They Who Dare

September 1942.

This is the Eighth Army waiting in the desert at El Alamein,

poised for the attack which was to drive Rommel out of North Africa.

The greatest menace to the success of our forces came from the Luftwaffe,

based on the African mainland

and the Greek Islands.

The RAF attacks on these scattered bases with every plane that could be spared

were not enough.

Something new was tried.

Night raids by small patrols of special troops,

Commandos, to strike at these island bases

to harass and tie down the enemy's garrisons

and destroy his bombers on the ground.

This is the story of one of the first of these raids.

Been stood up?

Looks like it.

Who... dares... wins.

"Who dares wins"?

That's our motto.

Well...

Well...

I was about to give you up.

Yes, so I see. Excuse me. This will only take a minute.

What will you drink?

- Champagne. - Hmm.

A silly question deserves a silly answer.

Champagne.

What are you doing here in Cairo?

I'm afraid I've come to spoil your leave.

Uh-oh. I was afraid of that.

Well, what is it this time?

HQ have got a job for us to do at last.

This is it, Tom.

Is it?

They want...

They want us to make a small scale raid.

If we pull this one off, there'll be a lot more to follow. We're in business.

Nice, steady work.

What do they mean by "small scale raid"?

- Ten or 12 of us. - And how many are they?

Thirty thousand.

This is it, all right.

Good odds even if we do lose.

What's the point?

Since when did the army ever...

Since when did the army ever tell you the point of anything?

You've got the job. What more do you want?

Just a little more.

Such as what?

I want to know how we get to wherever we are going to,

and once we're there, I want to know how we get back.

Tom, you worry too much. The navy's dealing with this.

What are you doing there?

You know, if I'm a pirate, so are you.

With this difference.

I was detailed to volunteer for brigandage.

But you,

you chose it and you love it.

Well, go on with the story.

We have to report to Lieutenant Stevens at the submarine base tomorrow.

But, um...

that's tomorrow. Excuse me.

I don't dance. Do you?

- No. - Will you?

Who dares wins.

Carry on the good work.

This will take a little longer than a minute.

What's that?

That's what you're going on. She's Greek.

Mm, she looks it.

She's a rough looking old number, isn't she?

Yes, she's a bit grubby, but she's got a list of kills as long as her hull.

- Her skipper's got a price on his head. - What's his name?

Oh, Papanickers... Nickie... Papa... Oh, come and meet him.

- Hello, Stevens. - Hello, sir.

Yes.

May I introduce Captain Nicholaides Papadapoulos.

That's his name.

Lieutenant Graham, Lieutenant Poole.

- How are you? - How do you do, sir?

- How are you? - How do you do?

- Stevens told me a lot about you. - Told me a lot about you too, sir.

And you still want me to take you on this trip?

- There and back. - Back?

And people think I'm crazy!

Well, there is not a lot of room in my boat but anyway...

I won't be so crowded coming home.

Maybe not.

But perhaps you haven't cornered all the luck in the Mediterranean.

- See what I mean? - Yeah, sure, they're crazy!

Perhaps you haven't cornered all that either, sir.

Oh! I like that. That's very good. I like all crazy people.

- How many are you? - Six. Two Greek guides.

And we're looking for two Greek officers to take with us.

Oh, Captain George Kounas!

Just the man.

Where do we find him?

Oh, anywhere here at the base. Everybody knows him.

Better start looking for him now then.

No, there's plenty of time. You come and have drink with me.

You'll like ouzo.

- That's Greek for "wood alcohol". - Oh.

What are these flowers? Do you know?

I don't know. I've never seen them before. I'm not very good at flowers.

They're Kamparas.

Kamparas?

They grow in the Greek mountains.

I only wanted to smell it.

They're mostly buds. They have no scent.

And when they're in bloom?

When they're in bloom, they have a scent that fills the air of all Greece,

and you carry it in your nostrils to the end of your life.

Yes, we're looking for Captain Kounas. Do you know where we'll find him?

I'm Captain Kounas.

Captain Papadapoulos suggested we come to see you.

Come in.

I must talk to you.

I thought so.

George!

Oh, I am sorry, darling.

This is Captain George Kounas. Mademoiselle de Marais.

How do you do?

This is the man who drove me out of Greece.

To escape his bullying, I went to France to live.

Then, after ten years, the Germans had to drive me back,

so he could reach me again.

I'll get you a drink.

Well, what do you think of our boy now?

About the same. A man of qualities, mostly bad.

A tough soldier, when you can get him to fight.

I want to have a little talk with my old friend, if you please.

Who is that man?

I'll tell you later. Keep the drinks going.

If it's a British raid, why do they want Greek officers?

It is a try-out raid.

If it comes off, there'll be many others that we, the Greek officers, can lead.

I don't believe in gestures.

What do you believe in?

- This? - No.

I don't believe in leaving a post where I have everything I want.

I don't believe in staking my life on impossible odds.

I don't believe in anything but the religion of our days.

Nothing is more noble than to stay alive.

Smell these. Let them argue with your conscience.

Aren't you glad Captain Kounas managed to waggle you out of that office job?

You must have been awfully bored being chairborne all that time.

Yes.

- What is your name? - George.

Same as mine.

I'll have to call you George One and George Two to avoid confusion.

Pleased to meet you, George One.

How do you do, George Two?

Why doesn't the boy tell us where we're going?

You'd make up a ruddy song about it if you saw me with me head blown off.

Here, there's an idea in that too!

Here, look. Look who's following us.

Here, Brains, you always know everything.

What's Mr Poole carting those two foreigners around for?

Isn't it obvious? They're guides.

We must be going where they came from.

Well, Boyd, you'd soon find out where that is if they were in here.

Well, my guess is we're going to liberate the free English, in Cardiff.

Easy to see why we borrowed you from the Marines, Boyd.

Got a nice sense of humour, haven't you?

Ah, we're going to need it, Basher and me, slumming with the army.

Tom, get the gear stowed on board as soon as you can.

Then get them below to the briefing.

Keep the guides here. I don't want them gossiping with the men.

I'm going aboard to see Stevens. Come on, George One, George Two.

- Sergeant Corcoran. - Sir.

- Sergeant Evans. - Sir.

Get the fold-boat and the two dinghies

stowed through the forward torpedo loading hatch.

Look after the bombs yourselves. I'm going aboard.

Sir.

- Do you speak English? - Yes. Oh, yes, all right.

- Where do you come from? - Me?

From home.

Do you speak English?

- Sure. - Where do you come from?

My name is Patroklis. I'm Greek.

I leave home in 1936.

I don't want to be a peasant. I want to go to America where everybody's rich.

- Aye, but where's home? - I go to Athens one year,

scrub floors, wash dishes, save money.

Same thing in Rome, lot of work, save money...

- Never mind about that... - Then Monte Carlo, then Paris.

I'm halfway to America now, eh?

Then the war and the Germans come.

Yeah, but half a minute, what we want to know...

So I run from the Germans and bump right into the British.

And the British take me where? They take me right back where I came from... home.

Aye, but where's home?

Boyd! Barrett!

Get back to your work!

Patroklis, you and Toplis come aboard!

Well, Gabby, did you find out where they came from?

Aye, "from home."

- Where's that? - Never found out.

Stupid foreigners can't answer a straight question.