The stench of sweat and petrol invades Hauptmann Dietrich's nose, as his consciousness slowly returns. Violent waves shake his whole body causing his injured shoulder to send throbs of pain through his nervous system. This is increased by the fact that his hands are cuffed together in front of his body now. Blinking, the young Hauptmann opens his eyes, only to find Sturmbannführer Waldheim leaning over him with a sadistic grin on his face that makes Dietrich's stomach turn in disgust. "Endlich wach", the man states almost cheerfully with an expression of a cat playing with a mouse which is exactly what Dietrich feels like at the moment.
Gingerly sitting up without straining his injured shoulder too much, Dietrich can predict that somewhere at the back of his head a bump is forming where he has been struck down. Finally reaching a halfways tolerable position, the Hauptmann glares at the other man which is the maximum amount of defiance he can allow himself for the moment. "Schauen Sie nicht so grimmig, Herr Hauptmann", Oversturmbannführer scolds him almost casually for his grim visage. "Sie werden mich noch kennenlernen." Getting to know him truly sounds like a serious threat to Hans Dietrich. After all, the Afrikakorps officer is fully aware of what the SS is capable of after having witnessed their treatment of enemy prisoners and German traitors more than once.
"Wohin bringen Sie mich zum Verhör, Herr Obersturmbannführer?", Dietrich tries to find out where they are taking him. "Zur Ihrer alten Basis natürlich, die nun meine Basis ist", Waldheim points out with devilish joy that he has taken command of Dietrich's base, making it his SS base. Gritting his teeth to not show his anger at the statement too clearly, Dietrich grinds out repeating his innocence of treason: "Ich bin unschuldig des Vaterlandsverrats!" Waldheim states completely undeterred: "Das wird sich in den kommenden Verhören weisen." The fact that the SS officer is speaking of interrogations in its plural form reduces Hauptmann Dietrich's hope of escaping this dilemma unscathed. This time the SS truly have it in for him. And this time no opportunity of getting rid of the crazed SS man, as with Wannsee, is within sight.
Gazing out of the window to try and determine their position based on any landmarks, Dietrich notices the place where he has stepped into General König's camp only the other morning. The branch from which the General has ordered to have the prisoner hung with his head stuck into the sand is clearly visible, but without a body. The Rat Patrol must obviously have retrieved him. For a moment Dietrich shudders inwardly, as he envisions his own treatment at the hands of the sadistic SS man in front of him.
As if he could read his mind, Obersturmbannführer Waldheim starts his interrogation: "Sagen Sie, Herr Hauptmann, wie haben Sie es bei Ihrer routinemäßigen Insubordination von Befehlen aus Berlin und Ihrer unarischen Haltung, als Freund von Juden und minderen Rassen aufzutreten, geschafft, Hauptmann zu bleiben?" For a moment Hans Dietrich is speechless at the accusations brought up against him. Failing against the Rat Patrol's stunts and schemes would have been an accusation that he could have understood and already has developed a certain routine of deterring in front of his superiors. But routine insubordination and befriending Jews and inferior races is not what he would have expected to be accused of.
At the other man's stunned silence without an attempt to defend himself, Waldheim's mood swings from sadistic joy to anger, as he shouts: "Wissen Sie, wie viele Meldungen über Ihr verräterisches Verhalten vorliegen? Waffenstillstände und temporäre Kollaborationen mit Feinden des Vaterlands, Handel und Abkommen mit Beduinen, Arabern, Juden und anderem Gesindel." Waldheim recounts the amount of Dietrich's treacherous behaviour according to his definition, ranging from striking temporary truces and collaborating with enemy soldiers to negotiating with Bedouins, Arabs, Jews and worse. "Wissen Sie, wie oft Sie Vorgesetzten widersprochen und gegen diese protestiert haben, selbst wenn diese Männer die Befehle aus Berlin getreulich umgesetzt haben? Und das alles unter dem Deckmantel von Ritterlichkeit und Ehre angeblich auf Befehl des Generalfeldmarschalls Rommel hin." Waldheim becomes increasingly agitated and angry, as he recounts further transgressions such as questioning or protesting against orders of his superiors who have honed the orders of Berlin rather than Rommel's, meanwhile accusing Dietrich to use chivalry as a cloak for hiding his deception.
Seething with anger, Hauptmann Dietrich has not seen Waldheim's strike in his face coming at the end of the tirade. Instinctively, he tries to strike back against his attacker, but only cringes from the intense pain running through his right shoulder. The Obersturmbannführer does not hesitate to strike against this obvious weakness, rendering the Wehrmacht officer panting from the pain after a few well-placed hits. "Sie verbessern Ihre Situation nicht durch den Angriff auf einen Offizier der SS!", Waldheim reminds him that fighting the SS only makes Dietrich look more guilty than he already does. Breathing heavily Dietrich nods without looking up to meet Waldheim's eyes, as he does not trust himself not to let his loathing for the man show on his face. Since the crazed Hauptsturmführer Wannsee he has not felt so disgusted with another German officer, although the sadistic General König has been getting quite close.
Three more hours of driving follow during which Waldheim constantly harrasses the Hauptmann with accusations and recounts of misdeeds that he reads from a thick file folder which he has taken out of his briefcase and opened on his lap. At the sight of the thick file containing at least a hundred pages, Hans Dietrich's heart is sinking. The first pages are from his personnel file with the Wehrmacht, followed by his Ariernachweis which any German requires to not be discriminated in any situation of daily life stating his parents' lineage as truly German without Jewish heritage. Then photos of the members of his family follow behind that, but Waldheim turns them without further mention. Afterwards different reports follow from some of which Waldheim quotes literally, while confronting Dietrich with evidence of his insubordination and betrayal of Berlin's orders regarding enemy commandos, Jews and other inferior races.
Hauptmann Dietrich spends the hours listening and regularly repeating the same statement that as an officer of the Wehrmacht he has always acted in accordance with Generalfeldmarschall Rommel's orders who has been his highest ranking superior in the Afrikakorps after all. Finally, Waldheim closes the file and puts it back into his briefcase. Hans Dietrich eyes him warily, the bruise on his jaw speaking volumes about the Obersturmbannführer's swiftly changing temper and violent streak. "Stehen bleiben!", Waldheim orders his driver to halt.
Nervously, the Afrikakorps officer looks out of the window trying to discern their position from any visible landmark. The sun is close to the horizon with dawn approaching quickly. Why would they stop in the middle of the desert? Will Waldheim just shoot him like a dog and leave his corpse in the ditch? Dietrich would not put it beyond the SS officer who surely knows no moral bounds, honor or common decency. Shifting his gaze to the front, the Hauptmann recognizes the oasis town with his base only a few kilometres ahead. Briefly, Hans Dietrich is surprised at their stop so close to their goal, until he remembers Waldheim's previous taunts about having taken his men under SS control. No, the sadist would not kill him, before tormenting him.
"Aussteigen, Herr Hauptmann!", the SS man orders a wary Dietrich out of the car at gunpoint. Exiting behind the younger officer, Waldheim presses the muzzle of his gun into the Hauptmann's back. "Vorwärts zur Vordertür!", he directs the confused Afrikakorps officer to stand next to the front passenger seat's mirror, before ordering him: "Geben Sie die Hände her!" The guard on the passenger seat by now also has his gun pointed straight at Dietrich's torso to keep him covered while Waldheim unlocks the cuffs around his right wrist. The young officer feels relief to have his injured hand removed from the painful position the handcuffs have kept it in. However, this relief is only short-lived, as the Obersturmbannführer fastens the lose end of the handcuff around the car's mirror.
"Jetzt dürfen Sie ihre körperliche Tüchtigkeit unter Beweis stellen, Hauptmann Dietrich", Waldheim sneers, taunting Dietrich about showing his physical fitness, as he gives his driver the command to approach the oasis. The car's speed forces Dietrich to run along in order not to be dragged behind the car and further injured in the process. By the time they reach the town's entrance, the Hauptmann is drenched in sweat from running in the desert heat and struggling to stay on his feet. The car has to stop to pass the control post at the town's entrance gate. A young soldier who Dietrich recognises as Soldat Sepp Reiter salutes to the SS officer and briefly gazes at the wretched prisoner, before taking a double take staring at his shirtless, sweaty, sand-covered and bleeding Hauptmann in surprise and shock.
The young Afrikakorps officer however does not get the time to worry about his loss of dignity in front of his soldier, as the car increases its speed again and he stumbles, as he is dragged along next to it. Grinding his teeth at the realisation that he is paraded and exhibited in the streets like a captured beast, Dietrich vows to not give the SS officer the satisfaction of showing any weakness and being dragged behind the car. Pride and stubbornness summon his last reserves of strength needed to make it to the camp without losing his footing. As the staff car finally halts in front of the command office, Hans Dietrich breathes out a sigh of relief. Even stubbornness can only last so long and the heat, lack of water, blood loss and exhaustion are taking their toll on him. His vision is getting more blurry with every labored breath he takes.
Roughly, a hand lands on his uninjured shoulder and Dietrich feels himself being pushed into a direction which looks just as blurry as the the others in the twilight of dawn. After the first steps, he starts to stumble and the noises around him also start to blend into a singular background noise. Then, his knees finally give out underneath him, while the twilight is replaced by relieving painless darkness.