Bitter Victory

In the Western Desert Campaign, two Allied officers are interviewed to lead a dangerous commando mission behind German lines in Benghazi. Major Brand, a South African regular army officer, lacks command and combat experience and does not speak Arabic. Captain Jimmy Leith, a Welsh amateur volunteer, knows the area and speaks Arabic. It is decided Brand will command and both will go.

Brand's wife, Jane, is a WAAF flight officer who enlisted to be near him. Leith reveals that he had an affair with Jane before she married Brand when Brand invites him to drinks with his wife. The revelation strains Brand's trust and foreshadows tension between the two officers.

The unit parachutes into Benghazi with the mission to attack a German headquarters and retrieve secret plans from a safe to be opened by Wilkins. They are dressed as local civilians, facilitating infiltration behind enemy lines. They capture Oberst Lutze, who is believed responsible for the documents.

The mission begins with infiltration behind enemy lines; Brand's hand shakes with fear when he must knife a German sentry, but Leith performs the actual killing.

The operation is completed with only one death and one wounded. The patrol ambushes a German detachment and captures Oberst Lutze, whom Brand knows to be responsible for the secret documents.

Brand leaves Leith alone with two seriously wounded men, a British casualty and a German prisoner. Leith is faced with killing the German who pleads for life, but there are no bullets left. He chooses not to reload and instead begins carrying the wounded British soldier toward safety, creating suspicion of cowardice.

The patrol is supposed to escape on camels, but they discover the group left with them has been murdered and the camels taken.

During the long march back across the desert, Brand's animosity toward Leith grows, fueled by his fear that Leith will reveal him as a coward to headquarters and wreck his career.

Brand spots a scorpion climbing Leith's leg but does not warn him. Leith is stung and, following orders to avoid unnecessary risk, Brand refrains from shooting; Leith dies in a sandstorm.

A patrol eventually picks them up and returns them to HQ.

Brand's wife learns of Leith's death and, instead of celebrating the decoration, is distraught. Brand is awarded the Distinguished Service Order, but she walks off in sorrow.

In the final shot, Brand pins the DSO medal on a stuffed training dummy, underscoring the hollow nature of the victory.