The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission

Allied leaders convene at the U.S. Army Headquarters in London to outline a daring plan: intercept an Orient Express train carrying SS General Kurt Richter loyalists before they reach Istanbul. They intend to stop the Fourth Reich project in the Middle East and destroy the network of loyalists. Major Wright is tasked with assembling a 12-man team for a suicide mission.

Major Wright is ordered to recruit 12 men from Forbes Road Military Prison for the mission. The squad will undertake a high-risk strike to derail the Nazis’ plans and prevent their execution in the field. Sergeant Holt is assigned to help keep the unconventional team in line.

In Denmark, Major Wright and his men encounter the informant Carl Ludwig just as a German patrol closes in. Ludwig is shot, and with his dying breath he whispers a clue: 'vierundzwanzig, zwanzig' (2420), a number tied to the train car. Wright does not understand the hint at first, but the clue plants a critical thread for later.

Back in England, Wright learns that Richter's trusted men will ride in Orient Express car #2420, linking Ludwig’s dying words to the mission. General Worden and Captain Campbell reinforce the plan and help prepare the team, while concerns about a possible traitor within the Dirty Dozen surface.

With limited time, the Dozen undertake their initial and final night-time parachute jumps. Hoffman’s chute fails to open during the exercise, and he dies in the accident. Campbell volunteers to join the mission, bringing her linguistic expertise and knowledge of European languages to the team.

A post-mortem on Hoffman's death reveals that his parachute was sabotaged. Campbell formally joins the team, leveraging her multilingual skills and experience with European cultures to aid in deception and undercover moves.

On the final training day, Wright suspects that one of the Dozen is feeding information to the Germans. Worden and the Colonel entertain aborting the mission, but Wright convinces them to proceed and devises a plan to drop the team away from the standard drop zone to mislead the enemy.

In Skopje, Wright and the dozen meet resistance leader Yelena Voskovic. The alliance helps disrupt a railroad checkpoint, aiding the mission, though Munoz is killed in the process.

The Dozen move into position as the Orient Express nears Sofia and begins its subversive journey. They fight their way through the cars toward car #2420 while several team members are wounded; Demchuk head to the locomotive to seize control, and Wilson and Porter are killed.

As the mission accelerates, D'Agostino is revealed to be the traitor sabotaging the operation. Wright shoots him, then takes action to derail the train by placing a tanker car ahead of it, intending to force the locomotive forward and complicate pursuit.

Near Dranos, the Germans set up a roadblock and attempt to halt the train. Wright orders all non-essential personnel to evacuate as German forces attack. In the ensuing battle, Ricketts is mortally wounded, Demchuk and Mitchell are killed, and the train drives through the roadblock, destroying Richter’s contingent in car #2420.

The survivors rendezvous with a British submarine in the Aegean Sea and return to England. Yelena declines to accompany them, choosing to join Tito’s partisans in Yugoslavia. The surviving members—Major Wright, Sergeant Holt, Campbell, Stern, Hamilton, Collins, and Echevarria—reflect on the mission’s cost and the fragile line between victory and loss.