POWER POLITICS: Second Phase of the War

Italy was in. Those emotional little men, those lovers of laughter but not of war-whose forefathers were licked by Louis XII's generals in three weeks, were a mere side dish to Napoleon I, were even overwhelmed by the ignorant Ethiopians at Aduwa in 1896, were the shame of their Allies at Caporetto-shouldered their arms and reluctantly left their dark-haired weeping women.

For months these war-hating warriors had waited for their marching papers. For nine long months since the invasion of Poland they had, without realizing it, actually been fighting.' Without pulling a trigger, without manning a single pompom or lining up a single bombsight, they had silently engaged between ten and 30 divisions of French troops across the border. Silently, their Navy had engaged the Mediterranean Fleets of France and Great Britain.

Vittorio Emanuele III it was who signed that quaint, antique instrument, the Declaration of War, and for his pains was patted on the head by Messrs. Mussolini and Hitler. "I feel the urge," telegraphed .the Fiihrer from German G. H. Q., "to express my most heartfelt greetings to Your Majesty." Signs aplenty had told the Italian soldiers that the hour was at hand. The hour had in fact been at hand so long that some Italians believed the chimes of destiny's clock were out of order. But last week the blowing hot and cold suddenly became all hot. All ships of Italian registry were ordered into neutral ports. A communique was issued warning that navigation within twelve miles of Italy, Albania and Italian colonies was "dangerous." The 1942 Universal Exposition was indefinitely postponed. Against the shedding of blood, doctors, surgeons, pharmacists were conscripted. Several writers, including influential Virginio Gayda, even began angrily huffing and puffing in the direction of the U. S. (Gayda later backed down). ¶ Telegrafo, Count Galeazzo Ciano's newspaper, said that with the elimination of France from the field of battle, Italy and Germany would annihilate Great Britain "The second phase of the war." This declaration led to the supposition that II Duce would wait for the end of the Battle of France before plunging. Why did he not wait? Why did he stride out on the Palazzo Venezia balcony and make his sententious announcement (see p. 20) just when he did? II Duce gave no indication in his speech of the reason for his timing. The only hint of a reason came from France's Premier Paul Reynaud: "What was the pretext of his declaration of war? When, this afternoon, at 4:30, our Ambassador François-Poncet asked Count Ciano this question, Mussolini replied that he was 30 doing nothing but fulfilling the pledges that he had given Hitler."Europe's innocent bystanders, small of stature and short of hope, anxiously wondered whether II Duce would as faithfully fulfill the pledges he now gave them: "Italy does not intend to bring other people into the conflict. Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Egypt will take notice. . . ." The British Ministry of Information commented: "The Axis Powers have been prodigal of such assurances in the pastas Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg have learned to their

cost."