The Rat Patrol ambushes a German courier and finds charts in his papers of desert waterholes and oases unknown to the Allies or the Germans. Suddenly Captain Deitrich's patrol attacks, wounding Tully and destroying the Patrol's jeeps, water and weapons. Troy and the crew strike out for a waterhole mentioned on the chart. Hours later, near their end, Troy and his men stagger toward an inviting waterhole only to find it poisoned. On a distant dune, they see Dietrich. Tully is near the end because of his wound. Dietrich offers to accept Troy's surrender. The Rat Patrol's only chance for survival is infiltrating Dietrich's encampment and stealing a vehicle.