1
00:00:16,350 --> 00:00:18,648
The time is 1941...
2
00:00:18,752 --> 00:00:21,346
a month before Pearl Harbor.
3
00:00:21,455 --> 00:00:24,049
At 11:00 on a November night...
4
00:00:24,158 --> 00:00:26,718
a British submarine surfaced
in the Mediterranean...
5
00:00:26,827 --> 00:00:29,489
off the coast of Libya in North Africa...
6
00:00:29,597 --> 00:00:31,622
behind the German lines.
7
00:00:36,370 --> 00:00:38,634
Are you sure the light carries that far?
8
00:00:38,739 --> 00:00:40,639
It should.
9
00:00:42,810 --> 00:00:45,040
There they are.
10
00:00:48,515 --> 00:00:51,848
- What's he saying?
- He says they're all set, sir.
11
00:00:51,952 --> 00:00:54,352
Tell him we're coming in.
12
00:01:30,691 --> 00:01:33,182
These were British commandos...
13
00:01:33,294 --> 00:01:36,161
and the purpose of this
carefully plotted raid...
14
00:01:36,263 --> 00:01:38,731
was the death of one man.
15
00:04:02,509 --> 00:04:04,773
Aaaah!
16
00:05:21,388 --> 00:05:23,288
Cover me.
17
00:06:01,862 --> 00:06:04,262
It's no use. Go on without me.
18
00:06:04,398 --> 00:06:07,231
- Get hold of my arm!
- It's no use, I tell you. Get out of here!
19
00:06:26,353 --> 00:06:29,668
Did we... Did we get him?
20
00:06:29,703 --> 00:06:32,983
Are you serious, Englishman?
21
00:07:49,202 --> 00:07:52,035
Gentlemen, the following order
from General Auchinleck...
22
00:07:52,139 --> 00:07:55,836
is to all commanders and chiefs of staff
of the Middle East forces.
23
00:07:55,942 --> 00:07:58,911
"There exists a real danger
that our friend Rommel...
24
00:07:59,012 --> 00:08:02,846
"is becoming a kind of magician
or bogeyman to our troops...
25
00:08:02,949 --> 00:08:05,509
"who are talking far too much about him.
26
00:08:05,619 --> 00:08:07,780
"He is by no means a superman...
27
00:08:07,888 --> 00:08:11,085
"although he is undoubtedly
very energetic and able.
28
00:08:11,191 --> 00:08:15,218
"Even if he were a superman,
it would still be highly undesirable...
29
00:08:15,328 --> 00:08:18,957
"that our men should credit him
with supernatural powers.
30
00:08:19,066 --> 00:08:22,365
"I wish you to dispel
by all possible means...
31
00:08:22,469 --> 00:08:25,302
"the idea that Rommel
represents something more...
32
00:08:25,405 --> 00:08:27,965
"than an ordinary German general.
33
00:08:28,075 --> 00:08:30,873
"Please ensure that this order
is put into immediate effect...
34
00:08:30,977 --> 00:08:33,377
"and impress upon all commanders...
35
00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:35,971
"that from a psychological
point of view...
36
00:08:36,083 --> 00:08:38,108
it is a matter
of the highest importance."
37
00:08:38,218 --> 00:08:40,880
Signed C.J. Auchinleck, General...
38
00:08:40,987 --> 00:08:44,115
Commander-in-Chief, M.E.F.
39
00:08:44,224 --> 00:08:48,558
This is the North African
desert in June of 1942...
40
00:08:48,662 --> 00:08:52,325
and these are British soldiers
taken prisoner the night before...
41
00:08:52,432 --> 00:08:55,128
by units of the German Afrika Korps.
42
00:09:11,218 --> 00:09:13,118
Run, you fool, run!
43
00:09:36,576 --> 00:09:39,238
You! Come on, get out of there!
44
00:09:41,915 --> 00:09:44,383
Get over with the other prisoners!
45
00:09:56,696 --> 00:09:59,187
Who is the senior officer here?
46
00:10:01,701 --> 00:10:04,033
- I am, I suppose.
- Come with me.
47
00:10:13,079 --> 00:10:15,138
- What's your rank?
- Lieutenant colonel.
48
00:10:15,248 --> 00:10:18,240
Colonel, I want you to go along with
these two officers on a flag of truce.
49
00:10:18,351 --> 00:10:20,478
And tell that battery to stop firing.
50
00:10:20,587 --> 00:10:23,317
- Tell them they're... killing their own men.
- I can't do that.
51
00:10:23,423 --> 00:10:26,290
Don't tell me what you can or can't do.
I'm giving you an order.
52
00:10:26,393 --> 00:10:28,293
Here, tie this on that rifle.
53
00:10:28,395 --> 00:10:30,295
Listen, Major, I'm a prisoner of war.
54
00:10:30,397 --> 00:10:32,297
You can't give me any such order.
55
00:10:32,399 --> 00:10:34,299
You know that as well as I do.
56
00:10:34,401 --> 00:10:36,801
I'm not going to argue the point with you.
57
00:10:36,903 --> 00:10:40,339
Either you do as I tell you,
or we'll soon find a way to make you.
58
00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,431
Are you going or not?
59
00:10:42,542 --> 00:10:45,943
Major! Major!
60
00:10:46,046 --> 00:10:47,946
What's the row?
61
00:11:14,741 --> 00:11:16,971
The field marshal said you're right.
62
00:11:17,110 --> 00:11:18,975
Field marshal?
63
00:11:22,582 --> 00:11:24,948
So this, then, was Rommel...
64
00:11:25,051 --> 00:11:28,179
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel...
65
00:11:28,321 --> 00:11:30,915
commander-in-chief of the enemy army...
66
00:11:31,057 --> 00:11:34,823
and the most celebrated
German soldier since World War I.
67
00:11:37,597 --> 00:11:40,998
Already a legend in the desert,
he was a fox...
68
00:11:41,101 --> 00:11:44,559
who had chased his hunters back
and forth across North Africa...
69
00:11:44,704 --> 00:11:47,434
about as often as they had chased him...
70
00:11:47,574 --> 00:11:51,032
and his tricks and turns
had made even the Tommies chuckle...
71
00:11:51,177 --> 00:11:55,978
which is scarcely the proper
reflex to the enemy in time of war.
72
00:11:56,116 --> 00:11:59,745
In spite of which he was still,
of course, my enemy...
73
00:11:59,886 --> 00:12:03,788
the enemy not only of my country
and the army in which I served...
74
00:12:03,924 --> 00:12:06,324
but of all life as I knew it...
75
00:12:06,426 --> 00:12:09,987
not only of democracy
as free men had fashioned it...
76
00:12:10,130 --> 00:12:12,894
but of civilization itself.
77
00:12:13,033 --> 00:12:16,002
My name is Desmond Young.
78
00:12:16,136 --> 00:12:20,038
At the time of my capture, I was
a lieutenant colonel in the Indian army.
79
00:12:20,140 --> 00:12:22,472
This was my first and only sight...
80
00:12:22,575 --> 00:12:25,567
of the cool, hard, professional soldier...
81
00:12:25,712 --> 00:12:29,341
whose scrupulous regard for the rules
of warfare had been exercised...
82
00:12:29,482 --> 00:12:32,645
in this instance,
so fortunately for myself.
83
00:12:34,854 --> 00:12:37,254
Two years and four months later...
84
00:12:37,357 --> 00:12:41,259
while the British and Americans
were fighting their way across Europe...
85
00:12:41,361 --> 00:12:43,659
Erwin Rommel was dead.
86
00:12:43,763 --> 00:12:46,630
He was dead, the Nazis reported...
87
00:12:46,733 --> 00:12:50,066
of wounds gallantly received
on the field of honor.
88
00:12:50,170 --> 00:12:53,139
But the Nazis were great liars, of course.
89
00:12:53,273 --> 00:12:55,468
Many people wondered.
90
00:12:55,575 --> 00:12:59,705
For already there were mysterious
rumors floating across the battle lines.
91
00:13:02,082 --> 00:13:06,109
So, when the war was over
and my military life behind me...
92
00:13:06,252 --> 00:13:08,516
I gave myself a mission.
93
00:13:08,621 --> 00:13:12,250
I set out to discover
what actually had happened to him.
94
00:13:12,392 --> 00:13:14,587
What was the truth about his death...
95
00:13:14,694 --> 00:13:17,891
and on what field of honor had he died?
96
00:13:17,998 --> 00:13:22,901
In a modest home in the tiny village of
Herrlingen by Ulm in Wurttemberg, Germany..
97
00:13:23,003 --> 00:13:27,064
I talked long and often
with Rommel's son and widow...
98
00:13:27,207 --> 00:13:31,041
and examined his letters,
reports and other papers.
99
00:13:31,144 --> 00:13:33,874
In Germany, I talked to soldiers...
100
00:13:33,980 --> 00:13:37,381
who had served with him,
over him and under him;
101
00:13:37,484 --> 00:13:40,885
In England,
with men who had fought against him...
102
00:13:41,021 --> 00:13:43,512
from field marshals to desert rats.
103
00:13:43,656 --> 00:13:45,817
And in both countries, of course...
104
00:13:45,925 --> 00:13:48,359
I went to the official records.
105
00:13:48,495 --> 00:13:50,690
Based on these facts...
106
00:13:50,797 --> 00:13:55,496
what now follows
is the true story of Erwin Rommel.
107
00:13:57,704 --> 00:14:00,935
The beginning of the end
for this single-minded soldier...
108
00:14:01,041 --> 00:14:06,206
came at 9:30 on the evening
of October 23, 1942...
109
00:14:06,312 --> 00:14:08,803
when at El Alamein
six miles of British guns...
110
00:14:08,915 --> 00:14:10,815
Fire!
111
00:14:49,122 --> 00:14:51,682
I discovered that actually
Rommel was not in Africa...
112
00:14:51,825 --> 00:14:54,089
when the storm of battle broke.
113
00:14:54,227 --> 00:14:56,923
Suffering from
a chronic diphtheria of the nose...
114
00:14:57,063 --> 00:14:59,861
he had been relieved of his command
a month before...
115
00:14:59,999 --> 00:15:02,433
and flown back to a hospital in Germany.
116
00:15:02,535 --> 00:15:05,971
But when the telephone rang
at his bedside...
117
00:15:06,106 --> 00:15:09,598
and a familiar voice from Berlin
called on him once more...
118
00:15:09,742 --> 00:15:13,735
he rose and was in a plane on the way back
to the desert within hours.
119
00:15:39,973 --> 00:15:43,272
- Thank you, Bayerlein. Still a dandy, I see.
- Just luck, sir.
120
00:15:43,376 --> 00:15:45,435
- Welcome back.
- Good to see you, sir.
121
00:15:45,578 --> 00:15:48,376
- Shall we take a look at those maps?
- Over here.
122
00:15:48,481 --> 00:15:51,882
- How've you been, Bayerlein?
- Oh, very well, I suppose.
123
00:15:52,018 --> 00:15:54,509
- Did you see Frau Rommel?
- Yes, she came to stay a week, she and Manfred.
124
00:15:54,654 --> 00:15:56,781
- Well, I hope...
- How does it look today?
125
00:15:56,923 --> 00:15:59,653
Oh, looks like
they've got too much for us.
126
00:15:59,759 --> 00:16:02,592
If they keep this up, I've no idea
how we're going to get out of it.
127
00:16:02,695 --> 00:16:05,095
- Not with the amount of petrol we've got.
- But we've got petrol?
128
00:16:05,198 --> 00:16:07,598
- Some, but not enough.
- You mean it's still on the way.
129
00:16:07,700 --> 00:16:10,601
- Neither on the way nor any prospect of it.
- Who told you that?
130
00:16:10,703 --> 00:16:15,140
I've talked to Rome three times. There's no
petrol on the way nor any committed to us.
131
00:16:15,275 --> 00:16:18,108
Schultz. Aldinger.
132
00:16:24,250 --> 00:16:27,014
- What about the tanks? Did they come?
- None.
133
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:29,486
- None since I left?
- No. None since August.
134
00:16:29,589 --> 00:16:31,784
- What about the guns?
- Nothing, I tell you.
135
00:16:31,891 --> 00:16:33,859
- And no petrol at all?
- Not a pint.
136
00:16:48,007 --> 00:16:50,168
This is correct from the hour.
137
00:16:50,276 --> 00:16:52,710
Get me a stool, will you?
138
00:16:57,417 --> 00:17:00,648
Here's where it's worst. 15th's in
a bad way, barely hanging together.
139
00:17:00,753 --> 00:17:03,654
- What's this?
- A trailer division. They came in here.
140
00:17:03,756 --> 00:17:06,725
- Yes, I see. How far's this armor?
- No further.
141
00:17:06,859 --> 00:17:09,760
- They're doing pretty well there.
- Where are my maps?
142
00:17:14,434 --> 00:17:17,335
Bring the 21st north through here.
143
00:17:17,437 --> 00:17:20,565
- Move the 90th forward here.
- They'll hook up.
144
00:17:20,673 --> 00:17:22,573
That's right. Now tell me this.
145
00:17:22,675 --> 00:17:25,075
- Is Montgomery sending his infantry in first?
- Naturally.
146
00:17:25,178 --> 00:17:29,080
Then let's give him a surprise. Let's send our
tanks and blow a hole through that infantry.
147
00:17:29,182 --> 00:17:33,084
If it works, we'll be on top of his
tanks before he knows what hit him.
148
00:17:33,219 --> 00:17:37,178
- Very good, sir.
- If it doesn't work, we'll know better than to try it next time.
149
00:17:37,290 --> 00:17:40,851
- Come on, Aldinger.
- You're not going up now, are you?
150
00:17:42,395 --> 00:17:44,955
Don't you think you oughta
turn in for an hour or so?
151
00:17:45,064 --> 00:17:47,794
- After three weeks of being turned in?
- We're away, sir?
152
00:17:47,900 --> 00:17:50,801
Let's head north and go in with the 21st.
153
00:17:57,243 --> 00:17:59,905
But there was now another fox
in the desert...
154
00:18:00,013 --> 00:18:02,277
an even craftier one, perhaps.
155
00:18:02,382 --> 00:18:05,749
And if the battle boiled into confusion
during the next few days...
156
00:18:05,852 --> 00:18:10,687
it was a confusion that was clearly
more and more in Montgomery's favor.
157
00:19:54,894 --> 00:19:57,124
Have you found the field marshal yet?
158
00:19:57,230 --> 00:19:59,664
No, sir. He's out at the front again.
159
00:20:02,902 --> 00:20:05,132
I don't know how the men
on line feel about it...
160
00:20:05,238 --> 00:20:08,298
but so far as the staff is concerned, I'd
just as soon have a commander-in-chief...
161
00:20:08,408 --> 00:20:10,467
with a little bit of cowardice about him.
162
00:20:10,576 --> 00:20:13,477
Just enough to come back at headquarters
every now and then.
163
00:20:13,579 --> 00:20:15,911
Keep after him, will you?
164
00:20:27,927 --> 00:20:30,157
By the tenth day of the battle...
165
00:20:30,263 --> 00:20:33,357
not even Rommel could have
any doubt as to its outcome.
166
00:20:33,466 --> 00:20:35,934
There's a limit to this sort of thing.
167
00:20:36,035 --> 00:20:39,835
You can't just go on indefinitely
until the last man's dead.
168
00:20:39,939 --> 00:20:43,033
It's all very gallant and all that,
but it's also pretty idiotic.
169
00:20:43,142 --> 00:20:48,413
Von Thoma wants to pull back to Djerba.
170
00:20:48,448 --> 00:20:51,508
- What about Müller?
- No answer as yet, sir.
171
00:20:54,454 --> 00:20:57,218
- Where're you from, son?
- Goslar, sir.
172
00:20:57,323 --> 00:21:00,520
Really? I was stationed in Goslar once
with a mountain battalion.
173
00:21:00,626 --> 00:21:03,618
- We did a lot of skiing there. Do you know that run?
- Very well, sir.
174
00:21:03,729 --> 00:21:06,459
- Are you any good?
- Well, sir, two years ago...
175
00:21:06,566 --> 00:21:09,535
- Are you sure you understood?
- Yes. I had him repeat it back to me.
176
00:21:09,635 --> 00:21:12,069
- Are you keeping after Müller?
- Yes, sir.
177
00:21:13,639 --> 00:21:16,130
- Have you tried Berlin?
- Call if you can.
178
00:21:16,242 --> 00:21:19,541
- Nothing yet, though.
- Nobody knows the situation. I sent him the whole story.
179
00:21:19,645 --> 00:21:22,546
- If there's anything he can do, he will.
- No matter what you say...
180
00:21:22,648 --> 00:21:24,775
to Berlin we're only a side show
and you know it.
181
00:21:31,791 --> 00:21:34,555
- Well, what?
- Müller's in a bad way.
182
00:21:34,660 --> 00:21:36,560
- How bad?
- Very, I'm afraid.
183
00:21:36,662 --> 00:21:39,563
If he doesn't pull back soon,
he won't have anything to pull back.
184
00:21:39,665 --> 00:21:42,759
- Well, where is he?
- His command car is gone. He's working in a carrier.
185
00:21:42,869 --> 00:21:45,895
And if he's got more than 40 tanks left,
I'd be greatly surprised.
186
00:21:46,005 --> 00:21:49,771
- How about the Italians?
- Müller thinks they've had as much as they can take.
187
00:21:49,876 --> 00:21:51,776
Rome calling, sir.
188
00:21:54,714 --> 00:21:57,877
- Well?
- Field Marshal Kesselring regrets.
189
00:21:57,984 --> 00:22:00,919
Well, that eliminates
any further speculation anyway.
190
00:22:03,456 --> 00:22:06,323
It's now a simple matter of mathematics.
191
00:22:06,425 --> 00:22:09,223
With the petrol we've got left,
we have two choices:
192
00:22:09,328 --> 00:22:11,853
We can remain here and be destroyed...
193
00:22:11,964 --> 00:22:15,127
or we can pull out tonight and
dig in somewhere for the next round.
194
00:22:15,234 --> 00:22:17,498
- You think we still can?
- Pull out? Of course. Why not?
195
00:22:17,603 --> 00:22:19,503
Montgomery's got no petrol shortage.
196
00:22:19,605 --> 00:22:21,766
But Montgomery's a very deliberate fellow.
197
00:22:21,874 --> 00:22:24,775
He wouldn't dream of leaping after me
the way I'd leap after him.
198
00:22:24,877 --> 00:22:27,710
- He'd have to think about it.
- I don't see what else there is to be done.
199
00:22:27,813 --> 00:22:29,713
There's nothing else. Let's have plan "C."
200
00:22:29,815 --> 00:22:32,579
Notify all commanding officers
to stand by for important orders.
201
00:22:32,685 --> 00:22:35,347
- If we can move quickly enough...
- Berlin calling, sir.
202
00:22:35,454 --> 00:22:37,718
- Who in Berlin?
- The führer.
203
00:22:54,707 --> 00:22:56,607
Signed Adolf Hitler.
204
00:22:56,709 --> 00:23:00,770
"The situation requires that the El
Alamein position be held to the last man.
205
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:05,317
There is to be no retreat, not so much as
one millimeter. It must be victory or death."
206
00:23:05,418 --> 00:23:07,818
- I can't believe it.
- Have you still got Berlin?
207
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,218
- Yes, sir.
- Ask him to repeat that message.
208
00:23:10,323 --> 00:23:13,724
- Yes, sir.
- I know, but it's not him. It's those hoodlums again...
209
00:23:13,826 --> 00:23:17,057
those thieves and crooks and murderers,
those toy soldiers...
210
00:23:17,163 --> 00:23:21,623
those dummy generals with their books
and charts and maps and pointers!
211
00:23:21,767 --> 00:23:24,031
How can he listen to such nonentities?
212
00:23:24,170 --> 00:23:26,604
How can he even stand
the smell of such filth?
213
00:23:26,706 --> 00:23:29,402
- Why doesn't he use his own intelligence?
- I have your repeat, sir.
214
00:23:29,508 --> 00:23:31,408
Well, go ahead, read it.
215
00:23:31,544 --> 00:23:35,605
"The situation requires that the El
Alamein position be held to the last man.
216
00:23:35,748 --> 00:23:38,410
"There is to be no retreat,
not so much as one millimeter.
217
00:23:38,551 --> 00:23:41,645
It must be victory or death."
Signed, Adolf Hitler.
218
00:23:43,356 --> 00:23:46,416
- It's incredible.
- You're not going to pay attention to such nonsense?
219
00:23:46,559 --> 00:23:49,653
It's an order, Bayerlein, a military
order from general headquarters...
220
00:23:49,795 --> 00:23:53,595
a clear, straight, stupid, criminal
military order from general headquarters.
221
00:23:53,733 --> 00:23:57,328
And what are you going to do,
double the insanity by obeying it?
222
00:23:57,470 --> 00:23:59,995
We've got the best soldiers
in the German army here.
223
00:24:00,139 --> 00:24:03,370
They may be just hanging on now, but they're
still a force, they're still fighting.
224
00:24:03,509 --> 00:24:06,205
If we take them out now,
they can fight again tomorrow.
225
00:24:06,345 --> 00:24:09,337
But this... this is shear madness.
It's out of the Middle Ages.
226
00:24:09,482 --> 00:24:13,384
Nobody has said "victory or death" since
people fought with bows and arrows.
227
00:24:13,486 --> 00:24:16,148
Why, this is an order
to throw away an entire army.
228
00:24:16,288 --> 00:24:20,190
If I may remind you, sir, here in the
field these men are yours, not his.
229
00:24:20,292 --> 00:24:22,522
- I just can't understand it.
- I can. He's insane.
230
00:24:22,662 --> 00:24:27,122
He's not insane. He's... But neither am I.
231
00:24:35,274 --> 00:24:39,176
Pull them out, Bayerlein.
I'll argue with him about it later.
232
00:25:16,615 --> 00:25:20,176
The end came in Tunis when
the Axis forces were caught...
233
00:25:20,319 --> 00:25:22,583
between the British, the Free French...
234
00:25:22,688 --> 00:25:24,679
and the Americans under Eisenhower...
235
00:25:24,824 --> 00:25:28,351
and surrendered unconditionally.
236
00:25:30,529 --> 00:25:34,226
But the Afrika Korps
went into captivity without its leader.
237
00:25:34,333 --> 00:25:38,497
For, a month before the end,
Rommel had again fallen ill...
238
00:25:38,604 --> 00:25:41,334
and been invalided back
to the hospital in Germany.
239
00:25:50,616 --> 00:25:53,483
- Good morning, Sergeant.
- Good morning, Frau Rommel, Manfred.
240
00:25:53,586 --> 00:25:57,044
- Morning.
- Dr. Strolin.
241
00:25:57,156 --> 00:26:01,354
- Karl Strolin, Stuttgart.
- Dr. Strolin is an old friend of the field marshal's.
242
00:26:01,460 --> 00:26:03,985
I understand you'll find him
much better this morning.
243
00:26:04,096 --> 00:26:06,064
All he needed was a little rest.
244
00:26:13,973 --> 00:26:17,340
Frau Rommel...
245
00:26:17,443 --> 00:26:20,640
Manfred Rommel...
246
00:26:23,315 --> 00:26:26,876
and Dr. Karl Strolin.
247
00:26:26,986 --> 00:26:28,977
From Stuttgart?
248
00:26:29,088 --> 00:26:31,921
Not only from, but lord mayor of.
249
00:26:34,126 --> 00:26:36,594
Don't tell me he's on the list.
250
00:26:40,699 --> 00:26:43,668
"Dr. Karl Strolin,
lord mayor of Stuttgart."
251
00:26:45,538 --> 00:26:48,302
She says he's an old friend
of the field marshal.
252
00:26:48,407 --> 00:26:50,307
Nevertheless, here he is.
253
00:26:50,409 --> 00:26:52,536
"To be kept under
the closest observation...
254
00:26:52,645 --> 00:26:55,808
whenever discovered
beyond the precincts of Stuttgart."
255
00:26:58,050 --> 00:27:01,110
Not that it could really
be described as an argument.
256
00:27:01,220 --> 00:27:03,984
It's impossible to have
an argument with him...
257
00:27:04,089 --> 00:27:06,853
in the sense that you and I
could have an argument.
258
00:27:06,959 --> 00:27:09,792
He raves, he screams,
he goes into such hysterics...
259
00:27:09,895 --> 00:27:13,296
that it's like trying to make sense
with a panic-stricken woman.
260
00:27:13,399 --> 00:27:15,890
He called him a coward.
261
00:27:16,001 --> 00:27:18,993
Did he really use that word to you?
262
00:27:19,104 --> 00:27:21,299
Not once, but several times.
263
00:27:21,407 --> 00:27:26,435
In Russia, he said, officers like me
have been put against the wall and shot.
264
00:27:26,545 --> 00:27:29,275
Now must I think it couldn't
happen to me too.
265
00:27:29,381 --> 00:27:34,080
That was his thanks, that was his gratitude
for all that Erwin has done for him.
266
00:27:34,186 --> 00:27:37,087
On the other hand, you mustn't
hold people too accountable...
267
00:27:37,189 --> 00:27:40,158
for everything they say
when they're emotionally upset.
268
00:27:40,259 --> 00:27:44,355
The war is not going well,
and he's naturally worried.
269
00:27:44,463 --> 00:27:46,795
But I'm afraid it will be a long time...
270
00:27:46,899 --> 00:27:49,800
before I forget what he did
to the Afrika Korps.
271
00:27:49,902 --> 00:27:51,995
What was that?
272
00:27:52,104 --> 00:27:56,006
When the end was near
and I asked him to get them out...
273
00:27:56,108 --> 00:27:59,908
he said he had no further
interest or concern...
274
00:28:00,012 --> 00:28:01,843
in the Afrika Korps.
275
00:28:01,947 --> 00:28:04,643
And that was their thanks.
276
00:28:06,151 --> 00:28:10,315
Rommel...
I should like to ask you a question.
277
00:28:10,422 --> 00:28:13,482
Of course, if you don't care to answer,
I quite understand.
278
00:28:13,592 --> 00:28:17,119
But with your permission,
I should like to ask it nevertheless.
279
00:28:17,229 --> 00:28:19,129
What is it?
280
00:28:19,231 --> 00:28:21,699
Do you really believe that we can win?
281
00:28:27,139 --> 00:28:30,165
- I'll tell you what he believes.
- Yes?
282
00:28:32,044 --> 00:28:34,342
He doesn't think so.
283
00:28:34,446 --> 00:28:36,607
He told you that himself?
284
00:28:36,715 --> 00:28:38,615
He did.
285
00:28:38,717 --> 00:28:41,709
And he understands
what that'll mean this time?
286
00:28:41,820 --> 00:28:43,720
Apparently.
287
00:28:43,822 --> 00:28:45,813
Then why do we go on?
288
00:28:45,925 --> 00:28:50,021
We have no choice,
because no country we're fighting...
289
00:28:50,129 --> 00:28:54,031
England, America or Russia...
will make peace with him.
290
00:28:54,133 --> 00:28:56,397
He admitted that?
291
00:28:56,502 --> 00:28:59,630
And it's the truth, of course.
292
00:28:59,738 --> 00:29:03,333
In other words,
while he remains as leader of Germany...
293
00:29:03,442 --> 00:29:06,206
we must fight on until we're destroyed.
294
00:29:06,312 --> 00:29:09,179
Victory or death, as ever.
295
00:29:09,281 --> 00:29:14,184
I take it he didn't mention
the obvious solution to the situation.
296
00:29:14,286 --> 00:29:17,778
- What do you mean?
- Abdication.
297
00:29:20,192 --> 00:29:22,717
Now, my dear Strolin...
298
00:29:25,064 --> 00:29:28,056
- I'm afraid we must go, dear.
- Must you already?
299
00:29:28,167 --> 00:29:30,761
- I have a train to catch.
- We'll come back after supper.
300
00:29:30,869 --> 00:29:34,600
Let's have coffee together. Good-bye,
Strolin. 'T was good to see you again.
301
00:29:34,707 --> 00:29:36,868
We won't let it be so long next time.
302
00:29:36,976 --> 00:29:39,740
- Do you think they really would, Father?
- Would what, son?
303
00:29:39,845 --> 00:29:42,336
- Shoot you?
- No, no, of course not.
304
00:29:42,448 --> 00:29:45,679
That's just his wild way of talking.
You mustn't pay any attention to that.
305
00:29:45,784 --> 00:29:49,276
- Shoot his greatest general?
- You shouldn't have said that in front of him.
306
00:29:49,388 --> 00:29:51,856
Come along and stop talking nonsense.
307
00:29:53,225 --> 00:29:56,353
- Until this evening, dear?
- Come early, will you?
308
00:29:59,031 --> 00:30:01,659
He's a good-looking boy, isn't he?
309
00:30:01,767 --> 00:30:06,101
A very nice boy too.
But were you entirely truthful with him?
310
00:30:06,205 --> 00:30:08,105
About what?
311
00:30:08,207 --> 00:30:11,938
- When you told him he would never put you up against a wall.
- But of course.
312
00:30:12,044 --> 00:30:15,536
Has the possibility ever occurred to you
that he might turn on you?
313
00:30:15,647 --> 00:30:18,548
- But why should he?
- He's turned on others.
314
00:30:18,650 --> 00:30:21,016
He'll never turn on me.
315
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:25,181
What about some of those fellows around him that
don't like you? Himmler, Bormann and that crowd.
316
00:30:25,290 --> 00:30:28,487
- Don't they ever influence him?
- Very often, indeed.
317
00:30:28,594 --> 00:30:32,155
You don't think it's possible they might
influence him against you someday?
318
00:30:32,264 --> 00:30:36,701
It's possible, yes,
but I don't see that it's very likely.
319
00:30:36,802 --> 00:30:39,999
But in the remote possibility
that they did...
320
00:30:40,105 --> 00:30:44,041
have you ever considered what might
become of Lucie and Manfred?
321
00:30:44,176 --> 00:30:48,579
I've never thought about it. But what
on Earth are you getting at, anyway?
322
00:30:48,714 --> 00:30:51,683
I think you should, that's all.
323
00:30:51,817 --> 00:30:54,752
You haven't changed a bit, Doctor.
324
00:30:54,887 --> 00:30:57,651
You always were something of an odd fish.
325
00:30:57,790 --> 00:31:00,258
But there's no need
for you to worry this time.
326
00:31:00,392 --> 00:31:02,360
We're in no danger, none of us.
327
00:31:02,494 --> 00:31:05,019
If you'll take a word of advice
from an old friend...
328
00:31:05,164 --> 00:31:07,098
you'd better not talk like that
to everybody.
329
00:31:07,232 --> 00:31:09,097
I don't.
330
00:31:09,234 --> 00:31:13,068
Only to those I know very well
and am very fond of.
331
00:31:13,205 --> 00:31:16,402
- Good-bye, Rommel.
- Good-bye, Strolin.
332
00:31:16,542 --> 00:31:19,443
- Come again if you can.
- I'll try.
333
00:33:35,647 --> 00:33:38,275
An invasion of Hitler's
European fortress...
334
00:33:38,383 --> 00:33:40,908
was now clearly but a matter of time.
335
00:33:41,019 --> 00:33:43,510
And in November of 1943...
336
00:33:43,622 --> 00:33:46,887
Rommel made a tour of inspection
of the Atlantic defenses...
337
00:33:46,992 --> 00:33:50,359
preparatory of taking command
of the Nazi forces...
338
00:33:50,462 --> 00:33:53,260
that were gathering to resist the assault.
339
00:35:01,433 --> 00:35:05,665
A month later, Rommel reported
to Field Marshal von Rundstedt...
340
00:35:05,771 --> 00:35:09,002
supreme commander in the West,
at the latter's headquarters...
341
00:35:09,107 --> 00:35:13,305
in the Pompadour's Palace
at Fontainebleau outside Paris.
342
00:35:23,522 --> 00:35:26,650
Field Marshal von Rundstedt, gentlemen.
343
00:35:32,531 --> 00:35:34,761
- Ruge.
- Field Marshal.
344
00:35:34,866 --> 00:35:36,800
Gentlemen.
345
00:35:42,474 --> 00:35:44,874
- Good to see you, Rommel.
- Field Marshal.
346
00:35:44,976 --> 00:35:48,707
Well, now that you have had
an opportunity to examine it closely...
347
00:35:48,814 --> 00:35:51,408
what do you think of our Atlantic wall?
348
00:35:51,516 --> 00:35:53,984
I'm afraid I haven't quite
completed my report yet, but...
349
00:35:54,086 --> 00:35:56,520
We'll discuss it later,
whenever you're ready.
350
00:35:56,621 --> 00:36:00,887
I don't imagine the mighty Eisenhower
will be on us for another day or so.
351
00:36:00,992 --> 00:36:03,460
It wasn't too much a tax
on your strength, I hope.
352
00:36:03,562 --> 00:36:06,053
Not in the least.
I'm entirely recovered now.
353
00:36:06,164 --> 00:36:08,997
I'm delighted. You're being
well taken care of, gentlemen?
354
00:36:09,101 --> 00:36:11,069
Yes, indeed, sir.
355
00:36:11,169 --> 00:36:13,501
Would you be so good
as to divert our friends...
356
00:36:13,605 --> 00:36:16,870
while Field Marshal Rommel and I have
a few moments of private meditation?
357
00:36:16,975 --> 00:36:18,875
Yes, sir.
358
00:36:46,371 --> 00:36:49,772
Appalling, wasn't it?
359
00:36:51,843 --> 00:36:54,368
I can't even see why it's called a wall.
360
00:36:54,513 --> 00:36:58,210
The big ports like Havre and Ostend and
Cherbourg are protected well enough...
361
00:36:58,350 --> 00:37:00,978
but the enemy's not coming in
on the Queen Mary.
362
00:37:01,119 --> 00:37:03,485
Nothing at all
is being done about the beaches.
363
00:37:03,622 --> 00:37:07,058
Why, I saw 50 places where
an army of children could come ashore.
364
00:37:07,192 --> 00:37:11,595
The trouble is labor. We have the plans for
fortifications the devil himself couldn't breach...
365
00:37:11,696 --> 00:37:14,392
solid steel and concrete
from Denmark to Spain...
366
00:37:14,533 --> 00:37:19,300
but I'm afraid our French friends aren't
being as cooperative as they might be.
367
00:37:19,438 --> 00:37:22,339
Even when driven to the job,
they move like snails.
368
00:37:22,441 --> 00:37:26,537
Either we break it up while they're
still wading ashore or we're in trouble.
369
00:37:26,678 --> 00:37:29,545
- Is that the way you'd meet it?
- Stop them on the beaches.
370
00:37:29,648 --> 00:37:32,208
Crowd the water with mines
and traps and tricks...
371
00:37:32,350 --> 00:37:35,444
and hit 'em while they're busy
trying to keep themselves from drowning.
372
00:37:35,587 --> 00:37:39,387
Here, down here... and here.
373
00:37:39,491 --> 00:37:41,857
I don't agree with you...
374
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:45,327
but the difference of opinion
will probably remain academic.
375
00:37:45,430 --> 00:37:50,333
As it happens, neither you nor I will
determine the tactics in this operation.
376
00:37:50,435 --> 00:37:52,903
Not above the regimental level, anyway.
377
00:37:53,038 --> 00:37:55,199
You mean... Berlin?
378
00:37:55,340 --> 00:37:58,138
I mean the Bohemian corporal himself...
379
00:37:58,243 --> 00:38:01,679
is assuming sole and total command
of this operation.
380
00:38:01,813 --> 00:38:06,716
You and I will function simply as
instruments of his astrological inspirations.
381
00:38:06,818 --> 00:38:10,948
And in case you're afflicted with an
understandable skepticism, this is official.
382
00:38:11,089 --> 00:38:13,649
But that's an utterly impossible situation.
383
00:38:13,792 --> 00:38:16,192
Then you should, by all means,
explain that to him.
384
00:38:16,294 --> 00:38:18,285
You've made no protests yourself?
385
00:38:18,430 --> 00:38:20,830
After you've interfered
a dozen times or so...
386
00:38:20,932 --> 00:38:24,993
with a man's rather enthusiastic
determination to cut his own throat...
387
00:38:25,136 --> 00:38:27,969
there comes a moment
when you're inclined to stand back...
388
00:38:28,073 --> 00:38:30,371
and view the whole matter
with a certain detachment.
389
00:38:30,475 --> 00:38:33,706
- You've no objection to my... pointing this out to him?
- On the contrary.
390
00:38:33,812 --> 00:38:36,872
I bestow my blessings
on your courage and optimism.
391
00:38:47,325 --> 00:38:49,850
I'm told you once
referred to me as a clown...
392
00:38:49,995 --> 00:38:52,395
the clown of Hitler's circus.
393
00:38:52,497 --> 00:38:54,397
Oh, did I?
394
00:38:54,499 --> 00:38:57,662
If so, I think you should know I've been
a great deal more explicit about you.
395
00:38:57,769 --> 00:39:00,294
That's quite all right, Field Marshal.
396
00:39:00,438 --> 00:39:04,465
I find it almost impossible to keep my
mind on anything harsh said about me.
397
00:39:04,609 --> 00:39:06,543
Did you say it?
398
00:39:06,645 --> 00:39:10,513
Whoever said it, you've given them ample
reason to regret such a foolish remark.
399
00:39:12,617 --> 00:39:15,347
- Thank you, Field Marshal.
- Not at all.
400
00:39:15,453 --> 00:39:17,444
Is there anything else?
401
00:39:17,589 --> 00:39:20,183
I don't believe so at the moment.
402
00:39:22,794 --> 00:39:24,694
One suggestion, perhaps...
403
00:39:24,796 --> 00:39:27,924
in view of our cordiality.
404
00:39:28,033 --> 00:39:31,366
If I were you,
I wouldn't be altogether unguarded...
405
00:39:31,469 --> 00:39:34,666
about what I had to say about
this new strategic arrangement.
406
00:39:34,773 --> 00:39:37,105
I think you should know
that from now on...
407
00:39:37,208 --> 00:39:40,143
you'll be under more or less
constant observation here.
408
00:39:40,245 --> 00:39:44,272
- From Berlin?
- Friends of the management, I believe.
409
00:39:44,382 --> 00:39:47,783
Have you any information as to why I
should be singled out for such attention?
410
00:39:47,886 --> 00:39:50,753
Oh, but you're not. We all are.
411
00:39:50,855 --> 00:39:53,619
Apparently you didn't have it in Africa...
412
00:39:53,725 --> 00:39:57,786
but here on the continent
it's an honor that goes with staff rank.
413
00:39:57,896 --> 00:39:59,625
You too?
414
00:39:59,731 --> 00:40:03,497
My dear fellow,
I'm the commander-in-chief.
415
00:40:12,644 --> 00:40:14,771
Two months after that...
416
00:40:14,879 --> 00:40:18,007
in February of 1944,
during one of Rommel's...
417
00:40:18,116 --> 00:40:20,414
rare absences from the Atlantic frontier...
418
00:40:20,518 --> 00:40:24,852
his old friend Dr. Karl Strolin
sought him out again.
419
00:40:38,837 --> 00:40:41,533
- Good afternoon, sir.
- Good afternoon.
420
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:44,438
Dr. Strolin to see the field marshal
and Frau Rommel.
421
00:40:44,542 --> 00:40:46,442
Come in, sir.
422
00:40:57,822 --> 00:41:00,916
Eisenhower won't try it
until spring, of course.
423
00:41:01,026 --> 00:41:03,358
I doubt if I'll get home again before then.
424
00:41:03,461 --> 00:41:05,361
Are we ready for him?
425
00:41:05,463 --> 00:41:07,624
We will be, I hope.
426
00:41:12,771 --> 00:41:14,864
To your very good health, Doctor.
427
00:41:14,973 --> 00:41:17,066
To yours, my dear Rommel.
428
00:41:19,878 --> 00:41:22,506
How do you know this room isn't wired?
429
00:41:22,614 --> 00:41:25,412
Wired? Why should it be wired?
430
00:41:25,517 --> 00:41:28,509
Does our friend Himmler
have to have a reason for wiring a room?
431
00:41:28,620 --> 00:41:30,520
No, I don't suppose he does.
432
00:41:30,622 --> 00:41:33,523
But I don't think you have
to worry about this one.
433
00:41:33,625 --> 00:41:35,525
Why?
434
00:41:46,471 --> 00:41:49,770
'Cause I want to talk to you
without being overheard.
435
00:41:49,874 --> 00:41:52,843
- About what?
- About the Hitler situation.
436
00:41:54,345 --> 00:41:57,576
If this is politics, Strolin,
I don't want to hear it.
437
00:41:57,682 --> 00:41:59,877
Had you rather see Germany destroyed?
438
00:41:59,984 --> 00:42:02,782
It's not a matter I want to discuss,
I tell you.
439
00:42:02,887 --> 00:42:06,118
And I'm surprised at you.
That's a communist position.
440
00:42:06,224 --> 00:42:08,590
Oh? Is it?
441
00:42:08,693 --> 00:42:12,322
Defeat, against him, all that
sort of thing. You know it is.
442
00:42:12,430 --> 00:42:14,728
Would you call General Beck a communist?
443
00:42:14,833 --> 00:42:18,530
- Of course not.
- Or Karl Goerdeler, the lord mayor of Leipzig?
444
00:42:18,636 --> 00:42:21,537
- I've never heard that he was.
- What about Falkenhausen?
445
00:42:21,639 --> 00:42:25,097
- No, but...
- What about Heinrich von Stulpnagel?
446
00:42:25,210 --> 00:42:28,008
And von Urach and von Haslov?
Are they communists?
447
00:42:28,113 --> 00:42:33,608
Are you trying to tell me seriously that men
like that are questioning his leadership?
448
00:42:33,718 --> 00:42:38,155
Not just questioning it.
They intend to end it.
449
00:42:38,256 --> 00:42:41,020
You mean, you've talked
to those fellows yourself?
450
00:42:41,126 --> 00:42:43,617
To them and to many others.
Not only soldiers, either.
451
00:42:43,728 --> 00:42:47,129
Church men, labor leaders,
lawyers, doctors.
452
00:42:47,232 --> 00:42:52,101
Members of the government, even. Not too
many of them, but sound men, every one.
453
00:42:52,203 --> 00:42:55,297
How long has this been going on?
454
00:42:55,406 --> 00:42:57,670
Since '38.
455
00:42:59,410 --> 00:43:02,004
And what exactly are you after?
456
00:43:02,113 --> 00:43:05,879
One, we want to get rid of Hitler
and his gang.
457
00:43:05,984 --> 00:43:08,680
If we are to be defeated,
then we prefer to be defeated...
458
00:43:08,787 --> 00:43:11,813
as human beings, not as barbarians.
459
00:43:11,923 --> 00:43:15,051
Two, whether we win or lose...
460
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:19,221
we want to live again
like decent people, without fear.
461
00:43:19,330 --> 00:43:23,699
Look, Strolin, I don't want to
get mixed up in this thing.
462
00:43:23,802 --> 00:43:26,396
What they do in Berlin
is their business, not mine.
463
00:43:26,504 --> 00:43:28,802
I'm a soldier, not a politician.
464
00:43:28,907 --> 00:43:31,307
You still think you're perfectly safe?
465
00:43:31,409 --> 00:43:33,604
Who knows who's safe and who's not?
466
00:43:33,711 --> 00:43:35,679
Under a sane man, you'd know.
467
00:43:35,780 --> 00:43:38,146
That's a lot of rubbish, and you know it.
468
00:43:38,249 --> 00:43:40,774
Well, I hope you're right,
and perhaps you are.
469
00:43:40,885 --> 00:43:44,946
After all, you are his favorite, and I can
think of no one who's ever questioned...
470
00:43:45,056 --> 00:43:49,618
the deep and enduring gratitude he's always
shown to those who've served him well.
471
00:43:49,727 --> 00:43:54,061
- No one's in any danger here who does his job properly.
- You have nothing to fear.
472
00:43:54,165 --> 00:43:57,498
And if something did happen
unpredictably...
473
00:43:57,602 --> 00:44:00,594
you'd still have the comfort of knowing
that the lives of Lucie and Manfred...
474
00:44:00,705 --> 00:44:03,833
would be safe and snug
in the soft, gentle, tender hands...
475
00:44:03,942 --> 00:44:06,934
of that brave little band of patriots
he's gathered around him.
476
00:44:07,045 --> 00:44:10,173
I'm afraid that kind of talk
doesn't amuse me.
477
00:44:10,281 --> 00:44:15,150
I'm not trying to amuse you. I'm merely
reflecting on your extraordinary good fortune.
478
00:44:15,253 --> 00:44:18,188
I wish you'd think
about that too sometime...
479
00:44:18,289 --> 00:44:23,124
not the blood on his mouth, but what
a godsend he is to you personally...
480
00:44:23,228 --> 00:44:26,459
not only in your home,
but in the field as a soldier.
481
00:44:26,564 --> 00:44:30,000
How many other generals can boast
the favor and support of a leader...
482
00:44:30,101 --> 00:44:32,763
so gifted in the arts of war?
483
00:44:32,871 --> 00:44:34,771
That's enough, Strolin.
484
00:44:34,873 --> 00:44:37,774
Surely you haven't forgotten
how brilliantly he refused...
485
00:44:37,876 --> 00:44:42,176
to be seduced into an invasion of
undefended England right after Dunkirk.
486
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:44,510
Or how brave he was at Stalingrad...
487
00:44:44,616 --> 00:44:47,346
when von Forest
wanted to withdraw from the trap.
488
00:44:47,452 --> 00:44:49,977
What other man on Earth
would have had the courage...
489
00:44:50,088 --> 00:44:52,989
to send that brief, simple,
thrilling command:
490
00:44:53,091 --> 00:44:56,390
"Don't retreat so much as a millimeter.
Victory or death"?
491
00:44:56,494 --> 00:44:59,827
- Would Napoleon himself have dared...
- That's enough, I tell you!
492
00:44:59,931 --> 00:45:02,593
Afraid even to think about it.
493
00:45:02,700 --> 00:45:05,965
Stop talking to me as if I were a child
and you a schoolmaster!
494
00:45:06,070 --> 00:45:09,096
Don't you think I know what you mean?
But what of it?
495
00:45:09,207 --> 00:45:12,074
Who asked me for my opinion?
And suppose I told them...
496
00:45:12,176 --> 00:45:15,236
that what they're doing is stupid
to the point of imbecility!
497
00:45:15,346 --> 00:45:17,644
- Who do you think would listen?
- Have you ever tried?
498
00:45:17,749 --> 00:45:20,115
Of course! I've been told
to mind my own business.
499
00:45:20,218 --> 00:45:22,345
And who's to say they're not right?
500
00:45:22,453 --> 00:45:24,921
Surely you aren't naive enough
to think that a soldier...
501
00:45:25,023 --> 00:45:28,220
must approve of every detail of his
government before he can fight for it.
502
00:45:28,326 --> 00:45:32,820
What army could exist like that, with every
man free to decide what he will or won't do?
503
00:45:32,931 --> 00:45:37,994
The truth is that a soldier has but one function
in life, one lone excuse for existence...
504
00:45:38,102 --> 00:45:41,299
and that is to carry out
the order of his superiors.
505
00:45:41,406 --> 00:45:44,307
The rest, including government,
is politics.
506
00:45:44,409 --> 00:45:48,402
And if I must remind you again,
I'm a soldier, not a politician.
507
00:45:48,513 --> 00:45:52,415
- What the government does...
- Oh, stop hiding behind that bloody uniform of yours!
508
00:45:52,517 --> 00:45:55,008
What do I care about
your philosophy of the soldier?
509
00:45:55,119 --> 00:45:57,485
All it means to me
is that you're terrified...
510
00:45:57,588 --> 00:46:00,955
hiding under a lot of rubbish
about the functions of a robot.
511
00:46:01,059 --> 00:46:04,290
Have you forgotten
that I've known you for 20 years?
512
00:46:04,395 --> 00:46:08,161
Why, I know exactly how you feel
about that abomination in Berlin.
513
00:46:08,266 --> 00:46:11,099
What I can't understand
is this chickenhearted willingness...
514
00:46:11,202 --> 00:46:15,036
to go marching right down into hell
with a beast you loathe and despise.
515
00:46:15,139 --> 00:46:20,042
Where is all the sense and courage you have
in the field? Haven't you any of it here?
516
00:46:20,144 --> 00:46:23,375
I think you'd better
get out of this house, now.
517
00:46:25,850 --> 00:46:29,946
Not until you've shown an old friend
the decency of honesty with him.
518
00:46:30,054 --> 00:46:33,615
If reason won't work,
very well, I'm prepared to go further.
519
00:46:33,725 --> 00:46:38,128
I have no intention of stirring from this
room until the truth has passed between us.
520
00:46:38,229 --> 00:46:41,926
- Had you rather I call the guard and charge you?
- That you will never do.
521
00:46:42,033 --> 00:46:45,491
And may I ask why you know so well
what I will or won't do?
522
00:46:45,603 --> 00:46:48,163
Because Lucie told me that you wouldn't.
523
00:46:49,974 --> 00:46:54,172
You... You've already
talked to Lucie about this?
524
00:46:54,278 --> 00:46:57,577
- Of course.
- And she sent you to me?
525
00:46:57,682 --> 00:46:59,582
Not at all.
526
00:46:59,684 --> 00:47:02,653
She merely told me
how you really feel...
527
00:47:02,754 --> 00:47:07,953
about our sainted leader
and his glorious reign over Germany.
528
00:47:18,002 --> 00:47:21,335
Father! Father, the car is here!
529
00:47:21,439 --> 00:47:24,431
We saw it. Will you please not shout?
530
00:47:24,542 --> 00:47:26,976
I've told you that a dozen times.
531
00:47:27,078 --> 00:47:30,241
- He's just excited.
- I know, but I'm tired of telling him...
532
00:47:30,348 --> 00:47:34,478
He's all right. He's still only a boy,
remember, in spite of that uniform.
533
00:47:34,585 --> 00:47:37,452
- Of course.
- You take care of yourself, dear.
534
00:47:39,057 --> 00:47:41,287
You're not cross with me, are you?
535
00:47:41,392 --> 00:47:44,384
- For what?
- For speaking to Dr. Strolin.
536
00:47:47,331 --> 00:47:49,458
No, of course not.
537
00:47:52,136 --> 00:47:54,434
Is he right?
538
00:47:56,541 --> 00:47:58,839
I don't know.
539
00:48:02,046 --> 00:48:04,776
I can't make up my mind.
540
00:48:04,882 --> 00:48:07,749
But that's a dreadful thing he proposes...
541
00:48:07,852 --> 00:48:10,787
a great, tremendous, dreadful thing.
542
00:48:10,888 --> 00:48:13,789
I don't know that I can
go along that far with him.
543
00:48:13,891 --> 00:48:16,291
Then you shouldn't
if you don't think he's right.
544
00:48:16,427 --> 00:48:19,863
I didn't say he wasn't right,
but even so...
545
00:48:19,964 --> 00:48:24,867
is that the only way to handle it:
Treason?
546
00:48:24,969 --> 00:48:28,370
That's what it comes down to,
no matter how right you think you are.
547
00:48:28,506 --> 00:48:32,033
You think it will be better
to let things go along as they are?
548
00:48:32,176 --> 00:48:36,112
No, no, I don't. But there must be
some better way of handling it.
549
00:48:36,247 --> 00:48:41,150
I mean, if I could see him alone again
and explain the situation to him.
550
00:48:41,252 --> 00:48:45,518
Can you tell me how a man can
fight a war under such conditions?
551
00:48:45,656 --> 00:48:48,591
Isn't it enough
that we're facing an invasion without...
552
00:48:48,726 --> 00:48:52,628
No, never mind now.
You don't have to decide this minute.
553
00:48:52,730 --> 00:48:55,494
It'll come to you when it's time.
554
00:48:56,968 --> 00:48:59,436
What do you think, really?
555
00:48:59,570 --> 00:49:03,836
I can't tell you, dear. I don't know.
556
00:49:03,975 --> 00:49:07,934
But never mind now. When the time
comes, something will tell you.
557
00:49:08,079 --> 00:49:10,411
You better go along now.
You're late already.
558
00:49:14,418 --> 00:49:17,080
- Write to me every day, will you?
- I will.
559
00:49:17,221 --> 00:49:20,554
- A little something for the journey.
- Thank you, darling.
560
00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:25,661
Good-bye, sweetheart.
Don't worry about me.
561
00:49:25,763 --> 00:49:27,856
I'll try not to.
562
00:49:45,283 --> 00:49:47,183
That's all, please.
563
00:49:52,190 --> 00:49:55,956
Good-bye, son. Take care of your
mother and be a good soldier.
564
00:49:56,060 --> 00:49:57,960
Make me proud of you.
565
00:49:58,062 --> 00:50:01,657
I'll try, Father. Are you going to
bring us back Montgomery?
566
00:50:01,799 --> 00:50:04,165
The minute he steps ashore.
567
00:50:05,269 --> 00:50:07,464
Good-bye, darling.
568
00:50:07,572 --> 00:50:09,472
Good-bye, darling.
569
00:50:21,552 --> 00:50:25,921
And then, finally, after
four long years of preparation...
570
00:50:26,023 --> 00:50:28,491
it came... D day.
571
00:50:28,593 --> 00:50:31,460
And the greatest armada
and the vastest movement...
572
00:50:31,562 --> 00:50:35,396
of men and arms in the history of
the world, rose from England...
573
00:50:35,499 --> 00:50:38,627
and set out for the assault
on the beaches of Normandy...
574
00:50:38,736 --> 00:50:41,637
and the German fortress of Europe.
575
00:53:44,822 --> 00:53:47,290
From the moment the Bohemian corporal...
576
00:53:47,425 --> 00:53:50,394
promoted himself
to the supreme command of our forces...
577
00:53:50,528 --> 00:53:54,487
the German army has been the victim
of a unique situation.
578
00:53:54,632 --> 00:53:57,328
Not only too many of the enemy...
579
00:53:57,468 --> 00:54:01,837
but one too many Germans.
580
00:54:01,939 --> 00:54:04,669
You don't think he's ready
to give us the 15th Army yet?
581
00:54:04,775 --> 00:54:07,471
I don't see how he can,
under the circumstances.
582
00:54:07,578 --> 00:54:10,411
His astrologers have informed him
that this is only a feint...
583
00:54:10,514 --> 00:54:13,574
that the real invasion is yet to come,
north of Calais.
584
00:54:13,717 --> 00:54:17,619
The 15th Army is sitting
on those cold beaches up there...
585
00:54:17,755 --> 00:54:20,485
waiting for an invasion
that has already taken place...
586
00:54:20,591 --> 00:54:23,651
is an excellent example
of war by horoscope.
587
00:54:23,794 --> 00:54:26,228
We've got to have those troops.
588
00:54:26,330 --> 00:54:29,925
If we're not allowed to maneuver,
we've got to support these positions.
589
00:54:30,067 --> 00:54:33,230
We've got to see him again about it.
590
00:54:33,337 --> 00:54:35,999
I tell you this in confidence, Rommel.
591
00:54:36,106 --> 00:54:40,509
I don't think anything we can do
would be of the slightest use.
592
00:54:41,745 --> 00:54:45,146
The pattern for defea
has already been set.
593
00:54:45,249 --> 00:54:49,652
"Hold fast.
Don't give up a millimeter of ground.
594
00:54:49,753 --> 00:54:53,086
Victory or death."
Wars simply can't be won...
595
00:54:53,190 --> 00:54:57,957
by men whose knowledge of tactics
is based on copybook maxims.
596
00:54:58,062 --> 00:55:01,862
It may stir schoolchildren,
but they don't stop troops.
597
00:55:01,966 --> 00:55:05,697
Give me a free hand for a few months,
and I'd make them pay for it.
598
00:55:05,803 --> 00:55:08,431
I'd make them pay such a price in blood...
599
00:55:08,539 --> 00:55:11,337
they'd wish they'd never heard of Germany.
600
00:55:11,442 --> 00:55:15,139
I might not be able to stop them all,
but they'd know they'd fought an army...
601
00:55:15,246 --> 00:55:19,842
not a series of stationary targets.
602
00:55:19,950 --> 00:55:21,884
And he'll never let us, of course.
603
00:55:22,019 --> 00:55:24,886
You know how firm corporals are.
604
00:55:52,583 --> 00:55:55,484
Do you happen to know Karl Strolin?
605
00:55:57,154 --> 00:56:00,555
- Strolin?
- The lord mayor of Stuttgart.
606
00:56:02,626 --> 00:56:05,026
I remember that name from somewhere.
607
00:56:05,129 --> 00:56:09,293
Or Doctor Goerdeler of Leipzig?
608
00:56:10,901 --> 00:56:12,801
You too?
609
00:56:14,471 --> 00:56:17,736
Every day that passes,
every minute of the day...
610
00:56:17,841 --> 00:56:22,073
convinces me more and more that
theirs is the only possible solution.
611
00:56:22,179 --> 00:56:24,909
Your words, you must understand,
mystify me.
612
00:56:25,015 --> 00:56:27,848
They propose to arrest him,
take over the government...
613
00:56:27,952 --> 00:56:31,615
and move immediately
to make peace with Eisenhower.
614
00:56:31,722 --> 00:56:34,953
I shall, of course, deny
that this conversation ever took place.
615
00:56:35,059 --> 00:56:37,687
But that's a particularly childish idea.
616
00:56:37,795 --> 00:56:40,286
Eisenhower's not going to
make a separate peace.
617
00:56:40,397 --> 00:56:43,366
And why should he,
with things going as well as they are?
618
00:56:43,467 --> 00:56:45,935
That part of your plan
is doomed from the start.
619
00:56:46,036 --> 00:56:49,472
But you don't disagree
with the basic proposal.
620
00:56:49,573 --> 00:56:52,269
I'm sorry, but I don't believe
I heard the question.
621
00:56:52,376 --> 00:56:54,867
In any case, if they came to you
for counsel or advice...
622
00:56:54,979 --> 00:56:56,879
would you receive them?
623
00:56:56,981 --> 00:56:58,881
Oh, no.
624
00:56:58,983 --> 00:57:01,349
No.
625
00:57:01,452 --> 00:57:04,012
No, I'm afraid not, Rommel.
626
00:57:04,121 --> 00:57:08,251
It's too late... much too late.
627
00:57:08,359 --> 00:57:09,992
Even if they moved immediately?
628
00:57:10,027 --> 00:57:11,625
Even if they moved immediately?
629
00:57:11,729 --> 00:57:13,856
You misunderstand.
630
00:57:13,998 --> 00:57:16,091
Not too late for that.
631
00:57:17,468 --> 00:57:19,402
Too late for me.
632
00:57:20,504 --> 00:57:23,268
I'm 70 now.
633
00:57:23,374 --> 00:57:26,707
Too old to revolt.
634
00:57:26,810 --> 00:57:30,075
Too old to challenge authority...
635
00:57:30,180 --> 00:57:32,648
however evil.
636
00:57:42,660 --> 00:57:45,094
Berlin calling, sir. Marshal Keitel.
637
00:57:53,504 --> 00:57:56,337
- Keitel?
- Von Rundstedt.
638
00:57:56,440 --> 00:57:59,273
- Here.
- Is this true about Cherbourg?
639
00:57:59,376 --> 00:58:01,640
- I'm afraid so.
- This is dreadful.
640
00:58:01,745 --> 00:58:04,111
How can I give such news to the führer?
641
00:58:04,214 --> 00:58:06,148
You've reported misfortune to him before.
642
00:58:06,250 --> 00:58:08,150
Why should this one present such a problem?
643
00:58:08,252 --> 00:58:12,052
But that's just it. We've had nothing
but bad news for weeks.
644
00:58:12,156 --> 00:58:14,954
Isn't there any good news
I can give him at the same time?
645
00:58:15,059 --> 00:58:17,118
Have you checked on the Russian Front
this morning?
646
00:58:17,227 --> 00:58:19,422
We're not discussing the Russian Front.
647
00:58:19,530 --> 00:58:21,430
We're discussing yours.
648
00:58:21,532 --> 00:58:24,296
This situation in the West
becomes worse with every report.
649
00:58:24,401 --> 00:58:28,804
I- I'm actually embarrassed to give him
another disappointment like this.
650
00:58:28,906 --> 00:58:30,840
Can't you think of anything
we can do about it?
651
00:58:30,941 --> 00:58:34,138
Certainly. Give us those 90 divisions
of the 15th Army...
652
00:58:34,244 --> 00:58:36,178
who are sitting around
Calais playing cards.
653
00:58:36,280 --> 00:58:38,180
You know that's impossible.
654
00:58:38,282 --> 00:58:41,012
The führer has already explained
the necessity for leaving them there.
655
00:58:41,118 --> 00:58:43,780
Very well then. Give us permission
to pull out of Normandy...
656
00:58:43,887 --> 00:58:45,946
and set up a line
that we can defend properly.
657
00:58:46,056 --> 00:58:50,083
Your orders are to fight where you are,
and that's what he expects you to do.
658
00:58:50,194 --> 00:58:52,355
Is it possible you have no better
suggestion than that?
659
00:58:52,463 --> 00:58:56,058
One very much better, in fact.
660
00:58:56,166 --> 00:58:58,464
Make peace, you idiot.
661
00:59:20,090 --> 00:59:23,218
- Good-bye again, Rommel.
- He'll never report that.
662
00:59:23,327 --> 00:59:25,795
This very instant,
he's knocking at the corporal's door...
663
00:59:25,896 --> 00:59:27,887
whimpering with happiness.
664
00:59:27,998 --> 00:59:30,558
You must never forget this, my dear fellow.
665
00:59:30,667 --> 00:59:34,103
Victory has a hundred fathers.
Defeat is an orphan.
666
00:59:35,339 --> 00:59:38,240
Within 24 hours,
you'll be named my successor.
667
00:59:38,342 --> 00:59:40,606
And I extend to you my deepest sympathy.
668
00:59:40,711 --> 00:59:43,475
That's nonsense.
He'll never let you go.
669
00:59:51,355 --> 00:59:53,949
But not too old, I might add...
670
00:59:54,057 --> 00:59:56,821
to wish your friends the best of luck...
671
00:59:56,927 --> 01:00:00,294
in their extremely interesting project.
672
01:00:04,001 --> 01:00:08,495
Meanwhile, with their beachheads
irretrievably secured...
673
01:00:08,605 --> 01:00:12,564
Allied tanks and men
had fanned out across France...
674
01:00:12,676 --> 01:00:15,338
and begun their race for the Rhine.
675
01:00:50,948 --> 01:00:53,075
Put these where
you can get to them quickly.
676
01:00:53,183 --> 01:00:55,117
Also those files there.
677
01:00:55,219 --> 01:00:58,586
- Keep the key, and use your... own judgment about the rest.
- Very good, sir.
678
01:01:00,157 --> 01:01:02,057
Field Marshal.
679
01:01:30,053 --> 01:01:32,988
- Where is he?
- In the small room.
680
01:01:34,291 --> 01:01:36,816
- Aldinger.
- Yes, sir.
681
01:01:45,402 --> 01:01:49,395
- Colonel.
- I'll try to be as brief as possible.
682
01:01:49,506 --> 01:01:51,997
- Perhaps you'd better keep an eye on the corridor.
- Yes, sir.
683
01:02:00,150 --> 01:02:04,109
- Well?
- We are faced with an immediate decision, sir.
684
01:02:04,221 --> 01:02:06,655
Three of our men
were arrested in Berlin yesterday.
685
01:02:06,757 --> 01:02:08,782
They'll been made to talk, of course.
686
01:02:08,892 --> 01:02:12,350
But fortunately their knowledge
of the people involved is... limited.
687
01:02:12,462 --> 01:02:15,829
Nevertheless, in the opinion of
everyone, there's no time to be lost.
688
01:02:15,933 --> 01:02:18,424
We must act at once.
689
01:02:18,535 --> 01:02:22,995
- And it's all set. Definitely.
- So I understand, sir.
690
01:02:23,106 --> 01:02:25,472
The general's extremely anxious to know...
691
01:02:25,575 --> 01:02:28,271
if you're in a position to speak for
the commanders you mentioned to him.
692
01:02:28,378 --> 01:02:32,041
At my word from this instant,
they're prepared to follow my lead.
693
01:02:32,149 --> 01:02:35,346
Then I have the field marshal's
permission to inform General Stulpnagel...
694
01:02:35,452 --> 01:02:38,683
we may now act at will
and without further consultation?
695
01:02:42,592 --> 01:02:46,153
Wait here, Colonel. Come with me, Ruge.
696
01:02:49,499 --> 01:02:51,865
- Clear this room, Aldinger.
- Yes, sir.
697
01:02:53,870 --> 01:02:57,237
Outside. Never mind about that. Outside.
698
01:02:59,176 --> 01:03:01,576
Field Marshal Rommel speaking.
699
01:03:01,678 --> 01:03:04,010
Put me through to Field Marshal Keitel.
700
01:03:06,450 --> 01:03:10,443
I've got to be certain, absolutely certain.
701
01:03:10,554 --> 01:03:13,421
We can't go through with this if there's
even the remotest sign of sense there.
702
01:03:18,328 --> 01:03:21,559
- Keitel.
- Rommel.
703
01:03:21,665 --> 01:03:23,565
Now listen very carefully, Keitel.
704
01:03:23,667 --> 01:03:25,965
I've got to see the führer at once.
705
01:03:26,069 --> 01:03:29,038
Somewhere in France.
I can't explain on the telephone...
706
01:03:29,139 --> 01:03:32,631
but you must make him understand that
it's a matter of the greatest urgency.
707
01:03:32,743 --> 01:03:35,177
I suggest tomorrow morning.
708
01:03:35,278 --> 01:03:37,405
On June 17...
709
01:03:37,514 --> 01:03:42,178
they met in Hitler's underground stronghold
at Margival near Soissons.
710
01:03:42,285 --> 01:03:45,345
This is an extremely difficult duty,
my führer.
711
01:03:45,455 --> 01:03:48,049
But circumstances
leave me with no choice.
712
01:03:48,158 --> 01:03:51,457
We've reached a crisis that calls for
a decision on the highest level.
713
01:03:51,561 --> 01:03:55,190
But you've said that!
You've said that before!
714
01:03:55,298 --> 01:03:57,289
Every time I talk to you
we're facing another crisis.
715
01:03:57,401 --> 01:04:01,633
When the enemy has overwhelming superiority
on land, at sea and in the air...
716
01:04:01,738 --> 01:04:04,206
and continues to grow stronger
with every hour...
717
01:04:04,307 --> 01:04:06,537
while we grow weaker at the same rate...
718
01:04:06,643 --> 01:04:08,406
that to me is a crisis
by any standards that I understand.
719
01:04:08,478 --> 01:04:10,529
A crisis that should be examined
promptly and realistically.
720
01:04:10,564 --> 01:04:12,581
A crisis that should be examined
promptly and realistically.
721
01:04:12,716 --> 01:04:16,152
That's you! That's you! Like always!
722
01:04:16,286 --> 01:04:18,846
When everything's going well,
you're willing enough.
723
01:04:18,989 --> 01:04:21,287
But at the first sign of a difficulty...
724
01:04:21,391 --> 01:04:23,291
you become a defeatist,
a complete defeatist.
725
01:04:23,393 --> 01:04:27,295
Are you perhaps interested
why you didn't succeed von Rundstedt?
726
01:04:27,431 --> 01:04:31,094
This is why!
727
01:04:31,234 --> 01:04:34,692
It maybe had been better
if I'd replaced you altogether!
728
01:04:36,339 --> 01:04:39,331
Have you at least
a little confidence in me?
729
01:04:39,476 --> 01:04:43,071
More it would seem than the
führer has in me. May I continue?
730
01:04:43,213 --> 01:04:46,410
And what my V-bombs are doing
to London, has no one told you?
731
01:04:46,550 --> 01:04:49,451
Yes, sir. But why not to the beachheads?
732
01:04:49,553 --> 01:04:52,078
Because that's not their purpose.
They have not that accuracy.
733
01:04:52,222 --> 01:04:54,690
They need a whole city for a target.
Then they cannot miss.
734
01:04:54,825 --> 01:04:58,727
Then why not the embarkation ports...
Plymouth, Southampton. Portsmouth?
735
01:04:58,829 --> 01:05:01,798
No, no, no, no! That's...
736
01:05:01,932 --> 01:05:07,165
That's exactly what I mean when I say you're
no good at thinking above the battlefield.
737
01:05:07,270 --> 01:05:09,761
The British don't care for those villages.
738
01:05:09,906 --> 01:05:11,840
It's their London that they love.
739
01:05:11,975 --> 01:05:15,069
They don't want to see it destroyed
the way I'm going to destroy it.
740
01:05:15,212 --> 01:05:17,510
In two more weeks, remember my words.
741
01:05:17,614 --> 01:05:20,742
They'll be screaming for surrender.
Just wait. You'll see.
742
01:05:20,851 --> 01:05:22,944
To continue, sir.
743
01:05:23,086 --> 01:05:25,782
The struggle is over on this front.
744
01:05:25,889 --> 01:05:28,881
Within these two weeks,
you must be prepared to see the enemy...
745
01:05:29,025 --> 01:05:32,051
break through our lines and
push out into the interior of France.
746
01:05:32,195 --> 01:05:34,129
Militarily, the end is already in sight.
747
01:05:34,264 --> 01:05:37,961
- We have nothing more to throw in.
- Hmph.
748
01:05:38,068 --> 01:05:40,036
What is it you're proposing?
749
01:05:40,170 --> 01:05:43,799
- That we surrender?
- I give you the facts, sir.
750
01:05:43,907 --> 01:05:46,535
I only ask that you
draw the proper conclusions.
751
01:05:46,643 --> 01:05:49,908
Proper to whom? To you!
752
01:05:56,052 --> 01:06:00,182
I suggest to you, Rommel, that you
confine your genius to fighting...
753
01:06:00,290 --> 01:06:04,522
and leave the conduct of the war
to those who are responsible for it!
754
01:06:04,628 --> 01:06:06,562
My apologies, sir.
755
01:06:06,696 --> 01:06:09,392
Now, if the führer
will honor me with his advice...
756
01:06:09,499 --> 01:06:12,866
The V-weapon, for your information,
happens to be only the first...
757
01:06:12,969 --> 01:06:17,702
in a whole series of weapons that will
completely revolutionize all warfare!
758
01:06:17,807 --> 01:06:21,299
I've a second a hundred times
as powerful and a third in mind...
759
01:06:21,411 --> 01:06:23,538
a thousand times
more destructive than the second!
760
01:06:23,647 --> 01:06:25,638
But the crisis is now, sir.
761
01:06:25,749 --> 01:06:29,981
I've a dozen others, all of them capable
of turning the whole course of the war!
762
01:06:30,086 --> 01:06:33,249
But what about now, sir?
What are we to do tomorrow morning?
763
01:06:33,356 --> 01:06:36,348
While you've been deciding
that all is lost...
764
01:06:36,459 --> 01:06:38,950
we've been working, working miracles...
765
01:06:39,062 --> 01:06:42,259
determining the course of history
for centuries to come!
766
01:06:42,365 --> 01:06:44,799
In the workshops, in the laboratories...
767
01:06:44,901 --> 01:06:47,301
we've been turning out
machines of destruction such as...
768
01:06:47,404 --> 01:06:49,998
the enemy has never dreamed of!
769
01:06:50,106 --> 01:06:54,008
I have one in mind...
I have a weapon in mind...
770
01:06:58,815 --> 01:07:02,683
Now, definitely committed to
the plot to assassinate his führer...
771
01:07:02,786 --> 01:07:06,381
Rommel was still trying to
whip fight into his crumbling front...
772
01:07:06,489 --> 01:07:10,391
when on June 17
on a country road near a village...
773
01:07:10,493 --> 01:07:14,156
with the ominous name of Montgomery...
774
01:07:15,198 --> 01:07:18,031
Aircraft.
775
01:08:05,081 --> 01:08:07,675
Three days later, on July 20...
776
01:08:07,784 --> 01:08:11,515
while Rommel still lay unconscious
in a hospital in France...
777
01:08:11,621 --> 01:08:15,318
Adolf Hitler and his staff
gathered for their fateful conference...
778
01:08:15,425 --> 01:08:19,794
in a fortified barracks
at his headquarters in East Prussia.
779
01:09:03,406 --> 01:09:06,705
The führer, gentlemen.
780
01:09:08,712 --> 01:09:11,943
He handles his panzers
like a cavalry officer.
781
01:09:12,048 --> 01:09:14,278
Thank you, gentlemen.
782
01:09:19,389 --> 01:09:21,949
- My führer.
- Yes.
783
01:09:22,058 --> 01:09:23,992
- Stauffenberg, sir.
- Yes! Yes, yes.
784
01:09:24,094 --> 01:09:26,790
- Stauffenberg, of course, from General Fromm.
- Yes, sir.
785
01:09:26,896 --> 01:09:28,989
- Good to see you again.
- Thank you, my führer.
786
01:09:29,099 --> 01:09:34,298
Uh... Gentlemen. Your attention, please.
787
01:09:34,404 --> 01:09:38,636
Excuse me, please.
I have a report from General Fromm.
788
01:09:48,184 --> 01:09:51,745
- Where's Goering?
- On his way now, sir.
789
01:09:51,855 --> 01:09:55,291
Well, when you are fat,
you don't move so fast.
790
01:09:59,562 --> 01:10:01,587
- Colonel-Count von Stauffenberg?
- Yes.
791
01:10:01,698 --> 01:10:03,598
- Telephone, sir.
- Thank you.
792
01:10:08,905 --> 01:10:11,237
Excuse me.
793
01:10:28,658 --> 01:10:33,357
All right. Suppose we
start with the Russian Front.
794
01:10:59,489 --> 01:11:03,152
Führer. Führer!
795
01:11:26,249 --> 01:11:29,082
Are you all right, my führer?
796
01:11:30,420 --> 01:11:34,288
Yeah. I'm all right.
797
01:11:36,593 --> 01:11:40,927
For that failure, 5,000 suspects
paid with their lives...
798
01:11:41,030 --> 01:11:44,625
during the few days
that Hitler spent in hospital.
799
01:11:44,734 --> 01:11:48,898
As for Rommel, recuperating at Herrlingen
from injuries that would have destroyed...
800
01:11:49,005 --> 01:11:50,905
any but the toughest of men...
801
01:11:51,007 --> 01:11:54,101
all public mention
of his name suddenly stopped...
802
01:11:54,210 --> 01:11:56,144
and the complete and official silence...
803
01:11:56,246 --> 01:11:59,841
settled over the subject
of the nation's most-celebrated soldier.
804
01:11:59,949 --> 01:12:04,299
For three months, he remained
in this sinister isolation...
805
01:12:04,334 --> 01:12:08,649
until the afternoon of October 13 in 1944.
806
01:12:08,758 --> 01:12:11,420
- Keitel?
- How are you, Rommel?
807
01:12:11,528 --> 01:12:15,225
- Getting along, thank you.
- Well enough yet to come up to Berlin?
808
01:12:15,331 --> 01:12:19,597
I'm afraid not yet.
In another week or two, perhaps. Why?
809
01:12:19,702 --> 01:12:22,466
I could send a special train for you.
810
01:12:22,572 --> 01:12:26,133
That's very good of you, but I
really don't feel up to it yet.
811
01:12:26,276 --> 01:12:28,437
Is there some particular urgency about it?
812
01:12:28,545 --> 01:12:31,446
How soon do you think
you'll be ready for another command?
813
01:12:31,581 --> 01:12:35,415
Another two weeks, I suppose.
Three at the most.
814
01:12:35,552 --> 01:12:39,682
If we send someone there, would you be
able to discuss the situation with him?
815
01:12:39,822 --> 01:12:41,847
Of course.
816
01:12:41,991 --> 01:12:44,459
Very well, I'll send Burgdorf.
You know him, don't you?
817
01:12:44,594 --> 01:12:48,655
- I've met him.
- Suppose I have him drive down tomorrow morning?
818
01:12:48,798 --> 01:12:51,426
- Would that be convenient for you?
- Perfectly.
819
01:12:51,568 --> 01:12:54,560
He'll have full information
and instructions.
820
01:12:54,704 --> 01:12:57,764
- Will you give my best regards to Frau Rommel?
- I will.
821
01:12:57,907 --> 01:13:00,637
- And thank you very much.
- Good-bye, then.
822
01:13:00,777 --> 01:13:03,177
Good-bye.
823
01:13:21,097 --> 01:13:25,625
Keitel. He's talking about
another command again.
824
01:13:25,768 --> 01:13:29,898
- When?
- When I feel like it, I suppose.
825
01:13:45,755 --> 01:13:49,782
Eh, he sends his best regards to you.
826
01:14:37,840 --> 01:14:40,832
- We're here to see Field Marshal Rommel.
- I'll tell him, sir.
827
01:14:40,977 --> 01:14:43,707
- Would you tell him that...
- Come in, Burgdorf.
828
01:14:51,354 --> 01:14:55,484
- Field Marshal.
- It's good to see you again. And you, General.
829
01:14:55,591 --> 01:14:58,788
- I don't believe you've met my wife.
- I haven't had the pleasure, sir.
830
01:14:58,895 --> 01:15:01,261
My dear, will you allow me to present
General Burgdorf and General...
831
01:15:01,364 --> 01:15:03,264
- Maisel, sir.
- General Maisel.
832
01:15:03,366 --> 01:15:05,300
This is my son Manfred
and Captain Aldinger.
833
01:15:05,401 --> 01:15:07,835
- I hope you're not too tired from your journey.
- Not at all.
834
01:15:07,937 --> 01:15:10,531
- Thank you, Frau Rommel.
- Have you time for a luncheon and a glass of wine?
835
01:15:10,640 --> 01:15:14,041
Thank you, sir. We're due back in Berlin
as quickly as we can make it.
836
01:15:14,177 --> 01:15:16,839
Very well, then. If you'll excuse
us, dear. This way, gentlemen.
837
01:15:16,946 --> 01:15:20,313
- Our apologies, Frau Rommel.
- Of course, but I'm disappointed.
838
01:15:20,416 --> 01:15:22,782
- Another time, perhaps.
- I hope so.
839
01:15:37,734 --> 01:15:40,794
I hope it's the Russian Front, don't you?
840
01:15:44,407 --> 01:15:46,773
Make yourselves comfortable.
841
01:15:46,876 --> 01:15:48,969
Smoke, if you wish.
842
01:15:49,078 --> 01:15:52,605
I'm not like Montgomery.
Smoke doesn't make me unhappy.
843
01:15:56,252 --> 01:15:58,311
At your service, gentlemen.
844
01:15:59,822 --> 01:16:02,256
We come directly from the führer,
Field Marshal.
845
01:16:02,391 --> 01:16:05,053
- Yes.
- And what we have to say to you...
846
01:16:05,161 --> 01:16:07,425
comes directly from his lips.
847
01:16:07,530 --> 01:16:12,092
- Yes.
- Our instructions are to tell you first...
848
01:16:12,201 --> 01:16:14,192
of his deep appreciation...
849
01:16:14,303 --> 01:16:18,364
of your many heroic services
to the state.
850
01:16:19,408 --> 01:16:21,308
Go on.
851
01:16:21,410 --> 01:16:24,277
And his regrets over
your unfortunate accident.
852
01:16:24,380 --> 01:16:28,714
I was sure his silence meant only that there
were more important matters on his mind.
853
01:16:30,086 --> 01:16:32,987
It's a pity that after such a record...
854
01:16:33,089 --> 01:16:35,455
If you'll forgive me,
may we skip your reflections...
855
01:16:35,558 --> 01:16:37,458
and get to the message
you have for me?
856
01:16:37,560 --> 01:16:39,892
Of course, sir.
857
01:17:05,788 --> 01:17:08,120
You'll observe
that the charges are supported...
858
01:17:08,224 --> 01:17:10,818
by an overwhelming body of testimony.
859
01:17:10,927 --> 01:17:13,259
I can read, thank you.
860
01:17:23,306 --> 01:17:27,003
You've been uncommonly fortunate
in deathbed confessions.
861
01:17:27,109 --> 01:17:30,670
It's all perfectly legal,
I assure you, sir.
862
01:17:42,959 --> 01:17:47,896
You may inform the führer that I look
forward to answering these charges in court.
863
01:17:47,997 --> 01:17:51,091
You... You don't intend
to deny them, do you?
864
01:17:51,200 --> 01:17:54,397
I said, you may inform the führer
that I look forward...
865
01:17:54,503 --> 01:17:57,165
to answering the charges in court.
866
01:17:57,273 --> 01:18:00,731
The führer is extremely hopeful
that this matter can be settled...
867
01:18:00,843 --> 01:18:04,574
without exposing it to the inevitable
publicity of a court trial.
868
01:18:04,680 --> 01:18:07,979
Very well, then.
Let him withdraw the charges.
869
01:18:08,084 --> 01:18:11,019
His view is that nothing but harm
for everyone could come from a trial.
870
01:18:11,087 --> 01:18:13,787
My orders are to remind you
in the strongest terms...
871
01:18:13,822 --> 01:18:16,487
My orders are to remind you
in the strongest terms...
872
01:18:16,592 --> 01:18:21,052
of the damage testimony like this
could do to your name and reputation.
873
01:18:21,163 --> 01:18:24,223
And what does he expect me to do?
Plead guilty to you?
874
01:18:24,333 --> 01:18:27,166
Well, naturally, not that, of course.
875
01:18:27,270 --> 01:18:30,865
I know what he wants.
He wants me to keep my mouth shut.
876
01:18:30,973 --> 01:18:34,238
He doesn't want me to tell what happened
where it can be heard.
877
01:18:34,343 --> 01:18:37,801
Well, you may tell him for me
that's very thoughtful of him...
878
01:18:37,914 --> 01:18:42,442
but that I'm quite capable of taking care of
my own name and reputation in my own way...
879
01:18:42,551 --> 01:18:45,076
which will be in a proper court of law.
880
01:18:45,187 --> 01:18:47,155
But to what end, sir?
881
01:18:47,256 --> 01:18:49,622
The verdict is already indicated.
882
01:18:53,296 --> 01:18:55,890
He told you to tell me that too?
883
01:18:55,998 --> 01:18:57,898
The evidence is there.
884
01:18:58,000 --> 01:19:00,195
What defense is possible?
885
01:19:00,303 --> 01:19:04,831
Then, what does he suggest?
886
01:19:04,941 --> 01:19:07,967
Before we go further,
the field marshal should be warned...
887
01:19:08,077 --> 01:19:10,409
that this house is entirely surrounded.
888
01:19:10,513 --> 01:19:12,777
My orders, sir.
I'm sure you understand.
889
01:19:12,882 --> 01:19:16,545
- And the both of us are armed.
- What does he want done?
890
01:19:18,354 --> 01:19:21,790
His belief is that it would be to
the best interests of all concerned...
891
01:19:21,891 --> 01:19:25,952
if you should see fit
to relieve the situation yourself...
892
01:19:26,062 --> 01:19:28,860
quietly and without delay.
893
01:19:28,965 --> 01:19:32,992
- Go on.
- The advantages of a solution like that...
894
01:19:33,102 --> 01:19:36,401
over an ugly exchange
of recriminations in an open court...
895
01:19:36,505 --> 01:19:39,963
are, in his opinion, several and obvious.
896
01:19:40,076 --> 01:19:42,636
Most important to him, of course...
897
01:19:42,745 --> 01:19:45,680
would be the preservation
of your name and fame.
898
01:19:45,781 --> 01:19:48,545
And he would see to it himself
not the slightest suspicion...
899
01:19:48,651 --> 01:19:50,619
would be attached
to the way of your going.
900
01:19:50,720 --> 01:19:54,383
As far as the rest of the nation
would know, you'd succumbed...
901
01:19:54,490 --> 01:19:56,890
finally to your war wounds.
902
01:19:56,993 --> 01:19:59,553
That would be the official announcement.
903
01:19:59,662 --> 01:20:04,156
And the state would then honor your memory
and your family as well...
904
01:20:04,266 --> 01:20:06,427
with a generosity that would be historic.
905
01:20:06,535 --> 01:20:09,299
That was his word, "historic."
906
01:20:09,405 --> 01:20:13,603
Your name would live on
in the glory it once deserved...
907
01:20:13,709 --> 01:20:18,112
while your wife and son would never
want for either safety or comfort...
908
01:20:18,214 --> 01:20:20,546
as long as they live.
909
01:20:22,351 --> 01:20:26,185
- I have a choice?
- In a sense, yes.
910
01:20:27,289 --> 01:20:30,656
The choice to die now... or later.
911
01:20:31,861 --> 01:20:34,125
It amounts to that, I'm afraid.
912
01:20:35,664 --> 01:20:38,258
How long have I to make this choice?
913
01:20:38,367 --> 01:20:42,133
We're due back in Berlin
as early this evening as we can make it.
914
01:20:42,238 --> 01:20:46,174
The penalty in this case, I'm told...
915
01:20:46,275 --> 01:20:49,733
would be the garrote...
death by strangulation.
916
01:20:49,845 --> 01:20:54,544
The drug I've brought with me
is effective in three seconds...
917
01:20:54,650 --> 01:20:57,118
and painless.
918
01:21:13,402 --> 01:21:15,927
Tell him for me...
919
01:21:16,038 --> 01:21:19,667
that in spite of the disadvantages
you've been kind enough to point out...
920
01:21:19,775 --> 01:21:22,608
I'll take the trial.
921
01:21:22,711 --> 01:21:24,611
It may be, as you say, a futile defense...
922
01:21:24,713 --> 01:21:26,738
but I think it should be heard
nevertheless.
923
01:21:26,849 --> 01:21:30,876
There might be some value
in it for those who hear it.
924
01:21:30,986 --> 01:21:35,082
It might even move some to stop
and think for a moment or two...
925
01:21:35,191 --> 01:21:37,921
as finally I did...
926
01:21:38,027 --> 01:21:40,791
though, unfortunately, too late.
927
01:21:40,896 --> 01:21:44,195
In any case, it's my life,
and that's my choice.
928
01:21:45,668 --> 01:21:48,694
I confess my disappointment
with your choice, sir.
929
01:21:48,804 --> 01:21:52,467
My heart, of course, bleeds for you.
930
01:21:52,575 --> 01:21:56,238
The unfortunate part of it
is that if you insist on a trial...
931
01:21:56,345 --> 01:21:59,178
I have no authority
to offer any guarantees...
932
01:21:59,281 --> 01:22:01,579
for the safety and comfort of your son...
933
01:22:01,684 --> 01:22:04,744
and widow.
934
01:22:18,100 --> 01:22:20,500
They're coming out now.
935
01:22:27,176 --> 01:22:30,509
- All over, sir?
- I believe so.
936
01:22:33,682 --> 01:22:37,118
- We'll wait outside, sir.
- I won't be long.
937
01:22:38,420 --> 01:22:40,888
Well, we hardly expected such a...
938
01:22:45,261 --> 01:22:47,525
- Over already?
- Wait there, please.
939
01:22:47,630 --> 01:22:49,928
I'll be down in a few moments.
940
01:22:58,574 --> 01:23:00,838
What is it, Erwin?
941
01:23:00,943 --> 01:23:04,106
I want you to be strong, darling.
942
01:23:04,246 --> 01:23:08,148
I want you to be very strong
and very brave.
943
01:23:08,250 --> 01:23:12,619
- Do you understand?
- Yes.
944
01:23:12,721 --> 01:23:15,349
I've got to go away now...
945
01:23:15,457 --> 01:23:18,551
and I won't be back.
946
01:23:18,661 --> 01:23:21,129
Do you want me to tell you any more?
947
01:23:21,230 --> 01:23:23,164
There's no way out?
948
01:23:23,265 --> 01:23:27,065
No. But it won't be too terrible, uh...
949
01:23:27,169 --> 01:23:30,696
They're giving me a drug.
It's painless and effective immediately.
950
01:23:30,806 --> 01:23:35,436
We're leaving now,
and I'll do it as quickly as possible.
951
01:23:35,544 --> 01:23:38,206
We've got guns, sir.
Can't we make a break for it?
952
01:23:38,314 --> 01:23:40,282
No, there's nothing that can be done.
953
01:23:40,382 --> 01:23:43,146
They've thought of everything.
954
01:23:46,155 --> 01:23:48,055
But at least we could get them.
955
01:23:48,157 --> 01:23:51,217
There's nothing to be done, I tell you.
956
01:23:51,327 --> 01:23:54,660
I've got to do exactly as they say.
957
01:23:57,032 --> 01:23:58,932
Yes, sir.
958
01:24:03,305 --> 01:24:07,674
- Are you going to be brave now?
- I don't know.
959
01:24:07,776 --> 01:24:10,836
You and Manfred will be all right.
They've assured me of that.
960
01:24:10,946 --> 01:24:14,211
And nobody's to know about this but us.
961
01:24:14,316 --> 01:24:20,084
- Are you sure there's no other way?
- No other, darling.
962
01:24:21,557 --> 01:24:25,015
- Have you told Manfred yet?
- I'll tell him when I go down.
963
01:24:25,127 --> 01:24:27,288
No. Let me tell him.
964
01:24:28,530 --> 01:24:30,623
I can tell him so much better.
965
01:24:32,568 --> 01:24:35,128
If you wish.
966
01:24:47,449 --> 01:24:49,815
I'll get my coat now.
967
01:24:49,952 --> 01:24:53,183
It's cold, and I don't want to shiver.
968
01:25:09,371 --> 01:25:12,238
The field marshal's coming out now.
969
01:25:23,385 --> 01:25:26,513
- You're going now?
- Why not?
970
01:25:28,924 --> 01:25:30,824
But are you well enough?
971
01:25:30,926 --> 01:25:34,453
Of course, I've just been taking it easy
on you and your mother.
972
01:25:34,563 --> 01:25:37,464
Is it Russia?
973
01:25:41,003 --> 01:25:44,666
Good-bye, Aldinger, old dear friend.
974
01:25:44,773 --> 01:25:47,173
Good-bye, sir.
975
01:25:47,276 --> 01:25:51,269
- Take care of them.
- Yes, sir.
976
01:25:51,380 --> 01:25:53,848
Can't you tell me?
977
01:25:53,949 --> 01:25:55,940
Don't ask so many questions.
978
01:25:56,051 --> 01:25:58,315
You know better than to talk like that
to a field marshal.
979
01:25:58,420 --> 01:26:00,650
But when will we know?
980
01:26:00,756 --> 01:26:03,486
Before very long.
981
01:26:05,027 --> 01:26:07,621
- Good-bye, son. Be a good boy.
- Good-bye, Father.
982
01:26:07,730 --> 01:26:10,631
You'll stop them, won't you?
983
01:26:10,733 --> 01:26:12,724
We'll see.
984
01:26:25,247 --> 01:26:27,272
Good-bye, dear.
985
01:26:40,429 --> 01:26:42,522
During that last short ride...
986
01:26:42,631 --> 01:26:44,792
what may Rommel's thoughts have been?
987
01:26:44,900 --> 01:26:49,769
Were they bitter that he had
learned too slowly and struck too late?
988
01:26:49,872 --> 01:26:53,239
Or did they go back to the desert,
where his military genius...
989
01:26:53,342 --> 01:26:55,674
had first electrified the world?
990
01:26:55,778 --> 01:26:58,542
First, at Mikkeli.
991
01:27:01,183 --> 01:27:03,413
Then Tobruk.
992
01:27:05,654 --> 01:27:08,248
Yes, and even El Alamein.
993
01:27:12,161 --> 01:27:15,619
In any case, his life and fate
have best been summed up...
994
01:27:15,731 --> 01:27:20,532
ironically enough, in the words
of Nazi Germany's sternest enemy...
995
01:27:20,636 --> 01:27:23,503
the honorable Winston Churchill.
996
01:27:23,605 --> 01:27:28,975
His ardor and daring inflicted
grievous disasters upon us...
997
01:27:29,077 --> 01:27:32,604
but he deserves the salute
which I made him...
998
01:27:32,714 --> 01:27:37,777
in the House of Commons in January 1942.
999
01:27:37,886 --> 01:27:40,753
He also deserves our respect...
1000
01:27:40,856 --> 01:27:45,054
because, although
a loyal German soldier...
1001
01:27:45,160 --> 01:27:48,857
he came to hate Hitler and all his works...
1002
01:27:48,964 --> 01:27:53,333
and took part
in the conspiracy to rescue Germany...
1003
01:27:53,435 --> 01:27:58,429
by displacing the maniac and tyrant.
1004
01:27:58,540 --> 01:28:03,603
For this, he paid the forfeit of his life.
1005
01:28:03,712 --> 01:28:07,045
In the somber wars of modern democracy...
1006
01:28:07,149 --> 01:28:11,051
there is little place for chivalry.