The BEST episodes of The Rat Patrol season 1
Every episode of The Rat Patrol season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Rat Patrol season 1!
The Rat Patrol is an American action and adventure television series that aired on ABC between 1966 and 1968. The show follows the exploits of four Allied soldiers — three Americans and one Englishman — who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II. Staring Sergeant Sam Troy (Christopher George), Sergeant Jack Moffit (Gary Raymond), Private Mark T. Hitchcock (Lawrence Casey) and Private Tully Pettigrew (Justin Tarr). Their mission: to attack, harass and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps and to capture their enemy and nemesis, Hauptmann Dietrich (Eric Braeden).
#1 - The Blow Sky High Raid
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/7/1966
A very prized Germany radar station must be destroyed before a flight of bombers comes over. To do it, the Rat Patrol is given a new, special kind of explosives. Troy is apprehensive about carrying this dangerous cargo, which can explode with the slightest of bumps. Dietrich learns of the mission and tries to beat the Patrol to the area by utilizing an old Arabic legend of an unknown ""trigh"" (road) through the jebels (mountains). The Patrol is also in search of this trigh. But Moffitt gets them lost and Dietrich beats them there. Troy then manages to plant some explosives -- and bluffs Dietrich out of the radar station by telling him that he's willing to die himself rather than let the station do its work.
#2 - The Do or Die Raid
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/17/1966
A large Panzer unit has a map showing a strategic oasis occupied by the Eighth Armored. U.S. Intelligence wants the map exchanged for a phony one which would show the oasis as empty. Accompanied by a veteran map expert, Sgt. Griffin, Troy and his men start into the German HQ. At midnight, using bows and arrows for weapons, they go into the area but Griffin has a heart attack and the team is trapped in the commander's office. In the end, Troy bullies the ""expert"" into keeping up the effort until they are finally able to finish the mission, whereupon Troy ends up endangering his own life to get Griffin out of the town.
#3 - The Dare-Devil Rescue Raid
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/12/1966
German artillery traps 2000 Allied soldiers and their only chance of rescue is an Allied armored attack. The necessary equipment, though, can only reach them in time via an ancient road which is now hidden by sand, a road only Moffitt's father can find. On the way to the landing site, Moffitt's father's plane crashes. Moffitt wants to go find him but Troy insists their first priority is to find the road themselves. Moffitt breaks away and goes to find his father but finds only the burned-out plane. Troy thinks the elder Moffitt must be dead. Moffitt says he was captured. Again Moffitt escapes the team and goes after his father -- finally rescuing him.
#4 - The Life Against Death Raid
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/19/1966
During a desert battle, Hitchcock is badly wounded. Troy decides to risk taking him to a nearby German field hospital as their own hospital is too far away. Upon arriving at the hospital he and Moffitt nearly pull off the masquerade, except for a paranoid patient -- Captain Friedrich -- who tells everyone they are American spies. No one believes him but during the delay the doctor notices a tattoo on Hitch's arm from Ft. Benning, Ga. Troy forces him, at gunpoint, to finish the operation. They escape in a hail of gunfire after the surgery.
#5 - The Gun Runner Raid
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/28/1966
An Arab convoy, disguised as Americans, traps and captures the Rat Patrol. The convoy's leader is Ned Cunningham, an ex-Yank hero turned gunrunner. He sells now to the highest bidder, no matter which side. He feels that the Rat Patrol is costing him too much business and so is going to eliminate them. But he then decides he likes the Patrol and will take them into the deal if they will cooperate. In the end, though, his duplicitious behavior causes his own death.
#6 - The Moment of Truce Raid
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/14/1966
Fanatical Arabs -- wanting to end the war on their land -- attack both the Rat Patrol and the German convoy that Dietrich leads, trapping both in a small desert fortress. This forces the two teams into a truce. One of the Germans -- a liasion to the Arabs -- tries to talk Dietrich into betraying the Rat Patrol to the Arabs but he refuses. In the end the liasion tries to go over to the Arabs himself. He ends up killed, and Dietrich and Troy are able to construct a trap of their own -- killing most of the Arabs and escaping.
#7 - The Fatal Chase Raid
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/31/1966
The Patrol manages to ambush a German unit that is carrying US POWs. Three of these POWs are apparently out to kill each other. Sgt. Gribs -- whose cowardliness caused his men to become captured -- is fighting against Tex and Eddie -- who want revenge. Gribs bargains with Troy for protection, telling Troy that he has information vital to US Command. They start back to HQ, but one of the unit's jeeps breaks down. They continue to travel slowly across the desert until they can capture a German vehicle. Gribs parcels out small hints of his ""vital"" information to keep himself safe. It all ends in heroism -- or something close.
#8 - The Kill or Be Killed Raid
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/3/1966
Dietrich is presented with an old scrap of parchment which shows an ancient water source deep in the desert. Allied intelligence sends Moffitt to find the map before it can be translated; he must get it by masquerading as a German and Troy has orders to shoot him should he find the information (and destroy it) but then not be able to escape. Which is, of course, exactly what then happens. Troy must face the decision of killing his comrade -- and friend -- or finding someway to disobey the orders and rescue the mission.
#9 - The Last Harbor Raid (3)
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/2/1967
The plan is for the fishing fleet to bring out the prisoners, Dunkirk-fashion. However, a Nazi patrol boat has intercepted the boats. The fishermen believe that Marinanne is a collaborator. Sgt. Troy, though, disagrees and he's right. Marianne talks the fishermen into cooperating, and the prisoners make good their escape.
#10 - The Lighthouse Raid
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/5/1966
Tully and Moffitt transport a liberated French underground general to a rendezvous in a deserted lighthouse. Hitchcock stands lookout, disguised as a German guard. Troy, though, is held captive inside the lighthouse -- betrayed by Mathias. Moffitt tries to reach him but ends up unconscious. In the ensuing fight, Mathias is killed and Troy manages to signal the trawler into the area to take the general to safety.
#11 - The Double or Nothing Raid
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 3/27/1967
Moffitt is about to be executed for "espionage against the Third Reich" when suddenly the Patrol comes to his rescue. A commandeered German truck unsuccessfully attempts to scoop up Moffitt, but manages to take a Nazi captain in his place--for exchange. Negotiations for a prisoner exchange are fruitful, but Troy doubts that the Germans will obey their own rules. Indeed, the Nazi's Colonel Voss wants to see the Patrol wiped out and uses the exchange as a trap. The captured captain tries to escape the Patrol and gets himself killed. Now Troy has no one to exchange for a seriously wounded Moffitt and must attempt to pass himself off as a German.
#12 - The Last Harbor Raid (2)
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 12/26/1966
Moffitt and Hitch (dressed as Germans) find Bertaine's daughter and tell her of her father's death. Then they take her home - after they tell her who they really are. They also tell her that they need to use the fishing fleet to accomplish their mission. Meanwhile, Troy secretly meets with American POW liaison officer Indrus. Troy then joins Moffitt at the house of El Gamil. Informed of the plan, El Gamil dispatches his men to the various harbor areas to alert the fishermen. Troy sets the action to begin at dawn.
#13 - The Wildest Raid of All
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/26/1966
As a prequel to capturing General Ernest von Helmreich, the Rat Patrol gets itself captured. They plan to use the general to stop an upcoming attack. However the general manages to attract the attention of a distant Nazi search party and the Rat Patrol ends up trapped in a ravine, cut off. To escape they construct a ""fake panzer unit"" of their own -- tricking the Germans into a retreat. They then make it to the largest of the Germans' ammo dumps which they proceed to blow up.
#14 - The Chase of Fire Raid
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/12/1966
The British 8th Army sends their desert expert -- Jack Moffitt -- to the Rat Patrol for one very special mission. But Sergeant Troy (the American head of the unit) is very uneasy about this new addition. Moffitt tells Troy that the Germans have buried ammunition and petrol at an abandoned oasis which only the Afrika Korps knows about. It's up to the Rat Patrol to find this oasis and destroy the cache before the Germans can reach it. Dietrich -- familiar with the Rat Patrol's tricks -- devises a trap wherein he will follow the Patrol to the oasis. The Rat Patrol gets delayed, though, by a broken axle and, in the end, it is a race between them and Dietrich to see who will reach the supplies first.
#15 - The Deadly Double Raid
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/21/1966
Moffitt and Tully allow themselves to be captured so that they can get information from Craig -- an American POW -- about Rommel's new battle plans. However, Marston, another POW, tells them that Craig died. Dr. Phillips -- the camp medic -- supposedly has some information about the plan, though. When the medic treats Moffitt's arm he puts the code name of the mission on the underside of the bandage : Operation Nachtigall. However, it soon becomes obvious that either Phillips or Marston is a traitor and it is up to the Patrol to figure out which, as they are both now giving the Patrol conflicting information.
#16 - Take Me to Your Leader Raid
Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 3/20/1967
The Patrol stumbles on a German staff car but before they can attack it, the driver and a guard are killed by a third man\u2014who is apparently an American major. The major orders the Patrol to take him to where a high-level meeting is being held in secret. They do so, unaware that he is a German officer and that Dietrich is trailing them. However on the way they stumble on a unit of Italians who were badly injured and their officer\u2014returning with the Patrol to get his men help\u2014recognizes that the Major must be a German. Whereupon the German attempts to kill the Italian\u2014arousing Troy's suspicion.
#17 - The Chain of Death Raid
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/10/1966
The Patrol captures a German truck at the end of a partially destroyed convoy. In the process, though, Troy and Dietrich end up alone in the desert -- a stand-off until Arab slave traders arrive and capture both, hauling them deeper into the southern desert on the first leg of the slave trail. Troy and Dietrich escape but are chained together and must make their way back to ""civilization"" through the heat, the sand, and the enemy -- both enemies. They agree, after both are nearly dead with exposure, to cooperate. The truce ends when they arrive at Dietrich's column, but before they get down to the convoy, Troy trips and Dietrich ends up unconscious. Troy frees himself and Dietrich is picked up by his people. Troy rejoins Hitch, who has been driving along at the end of the column. They reach an oasis and Troy is able to place the explosives which were the purpose of this farce in the first place. The oasis blows up and the Rat Patrol, again, escapes.
#18 - The Exhibit A Raid
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/6/1967
Troy and Hitchcock capture Col Beckmann, an infamous Nazi POW camp commander. Beckmann denies that he is the man. In a fight Troy is knocked out and Hitch is wounded. Using Troy's gun, Beckmann kills the other German taken at the same time he was and then he exchanges dog tags with him--the places the gun in Troy's hand. Troy is thus accused of the murder. Moffitt and Tully do not arrive until after the deed is done. To prove to a court-martial board that Beckmann is Beckmann, the other Patrolers must break into a German HQ--at considerable risk to their own lives.
#19 - The Blind Man's Bluff Raid
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/24/1966
During a skirmish with the Germans, Troy suffers a concussion from an explosion. He ends up alone and lost in the desert. By the time he is found he has a terrible case of sunblindness. Unknown to Troy, though, his ""rescue"" has been by a German unit that is pretending to be Americans so they can coax Troy to tell him where the rest of the Rat Patrol is. Dietrich is the engineer behind this ploy.In the end, recovering from the sunblindness in the nick of time, Troy escapes.
#20 - The Bring 'Em Back Alive Raid
Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/13/1967
Troy raids German HQ and kidnaps Dr. Schneidermann. At the same time Moffitt, Tully and Hitch are captured by Captain Dietrich. Dietrich reveals that Troy is carrying a vial of deadly radium. He urges Moffitt to divulge Troy's destination, bargaining the Patrols' unconditional freedom for the return of Schneidermann. Moffitt, disbelieving the radium story, keeps quiet. However Troy is carrying the fatal vessel. The three Patrollers escape and trail Troy back to the rendezvous, with Dietrich trailing them.
#21 - Mask-a-Raid
Season 1 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/10/1967
Lieut. Klinger, a wounded Luftwaffe ace, is the only German who can ID the location of the Allied troops standing ready to invade Sicily. The Rat Patrol captures him and then Moffitt takes his place so that he can convince the Germans to watch in the wrong place for the upcoming attack. Troy, meanwhile, infiltrates the military hospital. Gestapo Major Bruder however suspects Moffitt and exposes him, but by the time he does, Moffitt manages to get Bruder killed in his place and escape.
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#22 - The Fire and Brimstone Raid
Season 1 - Episode 31 - Aired 4/24/1967
Troy and his men plant explosives in a German ammo depot and while trying for a hasty getaway run into Dietrich, who orders them to surrender. Knowing they are safe surrounded by explosives, Troy and Moffitt defuse the charges and wait for nightfall to escape. Not wanting to blow the depot sky high, Dietrich's men use bows and arrows and end up shooting Hitch in the shoulder. The two are quickly taken care of by Troy. Moffitt tries to make it to a truck using smoke grenades, but is captured by Dietrich. With the help of the Arab winery owner, the Rat Patrol finally dash to safety. When the American grenade fails to blow up the ammo depot, the winery owner does it for them.
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#23 - Two for One Raid
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/16/1967
Valuable German ammo has been dropped by parachute to an Arab farmhouse, and the Rat Patrol is sent to destroy it. On destroying the building, Troy discovers that there is no ammo--but there is a confused teenage boy. The boy proves out to be the son of a German commander. Troy is going to kill the commander, but when the boy pleads with him not to, Troy remembers what it felt like to lose his own father, who died when Troy was this boy's age. Troy arranges to capture the German instead of killing him.
#24 - The Last Chance Raid
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 1/23/1967
The Patrol's radio is wrecked and Troy is unable to warn HQ of a large Nazi anti-tank outfit waiting in ambush. Troy knows that El Jebel has a huge radio broadcast unit and heads there. Troy, Moffitt and the others make their way into the radio room and prepare to broadcast their warning to the British. However, Captain Deitrich walks in on them and takes them prisoner. Troy and Moffitt manage to escape. They free Hitch and Pettigrew and get their message back to London. This prevents the Allies from losing a lot of tanks.
#25 - The Last Harbor Raid (1)
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/19/1966
After each Allied bombing of their harbor, the Germans use Allied POWs to rebuild it. HQ sends the Rat Patrol to liberate the POWs and halt the harbor's usefulness. Troy must coordinate his plans with Major Indrus (John Anderson), an American who is inside the camp. They use an explosive-laden boat to get into the harbor but the Germans stop it halfway in. The captain, Bertaine (Will Kuluva), doesn't allow the Germans to board his boat. Troy and his men are able to fight off the boarding party and escape into town, but at the cost of Bertaine's life. They are followed by El Gamil (Stanley Adams), a sympathetic Arab merchant and black marketeer, who provides a car and uniforms for Moffitt and Hitchcock to go to the German Officer's Club in search of Bertaine's daughter Marianne (Claudine Longet). She is regarded as a traitor by locals because she performs at the club, but Troy has no choice but to seek out her help. The episode ends with Moffitt and Hitchcock entering the club.