"The Boomerang Raid" is an episode of The Rat Patrol that first aired on January 8, 1968. Directed by Robert Sparr. Written by Edward J Lasko.
The Rat Patrol go to the north African coast on the Mediterranean to pick up Lt. Kemper (Dick Sargent) from a sub. Kemper has blood on his dog tags, which makes Sergeant Troy suspicious. Just then, a bunch of Nazis show up, led by the Rats' recurring nemesis Captain Dietrich. Kemper and the Rat Patrol fire back, and several Nazis die — including Dietrich, who is gunned down by Kemper.
Still, Troy suspects Kemper is not who he says he is. Adding to the Rat Patrol's suspicions, as Kemper reviews the map for an upcoming naval barrage, he seems to be more interested in mapping Allied positions than German positions. Kemper says he needs to know the strengths of the Allied positions as well as the enemy's to properly plan the upcoming naval barrage, which is certainly plausible, but still... Troy sends Hitchcock to contact American headquarters and get more information.
Moffitt and Tully go back to the beach and find the corpse of an American without dog tags. When Moffitt tells Troy about the dead man, Troy confronts Kemper, who says it's just a misunderstanding and they can clear it up at the radio house.
But at the radio house, they're ambushed by several Nazis commanded by none other than Dietrich! The devious captain had only pretended to die before. Now he demands Troy take them to the fire control point. Troy refuses, then acquiesces. They all exit the radio house.
Meanwhile, Hitchcock, who's been separated from the others thanks to Troy's order, has been observing these events. He skulks around the ceiling of the building, then opens fire on the Germans, allowing his comrades to escape. Dietrich chases them back to the coast. Soon Troy's in a fistfight with Dietrich as Moffitt watches and the map gets lost in the water. The Germans retreat, and the Rat Patrol set off to the fire control point, the location of which is in Troy's head.
Tropes
- Bilingual Bonus: Captain Dietrich gives some orders in German to his subordinates which are not subtitled.
- Dead Person Impersonation/Dressing as the Enemy: The Nazi who takes the identity of the real Lt. Kemper.
- Faking the Dead: Dietrich seems to die, but is later seen perfectly healthy. It was all part of an Evil Plan to get the map.
- No MacGuffin, No Winner: Played with. The original map is lost, but Troy has memorized it.
