In the opening scene, two of the prisoners are attempting to escape through a short tunnel under the barracks. As they make their way through the small space, one of the other men, J.J. Sefton, places a bet that they won't make it out successfully. Sadly, he wins the bet; the two men are gunned down by German sentries as soon as they make it under the fence. It's almost as though the Germans knew about their plan and were waiting for them. This turns out to be true, as the barracks supervisor, Feldwebel Schultz, reveals that he knows about the tunnel, hidden under their stove... he then removes their stove as punishment. Due to this as well as a number of other incidents when the Germans mysteriously know about things which occurred in the barracks, convinces the men that they have an informer in their midst, collaborating with the enemy. And most of them think that it's Sefton.
J.J. Sefton is a hustler. He runs a variety of profit-making ventures in the barracks, such as rat races for which he's the bookie, a makeshift distillery for rotgut liquor, and a telescope for which the other men pay him to peep at the women in the Russian compound which is on the other side of the fence. He uses these payments- mostly cigarettes and such- to buy luxuries and favours for himself from the German guards. The other men- besides Cookie, who admires him- despise Sefton for fraternizing with the enemy and figure that he wouldn't be opposed to selling info to the Germans as well.
The following day, one of the men looking through the telescope reports incredulously that Sefton is actually in the Russian women's compound, openly, and the guards are turning a blind eye. While he's over there, Shultz arrives at the barracks and somehow knows exactly where their hidden radio is, confiscating it gleefully. The men are positive that Sefton must have told Schultz about the radio and been rewarded with a trip to the women's compound, but Sefton insists when he returns- finally- that he just bribed the guards with a huge amount of cigarettes. He might have managed to calm everyone down, except at that moment Colonel von Scherbach, the camp warden, shows up and tells Dunbar that it has come to his attention that he was responsible for the recent munitions explosion which crippled an important German train line. He takes Dunbar away for "questioning". The men are now more convinced than ever that Sefton is the informant, since he made no secret of his resentment for Dunbar. Enraged, a group of them surround him and give him a vicious beating.
In my next post, I'll discuss my thoughts on the film.