%22Pimpernel%22 Smith

Pimpernel Smith novel by A.G. Macdonell

Eccentric Cambridge archaeologist Horatio Smith Leslie Howard takes a group of British and American archaeology students to prewar Nazi Germany to help in his excavations. His research is supported by the Nazis, since he professes to be looking for evidence of the Aryan origins of German civilisation.However, he has a secret agenda to free inmates of the concentration camps. During one such daring rescue, he hides disguised as a scarecrow in a field and is inadvertently shot by a German soldier idly engaging in a bit of target practice. Wounded, he still manages to free a famous pianist from a work gang. Later, his students guess his secret when they see his injury and connect it to a story about the latterday Scarlet Pimpernel in a newspaper. They enthusiastically volunteer to assist him. ........

Source: Wikipedia