Sir, the interrogation reports on the American prisoners...
...captured in our victory at Kasserine.
They are not very good soldiers, these Americans.
I'm not so sure...
...after only one battle.
Their tanks were no match for our guns.
And neither was their leadership, sir.
At Kasserine they were not under American command.
They were under the British General Anderson.
British commanders and American troops... the worst of everything!
I remind you that Montgomery is a British Commander.
And he has driven us half way across Africa.
Anyway, we have met the Americans for the first time and defeated them.
I'm optimistic.
You can afford to be an optimist, I can't.
Captain Steiger reporting, General.
Come with me, Steiger.
Field Marshal Rommel... I hope you are feeling better...
Captain Steiger has been assigned to research General Patton.
Very well. What do you have for me?
General Patton comes from a military family.
His grandfather was a hero of the American Civil War.
He was educated at the Virginia Military Institute and West Point.
You're not telling me anything about the man.
He writes poetry and believes in reincarnation.
He's one of the richest officers in the American Army.
He prays on his knees, but curses like a stable boy.
He has one standing order. "Always take the offensive, never dig in".
In 15 minutes we meet with the Führer.
He will want to know how you plan to deal with Patton's forces.
I will attack and annihilate him!
Before he does the same to me.
It is obvious that North Africa will soon be lost.
We must now anticipate the enemy's next move.
I shall expect a staff report within 24 hours. That will be all.
Steiger, you have said nothing.
I wasn't asked anything.
I'm asking you now. You think Patton will attack Sardinia?
(SPEAKS IN GERMAN)
And why not?
Patton, sir... is a military historian.
He knows that Sicily, not Sardinia, has always been the key to Italy.
If Patton has his way he will attack Sicily at Syracuse, as the Athenians did.
Steiger, this is the twentieth century!
But you must understand, sir... Patton is a sixteenth-century man.
May I read an example?
"On a dark street in New York 1922, wearing white tie and tails...
"...Patton saw three men pushing a young girl into the back of a truck.
"He leaped out of his car, produced a revolver...
"...and forced the men at gunpoint to release the girl".
It turned out that the girl was the fiancée of one of the men.
They were merely helping her into the truck.
What could be more revealing?
I don't know what you’re talking about.
Don Quixote encounters six merchants of Toledo and saves Dulcinea's virtue!
Who the devil is Dulcinea?
Don't you see, sir?
Patton is a romantic warrior lost in contemporary times.
The secret of Patton is the past.
He'll urge an attack on Sicily because that's what the Athenians did!
Here's the gangster Patton, landing at Gela with his Seventh Army.
This film was captured after the landing.
I didn't realize he was so tall.
Over six feet.
He's constantly giving personal commands.
Obviously they now have two prima donnas in Sicily... Montgomery and Patton!
There's another three-star general.
General Bradley...Commander of the American II Corps.
He looks like a common soldier.
He is most capable, yet unpretentious.
Unusual for a general.
Sorry...
Sir, the Americans have taken Palermo!
Damn!
Malta?
Yes, sir.
Malta as a base...
...then southern Greece. That is possible.
Get me Field Marshal Keitel.
There is only one reason for him to be in Cairo.
To confer with the Greek and Yugoslav governments in exile.
Let the Italians garrison Italy, it's their country.
We'll need our German troops to reinforce Crete and the Greek coast...
...if Patton strikes from Egypt!
I have some new information, sir.
Patton is under severe criticism. He may even be court-martialed.
He slapped an enlisted man.
You believe their newspapers?
Would they sacrifice their best commander because he slapped a soldier?
What's this activity near Coutances?
Enemy armored forces driving through our defenses at Lessay.
"American tanks moving rapidly, slicing through to the rear areas".
This sounds like Patton, Field Marshal.
Patton is in England.
Do we know this?
The landing in Normandy is merely a diversionary maneuver.
The real invasion will come at Calais and Patton will lead it.
The Führer says that the Fifteenth Army is not to be moved to Normandy.
Those men are sitting on the beach at Calais throwing pebbles at each other...
...while our men are being slaughtered in Normandy.
The Fifteenth Army is waiting for Patton at Calais and he will land there.
You seem perfectly willing to accept this nonsense, Jodl.
Why?
Because I am not prepared to dispute the Führer.
This is the end...
...the end.
Hurry, Steiger. I want everything destroyed. Papers, maps, everything!
Everything will be destroyed, General, that I can promise you.
I'll never let the Russians take me! I'll kill myself, like the Führer!
He, too, will be destroyed.
The absence of war will kill him.
The pure warrior...
...a magnificent anachronism...