The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel1951

Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel:
[Hitler just sent an order not to retreat from El Alamein] It's an order, Bayerlein, a military order from General Headquarters. A clear, straight, stupid, criminal military order, from General Headquarters.

Gen. Fritz Bayerlein:
And what are you going to do, double the insanity by obeying it? We've got the best soldiers in the German Army here. They may be just hanging on now, but they're still a force, they're still fighting. If we take them out now, they can fight again tomorrow. But this! This is sheer madness! It's out of the Middle Ages. Nobody had said "Victory or Death" since people fought with bows and arrows. Why, this is an order to throw away an entire army!

Gen. Schultz:
If I may remind you, sir, here in the field, these men are yours, not his.

Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel:
I just can't understand it.

Gen. Fritz Bayerlein:
I can. He's insane.

Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel:
He's not insane! He's - but neither am I.

[tears up the message and throws it away]

Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Rommel:
Pull them out, Bayerlein! I'll argue with him about it later.