For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway [2]
“Yes, I understand.”
“Absolutely nothing. Merely to blow the bridge is a failure.”
“Yes, Comrade General.”
“To blow the bridge at a stated hour based on the time set for the attack is how it should be done. You see that naturally. That is your right and how it should be done.”
Golz looked at the pencil, then tapped his teeth with it.
Robert Jordan had said nothing.
“You understand that is your right and how it should be done,” Golz went on, looking at him and nodding his head. He tapped on the map now with the pencil. “That is how I should do it. That is what we cannot have.”
“Why, Comrade General?”
“Why?” Golz said, angrily. “How many attacks have you seen and you ask me why? What is to guarantee that my orders are not changed? What is to guarantee that the attack is not annulled? What is to guarantee that the attack is not postponed? What is to guarantee that it starts within six hours of when it should start? Has any attack ever been as it should?”
“It will start on time if it is your attack,” Robert Jordan said.
“They are never my attacks,” Golz said. “I make them. But they are not mine. The artillery is not mine. I must put in for it. I have never been given what I ask for even when they have it to give. That is the least of it. There are other things. You know how those people are. It is not necessary to go into all of it. Always there is something. Always some one will interfere. So now be sure you understand.”
“So when is the bridge to be blown?” Robert Jordan had asked.
“After the attack starts. As soon as the attack has started and not before. So that no reinforcements will come up over that road.” He pointed with his pencil. “I must know that nothing will come up over that road.”
“And when is the attack?”
“I will tell you. But you are to use the date and hour only as an indication of a probability. You must be ready for that time. You will blow the bridge after the attack has started. You see?” he indicated with the pencil. “That is the only road on which they can bring up reinforcements. That is the only road on which they can get up tanks, or artillery, or even move a truck toward the pass which I attack. I must know that bridge is gone. Not before, so it can be repaired if the attack is postponed. No. It must go when the attack starts and I must know it is gone. There are only two sentries. The man who will go with you has just come from there. He is a very reliable man, they say. You will see. He has people in the mountains. Get as many men as you need. Use as few as possible, but use enough. I do not have to tell you these things.”
“And how do I determine that the attack has started?”
“It is to be made with a full division. There will be an aerial bombardment as preparation. You are not deaf, are you?”
“Then I may take it that when the planes unload, the attack has started?”
“You could not always take it like that,” Golz said and shook his head. “But in this case, you may. It is my attack.”
“I understand it,” Robert Jordan had said. “I do not say I like it very much.”
“Neither do I like it very much. If you do not want to undertake it, say so now. If you think you cannot do it, say so now.”
“I will do it,” Robert Jordan had said. “I will do it all right.”
“That is all I have to know,” Golz said. “That nothing comes up over that bridge. That is absolute.”
“I understand.”
“I do not like to ask people to do such things and in such a way,” Golz went on. “I could not order you to do it. I understand what you may be forced to do through my putting such conditions. I explain very carefully so that you understand and that you understand all of the possible difficulties and the importance.”
“And how will you advance on La Granja if that bridge is blown?”
“We go forward prepared to repair it after we have stormed the pass. It is a very complicated and beautiful operation. As complicated and as beautiful as always. The plan has been manufactured in Madrid. It is another of Vicente Rojo, the unsuccessful professor’s, masterpieces. I make the attack