able to hide his feelings during this tirade. I also enjoyed the discussion as to "whose" prisoners the Rat Patrol now were. Dietrich regretted the killing of the Major's guards with the with the knives he had secretly had given to Troy. I had wondered earlier whether the convenient appearance of the Arab goat herders just at the right time and place. Ah Ha! Now I know the reference at the end when the trade of prisoners was mentioned at the end of the chapter. )I am not as "sharp" as I was years ago, I also liked the long discussion of Dietrich and Nahul at the end as to what, if anything was honorable about warfare.

This was a great Hitch chapter, and a "help your fellow"rat" chapter. Great descriptions of Hitch suffering and the sergeants trying to drag along both of the the injured privates and they all are trying to escape before being found by the Germans and their nasty dogs. suspense as the guys had to dodge from street to street. Troy faced agony in trying to decide to leave Hitch behind while the rest got away...surely Hitch would realize that in the long run they would be back for him. More suspense as they dodged from street trying to avoid being seen. AS Hitch thought however he knew by moving he would just attract attention rom the Germans. And what comes to his rescue? A herd of goats! Another great chapter. I'll admit I skimmed this chapter late last night but heroically did not do so any furtherso now I'm venturing into new ground! How will Hitch be rescued?

Ah... the expected escape...Troy's confident planning and Dietrich's welcome help. I liked Troy's comment that the Germans treated their own men no better than they treated the Americans. I thought it was interesting that the cells troy and Moffitt had were close enough that they could talk to each other and that Tully and Hitch had been put in the same cell although neither was in any kind of shape to take advantage of that. I wonder if this was another "superior" plan of major S. I liked Troy's use of having a stare off and then smiling at his guard who was obviously upset by these
actionswhich is exactly what Troy wanted. I had the thought. while troy was throwing knives at the guards, slingshots might have worked here too if they had had them. Perhaps Tully had been giving lessons? They had to slap poor Tully's face to rescue him while poor Hitch was picked up and slung over Moffitt's Troy "welcomed the pain" of Tully's hand digging into his palm as he tried to get Tully out of the cell and into the hall. Troy felt guilty about the horrific injuries that his 2 privates endured while Troy didn't "break" while being questioned. There was alot of emotional pain in all this story too. Troy whispering to Moffitt as they hauled the privates down the hall provided both sergeants with the confidence they both needed to escape successfully. That's it for tonight - the escape is underway. More greatly anticipated reading tomorrow.

Another good Dietrich chapter. Obviously the Arabs hadn't "learned their lesson" from the torture of 2 of their young men in the last chapter. Now a patrol has been attacked but off S goes all the while not knowing Dietrich had (hopefully) laid the groundwork for the guys' escape. How better to gain revenge against stupid Major S and his cohort. I know a few stories have dealt with the rumors of the Holocaust amongst Dietrich and his men. I assume most of everyone Allied and German were sent to Europe after the battle for North Africa was over. At the Nuremberg trials so many of the Nazis put on trial said they were under orders or that they had not known about the camps.. I liked the symbolism of Dietrich looking at himself in the mirror at the same time he was questioning his own attitudes toward major S's torture major obviously had no clue about desert warfare in ordering 6 lumbering half tracks to "follow" the guilty Arabs. (it's like making a poor teacher an administrator and putting hm in charge of evaluating "good" and "bad" teachers as part of his job.) I loved Dietrich's sarcasm toward the Major, while the Major didn't understand what was going on. I think in the next chapter the good guys will plot their escape and turn the joke on the hapless major and Hoaltz.

This is a great Dietrich chapter; here was Dietrich at his best, disagreeing with and speaking out against every atrocity that Hoatz and Steinkopf ordered. Major S seemed to love humiliating Dietrich in front of Dietrich's men. Not something a "real' German officer would have done based on their military school training. His methods of treating POWs and Arabs were appalling but I bet they made him feel like a"big man". (Once women get into positions of military power, I'm sure alot of this horror will not be evident). Diertrich and Troy"spoke" the same military code of honor. I think that whatever such a code of honor in warfare was has long disappeared today) Especially the "fear is the key" lesson. But he hasn't seen any fear in our guys; just winks, silent suffering while not revealing anything and enduring repeated death threats. I was also impressed that Dietrich had "picked up"some local Arab dialects. One wonders how long D. can deal with all this horror? Will he step forward and save Moffitt from being torturedi n the next chapter. I'll have to continue reading tonight

Great story! Thanks and more please!

great chapter! I know I sound blood thirsty but it's really the bonds among these men that I admire in injury situations like this, Like Moffitt's smile when Troy insisted he would not talk even if Moffitt was beaten and killed. I will admit after signing off last night I skimmed chapter 3 which only made me even more anxious to get back to this chapter; today I'm reading carefully every word picking up the nuances that you always put in your stories . Troy finally got to see his privates who dominated this chapter by being tortured (I wonder if the Allied powers that are in charge weren't aware that this is the price the guys would have to pay if the intelligence was wrong (which we all knew it was at he beginning of this story), Then there is that brutish German Major Steinkopf who had his "fingers steepling", and whose "smile consisted of showing his teeth". It's so much more dramatic to have him responsible for the resulting torture scenes which probably not have have happened at all if Dietrich had been in charge. after all the guys would have escaped before the torture ever began, under Dietrich. The Major also seemed to enjoy the torture of Tully and Hitch and the emotional anguish of Troy. Again, I liked Tully's wink at Toy which had to have a calming sign yet one of resistence. The major laughed at the silly "rules of war". Do you understand why I like this story so much. I WILL GET IN ANOTHER CHAPTER TONGHT. What else possibly be more important?

As Troy said, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy, or in this case, guys.
Your portrayal of Dietrich is spot on to how I see him. I loved him looking in the mirror and finding he could live with himself. Great story.

Ah...the preparation for tomorrow's interrogation of (all 4?) guys, which will not be successful as we all know. Just rethinking about it would be like had to be disconcerting to them and complicating their closeness and hence concern for each other. I liked Troy smiling at the German guard; a little bit of psychological warfare and it worked and the discussion between Troy and Moffitt about their decision to go on this raid despite some obvious second thoughts. The Germans seemed to enjoy watching blood dripping from poor Hitch's wrists. I also liked Tully's tripping his German guard which also seemed to be a good unnerving incident for the guard, so now we anticipate the fun and games of interrogation. here's that cliff hanger I always eagerly anticipate in your stories but I need to go to bed. Thanks for a pleasant evening. And more to look forward tomorrow