Post by Diarist on Dec 24, 2015 11:29:21 GMT 1
When Secretary Winston Churchill met President Roosevelt this evening United Kingdom was technically at war with Italy. British troops had already crossed into Eritrea, French troops were already in NW Italy and allied submarines were in Italian waters observing major Naval ports. After an hour the leaders of the US Congress arrived and Churchill informed them of Britain's intention of declaring war on Italy tomorrow. He cited two main reasons.
The first was the inability and/or unwillingness of the League of Nations to support those who were opposing Italian ambitions; those opposed to war. Secondly, Italy has chemical weapons stored in Eritrea and Rome had authorized their use against Abyssinian forces. General de Bono has been given a blank cheque by Mussolini to utilize weapons of mass destruction. Britain cannot stand idle and just watch. It must act! Those storage depots must be destroyed or denied to the Italian armed forces. Mussolini's plans for a new Roman Empire in the Mediterranean and Africa must be stopped.
He stated that the Neutrality Act should be used against Italy and any nation supporting them but it doesn't apply to the UK or its allies. We have tried all diplomatic options to prevent this conflict but our efforts were not only ignored by Italy but also fell on deaf ears at the League Council. The threat posed by Italy and its ambitions are too great to ignore. He also said that Europe is not asking for the United States to get involved in a European conflict, which Congress is strongly against, but we want European nations to be allowed to fix a European problem which is spreading outside of Europe. We also want to send a clear message to Hitler and Stalin that Britain and France will oppose any aggression in Europe.
There followed a lengthy but constructive discussion, the most important outcome was to remain quiet until the announcements have been made in Europe and that no sanctions will be placed on Britain or its allies. They arranged to meet again tomorrow afternoon at the State, War and Navy building.