So, Vandam thought, my duty is to prevent Alex Wolff telling Rommel that Alam Halfa is well defended and cannot be attacked from the south. It was a depressingly negative plan. Vandam had come, without consciously intending it, to the Villa les Oliviers, Wolff’s house. He sat in the little park opposite it, under the olive trees, and stared at the building as if it might tell him where Wolff was. He thought idly: If only Wolff would make a mistake, and encourage Rommel to attack Alam. Halfa from the south. Then it bit him. Suppose I do capture Wolff. Suppose I also get his radio. Suppose I even find the key to his code. Then I could impersonate Wolff, get on the radio to Rommel, and tell him to attack Alam Halfa from the south. The idea blossomed rapidly in his mind, and he began to feel elated. By now Rommel was convinced, quite rightly, that Wolff’s information was good. Suppose he got a message from Wolff saying the El Alamein Line was weak at the southern end, that the southern approach to Alarn Halfa was hard going, and that Alam Halfa itself was weakly defended. The temptation would be too much for Rommel to resist. He would break through the line at the southern end and then swing northward, expecting to take Alam Halfa without much trouble. Then he would hit the quicksand. While he was struggling through it, our artillery would decimate his forces. When he reached Alam Halfa he would find it heavily defended. At that point we would bring in more forces from the front line and squeeze the enemy like a nutcracker. If the ambush worked well, it might not only save Egypt but annihilate the Afrika Korps. He thought: Ive got to put this idea up to the brass. It would not be easy. His standing was not very high just now-in fact his professional reputation was in ruins on account of Alex Wolff. But surely they would see the merit of the idea. He got up from the bench and headed for his office. Suddenly the future looked different. Perhaps the jackboot would not ring out on the tiled floors of the mosques. Perhaps the treasures of the Egyptian Museum would not be shipped to 230 Ken Follett
Berlin. Perhaps Billy would not have to join the Hitler Youth. Perhaps Elene would not be sent to Dachau. We could all be saved, he thought. If I catch Wolff. PART THREE
ALAM HALFA 20
One of these days, Vandam thought, I’m going to punch Bogge on the nose. Today Lieutenant Colonel Bogge was at his worst: indecisive, sarcastic and touchy. He had a nervous cough which he used when he was afraid to speak, and he was coughing a lot now. He was also fidgeting: tidying piles of papers on his desk, crossing and uncrossing his legs and polishing his wretched cricket baU. Vandam sat still and quiet, waiting for him to tie himself up in knots. “Now look here, Vandam, strategy is for Auchinleck. Your job is personnel security-and you’re not doing very well.” “Nor is Auchinleck,” Vandam said. Bogge pretended not to hear. He picked up Vandam’s memo. Vandam had written out his deception plan and formally submitted it to Bogge, with a copy to the brigadier. “For one thing, this is full of holes,” Bogge said. Vandam said nothing. “Full of holes.” Bogge coughed. “For one thing, it involves letting old Rommel through the line, doesn’t it?” Vandam said: “Perhaps the plan could be made contingent on his getting through.” “Yes. Now, you see? This is the kind of thing I mean. If you put up a plan that’s full of holes like that, given that your reputation is at a pretty damn low point around here at the moment, well, you’ll be laughed out of Cairo. Now.” He coughed. “You want to encourage Rommel to attack the line at its weakest point-giving him a better chance of getting through! You see?” 233 234 Ken Follett
“Yes. Some parts of the line are weaker than others, and since Rommel has air reconnaissance there’s a chance he’ll know which parts.” “And you want to turn a chance into a certainty.,$ “For the sake of the subsequent ambush, yes.” “Now, it seems to me that we want old Rommel to attack the strongest part of the line, so that he won’t get through at all.” “But if we repel him, he’ll just regroup and hit us again. Whereas if we trap him we could finish him off finally.” “No, no, no. Risky. Risky. This is our last line of defense, laddic.” Bogge laughed. “After his, there’s nothing but one little canal between him and Cairo. You don’t seem to realize-” “I realize very well, sir. Let me put it this way. One: if Rommel gets through the line he must be diverted to Alam. Halfa by the false prospect of an easy victory. Two: it is preferable that he attack Alam Halfa from the south, because of the quicksand. Three: either we must wait and see which end of the line he attacks, and take the risk that he will go north; or we must encourage him to go south, and take the risk that we will thereby increase his chances of breaking through the line in the first place.” “Well,” said Bogge, “now that we’ve rephrased it, the plan is beginning to make a bit more sense. Now look here: you’re going to have to leave it with me for a while. When I’ve got a moment I’ll go through the thing with a fine-toothed comb, and see if I can knock it into shape. Then perhaps we’ll put it up to the brass.” I see, Vandam thought: the object of the exercise is to make it Bogge’s plan. Well, what the hell? If Bogge can be bothered to play politics at this stage, good luck to him. Its winning that matters, not getting the credit. Vandam. said: “Very good, sir. If I might just emphasize the time factor . . . If the plan is to be put into operation, it must be done quickly.” “I think I’m the best judge of its urgency, Major, don’t you?” “Yes, sir.” “And, after all, everything depends on catching the damn THE KEY TO REBECCA 235