740.0011 European War 1939/26591: Telegram
The Minister in Switzerland (Harrison) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 18—3:48 p.m.]
5984. From Tittmann. No. 209, December 14. My 208, December 11. Cardinal Secretary of State called me to his office this morning to say that the Italian Ambassador to the Holy See55 had yesterday given him orally the official assurances of the Italian Government that the Italian Supreme Command together with Mussolini and the General Staff will leave Rome and transfer their residence elsewhere. Cardinal Maglione then asked the Italian Ambassador where [whether?] there were any German commands in Rome because if there were, these, he said, would have to leave as well. The Ambassador replied that he did not know but that he would make the necessary inquiries and inform the Cardinal of the results. Cardinal said he would advise me as soon as he heard from the Italian Ambassador on this point. Cardinal asked me to transmit the foregoing information, which he had also given to my British colleague,56 to my Government. With regard to railway station and yards in Rome through which German troops and material were continually passing on their way south, Cardinal said that rail communications could be as, if not more, effectively interrupted outside the city.
The purpose of Holy See’s approach to the Italian Government, the Cardinal said, was to save its own property in Rome and also many churches and religious monuments and institutions by the removal from the city of military objectives which might offer pretexts for its bombardment.
I asked the Cardinal again whether this step meant that Rome would come to be regarded as an “open city”. He replied that he did not know but what he could say was that the Italians had given no assurances that Rome would not be defended if the Allies were to [effect?] a landing, say at Ostia. [Tittmann.]