THE MICRO-FILM (2006)

by Cole Coonce

(excerpted from THE DEVIL’S OWN DAY; Release date: Summer, 2008.)

CHAPTER 2: THE MICRO-FILM (2006)

I had heard the oral history about some psychic, cerebral and strategic connection between Field Marshall Erwin Rommel and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest – how Rommel had studied Forrest’s battle tactics to the point of actually retracing his predecessor’s steps. At the gates of a Confederate graveyard outside of the Brice’s Crossroads battle site I began to understand just how pushed, damaged and Jungian the folklore really was. At this junction – an intersection fabled to those who know the minutiae of war history, yet largely ignored and consigned to oblivion to the rest of the world — parked in front of a rather ramshackle replica of a cannon, sat a late model Chevrolet Impala SS sedan sporting Texas plates. Because of the generic make and model of the car, and the fact that it was domestic, it appeared to be a rental. Most probably, some Civil War moonie had rented the car in his or her hometown and blasted across Texas, Louisiana, and the Mississippi delta to get a glimpse of the same battlefield that – legend has it – had intrigued Rommel.

As I entered the gates near the graveyard for the confederate dead, I ran into the driver of the Texas rental. True to archetype, he was some mid-40s, mustachioed Civil War zealot/nut in a Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts and leather sandals. My presence startled him, but he instantly recovered from shock to bug-eyed understanding, thinking he had encountered at this, arguably the most esoteric and forgotten battlefield in North America, a fellow traveler, another damaged authority on all matters military… a connoisseur of the conquest, and an enthusiast of eradication… and a friend of Forrest… (I am not sure I would have corrected him had he inquired to that effect…) In his zeal to share, he proffered a roll of 35mm film for my analysis and said: “I have the micro-film for Rommel.” This seeming non sequitur provoked a loud silence. I was stunned. He took my muted response as an appreciation for what he was saying.

“Everybody knows Erwin Rommel came here in the 1930s to study the lay of the land at the greatest American Civil War dark horse victories,” the Hawaiian shirt explained.

As the Teutonic Tropical Texan put his “micro-film” in the pocket of his garish garment, he concluded, “This time the Germans are going to get it right.”

Then he drove off. -30-