The Night of the Generals Page #7

Clean everything out of sight,

including the engine.

If you don't, he'll tear

your head off.

It's now one second to 9:00.

Here he comes.

I've given him full

instructions, sir.

Name?

Hartmann, Kurt, lance corporal, sir.

Show the general your hands.

Well, don't stand there like a fool.

Put your gloves on.

He seems to know Paris.

He's prepared an itinerary

of the sights of the city.

I have endorsed it.

I shall see you tomorrow morning

at headquarters.

Yes, general.

Sergeant Kopatski

is relieved as my orderly.

This morning he smeared

polish on my shoelaces.

Fourteen days confined to barracks.

Yes, general.

We've just passed

the Place Vendome, sir.

The column is 142 feet high

and was erected in 1810.

It's made of bronze from 1200 cannon

captured at Austerlitz.

There's a statue of Napoleon

on the top.

In front of us, sir,

the Tuileries Gardens.

The Tuileries Palace used to be

in the middle of the gardens.

In 1792, at the time

of the French Revolution,

the Paris mob attacked

the palace,

forcing the king and queen

to escape.

It was burnt down in...

in 1871.

We are now coming

into Place de la Concorde.

One of the most beautiful squares

in Paris.

It was here, in the middle

of the square

that Louis XVI

and Marie Antoinette

were beheaded

during the revolution.

The guillotine was there,

in the centre,

where the obelisk is now.

Keep your eye

on the road, corporal.

Yes, sir.

Fraulein Gabler?

Yes.

I'm Sergeant Kopke

from your father's headquarters.

How did they know

which train I was on?

They didn't.

May I?

You see, I'm Hartmann's cousin.

We got no secrets, Hartmann and me.

More like brothers, really.

He's all right, isn't he?

All right? Never better.

No, it's just at the last

moment he was assigned

to drive General Tanz.

Only for today.

That's why he couldn't

meet you.

Well, how are things

in the fatherland?

Any cities left

after all the bombing?

A few, yes, here and there.

There's one good thing about Paris.

It's an open city, no bombs.

I hate bombs.

This way, Fraulein Gabler.

I have a car for you just outside.

I'll take you

to your father's hotel.

Hartmann's staying there too.

With General Tanz,

just for tonight.

So I suppose you'll run

into him sooner or later,

in the lobby or something.

The gallery is shut

to the public, sir.

But special permission has been

granted for you to see the paintings.

Most of them have been

confiscated and assembled here

before being sent to Germany.

General Tanz.

You've been notified.

Yes, corporal.

Here's all the information.

On your right, sir,

paintings by Boucher,

the 18th-century

French master.

All these paintings

have been selected

for Reichsmarschall Goering.

What's in there?

Paintings requisitioned from private

collections by the reichsmarshcall.

What kind of paintings?

Modern, sir,

and some impressionists.

Decadent?

I suppose so, sir.

Light.

Toulouse-Lautrec, Le Divan.

Renoir, Nude, painted in 1910.

Gauguin, On the Beach,

from his Tahitian period.

Another Nude by Renoir.

Soutine, Le Garcon d'etage.

Degas, The Tub, painted in 1886.

Van Gogh, Vincent, Self-Portrait.

Sometimes called

Vincent in Flames,

painted while in an insane asylum

during the last years of his life.

Here, sir, a painting by Cezanne.

How dare you touch me?

Excuse me, sir, but...

Never do that again!

I thought that General Gabler

was going to join us for lunch.

Nowadays, General Gabler

does not eat lunch.

Really? That could prove

injurious to his health.

Yes. Yes, I've told him.

However, once...

Once the exercise is completed,

he will join us at every meal.

He may not be invited then.

Shall we go to the garden?

We've had particularly good luck

with the roses this season.

It's a very beautiful place

you have here.

Thank you, general. We

have spent two delightful

summers here.

I shall regret leaving it.

Hitler is now at

his headquarters in Rastenburg.

If all goes well,

the day after tomorrow

at approximately 1:30

in the afternoon,

he will be dead.

If I may say so,

we hope he will be dead.

Look at that! These damn

beetles. They're everywhere.

Sir, how do we know

that Hitler won't change

his plans at the last minute?

Twice this month we were ready

for him, but he was not ready for us.

What if something

goes wrong, sir?

You'll all be executed, colonel.

I imagine the Gestapo have

most of our names already.

This is our last chance.

This is also our last chance militarily.

The Allies will be across the Rhine

before winter. It is now or never.

Fortunately, we are not

as alone as we once were.

We have the support

of the greatest soldier in Germany.

Field Marshal Rommel.

Rommel?

This will make all the difference

to the army.

Rommel is getting even more

popular than Hitler.

Rommel is even almost

a better general.

It is our plan to make him president

of the German Republic.

At the moment, Field Marshal

Rommel is touring the Western front,

but when we need him,

he will join us here.

Try to hold this position

one more day.

That is, assuming

the reinforcements arrive in time.

Excuse me, sir.

An urgent dispatch for you.

The enemy has broken the line

in the vicinity of Coutance.

Do what you can.

Be careful on the roads,

field marshal.

The enemy has

complete command of the air.

General von Eisenbeck is on his way

to Rastenburg to report to the Fuhrer.

Tell the Fuhrer the SS would

rather die than fail him.

I shall tell him, general.

I'll stop overnight in Livarot.

Tomorrow I'll be at headquarters.

And after that, sir?

Where can you be reached?

Who knows?

On the 20th, I may be in Paris.

You shouldn't have

mentioned the date.

The date means nothing. Yet.

I still think you should wait

before you commit yourself.

I am committed.

You realize that if they fail,

you'll be shot as a traitor.

But I am a traitor,

a traitor to a madman.

Who is still the supreme commander

you once obeyed and admired.

When a commander goes mad,

he forfeits his right to supremacy.

We have little choice.

If we don't remove him now,

we shall be thought of

as traitors to the fatherland.

If we do remove him now,

history may one day call us

patriots, heroes.

No matter what happens,

I'm afraid we shall be misjudged.

You're probably right. But at least

I hope you'll be cautious.

It's too late for caution.

The war's lost. We must surrender.

But if he survives?

He'll never surrender.

His kind of madman never does.

He wants the bodies of every

German man, woman and child

to feed on the funeral pyre

on which he himself

will eventually die

in Wagnerian glory.

I intend to deny him that glory.

I intend...

Enemy planes on our left,

field marshal. They've seen us.

Take cover!

Drive off the road, quick!

I'm sorry, madam, I was delayed.

What's happened?

Field Marshal Rommel

has been wounded.

Oh, no.

How serious is it?

He's in coma. They don't think

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