Evening star., 1939-10-05
Dead ,Cian(
Is Said 10 Have
Told Fuehrer
Soviet Pact Cause
Of Break, Italians
In London Hint
Bv LELAND STOWE.

Chlcaeo Dally news Forelen Correspondent.
LONDON, Oct 5.-That head
strong enfant terrible which has ter
rorized European chancelleries for
three years under the name of the
Rome-Berlin axis has succumbed
from acute Sovietic suffocation, ac-
cording to information cleaned
from authoritative Italian sources
here.
Moreover, it is stated that the
Italian foreign minister. Count
Galeazzo Ciano. bluntly informed
Fuehrer Adolf Hitler of the axis de-
mise in the course of a stormy con-
versation with the Reichschancellor
in Berlin Sunday, placing the re-
sponsibility squarely upon the Nazi-
Soviet double-deal.
That is why the Italian official
news agency tStefanD announced
yesterday that Italy would not un-
dertake the task of putting for
ward any peace proposals at pres
ent
Although the Italians are not
anxious to indulge in public demon
strations over their inadvertent re-
covery of a diplomatic free hand in
regard to Germany, the consequences
OF the strictly private burial of the
Rome-Berlin axis promise to be far
reaching and possibly Of the utmost
Importance to the future course Of
the war.
CianO Frankly Critical.
The British feel that the chances
of Italy's entering the conflict on
the side of Nazi Germany are now
greatly reduced, If not eradicated;
that the danger of a war in the
Mediterranean and an armed clash
between Italy and Turkey are
equally dissipated, and that the
probability of Italian assistance in
tbs formation of a neutral bloc Of
Balkanic nations to checkmate
Nazi-Soviet intrigues is very much
enhanced
These may all prove to be by
products OF Hitler's failure on Sum
day night to persuade or bully Count
Ciano into agreeing that Italy would
sponsor Germany's peace proposals
and associate herself with threats
to the western allies if they refused
to accept them. Contrary to all
previous experience, Hitler found
the Italian foreign minister OBJ
durate to his demands and frankly
, critical.
The Italian version of the Ciano-
Hitler interview which has leaked
out here insists that Der Fuehrer's
demands for Rome's sponsorship of
the peace offensive were firmly de-
clined by II Duce's son-in-law. It
is said that Hitler angrily declared
that it was time for Italy to show
her solidarity in the Rome Berlin
axis, whereupon Count Ciano replied
that the Third Reich's government
had broken the axis. This was
enough to touch off a Hitlerian
tempest.
Axis Reported Broken.
According to information just
available here, Count Ciano then
told the Reichschancellor that the
axis was subsidiary to the anti
Comintern pact and that the Ber-
lin-Moscow non-aggression treaty
and subsequent close cooperation
had destroyed the -Comintern
pact-and with it the famous axis.
AS result of Hitler's Moscow deal
the Bolshevists had advanced into
Europe proper by occupying large
part of Poland and Russia's inf1u-
ence threatened to extend into the
Balkan countries. Speaking for
Premier Benito Mussolini, Count
Ciano declared that rigor mortis
had already claimed the Rome
Berlin axis.
This account of the Ciano- Hitler
interview seems strongly confirmed
by Mussolinis careful hands-off
position which he took yesterday
when it was announced that Italy
would take no peace conference in
itative under present circumstances.
British officials believe that italian
neutrality is more than ever as
suled and that the Nazis are now
deprived of the support they had
counted upon to help blackmail the
western powers into capitulating
before Hitler's peace proposals.
Italian Settlement Nearer.
Diplomatic opportunities of Brit
ain and France in regard to reach
ing an eventual settlement with