Vic Morrow as Sergeant Saunders is basically the consummate combatant. No matter what happens on the battlefield, he always knows what to do. In this riveting Combat episode, Saunders is almost completely defenseless for the first time in the series, and has to rely on an enemy to stay alive. The story begins with Saunders and another soldier named Private Cochran trying to make it over a hill to reach American lines in order to report some important information. As they run there, a mine explodes near the two men and sends Saunders flying. Cochran is dead. Saunders then discovers to his horror that he can't see. He calls out for Cochran, and upon discovering he is dead, tries to contact Hanley on a radio. He's unable to. By the time Hanley responds, Saunders trips and the radio falls into a small fire. Shortly afterwards, Saunders is discovered by someone introducing himself as a major in the British military (Fritz Weaver). What Saunders can't see is that he's actually a Nazi named Miller. Miller, a chaplain, needs to lie in order to gain Saunders' trust in carrying one of his wounded friends to safety. He manages to convince Saunders his friend won't make it without him, since he can't be carried alone. After successfully fooling Saunders, Miller goes to meet with Captain Krauss (Jan Malmsjö), who he has hidden near a tree. Miller tells his comrade that Saunders knows about an impending german tank attack and where it will strike, but he can't kill him since it's against his religion. Not to mention, Saunders is needed in order to help carry Krauss. The three of them make it to a stream, and Saunders starts talking about how he needs to get back to base as soon as he can to alert the others of the attack. Upon hearing this, Krauss almost shoots him, but is restrained by Miller. Later on, Krauss and Miller talk one on one about what to do with Saunders. Krauss wants him dead because he's going to expose a german attack plan, but the thought of killing another human sickens Miller, let alone a blind one who can't fight back. However, Miller says he will kill Saunders if it comes to that. Eventually, Krauss' wound becomes so severe that they need to stash him in a nearby bunker, as the more they move him, the more he'll bleed. Once in the bunker, Krauss becomes delirious and starts talking in german even though Miller told him not to, blowing their cover. Saunders (still mostly blind) attempts to walk out, but Miller holds a gun to his back, saying he has no chance of making it back to his lines with his lack of vision. Saunders rebuffs him and says he may not get back to his squad, but he's done carrying Krauss. Krauss knocks out Miller with a rock, takes the pistol and goes after Saunders, but he's too weak from blood loss to aim effectively. Concurrently, Doc, Caje, Little John, Hanley and Kirby are trying to find where in the world Saunders can be and come to the outskirts of the bunker, just in time to face off against an equally sized german squad. As American artillery rains down on the area, Miller comes to and goes outside to retrieve Krauss and Saunders. The squad notices Saunders is in the bunker. Meanwhile, Miller locks the door to the fortification, and still refuses to shoot Saunders despite how badly Krauss wants to see him dead. Krauss says if he were in Saunders' position, Saunders would do anything to prevent him from getting important information back to his forces. As the firefight outside becomes more and more violent, Krauss yells out to the german soldiers, telling them to shoot through the vision slits and kill him along with Saunders and Miller. Hanley and the others manage to keep the germans away from the bunker, but one manages to hurl a grenade through a slit. Miller knows what he must do and sacrifices himself by pulling it under his stomach. After Miller is blown up, Saunders is discovered by the squad, gives Hanley the info about the attack, and learns Miller is dead. Krauss thinks Miller was an idiot for jumping on a grenade to save the life of an enemy, but Saunders knows he was a virtuous man of God. I didn't think it was possible, but season 5 of this show might even top the 4th season in terms of the percentage of outstanding installments, and I'm not praising it just because it's in color. Perhaps it isn't a coincidence that this episode is heavily focused around a bunker, similar to The Pillbox (which Vic Morrow directed), one of the all time best of the series. I love this episode for multiple reasons. For one, Saunders is very rarely shown to be at the complete mercy of someone else, but here, there's literally nothing he can do to protect himself. You really wonder if he's going to see the end of this affair alive, or if the rest of the squad finds him before it's too late. The dynamic between him, Miller and Krauss is remarkable. Each of them kind of wants the others dead, but they all need each other to survive. Saunders wants to kill (or at least abandon) Krauss and Miller because they're the enemy, but can't because he's blind. Krauss wants Saunders dead, but he needs his strength to be carried to safety. Miller wonders if he'll be better off without two wounded men slowing him down, but can't kill either because of his morals. They may be on opposite sides, but they're all playing the same game. The gunfight toward the end goes on a little too long, but it's necessary to show that sometimes, fate puts you in a certain situation and whether you live or die depends on god's decision. Some things are just destined to happen and can't be prevented, and Miller knows this better than most people.
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