Jap. Successes Alarm Germany

Evening Star, Issue 25617, 18 October 1945, Page 9

Jap. Successes Alarm Germany

Ciano's- Diary

NAZIS WOULD LIKE WESTERN PEACE

Japanese successes in the first months after Pearl Harbour so alarmed the Germans that they sounded out the Italians on the '

possibilities of a separate peace between the Axis and the Western allies as a prelude to a global clash between the white and yellow races, according to the diary of Count Ciano, Mussolini's son-in-law and Fascist Italy's Foreign Minister, whose present chapter carries the story from February 9 to March 16, 1942. Ironically, the German peace proposals were wrecked on the unbending malice of Mussolini, whose attitude more and more favoured the Japanese as he found the Germans fearful. The Japs, informed the Axis they would march on India, then cancelled their decision because of the growing Allied power in Australia.

The Germans were planning an attack on the Turks (which never materialised) as the only way to obtain the oil of the Middle East.

Ciano wrote: February 9i—" Attolico (Ambassador to the Vatican) died suddenly. . . Bottai (Minister of National Education) wanted to succeed him at the Holy See. II Duce was against it. He said: 'I refuse to believe that at 46 Bottai would want to end his life as an altar boy.' " (Ciano later was made ambassador to the Vatican at 39.)

the Japanese. The latter have been Suprised and offended at some proposals made, by von llibbentrop. . . . Mussolini, who is pro-Japanese because he is anti-German, expresses his satisfaction. ' The Japanese are not a people toward whom the Germans can exercise the luxury of hauling the Emperor out of bed at 2 o'clock in the morning to tell him that things have already been decided.' "

February 10.—" I have received El Gailani, Prime Minister of Iraq, who started an anti-British revolt, and now circulates between Rome and Berlin to lay the foundation of the future Arab nations. . . Bismarck (Nazi Minister) has let it be known that Germany is preparing to attack Turkey, an unavoidable action to reach the oil wells." February 12.—" I handed to Mackensen (Nazi Ambassador) the text of a telegram from the American military attache in Moscow, directed to Washington. It is* a complaint about the lack of delivery of arms promised by the United States. It says that if the U.S.S.R. is not given aid immediately it will have to consider capitulation." February 13.—" To send two divisions to Russia in March we must ask the Germaus for anti-tank guns, antiaircraft batteries, and automobiles." BRITAIN'S BAD HOUR February 16.—" The fail of Singapore has been a great blow to the British, ' I should like to know,' Mussolini said to-day', ' what effect the surrender of four British officers, with the white flag unfurled, has had on those whimsical Orientals. If it had been us, no one would have attached any importance to it.' " February 18.—" The Japanese victories are shattering British resistance hour by hour and may perhaps bring about a more rapid and successful conclusion than we have been able to foresee. The Anglo-Saxon situation never lias appeared so desperate." February 20.—" Alfieri (Ambassador to'Berlin) sends a strange according to which Ribbentrop forecasts that Great Britain will ask for anvarmistice with the idea of saving what still exists. Can it be that the Germans actually are beginning to Tealise the fearful tragedy this war represents for the white race? " Mussolini showed concern this morning about coal and steel. We lack these things and the Germans carry out their commitments only partially. ' Among the cemeteries,' sa,ys Mussolini,' ' I will build a most important one, to bury German promises.' " DUCE PREFERS JAPS. February 22. —" From Prague our Consul-General reports that the Deiputy (Reich-Protector (Heydrich), for whose assassination the village of Lidice was destroyed, is treating our nationals at least as badly as the Czechs, if not worse. I showed the report to Mussolini, who is indignant. ' And the Germans should protest about the Japanese! I much prefer the yellow people to the Germans, even if the Japanese come as far as the Persian Gulf.' "The coal situation is bad. . . . By April we shall have used all the supplies available for the railroads." February 23.—" II Duce is worried about the rumours of his statements on ecclesiastical questions, and has asked me to have Guariglia (Ambassador to the Vatican) deny them. " I accompany Clodius (Nazi economic negotiator) to Palazzo Venezia. He wanted-to explain the non-delivery of coal (to Italy). The winter was exceptionally severe. There was a shortage of labourers and a lack of railroad transportation. The Russian front alone absorbed 5,000 more locomotives than had been planned." (For •purposes of comparison, there are about 43,000 locomotives in the United States.) February 24.—" Mussolini expounds one of his new theories. Wars are necessary to evaluate the true internal composition of a people, because in war the classes 'are revealed—the heroes, the profiteer, the lazy. I objected that war in any case is a selection in reverse, because the best die. READY TO TALK PEACE " Bismarck (Nazi Minister) talked in a very pessimistic tone. In Germany all are convinced) that another winter of war would be unbearable. But no one dares tell Hitler. They ought to find some way of coming to an understanding with the Anglo-Saxons, particularly since the Nipponese advance is a disaster for the white race. The Germans can do nothing in this direction. They are hated / too much, are ' black sheep.' The Italians should take the role of world peacemakers! " February 25.—" There are signs of intolerance between the Germans and

March 2.—" Jacomini (military commander) reports on the situation in Albania. . . We have scarcely four divisions, each composed of two regiments, and the regiments composed of two battalions. Not even a tank. . . .

It is plain that before sending new forces to Russia we must secure the possessions we have." March 3. —" The Duke of Aosta is dead (second cousin of King and Viceroy of Ethiopia, who surrendered to the British in 1941. He died of tuberculosis in Nairobi, Kenya Colony). ... In the afternoon Bismarck telphoned to say the Germans were preparing to launch a campaign, accusing the British Secret Service of his murder. He added that he personally _ thought it was in ' bad taste.' He's right. There is nothing to confirm this thesis. " Mussolini is more and more proJapanese. He would like to write an article praising the Jap. people who, after centuries of misery, have reversed their situation in a few months." March 6.—" Margherita Campello, a friend of one of Gambaira's (Italian commander in Spain and North Africa) secretaries, says that his officers tin Rome were arrested and his quarters searched by the carabinieri. ... It dppears that at an officers' mess in Libya he said: 'I hope to live long enough to head an Italian army marching on Berlin.' " A heavy British bombardment of industrial Paris. The Germans are trying to arouse the French. But Buti (Italian Ambassador in Paris) informs us the French are not aroused." [Editor's Note: R.A.F. bombers 'heavily raided'three aircraft and motor works in Paris's industrial suburbs during the night of March 3-4. . Marshal Petain in Vichy declared a day of national mourning. The Nazi radio in Paris reported 1,500 dead.] JAPS.' PLAN FOB INDIA March 7.—" The Japanese admirals inform us _ they intend to proceed towards India. The Axis is supposed to move towards them in the Persian Gulf." March 10.—" Prince Urak, from von Ribbentropjs bureau, has come to Rome to see d'Ajeta (Ciano's personal secretary, now in Lisbon). He speaks strangely about Japan, in an ambiguous and bittersweet tone. It is well for the Japanese to win, because they are our allies, but after all they belong to the yellow race, and their victories are gained at the expense of the whites. ... D'Apeta has the impression that Urak was sounding out our feelings on a separate peace between the Axis and Great Britain." March 11.—■" II Duce reacted sharply against Urak's proposals. He affirmed his extreme pro-Japanese attitude. ' After all, what importance will the enrichment of the Japanese have at the cost of the ■ European standard of living P Such concerns, betray i-he residue of Marxism in the German soul.' RACHELE WEEPING " This morning, at the Sudario Church, there was a s ceremony for the Duke of Aosta. Only the members of the Royal Court, were invited. . . . The family was seated in a pew hidden from our view. The ceremony had begun when the door opened and an old woman in mourning entered humbly. She was Donna Rachele (Mussolini's wife). She took the first seat she could find, and wept through the whole ceremony. At the close she called for her automobile, but it wasn't there. I offered her mine, but she refused. She came on foot and she left on foot. " I told II Duce, who was much surprised, 'This-is the first time such a thing has happened,' he said. But the old woman weeping in the church was not the wife of a great leader, but the mother of a lieutenant killed at 20 (Bruno Mussolini, who died in an aeroplane crash)."

March 15.—" In a conference with Indelli (Ambassador to Tokio) the Japanese have outlined their plans. No attack on India. It would -disperse their forces in a vast and unknown field. No attack on Russia. An extension of the fighting toward Australia, where it appears the Americans and British are preparing a counterattack."

March 16.—" The recent 25 per cent, cut in the bread ration has been received with despair, although there have been few signs of protest."

[ln the next chapter, graft and scandal are shown to surround the family of Duce's mistress, Nazi losses in Russia are heavy, and the Germans are already planning ahead for defeat.]