The Dogs of War

The Dogs of War is the sixteenth episode of The Gallant Men. It was written by Jason Wingreen and Ken Pettus, and directed by Charles R. Rondeau. It aired on January 19, 1963.

Plot summary
A German disguised as an American medic guns down two MPs and drives a jeep to an Italian manor house.

The house is owned by Contessa D’Bianchi (Dianne Foster), a breezy American woman who wants nothing to do with either side in the war. The men of Able Company have been bivouacking there for ten days. The unusual lull makes Lucavich wonder if the war is over. Wright tells Lucavich and Hanson if the war’s over, he hasn’t heard about it yet.

The Contessa invites Benedict and his officers to dinner in her mansion that night. Benedict chastises her for treating Germans to similar luxury when they held the house previously. She brushes off his admonition. Benedict relents and agrees to come to the dinner party.

The “medic” seen in the cold open arrives at the house and enters. His explicit reason for being there -- to evaluate the house for use as a field hospital -- is a cover story. He’s actually there to plan a German ambush on the commanders of Able Company during the dinner party. The Contessa accedes.

McKenna leads a patrol to scout for Germans. Hanson and Lucavich break away and discover a stray dog. The pooch leads them to a cave stocked with fine food and wine left behind by fleeing Germans. The two privates hatch a plan to sell the goods to their fellow soldiers and pocket the money.

On their way back, Hanson and Lucavich save D’Angelo by knocking out a German machine gun nest. McKenna is furious that the two disappeared, and is equally angry they brought the dog back with them.

At the dinner party that night, the Contessa nervously watches the clock as she tries to keep the officers distracted and inebriated. Benedict slips out and goes to an empty room upstairs. The Contessa catches him and the two talk about the view. Benedict tells her about the attack on the MPs and says his superiors suspect Germans are infiltrating the area, disguised as Americans. He suspects the medic was one of them. The Contessa nervously tries to dismiss his suspicions.

Hanson and Lucavich sneak out of their bunks and head back to the cave. Having partaken of a little too much vino, the two fall asleep on their way back to the mansion and are captured by what appears to be an American patrol. They are grilled by a sergeant and a captain who test their knowledge of American pop culture. It is revealed the “Americans” are in fact German impostors, and they trick Hanson and Lucavich into leading them back to the Contessa’s mansion.

Lucavich and Hanson inadvertently discover the plot, but they are unarmed and have no recourse but to drive the lead jeep back to the mansion. At the guard post, D’Angelo, angry at having to take guard duty for the absent Lucavich, begins to chew them out but waves them through. Lucavich tries to warm him about the Germans, using pig Latin. The message dawns on Pvt. Wziecewski a moment later. D'Angelo opens fire on the convoy as Wziecewski phones ahead to warn the rest of the company. Able Company repels the putative attack.

Benedict learns of Hanson and Lucavich’s plan to profit from the sale of wine and food. Lucavich attempts to get out of trouble by claiming the scheme was to give the goods away for free. Benedict, aware he's being fed a cover story, holds them to the pledge and commends them for their generosity.

Just before she is driven away, presumably to face punishment, the Contessa bids Benedict addio (“goodbye”); Benedict replies with arrivederci (“see you later”). The Contessa turns sad for a moment, and says she’d like to think so.

G-2 Report

 * It’s not clear from Wingreen and Pettus’ script why the Contessa agrees to the German plans to attack and kill Benedict and his officers. While she may want to remain apolitical in the war, that’s a long jump from sanctioning murder in her own dining room against men she has no ill will toward.
 * The idea of German infiltrators disguised as Americans is a popular one in war fiction, but was not carried out in any widespread manner during World War II. The closest the Nazi regime came was in late 1944, under a plan called Operation Greif. The scheme did not succeed. It was put into motion along the western front, not Italy.
 * The whole plot was foiled by pig Latin. Just ruminate on that for a moment.
 * There’s a major continuity error in this episode. Hanson speaks German to the dog, which puzzles Lucavich. But Hanson is the squad’s German interpreter, something that would have been long well-known to his best friend. Hanson also shows he has some basic Italian under his belt.
 * During the same scene, the musical score includes snatches of "Prelude to Act III" from Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. Wagner’s compositions were a high-water mark of German nationalistic music, and his work was deeply cherished by Adolf Hitler. The music's presence underscores Hanson's realization the dog understands commands given in German.
 * Interestingly, Hanson does not use his German fluency to try to communicate with, eavesdrop on, or fake out his captors.
 * Normally Eddie Fontaine gets to belt musical numbers, but for some reason this episode gives the nod to Robert Ridgely. Accompanying himself on guitar, he performs a folk song at the Contessa’s dinner party. It is Ridgely’s only song in the series.
 * Guest star Dianne Foster had a prolific but relatively brief career in acting. She notched 65 roles in fifteen years, including stints on Perry Mason, Green Acres, 77 Sunset Strip and Route 66. She retired from acting in 1966 and died in 2019.