740.0011 European War 1939/2920: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Phillips) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 14—9:02 a.m.]
341.…
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I felt at once however that something more serious was in the air and I asked Ciano whether he would not speak to me with complete frankness.
He said that whereas a week ago he had thought the chances of Italy’s remaining out of the war was 50–50 the chances were now about 90 to 10 in favor of Italy’s participation. He was not in a position to tell me exactly when the step would be taken but I certainly got the impression that it might come very quickly. I mentioned my responsibility with regard to American residents and he did not indicate as he did during my last interview that it was entirely unnecessary for me to urge them to depart. On the contrary he expressed no opinion and this leads me to believe that I should take action in this respect. This I shall do as quietly as possible although it is my understanding that all United States vessels are booked full for the next few days. Ciano told me that Mussolini had made up his mind with regard to Italy’s participation, that Hitler’s45 information with regard to the progress of his campaign had always been correct and that the information received this morning clearly showed complete German victories in Belgium and Holland. He referred to the warlike manifestations which were taking place throughout Italy as an indication that the majority of the country were in favor of participation and that there was merely a small minority holding the opposite view. Finally he impressed upon me that he did not know when Italy would enter the war and that there was still a chance but apparently slight for her to remain a non-belligerent. Yet his whole manner was such as to indicate that events were moving rapidly towards an early state of war. In conclusion I said that this was the first time that I was leaving his office thoroughly depressed. He made no comment beyond saying that as long as he remained Foreign Minister he hoped that I would keep closely in touch with him.
Repeated to Paris and London, Berlin, Bern, Belgrade.
- Adolf Hitler, German Chancellor.↩