740.0011 European War 1939/27189
The British Ambassador (Halifax) to the Secretary of State
Dear Mr. Secretary: On December 26th you were good enough to write me a letter12 quoting from your memorandum of our earlier conversation on the subject of the bombardment of Rome.13 I reported your views to London and have now heard that they have, somewhat reluctantly, decided to abandon their idea of arranging for the demilitarization of Rome by agreement with the Italian Government.
Their main reason for this decision was no doubt the attitude of the United States Government as reported by you, and the undesirability of acting alone in the matter. But other reasons influencing them in this decision were a recommendation by His Majesty’s Minister to the Holy See that it would be well to keep the Italian Government and the Vatican guessing about our policy, and also that some time ago the Egyptian Government were promised that Rome would be bombed if the Italians bombed Cairo, and that as His Majesty’s Government had opposed all attempts by the Egyptian Government to arrange for Cairo to be recognised as an open town, it might be difficult, if Rome were so recognised, to refuse to make similar arrangements for Cairo, which would be militarily inconvenient.
His Majesty’s Minister to the Holy See has been therefore instructed to say nothing further to the Vatican unless again approached. If it is necessary for him to say anything, he is instructed to reply that he has received no instructions and does not expect to receive any, since he assumes that His Majesty’s Government retain full liberty of military action in regard to Rome.
Believe me [etc.]
- Not printed.↩
- Dated December 21, 1942, Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. iii, p. 797.↩