The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel Page #2

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- We have petrol.

- Not enough.

- It's still on the way?

- No, nor any prospect of it.

- Who told you that?

- I've talked to Rome three times.

There's no petrol on the way nor any

committed to us, as of ten o'clock last night.

Schultz. Aldinger.

- The tanks, did they come?

- None.

- None since I left?

- No. None since August.

- What about the guns?

- Nothing.

- And no petrol at all?

- Not a pint.

This is correct within the hour.

Get me a stool, will you?

Here's where it's worst.

The 15th's in a bad way. They drove...

- What's this?

- The Trento Division.

- Yes, I see. How far's this armour?

- No further.

Where are my maps?

Bring the 21st and Ariete north through here.

- Move the 90th and Trento forward here.

- So they'll hook up.

- Is Montgomery sending his infantry in first?

- Naturally.

Then the armour? Let's send our tanks in first

and blow a hole through that infantry.

If it works, we'll be on top of his tanks,

with our infantry pouring in to polish it off.

- Very good, sir.

- If it doesn't work we'll know better next time.

You're not going up now, are you?

- Oughtn't you to turn in?

- After three weeks of being turned in?

- We're away, sir.

- Let's head north and go in with the 21st.

But there was now another fox in the desert,

an even craftier one, perhaps.

And if the battle boiled into confusion

during the next few days,

it was a confusion that was clearly

more and more in Montgomery's favour.

- Have you found the field marshal yet?

- No, sir. He's out at the front again.

I don't know how the men in the line feel,

but I'd just as soon have

a commander in chief

with a touch of cowardice about him.

Just enough to have him back at

headquarters now and then. Keep after him.

By the tenth day of the battle,

not even Rommel could have

any doubt as to its outcome.

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

go on indefinitely until the last man's dead.

It's all very gallant,

but it's also pretty idiotic.

Von Thoma wants to pull back to Daba.

- What about Mller?

- No answer as yet, sir.

- Where are you from?

- Goslar, sir.

Really? I was stationed in Goslar once

with a mountain battalion.

- We skied there. Do you know that run?

- Very well, sir.

- Are you any good?

- Well, two years ago...

- He understood I need an immediate answer?

- Yes, sir.

- Are you keeping after Mller?

- Yes, sir.

- Did you try Berlin?

- He'll call if he can.

- Nothing yet, though.

- No, but he knows the situation.

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

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

Well, what?

- Mller's in a bad way.

- How bad?

Very. If he doesn't pull back soon,

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