Sahara

After Tobruk falls, Gunn and his crew are separated from their regiment during the general retreat. They are forced to press south across the Libyan Desert with dwindling supplies and mounting uncertainty. The long, grueling trek tests their resolve from the outset.

The crew discovers a bombed-out field hospital and decides to pull survivors aboard. They rescue Captain Halliday, four Commonwealth soldiers, and Free French Corporal Leroux, expanding their improvised convoy. Halliday becomes the de facto officer, though Gunn’s experience remains the guiding force.

Captain Halliday relinquishes command to Master Sergeant Joe Gunn, recognizing Gunn's greater battlefield experience. The transfer consolidates Gunn’s leadership over the growing group. The team continues onward under Gunn’s direction.

Riding atop the tank, the group encounters Sudan Defence Force Sergeant Major Tambul and his Italian prisoner, Giuseppe. Tambul volunteers to guide them to a desert well at Hassan Barani, offering a potential lifeline. Gunn agrees to the detour in hopes of finding water and safety.

Gunn initially resists taking the Italian prisoner, but ultimately allows Giuseppe to accompany the group. His presence adds strain but also a measure of solidarity to the fragile march. The squad presses forward toward the scarce resources ahead.

A Luftwaffe strafing run wounds Commonwealth soldier Clarkson. Captain von Schletow is shot down and captured, removing an immediate threat at that moment. The attack underscores the constant danger closing in from the air and on the ground.

At Hassan Barani the group discovers the well is dry, increasing the group's desperation for water. Clarkson dies from his wounds, highlighting the toll the journey is taking. The threat of dehydration now looms as a defining pressure.

Tambul leads them to another desert well at Bir Acroma, but water remains scarce. While gathering what little they can, German scouts appear in a half-track, signaling a mechanized battalion closing in. The group steels itself for a difficult stand.

Gunn tries to slow the German advance by suggesting there is more water than there is and by offering food in exchange for water. He sends Waco on a run for reinforcements by taking the half-track. The ruse buys time but deepens the peril the group faces.

During a tense parley, Leroux and Major von Falken reach a fragile agreement, but Leroux is shot in the back as he returns to his side. Gunn and Bates respond with return fire, killing von Falken and shifting the balance of the standoff. The betrayal shifts the conflict toward the defenders.

Tambul chases Captain von Schletow and kills him in a bid to prevent a German breakthrough. He is shot dead in the pursuit, a costly sacrifice that underscores the price of leadership. Giuseppe had already fallen earlier, leaving the group more exposed.

What appears to be a final German assault dissolves into a surrender as a shell near the well taps into a hidden water source, refilling the well. The surviving Allied crew disarms the surrendering Germans, and the group sustains themselves through this unexpected moisture lifeline. The moment reverses the odds just as relief seems distant.

As they march the German prisoners east, Allied troops arrive with Waco guiding the way. News of the Allied victory at the First Battle of El Alamein reaches the group, turning the tide in their favor and signaling a broader strategic shift. The survivors prepare for the next phase of the campaign.

The news of a major Allied victory at El Alamein marks a turning point for Rommel's Afrika Korps. Gunn, Bates, and their companions are finally drawn into the wider fight alongside freed Allied forces. The trial by fire in the Libyan Desert culminates in a pivot toward the war’s next chapters.