and to bell with the future.
His thoughts kept returning to the girl whose throat had been cut, apparently by Wolff, in Istanbul. He was terrified that something might go wrong on Thursday and Elene might find herself alone with Wolff again.
Looking around him, he realized that there was a festive feeling in the air. He passed a hairdresser's salon and noticed that it was packed out, with women standing waiting. The dress shops seemed to be doing good business. A woman came out of a grocer's with a basket full of canned food, and Vandam saw that there was a queue stretching out of the shop and along the pavement. A sign in the window of the next shop said, in hasty scribble: 'Sorry, no makeup.' Vandam realized that the Egyptians were preparing to be liberated, and looking forward to it.
He could not escape a sense of impending doom. Even the sky seemed dark. He looked up: the sky was dark. There seemed to be a gray swirling mist, dotted with particles, over the city. He realized that it was smoke mixed with charred paper. All across Cairo the British were burning their files, and the sooty smoke had blotted out the sun.
Vandam was suddenly furious with himself and the rest of the Allied armies for preparing so equably for defeat. Where was the spirit of the Battle of Britain? What had happened to that famous mixture of obstinacy, ingenuity and courage which was supposed to characterize the nation? What, Vandam asked himself, are you planning to do about it? He turned around and walked back toward Garden City, where GHQ was billeted in commandeered villas. He visualized the map of the El Alamein Line, where the Allies would make their last stand, This was one line Rommel could not circumvent, for at its southern end was the vast impassable Qattara Depression. So Rommel would have to break the line. Where would he try to break through? If he came through the northern end, he would then have to choose between dashing straight for Alexandria and wheeling around and attacking the Allied forces from behind. If he came through the southern end he must either dash for Cairo or, again, wheel around and destroy the remains of the Allied forces.
Immediately behind the line was the Alam Haifa ridge, which Vandam knew was heavily fortified. Clearly it would be better for the Allies if Rommel wheeled around after breaking through the line, for then he might well spend his strength attacking Alam Haifa.
There was one more factor. The southern approach to Alam Haifa was through treacherous soft sand. It was unlikely that Rommel knew about the quicksand, for he bad never penetrated this far east before, and only the Allies had good maps of the desert.
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: I've 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
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
Chapter 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 ball.
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
