ADSS 1.241 Maglione to Micara: German invasion expected

ADSS 1.241 Luigi Maglione, Sec State, to Clemente Micara, Belgium

Reference: Telegram 23 (AES 495/40)

Location and date: Vatican, 09.01.1940

Summary statement: German invasion of Holland expected for mid-February.

Language: Italian

Text:

Following coded telegram 64 (1) I inform Your Excellency that news from sources which seem reliable (2), give mid-February or even before as highly probable date of offensive against Holland.

Your Excellency is requested to use this information very cautiously and eventually in turn request extreme caution.

Notes: 

(1) ADSS 1.239

(2) See for example Llwellyn Woodward (1962) British Foreign Policy in the Second World War, HSMO, London, p34.