Plot[]
René and monsieur LeClerc are still in Gruber's bedroom. René tries to escape from the situation, but is stopped by Michelle, who orders them to blow open the safe. While they are adapting the explosives to the safe, lieutenant Gruber, Michelle and officer Crabtree fight the smoke fire in the general's room. Meanwhile, Helga is angry with herrs Flick and Von Smallhausen (disguised as gypsies) thinking they have started the fire and insists they have gone too far. Herr Flick claims their innocence and forces Helga to create a diversion, while they escape from the room. General Von Klinkerhoffen blames the incident on the gypsies and orders that they be arrested.
René and monsieur LeClerc light the fuse, but as they hear somebody coming, they place the wardrobe in front of the safe (to hide it) and try to put out the fuse. They fail at this and are forced to hide under the bed. The next moment, the door is opened and the disguised Gestapo agents enter the room. As there are more people coming, the two of them hide in the wardrobe. As the safe is blown open, the wardrobe is blown to smithereens. the herrs escape but get their clothes torn to rags. While Edith and Yvette on the roof notice several well known voices through the chimneys and realise the operation has gone wrong - hence deciding to flee - herr Flick notices the ladder outside the window. He and Von Smallhausen climb down it and commandeer the fire engine on the ground to escape in. When they are gone, René and LeClerc open the safe to photograph the German invasion plans. There actually are no plans only the two paintings of The Fallen Madonna and The Cracked Vase. They assume they are forgeries, but find it strange that they are kept in Gruber's safe. As the general and the lieutenant approach, René and LeClerc once more hide under the bed. There, they overhear the conversation between the Germans, learning that those paintings are the originals. Michelle and Crabtree enter the room, informing the Germans that the fire has been put out. They leave through the window, but as the fire engine is gone, they have to walk home. As Gruber assumes the gypsies have stolen the fire engine, the general orders "all gypsies driving fire engines" to be arrested. In fact, this goes for everyone not wearing a German uniform. When they have left the room, René and Leclerc are therefore forced to flee wearing one of Gruber's uniforms.
At the café, Mimi opens to let Edith and Yvette in. They are worried about René, who has not returned. Michelle and Crabtree join them soon after, Michelle being somewhat cross with whoever dropped the smoke canister down the wrong chimney. Edith admits to be the guilty one.
As René and LeClerc sneak through the town the get home to the café, they almost manage to get home, but as the café is surrounded by German soldiers, they jump in the back of a lorry to hide. There, they find themselves at gunpoint from the communist resistance. They try to explain that they are not Germans, but as it turns out the communists also have René on their hit-list (since they think he has been collaborating with the Germans), they find it best not to reveal their true identities and say they are Germans. The lorry leaves town.
The next day, Gruber, dressed in civilian clothes, comes to see colonel Von Strohm in his office, where captain Bertorelli is telling him about Rome. As Helga has announced him, he tells the colonel that he has serious news and also mentions he is out of uniform because his was stolen last night. After Bertorelli has been ordered to leave, Gruber tells Von Strohm and Helga that the paintings have been stolen. The colonel thinks he has the original Van Gogh in his desk drawer and that the original Van Klomp is at the café, but it turns out Gruber actually kept the originals in his safe. As they have now been stolen, they can satisfy the general by giving him two forgeries, but they still need to get the originals back. The colonel thinks they should ask René for them, but becomes very suspicious, when he learns that René has disappeared.
René and LeClerc are taken to an old sawmill, where René hides the paintings in the beams. They are then strapped to a board, facing each other and with a big circular saw blade between their legs. LeClerc manages to reach the buttons to operate the blade, with which he will try to cut the ropes around his wrists. He pushes the green button, which starts the blade. He cannot reach it and René thinks he should turn it off. As he presses the red button, it is not turned off, but the board starts moving back and forth, almost cutting both of them in two. Fortunately the communists enter in time and switch off the main power.
Herr Flick, wearing bandages on his head and arm after the explosion, receives Helga at his headquarters. Von Smallhausen is lying on a bed, having bandages all over his body. While Helga prepares a cup of tea, herr Flick tells her that he has come to the conclusion that the safe blew up because there were explosives kept in it - explosives that were to be used in the plot to blow up Hitler. He suspects Gruber of having put it there and therefore orders Helga to gain Gruber's confidence in order to gather evidence.
Edith, Yvette and Mimi light candles for René. Von Strohm and Gruber enter the café, informing them of the strange coincidence of the paintings being stolen at the same time that René has gone missing. They all think René has double crossed them and decide to help the Germans find him. As the colonel leaves, Helga enters and starts flirting with Gruber. Meanwhile, Michelle calls the girls into the backroom, where she informs them that René has been captured by the communist resistance, who are keeping him in the old sawmill. They decide to steal Gruber's "little tank" and use it to storm the sawmill. While Crabtree is using the town convenience, the three girls climb into the tank and start it up. Gruber becomes distracted and worried, when he hears the sound of the engine, and rushes out to see what is happening. Edith then crashes the tank into the town convenience, with officer Crabtree in it.
Notes[]
- In this episode, Rose Hill is once again credited without appearing and Kirsten Cooke (Michelle) is credited as the second person to appear on screen, even though it is actually Jack Haig (LeClerc) who does so.
- As the general threatens Gruber with being sent to the Russian front, he says "you could find yourself in Vladivostock by the end of the week". This is either a joke or a lapsus on the creators' part, since Vladivostock is on the Russian east coast, which the Germans were never even close to reaching during the entire war.
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