complete conviction, and without forebodings, exactly what the attack will be, why we are making it, and how facilely it will succeed. There is no problem.”
“Go on,” the girl said. “Please let me fill your glass and you, please look at the light on the ceiling.”
“Fill it and I’ll look at the light and I will go on.
“This high pressure salesman, and I say this with no disrespect, but with admiration for all his talents, or his talent, also told what we would have of the necessary. There would be no lack of anything. The organization called SHAEF was then based on a town named Versailles outside of Paris. We would attack to the east of Aachen a distance of some 380 kilometers from where they were based.
“An army can get to be huge; but you can close up a little bit. They finally went as far forward as Rheims which was 240 kilometers from the fighting. That was many months later.
“I understand the necessity of the big executive being removed from contact with his working people. I understand about the size of the army and the various problems. I even understand logistics which is not difficult. But no one ever commanded from that far back in history.”
“Tell me about the town.”
“I’ll tell you,” the Colonel said. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You never hurt me. We are an old town and we had fighting men, always. We respect them more than all others and I hope we understand them a little. We also know
