Summaries

Synopsis

At the McKenzie prisoner of War (POW) camp in the north of Scotland, Kapitan Zur See Willi Schluter (Helmut Griem) - a Kriegsmarine U-boat commander - challenges the authority of the camp's rigidly by-the-book commanding officer, Major Perry (Ian Hendry). Schluter stands up for his men and won't allow Perry to arrest them or take action against them, as per the protocols of the Geneva convention. The PoW has 600 German prisoners. When Perry resorts to force, the Germans use sticks and stones to beat them back. Germans control the PoW camp as Perry wont resort to lethal force, again as per the rules.

British Army Intelligence Officer Captain Jack Connor (Brian Keith), an Irishman seconded from the Royal Ulster Rifles. a former star crime reporter during peacetime, is in hot water (again) for various off-duty indiscretions (relations with an enlisted officer). His patron, General Ben Kerr (Jack Watson), bails him out - in return for sending him to Camp McKenzie to learn what else might be behind the escalating uprisings beyond Perry's niggling authoritarianism.Sergeant Major Cox (Patrick O'Connell) is Perry's second in command. HQ doesn't want Perry to be too aggressive as thousands of theirs are held up in German prison camps.

Schluter plans to use the next attempt by Perry to arrest his men, to start a riot and then to slip-in one of his own as a British guard, who will then meet with their Scottish contact outside of prison to discuss the details of their escape plan. Schluter is in contact with them via a radio that they have fashioned in the barracks.

Even though Perry remains the titular in charge, Connor takes over effective control of the camp. Factions between the U-boaters and members of the Luftwaffe emerge, with the maniacal Schluter accusing the airmen (led by Captain Kranz (John Abineri) & Ingenieur-Offizier Unger (Michael Sheard)) of disloyalty to their Fatherland; the fliers in turn suspect Schluter's motives and question both his tactics and the point of escape. Schluter's escape list has only the names of 28 submariners in it.

In their very first meeting Connor congenially taunts Schluter over the escape tunnel the Irishman is sure is nearing completion. Aware of the threat this presents, Schluter orders maximum effort to speed the work ahead of schedule. The excavated dirt is hidden in the attics of the barracks. They are currently 5 meters from the fence and 26 meters from a nearby stream.

During a mass brawl Connor notices a group of POWs savagely attacking one of their own, who barely escapes alive; in the ensuing chaos two Germans dressed as British soldiers escape to lay the groundwork for a mass escape of U-boat officers. In his delirium the unconscious Lieutenant Neuchl (Horst Janson) (who had earlier insulted Schluter, and the savage beating was payback) keeps repeating the phrase "twenty-eight submarines". He is put into isolation, but before he can be questioned injured prisoners in the hospital ward stage a phony riot as cover for strangling Neuchl, faked as suicide.

Connor uses this sole snippet of random information from Neuchl to try to bamboozle Schluter into believing he disclosed much more. Even though Schluter suspects Connor's ruse, he can't take any chances and puts the escape plan into motion. The new plan is to have the tunnel open into the guard house, which is much closer than the stream.

Unknown to Schluter, Connor has brought in a cryptographer who has broken the code used in letters sent by POWs to Germany and is aware of the basics of the plan. Connor convinces Perry to let the POWs escape, so they can be tracked and the submarine itself nabbed, which will be huge prize for Britain. Perry disagrees but complies. He calls Connor an arrogant fool.Connor finds that 2 POWs had escaped, when he finds 2 dummies inside the barracks. Schluter denies all knowledge.

Taking advantage of a prolonged heavy rain - which is saturating an attic full of soil from the tunnel excavation hidden there - Schluter triggers a cave-in atop a barracks full of Luftwaffe prisoners (as they were most upset with his escape plans anyways) in order to divert attention during the escape. Unaware of his murders, the U-boaters breach the camp (They collapse the tunnel behind them to cover their tracks) and successfully rendezvous with their transport (which was arranged by their Irish contact and driven by the 2 Germans who had escaped earlier from the camp) to the beach where they are to be rescued by submarine.

In spite of having ordered special patrols to track the POWs, the German party (inside a truck camouflaged as an explosive carrying vehicle) eludes Connor's men and he is forced to alert local police and the Royal Navy for help in tracking Schluter's dash to the sea. Aerial reconnaissance is briefly successful, but the Germans execute diversions to shake it and reach their destination undetected.

Explosives are under the control of the war ministry, and they have no record of a explosives truck out on duty in that part of the country. So, Connor puts an aircraft on their tail. Schluter notices the aircraft, gets into a forest area and asks his crew to change the signage on the truck to make it look like a removals truck.

Aware everything is slipping away; Connor commandeers an aircraft and pilot to search on his own. Thanks to the sole miscue the Germans make (when they reach the coast, they don't hide the truck, but drop it in a blowhole, where it explodes and sends out a huge plume of smoke) he is able to spot their party and rescue sub, and alerts a nearby motor torpedo boat (MTB) that has been searching for the vessel, which makes full speed to intercept or sink it.

Schluter's men paddle rubber rafts as fast as they can toward the surfaced sub, while Connor buzzes at wave-top height to slow them. Three of the rafts reach the sub, just as the MTB heaves into sight (Many Germans are rescued successfully by the submarine). The sub immediately dives, leaving Schluter and his raft-mates behind (Total 4 POWs including Schluter were left behind). The MTB fires a pattern of depth charges, which the sub appears to elude. Schluter glares at Connor overhead, who observes aloud that both are "in the S**T house now".