Non mi fido

Reports of a rift in the Berlin-Rome Axis, of dissension within the Axis countries, came last week from so many sources that they took on an aspect of credibility.

German forces were reported massing at the Brenner Pass. Italy was said to be withdrawing troops from the Rumanian-Russian Front and fortifying the Brenner. Italian peasants who watched the fortifications being built called them the ligna non mi fido (I-have-no-faith line).

Crumbling Italy. Three weeks ago New York Times Correspondent Herbert L. Matthews sent a dispatch to his paper commenting on stringent rationing of foods and manufactures. "Italians," he wrote, "have seen the whole ordinary world in which they live crumble about them. Italian industry is at least half-paralyzed. . . . There is a great deal of bewilderment." Last week Correspondent Matthews cabled no dispatch, was unable even to get through to the Times by telephone.

For months Benito Mussolini's game has really been run by the Nazi kibitzers who peer over the shoulders of Italy's impotent officials. Benito Mussolini has had to watch Germany drain Italy of foodstuffs and labor. He has heard of anti-Nazi riots and sabotage in the British-bombed cities of northern Italy. The possibilities of a separate peace must often have occurred to him.

Last week the London Sunday Times correspondent cabled from Ankara: "The impression . . . here is that . . . the full weight of British power will deliver a finishing blow to Fascist Italy. . . . On land the British preparations seem to be going much farther than would be necessary for the mere occupation of Libya, and it is suggested that the intensive air bombardments of Sicily and southern Italy may be the prelude to something more important. The recent reluctance of Italian warships to meet the British Navy seems to denote the carefulness with which the Italians are trying to save up the remnants of their fleet to defend themselves against a possible invasion."

German massing at the Brenner may have been intended to remind Mussolini that Italy must either fight with Germany or against her, that for Benito Mussolini a separate peace would very likely mean the peace of oblivion.

Schizophrenic Germany. Rivalry between the German Army and the Nazi Party for Adolf Hitler's favor is well known. Last spring it seemed that the Party was fast losing ground (TIME, June 30). Last week, according to the Washington letter of London Times Correspondent Sir Willmott Lewis, the Party was winning out. Items:

> In August Hermann Goring and high Army officers plotted to substitute Army men for Hitler's Party advisers. The plot was discovered by Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler. Today Goring is confined to his fantastic country palace Karin Hall with an "honor guard." Sometimes, in order to quiet rumors, he is paraded for visiting notables.

> Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop is little seen in public. He was caught treating with Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano on the subject of peace with Britain.

> Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels is a power in name only.

> Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler completely dominate the cowed generals, many of whom did not wish to invade Russia. The German people are repeatedly told that Russia was about to invade Germany, that only Adolf Hitler foresaw it.

British Broadcasting Corp. substantiated this account by pointing out that men from the Gestapo and Nazi Party head Germany's missions in Rome, Prague, Bucharest, Sofia, Budapest.

Significance. These were unconfirmed reports. They were not necessarily true, nor, if true, were they necessarily symptoms of a serious internal Axis disease. There is dissension within Great Britain and the U.S.; there are frequently rifts between them. Even if the Axis partners were losing faith and solidarity among themselves, these attributes might quickly be restored by a German victory in Russia.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.