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The General was enjoying coffee and toast and an early edition of The Times when the young Army Captain ushered Dougal Munro in and closed the door behind him.
    “Morning, Brigadier. Coffee, tea—anything you want is on the sideboard.” Munro helped himself to tea. “How’s this Cold Harbour project working out?”
    “So far, so good, General.”
    “You know war is a little like the magician who fools people into watching his right hand while his left is attending to the real business of the day.” Eisenhower poured more coffee. “Deception, Major. Deception is the name of the game. I had a report from Intelligence which tells me that Rommel has done incredible things since they put him in charge of the Atlantic Wall.”
    “Quite true, sir.”
    “This E-boat of yours has taken engineer officers in by night to the French coast to get beach samples on so many occasions that you must have a pretty good idea where we intend to go in?”
    “That’s right, General,” Munro said calmly. “All the indications would seem to predict Normandy.”
    “All right. So we’re back with deception,” Eisenhower said and walked to the wall map. “I’ve got Patton heading a phantom army up here in East Anglia. Fake army camps, fake planes—the works.”
    “Which would indicate to the Germans our intentions to take the short route and invade in the Pas de Calais area?” Munro observed.
    “Which they’ve always expected because it makes military sense.” Eisenhower nodded. “We’ve already got things moving to reinforce that idea. The RAF and 8th Air Force will raid that area frequently, considerably closer to the invasion, of course. That’ll make it look as if we’re trying to soften things up. Resistance groups in the region will constantly attack the power cables and railways, that sort of thing. Naturally, the double agents we’re running will transmit the right, false information to Abwehr headquarters.”
    He stood there, staring at the map and Munro said, “Something worrying you, sir?”
    Eisenhower moved to the bow window and lit a cigarette. “Many people wanted us to invade last year. Let me now be explicit with you, Brigadier, as to why we didn’t. SHAEF has always been convinced that we can only succeed with this invasion by having every advantage. More men than the Germans, more tanks, more planes—everything. You want to know why? Because in every engagement fought in this war on equal terms, facing either Russian, British or American troops, the Germans have always won. Unit for unit, they usually inflict fifty per cent more casualties.”
    “I’m aware of that unfortunate fact, sir.”
    “Intelligence sent me details of a speech Rommel made to his Generals the other day. He said if he didn’t beat us on the beaches they’d lost the war.”
    “I think he’s right, sir.”
    Eisenhower turned. “Brigadier, I’ve always been sceptical of the exact worth of secret agents in this war. Theirmaterial is usually sketchy at the best. I think we get better information from the decoding of cyphers by Ultra.”
    “I agree, sir,” Munro hesitated. “Of course, if major information isn’t processed by Enigma in the first place, the facts aren’t there to be decoded and they could well be the most important facts.”
    “Exactly.” Eisenhower leaned forward. “You sent me a report last week I hardly dare to believe. You said that there was to be a Staff Conference headed by Rommel himself quite soon now. A conference concerned solely with the question of Atlantic Wall defences.”
    “That’s right, General. At a place called Château de Voincourt in Brittany.”
    “You further stated that you had an agent who could penetrate that conference?”
    “Correct, General.” Munro nodded.
    Eisenhower said, “My God, if I was a fly on the wall at that meeting. To know Rommel’s thoughts. His intentions.” He put a hand on Munro’s shoulder. “You realise how crucially important this could be?