-11-                            
 
                                                            
 
 
some of Mussolini's phrases, and in the belief that he would merit himself,   
fowarded instructions to the press, but evidently these instructions were   
given without the knowledge of the Foreign Minister, who knew nothing   
about it untill he read the papers. When Ciano then protested, Pavolini   
denied having given instructions assuring that Gayda and the other papers   
had written the articles on their own personal initiative. As it was, the  
 discussions regardlng the press and the diplomacy were ended - and I was   
quietly expecting the Minister to question me. After a few moments of   
silence, he asked me, what I thought of the situation. I hesitated in   
replying, because after all, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, whom   
I talked to for the first time in my life, and furthermore, I was not   
sure. how far I dared go in speaking my mind, but being induced by him to   
speak frankly, I finally decided to do so. I told him, that according to   
my conviction the war was already lost - and that we were in a desperate   
situation. I also told him, that it would have been still worse had   
Germany won the war, because we would have become slaves under the German   
                    yoke for centuries.                     
 
                  WITH RIBBENTROP IN MILAN                  
 
                                                            
 
 
 Count Ciano approved vivaciously. He said: "It is exactly as   
You say. It is a terrible thing to have the Germans as enemies, but still   
worse to have them as allies. They fight like lions, but they understand   
nothing- and' just because they do not understand, they ruin themselves as   
welling, as those bound to them. They imagine certain things and act   
 accordingly and stubbornly refuse to believe  or admit...