The Way Ahead

Second Lieutenant Jim Perry (Niven), a pre-war Territorial private soldier, is posted to the (fictional) Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry. He is joined by Sergeant Ned Fletcher (Hartnell), a veteran of the British Expeditionary Force. Perry does his strenuous best to turn the bunch of grumbling ex-civilians into soldiers. After completing their training, the battalion is shipped out to North Africa to face Rommel's Afrika Korps, but their troopship is torpedoed en route, and they are forced to abandon ship.