Chapter 72 Chapter Eleven "Stumble" (7)

The French were somewhat reassured by Hitler's promise to reduce the SA and SS, but their leaders did not believe that Hitler's plans to rearm were solely for defense. "The English were eager for success," recalled Ambassador François Bence, "and they sent us note after note urging us to explain what guarantees were needed to convince us to agree to a certain degree of imperial Rearm." The British, however, were privately concerned, especially with Germany's burgeoning air force, but remained openly sympathetic to the state of the new Reich, with many scoffing at the notion that Hitler was heading for war.

Ambassador François Bence agreed to make concessions to Germany. "Limited and controlled rearmament is better than unlimited, uncontrolled and suppressed rearmament!" He felt that having an agreement, even an ordinary agreement, was better than nothing.He then tried his best to win over his superiors. In early April, he went to Paris to present his views.However, during the meeting with Prime Minister Dumer, "he was not allowed to say a single word", and tried to change the topic several times, but was interrupted by the Prime Minister.The French decision was to set up an anti-Nazi bloc in the east to curb German ambitions.Poland, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia would be links in this long chain, all protected by "Mother France".

In the spring of that year, Sufa reached an agreement.Hitler feared this was the beginning of a siege of the Reich.To counter the proposed bloc, Hitler needed a strong ally.The most likely candidate for such an ally was Italy, but its leaders had shown little interest in the alliance since 1924, when they refused to lend Hitler millions of lire.The begging made Hitler very unhappy, but pride had to give way to need.He made another effort.Hitler suppressed his anger and wrote to Mussolini: "...I not only express my admiration for your historic efforts, but also look forward to cooperating with you in a sincere and friendly spirit. The two countries are closely linked in ideology, With due regard to common interests, both countries would make an immeasurable contribution to the stability of Europe." He argued that, since Germany had been disarmed, he had the right to demand that other countries reduce their armaments.He then proceeded to exhaustively enumerate his usual arguments.To heighten the importance of the letter, he sent Goering to Italy to deliver it.

A few weeks later, Hitler's foreign press secretary and unofficial court jester Hanf Stangl also visited Mussolini and suggested that he meet with the Führer. "You are both admirers of Wagner, and that gives you a common starting point," Hanf Stangel remembers saying, "Imagine if you invited him to the place where Wagner died in Venice, Wendt How much would that mean, Laminplatz! From your long experience, he can benefit from the much-needed insight into European problems from outside Germany." Mussolini did not object to this idea, sending out invite.Hitler accepted the invitation after an apparent refusal.

This historic meeting was doomed from the start.According to Filippo Pogano, the representative of the Italian Press Agency in Berlin, Mussolini's motive was mainly to meet the politician who was talking about all over Europe. "Hitler was a muddled fool," he told Bogano privately. "His head was full of political and philosophical labels, all incoherent. I don't understand why he took so long Take power over, why play buffoons, run for elections, take power legally. What absurdity! Had it not been for the march on Rome, Fascist Italy would never have existed. We are full of energy, Herr Hitler is nothing more than a talker .”

As this contempt got out, the Italian newspapers were all out, "Look at this freak Hitler." On June 14, when he stepped out of the "Junker" plane at the Rideau Airport, he was wearing a woolen jacket. In serge and an old army overcoat, Hitler looked like a desperate salesman.Mussolini greeted him at the airport wearing a black shirt, a pair of high riding boots, and a gleaming gold braid, behind him were Italian soldiers in neat uniforms.Mussolini threw his arms out in a Roman salute.The flick was so powerful, the reporter H. R. Nickelbocka thought, "He's thrown his hands off."

Hitler came out timidly and raised his hand slightly, as if expressing apology, and as if giving a Nazi salute to thank him.Obviously, Mussolini's performance really embarrassed him.He blinked in the sunlight, then lumbered down the gangway to shake hands with his ideal man. "They were no more than three yards from me," Nick Borka wrote, "and the expressions on their faces fascinated me. Beneath having to be courteous. What I saw in Mussolini's eyes was teasing The look in Hitler's eyes was anger." His embarrassment was not lessened as his master led him past the platoon, and he behaved like a schoolboy attending a formal party for the first time.He simply didn't know what to do with the new bonnet.He first took off his hat to salute the Italian flag, then tried to put it on but held it in his right hand.Marching with Mussolini—who was now conversing, in grotesque German—he turned his hat back and forth as if it were a hot potato.

There was another joke when we went to Venice.When getting on the yacht, Hitler panicked and let Mussolini get on first.However, Mussolini, who was good at being a master, turned behind him and kept waving his hands to let him cross the diving board, as if throwing a chicken into a cage.In the hotel, he jumped out of the elevator and walked forward with his head down. "Mussolini came out with a poise, he knew he was in the spotlight. He held his head up and his eyes were shining. He was the prime minister of Italy." As soon as he entered the room, Hitler scolded several of his advisers for letting him wear civilian clothes, saying that Mussolini was so well dressed.His mind was disturbed, and his first conversation with his master was met with another disaster.Mussolini dominated the talks, which were about Austria.He spoke a vague German that Hitler sometimes did not understand, and Mussolini misunderstood a lot of Hitler's Austrian German.

The next day, the two inspected the fascist troops in San Marco Square.Two teams of soldiers are arguing over who should walk right in front of the reviewing stand.The two teams did not give in, and moved forward at the same time.At this time, the band began to play like a cat meowing.Later, he asked his new aide-de-camp, Fritz Weidmann, how much such an army would be worth militarily.Weidmann, who had served as an adjutant in Hitler's corps during the war, replied that combat effectiveness had nothing to do with parades. "However, this statement made little impression on Hitler. Especially when he looked out of the window and saw a warship with not the flag of the fleet on the mast, but the colorful shirts of the sailors. And panties and stuff, he was dumbfounded."

Only a fool or a master of comedy would have arranged the last, and most important, meeting between dictators at the Rideau Golf Course. "I noticed," Garneau recalled, "that Hitler was talking and getting very excited. Mussolini was listening, silent, with a look of displeasure on his face." During the two-hour meeting In the film, Bogano rarely saw Mussolini speak. "Hitler's spittle was disgusting to him. That night, in the middle of the official reception, he got up and left the lake in a hurry, declaring he was seeing no one." Hitler was stung.He understood that not only had he been snubbed by Mussolini, but he had also been plotted against diplomatically.The Führer agreed to recognize the full independence of Austria (which he saw as part of the Reich), but he received assurances of Mussolini's lack of affirmative support for disarmament.Thus, when Foreign Minister New Wright circulated a notice to various foreign missions, all the diplomats read this notice with amused mood:

“…the public were especially impressed by the unusually warm reception and harmonious atmosphere the Imperial Chancellor received when he visited Venice… "Hitler and Mussolini got on very well, with personal camaraderie far greater than mutual respect. "The talks were exhaustive and conducted in a harmonious atmosphere. All the problems arising from the intimacy of the two ideas were discussed and a long-term agreement was reached. A formal agreement has not yet been drawn up and therefore not yet signed..." Ernst von Weitzsacker, State Secretary for the Foreign Office, told a Swiss diplomat privately that he "did not foresee a closer cooperation between the two".