Evening star., 1943-10-25
II Duce Entered War
Before Aides Knew
Il, Badog|io Says
BY MARK S. WATSON.
(Copyright, l943. Baltimore SUM-

uilI cSeIFtuly as possible 1Or any
chief of state. Marshal Pietro Ba-
doglio in an important newspaper
interview today discussed the pres
ent situation in his country, events
which had brought 1t to pass and
his hopes for Italys immediate fu-
ture.
Transcending all other needs, he
said at the outset. is the expulsion
Of the Germans. Next to that. but
subsequent to it, is the establish
ment Of constitutional government,
in the creation Of which all political
opinion in Italy must have a voice.
AS soon as hostilities cease, Ba-
doglio repeated, his task will be fin
ished, and he will surrender his
office
With great clarity he touched on
a sequence of hitherto little known
events by which Benito Mussolini
alone committed Italy to war in
1910 without the consent or even
knowledge of his military chiefs
who knew the nations total unpre-
paredness for grand scale war.
Decision to Buy Power.
rs an appalling record of cold
blooded decision to buy power with
Italian blood.
At that time Badoglio himself
was chief of the Italian general
staff. He states firmly he knew moth
ing whatever of Mussolini's COM
mitment of the country to war until
too late even to attempt it's revoca-
ton.
Badoglio and the army obediently
bowed to the higher authoritys Or
der and went to war. In the sue
ceeding November, at the beginning
of the Greek war Badoglio was
dropped as chief of staff. Thereafter
he remained entirely out OF Office
and outside MussoliniS or the FaS-
clStS' confidence until last July.
One day after Mussolini was.
forced out of Office the King directed
Badoglio to assume duties as the
new chief Of government.
The veteran soldier prepared an
swers to series of questions sub
mitted to him for considered re-
ply, and also some spontaneous re-
marks in amplification Of his formal
answers
Liberation Prime Need.
Outstanding in those observations
are the following:
l. Liberation of Italy is the prime
need. All else is subordinate. On
this point the marshal declares he
speaks for all of Italy's established
political parties now slowly reviving
after long suppression by the Fas-
ciStS. representatives from each of
these parties without exception he
pledges himself to include in his
government, but their leading fig
ureS are now so scattered and in
hiding that a sound selection of
them he regards as impossible until
Rome is regained and they can en-
ter public life again
2. When such constitutional gov
ernment is created, the marshal
says, his duty will be complete and
he will Immediately surrender office.
3. 1talys internal reforms, incluo- |
ing the decision as to the form of
the future government. must largely |
await action by this constitutional
authority which itself cannot come
into being until Italy as a whole is
able to express its wishes. 800 |
However, certain reforms calling |
for immediate action Badoglio him
self initiated, he points out. when
he entered office These included |
his destruction of the entire Fascist |
political machine all the way from |
the grand council and grating cor
poration setups to particularly OBJ
noXiouS Gioventu Italiana de Lit |
torio-or the socalled Littorio youth |
for boys to 49,
Wanted Place at Peace Table.
4. Punishment of individual FaS-
cists not yet determined Distinc-
ton must be made between, on one
hand, real Fascist leaders and their
who by implication must .
be punished, and on the other hand .
those socalled Fascists of entirely
different categories-notably minor
government officials, clerks and most
professional men. These have had
a choice between processing lip 10y
atty to Fascism and starving One
gathers these will be forgiven their
merely perfunctory acceptance of "
FaScism and partly because a good |
many Of them almost are necessary
to the orderly restoration of the
nation.
5. Mussolini himself had original
ly opposed entry into the war and
changed his mind only when he .
thought German victory assured
He painted for an important place
at the peace table as a belligerent |
and needed some thousands of dead |
Italians to buy that place.
g. 1t was Mussolini himself who
hastened Italy's ruin by sending the
bulk of his divisions to Russia and .
the Balkans as a sacrifice to Hitler, |
instead of keeping them at home !
for needed part in the Mediter-
ranean theater.
The interview took place in a
small unimpressive corner room
which Marshal Badoglio uses as an
Office with no concern over its lack
of imposing dimensions or furni-
ture.
He listened attentively to the in
terpreter's English version of his
prepared answers and then asked
gently whether We needed amplifi-
cation. Our additional questions he
answered promptly, clearly. with
every evidence of a desire to speak
with fullest candor.
At no time was this more manifest
than when he explained at some
length his difficulty in dealing i'm
mediately with certain large poll
cies of government There is, he
went on. desire for certain liberaliz-
ing acts. yet how could he alone
order them when this properly
should be done only by action OF
constitutional legislature which does
not and cannot yet exist. Surely he
must most carefully avoid any ac-
ton of autocratic character except
(as in specific matters of destroying
the Fascist setup) those on which
H.