> he stood at the rain-streaked window watching the weather rage until he heard the bathroom door open. then he put on his pyjama top and went in to shave. he used david's razor, without permission.

it did not seem to matter now.

erwin rommel knew from the start that he was going to quarrel with heinz guderian.

general guderian was exactly the kind of aristocratic prussian officer rommel hated. he had known him for some time. they had both, in their early days, commanded the goslar jaeger battalion, and they had met again during the polish campaign. when he left africa he had recommended guderian to succeed him, knowing the battle was lost; the manoeuvre was a failure because at that time guderian had been out of favour with hitler and the recommendation was rejected out of hand.

the general was, rommel felt, the kind of man who put a silk handkerchief on his knee to protect the crease in his trousers while he sat drinking in the herrenklub. he was an officer because his father had been an officer and his grandfather had been rich. rommel, the schoolteacher's son who had risen from lieutenant colonel to field marshal in only four years, despised the military caste of which he had never been a member.

now he stared across the table at the general, who was sipping brandy appropriated from the french rothschilds. guderian and his sidekick, general van geyr, had come to rommel's headquarters at la roche guyon in northern france to tell him how to deploy his troops. romme1's reactions to such visits ranged from impatience to fury. in his view the general staff were there to provide reliable intelligence and regular supplies, and he knew from his experience in africa that they were incompetent at both tasks.

guderian had a cropped, light-coloured moustache, and the corners of his eyes were heavily wrinkled so that he always appeared to be grinning at you. he was tall and handsome, which did nothing to endear him to a short, ugly, balding man, as rommel thought of himself. he seemed relaxed, and any german general who would relax at this stage of the war was surely a fool. the meal they had just finished-local veal and wine from further south-was no excuse.

rommel looked out of the window and watched the rain dripping from the lime trees into the courtyard while he waited for guderian to begin the discussion. when he finally spoke it was clear the general had been thinking about the best way to make his point, and had decided to approach it sideways.

"in turkey," he began, "the british ninth and tenth armies, with the turkish army, are grouping at the border with greece. in yugoslavia the partisans are also concentrating. the french in algeria are preparing to invade the riviera. the russians appear to be mounting an amphibious invasion of sweden. in italy the allies are ready to march on rome. there are smaller signals: a general kidnapped in crete, an intelligence officer murdered at lyon, a radar post attacked at rhodes, an aircraft sabotaged with abrasive grease and destroyed at athens, a commando raid on sagvaag, an explosion in the oxygen factory at boulogne-sur-seine, a train derailed in the ardennes, a petrol dump fired at boussens... i could go on. the picture is clear. in occupied territories there is ever-increasing sabotage and treachery; on our borders, we see preparations for invasion everywhere. none of us doubts that there will be a major allied offensive this summer, and we can be equally sure that all this skirmishing is intended to confuse us about where the attack will come."

the general paused. the lecture, delivered in schoolmaster style, was irritating rommel, and he took the opportunity to interrupt. "this is why we have a general staff: to digest such information, evaluate enemy activity, and forecast his future moves."

guderian smiled indulgently. "we must also be aware of the limitations of such crystal-gazing. you have your ideas about where the attack will come, i'm sure. we all do. our strategy must take into account the possibility that our guesses are wrong."

rommel now saw where the general's roundabout argument was leading, and he suppressed the urge to shout his disagreement before the conclusion was stated.

"you have four armoured divisions under your command," guderian continued. "the 2nd panzers at amiens, the 116th at rouen, the 21st at caen, and the 2nd ss at toulouse. general von geyr has already proposed to you that these should be grouped well back from the coast, all together, ready for fast retaliation at any point. indeed, this stratagem is a principle of okw policy.