November 1, 1943
Führer,
In light of Commander Wolff's trip to your Headquarters, I take the opportunity to remind you and to give you a schematic report on the Italian situation at the end of October.
The situation has slightly improved. There are symptoms of recovery, but the catastrophe was so sudden and total, that much more time is needed before the masses can fully recover morally and materially.
I do not consider the phenomenon of armed partisan groups — sprinkled here and there in the Apennine mountains — to be serious. They are mostly disbanded soldiers (often from southern Italy) and do not represent a danger.
For what you have done and for what you will continue to do in order to help me reach my supreme goal (that is, returning to combat as soon as possible), I give you, Führer, my deepest gratitude.
In a few months the young men born in 1924 will have to present themselves at the military barracks. If all of them show up as required, this will be the decisive sign that the crisis is over. The expectations of the General Staff are rather optimistic.
I wish to add, Führer, that a national consensus has arisen from the terrible crisis of July-August-September 1943. The monarchy is liquidated even in the regions occupied by the Anglo-Americans. And again I wish to tell you that the relations between the people and the German troops are beginning to become ever more cordial.
The relations of Graziani and Gambara with your marshals have a truly comradely character.
I promise you, Führer, that I will write to you about other various topics at a later date.
Meanwhile, please accept my most cordial greetings and thanks, together with the expression of my immutable faith in your destiny and in the destiny of Germany.
MUSSOLINI
