740.0011 European War 1939/30341: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom to the Secretary of State
London, July 26, 1943 — 6 p.m.
[Received July 26 — 1:15 p.m.]
4862.
Personal for the President and the Secretary.
This afternoon in talking with Eden I found there were two opinions in the Foreign Office in relation to the Italian situation.
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That the change-over was due to a last desperate attempt to strengthen the war effort.
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The dominant opinion and that held by Mr. Eden which he described as “A mixture of the policies adopted by Prince Max von Baden and Pétain on their way to quitting”. He felt that neither Mussolini nor General Badoglio could make the Italians fight.
He said one thing which I believe is important. That Russia in some way should be brought into our councils in considering the Italian situation. He felt that the Russian manifesto to Germany might have been in part influenced by their not having been included as signatories to the Anglo-American proclamation to the Italian people. He did not mean by this that he thought they should have been included as a practical matter but only that they were sensitive to exclusion.
When the tide turns and the Russian armies are able to advance we might well want to influence their terms of capitulation and occupancy in Allied and enemy territory.
WINANT