Thursday, 9 October

The Deputy Consul of Milan, Yue Lun(岳崙, Gangke剛克) sent in his reply report on the situation in Italy, which was more detailed. According to him:

1) The Italians hated Germany and were gradually showing goodwill to Britain and France.

2) The people and the army did not really like the Fascist Party.

3) The people and the army supported the Italian King. During the Greek war, the Italian Ministry of Military had estimated that twenty divisions would be needed, but Mussolini said two divisions would be enough. As a result, Italy failed. Mussolini lost complete credibility. As for external aggression, such as the Spanish civil war and the Abyssinian war, Italy made extreme sacrifices but received nothing, therefore the Italian people were dissatisfied with the Fascist party’s foreign policy. In this war, Italy listened closely to Hitler in every matter, which made Italy equal to being a German protectorate. It made Italians particularly sad.

4) The Italian King loved his people and did not want a civil war, so he did not sanction dismissing Mussolini.

5) Germany has stationed some thirty army divisions in Italy, so Italy is incapable of rising up against Germany.

6) Italy has secretly negotiated unilateral peace with Britain, and Germany feared this to a great extent. As a result, it increased its troops stationed in Italy. If Germany suffers a substantial defeat in the Soviet Union, Italy must rise against Germany. Mussolini carried out an aggressive policy after truculent Japan, but the result was like this, which was enough to prove that internationally, if we ignore morality but merely depend on force, it will lead to utter defeat.

I discussed with Section Chief Liu restarting the language tuition classes for various countries, because firstly it could give the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff the chance to learn languages, which would make it easier for us to dispatch them to work abroad. Secondly it was really boring to live in Chungking and there are no pastimes here. It was not good to wander around or go to a teahouse in the evening. It would be helpful for them mentally if they were given the chance to study languages.

At noon Guo Taiji invited Li Guoqin(李國欽)[1] for lunch. In the evening, Zhu Jiahua was invited to dine.

[1] A wealthy merchant.