Rommel.

This is coolbert:

From the book "Pegasus Bridge" by Ambrose this entry immediately is of interest to me:

"'Listen', Rommel said, 'one day you will remember what I am telling you.' 'The war is lost' . . . . . 'I will tell you,' Rommel answered. 'We lost Stalingrad, we will lose Africa, with the body of our best trained armored people. We can't fight without them. The only thing we can do is to ask for an armistice. We have to give up all this business about the Jews, we have to change our minds about the religions, and so on, and we must get an armistice now at this stage while we still have something to offer.'" - - Rommel in conversation with his subordinate Hans von Luck, March 1943.

A negotiated end to the Second World War [WW2]. A cease fire, an armistice, negotiations with terms leading to a settlement. This is what Rommel and I am sure certain other senior German military commanders at that stage of the war had in mind.

AND NOT ONLY ROMMEL AND HIS MILITARY COHORTS BUT THE NAZI RULING ELITE TOO!

Ribbentrop and Molotov having met [1943] a single [?] time on Nazi occupied Soviet territory to discuss the POSSIBILITY OF PEACE TALKS! Nothing ever came of the discussion but the thought at least had been entertained.

Those western allies [Great Britain and America] knowing through Ultra intelligence of the meeting but never raising the issue with Stalin!  Stalin acting on his own behind the scenes, EVEN IN VIOLATION OF HIS OWN ADMONITIONS - - NO PEACE TALKS WITH THE NAZI!

Surrender with terms. A settlement with terms. It was a possible? All this makes for interesting alternative histories.

coolbert.