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1
00:00:16,050 --> 00:00:18,348
The time is 1941...
2
00:00:18,452 --> 00:00:21,046
a month before Pearl Harbor.
3
00:00:21,155 --> 00:00:23,749
At 11:00 on a November night...
4
00:00:23,858 --> 00:00:26,418
a British submarine surfaced
in the Mediterranean...
5
00:00:26,527 --> 00:00:29,189
off the coast of Libya in North Africa...
6
00:00:29,297 --> 00:00:31,322
behind the German lines.
7
00:00:36,070 --> 00:00:38,334
Are you sure the light carries that far?
8
00:00:38,439 --> 00:00:40,339
It should.
9
00:00:42,510 --> 00:00:44,740
There they are.
10
00:00:48,215 --> 00:00:51,548
- What's he saying?
- He says they're all set, sir.
11
00:00:51,652 --> 00:00:54,052
Tell him we're coming in.
12
00:01:30,391 --> 00:01:32,882
These were British commandos...
13
00:01:32,994 --> 00:01:35,861
and the purpose of this
carefully plotted raid...
14
00:01:35,963 --> 00:01:38,431
was the death of one man.
15
00:04:02,209 --> 00:04:04,473
Aaaah!
16
00:05:21,088 --> 00:05:22,988
Cover me.
17
00:06:01,562 --> 00:06:03,962
It's no use.
Go on without me.
18
00:06:04,098 --> 00:06:06,931
- Get hold of my arm!
- It's no use, I tell you. Get out of here!
19
00:06:26,053 --> 00:06:29,368
Did we... Did we get him?
20
00:06:29,403 --> 00:06:32,683
Are you serious, Englishman?
21
00:07:48,902 --> 00:07:51,735
Gentlemen, the following order
from General Auchinleck...
22
00:07:51,839 --> 00:07:55,536
is to all commanders and chiefs of staff
of the Middle East forces.
23
00:07:55,642 --> 00:07:58,611
"There exists a real danger
that our friend Rommel...
24
00:07:58,712 --> 00:08:02,546
"is becoming a kind of magician
or bogeyman to our troops...
25
00:08:02,649 --> 00:08:05,209
"who are talking far too much about him.
26
00:08:05,319 --> 00:08:07,480
"He is by no means a superman...
27
00:08:07,588 --> 00:08:10,785
"although he is undoubtedly
very energetic and able.
28
00:08:10,891 --> 00:08:14,918
"Even if he were a superman,
it would still be highly undesirable...
29
00:08:15,028 --> 00:08:18,657
"that our men should credit him
with supernatural powers.
30
00:08:18,766 --> 00:08:22,065
"I wish you to dispel
by all possible means...
31
00:08:22,169 --> 00:08:25,002
"the idea that Rommel
represents something more...
32
00:08:25,105 --> 00:08:27,665
"than an ordinary German general.
33
00:08:27,775 --> 00:08:30,573
"Please ensure that this order
is put into immediate effect...
34
00:08:30,677 --> 00:08:33,077
"and impress upon all commanders...
35
00:08:33,180 --> 00:08:35,671
"that from a psychological
point of view...
36
00:08:35,783 --> 00:08:37,808
it is a matter
of the highest importance."
37
00:08:37,918 --> 00:08:40,580
Signed C.J. Auchinleck, General...
38
00:08:40,687 --> 00:08:43,815
Commander-in-Chief, M.E.F.
39
00:08:43,924 --> 00:08:48,258
This is the North African
desert in June of 1942...
40
00:08:48,362 --> 00:08:52,025
and these are British soldiers
taken prisoner the night before...
41
00:08:52,132 --> 00:08:54,828
by units of the German Afrika Korps.
42
00:09:10,918 --> 00:09:12,818
Run, you fool, run!
43
00:09:36,276 --> 00:09:38,938
You! Come on, get out of there!
44
00:09:41,615 --> 00:09:44,083
Get over with the other prisoners!
45
00:09:56,396 --> 00:09:58,887
Who is the senior officer here?
46
00:10:01,401 --> 00:10:03,733
- I am, I suppose.
- Come with me.
47
00:10:12,779 --> 00:10:14,838
- What's your rank?
- Lieutenant colonel.
48
00:10:14,948 --> 00:10:17,940
Colonel, I want you to go along with
these two officers on a flag of truce.
49
00:10:18,051 --> 00:10:20,178
And tell that battery to stop firing.
50
00:10:20,287 --> 00:10:23,017
- Tell them they're... killing their own men.
- I can't do that.
51
00:10:23,123 --> 00:10:25,990
Don't tell me what you can or can't do.
I'm giving you an order.
52
00:10:26,093 --> 00:10:27,993
Here, tie this on that rifle.
53
00:10:28,095 --> 00:10:29,995
Listen, Major, I'm a prisoner of war.
54
00:10:30,097 --> 00:10:31,997
You can't give me any such order.
55
00:10:32,099 --> 00:10:33,999
You know that as well as I do.
56
00:10:34,101 --> 00:10:36,501
I'm not going to argue
the point with you.
57
00:10:36,603 --> 00:10:40,039
Either you do as I tell you,
or we'll soon find a way to make you.
58
00:10:40,140 --> 00:10:42,131
Are you going or not?
59
00:10:42,242 --> 00:10:45,643
Major! Major!
60
00:10:45,746 --> 00:10:47,646
What's the row?
61
00:11:14,441 --> 00:11:16,671
The field marshal said you're right.
62
00:11:16,810 --> 00:11:18,675
Field marshal?
63
00:11:22,282 --> 00:11:24,648
So this, then, was Rommel...
64
00:11:24,751 --> 00:11:27,879
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel...
65
00:11:28,021 --> 00:11:30,615
commander-in-chief of the enemy army...
66
00:11:30,757 --> 00:11:34,523
and the most celebrated
German soldier since World War I.
67
00:11:37,297 --> 00:11:40,698
Already a legend in the desert,
he was a fox...
68
00:11:40,801 --> 00:11:44,259
who had chased his hunters back
and forth across North Africa...
69
00:11:44,404 --> 00:11:47,134
about as often as they had chased him...
70
00:11:47,274 --> 00:11:50,732
and his tricks and turns
had made even the Tommies chuckle...
71
00:11:50,877 --> 00:11:55,678
which is scarcely the proper
reflex to the enemy in time of war.
72
00:11:55,816 --> 00:11:59,445
In spite of which he was still,
of course, my enemy...
73
00:11:59,586 --> 00:12:03,488
the enemy not only of my country
and the army in which I served...
74
00:12:03,624 --> 00:12:06,024
but of all life as I knew it...
75
00:12:06,126 --> 00:12:09,687
not only of democracy
as free men had fashioned it...
76
00:12:09,830 --> 00:12:12,594
but of civilization itself.
77
00:12:12,733 --> 00:12:15,702
My name is Desmond Young.
78
00:12:15,836 --> 00:12:19,738
At the time of my capture, I was
a lieutenant colonel in the Indian army.
79
00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,172
This was my first and only sight...
80
00:12:22,275 --> 00:12:25,267
of the cool, hard,
professional soldier...
81
00:12:25,412 --> 00:12:29,041
whose scrupulous regard for the rules
of warfare had been exercised...
82
00:12:29,182 --> 00:12:32,345
in this instance,
so fortunately for myself.
83
00:12:34,554 --> 00:12:36,954
Two years and four months later...
84
00:12:37,057 --> 00:12:40,959
while the British and Americans
were fighting their way across Europe...
85
00:12:41,061 --> 00:12:43,359
Erwin Rommel was dead.
86
00:12:43,463 --> 00:12:46,330
He was dead, the Nazis reported...
87
00:12:46,433 --> 00:12:49,766
of wounds gallantly received
on the field of honor.
88
00:12:49,870 --> 00:12:52,839
But the Nazis were great liars,
of course.
89
00:12:52,973 --> 00:12:55,168
Many people wondered.
90
00:12:55,275 --> 00:12:59,405
For already there were mysterious
rumors floating across the battle lines.
91
00:13:01,782 --> 00:13:05,809
So, when the war was over
and my military life behind me...
92
00:13:05,952 --> 00:13:08,216
I gave myself a mission.
93
00:13:08,321 --> 00:13:11,950
I set out to discover
what actually had happened to him.
94
00:13:12,092 --> 00:13:14,287
What was the truth about his death...
95
00:13:14,394 --> 00:13:17,591
and on what field of honor had he died?
96
00:13:17,698 --> 00:13:22,601
In a modest home in the tiny village of
Herrlingen by Ulm in Wurttemberg, Germany...
97
00:13:22,703 --> 00:13:26,764
I talked long and often
with Rommel's son and widow...
98
00:13:26,907 --> 00:13:30,741
and examined his letters,
reports and other papers.
99
00:13:30,844 --> 00:13:33,574
In Germany,
I talked to soldiers...
100
00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:37,081
who had served with him,
over him and under him;
101
00:13:37,184 --> 00:13:40,585
In England,
with men who had fought against him...
102
00:13:40,721 --> 00:13:43,212
from field marshals to desert rats.
103
00:13:43,356 --> 00:13:45,517
And in both countries, of course...
104
00:13:45,625 --> 00:13:48,059
I went to the official records.
105
00:13:48,195 --> 00:13:50,390
Based on these facts...
106
00:13:50,497 --> 00:13:55,196
what now follows
is the true story of Erwin Rommel.
107
00:13:57,404 --> 00:14:00,635
The beginning of the end
for this single-minded soldier...
108
00:14:00,741 --> 00:14:05,906
came at 9:30 on the evening
of October 23, 1942...
109
00:14:06,012 --> 00:14:08,503
when at El Alamein
six miles of British guns...
110
00:14:08,615 --> 00:14:10,515
Fire!
111
00:14:48,822 --> 00:14:51,382
I discovered that actually
Rommel was not in Africa...
112
00:14:51,525 --> 00:14:53,789
when the storm of battle broke.
113
00:14:53,927 --> 00:14:56,623
Suffering from
a chronic diphtheria of the nose...
114
00:14:56,763 --> 00:14:59,561
he had been relieved of his command
a month before...
115
00:14:59,699 --> 00:15:02,133
and flown back to a hospital in Germany.
116
00:15:02,235 --> 00:15:05,671
But when the telephone rang
at his bedside...
117
00:15:05,806 --> 00:15:09,298
and a familiar voice from Berlin
called on him once more...
118
00:15:09,442 --> 00:15:13,435
he rose and was in a plane on the
way back to the desert within hours.
119
00:15:39,673 --> 00:15:42,972
- Thank you, Bayerlein. Still a dandy, I see.
- Just luck, sir.
120
00:15:43,076 --> 00:15:45,135
- Welcome back.
- Good to see you, sir.
121
00:15:45,278 --> 00:15:48,076
- Shall we take a look at those maps?
- Over here.
122
00:15:48,181 --> 00:15:51,582
- How've you been, Bayerlein?
- Oh, very well, I suppose.
123
00:15:51,718 --> 00:15:54,209
- Did you see Frau Rommel?
- Yes, she came to stay a week, she and Manfred.
124
00:15:54,354 --> 00:15:56,481
- Well, I hope...
- How does it look today?
125
00:15:56,623 --> 00:15:59,353
Oh, looks like
they've got too much for us.
126
00:15:59,459 --> 00:16:02,292
If they keep this up, I've no idea
how we're going to get out of it.
127
00:16:02,395 --> 00:16:04,795
- Not with the amount of petrol we've got.
- But we've got petrol?
128
00:16:04,898 --> 00:16:07,298
- Some, but not enough.
- You mean it's still on the way.
129
00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:10,301
- Neither on the way nor any prospect of it.
- Who told you that?
130
00:16:10,403 --> 00:16:14,840
I've talked to Rome three times. There's no
petrol on the way nor any committed to us.
131
00:16:14,975 --> 00:16:17,808
Schultz. Aldinger.
132
00:16:23,950 --> 00:16:26,714
- What about the tanks? Did they come?
- None.
133
00:16:26,820 --> 00:16:29,186
- None since I left?
- No. None since August.
134
00:16:29,289 --> 00:16:31,484
- What about the guns?
- Nothing, I tell you.
135
00:16:31,591 --> 00:16:33,559
- And no petrol at all?
- Not a pint.
136
00:16:47,707 --> 00:16:49,868
This is correct from the hour.
137
00:16:49,976 --> 00:16:52,410
Get me a stool, will you?
138
00:16:57,117 --> 00:17:00,348
Here's where it's worst. 15th's in
a bad way, barely hanging together.
139
00:17:00,453 --> 00:17:03,354
- What's this?
- A trailer division. They came in here.
140
00:17:03,456 --> 00:17:06,425
- Yes, I see. How far's this armor?
- No further.
141
00:17:06,559 --> 00:17:09,460
- They're doing pretty well there.
- Where are my maps?
142
00:17:14,134 --> 00:17:17,035
Bring the 21st north through here.
143
00:17:17,137 --> 00:17:20,265
- Move the 90th forward here.
- They'll hook up.
144
00:17:20,373 --> 00:17:22,273
That's right.
Now tell me this.
145
00:17:22,375 --> 00:17:24,775
- Is Montgomery sending his infantry in first?
- Naturally.
146
00:17:24,878 --> 00:17:28,780
Then let's give him a surprise. Let's send our
tanks and blow a hole through that infantry.
147
00:17:28,882 --> 00:17:32,784
If it works, we'll be on top of his
tanks before he knows what hit him.
148
00:17:32,919 --> 00:17:36,878
- Very good, sir.
- If it doesn't work, we'll know better than to try it next time.
149
00:17:36,990 --> 00:17:40,551
- Come on, Aldinger.
- You're not going up now, are you?
150
00:17:42,095 --> 00:17:44,655
Don't you think you oughta
turn in for an hour or so?
151
00:17:44,764 --> 00:17:47,494
- After three weeks of being turned in?
- We're away, sir?
152
00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,501
Let's head north
and go in with the 21st.
153
00:17:56,943 --> 00:17:59,605
But there was now another fox
in the desert...
154
00:17:59,713 --> 00:18:01,977
an even craftier one, perhaps.
155
00:18:02,082 --> 00:18:05,449
And if the battle boiled into confusion
during the next few days...
156
00:18:05,552 --> 00:18:10,387
it was a confusion that was clearly
more and more in Montgomery's favor.
157
00:19:54,594 --> 00:19:56,824
Have you found the field marshal yet?
158
00:19:56,930 --> 00:19:59,364
No, sir.
He's out at the front again.
159
00:20:02,602 --> 00:20:04,832
I don't know how the men
on line feel about it...
160
00:20:04,938 --> 00:20:07,998
but so far as the staff is concerned, I'd
just as soon have a commander-in-chief...
161
00:20:08,108 --> 00:20:10,167
with a little bit
of cowardice about him.
162
00:20:10,276 --> 00:20:13,177
Just enough to come back at headquarters
every now and then.
163
00:20:13,279 --> 00:20:15,611
Keep after him, will you?
164
00:20:27,627 --> 00:20:29,857
By the tenth day of the battle...
165
00:20:29,963 --> 00:20:33,057
not even Rommel could have
any doubt as to its outcome.
166
00:20:33,166 --> 00:20:35,634
There's a limit to this sort of thing.
167
00:20:35,735 --> 00:20:39,535
You can't just go on indefinitely
until the last man's dead.
168
00:20:39,639 --> 00:20:42,733
It's all very gallant and all that,
but it's also pretty idiotic.
169
00:20:42,842 --> 00:20:48,113
Von Thoma wants to pull back to Djerba.
170
00:20:48,148 --> 00:20:51,208
- What about M�ller?
- No answer as yet, sir.
171
00:20:54,154 --> 00:20:56,918
- Where're you from, son?
- Goslar, sir.
172
00:20:57,023 --> 00:21:00,220
Really? I was stationed in Goslar once
with a mountain battalion.
173
00:21:00,326 --> 00:21:03,318
- We did a lot of skiing there. Do you know that run?
- Very well, sir.
174
00:21:03,429 --> 00:21:06,159
- Are you any good?
- Well, sir, two years ago...
175
00:21:06,266 --> 00:21:09,235
- Are you sure you understood?
- Yes. I had him repeat it back to me.
176
00:21:09,335 --> 00:21:11,769
- Are you keeping after M�ller?
- Yes, sir.
177
00:21:13,339 --> 00:21:15,830
- Have you tried Berlin?
- Call if you can.
178
00:21:15,942 --> 00:21:19,241
- Nothing yet, though.
- Nobody knows the situation. I sent him the whole story.
179
00:21:19,345 --> 00:21:22,246
- If there's anything he can do, he will.
- No matter what you say...
180
00:21:22,348 --> 00:21:24,475
to Berlin we're only a side show
and you know it.
181
00:21:31,491 --> 00:21:34,255
- Well, what?
- M�ller's in a bad way.
182
00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:36,260
- How bad?
- Very, I'm afraid.
183
00:21:36,362 --> 00:21:39,263
If he doesn't pull back soon,
he won't have anything to pull back.
184
00:21:39,365 --> 00:21:42,459
- Well, where is he?
- His command car is gone. He's working in a carrier.
185
00:21:42,569 --> 00:21:45,595
And if he's got more than 40 tanks left,
I'd be greatly surprised.
186
00:21:45,705 --> 00:21:49,471
- How about the Italians?
- M�ller thinks they've had as much as they can take.
187
00:21:49,576 --> 00:21:51,476
Rome calling, sir.
188
00:21:54,414 --> 00:21:57,577
- Well?
- Field Marshal Kesselring regrets.
189
00:21:57,684 --> 00:22:00,619
Well, that eliminates
any further speculation anyway.
190
00:22:03,156 --> 00:22:06,023
It's now a simple matter
of mathematics.
191
00:22:06,125 --> 00:22:08,923
With the petrol we've got left,
we have two choices:
192
00:22:09,028 --> 00:22:11,553
We can remain here
and be destroyed...
193
00:22:11,664 --> 00:22:14,827
or we can pull out tonight and
dig in somewhere for the next round.
194
00:22:14,934 --> 00:22:17,198
- You think we still can?
- Pull out? Of course. Why not?
195
00:22:17,303 --> 00:22:19,203
Montgomery's got no petrol shortage.
196
00:22:19,305 --> 00:22:21,466
But Montgomery's
a very deliberate fellow.
197
00:22:21,574 --> 00:22:24,475
He wouldn't dream of leaping after me
the way I'd leap after him.
198
00:22:24,577 --> 00:22:27,410
- He'd have to think about it.
- I don't see what else there is to be done.
199
00:22:27,513 --> 00:22:29,413
There's nothing else.
Let's have plan "C."
200
00:22:29,515 --> 00:22:32,279
Notify all commanding officers
to stand by for important orders.
201
00:22:32,385 --> 00:22:35,047
- If we can move quickly enough...
- Berlin calling, sir.
202
00:22:35,154 --> 00:22:37,418
- Who in Berlin?
- The f�hrer.
203
00:22:54,407 --> 00:22:56,307
Signed Adolf Hitler.
204
00:22:56,409 --> 00:23:00,470
"The situation requires that the El
Alamein position be held to the last man.
205
00:23:00,580 --> 00:23:05,017
There is to be no retreat, not so much as
one millimeter. It must be victory or death."
206
00:23:05,118 --> 00:23:07,518
- I can't believe it.
- Have you still got Berlin?
207
00:23:07,620 --> 00:23:09,918
- Yes, sir.
- Ask him to repeat that message.
208
00:23:10,023 --> 00:23:13,424
- Yes, sir.
- I know, but it's not him. It's those hoodlums again...
209
00:23:13,526 --> 00:23:16,757
those thieves and crooks and murderers,
those toy soldiers...
210
00:23:16,863 --> 00:23:21,323
those dummy generals with their books
and charts and maps and pointers!
211
00:23:21,467 --> 00:23:23,731
How can he listen to such nonentities?
212
00:23:23,870 --> 00:23:26,304
How can he even stand
the smell of such filth?
213
00:23:26,406 --> 00:23:29,102
- Why doesn't he use his own intelligence?
- I have your repeat, sir.
214
00:23:29,208 --> 00:23:31,108
Well, go ahead, read it.
215
00:23:31,244 --> 00:23:35,305
"The situation requires that the El
Alamein position be held to the last man.
216
00:23:35,448 --> 00:23:38,110
"There is to be no retreat,
not so much as one millimeter.
217
00:23:38,251 --> 00:23:41,345
It must be victory or death."
Signed, Adolf Hitler.
218
00:23:43,056 --> 00:23:46,116
- It's incredible.
- You're not going to pay attention to such nonsense?
219
00:23:46,259 --> 00:23:49,353
It's an order, Bayerlein, a military
order from general headquarters...
220
00:23:49,495 --> 00:23:53,295
a clear, straight, stupid, criminal
military order from general headquarters.
221
00:23:53,433 --> 00:23:57,028
And what are you going to do,
double the insanity by obeying it?
222
00:23:57,170 --> 00:23:59,695
We've got the best soldiers
in the German army here.
223
00:23:59,839 --> 00:24:03,070
They may be just hanging on now, but they're
still a force, they're still fighting.
224
00:24:03,209 --> 00:24:05,905
If we take them out now,
they can fight again tomorrow.
225
00:24:06,045 --> 00:24:09,037
But this... this is shear madness.
It's out of the Middle Ages.
226
00:24:09,182 --> 00:24:13,084
Nobody has said "victory or death" since
people fought with bows and arrows.
227
00:24:13,186 --> 00:24:15,848
Why, this is an order
to throw away an entire army.
228
00:24:15,988 --> 00:24:19,890
If I may remind you, sir, here in the
field these men are yours, not his.
229
00:24:19,992 --> 00:24:22,222
- I just can't understand it.
- I can. He's insane.
230
00:24:22,362 --> 00:24:26,822
He's not insane. He's...
But neither am I.
231
00:24:34,974 --> 00:24:38,876
Pull them out, Bayerlein.
I'll argue with him about it later.
232
00:25:16,315 --> 00:25:19,876
The end came in Tunis when
the Axis forces were caught...
233
00:25:20,019 --> 00:25:22,283
between the British, the Free French...
234
00:25:22,388 --> 00:25:24,379
and the Americans under Eisenhower...
235
00:25:24,524 --> 00:25:28,051
and surrendered unconditionally.
236
00:25:30,229 --> 00:25:33,926
But the Afrika Korps
went into captivity without its leader.
237
00:25:34,033 --> 00:25:38,197
For, a month before the end,
Rommel had again fallen ill...
238
00:25:38,304 --> 00:25:41,034
and been invalided back
to the hospital in Germany.
239
00:25:50,316 --> 00:25:53,183
- Good morning, Sergeant.
- Good morning, Frau Rommel, Manfred.
240
00:25:53,286 --> 00:25:56,744
- Morning.
- Dr. Strolin.
241
00:25:56,856 --> 00:26:01,054
- Karl Strolin, Stuttgart.
- Dr. Strolin is an old friend of the field marshal's.
242
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,685
I understand you'll find him
much better this morning.
243
00:26:03,796 --> 00:26:05,764
All he needed was a little rest.
244
00:26:13,673 --> 00:26:17,040
Frau Rommel...
245
00:26:17,143 --> 00:26:20,340
Manfred Rommel...
246
00:26:23,015 --> 00:26:26,576
and Dr. Karl Strolin.
247
00:26:26,686 --> 00:26:28,677
From Stuttgart?
248
00:26:28,788 --> 00:26:31,621
Not only from,
but lord mayor of.
249
00:26:33,826 --> 00:26:36,294
Don't tell me he's on the list.
250
00:26:40,399 --> 00:26:43,368
"Dr. Karl Strolin,
lord mayor of Stuttgart."
251
00:26:45,238 --> 00:26:48,002
She says he's an old friend
of the field marshal.
252
00:26:48,107 --> 00:26:50,007
Nevertheless, here he is.
253
00:26:50,109 --> 00:26:52,236
"To be kept under
the closest observation...
254
00:26:52,345 --> 00:26:55,508
whenever discovered
beyond the precincts of Stuttgart."
255
00:26:57,750 --> 00:27:00,810
Not that it could really
be described as an argument.
256
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,684
It's impossible to have
an argument with him...
257
00:27:03,789 --> 00:27:06,553
in the sense that you and I
could have an argument.
258
00:27:06,659 --> 00:27:09,492
He raves, he screams,
he goes into such hysterics...
259
00:27:09,595 --> 00:27:12,996
that it's like trying to make sense
with a panic-stricken woman.
260
00:27:13,099 --> 00:27:15,590
He called him a coward.
261
00:27:15,701 --> 00:27:18,693
Did he really use that word to you?
262
00:27:18,804 --> 00:27:20,999
Not once, but several times.
263
00:27:21,107 --> 00:27:26,135
In Russia, he said, officers like me
have been put against the wall and shot.
264
00:27:26,245 --> 00:27:28,975
Now must I think it couldn't
happen to me too.
265
00:27:29,081 --> 00:27:33,780
That was his thanks, that was his gratitude
for all that Erwin has done for him.
266
00:27:33,886 --> 00:27:36,787
On the other hand, you mustn't
hold people too accountable...
267
00:27:36,889 --> 00:27:39,858
for everything they say
when they're emotionally upset.
268
00:27:39,959 --> 00:27:44,055
The war is not going well,
and he's naturally worried.
269
00:27:44,163 --> 00:27:46,495
But I'm afraid it will be a long time...
270
00:27:46,599 --> 00:27:49,500
before I forget what he did
to the Afrika Korps.
271
00:27:49,602 --> 00:27:51,695
What was that?
272
00:27:51,804 --> 00:27:55,706
When the end was near
and I asked him to get them out...
273
00:27:55,808 --> 00:27:59,608
he said he had no further
interest or concern...
274
00:27:59,712 --> 00:28:01,543
in the Afrika Korps.
275
00:28:01,647 --> 00:28:04,343
And that was their thanks.
276
00:28:05,851 --> 00:28:10,015
Rommel...
I should like to ask you a question.
277
00:28:10,122 --> 00:28:13,182
Of course, if you don't care to answer,
I quite understand.
278
00:28:13,292 --> 00:28:16,819
But with your permission,
I should like to ask it nevertheless.
279
00:28:16,929 --> 00:28:18,829
What is it?
280
00:28:18,931 --> 00:28:21,399
Do you really believe that we can win?
281
00:28:26,839 --> 00:28:29,865
- I'll tell you what he believes.
- Yes?
282
00:28:31,744 --> 00:28:34,042
He doesn't think so.
283
00:28:34,146 --> 00:28:36,307
He told you that himself?
284
00:28:36,415 --> 00:28:38,315
He did.
285
00:28:38,417 --> 00:28:41,409
And he understands
what that'll mean this time?
286
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:43,420
Apparently.
287
00:28:43,522 --> 00:28:45,513
Then why do we go on?
288
00:28:45,625 --> 00:28:49,721
We have no choice,
because no country we're fighting...
289
00:28:49,829 --> 00:28:53,731
England, America or Russia...
will make peace with him.
290
00:28:53,833 --> 00:28:56,097
He admitted that?
291
00:28:56,202 --> 00:28:59,330
And it's the truth, of course.
292
00:28:59,438 --> 00:29:03,033
In other words,
while he remains as leader of Germany...
293
00:29:03,142 --> 00:29:05,906
we must fight on until we're destroyed.
294
00:29:06,012 --> 00:29:08,879
Victory or death, as ever.
295
00:29:08,981 --> 00:29:13,884
I take it he didn't mention
the obvious solution to the situation.
296
00:29:13,986 --> 00:29:17,478
- What do you mean?
- Abdication.
297
00:29:19,892 --> 00:29:22,417
Now, my dear Strolin...
298
00:29:24,764 --> 00:29:27,756
- I'm afraid we must go, dear.
- Must you already?
299
00:29:27,867 --> 00:29:30,461
- I have a train to catch.
- We'll come back after supper.
300
00:29:30,569 --> 00:29:34,300
Let's have coffee together. Good-bye,
Strolin. 'T was good to see you again.
301
00:29:34,407 --> 00:29:36,568
We won't let it be so long next time.
302
00:29:36,676 --> 00:29:39,440
- Do you think they really would, Father?
- Would what, son?
303
00:29:39,545 --> 00:29:42,036
- Shoot you?
- No, no, of course not.
304
00:29:42,148 --> 00:29:45,379
That's just his wild way of talking.
You mustn't pay any attention to that.
305
00:29:45,484 --> 00:29:48,976
- Shoot his greatest general?
- You shouldn't have said that in front of him.
306
00:29:49,088 --> 00:29:51,556
Come along
and stop talking nonsense.
307
00:29:52,925 --> 00:29:56,053
- Until this evening, dear?
- Come early, will you?
308
00:29:58,731 --> 00:30:01,359
He's a good-looking boy, isn't he?
309
00:30:01,467 --> 00:30:05,801
A very nice boy too.
But were you entirely truthful with him?
310
00:30:05,905 --> 00:30:07,805
About what?
311
00:30:07,907 --> 00:30:11,638
- When you told him he would never put you up against a wall.
- But of course.
312
00:30:11,744 --> 00:30:15,236
Has the possibility ever occurred to you
that he might turn on you?
313
00:30:15,347 --> 00:30:18,248
- But why should he?
- He's turned on others.
314
00:30:18,350 --> 00:30:20,716
He'll never turn on me.
315
00:30:20,820 --> 00:30:24,881
What about some of those fellows around him that
don't like you? Himmler, Bormann and that crowd.
316
00:30:24,990 --> 00:30:28,187
- Don't they ever influence him?
- Very often, indeed.
317
00:30:28,294 --> 00:30:31,855
You don't think it's possible they might
influence him against you someday?
318
00:30:31,964 --> 00:30:36,401
It's possible, yes,
but I don't see that it's very likely.
319
00:30:36,502 --> 00:30:39,699
But in the remote possibility
that they did...
320
00:30:39,805 --> 00:30:43,741
have you ever considered what might
become of Lucie and Manfred?
321
00:30:43,876 --> 00:30:48,279
I've never thought about it. But what
on Earth are you getting at, anyway?
322
00:30:48,414 --> 00:30:51,383
I think you should, that's all.
323
00:30:51,517 --> 00:30:54,452
You haven't changed a bit, Doctor.
324
00:30:54,587 --> 00:30:57,351
You always were
something of an odd fish.
325
00:30:57,490 --> 00:30:59,958
But there's no need
for you to worry this time.
326
00:31:00,092 --> 00:31:02,060
We're in no danger, none of us.
327
00:31:02,194 --> 00:31:04,719
If you'll take a word of advice
from an old friend...
328
00:31:04,864 --> 00:31:06,798
you'd better not talk like that
to everybody.
329
00:31:06,932 --> 00:31:08,797
I don't.
330
00:31:08,934 --> 00:31:12,768
Only to those I know very well
and am very fond of.
331
00:31:12,905 --> 00:31:16,102
- Good-bye, Rommel.
- Good-bye, Strolin.
332
00:31:16,242 --> 00:31:19,143
- Come again if you can.
- I'll try.
333
00:33:35,347 --> 00:33:37,975
An invasion of Hitler's
European fortress...
334
00:33:38,083 --> 00:33:40,608
was now clearly but a matter of time.
335
00:33:40,719 --> 00:33:43,210
And in November of 1943...
336
00:33:43,322 --> 00:33:46,587
Rommel made a tour of inspection
of the Atlantic defenses...
337
00:33:46,692 --> 00:33:50,059
preparatory of taking command
of the Nazi forces...
338
00:33:50,162 --> 00:33:52,960
that were gathering
to resist the assault.
339
00:35:01,133 --> 00:35:05,365
A month later, Rommel reported
to Field Marshal von Rundstedt...
340
00:35:05,471 --> 00:35:08,702
supreme commander in the West,
at the latter's headquarters...
341
00:35:08,807 --> 00:35:13,005
in the Pompadour's Palace
at Fontainebleau outside Paris.
342
00:35:23,222 --> 00:35:26,350
Field Marshal von Rundstedt,
gentlemen.
343
00:35:32,231 --> 00:35:34,461
- Ruge.
- Field Marshal.
344
00:35:34,566 --> 00:35:36,500
Gentlemen.
345
00:35:42,174 --> 00:35:44,574
- Good to see you, Rommel.
- Field Marshal.
346
00:35:44,676 --> 00:35:48,407
Well, now that you have had
an opportunity to examine it closely...
347
00:35:48,514 --> 00:35:51,108
what do you think of our Atlantic wall?
348
00:35:51,216 --> 00:35:53,684
I'm afraid I haven't quite
completed my report yet, but...
349
00:35:53,786 --> 00:35:56,220
We'll discuss it later,
whenever you're ready.
350
00:35:56,321 --> 00:36:00,587
I don't imagine the mighty Eisenhower
will be on us for another day or so.
351
00:36:00,692 --> 00:36:03,160
It wasn't too much a tax
on your strength, I hope.
352
00:36:03,262 --> 00:36:05,753
Not in the least.
I'm entirely recovered now.
353
00:36:05,864 --> 00:36:08,697
I'm delighted. You're being
well taken care of, gentlemen?
354
00:36:08,801 --> 00:36:10,769
Yes, indeed, sir.
355
00:36:10,869 --> 00:36:13,201
Would you be so good
as to divert our friends...
356
00:36:13,305 --> 00:36:16,570
while Field Marshal Rommel and I have
a few moments of private meditation?
357
00:36:16,675 --> 00:36:18,575
Yes, sir.
358
00:36:46,071 --> 00:36:49,472
Appalling, wasn't it?
359
00:36:51,543 --> 00:36:54,068
I can't even see why it's called a wall.
360
00:36:54,213 --> 00:36:57,910
The big ports like Havre and Ostend and
Cherbourg are protected well enough...
361
00:36:58,050 --> 00:37:00,678
but the enemy's not coming in
on the Queen Mary.
362
00:37:00,819 --> 00:37:03,185
Nothing at all
is being done about the beaches.
363
00:37:03,322 --> 00:37:06,758
Why, I saw 50 places where
an army of children could come ashore.
364
00:37:06,892 --> 00:37:11,295
The trouble is labor. We have the plans for
fortifications the devil himself couldn't breach...
365
00:37:11,396 --> 00:37:14,092
solid steel and concrete
from Denmark to Spain...
366
00:37:14,233 --> 00:37:19,000
but I'm afraid our French friends aren't
being as cooperative as they might be.
367
00:37:19,138 --> 00:37:22,039
Even when driven to the job,
they move like snails.
368
00:37:22,141 --> 00:37:26,237
Either we break it up while they're
still wading ashore or we're in trouble.
369
00:37:26,378 --> 00:37:29,245
- Is that the way you'd meet it?
- Stop them on the beaches.
370
00:37:29,348 --> 00:37:31,908
Crowd the water with mines
and traps and tricks...
371
00:37:32,050 --> 00:37:35,144
and hit 'em while they're busy
trying to keep themselves from drowning.
372
00:37:35,287 --> 00:37:39,087
Here, down here... and here.
373
00:37:39,191 --> 00:37:41,557
I don't agree with you...
374
00:37:41,660 --> 00:37:45,027
but the difference of opinion
will probably remain academic.
375
00:37:45,130 --> 00:37:50,033
As it happens, neither you nor I will
determine the tactics in this operation.
376
00:37:50,135 --> 00:37:52,603
Not above the regimental level, anyway.
377
00:37:52,738 --> 00:37:54,899
You mean... Berlin?
378
00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:57,838
I mean the Bohemian corporal himself...
379
00:37:57,943 --> 00:38:01,379
is assuming sole and total command
of this operation.
380
00:38:01,513 --> 00:38:06,416
You and I will function simply as
instruments of his astrological inspirations.
381
00:38:06,518 --> 00:38:10,648
And in case you're afflicted with an
understandable skepticism, this is official.
382
00:38:10,789 --> 00:38:13,349
But that's an utterly
impossible situation.
383
00:38:13,492 --> 00:38:15,892
Then you should, by all means,
explain that to him.
384
00:38:15,994 --> 00:38:17,985
You've made no protests yourself?
385
00:38:18,130 --> 00:38:20,530
After you've interfered
a dozen times or so...
386
00:38:20,632 --> 00:38:24,693
with a man's rather enthusiastic
determination to cut his own throat...
387
00:38:24,836 --> 00:38:27,669
there comes a moment
when you're inclined to stand back...
388
00:38:27,773 --> 00:38:30,071
and view the whole matter
with a certain detachment.
389
00:38:30,175 --> 00:38:33,406
- You've no objection to my... pointing this out to him?
- On the contrary.
390
00:38:33,512 --> 00:38:36,572
I bestow my blessings
on your courage and optimism.
391
00:38:47,025 --> 00:38:49,550
I'm told you once
referred to me as a clown...
392
00:38:49,695 --> 00:38:52,095
the clown
of Hitler's circus.
393
00:38:52,197 --> 00:38:54,097
Oh, did I?
394
00:38:54,199 --> 00:38:57,362
If so, I think you should know I've been
a great deal more explicit about you.
395
00:38:57,469 --> 00:38:59,994
That's quite all right, Field Marshal.
396
00:39:00,138 --> 00:39:04,165
I find it almost impossible to keep my
mind on anything harsh said about me.
397
00:39:04,309 --> 00:39:06,243
Did you say it?
398
00:39:06,345 --> 00:39:10,213
Whoever said it, you've given them ample
reason to regret such a foolish remark.
399
00:39:12,317 --> 00:39:15,047
- Thank you, Field Marshal.
- Not at all.
400
00:39:15,153 --> 00:39:17,144
Is there anything else?
401
00:39:17,289 --> 00:39:19,883
I don't believe so at the moment.
402
00:39:22,494 --> 00:39:24,394
One suggestion, perhaps...
403
00:39:24,496 --> 00:39:27,624
in view of our cordiality.
404
00:39:27,733 --> 00:39:31,066
If I were you,
I wouldn't be altogether unguarded...
405
00:39:31,169 --> 00:39:34,366
about what I had to say about
this new strategic arrangement.
406
00:39:34,473 --> 00:39:36,805
I think you should know
that from now on...
407
00:39:36,908 --> 00:39:39,843
you'll be under more or less
constant observation here.
408
00:39:39,945 --> 00:39:43,972
- From Berlin?
- Friends of the management, I believe.
409
00:39:44,082 --> 00:39:47,483
Have you any information as to why I
should be singled out for such attention?
410
00:39:47,586 --> 00:39:50,453
Oh, but you're not.
We all are.
411
00:39:50,555 --> 00:39:53,319
Apparently
you didn't have it in Africa...
412
00:39:53,425 --> 00:39:57,486
but here on the continent
it's an honor that goes with staff rank.
413
00:39:57,596 --> 00:39:59,325
You too?
414
00:39:59,431 --> 00:40:03,197
My dear fellow,
I'm the commander-in-chief.
415
00:40:12,344 --> 00:40:14,471
Two months after that...
416
00:40:14,579 --> 00:40:17,707
in February of 1944,
during one of Rommel's...
417
00:40:17,816 --> 00:40:20,114
rare absences
from the Atlantic frontier...
418
00:40:20,218 --> 00:40:24,552
his old friend Dr. Karl Strolin
sought him out again.
419
00:40:38,537 --> 00:40:41,233
- Good afternoon, sir.
- Good afternoon.
420
00:40:41,340 --> 00:40:44,138
Dr. Strolin to see the field marshal
and Frau Rommel.
421
00:40:44,242 --> 00:40:46,142
Come in, sir.
422
00:40:57,522 --> 00:41:00,616
Eisenhower won't try it
until spring, of course.
423
00:41:00,726 --> 00:41:03,058
I doubt if I'll get home again
before then.
424
00:41:03,161 --> 00:41:05,061
Are we ready for him?
425
00:41:05,163 --> 00:41:07,324
We will be, I hope.
426
00:41:12,471 --> 00:41:14,564
To your very good health, Doctor.
427
00:41:14,673 --> 00:41:16,766
To yours, my dear Rommel.
428
00:41:19,578 --> 00:41:22,206
How do you know this room isn't wired?
429
00:41:22,314 --> 00:41:25,112
Wired?
Why should it be wired?
430
00:41:25,217 --> 00:41:28,209
Does our friend Himmler
have to have a reason for wiring a room?
431
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:30,220
No, I don't suppose he does.
432
00:41:30,322 --> 00:41:33,223
But I don't think you have
to worry about this one.
433
00:41:33,325 --> 00:41:35,225
Why?
434
00:41:46,171 --> 00:41:49,470
'Cause I want to talk to you
without being overheard.
435
00:41:49,574 --> 00:41:52,543
- About what?
- About the Hitler situation.
436
00:41:54,045 --> 00:41:57,276
If this is politics, Strolin,
I don't want to hear it.
437
00:41:57,382 --> 00:41:59,577
Had you rather see Germany destroyed?
438
00:41:59,684 --> 00:42:02,482
It's not a matter I want to discuss,
I tell you.
439
00:42:02,587 --> 00:42:05,818
And I'm surprised at you.
That's a communist position.
440
00:42:05,924 --> 00:42:08,290
Oh? Is it?
441
00:42:08,393 --> 00:42:12,022
Defeat, against him, all that
sort of thing. You know it is.
442
00:42:12,130 --> 00:42:14,428
Would you call General Beck
a communist?
443
00:42:14,533 --> 00:42:18,230
- Of course not.
- Or Karl Goerdeler, the lord mayor of Leipzig?
444
00:42:18,336 --> 00:42:21,237
- I've never heard that he was.
- What about Falkenhausen?
445
00:42:21,339 --> 00:42:24,797
- No, but...
- What about Heinrich von Stulpnagel?
446
00:42:24,910 --> 00:42:27,708
And von Urach and von Haslov?
Are they communists?
447
00:42:27,813 --> 00:42:33,308
Are you trying to tell me seriously that
men like that are questioning his leadership?
448
00:42:33,418 --> 00:42:37,855
Not just questioning it.
They intend to end it.
449
00:42:37,956 --> 00:42:40,720
You mean, you've talked
to those fellows yourself?
450
00:42:40,826 --> 00:42:43,317
To them and to many others.
Not only soldiers, either.
451
00:42:43,428 --> 00:42:46,829
Church men, labor leaders,
lawyers, doctors.
452
00:42:46,932 --> 00:42:51,801
Members of the government, even. Not too
many of them, but sound men, every one.
453
00:42:51,903 --> 00:42:54,997
How long has this been going on?
454
00:42:55,106 --> 00:42:57,370
Since '38.
455
00:42:59,110 --> 00:43:01,704
And what exactly are you after?
456
00:43:01,813 --> 00:43:05,579
One, we want to get rid of Hitler
and his gang.
457
00:43:05,684 --> 00:43:08,380
If we are to be defeated,
then we prefer to be defeated...
458
00:43:08,487 --> 00:43:11,513
as human beings, not as barbarians.
459
00:43:11,623 --> 00:43:14,751
Two, whether we win or lose...
460
00:43:14,860 --> 00:43:18,921
we want to live again
like decent people, without fear.
461
00:43:19,030 --> 00:43:23,399
Look, Strolin, I don't want to
get mixed up in this thing.
462
00:43:23,502 --> 00:43:26,096
What they do in Berlin
is their business, not mine.
463
00:43:26,204 --> 00:43:28,502
I'm a soldier, not a politician.
464
00:43:28,607 --> 00:43:31,007
You still think you're perfectly safe?
465
00:43:31,109 --> 00:43:33,304
Who knows who's safe
and who's not?
466
00:43:33,411 --> 00:43:35,379
Under a sane man, you'd know.
467
00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:37,846
That's a lot of rubbish,
and you know it.
468
00:43:37,949 --> 00:43:40,474
Well, I hope you're right,
and perhaps you are.
469
00:43:40,585 --> 00:43:44,646
After all, you are his favorite, and I can
think of no one who's ever questioned...
470
00:43:44,756 --> 00:43:49,318
the deep and enduring gratitude he's always
shown to those who've served him well.
471
00:43:49,427 --> 00:43:53,761
- No one's in any danger here who does his job properly.
- You have nothing to fear.
472
00:43:53,865 --> 00:43:57,198
And if something did happen
unpredictably...
473
00:43:57,302 --> 00:44:00,294
you'd still have the comfort of knowing
that the lives of Lucie and Manfred...
474
00:44:00,405 --> 00:44:03,533
would be safe and snug
in the soft, gentle, tender hands...
475
00:44:03,642 --> 00:44:06,634
of that brave little band of patriots
he's gathered around him.
476
00:44:06,745 --> 00:44:09,873
I'm afraid that kind of talk
doesn't amuse me.
477
00:44:09,981 --> 00:44:14,850
I'm not trying to amuse you. I'm merely
reflecting on your extraordinary good fortune.
478
00:44:14,953 --> 00:44:17,888
I wish you'd think
about that too sometime...
479
00:44:17,989 --> 00:44:22,824
not the blood on his mouth, but what
a godsend he is to you personally...
480
00:44:22,928 --> 00:44:26,159
not only in your home,
but in the field as a soldier.
481
00:44:26,264 --> 00:44:29,700
How many other generals can boast
the favor and support of a leader...
482
00:44:29,801 --> 00:44:32,463
so gifted in the arts of war?
483
00:44:32,571 --> 00:44:34,471
That's enough, Strolin.
484
00:44:34,573 --> 00:44:37,474
Surely you haven't forgotten
how brilliantly he refused...
485
00:44:37,576 --> 00:44:41,876
to be seduced into an invasion of
undefended England right after Dunkirk.
486
00:44:41,980 --> 00:44:44,210
Or how brave he was at Stalingrad...
487
00:44:44,316 --> 00:44:47,046
when von Forest
wanted to withdraw from the trap.
488
00:44:47,152 --> 00:44:49,677
What other man on Earth
would have had the courage...
489
00:44:49,788 --> 00:44:52,689
to send that brief, simple,
thrilling command:
490
00:44:52,791 --> 00:44:56,090
"Don't retreat so much as a millimeter.
Victory or death"?
491
00:44:56,194 --> 00:44:59,527
- Would Napoleon himself have dared...
- That's enough, I tell you!
492
00:44:59,631 --> 00:45:02,293
Afraid even to think about it.
493
00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:05,665
Stop talking to me as if I were a child
and you a schoolmaster!
494
00:45:05,770 --> 00:45:08,796
Don't you think I know what you mean?
But what of it?
495
00:45:08,907 --> 00:45:11,774
Who asked me for my opinion?
And suppose I told them...
496
00:45:11,876 --> 00:45:14,936
that what they're doing is stupid
to the point of imbecility!
497
00:45:15,046 --> 00:45:17,344
- Who do you think would listen?
- Have you ever tried?
498
00:45:17,449 --> 00:45:19,815
Of course! I've been told
to mind my own business.
499
00:45:19,918 --> 00:45:22,045
And who's to say they're not right?
500
00:45:22,153 --> 00:45:24,621
Surely you aren't naive enough
to think that a soldier...
501
00:45:24,723 --> 00:45:27,920
must approve of every detail of his
government before he can fight for it.
502
00:45:28,026 --> 00:45:32,520
What army could exist like that, with every
man free to decide what he will or won't do?
503
00:45:32,631 --> 00:45:37,694
The truth is that a soldier has but one function
in life, one lone excuse for existence...
504
00:45:37,802 --> 00:45:40,999
and that is to carry out
the order of his superiors.
505
00:45:41,106 --> 00:45:44,007
The rest, including government,
is politics.
506
00:45:44,109 --> 00:45:48,102
And if I must remind you again,
I'm a soldier, not a politician.
507
00:45:48,213 --> 00:45:52,115
- What the government does...
- Oh, stop hiding behind that bloody uniform of yours!
508
00:45:52,217 --> 00:45:54,708
What do I care about
your philosophy of the soldier?
509
00:45:54,819 --> 00:45:57,185
All it means to me
is that you're terrified...
510
00:45:57,288 --> 00:46:00,655
hiding under a lot of rubbish
about the functions of a robot.
511
00:46:00,759 --> 00:46:03,990
Have you forgotten
that I've known you for 20 years?
512
00:46:04,095 --> 00:46:07,861
Why, I know exactly how you feel
about that abomination in Berlin.
513
00:46:07,966 --> 00:46:10,799
What I can't understand
is this chickenhearted willingness...
514
00:46:10,902 --> 00:46:14,736
to go marching right down into hell
with a beast you loathe and despise.
515
00:46:14,839 --> 00:46:19,742
Where is all the sense and courage you have
in the field? Haven't you any of it here?
516
00:46:19,844 --> 00:46:23,075
I think you'd better
get out of this house, now.
517
00:46:25,550 --> 00:46:29,646
Not until you've shown an old friend
the decency of honesty with him.
518
00:46:29,754 --> 00:46:33,315
If reason won't work,
very well, I'm prepared to go further.
519
00:46:33,425 --> 00:46:37,828
I have no intention of stirring from this
room until the truth has passed between us.
520
00:46:37,929 --> 00:46:41,626
- Had you rather I call the guard and charge you?
- That you will never do.
521
00:46:41,733 --> 00:46:45,191
And may I ask why you know so well
what I will or won't do?
522
00:46:45,303 --> 00:46:47,863
Because Lucie told me that you wouldn't.
523
00:46:49,674 --> 00:46:53,872
You... You've already
talked to Lucie about this?
524
00:46:53,978 --> 00:46:57,277
- Of course.
- And she sent you to me?
525
00:46:57,382 --> 00:46:59,282
Not at all.
526
00:46:59,384 --> 00:47:02,353
She merely told me
how you really feel...
527
00:47:02,454 --> 00:47:07,653
about our sainted leader
and his glorious reign over Germany.
528
00:47:17,702 --> 00:47:21,035
Father!
Father, the car is here!
529
00:47:21,139 --> 00:47:24,131
We saw it.
Will you please not shout?
530
00:47:24,242 --> 00:47:26,676
I've told you that a dozen times.
531
00:47:26,778 --> 00:47:29,941
- He's just excited.
- I know, but I'm tired of telling him...
532
00:47:30,048 --> 00:47:34,178
He's all right. He's still only a boy,
remember, in spite of that uniform.
533
00:47:34,285 --> 00:47:37,152
- Of course.
- You take care of yourself, dear.
534
00:47:38,757 --> 00:47:40,987
You're not cross with me, are you?
535
00:47:41,092 --> 00:47:44,084
- For what?
- For speaking to Dr. Strolin.
536
00:47:47,031 --> 00:47:49,158
No, of course not.
537
00:47:51,836 --> 00:47:54,134
Is he right?
538
00:47:56,241 --> 00:47:58,539
I don't know.
539
00:48:01,746 --> 00:48:04,476
I can't make up my mind.
540
00:48:04,582 --> 00:48:07,449
But that's a dreadful thing
he proposes...
541
00:48:07,552 --> 00:48:10,487
a great, tremendous, dreadful thing.
542
00:48:10,588 --> 00:48:13,489
I don't know that I can
go along that far with him.
543
00:48:13,591 --> 00:48:15,991
Then you shouldn't
if you don't think he's right.
544
00:48:16,127 --> 00:48:19,563
I didn't say he wasn't right,
but even so...
545
00:48:19,664 --> 00:48:24,567
is that the only way to handle it:
Treason?
546
00:48:24,669 --> 00:48:28,070
That's what it comes down to,
no matter how right you think you are.
547
00:48:28,206 --> 00:48:31,733
You think it will be better
to let things go along as they are?
548
00:48:31,876 --> 00:48:35,812
No, no, I don't. But there must be
some better way of handling it.
549
00:48:35,947 --> 00:48:40,850
I mean, if I could see him alone again
and explain the situation to him.
550
00:48:40,952 --> 00:48:45,218
Can you tell me how a man can
fight a war under such conditions?
551
00:48:45,356 --> 00:48:48,291
Isn't it enough
that we're facing an invasion without...
552
00:48:48,426 --> 00:48:52,328
No, never mind now.
You don't have to decide this minute.
553
00:48:52,430 --> 00:48:55,194
It'll come to you when it's time.
554
00:48:56,668 --> 00:48:59,136
What do you think, really?
555
00:48:59,270 --> 00:49:03,536
I can't tell you, dear.
I don't know.
556
00:49:03,675 --> 00:49:07,634
But never mind now. When the time
comes, something will tell you.
557
00:49:07,779 --> 00:49:10,111
You better go along now.
You're late already.
558
00:49:14,118 --> 00:49:16,780
- Write to me every day, will you?
- I will.
559
00:49:16,921 --> 00:49:20,254
- A little something for the journey.
- Thank you, darling.
560
00:49:22,460 --> 00:49:25,361
Good-bye, sweetheart.
Don't worry about me.
561
00:49:25,463 --> 00:49:27,556
I'll try not to.
562
00:49:44,983 --> 00:49:46,883
That's all, please.
563
00:49:51,890 --> 00:49:55,656
Good-bye, son. Take care of your
mother and be a good soldier.
564
00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:57,660
Make me proud of you.
565
00:49:57,762 --> 00:50:01,357
I'll try, Father. Are you going to
bring us back Montgomery?
566
00:50:01,499 --> 00:50:03,865
The minute he steps ashore.
567
00:50:04,969 --> 00:50:07,164
Good-bye, darling.
568
00:50:07,272 --> 00:50:09,172
Good-bye, darling.
569
00:50:21,252 --> 00:50:25,621
And then, finally, after
four long years of preparation...
570
00:50:25,723 --> 00:50:28,191
it came... D day.
571
00:50:28,293 --> 00:50:31,160
And the greatest armada
and the vastest movement...
572
00:50:31,262 --> 00:50:35,096
of men and arms in the history of the world,
rose from England...
573
00:50:35,199 --> 00:50:38,327
and set out for the assault
on the beaches of Normandy...
574
00:50:38,436 --> 00:50:41,337
and the German fortress of Europe.
575
00:53:44,522 --> 00:53:46,990
From the moment
the Bohemian corporal...
576
00:53:47,125 --> 00:53:50,094
promoted himself
to the supreme command of our forces...
577
00:53:50,228 --> 00:53:54,187
the German army has been the victim
of a unique situation.
578
00:53:54,332 --> 00:53:57,028
Not only too many of the enemy...
579
00:53:57,168 --> 00:54:01,537
but one too many Germans.
580
00:54:01,639 --> 00:54:04,369
You don't think he's ready
to give us the 15th Army yet?
581
00:54:04,475 --> 00:54:07,171
I don't see how he can,
under the circumstances.
582
00:54:07,278 --> 00:54:10,111
His astrologers have informed him
that this is only a feint...
583
00:54:10,214 --> 00:54:13,274
that the real invasion is yet to come,
north of Calais.
584
00:54:13,417 --> 00:54:17,319
The 15th Army is sitting
on those cold beaches up there...
585
00:54:17,455 --> 00:54:20,185
waiting for an invasion
that has already taken place...
586
00:54:20,291 --> 00:54:23,351
is an excellent example
of war by horoscope.
587
00:54:23,494 --> 00:54:25,928
We've got to have those troops.
588
00:54:26,030 --> 00:54:29,625
If we're not allowed to maneuver,
we've got to support these positions.
589
00:54:29,767 --> 00:54:32,930
We've got to see him again about it.
590
00:54:33,037 --> 00:54:35,699
I tell you this in confidence, Rommel.
591
00:54:35,806 --> 00:54:40,209
I don't think anything we can do
would be of the slightest use.
592
00:54:41,445 --> 00:54:44,846
The pattern for defeat
has already been set.
593
00:54:44,949 --> 00:54:49,352
"Hold fast.
Don't give up a millimeter of ground.
594
00:54:49,453 --> 00:54:52,786
Victory or death."
Wars simply can't be won...
595
00:54:52,890 --> 00:54:57,657
by men whose knowledge of tactics
is based on copybook maxims.
596
00:54:57,762 --> 00:55:01,562
It may stir schoolchildren,
but they don't stop troops.
597
00:55:01,666 --> 00:55:05,397
Give me a free hand for a few months,
and I'd make them pay for it.
598
00:55:05,503 --> 00:55:08,131
I'd make them pay
such a price in blood...
599
00:55:08,239 --> 00:55:11,037
they'd wish
they'd never heard of Germany.
600
00:55:11,142 --> 00:55:14,839
I might not be able to stop them all,
but they'd know they'd fought an army...
601
00:55:14,946 --> 00:55:19,542
not a series of stationary targets.
602
00:55:19,650 --> 00:55:21,584
And he'll never let us, of course.
603
00:55:21,719 --> 00:55:24,586
You know how firm corporals are.
604
00:55:52,283 --> 00:55:55,184
Do you happen to know Karl Strolin?
605
00:55:56,854 --> 00:56:00,255
- Strolin?
- The lord mayor of Stuttgart.
606
00:56:02,326 --> 00:56:04,726
I remember that name from somewhere.
607
00:56:04,829 --> 00:56:08,993
Or Doctor Goerdeler of Leipzig?
608
00:56:10,601 --> 00:56:12,501
You too?
609
00:56:14,171 --> 00:56:17,436
Every day that passes,
every minute of the day...
610
00:56:17,541 --> 00:56:21,773
convinces me more and more that
theirs is the only possible solution.
611
00:56:21,879 --> 00:56:24,609
Your words, you must understand,
mystify me.
612
00:56:24,715 --> 00:56:27,548
They propose to arrest him,
take over the government...
613
00:56:27,652 --> 00:56:31,315
and move immediately
to make peace with Eisenhower.
614
00:56:31,422 --> 00:56:34,653
I shall, of course, deny
that this conversation ever took place.
615
00:56:34,759 --> 00:56:37,387
But that's a particularly childish idea.
616
00:56:37,495 --> 00:56:39,986
Eisenhower's not going to
make a separate peace.
617
00:56:40,097 --> 00:56:43,066
And why should he,
with things going as well as they are?
618
00:56:43,167 --> 00:56:45,635
That part of your plan
is doomed from the start.
619
00:56:45,736 --> 00:56:49,172
But you don't disagree
with the basic proposal.
620
00:56:49,273 --> 00:56:51,969
I'm sorry, but I don't believe
I heard the question.
621
00:56:52,076 --> 00:56:54,567
In any case, if they came to you
for counsel or advice...
622
00:56:54,679 --> 00:56:56,579
would you receive them?
623
00:56:56,681 --> 00:56:58,581
Oh, no.
624
00:56:58,683 --> 00:57:01,049
No.
625
00:57:01,152 --> 00:57:03,712
No, I'm afraid not, Rommel.
626
00:57:03,821 --> 00:57:07,951
It's too late...
much too late.
627
00:57:08,059 --> 00:57:09,692
Even if they moved immediately?
628
00:57:09,727 --> 00:57:11,325
Even if they moved immediately?
629
00:57:11,429 --> 00:57:13,556
You misunderstand.
630
00:57:13,698 --> 00:57:15,791
Not too late for that.
631
00:57:17,168 --> 00:57:19,102
Too late for me.
632
00:57:20,204 --> 00:57:22,968
I'm 70 now.
633
00:57:23,074 --> 00:57:26,407
Too old to revolt.
634
00:57:26,510 --> 00:57:29,775
Too old to challenge authority...
635
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:32,348
however evil.
636
00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:44,794
Berlin calling, sir.
Marshal Keitel.
637
00:57:53,204 --> 00:57:56,037
- Keitel?
- Von Rundstedt.
638
00:57:56,140 --> 00:57:58,973
- Here.
- Is this true about Cherbourg?
639
00:57:59,076 --> 00:58:01,340
- I'm afraid so.
- This is dreadful.
640
00:58:01,445 --> 00:58:03,811
How can I give such news to the f�hrer?
641
00:58:03,914 --> 00:58:05,848
You've reported misfortune
to him before.
642
00:58:05,950 --> 00:58:07,850
Why should this one
present such a problem?
643
00:58:07,952 --> 00:58:11,752
But that's just it. We've had nothing
but bad news for weeks.
644
00:58:11,856 --> 00:58:14,654
Isn't there any good news
I can give him at the same time?
645
00:58:14,759 --> 00:58:16,818
Have you checked on the Russian Front
this morning?
646
00:58:16,927 --> 00:58:19,122
We're not discussing
the Russian Front.
647
00:58:19,230 --> 00:58:21,130
We're discussing yours.
648
00:58:21,232 --> 00:58:23,996
This situation in the West
becomes worse with every report.
649
00:58:24,101 --> 00:58:28,504
L- I'm actually embarrassed to give him
another disappointment like this.
650
00:58:28,606 --> 00:58:30,540
Can't you think of anything
we can do about it?
651
00:58:30,641 --> 00:58:33,838
Certainly. Give us those 90 divisions
of the 15th Army...
652
00:58:33,944 --> 00:58:35,878
who are sitting around
Calais playing cards.
653
00:58:35,980 --> 00:58:37,880
You know that's impossible.
654
00:58:37,982 --> 00:58:40,712
The f�hrer has already explained
the necessity for leaving them there.
655
00:58:40,818 --> 00:58:43,480
Very well then. Give us permission
to pull out of Normandy...
656
00:58:43,587 --> 00:58:45,646
and set up a line
that we can defend properly.
657
00:58:45,756 --> 00:58:49,783
Your orders are to fight where you are,
and that's what he expects you to do.
658
00:58:49,894 --> 00:58:52,055
Is it possible you have no better
suggestion than that?
659
00:58:52,163 --> 00:58:55,758
One very much better, in fact.
660
00:58:55,866 --> 00:58:58,164
Make peace, you idiot.
661
00:59:19,790 --> 00:59:22,918
- Good-bye again, Rommel.
- He'll never report that.
662
00:59:23,027 --> 00:59:25,495
This very instant,
he's knocking at the corporal's door...
663
00:59:25,596 --> 00:59:27,587
whimpering with happiness.
664
00:59:27,698 --> 00:59:30,258
You must never forget this,
my dear fellow.
665
00:59:30,367 --> 00:59:33,803
Victory has a hundred fathers.
Defeat is an orphan.
666
00:59:35,039 --> 00:59:37,940
Within 24 hours,
you'll be named my successor.
667
00:59:38,042 --> 00:59:40,306
And I extend to you my deepest sympathy.
668
00:59:40,411 --> 00:59:43,175
That's nonsense.
He'll never let you go.
669
00:59:51,055 --> 00:59:53,649
But not too old, I might add...
670
00:59:53,757 --> 00:59:56,521
to wish your friends the best of luck...
671
00:59:56,627 --> 00:59:59,994
in their extremely interesting project.
672
01:00:03,701 --> 01:00:08,195
Meanwhile, with their beachheads
irretrievably secured...
673
01:00:08,305 --> 01:00:12,264
Allied tanks and men
had fanned out across France...
674
01:00:12,376 --> 01:00:15,038
and begun their race for the Rhine.
675
01:00:50,648 --> 01:00:52,775
Put these where
you can get to them quickly.
676
01:00:52,883 --> 01:00:54,817
Also those files there.
677
01:00:54,919 --> 01:00:58,286
- Keep the key, and use your... own judgment about the rest.
- Very good, sir.
678
01:00:59,857 --> 01:01:01,757
Field Marshal.
679
01:01:29,753 --> 01:01:32,688
- Where is he?
- In the small room.
680
01:01:33,991 --> 01:01:36,516
- Aldinger.
- Yes, sir.
681
01:01:45,102 --> 01:01:49,095
- Colonel.
- I'll try to be as brief as possible.
682
01:01:49,206 --> 01:01:51,697
- Perhaps you'd better keep an eye on the corridor.
- Yes, sir.
683
01:01:59,850 --> 01:02:03,809
- Well?
- We are faced with an immediate decision, sir.
684
01:02:03,921 --> 01:02:06,355
Three of our men
were arrested in Berlin yesterday.
685
01:02:06,457 --> 01:02:08,482
They'll been made to talk, of course.
686
01:02:08,592 --> 01:02:12,050
But fortunately their knowledge
of the people involved is... limited.
687
01:02:12,162 --> 01:02:15,529
Nevertheless, in the opinion of
everyone, there's no time to be lost.
688
01:02:15,633 --> 01:02:18,124
We must act at once.
689
01:02:18,235 --> 01:02:22,695
- And it's all set. Definitely.
- So I understand, sir.
690
01:02:22,806 --> 01:02:25,172
The general's extremely anxious
to know...
691
01:02:25,275 --> 01:02:27,971
if you're in a position to speak for
the commanders you mentioned to him.
692
01:02:28,078 --> 01:02:31,741
At my word from this instant,
they're prepared to follow my lead.
693
01:02:31,849 --> 01:02:35,046
Then I have the field marshal's
permission to inform General Stulpnagel...
694
01:02:35,152 --> 01:02:38,383
we may now act at will
and without further consultation?
695
01:02:42,292 --> 01:02:45,853
Wait here, Colonel.
Come with me, Ruge.
696
01:02:49,199 --> 01:02:51,565
- Clear this room, Aldinger.
- Yes, sir.
697
01:02:53,570 --> 01:02:56,937
Outside. Never mind about that.
Outside.
698
01:02:58,876 --> 01:03:01,276
Field Marshal Rommel speaking.
699
01:03:01,378 --> 01:03:03,710
Put me through to Field Marshal Keitel.
700
01:03:06,150 --> 01:03:10,143
I've got to be certain,
absolutely certain.
701
01:03:10,254 --> 01:03:13,121
We can't go through with this if there's
even the remotest sign of sense there.
702
01:03:18,028 --> 01:03:21,259
- Keitel.
- Rommel.
703
01:03:21,365 --> 01:03:23,265
Now listen very carefully,
Keitel.
704
01:03:23,367 --> 01:03:25,665
I've got to see the f�hrer at once.
705
01:03:25,769 --> 01:03:28,738
Somewhere in France.
I can't explain on the telephone...
706
01:03:28,839 --> 01:03:32,331
but you must make him understand that
it's a matter of the greatest urgency.
707
01:03:32,443 --> 01:03:34,877
I suggest tomorrow morning.
708
01:03:34,978 --> 01:03:37,105
On June 17...
709
01:03:37,214 --> 01:03:41,878
they met in Hitler's underground stronghold
at Margival near Soissons.
710
01:03:41,985 --> 01:03:45,045
This is an extremely difficult duty,
my f�hrer.
711
01:03:45,155 --> 01:03:47,749
But circumstances
leave me with no choice.
712
01:03:47,858 --> 01:03:51,157
We've reached a crisis that calls for
a decision on the highest level.
713
01:03:51,261 --> 01:03:54,890
But you've said that!
You've said that before!
714
01:03:54,998 --> 01:03:56,989
Every time I talk to you
we're facing another crisis.
715
01:03:57,101 --> 01:04:01,333
When the enemy has overwhelming superiority
on land, at sea and in the air...
716
01:04:01,438 --> 01:04:03,906
and continues to grow stronger
with every hour...
717
01:04:04,007 --> 01:04:06,237
while we grow weaker
at the same rate...
718
01:04:06,343 --> 01:04:08,106
that to me is a crisis
by any standards that I understand.
719
01:04:08,178 --> 01:04:10,229
A crisis that should be examined
promptly and realistically.
720
01:04:10,264 --> 01:04:12,281
A crisis that should be examined
promptly and realistically.
721
01:04:12,416 --> 01:04:15,852
That's you!
That's you! Like always!
722
01:04:15,986 --> 01:04:18,546
When everything's going well,
you're willing enough.
723
01:04:18,689 --> 01:04:20,987
But at the first sign of a difficulty...
724
01:04:21,091 --> 01:04:22,991
you become a defeatist,
a complete defeatist.
725
01:04:23,093 --> 01:04:26,995
Are you perhaps interested
why you didn't succeed von Rundstedt?
726
01:04:27,131 --> 01:04:30,794
This is why!
727
01:04:30,934 --> 01:04:34,392
It maybe had been better
if I'd replaced you altogether!
728
01:04:36,039 --> 01:04:39,031
Have you at least
a little confidence in me?
729
01:04:39,176 --> 01:04:42,771
More it would seem than the
f�hrer has in me. May I continue?
730
01:04:42,913 --> 01:04:46,110
And what my V-bombs are doing
to London, has no one told you?
731
01:04:46,250 --> 01:04:49,151
Yes, sir. But why not
to the beachheads?
732
01:04:49,253 --> 01:04:51,778
Because that's not their purpose.
They have not that accuracy.
733
01:04:51,922 --> 01:04:54,390
They need a whole city for a target.
Then they cannot miss.
734
01:04:54,525 --> 01:04:58,427
Then why not the embarkation ports...
Plymouth, Southampton. Portsmouth?
735
01:04:58,529 --> 01:05:01,498
No, no, no, no!
That's...
736
01:05:01,632 --> 01:05:06,865
That's exactly what I mean when I say you're
no good at thinking above the battlefield.
737
01:05:06,970 --> 01:05:09,461
The British don't care
for those villages.
738
01:05:09,606 --> 01:05:11,540
It's their London that they love.
739
01:05:11,675 --> 01:05:14,769
They don't want to see it destroyed
the way I'm going to destroy it.
740
01:05:14,912 --> 01:05:17,210
In two more weeks,
remember my words.
741
01:05:17,314 --> 01:05:20,442
They'll be screaming for surrender.
Just wait. You'll see.
742
01:05:20,551 --> 01:05:22,644
To continue, sir.
743
01:05:22,786 --> 01:05:25,482
The struggle is over on this front.
744
01:05:25,589 --> 01:05:28,581
Within these two weeks,
you must be prepared to see the enemy...
745
01:05:28,725 --> 01:05:31,751
break through our lines and
push out into the interior of France.
746
01:05:31,895 --> 01:05:33,829
Militarily, the end is already in sight.
747
01:05:33,964 --> 01:05:37,661
- We have nothing more to throw in.
- Hmph.
748
01:05:37,768 --> 01:05:39,736
What is it you're proposing?
749
01:05:39,870 --> 01:05:43,499
- That we surrender?
- I give you the facts, sir.
750
01:05:43,607 --> 01:05:46,235
I only ask that you
draw the proper conclusions.
751
01:05:46,343 --> 01:05:49,608
Proper to whom?
To you!
752
01:05:55,752 --> 01:05:59,882
I suggest to you, Rommel, that you
confine your genius to fighting...
753
01:05:59,990 --> 01:06:04,222
and leave the conduct of the war
to those who are responsible for it!
754
01:06:04,328 --> 01:06:06,262
My apologies, sir.
755
01:06:06,396 --> 01:06:09,092
Now, if the f�hrer
will honor me with his advice...
756
01:06:09,199 --> 01:06:12,566
The V-weapon, for your information,
happens to be only the first...
757
01:06:12,669 --> 01:06:17,402
in a whole series of weapons that will
completely revolutionize all warfare!
758
01:06:17,507 --> 01:06:20,999
I've a second a hundred times
as powerful and a third in mind...
759
01:06:21,111 --> 01:06:23,238
a thousand times
more destructive than the second!
760
01:06:23,347 --> 01:06:25,338
But the crisis is now, sir.
761
01:06:25,449 --> 01:06:29,681
I've a dozen others, all of them capable
of turning the whole course of the war!
762
01:06:29,786 --> 01:06:32,949
But what about now, sir?
What are we to do tomorrow morning?
763
01:06:33,056 --> 01:06:36,048
While you've been deciding
that all is lost...
764
01:06:36,159 --> 01:06:38,650
we've been working,
working miracles...
765
01:06:38,762 --> 01:06:41,959
determining the course of history
for centuries to come!
766
01:06:42,065 --> 01:06:44,499
In the workshops,
in the laboratories...
767
01:06:44,601 --> 01:06:47,001
we've been turning out
machines of destruction such as...
768
01:06:47,104 --> 01:06:49,698
the enemy has never dreamed of!
769
01:06:49,806 --> 01:06:53,708
I have one in mind...
I have a weapon in mind...
770
01:06:58,515 --> 01:07:02,383
Now, definitely committed to
the plot to assassinate his f�hrer...
771
01:07:02,486 --> 01:07:06,081
Rommel was still trying to
whip fight into his crumbling front...
772
01:07:06,189 --> 01:07:10,091
when on June 17
on a country road near a village...
773
01:07:10,193 --> 01:07:13,856
with the ominous name
of Montgomery...
774
01:07:14,898 --> 01:07:17,731
Aircraft.
775
01:08:04,781 --> 01:08:07,375
Three days later, on July 20...
776
01:08:07,484 --> 01:08:11,215
while Rommel still lay unconscious
in a hospital in France...
777
01:08:11,321 --> 01:08:15,018
Adolf Hitler and his staff
gathered for their fateful conference...
778
01:08:15,125 --> 01:08:19,494
in a fortified barracks
at his headquarters in East Prussia.
779
01:09:03,106 --> 01:09:06,405
The f�hrer, gentlemen.
780
01:09:08,412 --> 01:09:11,643
He handles his panzers
like a cavalry officer.
781
01:09:11,748 --> 01:09:13,978
Thank you, gentlemen.
782
01:09:19,089 --> 01:09:21,649
- My f�hrer.
- Yes.
783
01:09:21,758 --> 01:09:23,692
- Stauffenberg, sir.
- Yes! Yes, yes.
784
01:09:23,794 --> 01:09:26,490
- Stauffenberg, of course, from General Fromm.
- Yes, sir.
785
01:09:26,596 --> 01:09:28,689
- Good to see you again.
- Thank you, my f�hrer.
786
01:09:28,799 --> 01:09:33,998
Uh... Gentlemen.
Your attention, please.
787
01:09:34,104 --> 01:09:38,336
Excuse me, please.
I have a report from General Fromm.
788
01:09:47,884 --> 01:09:51,445
- Where's Goering?
- On his way now, sir.
789
01:09:51,555 --> 01:09:54,991
Well, when you are fat, you don't move so fast.
790
01:09:59,262 --> 01:10:01,287
- Colonel-Count von Stauffenberg?
- Yes.
791
01:10:01,398 --> 01:10:03,298
- Telephone, sir.
- Thank you.
792
01:10:08,605 --> 01:10:10,937
Excuse me.
793
01:10:28,358 --> 01:10:33,057
All right. Suppose we
start with the Russian Front.
794
01:10:59,189 --> 01:11:02,852
F�hrer. F�hrer!
795
01:11:25,949 --> 01:11:28,782
Are you all right, my f�hrer?
796
01:11:30,120 --> 01:11:33,988
Yeah. I'm all right.
797
01:11:36,293 --> 01:11:40,627
For that failure, 5,000 suspects
paid with their lives...
798
01:11:40,730 --> 01:11:44,325
during the few days
that Hitler spent in hospital.
799
01:11:44,434 --> 01:11:48,598
As for Rommel, recuperating at Herrlingen
from injuries that would have destroyed...
800
01:11:48,705 --> 01:11:50,605
any but the toughest of men...
801
01:11:50,707 --> 01:11:53,801
all public mention
of his name suddenly stopped...
802
01:11:53,910 --> 01:11:55,844
and the complete and official silence...
803
01:11:55,946 --> 01:11:59,541
settled over the subject
of the nation's most-celebrated soldier.
804
01:11:59,649 --> 01:12:03,999
For three months, he remained
in this sinister isolation...
805
01:12:04,034 --> 01:12:08,349
until the afternoon
of October 13 in 1944.
806
01:12:08,458 --> 01:12:11,120
- Keitel?
- How are you, Rommel?
807
01:12:11,228 --> 01:12:14,925
- Getting along, thank you.
- Well enough yet to come up to Berlin?
808
01:12:15,031 --> 01:12:19,297
I'm afraid not yet.
In another week or two, perhaps. Why?
809
01:12:19,402 --> 01:12:22,166
I could send a special train for you.
810
01:12:22,272 --> 01:12:25,833
That's very good of you, but I
really don't feel up to it yet.
811
01:12:25,976 --> 01:12:28,137
Is there some particular urgency
about it?
812
01:12:28,245 --> 01:12:31,146
How soon do you think
you'll be ready for another command?
813
01:12:31,281 --> 01:12:35,115
Another two weeks, I suppose.
Three at the most.
814
01:12:35,252 --> 01:12:39,382
If we send someone there, would you be
able to discuss the situation with him?
815
01:12:39,522 --> 01:12:41,547
Of course.
816
01:12:41,691 --> 01:12:44,159
Very well, I'll send Burgdorf.
You know him, don't you?
817
01:12:44,294 --> 01:12:48,355
- I've met him.
- Suppose I have him drive down tomorrow morning?
818
01:12:48,498 --> 01:12:51,126
- Would that be convenient for you?
- Perfectly.
819
01:12:51,268 --> 01:12:54,260
He'll have full information
and instructions.
820
01:12:54,404 --> 01:12:57,464
- Will you give my best regards to Frau Rommel?
- I will.
821
01:12:57,607 --> 01:13:00,337
- And thank you very much.
- Good-bye, then.
822
01:13:00,477 --> 01:13:02,877
Good-bye.
823
01:13:20,797 --> 01:13:25,325
Keitel. He's talking about
another command again.
824
01:13:25,468 --> 01:13:29,598
- When?
- When I feel like it, I suppose.
825
01:13:45,455 --> 01:13:49,482
Eh, he sends his best regards to you.
826
01:14:37,540 --> 01:14:40,532
- We're here to see Field Marshal Rommel.
- I'll tell him, sir.
827
01:14:40,677 --> 01:14:43,407
- Would you tell him that...
- Come in, Burgdorf.
828
01:14:51,054 --> 01:14:55,184
- Field Marshal.
- It's good to see you again. And you, General.
829
01:14:55,291 --> 01:14:58,488
- I don't believe you've met my wife.
- I haven't had the pleasure, sir.
830
01:14:58,595 --> 01:15:00,961
My dear, will you allow me to present
General Burgdorf and General...
831
01:15:01,064 --> 01:15:02,964
- Maisel, sir.
- General Maisel.
832
01:15:03,066 --> 01:15:05,000
This is my son Manfred
and Captain Aldinger.
833
01:15:05,101 --> 01:15:07,535
- I hope you're not too tired from your journey.
- Not at all.
834
01:15:07,637 --> 01:15:10,231
- Thank you, Frau Rommel.
- Have you time for a luncheon and a glass of wine?
835
01:15:10,340 --> 01:15:13,741
Thank you, sir. We're due back in Berlin
as quickly as we can make it.
836
01:15:13,877 --> 01:15:16,539
Very well, then. If you'll excuse
us, dear. This way, gentlemen.
837
01:15:16,646 --> 01:15:20,013
- Our apologies, Frau Rommel.
- Of course, but I'm disappointed.
838
01:15:20,116 --> 01:15:22,482
- Another time, perhaps.
- I hope so.
839
01:15:37,434 --> 01:15:40,494
I hope it's the Russian Front,
don't you?
840
01:15:44,107 --> 01:15:46,473
Make yourselves comfortable.
841
01:15:46,576 --> 01:15:48,669
Smoke, if you wish.
842
01:15:48,778 --> 01:15:52,305
I'm not like Montgomery.
Smoke doesn't make me unhappy.
843
01:15:55,952 --> 01:15:58,011
At your service, gentlemen.
844
01:15:59,522 --> 01:16:01,956
We come directly from the f�hrer,
Field Marshal.
845
01:16:02,091 --> 01:16:04,753
- Yes.
- And what we have to say to you...
846
01:16:04,861 --> 01:16:07,125
comes directly from his lips.
847
01:16:07,230 --> 01:16:11,792
- Yes.
- Our instructions are to tell you first...
848
01:16:11,901 --> 01:16:13,892
of his deep appreciation...
849
01:16:14,003 --> 01:16:18,064
of your many heroic services
to the state.
850
01:16:19,108 --> 01:16:21,008
Go on.
851
01:16:21,110 --> 01:16:23,977
And his regrets over
your unfortunate accident.
852
01:16:24,080 --> 01:16:28,414
I was sure his silence meant only that there
were more important matters on his mind.
853
01:16:29,786 --> 01:16:32,687
It's a pity that after such a record...
854
01:16:32,789 --> 01:16:35,155
If you'll forgive me,
may we skip your reflections...
855
01:16:35,258 --> 01:16:37,158
and get to the message
you have for me?
856
01:16:37,260 --> 01:16:39,592
Of course, sir.
857
01:17:05,488 --> 01:17:07,820
You'll observe
that the charges are supported...
858
01:17:07,924 --> 01:17:10,518
by an overwhelming body of testimony.
859
01:17:10,627 --> 01:17:12,959
I can read, thank you.
860
01:17:23,006 --> 01:17:26,703
You've been uncommonly fortunate
in deathbed confessions.
861
01:17:26,809 --> 01:17:30,370
It's all perfectly legal,
I assure you, sir.
862
01:17:42,659 --> 01:17:47,596
You may inform the f�hrer that I look
forward to answering these charges in court.
863
01:17:47,697 --> 01:17:50,791
You... You don't intend
to deny them, do you?
864
01:17:50,900 --> 01:17:54,097
I said, you may inform the f�hrer
that I look forward...
865
01:17:54,203 --> 01:17:56,865
to answering the charges in court.
866
01:17:56,973 --> 01:18:00,431
The f�hrer is extremely hopeful
that this matter can be settled...
867
01:18:00,543 --> 01:18:04,274
without exposing it to the inevitable
publicity of a court trial.
868
01:18:04,380 --> 01:18:07,679
Very well, then.
Let him withdraw the charges.
869
01:18:07,784 --> 01:18:10,719
His view is that nothing but harm
for everyone could come from a trial.
870
01:18:10,787 --> 01:18:13,487
My orders are to remind you
in the strongest terms...
871
01:18:13,522 --> 01:18:16,187
My orders are to remind you
in the strongest terms...
872
01:18:16,292 --> 01:18:20,752
of the damage testimony like this
could do to your name and reputation.
873
01:18:20,863 --> 01:18:23,923
And what does he expect me to do?
Plead guilty to you?
874
01:18:24,033 --> 01:18:26,866
Well, naturally, not that, of course.
875
01:18:26,970 --> 01:18:30,565
I know what he wants.
He wants me to keep my mouth shut.
876
01:18:30,673 --> 01:18:33,938
He doesn't want me to tell what happened
where it can be heard.
877
01:18:34,043 --> 01:18:37,501
Well, you may tell him for me
that's very thoughtful of him...
878
01:18:37,614 --> 01:18:42,142
but that I'm quite capable of taking care of
my own name and reputation in my own way...
879
01:18:42,251 --> 01:18:44,776
which will be in a proper court of law.
880
01:18:44,887 --> 01:18:46,855
But to what end, sir?
881
01:18:46,956 --> 01:18:49,322
The verdict is already indicated.
882
01:18:52,996 --> 01:18:55,590
He told you to tell me that too?
883
01:18:55,698 --> 01:18:57,598
The evidence is there.
884
01:18:57,700 --> 01:18:59,895
What defense is possible?
885
01:19:00,003 --> 01:19:04,531
Then, what does he suggest?
886
01:19:04,641 --> 01:19:07,667
Before we go further,
the field marshal should be warned...
887
01:19:07,777 --> 01:19:10,109
that this house is entirely surrounded.
888
01:19:10,213 --> 01:19:12,477
My orders, sir.
I'm sure you understand.
889
01:19:12,582 --> 01:19:16,245
- And the both of us are armed.
- What does he want done?
890
01:19:18,054 --> 01:19:21,490
His belief is that it would be to
the best interests of all concerned...
891
01:19:21,591 --> 01:19:25,652
if you should see fit
to relieve the situation yourself...
892
01:19:25,762 --> 01:19:28,560
quietly and without delay.
893
01:19:28,665 --> 01:19:32,692
- Go on.
- The advantages of a solution like that...
894
01:19:32,802 --> 01:19:36,101
over an ugly exchange
of recriminations in an open court...
895
01:19:36,205 --> 01:19:39,663
are, in his opinion,
several and obvious.
896
01:19:39,776 --> 01:19:42,336
Most important to him,
of course...
897
01:19:42,445 --> 01:19:45,380
would be the preservation
of your name and fame.
898
01:19:45,481 --> 01:19:48,245
And he would see to it himself
not the slightest suspicion...
899
01:19:48,351 --> 01:19:50,319
would be attached
to the way of your going.
900
01:19:50,420 --> 01:19:54,083
As far as the rest of the nation would know,
you'd succumbed...
901
01:19:54,190 --> 01:19:56,590
finally to your war wounds.
902
01:19:56,693 --> 01:19:59,253
That would be
the official announcement.
903
01:19:59,362 --> 01:20:03,856
And the state would then honor your memory
and your family as well...
904
01:20:03,966 --> 01:20:06,127
with a generosity
that would be historic.
905
01:20:06,235 --> 01:20:08,999
That was his word, "historic."
906
01:20:09,105 --> 01:20:13,303
Your name would live on
in the glory it once deserved...
907
01:20:13,409 --> 01:20:17,812
while your wife and son would never
want for either safety or comfort...
908
01:20:17,914 --> 01:20:20,246
as long as they live.
909
01:20:22,051 --> 01:20:25,885
- I have a choice?
- In a sense, yes.
910
01:20:26,989 --> 01:20:30,356
The choice to die now...
or later.
911
01:20:31,561 --> 01:20:33,825
It amounts to that, I'm afraid.
912
01:20:35,364 --> 01:20:37,958
How long have I
to make this choice?
913
01:20:38,067 --> 01:20:41,833
We're due back in Berlin
as early this evening as we can make it.
914
01:20:41,938 --> 01:20:45,874
The penalty in this case, I'm told...
915
01:20:45,975 --> 01:20:49,433
would be the garrote...
death by strangulation.
916
01:20:49,545 --> 01:20:54,244
The drug I've brought with me
is effective in three seconds...
917
01:20:54,350 --> 01:20:56,818
and painless.
918
01:21:13,102 --> 01:21:15,627
Tell him for me...
919
01:21:15,738 --> 01:21:19,367
that in spite of the disadvantages
you've been kind enough to point out...
920
01:21:19,475 --> 01:21:22,308
I'll take the trial.
921
01:21:22,411 --> 01:21:24,311
It may be, as you say,
a futile defense...
922
01:21:24,413 --> 01:21:26,438
but I think it should be heard
nevertheless.
923
01:21:26,549 --> 01:21:30,576
There might be some value
in it for those who hear it.
924
01:21:30,686 --> 01:21:34,782
It might even move some to stop
and think for a moment or two...
925
01:21:34,891 --> 01:21:37,621
as finally I did...
926
01:21:37,727 --> 01:21:40,491
though, unfortunately, too late.
927
01:21:40,596 --> 01:21:43,895
In any case, it's my life,
and that's my choice.
928
01:21:45,368 --> 01:21:48,394
I confess my disappointment
with your choice, sir.
929
01:21:48,504 --> 01:21:52,167
My heart, of course, bleeds for you.
930
01:21:52,275 --> 01:21:55,938
The unfortunate part of it
is that if you insist on a trial...
931
01:21:56,045 --> 01:21:58,878
I have no authority
to offer any guarantees...
932
01:21:58,981 --> 01:22:01,279
for the safety and comfort
of your son...
933
01:22:01,384 --> 01:22:04,444
and widow.
934
01:22:17,800 --> 01:22:20,200
They're coming out now.
935
01:22:26,876 --> 01:22:30,209
- All over, sir?
- I believe so.
936
01:22:33,382 --> 01:22:36,818
- We'll wait outside, sir.
- I won't be long.
937
01:22:38,120 --> 01:22:40,588
Well, we hardly expected such a...
938
01:22:44,961 --> 01:22:47,225
- Over already?
- Wait there, please.
939
01:22:47,330 --> 01:22:49,628
I'll be down in a few moments.
940
01:22:58,274 --> 01:23:00,538
What is it, Erwin?
941
01:23:00,643 --> 01:23:03,806
I want you to be strong, darling.
942
01:23:03,946 --> 01:23:07,848
I want you to be very strong
and very brave.
943
01:23:07,950 --> 01:23:12,319
- Do you understand?
- Yes.
944
01:23:12,421 --> 01:23:15,049
I've got to go away now...
945
01:23:15,157 --> 01:23:18,251
and I won't be back.
946
01:23:18,361 --> 01:23:20,829
Do you want me to tell you any more?
947
01:23:20,930 --> 01:23:22,864
There's no way out?
948
01:23:22,965 --> 01:23:26,765
No. But it won't be too terrible, uh...
949
01:23:26,869 --> 01:23:30,396
They're giving me a drug.
It's painless and effective immediately.
950
01:23:30,506 --> 01:23:35,136
We're leaving now,
and I'll do it as quickly as possible.
951
01:23:35,244 --> 01:23:37,906
We've got guns, sir.
Can't we make a break for it?
952
01:23:38,014 --> 01:23:39,982
No, there's nothing
that can be done.
953
01:23:40,082 --> 01:23:42,846
They've thought of everything.
954
01:23:45,855 --> 01:23:47,755
But at least we could get them.
955
01:23:47,857 --> 01:23:50,917
There's nothing to be done, I tell you.
956
01:23:51,027 --> 01:23:54,360
I've got to do exactly as they say.
957
01:23:56,732 --> 01:23:58,632
Yes, sir.
958
01:24:03,005 --> 01:24:07,374
- Are you going to be brave now?
- I don't know.
959
01:24:07,476 --> 01:24:10,536
You and Manfred will be all right.
They've assured me of that.
960
01:24:10,646 --> 01:24:13,911
And nobody's to know about this but us.
961
01:24:14,016 --> 01:24:19,784
- Are you sure there's no other way?
- No other, darling.
962
01:24:21,257 --> 01:24:24,715
- Have you told Manfred yet?
- I'll tell him when I go down.
963
01:24:24,827 --> 01:24:26,988
No. Let me tell him.
964
01:24:28,230 --> 01:24:30,323
I can tell him so much better.
965
01:24:32,268 --> 01:24:34,828
If you wish.
966
01:24:47,149 --> 01:24:49,515
I'll get my coat now.
967
01:24:49,652 --> 01:24:52,883
It's cold, and I don't want to shiver.
968
01:25:09,071 --> 01:25:11,938
The field marshal's coming out now.
969
01:25:23,085 --> 01:25:26,213
- You're going now?
- Why not?
970
01:25:28,624 --> 01:25:30,524
But are you well enough?
971
01:25:30,626 --> 01:25:34,153
Of course, I've just been taking it easy
on you and your mother.
972
01:25:34,263 --> 01:25:37,164
Is it Russia?
973
01:25:40,703 --> 01:25:44,366
Good-bye, Aldinger,
old dear friend.
974
01:25:44,473 --> 01:25:46,873
Good-bye, sir.
975
01:25:46,976 --> 01:25:50,969
- Take care of them.
- Yes, sir.
976
01:25:51,080 --> 01:25:53,548
Can't you tell me?
977
01:25:53,649 --> 01:25:55,640
Don't ask so many questions.
978
01:25:55,751 --> 01:25:58,015
You know better than to talk like that
to a field marshal.
979
01:25:58,120 --> 01:26:00,350
But when will we know?
980
01:26:00,456 --> 01:26:03,186
Before very long.
981
01:26:04,727 --> 01:26:07,321
- Good-bye, son. Be a good boy.
- Good-bye, Father.
982
01:26:07,430 --> 01:26:10,331
You'll stop them, won't you?
983
01:26:10,433 --> 01:26:12,424
We'll see.
984
01:26:24,947 --> 01:26:26,972
Good-bye, dear.
985
01:26:40,129 --> 01:26:42,222
During that last short ride...
986
01:26:42,331 --> 01:26:44,492
what may Rommel's thoughts have been?
987
01:26:44,600 --> 01:26:49,469
Were they bitter that he had
learned too slowly and struck too late?
988
01:26:49,572 --> 01:26:52,939
Or did they go back to the desert,
where his military genius...
989
01:26:53,042 --> 01:26:55,374
had first electrified the world?
990
01:26:55,478 --> 01:26:58,242
First, at Mikkeli.
991
01:27:00,883 --> 01:27:03,113
Then Tobruk.
992
01:27:05,354 --> 01:27:07,948
Yes, and even El Alamein.
993
01:27:11,861 --> 01:27:15,319
In any case, his life and fate
have best been summed up...
994
01:27:15,431 --> 01:27:20,232
ironically enough, in the words
of Nazi Germany's sternest enemy...
995
01:27:20,336 --> 01:27:23,203
the honorable Winston Churchill.
996
01:27:23,305 --> 01:27:28,675
His ardor and daring inflicted
grievous disasters upon us...
997
01:27:28,777 --> 01:27:32,304
but he deserves the salute
which I made him...
998
01:27:32,414 --> 01:27:37,477
in the House of Commons
in January 1942.
999
01:27:37,586 --> 01:27:40,453
He also deserves our respect...
1000
01:27:40,556 --> 01:27:44,754
because, although
a loyal German soldier...
1001
01:27:44,860 --> 01:27:48,557
he came to hate Hitler
and all his works...
1002
01:27:48,664 --> 01:27:53,033
and took part
in the conspiracy to rescue Germany...
1003
01:27:53,135 --> 01:27:58,129
by displacing
the maniac and tyrant.
1004
01:27:58,240 --> 01:28:03,303
For this,
he paid the forfeit of his life.
1005
01:28:03,412 --> 01:28:06,745
In the somber wars
of modern democracy...
1006
01:28:06,849 --> 01:28:10,751
there is little place for chivalry.
88571
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