The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel Page #2

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but I'd just as soon have

a commander in chief

with a touch of cowardice about him.

Just enough to have him back at

headquarters now and then. Keep after him.

By the tenth day of the battle,

not even Rommel could have

any doubt as to its outcome.

There's a limit to this sort of thing. You can't

go on indefinitely until the last man's dead.

It's all very gallant,

but it's also pretty idiotic.

Von Thoma wants to pull back to Daba.

- What about Mller?

- No answer as yet, sir.

- Where are you from?

- Goslar, sir.

Really? I was stationed in Goslar once

with a mountain battalion.

- We skied there. Do you know that run?

- Very well, sir.

- Are you any good?

- Well, two years ago...

- He understood I need an immediate answer?

- Yes, sir.

- Are you keeping after Mller?

- Yes, sir.

- Did you try Berlin?

- He'll call if he can.

- Nothing yet, though.

- No, but he knows the situation.

- If there's anything he can do, he will.

- To Berlin, we're a sideshow and you know it.

Well, what?

- Mller's in a bad way.

- How bad?

Very. If he doesn't pull back soon,

he won't have anything to pull back.

- Why can't we get an answer from him?

- His command car's gone. He's in a carrier.

If he's got more than 40 tanks left,

I'd be surprised.

- How about the Italians?

- They've had as much as they can take.

Rome calling, sir.

- Well?

- Field Marshal Kesselring regrets.

Well, that eliminates any

further speculation anyway.

It's now a simple matter of mathematics.

With the petrol we've got left, we have two

choices. We can remain here, be destroyed.

Or we can pull out tonight

and dig in for the next round.

- You think we still can?

- Pull out? Why not?

- Montgomery's got no petrol shortage.

- Montgomery's a very deliberate fellow.

He wouldn't leap after me the way

I'd leap after him. He'd think about it first.

- I don't see what else there is to be done.

- Let's have Plan C.

Notify all commanding officers to stand by

for important orders. If we move...

Berlin calling, sir.

- Who in Berlin?

- The Fhrer.

Signed:
Adolf Hitler.

"The situation requires that the El Alamein

position be held to the last man. "

"There is to be no retreat, not so much as

one millimetre. It must be victory or death. "

- I can't believe it.

- Still got Berlin? Ask him to repeat that.

I know. But it's not him, I tell you.

It's those hoodlums again.

Those thieves and crooks and murderers.

Those toy soldiers.

Those dummy generals, with their books

and charts and maps and pointers.

How can he listen to such nonentities?

How can he stand the smell of such filth?

Why doesn't he slaughter them

and use his intelligence?

- I have your repeat.

- Go ahead, read it.

"The situation requires that the El Alamein

position be held to the last man. "

"There is to be no retreat,

not so much as one millimetre. "

"It must be victory or death. "

Signed:
Adolf Hitler.

- Incredible!

- You won't pay attention to such nonsense?

It's a military order

from general headquarters.

A clear, straight, stupid, criminal

military order from general headquarters.

And what are you going to do?

Double the insanity by obeying it?

We've got the best soldiers in the army.

They may be just hanging on now,

but they're still fighting.

If we take them out now, they can fight again

tomorrow. But this? This is sheer madness.

Nobody has said "Victory or death" since

people fought with bows and arrows.

This is an order to throw away an entire army.

If I may remind you, sir, here in the field

these men are yours, not his.

- I just can't understand it.

- He's insane.

He's not insane. He's...

But neither am I.

Pull 'em out, Bayerlein.

I'll argue with him about it later.

The end came in Tunis,

when the Axis forces were caught

between the British, the Free French

and the Americans under Eisenhower,

and surrendered unconditionally.

But the Afrika Korps went

into captivity without its leader.

For, a month before the end,

Rommel had again fallen ill and been

invalided back to the hospital in Germany.

- Morning, Sergeant.

- Morning, Frau Rommel. Manfred.

Morning.

- Dr Strolin.

- Karl Strolin, Lord Mayor of Stuttgart.

- An old friend of the field marshal's.

- You'll find him much better this morning.

All he needed was a little rest.

Frau Rommel...

Manfred Rommel...

and Dr Karl Strolin.

From Stuttgart?

Not only from, but lord mayor of.

And don't tell me he's on the list.

Dr Karl Strolin, Lord Mayor of Stuttgart.

She says he's an old friend

of the field marshal.

Nevertheless, here he is.

"To be kept under the closest observation

whenever discovered outside Stuttgart. "

Not that it could really

be described as an argument.

It's impossible to have an argument with him

in the sense that you and I could have one.

He raves. He screams.

He goes into such hysterics it's like trying

to make sense with a panic-stricken woman.

He called him a coward.

Did he really use that word to you?

Not once, but several times.

In Russia, he said, officers like me

have been put against the wall and shot.

Nor must I think it couldn't happen to me.

And that was his thanks. That was his

gratitude for all that Erwin has done for him.

But you mustn't hold people accountable for

everything they say when emotionally upset.

The war's not going well

and he's naturally worried.

But I'm afraid it'll be a long time before

I forget what he did to the Afrika Korps.

What was that?

When the end was near,

and I asked him to get them out,

he said he had no further interest

or concern in the Afrika Korps.

And that was their thanks.

Rommel, I should like to ask you a question.

If you don't care to answer, I understand,

but, with your permission,

I should like to ask it nevertheless.

What is it?

Do you really believe that we can win?

- I'll tell you what he believes.

- Yes?

He doesn't think so.

He told you that himself?

He did.

And he understands

what that'll mean this time?

Apparently.

Then why do we go on?

Because we have no choice.

Because no country we're fighting - England,

America, Russia - will make peace with him.

He admitted that?

And it's the truth, of course.

In other words,

while he remains as leader of Germany

we must fight on until we're destroyed.

Victory or death, as ever.

I take it that he didn't mention

the obvious solution to the situation.

- What do you mean?

- Abdication.

Now, my dear Strolin...

I'm afraid we must go, dear.

- Already?

- I have a train to catch.

- We'll come back later.

- Let's have coffee.

Goodbye. Good to see you

after all these years.

- We won't let it be so long next time.

- Do you think they really would?

- Would what, son?

- Shoot you.

No, no. That's just his wild way of talking.

You mustn't pay any attention to that.

- Shoot his greatest general?

- You shouldn't have said that in front of him.

Come along and stop talking nonsense.

- Until this evening, dear.

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