COPY                            
 
                       EMBASSY OF THE                       
 
                  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA                  
 
                                                            
 
                  Berlin, October 21, 1940                  
 
 
Personal and Confidential                                                   
 
 
Memorandum to Mr. Welles.
 
 
I called on "our friend" whom I had not seen since 
the interview recounted in my letter to you of July 5. 
He remarked that his information was that the British
were undergoing terrific punishment from aerial bombardment,
but that they were standing up under it, and asked                                               
me whether I thought the morale of the Berlin population
would be as good under a similar attack. He answered
his own question by saying that the morale of a people
who knew what they were fighting for, i.e., to defend
their country, was vastly different than that of the
people subjected to punishment from a war of which they
did not know the purpose. He remarked that it appeared
very probable England would be able to defend the
British Isles, but he was not so certain of its ability
to defend Egypt and the Mediterranean, although the
Italians had shown little evidence of offensive strength
to date.
 
 
He said that while he had no means of knowing what
were the President's plans or conceptions but he had the