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and other relatives rounded up. More than seven thousand innocent men, women, and children were arrested—and almost five thousand of them executed.
    The most significant of these murders took place just seven days ago, and it means that Adolf Hitler will have to launch his major new offensive, code-named Operation Watch on the Rhine, without the only German general who can even remotely compare with George S. Patton.
    The Wolf could have waited until after Operation Watch on the Rhine was completed to pass judgment on his favorite field marshal. From a tactical perspective, it would have been the smart thing to do. But Adolf Hitler needed his revenge. Nothing, not even winning the war, matters more.
    Hitler and Blondi finish their walk and reenter the massive concrete fortress that serves as the Führer’s home away from Berlin. It is almost time for lunch—and the unveiling of his brilliant new campaign.
    Or, as it will soon become known around the world, the Battle of the Bulge.
    *   *   *
    George S. Patton thinks so highly of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel that he keeps a copy of Rommel’s book on infantry tactics near his bedside. Often at night, when he is unable to sleep, Patton opens it to reread a chapter or two. But while the armies of the two great generals collided in the North African desert two years ago, engaging in the sort of epic tank warfare that only the wide open desert spaces can allow, they have not fought one another since. Patton’s Third Army did not become active in Europe until early August, nearly three weeks after Rommel’s skull was fractured in three places when a Royal Air Force Spitfire fighter plane strafed his car.
    Now, as Patton’s retreat from Fort Driant brings the attack to a bitter end, Rommel is just 230 miles away, convalescing from his wounds at home in Herrlingen. On the evening of October 13, a phone call from the Wolf’s Lair informs Rommel that he will be visited by Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf and Ernst Maisel the next morning. They will bring news from the Führer about Rommel’s next assignment.
    This can mean only one of two things: a new command or a death sentence. Rommel knew of the assassination plot in advance, but said nothing. By proxy, this makes him as guilty as the men who concealed the bomb in the briefcase and hand-carried it into Hitler’s conference room.
    But Rommel is not sure whether Hitler knows of his betrayal. He is Germany’s most famous general, a man who has shown his loyalty to the Führer through extraordinary service on the field of battle, and a man the Führer holds in high esteem. Until recently, that feeling was mutual. But Hitler will never sue for peace, and this could lead to the complete destruction of Germany. Rommel now has grave doubts about Hitler’s ability to lead the war effort, and is in favor of negotiating with the Allies rather than continuing to fight. But he has never voiced this opinion publicly.
    Rommel is restless as he tries to sleep through the night. If his awareness of the assassination plot has been made known to the SS interrogators who have tortured those implicated in the bombing, then General Burgdorf is most likely coming to take Rommel away to be publicly tried before a people’s court; if not, there is a very good chance that Burgdorf is coming to offer him a new army.

Erwin Rommel outside Hitler’s headquarters in Berlin
    Morning arrives. Rommel’s fifteen-year-old son, Manfred, who serves as a soldier in a nearby antiaircraft battery, returns home for two days’ leave. When he walks in the door, he finds the field marshal dressed in riding pants, a brown jacket, and a tie. Rommel asks Manfred to join him for breakfast.
    “At twelve o’clock today two generals are coming to see me to discuss my future employment,” Rommel tells his son. “So today will decide what is planned for me: whether a people’s court or a new command in the east.”
    “Would you accept such a command?” Manfred