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Colditz 1x12, "Murder?"
I'm early with this one, but I've got more time today than I will have tomorrow.
As the episode opens we see a guard, Corporal Henneberg, stealthily enter the parcel office at night, open a Red Cross parcel, and begin filling his pockets with food from it as well as looking at a personal photograph that was inside. Someone else (all we see is a bit of his coat) enters the office and attacks Henneberg. Cut to an exterior shot and the sound of a gunshot, then cut back to the parcels office, where someone is putting a gun in the dead guard's hand.
The next morning, Ulmann and the Kommandant investigate the scene in the parcels office while Simon Carter secretly watches them through a window. Ulmann says it must have been murder--"You don't steal chocolate and then kill yourself"--plus Henneberg had been hit on the head with a piece of wood before being shot. The Kommandant, concerned that the Gestapo might find out, orders Ulmann to put the stolen items back in the parcel and to get rid of the piece of wood.
Simon reports what happened to Colonel Preston, including the fact that, as the first prisoner to enter the parcel office that morning, he saw the body. Preston is summoned by the Kommandant, who confides his fears that the Gestapo might use the death as justification for taking over Colditz, and might also take and execute hostages in retaliation. But fortunately, the Kommandant says, Henneberg's death was certainly a suicide. Preston concurs with the implied cover-up.
Preston meets with the other senior officers and convinces them that an investigation is necessary, because if the Gestapo do decide Henneberg was killed by a prisoner, they may need to be able to hand over the guilty party to prevent reprisals. He appoints Simon Carter to investigate and Simon picks Tim Downing (who we're told was at one point seconded to Intelligence) and Phil Carrington (who speaks German and has contacts with the other national contingents) to assist him.
Simon, Phil and Tim conclude that it can't have been a British officer, because George Brent, who has insomnia and was awake on the night of the murder, says no one left the British quarters. The Gestapo investigating officer, meanwhile, is doubtful of the suicide explanation and says he'll be questioning staff and perhaps prisoners.
Initial questioning of the Polish, French, and Dutch contingents leads nowhere. Then a Polish officer, Major Zibnek, who is emotionally disturbed due to shell-shock, confesses, but Simon concludes that it's a false confession. Simon, Tim, and Phil decide that British officers have to be considered. George Brent, on further questioning, admits that he may have briefly fallen asleep on the night of the murder, and also that he leaves the dorm at night because he gets hungry and goes to eat his saved rations where he won't disturb anyone. So there was a window of opportunity for a British officer to leave and return to the dorm unnoticed.
Simon and co. set a trap by collecting all the British officers' plimsolls, saying that some broken plimsoll lace was found in the parcel office. The plimsolls are to be held in Preston's room and turned over to the Kommandant the next day. That night, they catch a British officer, Alan Marshall, attempting to get into Preston's room. Marshall confesses: he killed Henneberg because Henneberg stole his wallet and sold it, having first thrown away pictures of Marshall's wife and young daughter, and Marshall afterwards learned his daughter had been killed in an air raid. He is unrepentant.
Fortunately, the issue of turning Marshall over never arises. The Gestapo investigator accepts that it was suicide, having learned that Henneberg's son had been killed on the Russian front two weeks earlier.
Timeline: Nothing in the episode suggests any particular point in time, except that it's cold-ish.
As always, there may be spoilers for future episodes in the comments.
As the episode opens we see a guard, Corporal Henneberg, stealthily enter the parcel office at night, open a Red Cross parcel, and begin filling his pockets with food from it as well as looking at a personal photograph that was inside. Someone else (all we see is a bit of his coat) enters the office and attacks Henneberg. Cut to an exterior shot and the sound of a gunshot, then cut back to the parcels office, where someone is putting a gun in the dead guard's hand.
The next morning, Ulmann and the Kommandant investigate the scene in the parcels office while Simon Carter secretly watches them through a window. Ulmann says it must have been murder--"You don't steal chocolate and then kill yourself"--plus Henneberg had been hit on the head with a piece of wood before being shot. The Kommandant, concerned that the Gestapo might find out, orders Ulmann to put the stolen items back in the parcel and to get rid of the piece of wood.
Simon reports what happened to Colonel Preston, including the fact that, as the first prisoner to enter the parcel office that morning, he saw the body. Preston is summoned by the Kommandant, who confides his fears that the Gestapo might use the death as justification for taking over Colditz, and might also take and execute hostages in retaliation. But fortunately, the Kommandant says, Henneberg's death was certainly a suicide. Preston concurs with the implied cover-up.
Preston meets with the other senior officers and convinces them that an investigation is necessary, because if the Gestapo do decide Henneberg was killed by a prisoner, they may need to be able to hand over the guilty party to prevent reprisals. He appoints Simon Carter to investigate and Simon picks Tim Downing (who we're told was at one point seconded to Intelligence) and Phil Carrington (who speaks German and has contacts with the other national contingents) to assist him.
Simon, Phil and Tim conclude that it can't have been a British officer, because George Brent, who has insomnia and was awake on the night of the murder, says no one left the British quarters. The Gestapo investigating officer, meanwhile, is doubtful of the suicide explanation and says he'll be questioning staff and perhaps prisoners.
Initial questioning of the Polish, French, and Dutch contingents leads nowhere. Then a Polish officer, Major Zibnek, who is emotionally disturbed due to shell-shock, confesses, but Simon concludes that it's a false confession. Simon, Tim, and Phil decide that British officers have to be considered. George Brent, on further questioning, admits that he may have briefly fallen asleep on the night of the murder, and also that he leaves the dorm at night because he gets hungry and goes to eat his saved rations where he won't disturb anyone. So there was a window of opportunity for a British officer to leave and return to the dorm unnoticed.
Simon and co. set a trap by collecting all the British officers' plimsolls, saying that some broken plimsoll lace was found in the parcel office. The plimsolls are to be held in Preston's room and turned over to the Kommandant the next day. That night, they catch a British officer, Alan Marshall, attempting to get into Preston's room. Marshall confesses: he killed Henneberg because Henneberg stole his wallet and sold it, having first thrown away pictures of Marshall's wife and young daughter, and Marshall afterwards learned his daughter had been killed in an air raid. He is unrepentant.
Fortunately, the issue of turning Marshall over never arises. The Gestapo investigator accepts that it was suicide, having learned that Henneberg's son had been killed on the Russian front two weeks earlier.
Timeline: Nothing in the episode suggests any particular point in time, except that it's cold-ish.
As always, there may be spoilers for future episodes in the comments.