- 04 Oct 2024 18:37
#15326394
Mussolini was utterly unimpressed by Hitler when they first met, and always regarded himself as the senior member of the Axis Powers. Mussolini therefore wanted Hitler to be successful, but not too successful. Lol.
Doug64 wrote:October 4, Friday
Italy doubts Fuhrer’s boasts of victory
“The war is won,” Hitler tells Mussolini today when the two dictators meet for a three-hour exchange of views in an armored train—a gift from the Fuhrer to the Duce—at the Brenner Pass. The British people are under an “inhuman strain” and, the Fuhrer claims, it is only a question of time before they crack. Hitler fails to mention that he has lost 400 aircraft over Britain in seven weeks and has decided to abandon daylight raids.
In Berlin, a foreign office spokesman tells neutral correspondents that the principal subject discussed by the two leaders and their foreign ministers may have been an appeal to the British to call off the war. However, the Italians are quick to note that Hitler no longer talks about invading Britain.
Count Ciano, the Italian Foreign Minister, notes in his diary that this obvious setback for their Axis partner has put Mussolini in an exceptionally good mood. “Rarely have I seen the Duce in such good humor,” Ciano comments. Back in Rome, Ciano seems to have organized a briefing for the press. Il Popolo di Roma, commenting on the Brenner talks, speaks of a long war in prospect and says Hitler’s plans for invading Britain have failed, at least for this year.
Mussolini was utterly unimpressed by Hitler when they first met, and always regarded himself as the senior member of the Axis Powers. Mussolini therefore wanted Hitler to be successful, but not too successful. Lol.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Marx (Groucho)