[When Olbricht and Stauffenberg arrive at Fromm's office, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel is inside; the two are engaged in a shouting match, arguing furiously.]
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel:
I have better things to do with my time than to come down here and clean up your mess! If you were enough of a man to run this department, I wouldn't have to do it myself! You're an old woman, Fromm! I'd send you to the front if I didn't think you'd surrender, just to be Montgomery's whore! [storms out as Fromm's secretary brings Stauffenberg and Olbricht in.]
General Friedrich Fromm:
What is it you want?
General Friedrich Olbricht:
I wanted to introduce our new man, Colonel Stauffenberg.
Fromm:
Ah! From Africa. Well, I'd offer you my hand, but I might not get it back.
Col. Claus von Stauffenberg:
I'd say the General's lost more important things this morning.
Fromm:
[breaks out in laughter] It's about time they put somebody with balls into this office, [laughs] Please sit down, Colonel. And Olbricht, if you must. [Stauffenberg and Olbricht sit at Fromm's desk] They tell me you're critical of the war, Colonel, not that you don't seem to have good reason.
Stauffenberg:
I am critical of indecision, General.
Fromm:
In the field?
Stauffenberg:
In Berlin.
Fromm:
So, that's why you're here, I take it. To make decisions...
Stauffenberg:
I've already made my decision. I'm here to help others make theirs.
Fromm:
They say when there's no clear option, the best thing is to do nothing.
Stauffenberg:
We're at war. We must act. Sometimes rashly.
Fromm:
And what rash action did you have in mind, Colonel?
Stauffenberg:
That would be a decision for the supreme military commander, sir.
Fromm:
A supreme commander. Second only to the Chancellor. If I were that man, this war would be going quite differently.
Olbricht:
Well, we were thinking the same thing. [pause]
General Friedrich Fromm:
I don't need to remind you that we have all sworn an oath to the Fuhrer. [Carefully disables a listening device in his telephone] Having said that, I'm going to forget this conversation ever took place, in the strict understanding that such talk never occurs again under this roof. Is that clear?!
Col. Claus von Stauffenberg:
Yes, sir.
General Friedrich Olbricht:
Yes, sir.
General Friedrich Fromm:
Now you can tell your friends, Colonel, that I always come down on the right side, and as long as the Fuehrer is alive, you know what side that is.
