The Rat Patrol (TV Series) The Kill at Koorlea Raid (1968) User Reviews

A Suspenseful Beginning to the Final Episode -- And Then It Goes Haywire

[reprtr · 7/10 · 23 August 2020]

The final episode of The Rat Patrol, "The Kill At Koorlea Raid" starts off promisingly enough. German General Koenig (known as "The Butcher") has been targeted for capture by the Allies -- or, barring that, assassination. Having discovered and killed two North African infiltrators to his headquarters and captured and tortured a third for information on the mission, he decides to proceed with his plans for a rest at a known retreat spot. The Allied CO, backed into a corner, decides that it's best to cut his losses and go for the kill, instead --he assigns Troy and his unit to conduct Corporal Freebairn (William Watson), an expert sharpshooter and hunter, to a location that will give him a perfect long-range shot at Koenig. All goes well, and a perfect kill-shot is lined up, until the men realize that the general is in the company of his wife and young children. Freebairn doesn't care one whit, and is certain he can make a clean shot, and is eager in his cold, professional way to make it. But in a fit of conscience, Troy decides to make the mission -- with just the four men he has at hand -- a lot more dangerous by trying to take the general alive.