1 00:00:15,598 --> 00:00:17,801 The time is 1941... 2 00:00:17,901 --> 00:00:20,389 a month before Pearl Harbor. 3 00:00:20,493 --> 00:00:22,981 At 11:00 on a November night... 4 00:00:23,085 --> 00:00:25,540 a British submarine surfaced in the Mediterranean... 5 00:00:25,645 --> 00:00:28,198 off the coast of Libya in North Africa... 6 00:00:28,301 --> 00:00:30,243 behind the German lines. 7 00:00:34,798 --> 00:00:36,968 Are you sure the light carries that far? 8 00:00:37,068 --> 00:00:38,891 It should. 9 00:00:40,973 --> 00:00:43,110 There they are. 10 00:00:46,444 --> 00:00:49,640 - What's he saying? - He says they're all set, sir. 11 00:00:49,739 --> 00:00:52,041 Tell him we're coming in. 12 00:01:26,890 --> 00:01:29,278 These were British commandos... 13 00:01:29,386 --> 00:01:32,135 and the purpose of this carefully plotted raid... 14 00:01:32,233 --> 00:01:34,600 was the death of one man. 15 00:03:52,482 --> 00:03:54,653 Aaaah! 16 00:05:08,126 --> 00:05:09,948 Cover me. 17 00:05:46,940 --> 00:05:49,242 It's no use. Go on without me. 18 00:05:49,373 --> 00:05:52,088 - Get hold of my arm! - It's no use, I tell you. Get out of here! 19 00:06:10,427 --> 00:06:13,606 Did we... Did we get him? 20 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,786 Are you serious, Englishman? 21 00:07:29,879 --> 00:07:32,596 Gentlemen, the following order from General Auchinleck... 22 00:07:32,695 --> 00:07:36,241 is to all commanders and chiefs of staff of the Middle East forces. 23 00:07:36,342 --> 00:07:39,190 "There exists a real danger that our friend Rommel... 24 00:07:39,286 --> 00:07:42,963 "is becoming a kind of magician or bogeyman to our troops... 25 00:07:43,062 --> 00:07:45,517 "who are talking far too much about him. 26 00:07:45,622 --> 00:07:47,695 "He is by no means a superman... 27 00:07:47,798 --> 00:07:50,864 "although he is undoubtedly very energetic and able. 28 00:07:50,966 --> 00:07:54,828 "Even if he were a superman, it would still be highly undesirable... 29 00:07:54,934 --> 00:07:58,414 "that our men should credit him with supernatural powers. 30 00:07:58,517 --> 00:08:01,681 "I wish you to dispel by all possible means... 31 00:08:01,782 --> 00:08:04,498 "the idea that Rommel represents something more... 32 00:08:04,597 --> 00:08:07,052 "than an ordinary German general. 33 00:08:07,157 --> 00:08:09,841 "Please ensure that this order is put into immediate effect... 34 00:08:09,941 --> 00:08:12,242 "and impress upon all commanders... 35 00:08:12,341 --> 00:08:14,730 "that from a psychological point of view... 36 00:08:14,837 --> 00:08:16,780 it is a matter of the highest importance. " 37 00:08:16,885 --> 00:08:19,438 Signed C.J. Auchinleck, General... 38 00:08:19,540 --> 00:08:22,539 Commander-in-Chief, M.E.F. 39 00:08:22,645 --> 00:08:26,800 This is the North African desert in June of 1942... 40 00:08:26,900 --> 00:08:30,413 and these are British soldiers taken prisoner the night before... 41 00:08:30,516 --> 00:08:33,101 by units of the German Afrika Korps. 42 00:08:48,531 --> 00:08:50,354 Run, you fool, run! 43 00:09:12,849 --> 00:09:15,402 You! Come on, get out of there! 44 00:09:17,970 --> 00:09:20,336 Get over with the other prisoners! 45 00:09:32,144 --> 00:09:34,533 Who is the senior officer here? 46 00:09:36,944 --> 00:09:39,181 - I am, I suppose. - Come with me. 47 00:09:47,856 --> 00:09:49,830 - What's your rank? - Lieutenant colonel. 48 00:09:49,936 --> 00:09:52,805 Colonel, I want you to go along with these two officers on a flag of truce. 49 00:09:52,912 --> 00:09:54,950 And tell that battery to stop firing. 50 00:09:55,056 --> 00:09:57,673 - Tell them they're... killing their own men. - I can't do that. 51 00:09:57,776 --> 00:10:00,524 Don't tell me what you can or can't do. I'm giving you an order. 52 00:10:00,623 --> 00:10:02,445 Here, tie this on that rifle. 53 00:10:02,543 --> 00:10:04,365 Listen, Major, I'm a prisoner of war. 54 00:10:04,463 --> 00:10:06,285 You can't give me any such order. 55 00:10:06,383 --> 00:10:08,205 You know that as well as I do. 56 00:10:08,303 --> 00:10:10,605 I'm not going to argue the point with you. 57 00:10:10,703 --> 00:10:13,998 Either you do as I tell you, or we'll soon find a way to make you. 58 00:10:14,095 --> 00:10:16,003 Are you going or not? 59 00:10:16,111 --> 00:10:19,371 Major! Major! 60 00:10:19,470 --> 00:10:21,292 What's the row? 61 00:10:46,989 --> 00:10:49,127 The field marshal said you're right. 62 00:10:49,260 --> 00:10:51,049 Field marshal? 63 00:10:54,509 --> 00:10:56,777 So this, then, was Rommel... 64 00:10:56,877 --> 00:10:59,876 Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel... 65 00:11:00,012 --> 00:11:02,500 commander-in-chief of the enemy army... 66 00:11:02,637 --> 00:11:06,247 and the most celebrated German soldier since World War I. 67 00:11:08,908 --> 00:11:12,169 Already a legend in the desert, he was a fox... 68 00:11:12,268 --> 00:11:15,583 who had chased his hunters back and forth across North Africa... 69 00:11:15,723 --> 00:11:18,341 about as often as they had chased him... 70 00:11:18,476 --> 00:11:21,791 and his tricks and turns had made even the Tommies chuckle... 71 00:11:21,931 --> 00:11:26,535 which is scarcely the proper reflex to the enemy in time of war. 72 00:11:26,667 --> 00:11:30,146 In spite of which he was still, of course, my enemy... 73 00:11:30,283 --> 00:11:34,025 the enemy not only of my country and the army in which I served... 74 00:11:34,154 --> 00:11:36,457 but of all life as I knew it... 75 00:11:36,554 --> 00:11:39,970 not only of democracy as free men had fashioned it... 76 00:11:40,107 --> 00:11:42,757 but of civilization itself. 77 00:11:42,891 --> 00:11:45,738 My name is Desmond Young. 78 00:11:45,866 --> 00:11:49,608 At the time of my capture, I was a lieutenant colonel in the Indian army. 79 00:11:49,705 --> 00:11:51,943 This was my first and only sight... 80 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,911 of the cool, hard, professional soldier... 81 00:11:55,050 --> 00:11:58,529 whose scrupulous regard for the rules of warfare had been exercised... 82 00:11:58,664 --> 00:12:01,699 in this instance, so fortunately for myself. 83 00:12:03,816 --> 00:12:06,118 Two years and four months later... 84 00:12:06,217 --> 00:12:09,958 while the British and Americans were fighting their way across Europe... 85 00:12:10,057 --> 00:12:12,261 Erwin Rommel was dead. 86 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,109 He was dead, the Nazis reported... 87 00:12:15,209 --> 00:12:18,404 of wounds gallantly received on the field of honor. 88 00:12:18,504 --> 00:12:21,351 But the Nazis were great liars, of course. 89 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:23,585 Many people wondered. 90 00:12:23,688 --> 00:12:27,649 For already there were mysterious rumors floating across the battle lines. 91 00:12:29,928 --> 00:12:33,790 So, when the war was over and my military life behind me... 92 00:12:33,927 --> 00:12:36,099 I gave myself a mission. 93 00:12:36,199 --> 00:12:39,679 I set out to discover what actually had happened to him. 94 00:12:39,815 --> 00:12:41,920 What was the truth about his death... 95 00:12:42,024 --> 00:12:45,090 and on what field of honor had he died? 96 00:12:45,191 --> 00:12:49,893 In a modest home in the tiny village of Herrlingen by Ulm in Wurttemberg, Germany... 97 00:12:49,991 --> 00:12:53,885 I talked long and often with Rommel's son and widow... 98 00:12:54,023 --> 00:12:57,699 and examined his letters, reports and other papers. 99 00:12:57,798 --> 00:13:00,416 In Germany, I talked to soldiers... 100 00:13:00,518 --> 00:13:03,779 who had served with him, over him and under him; 101 00:13:03,878 --> 00:13:07,140 In England, with men who had fought against him... 102 00:13:07,270 --> 00:13:09,659 from field marshals to desert rats. 103 00:13:09,797 --> 00:13:11,870 And in both countries, of course... 104 00:13:11,972 --> 00:13:14,307 I went to the official records. 105 00:13:14,438 --> 00:13:16,543 Based on these facts... 106 00:13:16,645 --> 00:13:21,152 what now follows is the true story of Erwin Rommel. 107 00:13:23,269 --> 00:13:26,368 The beginning of the end for this single-minded soldier... 108 00:13:26,468 --> 00:13:31,423 came at 9:30 on the evening of October 23, 1942... 109 00:13:31,523 --> 00:13:33,912 when at El Alamein six miles of British guns... 110 00:13:34,020 --> 00:13:35,843 Fire! 111 00:14:12,579 --> 00:14:15,033 I discovered that actually Rommel was not in Africa... 112 00:14:15,170 --> 00:14:17,341 when the storm of battle broke. 113 00:14:17,475 --> 00:14:20,059 Suffering from a chronic diphtheria of the nose... 114 00:14:20,194 --> 00:14:22,877 he had been relieved of his command a month before... 115 00:14:23,009 --> 00:14:25,344 and flown back to a hospital in Germany. 116 00:14:25,441 --> 00:14:28,736 But when the telephone rang at his bedside... 117 00:14:28,866 --> 00:14:32,215 and a familiar voice from Berlin called on him once more... 118 00:14:32,353 --> 00:14:36,182 he rose and was in a plane on the way back to the desert within hours. 119 00:15:01,344 --> 00:15:04,508 - Thank you, Bayerlein. Still a dandy, I see. - Just luck, sir. 120 00:15:04,608 --> 00:15:06,582 - Welcome back. - Good to see you, sir. 121 00:15:06,718 --> 00:15:09,403 - Shall we take a look at those maps? - Over here. 122 00:15:09,502 --> 00:15:12,765 - How've you been, Bayerlein? - Oh, very well, I suppose. 123 00:15:12,895 --> 00:15:15,284 - Did you see Frau Rommel? - Yes, she came to stay a week, she and Manfred. 124 00:15:15,423 --> 00:15:17,462 - Well, I hope... - How does it look today? 125 00:15:17,599 --> 00:15:20,217 Oh, looks like they've got too much for us. 126 00:15:20,319 --> 00:15:23,035 If they keep this up, I've no idea how we're going to get out of it. 127 00:15:23,134 --> 00:15:25,436 - Not with the amount of petrol we've got. - But we've got petrol? 128 00:15:25,535 --> 00:15:27,836 - Some, but not enough. - You mean it's still on the way. 129 00:15:27,933 --> 00:15:30,716 - Neither on the way nor any prospect of it. - Who told you that? 130 00:15:30,813 --> 00:15:35,068 I've talked to Rome three times. There's no petrol on the way nor any committed to us. 131 00:15:35,199 --> 00:15:37,916 Schultz. Aldinger. 132 00:15:43,805 --> 00:15:46,456 - What about the tanks? Did they come? - None. 133 00:15:46,558 --> 00:15:48,826 - None since I left? - No. None since August. 134 00:15:48,926 --> 00:15:51,031 - What about the guns? - Nothing, I tell you. 135 00:15:51,133 --> 00:15:53,021 - And no petrol at all? - Not a pint. 136 00:16:06,588 --> 00:16:08,660 This is correct from the hour. 137 00:16:08,764 --> 00:16:11,099 Get me a stool, will you? 138 00:16:15,612 --> 00:16:18,711 Here's where it's worst. 15th's in a bad way, barely hanging together. 139 00:16:18,811 --> 00:16:21,593 - What's this? - A trailer division. They came in here. 140 00:16:21,691 --> 00:16:24,539 - Yes, I see. How far's this armor? - No further. 141 00:16:24,667 --> 00:16:27,449 - They're doing pretty well there. - Where are my maps? 142 00:16:31,931 --> 00:16:34,713 Bring the 21st north through here. 143 00:16:34,811 --> 00:16:37,811 - Move the 90th forward here. - They'll hook up. 144 00:16:37,914 --> 00:16:39,736 That's right. Now tell me this. 145 00:16:39,834 --> 00:16:42,136 - Is Montgomery sending his infantry in first? - Naturally. 146 00:16:42,235 --> 00:16:45,977 Then let's give him a surprise. Let's send our tanks and blow a hole through that infantry. 147 00:16:46,075 --> 00:16:49,817 If it works, we'll be on top of his tanks before he knows what hit him. 148 00:16:49,945 --> 00:16:53,743 - Very good, sir. - If it doesn't work, we'll know better than to try it next time. 149 00:16:53,850 --> 00:16:57,265 - Come on, Aldinger. - You're not going up now, are you? 150 00:16:58,746 --> 00:17:01,201 Don't you think you oughta turn in for an hour or so? 151 00:17:01,306 --> 00:17:03,923 - After three weeks of being turned in? - We're away, sir? 152 00:17:04,025 --> 00:17:06,806 Let's head north and go in with the 21st. 153 00:17:12,984 --> 00:17:15,537 But there was now another fox in the desert... 154 00:17:15,642 --> 00:17:17,812 an even craftier one, perhaps. 155 00:17:17,914 --> 00:17:21,142 And if the battle boiled into confusion during the next few days... 156 00:17:21,241 --> 00:17:25,878 it was a confusion that was clearly more and more in Montgomery's favor. 157 00:19:05,811 --> 00:19:07,949 Have you found the field marshal yet? 158 00:19:08,052 --> 00:19:10,385 No, sir. He's out at the front again. 159 00:19:13,490 --> 00:19:15,629 I don't know how the men on line feel about it... 160 00:19:15,731 --> 00:19:18,665 but so far as the staff is concerned, I'd just as soon have a commander-in-chief... 161 00:19:18,771 --> 00:19:20,746 with a little bit of cowardice about him. 162 00:19:20,850 --> 00:19:23,632 Just enough to come back at headquarters every now and then. 163 00:19:23,730 --> 00:19:25,967 Keep after him, will you? 164 00:19:37,489 --> 00:19:39,628 By the tenth day of the battle... 165 00:19:39,730 --> 00:19:42,697 not even Rommel could have any doubt as to its outcome. 166 00:19:42,801 --> 00:19:45,168 There's a limit to this sort of thing. 167 00:19:45,265 --> 00:19:48,910 You can't just go on indefinitely until the last man's dead. 168 00:19:49,009 --> 00:19:51,977 It's all very gallant and all that, but it's also pretty idiotic. 169 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:57,135 Von Thoma wants to pull back to Djerba. 170 00:19:57,169 --> 00:20:00,103 - What about M¨¹ller? - No answer as yet, sir. 171 00:20:02,929 --> 00:20:05,579 - Where're you from, son? - Goslar, sir. 172 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:08,746 Really? I was stationed in Goslar once with a mountain battalion. 173 00:20:08,848 --> 00:20:11,717 - We did a lot of skiing there. Do you know that run? - Very well, sir. 174 00:20:11,823 --> 00:20:14,441 - Are you any good? - Well, sir, two years ago... 175 00:20:14,544 --> 00:20:17,391 - Are you sure you understood? - Yes. I had him repeat it back to me. 176 00:20:17,487 --> 00:20:19,821 - Are you keeping after M¨¹ller? - Yes, sir. 177 00:20:21,327 --> 00:20:23,716 - Have you tried Berlin? - Call if you can. 178 00:20:23,822 --> 00:20:26,986 - Nothing yet, though. - Nobody knows the situation. I sent him the whole story. 179 00:20:27,087 --> 00:20:29,869 - If there's anything he can do, he will. - No matter what you say... 180 00:20:29,967 --> 00:20:32,006 to Berlin we're only a side show and you know it. 181 00:20:38,734 --> 00:20:41,384 - Well, what? - M¨¹ller's in a bad way. 182 00:20:41,486 --> 00:20:43,308 - How bad? - Very, I'm afraid. 183 00:20:43,406 --> 00:20:46,187 If he doesn't pull back soon, he won't have anything to pull back. 184 00:20:46,286 --> 00:20:49,252 - Well, where is he? - His command car is gone. He's working in a carrier. 185 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,260 And if he's got more than 40 tanks left, I'd be greatly surprised. 186 00:20:52,365 --> 00:20:55,977 - How about the Italians? - M¨¹ller thinks they've had as much as they can take. 187 00:20:56,078 --> 00:20:57,900 Rome calling, sir. 188 00:21:00,718 --> 00:21:03,750 - Well? - Field Marshal Kesselring regrets. 189 00:21:03,854 --> 00:21:06,668 Well, that eliminates any further speculation anyway. 190 00:21:09,101 --> 00:21:11,850 It's now a simple matter of mathematics. 191 00:21:11,948 --> 00:21:14,631 With the petrol we've got left, we have two choices: 192 00:21:14,732 --> 00:21:17,154 We can remain here and be destroyed... 193 00:21:17,260 --> 00:21:20,293 or we can pull out tonight and dig in somewhere for the next round. 194 00:21:20,396 --> 00:21:22,567 - You think we still can? - Pull out? Of course. Why not? 195 00:21:22,668 --> 00:21:24,490 Montgomery's got no petrol shortage. 196 00:21:24,587 --> 00:21:26,660 But Montgomery's a very deliberate fellow. 197 00:21:26,763 --> 00:21:29,546 He wouldn't dream of leaping after me the way I'd leap after him. 198 00:21:29,643 --> 00:21:32,360 - He'd have to think about it. - I don't see what else there is to be done. 199 00:21:32,459 --> 00:21:34,281 There's nothing else. Let's have plan "C." 200 00:21:34,379 --> 00:21:37,030 Notify all commanding officers to stand by for important orders. 201 00:21:37,131 --> 00:21:39,684 - If we can move quickly enough... - Berlin calling, sir. 202 00:21:39,787 --> 00:21:41,958 - Who in Berlin? - The f¨¹hrer. 203 00:21:58,250 --> 00:22:00,072 Signed Adolf Hitler. 204 00:22:00,170 --> 00:22:04,065 "The situation requires that the El Alamein position be held to the last man. 205 00:22:04,169 --> 00:22:08,425 There is to be no retreat, not so much as one millimeter. It must be victory or death. " 206 00:22:08,522 --> 00:22:10,824 - I can't believe it. - Have you still got Berlin? 207 00:22:10,922 --> 00:22:13,125 - Yes, sir. - Ask him to repeat that message. 208 00:22:13,226 --> 00:22:16,487 - Yes, sir. - I know, but it's not him. It's those hoodlums again... 209 00:22:16,585 --> 00:22:19,684 those thieves and crooks and murderers, those toy soldiers... 210 00:22:19,785 --> 00:22:24,063 those dummy generals with their books and charts and maps and pointers! 211 00:22:24,201 --> 00:22:26,372 How can he listen to such nonentities? 212 00:22:26,504 --> 00:22:28,840 How can he even stand the smell of such filth? 213 00:22:28,937 --> 00:22:31,522 - Why doesn't he use his own intelligence? - I have your repeat, sir. 214 00:22:31,624 --> 00:22:33,446 Well, go ahead, read it. 215 00:22:33,576 --> 00:22:37,471 "The situation requires that the El Alamein position be held to the last man. 216 00:22:37,608 --> 00:22:40,160 "There is to be no retreat, not so much as one millimeter. 217 00:22:40,296 --> 00:22:43,264 It must be victory or death. " Signed, Adolf Hitler. 218 00:22:44,905 --> 00:22:47,838 - It's incredible. - You're not going to pay attention to such nonsense? 219 00:22:47,975 --> 00:22:50,944 It's an order, Bayerlein, a military order from general headquarters... 220 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,723 a clear, straight, stupid, criminal military order from general headquarters. 221 00:22:54,856 --> 00:22:58,303 And what are you going to do, double the insanity by obeying it? 222 00:22:58,439 --> 00:23:00,860 We've got the best soldiers in the German army here. 223 00:23:00,999 --> 00:23:04,097 They may be just hanging on now, but they're still a force, they're still fighting. 224 00:23:04,230 --> 00:23:06,817 If we take them out now, they can fight again tomorrow. 225 00:23:06,950 --> 00:23:09,820 But this... this is shear madness. It's out of the Middle Ages. 226 00:23:09,958 --> 00:23:13,702 Nobody has said "victory or death" since people fought with bows and arrows. 227 00:23:13,798 --> 00:23:16,351 Why, this is an order to throw away an entire army. 228 00:23:16,486 --> 00:23:20,228 If I may remind you, sir, here in the field these men are yours, not his. 229 00:23:20,325 --> 00:23:22,464 - I just can't understand it. - I can. He's insane. 230 00:23:22,599 --> 00:23:26,875 He's not insane. He's... But neither am I. 231 00:23:34,693 --> 00:23:38,435 Pull them out, Bayerlein. I'll argue with him about it later. 232 00:24:14,339 --> 00:24:17,754 The end came in Tunis when the Axis forces were caught... 233 00:24:17,891 --> 00:24:20,061 between the British, the Free French... 234 00:24:20,163 --> 00:24:22,072 and the Americans under Eisenhower... 235 00:24:22,211 --> 00:24:25,594 and surrendered unconditionally. 236 00:24:27,683 --> 00:24:31,227 But the Afrika Korps went into captivity without its leader. 237 00:24:31,330 --> 00:24:35,323 For, a month before the end, Rommel had again fallen ill... 238 00:24:35,426 --> 00:24:38,044 and been invalided back to the hospital in Germany. 239 00:24:46,945 --> 00:24:49,696 - Good morning, Sergeant. - Good morning, Frau Rommel, Manfred. 240 00:24:49,793 --> 00:24:53,110 - Morning. - Dr. Strolin. 241 00:24:53,217 --> 00:24:57,243 - Karl Strolin, Stuttgart. - Dr. Strolin is an old friend of the field marshal's. 242 00:24:57,344 --> 00:24:59,766 I understand you'll find him much better this morning. 243 00:24:59,872 --> 00:25:01,760 All he needed was a little rest. 244 00:25:09,344 --> 00:25:12,573 Frau Rommel... 245 00:25:12,672 --> 00:25:15,738 Manfred Rommel... 246 00:25:18,303 --> 00:25:21,718 and Dr. Karl Strolin. 247 00:25:21,824 --> 00:25:23,733 From Stuttgart? 248 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:26,557 Not only from, but lord mayor of. 249 00:25:28,671 --> 00:25:31,038 Don't tell me he's on the list. 250 00:25:34,975 --> 00:25:37,822 "Dr. Karl Strolin, lord mayor of Stuttgart. " 251 00:25:39,614 --> 00:25:42,266 She says he's an old friend of the field marshal. 252 00:25:42,367 --> 00:25:44,189 Nevertheless, here he is. 253 00:25:44,287 --> 00:25:46,326 "To be kept under the closest observation... 254 00:25:46,431 --> 00:25:49,464 whenever discovered beyond the precincts of Stuttgart. " 255 00:25:51,614 --> 00:25:54,549 Not that it could really be described as an argument. 256 00:25:54,654 --> 00:25:57,305 It's impossible to have an argument with him... 257 00:25:57,406 --> 00:26:00,055 in the sense that you and I could have an argument. 258 00:26:00,158 --> 00:26:02,875 He raves, he screams, he goes into such hysterics... 259 00:26:02,974 --> 00:26:06,234 that it's like trying to make sense with a panic-stricken woman. 260 00:26:06,333 --> 00:26:08,722 He called him a coward. 261 00:26:08,829 --> 00:26:11,699 Did he really use that word to you? 262 00:26:11,805 --> 00:26:13,910 Not once, but several times. 263 00:26:14,013 --> 00:26:18,834 In Russia, he said, officers like me have been put against the wall and shot. 264 00:26:18,941 --> 00:26:21,559 Now must I think it couldn't happen to me too. 265 00:26:21,661 --> 00:26:26,166 That was his thanks, that was his gratitude for all that Erwin has done for him. 266 00:26:26,269 --> 00:26:29,050 On the other hand, you mustn't hold people too accountable... 267 00:26:29,149 --> 00:26:31,995 for everything they say when they're emotionally upset. 268 00:26:32,092 --> 00:26:36,020 The war is not going well, and he's naturally worried. 269 00:26:36,124 --> 00:26:38,360 But I'm afraid it will be a long time... 270 00:26:38,460 --> 00:26:41,242 before I forget what he did to the Afrika Korps. 271 00:26:41,339 --> 00:26:43,347 What was that? 272 00:26:43,451 --> 00:26:47,193 When the end was near and I asked him to get them out... 273 00:26:47,291 --> 00:26:50,935 he said he had no further interest or concern... 274 00:26:51,035 --> 00:26:52,791 in the Afrika Korps. 275 00:26:52,892 --> 00:26:55,476 And that was their thanks. 276 00:26:56,922 --> 00:27:00,916 Rommel... I should like to ask you a question. 277 00:27:01,019 --> 00:27:03,953 Of course, if you don't care to answer, I quite understand. 278 00:27:04,058 --> 00:27:07,440 But with your permission, I should like to ask it nevertheless. 279 00:27:07,546 --> 00:27:09,368 What is it? 280 00:27:09,466 --> 00:27:11,833 Do you really believe that we can win? 281 00:27:17,050 --> 00:27:19,952 - I'll tell you what he believes. - Yes? 282 00:27:21,754 --> 00:27:23,957 He doesn't think so. 283 00:27:24,057 --> 00:27:26,130 He told you that himself? 284 00:27:26,233 --> 00:27:28,055 He did. 285 00:27:28,153 --> 00:27:31,022 And he understands what that'll mean this time? 286 00:27:31,128 --> 00:27:32,951 Apparently. 287 00:27:33,048 --> 00:27:34,958 Then why do we go on? 288 00:27:35,064 --> 00:27:38,994 We have no choice, because no country we're fighting... 289 00:27:39,097 --> 00:27:42,838 England, America or Russia... will make peace with him. 290 00:27:42,936 --> 00:27:45,107 He admitted that? 291 00:27:45,209 --> 00:27:48,208 And it's the truth, of course. 292 00:27:48,312 --> 00:27:51,759 In other words, while he remains as leader of Germany... 293 00:27:51,864 --> 00:27:54,515 we must fight on until we're destroyed. 294 00:27:54,616 --> 00:27:57,366 Victory or death, as ever. 295 00:27:57,464 --> 00:28:02,166 I take it he didn't mention the obvious solution to the situation. 296 00:28:02,264 --> 00:28:05,612 - What do you mean? - Abdication. 297 00:28:07,928 --> 00:28:10,348 Now, my dear Strolin... 298 00:28:12,599 --> 00:28:15,469 - I'm afraid we must go, dear. - Must you already? 299 00:28:15,575 --> 00:28:18,062 - I have a train to catch. - We'll come back after supper. 300 00:28:18,166 --> 00:28:21,745 Let's have coffee together. Good-bye, Strolin. 'T was good to see you again. 301 00:28:21,846 --> 00:28:23,920 We won't let it be so long next time. 302 00:28:24,022 --> 00:28:26,673 - Do you think they really would, Father? - Would what, son? 303 00:28:26,774 --> 00:28:29,164 - Shoot you? - No, no, of course not. 304 00:28:29,270 --> 00:28:32,369 That's just his wild way of talking. You mustn't pay any attention to that. 305 00:28:32,470 --> 00:28:35,818 - Shoot his greatest general? - You shouldn't have said that in front of him. 306 00:28:35,926 --> 00:28:38,292 Come along and stop talking nonsense. 307 00:28:39,605 --> 00:28:42,605 - Until this evening, dear? - Come early, will you? 308 00:28:45,173 --> 00:28:47,693 He's a good-looking boy, isn't he? 309 00:28:47,797 --> 00:28:51,953 A very nice boy too. But were you entirely truthful with him? 310 00:28:52,053 --> 00:28:53,875 About what? 311 00:28:53,973 --> 00:28:57,551 - When you told him he would never put you up against a wall. - But of course. 312 00:28:57,653 --> 00:29:01,001 Has the possibility ever occurred to you that he might turn on you? 313 00:29:01,108 --> 00:29:03,891 - But why should he? - He's turned on others. 314 00:29:03,988 --> 00:29:06,256 He'll never turn on me. 315 00:29:06,356 --> 00:29:10,251 What about some of those fellows around him that don't like you? Himmler, Bormann and that crowd. 316 00:29:10,355 --> 00:29:13,420 - Don't they ever influence him? - Very often, indeed. 317 00:29:13,524 --> 00:29:16,939 You don't think it's possible they might influence him against you someday? 318 00:29:17,044 --> 00:29:21,299 It's possible, yes, but I don't see that it's very likely. 319 00:29:21,396 --> 00:29:24,462 But in the remote possibility that they did... 320 00:29:24,563 --> 00:29:28,337 have you ever considered what might become of Lucie and Manfred? 321 00:29:28,467 --> 00:29:32,689 I've never thought about it. But what on Earth are you getting at, anyway? 322 00:29:32,819 --> 00:29:35,666 I think you should, that's all. 323 00:29:35,795 --> 00:29:38,610 You haven't changed a bit, Doctor. 324 00:29:38,739 --> 00:29:41,390 You always were something of an odd fish. 325 00:29:41,522 --> 00:29:43,889 But there's no need for you to worry this time. 326 00:29:44,018 --> 00:29:45,906 We're in no danger, none of us. 327 00:29:46,033 --> 00:29:48,456 If you'll take a word of advice from an old friend... 328 00:29:48,594 --> 00:29:50,449 you'd better not talk like that to everybody. 329 00:29:50,577 --> 00:29:52,366 I don't. 330 00:29:52,497 --> 00:29:56,174 Only to those I know very well and am very fond of. 331 00:29:56,306 --> 00:29:59,372 - Good-bye, Rommel. - Good-bye, Strolin. 332 00:29:59,505 --> 00:30:02,287 - Come again if you can. - I'll try. 333 00:32:12,906 --> 00:32:15,426 An invasion of Hitler's European fortress... 334 00:32:15,530 --> 00:32:17,951 was now clearly but a matter of time. 335 00:32:18,058 --> 00:32:20,447 And in November of 1943... 336 00:32:20,554 --> 00:32:23,685 Rommel made a tour of inspection of the Atlantic defenses... 337 00:32:23,786 --> 00:32:27,015 preparatory of taking command of the Nazi forces... 338 00:32:27,114 --> 00:32:29,797 that were gathering to resist the assault. 339 00:33:35,175 --> 00:33:39,232 A month later, Rommel reported to Field Marshal von Rundstedt... 340 00:33:39,335 --> 00:33:42,433 supreme commander in the West, at the latter's headquarters... 341 00:33:42,533 --> 00:33:46,559 in the Pompadour's Palace at Fontainebleau outside Paris. 342 00:33:56,357 --> 00:33:59,357 Field Marshal von Rundstedt, gentlemen. 343 00:34:04,997 --> 00:34:07,135 - Ruge. - Field Marshal. 344 00:34:07,236 --> 00:34:09,091 Gentlemen. 345 00:34:14,532 --> 00:34:16,834 - Good to see you, Rommel. - Field Marshal. 346 00:34:16,932 --> 00:34:20,510 Well, now that you have had an opportunity to examine it closely... 347 00:34:20,612 --> 00:34:23,100 what do you think of our Atlantic wall? 348 00:34:23,203 --> 00:34:25,570 I'm afraid I haven't quite completed my report yet, but... 349 00:34:25,668 --> 00:34:28,002 We'll discuss it later, whenever you're ready. 350 00:34:28,099 --> 00:34:32,189 I don't imagine the mighty Eisenhower will be on us for another day or so. 351 00:34:32,291 --> 00:34:34,658 It wasn't too much a tax on your strength, I hope. 352 00:34:34,756 --> 00:34:37,144 Not in the least. I'm entirely recovered now. 353 00:34:37,251 --> 00:34:39,968 I'm delighted. You're being well taken care of, gentlemen? 354 00:34:40,067 --> 00:34:41,954 Yes, indeed, sir. 355 00:34:42,051 --> 00:34:44,287 Would you be so good as to divert our friends... 356 00:34:44,386 --> 00:34:47,518 while Field Marshal Rommel and I have a few moments of private meditation? 357 00:34:47,618 --> 00:34:49,441 Yes, sir. 358 00:35:15,808 --> 00:35:19,071 Appalling, wasn't it? 359 00:35:21,056 --> 00:35:23,478 I can't even see why it's called a wall. 360 00:35:23,618 --> 00:35:27,162 The big ports like Havre and Ostend and Cherbourg are protected well enough... 361 00:35:27,297 --> 00:35:29,816 but the enemy's not coming in on the Queen Mary. 362 00:35:29,952 --> 00:35:32,221 Nothing at all is being done about the beaches. 363 00:35:32,353 --> 00:35:35,647 Why, I saw 50 places where an army of children could come ashore. 364 00:35:35,776 --> 00:35:39,998 The trouble is labor. We have the plans for fortifications the devil himself couldn't breach... 365 00:35:40,095 --> 00:35:42,682 solid steel and concrete from Denmark to Spain... 366 00:35:42,816 --> 00:35:47,388 but I'm afraid our French friends aren't being as cooperative as they might be. 367 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,302 Even when driven to the job, they move like snails. 368 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:54,328 Either we break it up while they're still wading ashore or we're in trouble. 369 00:35:54,463 --> 00:35:57,212 - Is that the way you'd meet it? - Stop them on the beaches. 370 00:35:57,311 --> 00:35:59,766 Crowd the water with mines and traps and tricks... 371 00:35:59,902 --> 00:36:02,869 and hit 'em while they're busy trying to keep themselves from drowning. 372 00:36:03,006 --> 00:36:06,651 Here, down here... and here. 373 00:36:06,750 --> 00:36:09,019 I don't agree with you... 374 00:36:09,118 --> 00:36:12,347 but the difference of opinion will probably remain academic. 375 00:36:12,446 --> 00:36:17,148 As it happens, neither you nor I will determine the tactics in this operation. 376 00:36:17,246 --> 00:36:19,613 Not above the regimental level, anyway. 377 00:36:19,742 --> 00:36:21,814 You mean... Berlin? 378 00:36:21,949 --> 00:36:24,633 I mean the Bohemian corporal himself... 379 00:36:24,733 --> 00:36:28,029 is assuming sole and total command of this operation. 380 00:36:28,157 --> 00:36:32,858 You and I will function simply as instruments of his astrological inspirations. 381 00:36:32,957 --> 00:36:36,918 And in case you're afflicted with an understandable skepticism, this is official. 382 00:36:37,053 --> 00:36:39,507 But that's an utterly impossible situation. 383 00:36:39,645 --> 00:36:41,946 Then you should, by all means, explain that to him. 384 00:36:42,044 --> 00:36:43,953 You've made no protests yourself? 385 00:36:44,093 --> 00:36:46,394 After you've interfered a dozen times or so... 386 00:36:46,491 --> 00:36:50,387 with a man's rather enthusiastic determination to cut his own throat... 387 00:36:50,524 --> 00:36:53,241 there comes a moment when you're inclined to stand back... 388 00:36:53,341 --> 00:36:55,543 and view the whole matter with a certain detachment. 389 00:36:55,643 --> 00:36:58,743 - You've no objection to my... pointing this out to him? - On the contrary. 390 00:36:58,843 --> 00:37:01,778 I bestow my blessings on your courage and optimism. 391 00:37:11,802 --> 00:37:14,225 I'm told you once referred to me as a clown... 392 00:37:14,364 --> 00:37:16,664 the clown of Hitler's circus. 393 00:37:16,762 --> 00:37:18,584 Oh, did I? 394 00:37:18,682 --> 00:37:21,716 If so, I think you should know I've been a great deal more explicit about you. 395 00:37:21,818 --> 00:37:24,240 That's quite all right, Field Marshal. 396 00:37:24,378 --> 00:37:28,240 I find it almost impossible to keep my mind on anything harsh said about me. 397 00:37:28,378 --> 00:37:30,232 Did you say it? 398 00:37:30,331 --> 00:37:34,040 Whoever said it, you've given them ample reason to regret such a foolish remark. 399 00:37:36,057 --> 00:37:38,675 - Thank you, Field Marshal. - Not at all. 400 00:37:38,777 --> 00:37:40,686 Is there anything else? 401 00:37:40,826 --> 00:37:43,313 I don't believe so at the moment. 402 00:37:45,817 --> 00:37:47,639 One suggestion, perhaps... 403 00:37:47,737 --> 00:37:50,737 in view of our cordiality. 404 00:37:50,841 --> 00:37:54,038 If I were you, I wouldn't be altogether unguarded... 405 00:37:54,136 --> 00:37:57,202 about what I had to say about this new strategic arrangement. 406 00:37:57,305 --> 00:37:59,541 I think you should know that from now on... 407 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,455 you'll be under more or less constant observation here. 408 00:38:02,552 --> 00:38:06,414 - From Berlin? - Friends of the management, I believe. 409 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:09,782 Have you any information as to why I should be singled out for such attention? 410 00:38:09,879 --> 00:38:12,630 Oh, but you're not. We all are. 411 00:38:12,728 --> 00:38:15,378 Apparently you didn't have it in Africa... 412 00:38:15,479 --> 00:38:19,374 but here on the continent it's an honor that goes with staff rank. 413 00:38:19,479 --> 00:38:21,138 You too? 414 00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:24,851 My dear fellow, I'm the commander-in-chief. 415 00:38:33,622 --> 00:38:35,662 Two months after that... 416 00:38:35,767 --> 00:38:38,766 in February of 1944, during one of Rommel's... 417 00:38:38,870 --> 00:38:41,075 rare absences from the Atlantic frontier... 418 00:38:41,174 --> 00:38:45,330 his old friend Dr. Karl Strolin sought him out again. 419 00:38:58,741 --> 00:39:01,327 - Good afternoon, sir. - Good afternoon. 420 00:39:01,430 --> 00:39:04,113 Dr. Strolin to see the field marshal and Frau Rommel. 421 00:39:04,213 --> 00:39:06,034 Come in, sir. 422 00:39:16,948 --> 00:39:19,915 Eisenhower won't try it until spring, of course. 423 00:39:20,022 --> 00:39:22,257 I doubt if I'll get home again before then. 424 00:39:22,356 --> 00:39:24,178 Are we ready for him? 425 00:39:24,276 --> 00:39:26,348 We will be, I hope. 426 00:39:31,284 --> 00:39:33,291 To your very good health, Doctor. 427 00:39:33,396 --> 00:39:35,403 To yours, my dear Rommel. 428 00:39:38,099 --> 00:39:40,620 How do you know this room isn't wired? 429 00:39:40,724 --> 00:39:43,407 Wired? Why should it be wired? 430 00:39:43,508 --> 00:39:46,377 Does our friend Himmler have to have a reason for wiring a room? 431 00:39:46,482 --> 00:39:48,305 No, I don't suppose he does. 432 00:39:48,402 --> 00:39:51,185 But I don't think you have to worry about this one. 433 00:39:51,283 --> 00:39:53,105 Why? 434 00:40:03,602 --> 00:40:06,766 'Cause I want to talk to you without being overheard. 435 00:40:06,866 --> 00:40:09,713 - About what? - About the Hitler situation. 436 00:40:11,154 --> 00:40:14,251 If this is politics, Strolin, I don't want to hear it. 437 00:40:14,354 --> 00:40:16,459 Had you rather see Germany destroyed? 438 00:40:16,561 --> 00:40:19,244 It's not a matter I want to discuss, I tell you. 439 00:40:19,345 --> 00:40:22,443 And I'm surprised at you. That's a communist position. 440 00:40:22,544 --> 00:40:24,814 Oh? Is it? 441 00:40:24,913 --> 00:40:28,392 Defeat, against him, all that sort of thing. You know it is. 442 00:40:28,497 --> 00:40:30,701 Would you call General Beck a communist? 443 00:40:30,801 --> 00:40:34,346 - Of course not. - Or Karl Goerdeler, the lord mayor of Leipzig? 444 00:40:34,449 --> 00:40:37,231 - I've never heard that he was. - What about Falkenhausen? 445 00:40:37,328 --> 00:40:40,644 - No, but... - What about Heinrich von Stulpnagel? 446 00:40:40,752 --> 00:40:43,436 And von Urach and von Haslov? Are they communists? 447 00:40:43,537 --> 00:40:48,806 Are you trying to tell me seriously that men like that are questioning his leadership? 448 00:40:48,911 --> 00:40:53,166 Not just questioning it. They intend to end it. 449 00:40:53,263 --> 00:40:55,914 You mean, you've talked to those fellows yourself? 450 00:40:56,016 --> 00:40:58,404 To them and to many others. Not only soldiers, either. 451 00:40:58,511 --> 00:41:01,773 Church men, labor leaders, lawyers, doctors. 452 00:41:01,871 --> 00:41:06,541 Members of the government, even. Not too many of them, but sound men, every one. 453 00:41:06,638 --> 00:41:09,606 How long has this been going on? 454 00:41:09,710 --> 00:41:11,881 Since '38. 455 00:41:13,550 --> 00:41:16,038 And what exactly are you after? 456 00:41:16,142 --> 00:41:19,754 One, we want to get rid of Hitler and his gang. 457 00:41:19,854 --> 00:41:22,440 If we are to be defeated, then we prefer to be defeated... 458 00:41:22,543 --> 00:41:25,444 as human beings, not as barbarians. 459 00:41:25,550 --> 00:41:28,550 Two, whether we win or lose... 460 00:41:28,654 --> 00:41:32,549 we want to live again like decent people, without fear. 461 00:41:32,653 --> 00:41:36,843 Look, Strolin, I don't want to get mixed up in this thing. 462 00:41:36,942 --> 00:41:39,430 What they do in Berlin is their business, not mine. 463 00:41:39,533 --> 00:41:41,737 I'm a soldier, not a politician. 464 00:41:41,837 --> 00:41:44,139 You still think you're perfectly safe? 465 00:41:44,237 --> 00:41:46,342 Who knows who's safe and who's not? 466 00:41:46,445 --> 00:41:48,332 Under a sane man, you'd know. 467 00:41:48,429 --> 00:41:50,698 That's a lot of rubbish, and you know it. 468 00:41:50,796 --> 00:41:53,217 Well, I hope you're right, and perhaps you are. 469 00:41:53,324 --> 00:41:57,218 After all, you are his favorite, and I can think of no one who's ever questioned... 470 00:41:57,324 --> 00:42:01,699 the deep and enduring gratitude he's always shown to those who've served him well. 471 00:42:01,804 --> 00:42:05,959 - No one's in any danger here who does his job properly. - You have nothing to fear. 472 00:42:06,060 --> 00:42:09,255 And if something did happen unpredictably... 473 00:42:09,356 --> 00:42:12,225 you'd still have the comfort of knowing that the lives of Lucie and Manfred... 474 00:42:12,332 --> 00:42:15,332 would be safe and snug in the soft, gentle, tender hands... 475 00:42:15,435 --> 00:42:18,305 of that brave little band of patriots he's gathered around him. 476 00:42:18,411 --> 00:42:21,411 I'm afraid that kind of talk doesn't amuse me. 477 00:42:21,515 --> 00:42:26,184 I'm not trying to amuse you. I'm merely reflecting on your extraordinary good fortune. 478 00:42:26,282 --> 00:42:29,098 I wish you'd think about that too sometime... 479 00:42:29,195 --> 00:42:33,832 not the blood on his mouth, but what a godsend he is to you personally... 480 00:42:33,930 --> 00:42:37,029 not only in your home, but in the field as a soldier. 481 00:42:37,131 --> 00:42:40,425 How many other generals can boast the favor and support of a leader... 482 00:42:40,522 --> 00:42:43,074 so gifted in the arts of war? 483 00:42:43,178 --> 00:42:45,001 That's enough, Strolin. 484 00:42:45,098 --> 00:42:47,881 Surely you haven't forgotten how brilliantly he refused... 485 00:42:47,978 --> 00:42:52,102 to be seduced into an invasion of undefended England right after Dunkirk. 486 00:42:52,201 --> 00:42:54,341 Or how brave he was at Stalingrad... 487 00:42:54,442 --> 00:42:57,060 when von Forest wanted to withdraw from the trap. 488 00:42:57,161 --> 00:42:59,583 What other man on Earth would have had the courage... 489 00:42:59,689 --> 00:43:02,471 to send that brief, simple, thrilling command: 490 00:43:02,569 --> 00:43:05,733 "Don't retreat so much as a millimeter. Victory or death"? 491 00:43:05,832 --> 00:43:09,029 - Would Napoleon himself have dared... - That's enough, I tell you! 492 00:43:09,129 --> 00:43:11,681 Afraid even to think about it. 493 00:43:11,784 --> 00:43:14,915 Stop talking to me as if I were a child and you a schoolmaster! 494 00:43:15,016 --> 00:43:17,918 Don't you think I know what you mean? But what of it? 495 00:43:18,024 --> 00:43:20,774 Who asked me for my opinion? And suppose I told them... 496 00:43:20,872 --> 00:43:23,806 that what they're doing is stupid to the point of imbecility! 497 00:43:23,912 --> 00:43:26,115 - Who do you think would listen? - Have you ever tried? 498 00:43:26,216 --> 00:43:28,485 Of course! I've been told to mind my own business. 499 00:43:28,584 --> 00:43:30,624 And who's to say they're not right? 500 00:43:30,727 --> 00:43:33,093 Surely you aren't naive enough to think that a soldier... 501 00:43:33,192 --> 00:43:36,257 must approve of every detail of his government before he can fight for it. 502 00:43:36,359 --> 00:43:40,669 What army could exist like that, with every man free to decide what he will or won't do? 503 00:43:40,775 --> 00:43:45,631 The truth is that a soldier has but one function in life, one lone excuse for existence... 504 00:43:45,735 --> 00:43:48,800 and that is to carry out the order of his superiors. 505 00:43:48,902 --> 00:43:51,684 The rest, including government, is politics. 506 00:43:51,782 --> 00:43:55,612 And if I must remind you again, I'm a soldier, not a politician. 507 00:43:55,718 --> 00:43:59,460 - What the government does... - Oh, stop hiding behind that bloody uniform of yours! 508 00:43:59,558 --> 00:44:01,946 What do I care about your philosophy of the soldier? 509 00:44:02,054 --> 00:44:04,323 All it means to me is that you're terrified... 510 00:44:04,421 --> 00:44:07,651 hiding under a lot of rubbish about the functions of a robot. 511 00:44:07,749 --> 00:44:10,848 Have you forgotten that I've known you for 20 years? 512 00:44:10,950 --> 00:44:14,560 Why, I know exactly how you feel about that abomination in Berlin. 513 00:44:14,661 --> 00:44:17,378 What I can't understand is this chickenhearted willingness... 514 00:44:17,478 --> 00:44:21,154 to go marching right down into hell with a beast you loathe and despise. 515 00:44:21,253 --> 00:44:25,955 Where is all the sense and courage you have in the field? Haven't you any of it here? 516 00:44:26,053 --> 00:44:29,150 I think you'd better get out of this house, now. 517 00:44:31,524 --> 00:44:35,452 Not until you've shown an old friend the decency of honesty with him. 518 00:44:35,556 --> 00:44:38,971 If reason won't work, very well, I'm prepared to go further. 519 00:44:39,076 --> 00:44:43,298 I have no intention of stirring from this room until the truth has passed between us. 520 00:44:43,395 --> 00:44:46,941 - Had you rather I call the guard and charge you? - That you will never do. 521 00:44:47,043 --> 00:44:50,360 And may I ask why you know so well what I will or won't do? 522 00:44:50,467 --> 00:44:52,922 Because Lucie told me that you wouldn't. 523 00:44:54,659 --> 00:44:58,685 You... You've already talked to Lucie about this? 524 00:44:58,786 --> 00:45:01,950 - Of course. - And she sent you to me? 525 00:45:02,051 --> 00:45:03,873 Not at all. 526 00:45:03,971 --> 00:45:06,817 She merely told me how you really feel... 527 00:45:06,915 --> 00:45:11,901 about our sainted leader and his glorious reign over Germany. 528 00:45:21,538 --> 00:45:24,734 Father! Father, the car is here! 529 00:45:24,834 --> 00:45:27,702 We saw it. Will you please not shout? 530 00:45:27,810 --> 00:45:30,144 I've told you that a dozen times. 531 00:45:30,242 --> 00:45:33,274 - He's just excited. - I know, but I'm tired of telling him... 532 00:45:33,378 --> 00:45:37,338 He's all right. He's still only a boy, remember, in spite of that uniform. 533 00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:40,190 - Of course. - You take care of yourself, dear. 534 00:45:41,728 --> 00:45:43,868 You're not cross with me, are you? 535 00:45:43,969 --> 00:45:46,838 - For what? - For speaking to Dr. Strolin. 536 00:45:49,663 --> 00:45:51,703 No, of course not. 537 00:45:54,272 --> 00:45:56,475 Is he right? 538 00:45:58,496 --> 00:46:00,699 I don't know. 539 00:46:03,776 --> 00:46:06,394 I can't make up my mind. 540 00:46:06,495 --> 00:46:09,244 But that's a dreadful thing he proposes... 541 00:46:09,344 --> 00:46:12,158 a great, tremendous, dreadful thing. 542 00:46:12,254 --> 00:46:15,037 I don't know that I can go along that far with him. 543 00:46:15,134 --> 00:46:17,436 Then you shouldn't if you don't think he's right. 544 00:46:17,567 --> 00:46:20,861 I didn't say he wasn't right, but even so... 545 00:46:20,959 --> 00:46:25,660 is that the only way to handle it: Treason? 546 00:46:25,758 --> 00:46:29,020 That's what it comes down to, no matter how right you think you are. 547 00:46:29,150 --> 00:46:32,532 You think it will be better to let things go along as they are? 548 00:46:32,671 --> 00:46:36,444 No, no, I don't. But there must be some better way of handling it. 549 00:46:36,574 --> 00:46:41,276 I mean, if I could see him alone again and explain the situation to him. 550 00:46:41,374 --> 00:46:45,465 Can you tell me how a man can fight a war under such conditions? 551 00:46:45,597 --> 00:46:48,412 Isn't it enough that we're facing an invasion without... 552 00:46:48,541 --> 00:46:52,283 No, never mind now. You don't have to decide this minute. 553 00:46:52,381 --> 00:46:55,031 It'll come to you when it's time. 554 00:46:56,445 --> 00:46:58,812 What do you think, really? 555 00:46:58,940 --> 00:47:03,032 I can't tell you, dear. I don't know. 556 00:47:03,165 --> 00:47:06,962 But never mind now. When the time comes, something will tell you. 557 00:47:07,101 --> 00:47:09,336 You better go along now. You're late already. 558 00:47:13,179 --> 00:47:15,732 - Write to me every day, will you? - I will. 559 00:47:15,867 --> 00:47:19,064 - A little something for the journey. - Thank you, darling. 560 00:47:21,180 --> 00:47:23,962 Good-bye, sweetheart. Don't worry about me. 561 00:47:24,060 --> 00:47:26,067 I'll try not to. 562 00:47:42,778 --> 00:47:44,600 That's all, please. 563 00:47:49,402 --> 00:47:53,014 Good-bye, son. Take care of your mother and be a good soldier. 564 00:47:53,114 --> 00:47:54,936 Make me proud of you. 565 00:47:55,034 --> 00:47:58,481 I'll try, Father. Are you going to bring us back Montgomery? 566 00:47:58,618 --> 00:48:00,887 The minute he steps ashore. 567 00:48:01,945 --> 00:48:04,051 Good-bye, darling. 568 00:48:04,153 --> 00:48:05,976 Good-bye, darling. 569 00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:21,751 And then, finally, after four long years of preparation... 570 00:48:21,848 --> 00:48:24,215 it came... D day. 571 00:48:24,313 --> 00:48:27,062 And the greatest armada and the vastest movement... 572 00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:30,837 of men and arms in the history of the world, rose from England... 573 00:48:30,935 --> 00:48:33,935 and set out for the assault on the beaches of Normandy... 574 00:48:34,040 --> 00:48:36,822 and the German fortress of Europe. 575 00:51:32,495 --> 00:51:34,861 From the moment the Bohemian corporal... 576 00:51:34,990 --> 00:51:37,838 promoted himself to the supreme command of our forces... 577 00:51:37,966 --> 00:51:41,764 the German army has been the victim of a unique situation. 578 00:51:41,902 --> 00:51:44,488 Not only too many of the enemy... 579 00:51:44,623 --> 00:51:48,813 but one too many Germans. 580 00:51:48,910 --> 00:51:51,528 You don't think he's ready to give us the 15th Army yet? 581 00:51:51,629 --> 00:51:54,215 I don't see how he can, under the circumstances. 582 00:51:54,317 --> 00:51:57,034 His astrologers have informed him that this is only a feint... 583 00:51:57,133 --> 00:52:00,067 that the real invasion is yet to come, north of Calais. 584 00:52:00,205 --> 00:52:03,947 The 15th Army is sitting on those cold beaches up there... 585 00:52:04,077 --> 00:52:06,695 waiting for an invasion that has already taken place... 586 00:52:06,796 --> 00:52:09,731 is an excellent example of war by horoscope. 587 00:52:09,868 --> 00:52:12,203 We've got to have those troops. 588 00:52:12,300 --> 00:52:15,748 If we're not allowed to maneuver, we've got to support these positions. 589 00:52:15,884 --> 00:52:18,918 We've got to see him again about it. 590 00:52:19,019 --> 00:52:21,572 I tell you this in confidence, Rommel. 591 00:52:21,676 --> 00:52:25,898 I don't think anything we can do would be of the slightest use. 592 00:52:27,083 --> 00:52:30,345 The pattern for defeat has already been set. 593 00:52:30,443 --> 00:52:34,666 "Hold fast. Don't give up a millimeter of ground. 594 00:52:34,763 --> 00:52:37,958 Victory or death. " Wars simply can't be won... 595 00:52:38,059 --> 00:52:42,631 by men whose knowledge of tactics is based on copybook maxims. 596 00:52:42,731 --> 00:52:46,376 It may stir schoolchildren, but they don't stop troops. 597 00:52:46,475 --> 00:52:50,053 Give me a free hand for a few months, and I'd make them pay for it. 598 00:52:50,155 --> 00:52:52,675 I'd make them pay such a price in blood... 599 00:52:52,778 --> 00:52:55,462 they'd wish they'd never heard of Germany. 600 00:52:55,563 --> 00:52:59,107 I might not be able to stop them all, but they'd know they'd fought an army... 601 00:52:59,211 --> 00:53:03,618 not a series of stationary targets. 602 00:53:03,721 --> 00:53:05,577 And he'll never let us, of course. 603 00:53:05,705 --> 00:53:08,456 You know how firm corporals are. 604 00:53:35,016 --> 00:53:37,799 Do you happen to know Karl Strolin? 605 00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:42,661 - Strolin? - The lord mayor of Stuttgart. 606 00:53:44,647 --> 00:53:46,949 I remember that name from somewhere. 607 00:53:47,048 --> 00:53:51,041 Or Doctor Goerdeler of Leipzig? 608 00:53:52,583 --> 00:53:54,405 You too? 609 00:53:56,007 --> 00:53:59,138 Every day that passes, every minute of the day... 610 00:53:59,238 --> 00:54:03,297 convinces me more and more that theirs is the only possible solution. 611 00:54:03,399 --> 00:54:06,017 Your words, you must understand, mystify me. 612 00:54:06,118 --> 00:54:08,835 They propose to arrest him, take over the government... 613 00:54:08,935 --> 00:54:12,448 and move immediately to make peace with Eisenhower. 614 00:54:12,549 --> 00:54:15,649 I shall, of course, deny that this conversation ever took place. 615 00:54:15,751 --> 00:54:18,271 But that's a particularly childish idea. 616 00:54:18,374 --> 00:54:20,763 Eisenhower's not going to make a separate peace. 617 00:54:20,870 --> 00:54:23,716 And why should he, with things going as well as they are? 618 00:54:23,814 --> 00:54:26,181 That part of your plan is doomed from the start. 619 00:54:26,278 --> 00:54:29,572 But you don't disagree with the basic proposal. 620 00:54:29,670 --> 00:54:32,255 I'm sorry, but I don't believe I heard the question. 621 00:54:32,357 --> 00:54:34,746 In any case, if they came to you for counsel or advice... 622 00:54:34,854 --> 00:54:36,676 would you receive them? 623 00:54:36,774 --> 00:54:38,596 Oh, no. 624 00:54:38,694 --> 00:54:40,963 No. 625 00:54:41,062 --> 00:54:43,516 No, I'm afraid not, Rommel. 626 00:54:43,620 --> 00:54:47,581 It's too late... much too late. 627 00:54:47,685 --> 00:54:49,251 Even if they moved immediately? 628 00:54:49,284 --> 00:54:50,817 Even if they moved immediately? 629 00:54:50,917 --> 00:54:52,956 You misunderstand. 630 00:54:53,093 --> 00:54:55,100 Not too late for that. 631 00:54:56,421 --> 00:54:58,275 Too late for me. 632 00:54:59,331 --> 00:55:01,982 I'm 70 now. 633 00:55:02,085 --> 00:55:05,280 Too old to revolt. 634 00:55:05,379 --> 00:55:08,510 Too old to challenge authority... 635 00:55:08,611 --> 00:55:10,978 however evil. 636 00:55:20,579 --> 00:55:22,913 Berlin calling, sir. Marshal Keitel. 637 00:55:30,979 --> 00:55:33,694 - Keitel? - Von Rundstedt. 638 00:55:33,794 --> 00:55:36,511 - Here. - Is this true about Cherbourg? 639 00:55:36,610 --> 00:55:38,781 - I'm afraid so. - This is dreadful. 640 00:55:38,882 --> 00:55:41,150 How can I give such news to the f¨¹hrer? 641 00:55:41,249 --> 00:55:43,104 You've reported misfortune to him before. 642 00:55:43,202 --> 00:55:45,024 Why should this one present such a problem? 643 00:55:45,122 --> 00:55:48,766 But that's just it. We've had nothing but bad news for weeks. 644 00:55:48,866 --> 00:55:51,549 Isn't there any good news I can give him at the same time? 645 00:55:51,650 --> 00:55:53,624 Have you checked on the Russian Front this morning? 646 00:55:53,729 --> 00:55:55,834 We're not discussing the Russian Front. 647 00:55:55,936 --> 00:55:57,759 We're discussing yours. 648 00:55:57,856 --> 00:56:00,508 This situation in the West becomes worse with every report. 649 00:56:00,609 --> 00:56:04,831 L- I'm actually embarrassed to give him another disappointment like this. 650 00:56:04,928 --> 00:56:06,784 Can't you think of anything we can do about it? 651 00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:09,946 Certainly. Give us those 90 divisions of the 15th Army... 652 00:56:10,048 --> 00:56:11,903 who are sitting around Calais playing cards. 653 00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:13,823 You know that's impossible. 654 00:56:13,920 --> 00:56:16,538 The f¨¹hrer has already explained the necessity for leaving them there. 655 00:56:16,639 --> 00:56:19,192 Very well then. Give us permission to pull out of Normandy... 656 00:56:19,296 --> 00:56:21,269 and set up a line that we can defend properly. 657 00:56:21,376 --> 00:56:25,237 Your orders are to fight where you are, and that's what he expects you to do. 658 00:56:25,343 --> 00:56:27,416 Is it possible you have no better suggestion than that? 659 00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:30,967 One very much better, in fact. 660 00:56:31,071 --> 00:56:33,275 Make peace, you idiot. 661 00:56:54,013 --> 00:56:57,013 - Good-bye again, Rommel. - He'll never report that. 662 00:56:57,118 --> 00:56:59,484 This very instant, he's knocking at the corporal's door... 663 00:56:59,581 --> 00:57:01,492 whimpering with happiness. 664 00:57:01,597 --> 00:57:04,052 You must never forget this, my dear fellow. 665 00:57:04,157 --> 00:57:07,452 Victory has a hundred fathers. Defeat is an orphan. 666 00:57:08,637 --> 00:57:11,420 Within 24 hours, you'll be named my successor. 667 00:57:11,517 --> 00:57:13,689 And I extend to you my deepest sympathy. 668 00:57:13,789 --> 00:57:16,440 That's nonsense. He'll never let you go. 669 00:57:23,996 --> 00:57:26,484 But not too old, I might add... 670 00:57:26,588 --> 00:57:29,238 to wish your friends the best of luck... 671 00:57:29,340 --> 00:57:32,569 in their extremely interesting project. 672 00:57:36,124 --> 00:57:40,434 Meanwhile, with their beachheads irretrievably secured... 673 00:57:40,539 --> 00:57:44,336 Allied tanks and men had fanned out across France... 674 00:57:44,443 --> 00:57:46,996 and begun their race for the Rhine. 675 00:58:21,145 --> 00:58:23,185 Put these where you can get to them quickly. 676 00:58:23,290 --> 00:58:25,144 Also those files there. 677 00:58:25,241 --> 00:58:28,471 - Keep the key, and use your... own judgment about the rest. - Very good, sir. 678 00:58:29,977 --> 00:58:31,799 Field Marshal. 679 00:58:58,648 --> 00:59:01,462 - Where is he? - In the small room. 680 00:59:02,711 --> 00:59:05,133 - Aldinger. - Yes, sir. 681 00:59:13,367 --> 00:59:17,195 - Colonel. - I'll try to be as brief as possible. 682 00:59:17,302 --> 00:59:19,691 - Perhaps you'd better keep an eye on the corridor. - Yes, sir. 683 00:59:27,510 --> 00:59:31,307 - Well? - We are faced with an immediate decision, sir. 684 00:59:31,414 --> 00:59:33,747 Three of our men were arrested in Berlin yesterday. 685 00:59:33,845 --> 00:59:35,787 They'll been made to talk, of course. 686 00:59:35,894 --> 00:59:39,210 But fortunately their knowledge of the people involved is... limited. 687 00:59:39,317 --> 00:59:42,546 Nevertheless, in the opinion of everyone, there's no time to be lost. 688 00:59:42,645 --> 00:59:45,034 We must act at once. 689 00:59:45,141 --> 00:59:49,417 - And it's all set. Definitely. - So I understand, sir. 690 00:59:49,525 --> 00:59:51,794 The general's extremely anxious to know... 691 00:59:51,892 --> 00:59:54,477 if you're in a position to speak for the commanders you mentioned to him. 692 00:59:54,581 --> 00:59:58,093 At my word from this instant, they're prepared to follow my lead. 693 00:59:58,196 --> 01:00:01,262 Then I have the field marshal's permission to inform General Stulpnagel... 694 01:00:01,365 --> 01:00:04,463 we may now act at will and without further consultation? 695 01:00:08,211 --> 01:00:11,627 Wait here, Colonel. Come with me, Ruge. 696 01:00:14,836 --> 01:00:17,105 - Clear this room, Aldinger. - Yes, sir. 697 01:00:19,027 --> 01:00:22,256 Outside. Never mind about that. Outside. 698 01:00:24,115 --> 01:00:26,416 Field Marshal Rommel speaking. 699 01:00:26,515 --> 01:00:28,751 Put me through to Field Marshal Keitel. 700 01:00:31,091 --> 01:00:34,920 I've got to be certain, absolutely certain. 701 01:00:35,026 --> 01:00:37,776 We can't go through with this if there's even the remotest sign of sense there. 702 01:00:42,482 --> 01:00:45,580 - Keitel. - Rommel. 703 01:00:45,682 --> 01:00:47,504 Now listen very carefully, Keitel. 704 01:00:47,602 --> 01:00:49,806 I've got to see the f¨¹hrer at once. 705 01:00:49,905 --> 01:00:52,753 Somewhere in France. I can't explain on the telephone... 706 01:00:52,850 --> 01:00:56,198 but you must make him understand that it's a matter of the greatest urgency. 707 01:00:56,306 --> 01:00:58,640 I suggest tomorrow morning. 708 01:00:58,736 --> 01:01:00,777 On June 17... 709 01:01:00,881 --> 01:01:05,354 they met in Hitler's underground stronghold at Margival near Soissons. 710 01:01:05,456 --> 01:01:08,391 This is an extremely difficult duty, my f¨¹hrer. 711 01:01:08,496 --> 01:01:10,984 But circumstances leave me with no choice. 712 01:01:11,089 --> 01:01:14,252 We've reached a crisis that calls for a decision on the highest level. 713 01:01:14,351 --> 01:01:17,832 But you've said that! You've said that before! 714 01:01:17,935 --> 01:01:19,845 Every time I talk to you we're facing another crisis. 715 01:01:19,953 --> 01:01:24,011 When the enemy has overwhelming superiority on land, at sea and in the air... 716 01:01:24,112 --> 01:01:26,479 and continues to grow stronger with every hour... 717 01:01:26,575 --> 01:01:28,714 while we grow weaker at the same rate... 718 01:01:28,816 --> 01:01:30,506 that to me is a crisis by any standards that I understand. 719 01:01:30,576 --> 01:01:32,542 A crisis that should be examined promptly and realistically. 720 01:01:32,575 --> 01:01:34,510 A crisis that should be examined promptly and realistically. 721 01:01:34,640 --> 01:01:37,934 That's you! That's you! Like always! 722 01:01:38,063 --> 01:01:40,518 When everything's going well, you're willing enough. 723 01:01:40,656 --> 01:01:42,859 But at the first sign of a difficulty... 724 01:01:42,959 --> 01:01:44,781 you become a defeatist, a complete defeatist. 725 01:01:44,879 --> 01:01:48,621 Are you perhaps interested why you didn't succeed von Rundstedt? 726 01:01:48,750 --> 01:01:52,263 This is why! 727 01:01:52,398 --> 01:01:55,715 It maybe had been better if I'd replaced you altogether! 728 01:01:57,293 --> 01:02:00,164 Have you at least a little confidence in me? 729 01:02:00,302 --> 01:02:03,750 More it would seem than the f¨¹hrer has in me. May I continue? 730 01:02:03,886 --> 01:02:06,951 And what my V-bombs are doing to London, has no one told you? 731 01:02:07,086 --> 01:02:09,868 Yes, sir. But why not to the beachheads? 732 01:02:09,966 --> 01:02:12,388 Because that's not their purpose. They have not that accuracy. 733 01:02:12,525 --> 01:02:14,893 They need a whole city for a target. Then they cannot miss. 734 01:02:15,021 --> 01:02:18,763 Then why not the embarkation ports... Plymouth, Southampton. Portsmouth? 735 01:02:18,861 --> 01:02:21,709 No, no, no, no! That's... 736 01:02:21,837 --> 01:02:26,855 That's exactly what I mean when I say you're no good at thinking above the battlefield. 737 01:02:26,956 --> 01:02:29,345 The British don't care for those villages. 738 01:02:29,484 --> 01:02:31,339 It's their London that they love. 739 01:02:31,468 --> 01:02:34,435 They don't want to see it destroyed the way I'm going to destroy it. 740 01:02:34,572 --> 01:02:36,776 In two more weeks, remember my words. 741 01:02:36,876 --> 01:02:39,876 They'll be screaming for surrender. Just wait. You'll see. 742 01:02:39,980 --> 01:02:41,988 To continue, sir. 743 01:02:42,124 --> 01:02:44,709 The struggle is over on this front. 744 01:02:44,812 --> 01:02:47,681 Within these two weeks, you must be prepared to see the enemy... 745 01:02:47,819 --> 01:02:50,720 break through our lines and push out into the interior of France. 746 01:02:50,859 --> 01:02:52,714 Militarily, the end is already in sight. 747 01:02:52,843 --> 01:02:56,388 - We have nothing more to throw in. - Hmph. 748 01:02:56,491 --> 01:02:58,379 What is it you're proposing? 749 01:02:58,507 --> 01:03:01,987 - That we surrender? - I give you the facts, sir. 750 01:03:02,091 --> 01:03:04,611 I only ask that you draw the proper conclusions. 751 01:03:04,715 --> 01:03:07,846 Proper to whom? To you! 752 01:03:13,737 --> 01:03:17,699 I suggest to you, Rommel, that you confine your genius to fighting... 753 01:03:17,802 --> 01:03:21,860 and leave the conduct of the war to those who are responsible for it! 754 01:03:21,962 --> 01:03:23,817 My apologies, sir. 755 01:03:23,945 --> 01:03:26,531 Now, if the f¨¹hrer will honor me with his advice... 756 01:03:26,634 --> 01:03:29,863 The V-weapon, for your information, happens to be only the first... 757 01:03:29,960 --> 01:03:34,500 in a whole series of weapons that will completely revolutionize all warfare! 758 01:03:34,600 --> 01:03:37,949 I've a second a hundred times as powerful and a third in mind... 759 01:03:38,057 --> 01:03:40,097 a thousand times more destructive than the second! 760 01:03:40,201 --> 01:03:42,110 But the crisis is now, sir. 761 01:03:42,216 --> 01:03:46,276 I've a dozen others, all of them capable of turning the whole course of the war! 762 01:03:46,376 --> 01:03:49,410 But what about now, sir? What are we to do tomorrow morning? 763 01:03:49,512 --> 01:03:52,382 While you've been deciding that all is lost... 764 01:03:52,487 --> 01:03:54,876 we've been working, working miracles... 765 01:03:54,985 --> 01:03:58,051 determining the course of history for centuries to come! 766 01:03:58,151 --> 01:04:00,486 In the workshops, in the laboratories... 767 01:04:00,583 --> 01:04:02,885 we've been turning out machines of destruction such as... 768 01:04:02,984 --> 01:04:05,472 the enemy has never dreamed of! 769 01:04:05,575 --> 01:04:09,317 I have one in mind... I have a weapon in mind... 770 01:04:13,928 --> 01:04:17,636 Now, definitely committed to the plot to assassinate his f¨¹hrer... 771 01:04:17,735 --> 01:04:21,183 Rommel was still trying to whip fight into his crumbling front... 772 01:04:21,286 --> 01:04:25,028 when on June 17 on a country road near a village... 773 01:04:25,126 --> 01:04:28,639 with the ominous name of Montgomery... 774 01:04:29,639 --> 01:04:32,355 Aircraft. 775 01:05:17,475 --> 01:05:19,964 Three days later, on July 20... 776 01:05:20,068 --> 01:05:23,646 while Rommel still lay unconscious in a hospital in France... 777 01:05:23,747 --> 01:05:27,292 Adolf Hitler and his staff gathered for their fateful conference... 778 01:05:27,396 --> 01:05:31,586 in a fortified barracks at his headquarters in East Prussia. 779 01:06:13,409 --> 01:06:16,572 The f¨¹hrer, gentlemen. 780 01:06:18,497 --> 01:06:21,596 He handles his panzers like a cavalry officer. 781 01:06:21,696 --> 01:06:23,835 Thank you, gentlemen. 782 01:06:28,736 --> 01:06:31,191 - My f¨¹hrer. - Yes. 783 01:06:31,296 --> 01:06:33,151 - Stauffenberg, sir. - Yes! Yes, yes. 784 01:06:33,248 --> 01:06:35,834 - Stauffenberg, of course, from General Fromm. - Yes, sir. 785 01:06:35,936 --> 01:06:37,942 - Good to see you again. - Thank you, my f¨¹hrer. 786 01:06:38,048 --> 01:06:43,034 Uh... Gentlemen. Your attention, please. 787 01:06:43,136 --> 01:06:47,193 Excuse me, please. I have a report from General Fromm. 788 01:06:56,350 --> 01:06:59,765 - Where's Goering? - On his way now, sir. 789 01:06:59,871 --> 01:07:03,165 Well, when you are fat, you don't move so fast. 790 01:07:07,261 --> 01:07:09,203 - Colonel-Count von Stauffenberg? - Yes. 791 01:07:09,311 --> 01:07:11,133 - Telephone, sir. - Thank you. 792 01:07:16,221 --> 01:07:18,458 Excuse me. 793 01:07:35,164 --> 01:07:39,671 All right. Suppose we start with the Russian Front. 794 01:08:04,731 --> 01:08:08,245 F¨¹hrer. F¨¹hrer! 795 01:08:30,393 --> 01:08:33,110 Are you all right, my f¨¹hrer? 796 01:08:34,394 --> 01:08:38,103 Yeah. I'm all right. 797 01:08:40,314 --> 01:08:44,469 For that failure, 5,000 suspects paid with their lives... 798 01:08:44,569 --> 01:08:48,017 during the few days that Hitler spent in hospital. 799 01:08:48,120 --> 01:08:52,114 As for Rommel, recuperating at Herrlingen from injuries that would have destroyed... 800 01:08:52,216 --> 01:08:54,039 any but the toughest of men... 801 01:08:54,136 --> 01:08:57,104 all public mention of his name suddenly stopped... 802 01:08:57,208 --> 01:08:59,062 and the complete and official silence... 803 01:08:59,161 --> 01:09:02,609 settled over the subject of the nation's most-celebrated soldier. 804 01:09:02,712 --> 01:09:06,884 For three months, he remained in this sinister isolation... 805 01:09:06,918 --> 01:09:11,056 until the afternoon of October 13 in 1944. 806 01:09:11,159 --> 01:09:13,712 - Keitel? - How are you, Rommel? 807 01:09:13,816 --> 01:09:17,361 - Getting along, thank you. - Well enough yet to come up to Berlin? 808 01:09:17,463 --> 01:09:21,554 I'm afraid not yet. In another week or two, perhaps. Why? 809 01:09:21,655 --> 01:09:24,305 I could send a special train for you. 810 01:09:24,407 --> 01:09:27,823 That's very good of you, but I really don't feel up to it yet. 811 01:09:27,959 --> 01:09:30,031 Is there some particular urgency about it? 812 01:09:30,135 --> 01:09:32,917 How soon do you think you'll be ready for another command? 813 01:09:33,046 --> 01:09:36,723 Another two weeks, I suppose. Three at the most. 814 01:09:36,855 --> 01:09:40,815 If we send someone there, would you be able to discuss the situation with him? 815 01:09:40,950 --> 01:09:42,892 Of course. 816 01:09:43,030 --> 01:09:45,396 Very well, I'll send Burgdorf. You know him, don't you? 817 01:09:45,526 --> 01:09:49,420 - I've met him. - Suppose I have him drive down tomorrow morning? 818 01:09:49,558 --> 01:09:52,078 - Would that be convenient for you? - Perfectly. 819 01:09:52,214 --> 01:09:55,083 He'll have full information and instructions. 820 01:09:55,222 --> 01:09:58,156 - Will you give my best regards to Frau Rommel? - I will. 821 01:09:58,293 --> 01:10:00,910 - And thank you very much. - Good-bye, then. 822 01:10:01,046 --> 01:10:03,347 Good-bye. 823 01:10:20,531 --> 01:10:24,875 Keitel. He's talking about another command again. 824 01:10:25,012 --> 01:10:28,972 - When? - When I feel like it, I suppose. 825 01:10:44,178 --> 01:10:48,040 Eh, he sends his best regards to you. 826 01:11:34,128 --> 01:11:36,997 - We're here to see Field Marshal Rommel. - I'll tell him, sir. 827 01:11:37,136 --> 01:11:39,754 - Would you tell him that... - Come in, Burgdorf. 828 01:11:47,087 --> 01:11:51,049 - Field Marshal. - It's good to see you again. And you, General. 829 01:11:51,151 --> 01:11:54,217 - I don't believe you've met my wife. - I haven't had the pleasure, sir. 830 01:11:54,319 --> 01:11:56,589 My dear, will you allow me to present General Burgdorf and General... 831 01:11:56,686 --> 01:11:58,510 - Maisel, sir. - General Maisel. 832 01:11:58,606 --> 01:12:00,462 This is my son Manfred and Captain Aldinger. 833 01:12:00,559 --> 01:12:02,892 - I hope you're not too tired from your journey. - Not at all. 834 01:12:02,991 --> 01:12:05,479 - Thank you, Frau Rommel. - Have you time for a luncheon and a glass of wine? 835 01:12:05,582 --> 01:12:08,845 Thank you, sir. We're due back in Berlin as quickly as we can make it. 836 01:12:08,975 --> 01:12:11,528 Very well, then. If you'll excuse us, dear. This way, gentlemen. 837 01:12:11,630 --> 01:12:14,859 - Our apologies, Frau Rommel. - Of course, but I'm disappointed. 838 01:12:14,958 --> 01:12:17,226 - Another time, perhaps. - I hope so. 839 01:12:31,566 --> 01:12:34,500 I hope it's the Russian Front, don't you? 840 01:12:37,965 --> 01:12:40,234 Make yourselves comfortable. 841 01:12:40,332 --> 01:12:42,340 Smoke, if you wish. 842 01:12:42,444 --> 01:12:45,828 I'm not like Montgomery. Smoke doesn't make me unhappy. 843 01:12:49,324 --> 01:12:51,300 At your service, gentlemen. 844 01:12:52,748 --> 01:12:55,082 We come directly from the f¨¹hrer, Field Marshal. 845 01:12:55,212 --> 01:12:57,765 - Yes. - And what we have to say to you... 846 01:12:57,868 --> 01:13:00,040 comes directly from his lips. 847 01:13:00,140 --> 01:13:04,515 - Yes. - Our instructions are to tell you first... 848 01:13:04,619 --> 01:13:06,529 of his deep appreciation... 849 01:13:06,635 --> 01:13:10,530 of your many heroic services to the state. 850 01:13:11,531 --> 01:13:13,353 Go on. 851 01:13:13,451 --> 01:13:16,200 And his regrets over your unfortunate accident. 852 01:13:16,299 --> 01:13:20,455 I was sure his silence meant only that there were more important matters on his mind. 853 01:13:21,771 --> 01:13:24,552 It's a pity that after such a record... 854 01:13:24,651 --> 01:13:26,920 If you'll forgive me, may we skip your reflections... 855 01:13:27,019 --> 01:13:28,841 and get to the message you have for me? 856 01:13:28,938 --> 01:13:31,175 Of course, sir. 857 01:13:56,009 --> 01:13:58,245 You'll observe that the charges are supported... 858 01:13:58,345 --> 01:14:00,833 by an overwhelming body of testimony. 859 01:14:00,936 --> 01:14:03,174 I can read, thank you. 860 01:14:12,808 --> 01:14:16,353 You've been uncommonly fortunate in deathbed confessions. 861 01:14:16,456 --> 01:14:19,871 It's all perfectly legal, I assure you, sir. 862 01:14:31,655 --> 01:14:36,390 You may inform the f¨¹hrer that I look forward to answering these charges in court. 863 01:14:36,487 --> 01:14:39,454 You... You don't intend to deny them, do you? 864 01:14:39,558 --> 01:14:42,624 I said, you may inform the f¨¹hrer that I look forward... 865 01:14:42,727 --> 01:14:45,280 to answering the charges in court. 866 01:14:45,382 --> 01:14:48,698 The f¨¹hrer is extremely hopeful that this matter can be settled... 867 01:14:48,806 --> 01:14:52,384 without exposing it to the inevitable publicity of a court trial. 868 01:14:52,486 --> 01:14:55,649 Very well, then. Let him withdraw the charges. 869 01:14:55,750 --> 01:14:58,565 His view is that nothing but harm for everyone could come from a trial. 870 01:14:58,630 --> 01:15:01,219 My orders are to remind you in the strongest terms... 871 01:15:01,253 --> 01:15:03,808 My orders are to remind you in the strongest terms... 872 01:15:03,909 --> 01:15:08,186 of the damage testimony like this could do to your name and reputation. 873 01:15:08,293 --> 01:15:11,227 And what does he expect me to do? Plead guilty to you? 874 01:15:11,333 --> 01:15:14,050 Well, naturally, not that, of course. 875 01:15:14,148 --> 01:15:17,597 I know what he wants. He wants me to keep my mouth shut. 876 01:15:17,701 --> 01:15:20,832 He doesn't want me to tell what happened where it can be heard. 877 01:15:20,932 --> 01:15:24,249 Well, you may tell him for me that's very thoughtful of him... 878 01:15:24,356 --> 01:15:28,699 but that I'm quite capable of taking care of my own name and reputation in my own way... 879 01:15:28,804 --> 01:15:31,225 which will be in a proper court of law. 880 01:15:31,332 --> 01:15:33,219 But to what end, sir? 881 01:15:33,316 --> 01:15:35,585 The verdict is already indicated. 882 01:15:39,107 --> 01:15:41,595 He told you to tell me that too? 883 01:15:41,700 --> 01:15:43,522 The evidence is there. 884 01:15:43,620 --> 01:15:45,724 What defense is possible? 885 01:15:45,827 --> 01:15:50,170 Then, what does he suggest? 886 01:15:50,275 --> 01:15:53,178 Before we go further, the field marshal should be warned... 887 01:15:53,283 --> 01:15:55,519 that this house is entirely surrounded. 888 01:15:55,618 --> 01:15:57,790 My orders, sir. I'm sure you understand. 889 01:15:57,890 --> 01:16:01,403 - And the both of us are armed. - What does he want done? 890 01:16:03,138 --> 01:16:06,433 His belief is that it would be to the best interests of all concerned... 891 01:16:06,530 --> 01:16:10,426 if you should see fit to relieve the situation yourself... 892 01:16:10,530 --> 01:16:13,214 quietly and without delay. 893 01:16:13,314 --> 01:16:17,176 - Go on. - The advantages of a solution like that... 894 01:16:17,281 --> 01:16:20,446 over an ugly exchange of recriminations in an open court... 895 01:16:20,546 --> 01:16:23,861 are, in his opinion, several and obvious. 896 01:16:23,969 --> 01:16:26,424 Most important to him, of course... 897 01:16:26,529 --> 01:16:29,344 would be the preservation of your name and fame. 898 01:16:29,442 --> 01:16:32,091 And he would see to it himself not the slightest suspicion... 899 01:16:32,193 --> 01:16:34,080 would be attached to the way of your going. 900 01:16:34,177 --> 01:16:37,690 As far as the rest of the nation would know, you'd succumbed... 901 01:16:37,792 --> 01:16:40,095 finally to your war wounds. 902 01:16:40,193 --> 01:16:42,649 That would be the official announcement. 903 01:16:42,752 --> 01:16:47,062 And the state would then honor your memory and your family as well... 904 01:16:47,168 --> 01:16:49,240 with a generosity that would be historic. 905 01:16:49,345 --> 01:16:51,994 That was his word, "historic. " 906 01:16:52,096 --> 01:16:56,122 Your name would live on in the glory it once deserved... 907 01:16:56,224 --> 01:17:00,446 while your wife and son would never want for either safety or comfort... 908 01:17:00,544 --> 01:17:02,780 as long as they live. 909 01:17:04,511 --> 01:17:08,188 - I have a choice? - In a sense, yes. 910 01:17:09,246 --> 01:17:12,476 The choice to die now... or later. 911 01:17:13,631 --> 01:17:15,801 It amounts to that, I'm afraid. 912 01:17:17,277 --> 01:17:19,766 How long have I to make this choice? 913 01:17:19,870 --> 01:17:23,481 We're due back in Berlin as early this evening as we can make it. 914 01:17:23,583 --> 01:17:27,357 The penalty in this case, I'm told... 915 01:17:27,454 --> 01:17:30,770 would be the garrote... death by strangulation. 916 01:17:30,878 --> 01:17:35,384 The drug I've brought with me is effective in three seconds... 917 01:17:35,486 --> 01:17:37,853 and painless. 918 01:17:53,469 --> 01:17:55,890 Tell him for me... 919 01:17:55,997 --> 01:17:59,476 that in spite of the disadvantages you've been kind enough to point out... 920 01:17:59,581 --> 01:18:02,298 I'll take the trial. 921 01:18:02,395 --> 01:18:04,218 It may be, as you say, a futile defense... 922 01:18:04,315 --> 01:18:06,257 but I think it should be heard nevertheless. 923 01:18:06,364 --> 01:18:10,226 There might be some value in it for those who hear it. 924 01:18:10,331 --> 01:18:14,260 It might even move some to stop and think for a moment or two... 925 01:18:14,364 --> 01:18:16,982 as finally I did... 926 01:18:17,084 --> 01:18:19,734 though, unfortunately, too late. 927 01:18:19,836 --> 01:18:22,999 In any case, it's my life, and that's my choice. 928 01:18:24,411 --> 01:18:27,313 I confess my disappointment with your choice, sir. 929 01:18:27,420 --> 01:18:30,932 My heart, of course, bleeds for you. 930 01:18:31,035 --> 01:18:34,548 The unfortunate part of it is that if you insist on a trial... 931 01:18:34,650 --> 01:18:37,367 I have no authority to offer any guarantees... 932 01:18:37,466 --> 01:18:39,670 for the safety and comfort of your son... 933 01:18:39,770 --> 01:18:42,705 and widow. 934 01:18:55,514 --> 01:18:57,814 They're coming out now. 935 01:19:04,217 --> 01:19:07,413 - All over, sir? - I believe so. 936 01:19:10,456 --> 01:19:13,752 - We'll wait outside, sir. - I won't be long. 937 01:19:14,999 --> 01:19:17,366 Well, we hardly expected such a... 938 01:19:21,561 --> 01:19:23,731 - Over already? - Wait there, please. 939 01:19:23,832 --> 01:19:26,036 I'll be down in a few moments. 940 01:19:34,328 --> 01:19:36,498 What is it, Erwin? 941 01:19:36,600 --> 01:19:39,632 I want you to be strong, darling. 942 01:19:39,768 --> 01:19:43,510 I want you to be very strong and very brave. 943 01:19:43,607 --> 01:19:47,797 - Do you understand? - Yes. 944 01:19:47,894 --> 01:19:50,415 I've got to go away now... 945 01:19:50,518 --> 01:19:53,486 and I won't be back. 946 01:19:53,590 --> 01:19:55,957 Do you want me to tell you any more? 947 01:19:56,054 --> 01:19:57,910 There's no way out? 948 01:19:58,006 --> 01:20:01,650 No. But it won't be too terrible, uh... 949 01:20:01,751 --> 01:20:05,132 They're giving me a drug. It's painless and effective immediately. 950 01:20:05,238 --> 01:20:09,678 We're leaving now, and I'll do it as quickly as possible. 951 01:20:09,782 --> 01:20:12,335 We've got guns, sir. Can't we make a break for it? 952 01:20:12,438 --> 01:20:14,325 No, there's nothing that can be done. 953 01:20:14,421 --> 01:20:17,072 They've thought of everything. 954 01:20:19,957 --> 01:20:21,779 But at least we could get them. 955 01:20:21,877 --> 01:20:24,813 There's nothing to be done, I tell you. 956 01:20:24,917 --> 01:20:28,114 I've got to do exactly as they say. 957 01:20:30,388 --> 01:20:32,210 Yes, sir. 958 01:20:36,403 --> 01:20:40,594 - Are you going to be brave now? - I don't know. 959 01:20:40,692 --> 01:20:43,626 You and Manfred will be all right. They've assured me of that. 960 01:20:43,731 --> 01:20:46,863 And nobody's to know about this but us. 961 01:20:46,963 --> 01:20:52,495 - Are you sure there's no other way? - No other, darling. 962 01:20:53,908 --> 01:20:57,223 - Have you told Manfred yet? - I'll tell him when I go down. 963 01:20:57,331 --> 01:20:58,445 No. Let me tell him. 964 01:21:00,595 --> 01:21:02,602 I can tell him so much better. 965 01:21:04,467 --> 01:21:06,922 If you wish. 966 01:21:18,737 --> 01:21:21,006 I'll get my coat now. 967 01:21:21,139 --> 01:21:24,236 It's cold, and I don't want to shiver. 968 01:21:39,760 --> 01:21:42,510 The field marshal's coming out now. 969 01:21:53,200 --> 01:21:56,200 - You're going now? - Why not? 970 01:21:58,513 --> 01:22:00,335 But are you well enough? 971 01:22:00,433 --> 01:22:03,814 Of course, I've just been taking it easy on you and your mother. 972 01:22:03,920 --> 01:22:06,702 Is it Russia? 973 01:22:10,096 --> 01:22:13,608 Good-bye, Aldinger, old dear friend. 974 01:22:13,711 --> 01:22:16,013 Good-bye, sir. 975 01:22:16,111 --> 01:22:19,941 - Take care of them. - Yes, sir. 976 01:22:20,047 --> 01:22:22,414 Can't you tell me? 977 01:22:22,510 --> 01:22:24,420 Don't ask so many questions. 978 01:22:24,527 --> 01:22:26,698 You know better than to talk like that to a field marshal. 979 01:22:26,798 --> 01:22:28,937 But when will we know? 980 01:22:29,039 --> 01:22:31,657 Before very long. 981 01:22:33,134 --> 01:22:35,621 - Good-bye, son. Be a good boy. - Good-bye, Father. 982 01:22:35,727 --> 01:22:38,509 You'll stop them, won't you? 983 01:22:38,607 --> 01:22:40,515 We'll see. 984 01:22:52,526 --> 01:22:54,468 Good-bye, dear. 985 01:23:07,085 --> 01:23:09,092 During that last short ride... 986 01:23:09,196 --> 01:23:11,268 what may Rommel's thoughts have been? 987 01:23:11,373 --> 01:23:16,041 Were they bitter that he had learned too slowly and struck too late? 988 01:23:16,141 --> 01:23:19,370 Or did they go back to the desert, where his military genius... 989 01:23:19,469 --> 01:23:21,704 had first electrified the world? 990 01:23:21,804 --> 01:23:24,455 First, at Mikkeli. 991 01:23:26,988 --> 01:23:29,126 Then Tobruk. 992 01:23:31,275 --> 01:23:33,762 Yes, and even El Alamein. 993 01:23:37,515 --> 01:23:40,831 In any case, his life and fate have best been summed up... 994 01:23:40,940 --> 01:23:45,543 ironically enough, in the words of Nazi Germany's sternest enemy... 995 01:23:45,643 --> 01:23:48,392 the honorable Winston Churchill. 996 01:23:48,490 --> 01:23:53,640 His ardor and daring inflicted grievous disasters upon us... 997 01:23:53,738 --> 01:23:57,120 but he deserves the salute which I made him... 998 01:23:57,225 --> 01:24:02,081 in the House of Commons in January 1942. 999 01:24:02,185 --> 01:24:04,935 He also deserves our respect... 1000 01:24:05,034 --> 01:24:09,060 because, although a loyal German soldier... 1001 01:24:09,161 --> 01:24:12,707 he came to hate Hitler and all his works... 1002 01:24:12,808 --> 01:24:16,999 and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany... 1003 01:24:17,096 --> 01:24:21,886 by displacing the maniac and tyrant. 1004 01:24:21,993 --> 01:24:26,848 For this, he paid the forfeit of his life. 1005 01:24:26,952 --> 01:24:30,149 In the somber wars of modern democracy... 1006 01:24:30,249 --> 01:24:33,991 there is little place for chivalry.