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By last week bellicose Italian yelps had begun to sound like those of a hungry jackal that wants to feed but is kept from his prey by a wolf. All week long the tension mounted. Italian liners' sailings were canceled. Italian schools were ordered to close May 31, a month earlier than usual. Crown Prince Umberto went over to the belligerent side in a speech to his troops warning them to be ready. Benito Mussolini topped off a Sunday of checking up on military preparations by appearing before several hundred Fascist youths demonstrating for war. Italy's day was at hand. Even the plan of attack was outlined (possibly as a feint) by the Fascist review Conquiste d'Impero: "Since an Italian offensive against France would require tremendous effort, it would not be worthwhile. On the other hand, France could not send great forces against Italy, since she is engaged with Germany." Italy's war, said Conquiste d'Impero, would be beside Germany and Hungary against Turkey, Rumania, Yugoslavia and Greece, with the decisive battle against Egypt. Only the hour when Italy would strike was any longer in question. Flanders would decide that.
But no longer was there any doubt that Italy would play a weak second fiddle to Adolf Hitler's Germany. Though Italy might take Nice and Savoy, Algeria, Tunisia and Corsica from a tottering France, Egypt from a blitzkrieged Britain, and even part of Yugoslavia and Greece, Adolf Hitler would never let Mussolini play first fiddle in Europe above the shores of the Mediterranean. One day Italy will have to settle with Germany for a port on the Adriatic. Little but fear of Germany has kept Il Duce from grabbing Dalmatia already.
Frantic Allies. Desperately France and Britain worked to remedy their mistakes. To a reported offer by France of a free port at Djibouti, minority rights in Tunisia and a seat on the Suez Canal board. Il Duce replied coldly that the offer was "too late and too little." The British Government, angling for eventual help from Russia, rushed Socialist Sir Stafford Cripps to the Kremlin, where he is well liked. But was there time to get help from Russia? To smooth relations with Spain, His Majesty's Government sent Sir Samuel Hoare as Ambassador to Madrid. He got a chilly reception and exiled Loyalist Alvárez del Vayo cracked: "The mission of a failure." Women and children were already being evacuated from Gibraltar, whose garrison the German-planted guns in Algeciras may try to blow into the sea before long.
Enough Time? Adolf Hitler's greatest fear is that he may not have time to finish his work. Last week his Armies, his Air Force, his power politicians and his sycophants worked at top speed to create a new Europe for him. Until he realized his dream of Germany surrounded by European yes-nations, with Russia pushed beyond the Urals—and the game was still far from over—he would scarcely have the leisure to complete his second Volume, reportedly titled How I Did It.