Editing Ice Cold in Alex (section)

==Plot==
Captain Anson, the officer commanding a British [[Royal Army Service Corps|RASC]] [[Field Ambulance|Motor Ambulance Company]] in [[Tobruk]], is suffering from [[Posttraumatic stress disorder|battle fatigue]] and [[alcoholism]]. Ahead of the [[Axis capture of Tobruk]] by the German [[Afrika Korps]], Anson and most of his unit are ordered to evacuate to [[Alexandria]]. During the evacuation Anson, [[Mechanist Sergeant-Major (British Army)|MSM]] Tom Pugh and two nurses, [[Nursing#Premodern|Sister]] Diana Murdoch and Sister Denise Norton, become separated from the others in an [[Austin K2/Y]] ambulance nicknamed Katy.{{refn|group="Note"|These vehicles were commonly known as Katys or Katies during their wartime service.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wilkins |first1=Tony |title=Austin K2/Y Heavy Ambulance |url=https://defenceoftherealm.wordpress.com/2016/05/14/austin-k2y-heavy-ambulance/ |website=Defence of the Realm |access-date=11 August 2018 |date=14 May 2016 |archive-date=7 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707202500/https://defenceoftherealm.wordpress.com/2016/05/14/austin-k2y-heavy-ambulance/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=August 2018}}}} The quartet decide to drive across the desert back to British lines.

As they depart they come across an [[Afrikaner]] [[Union of South Africa|South African]] officer, Captain van der Poel, who carries a large pack, to which he seems very attached. After the South African shows Anson two bottles of gin in his backpack, van der Poel persuades Anson to let him join their drive to the safety of the British lines in Alexandria.

[[File:DesertAttack60-PublicityStill152.jpg|thumb|right|Publicity poster for the North American release of the film. The ambulance, Katy, has become stuck in the sand.]]
En route the group encounters various obstacles, including a [[minefield]], a broken suspension spring - during its replacement van der Poel's great strength saves the group when he supports Katy on his back when the jack collapses - and the dangerous terrain of the [[Qattara Depression]].

Twice the group encounters motorised elements of the advancing [[Afrika Korps]]; in one encounter they are fired on and Norton is fatally wounded. Anson blames himself and his drinking for Norton's death, and vows not to drink any alcohol until he can have an "ice-cold [[lager]] in 'Alex'". Van der Poel, who claims to have learned German while working in [[German South West Africa]], is able to talk the Germans into allowing them to go on their way. The second time, however, the Germans seem reluctant until van der Poel shows them the contents of his backpack.

This pack becomes the focus of suspicion. Pugh, already troubled by van der Poel's lack of knowledge of the [[South African Army]]'s [[Benghazi burner|tea-brewing technique]], follows him when he heads off into the desert with his pack and a spade (supposedly to dig a [[latrine]]). Pugh thinks he sees an antenna. Later, at night, they decide to use the ambulance headlights to see what van der Poel is really up to. He panics, blunders into some [[quicksand]] and submerges his pack, though not before Anson and Murdoch see that it contains a radio set. They drag him to safety. While he recovers, they realise he is probably a German spy but decide not to confront him. During the final leg of the journey Katy must be hand-cranked in reverse up a sand dune [[escarpment]] and van der Poel's strength is again crucial to success.

Continuing their drive, the party discuss their conviction that van der Poel is a spy and decide that they do not want to see him shot. When they reach Alexandria, Anson delivers everyone's papers except van der Poel's to the Military Police check point and (off-screen) reports to the MP's senior officer that "van der Poel" is a German soldier whom they met lost in the desert and has surrendered to them under his [[parole]] (word of honour). Anson secures the MP's agreement to allow the party to enjoy a beer with their ‘captive’ before taking him into custody as a prisoner of war.

The party then make their way to a bar and Anson orders a cold beer, which he consumes with relish. But before they have drunk their first round a [[Royal Military Police|Corps of Military Police]] officer arrives to arrest van der Poel. Anson orders him to wait until the time previously agreed. Having become friends with van der Poel and indebted to him for saving the group's lives, Anson tells him that if he gives his real name he will be treated as a [[prisoner of war]] rather than as a spy (which would mean execution by firing squad).

Van der Poel admits to being ''[[Hauptmann]]'' Otto Lutz, an engineering officer with the [[21st Panzer Division]]. Pugh, noticing that Lutz is still wearing fake South African [[dog tag]]s, rips them off before the police see them. After saying his farewells and concluding that they were "all against the desert, the greater enemy", Lutz is driven away, with a new respect for the British.