Rome

City

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in 1,285.3 km (496.3 sq mi). The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy. Rome's history spans two and a half thousand years. It was ...

Read more at Wikipedia

Documents about Rome

Wednesday 17th January 1940

Meeting minutes

extract Secret Annexe: Vatican passes on peace plan from German officers. PM opposes suggestion by Churchill of invasion of Sweden
person E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
person Adolf Hitler
place Great Britain
place Finland
place Russian Empire
place Vatican City
place Oslo
place Stockholm
place Rome
place Czechoslovakia
organisation German Army
organisation Hopatcong High School
 

Meeting minutes

extract Cabinet “doubtful” over use of colonial forces. Discusses price and wage control and solutions to Asama Maru dispute
person Anthony Eden
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Kingsley Wood
person John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon
place Finland
place Tokyo
place Rome
organisation New Zealand Treasury
 

Wednesday 7th February 1940

Meeting minutes

extract Supreme War Council agrees to send 3 divisions to Finland. PM: “Finland must not be allowed to disappear off the map”
person Alexander Cadogan
person Stafford Cripps
person Sydney Brenner
person Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
place Finland
place Russian Empire
place Trondheim
place East Germany
place Hungary
place Moscow
place Republic of China
place Rome
place West Germany
organisation New Zealand Treasury
 

Meeting minutes

extract Collapse of Italy talks as Mussolini rejects agreement with the UK over arms sales
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Walter Hines Page
person Walter Citrine, 1st Baron Citrine
person John Anderson (Australian politician)
place Finland
place Rome
 

Meeting minutes

extract Finns urgently request more guns and ammunition. Churchill airs dissatisfaction with Palestine land policy
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Walter Citrine, 1st Baron Citrine
person Samuel Hoare
person Kingsley Wood
person Winston Churchill
person Harold Wilson
person Arthur Greenwood
place Finland
place Rome
 

Meeting minutes

extract Anti-German comments by Italian Senator encourage Lord Halifax to “go rather slowly” in relations with Italy
place Rome
 

Meeting minutes

extract “Considerable rise” in shipping losses. “Fresh attacks of great intensity” by Russians. Spy network plan for Middle East.
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Samuel Hoare
person Kingsley Wood
place Finland
place Rome
 

Meeting minutes

extract Serious shipping losses. Air Officials consider sending bomber force to attack German fleet
person Anthony Eden
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley
person Kingsley Wood
person Ernest Brown
place Finland
place Rome
organisation Ministry of Supply
organisation New Zealand Treasury
 

Meeting minutes

extract Two U-Boats sunk. Opposition Leaders express concern Norwegian blockade would represent lowering of UK’s “moral stature”
person Anthony Eden
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley
person Sumner Welles
person Samuel Hoare
person Richard Kiel
person Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
place Finland
place Europe
place Berlin
place Tokyo
place Rome
place Iran
 

Monday 4th March 1940

Meeting minutes

extract Rumours of new German bomber operating at 35,000 feet. Unity Mitford refused permission to move to Scottish island
person Anthony Eden
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley
person Samuel Hoare
person Kingsley Wood
person John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon
place Aruba
place Finland
place Iceland
place Caribbean
place Rome
organisation Foreign Office (Germany)
 

Meeting minutes

extract UK Ambassador Vatican passes on anxiety at Mussolini’s “increasingly pro-German course”
extract Cripps in Moscow says USSR wishes to improve relations with UK, does not want to be “too closely tied” to Germany
person Anthony Eden
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Stafford Cripps
person Samuel Hoare
person Maxime Weygand
person Kingsley Wood
person John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon
place Hamburg
place Finland
place East Germany
place Moscow
place Turkey
place Rome
organisation Home Office
organisation Air Force F.C.
organisation RAF Coastal Command
organisation Minister of Economic Warfare
 

Meeting minutes

extract Cabinet informed of German raid on British lines in the Saarland. Two soldiers killed, 16 captured
person Anthony Eden
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley
person Stafford Cripps
person Samuel Hoare
person Kingsley Wood
person Ernest Brown
person Harold Wilson
person Andrew Duncan
place Finland
place Egypt
place Rome
organisation New Zealand Treasury
organisation RAF Coastal Command
 

Meeting minutes

extract Secret understanding with Sweden delaying German ore imports at ports and railway stations. Von Ribbentrop to visit Rome
person Anthony Eden
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley
person Samuel Hoare
person Kingsley Wood
person Harold Wilson
person Joachim von Ribbentrop
place Heligoland
place Finland
place Iceland
place Narvik
place Denmark
place Rome
organisation New Zealand Treasury
organisation Minister of Economic Warfare
 

Meeting minutes

extract PM on Sumner Welles mission: “aiming for the impossible”. No peace without “real change of outlook in Germany”
person Sumner Welles
person Adolf Hitler
person Harold Wilson
person Joachim von Ribbentrop
place Great Britain
place Finland
place Halifax Peninsula
place Singapore
place Europe
place Berlin
place Rome
organisation New Zealand Treasury
organisation Air Force F.C.
organisation RAF Coastal Command
organisation Parliament of the United Kingdom
organisation Foreign Office (Germany)
organisation Canadian Forces Maritime Command
 

Meeting minutes

extract “Berlin better blacked out than London” says US envoy. Ambassador to Vatican reports Hitler and Mussolini to meet shortly
person Alexander Cadogan
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Sumner Welles
person Samuel Hoare
person Adolf Hitler
person Joachim von Ribbentrop
place Finland
place Vatican City
place Hong Kong
place Singapore
place Turkey
place Berlin
place Rome
organisation Luftwaffe
organisation Foreign and Commonwealth Office
 

Meeting minutes

extract Paul Reynaud likely to be new Prime Minister of France. No change in policy apparent after Hitler-Mussolini meeting
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Adolf Hitler
place South Africa
place Great Britain
place Paris
place Rome
organisation Home Office
organisation Royal Air Force
organisation House of Commons of the United Kingdom
organisation Hopatcong High School
organisation Foreign Office (Germany)
organisation Home Fleet
 

Analysis of German Propaganda, March 1 to 16, 1940.

extract Lord Halifax presents analysis of recent Nazi propaganda themes. British weakness up, brutality and lies down
person E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
person Adolf Hitler
person Winston Churchill
person Joachim von Ribbentrop
person John Reith, 1st Baron Reith
person Oliver Stanley
place Great Britain
place Finland
place Ankara
place Slovakia
place Russian Empire
place Caribbean
place Berlin
place Rome
organisation Ministry of Supply
 

Meeting minutes

extract Chiefs of Staff: “very little we could do to prevent Holland being overrun”. Effect of air action would be “very limited”
extract PM Chamberlain keen on mining operation on Rhine and Norwegian waters. Cabinet agrees to urge this in Allied War Council
person Alexander Cadogan
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Harold Wilson
place Ankara
place Russian Empire
place Narvik
place Turkey
place Europe
place Rome
place West Germany
organisation Home Office
organisation New Zealand Treasury
organisation Air Force F.C.
organisation Foreign and Commonwealth Office
organisation 335th Fighter Squadron
 

Meeting minutes

extract Dutch Foreign Minister rejects discussions with UK government over arrangements to resist German invasion of Netherlands
extract USSR offers to reopen trade talks with UK. Ambassador Maisky denies military alliance with Germany
person Harold Wilson
person Neville Chamberlain
place Athens
place Ankara
place Russian Empire
place Iraq
place Turkey
place Rome
organisation Home Office
organisation New Zealand Treasury
organisation RAF Coastal Command
 

Friday 5th April 1940

Weekly Resume (No. 31) of the Naval, Military and Air Situation from 12 noon March 28th to 12 noon April 4th, 1940.

extract Chiefs of Staff report lull in U-Boat activity but increase in German reconnaissance aircraft activity off Norway coast
place Somaliland
place Hong Kong
place Narvik
place North China
place Denmark
place Rome
organisation RAF Coastal Command
organisation Royal Air Force
organisation United States Navy
 

Tuesday 14th May 1940

Meeting minutes

extract Chief of Air Staff has received naval intelligence suggesting Italy “seeking an excuse for entering the war”
extract Lord Halifax urges consideration of possibility of German paratroop attack on Ireland. Eire government to be informed
extract Belgian Ambassador complains British troops moving through Brussels which his government has declared an open city
extract Lord Gort reports “satisfactory” position of British Expeditionary Force. Belgians and French withdrawing to Antwerp line
person Anthony Eden
person Alexander Cadogan
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person George Cadogan, 3rd Earl Cadogan
person John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort
place Halifax Peninsula
place Gibraltar
place Greenwood, Nova Scotia
place Rome
organisation Royal Marines
 

Meeting minutes

extract Cabinet orders Chiefs of Staff to prepare plans for total UK evacuation of Norway. Naval chiefs warn could take 2 months
extract UK Ambassador Rome reports Mussolini “only awaiting” German seizure of Channel ports to declare war
extract French troops at Calais “completely demoralised”. Supply position “very anxious”. UK force “heavily hammered” at Courtrai
extract War Secretary reports Boulogne under heavy attack. UK forces in danger of being surrounded and cut off. Should hold today
extract If attack fails UK to form new strategy with object of “saving and bringing back” as many troops and weapons as possible
extract “Whole success” of joint Weygand attack depends on French taking offensive. At present they show “no signs of doing so”
extract PM: Situation around the Channel ports “critical”. Unexpectedly large German forces. UK and Belgian troops in a “trap”
person Alexander Cadogan
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Samuel Hoare
place Greece
place Egypt
place Rome
organisation Hopatcong High School
 

Meeting minutes

extract Chamberlain circulates proposed new restrictions on enemy and neutral aliens in UK. PM favours deportation
extract US warns of planned German sabotage of UK communication centres. Home Secretary: "All possible steps" already being taken
extract Dunkirk filled with French soldiers. Only “certain small” UK units. General Ironside warns town may not hold more troops
extract Three British battalions holding position in Calais as town is shelled. So far unable to clear forward road to St. Omer
person Anthony Eden
person Alexander Cadogan
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Franklin D. Roosevelt
person Alan Keyes
place Great Britain
place Halifax Peninsula
place Calais
place Rome
organisation Home Office
organisation Royal Air Force
 

Meeting minutes

extract King Leopold informs British government he is “determined to stay with his army” in Belgium
extract PM: Operation may be a great failure. Or our troops may "fight magnificently" and save considerable portion of the Force
extract PM anxious “orders for march to the coast should be issued as soon as possible”. Order from Reynaud to Weygand drafted
extract Halifax urges talks with Mussolini. Italy may be able to “persuade Herr Hitler to take a more reasonable attitude”
extract Reynaud: No peace terms yet but France “could get an offer if they wanted one”. Taking Paris “the dream of all Germans”
extract PM Reynaud tells War Cabinet France has 50 divisions to Germany’s 150. “Clear that the war could not be won on land”
person John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby
person Maxime Weygand
person James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon
person Adolf Hitler
person Roger Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes
place Great Britain
place Somaliland
place Russian Empire
place Paris
place Malta
place Europe
place Gibraltar
place Washington
place Northern Ireland
place Rome
organisation Foreign and Commonwealth Office
 

Suggested approach to Signor Mussolini.

extract Halifax meeting with Italian ambassador. Says UK would consider "any proposal" that promised "secure and peaceful Europe"
person Adolf Hitler
place Great Britain
place Paris
place Europe
place Rome
organisation Foreign and Commonwealth Office
organisation ING Group
 

Meeting minutes

extract Chamberlain: “In order to keep the French in a good temper...our reply should not be a complete refusal.” Cabinet agrees.
extract PM will not “join France in asking for terms" but if told what the terms were, he "would be prepared to consider them"
extract Halifax: If UK independence not at stake "right to accept an offer which would save the country from avoidable disaster”
extract Halifax again raises Italy negotiations. Roosevelt has opened talks. French say they may offer territorial concessions
person Adolf Hitler
person Edward Spears
place Paris
place Europe
place Rome
organisation Canadian Forces Maritime Command
organisation French Army
 

Meeting minutes

extract UK Ambassador Rome says Italy's entry into the war “now a certainty” and the delay can “no longer be reckoned in months”
extract Cabinet informed French and Norwegian troops have occupied Narvik Decision on UK to evacuate postponed http://ow.ly/1Rvsg
extract RAF switching from continuous patrols over Dunkirk to “occasional patrols of much greater strength”
extract HMS Wakeful and HMS Grafton sunk while evacuating troops. Over 630 casualties
extract PM: Latest information from Admiralty that 40,000 BEF troops now returned to UK. 2000 men being evacuated every hour
person Anthony Eden
person Alexander Cadogan
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Herbert Morrison
person John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort
person Franklin D. Roosevelt
person Kingsley Wood
place Great Britain
place Halifax Peninsula
place Morocco
place Rome
 

Meeting minutes

extract Latest evacuation figures (1200 BST) 139, 244 returned from BEF, 14811 Allied troops. Evacuees classed as casualties 9480
extract Rumours Germans developing amphibious tanks for UK landings. Beach mines being produced at rate of 10,000 a week
extract In last 24 hours 5 ships have been sunk, 3 on fire, 4 damaged. 222 Navy vessels and 665 ships and boats used in operation
extract First Sea Lord has ordered "equal opportunities" for British and French troops for embarkation from beaches
extract Eden to order Lord Gort's departure for his own safety. French troops to be evacuated until "not safe" for UK to remain
extract First Sea Lord says "swell on the beaches" delaying embarkations. Will "probably abate later"
extract Signs of major German attack; unclear for today or tomorrow. Lord Gort hopes most remaining troops will sail tonight
extract War Secretary Eden reports Dunkirk evacuation figures as at 0700 BST: 133,878 men from BEF and 11,666 Allied troops
person Anthony Eden
person Alexander Cadogan
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Andrew Greenwood
person George Cadogan, 3rd Earl Cadogan
person John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort
person Ernest Bevin
person E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
place Portugal
place Halifax Peninsula
place Lisbon, New York
place Rome
organisation RAF Coastal Command
organisation United States Navy
organisation United States Congress
 

Monday 3rd June 1940

Meeting minutes

extract Dominions Secretary to invite Canadian government to take over defence of Iceland from occupying British force
extract Cabinet approves changes to UK bombing rules. Chamberlain: German action provides "fullest justification" for proposals
extract Report from Rome of German plan to move troops from Naples to Cadiz for attack on Ireland. Halifax: “Unwise to ignore”
extract Total number of evacuees at 0600 BST: 292,380. Halifax: Total not to be released to Press because of French objections
extract Situation confused. Unclear how many French now at bridgehead. Germans not pressing attack but beach under artillery fire
extract PM: Personnel of BEF have been withdrawn to this country "practically intact". French could do more to evacuate
person Alexander Cadogan
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
place Halifax Peninsula
place Iceland
place Dunkirk
place Paris
place Greenwood, Nova Scotia
place Rome
organisation RAF Coastal Command
organisation Hopatcong High School
organisation United States Navy
organisation Government of Canada
 

Meeting minutes

extract General Dill: Battle "in progress along the whole Western Front." PM Reynaud again urges fast despatch of UK forces
person Anthony Eden
person Alexander Cadogan
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Charles de Gaulle
person Paul Reynaud
place Iceland
place Narvik
place Greenwood, Nova Scotia
place Rome
place Libya
organisation United States Congress
 

Meeting minutes

extract Cabinet agree not to bomb Vatican but tell Papal Nuncio safety of rest of Rome depends on Italy observing "rules of war"
extract Roosevelt will not publish his message of support to France. PM: US holding back will have "disastrous effect" on French
person Alexander Cadogan
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
place Egypt
place Halifax Peninsula
place Vatican City
place Turkey
place Sicily
place Greenwood, Nova Scotia
place Rome
organisation KEF
 

German and Italian Armistice Terms to France.

extract Lord Halifax circulates full text of signed German and Italian armistice terms to France
person E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
place Great Britain
place Somaliland
place Geneva
place Syria
place Rome
place Libya
organisation Luftwaffe
organisation French Navy
 

Thursday 26th September 1940

Meeting minutes

extract Home Secretary: Overnight attack on London mainly on north suburbs and just south of river. 13 parachute mines dropped
extract Cabinet debate Operation Menace. PM: "We should be careful of embarking upon new adventures with inadequate preparations"
extract War Secretary: Colonel Sandford Mission 101 has "penetrated some way into Abyssinia". Operations proceedingly sucessfully
extract Air Chief: Air casualties yesterday 4 aircraft (2 pilots safe). Enemy 26 certain, 8 probable. Weather "not good"
extract Air Chief: Enemy attack yesterday on Portland, Plymouth "unsuccessful". "Considerable damage" to aircraft works at Filton
person Anthony Eden
person Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Andrew Greenwood
person Richard Kiel
person Joachim von Ribbentrop
person William Anderson (RAAF officer)
place Kassala
place Egypt
place Rome
place Libya
organisation Home Office
organisation RAF Coastal Command
 

Wednesday 2nd October 1940

The Burma Road Agreement.

extract Halifax advises reopening Burma Road to China in 2 weeks: "More important than ever" that China war should be kept going
person Robert Craigie (diplomat)
person Chiang Kai-shek
place Great Britain
place Moscow
place Berlin
place Tokyo
place Republic of China
place Burma
place Rome
organisation United States Department of State
 

Meeting minutes

extract PM Churchill: "Intolerable that any newspaper should indulge in criticism and abuse...in a time of great national peril"
extract PM complains of "dangerous and sinister" Press criticism. Accuses HG Wells and Editors of advocating a "surrender peace"
extract PM argues with Halifax over "appeasement of Vichy". UK should "retaliate by bombarding Casablanca" if Gibraltar attacked
extract Halifax: Reports Herr Ribbentrop's Rome visit had "object of keeping Italy in the war". Our bombing having "great effect"
extract USA has inquired about use of Singapore "in the event of trouble in the Far East". PM: Japan has made "great" mistake
person Anthony Eden
person Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges
person Andrew Greenwood
person John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley
person Herbert Morrison
person Samuel Hoare
person Kingsley Wood
person Joachim von Ribbentrop
place Cranborne
place Halifax Peninsula
place Madrid
place Tangier
place Singapore
place Gibraltar
place Morocco
place Rome
place Libya
organisation Daily Mirror
 

Meeting minutes

extract Halifax: "Pessimistic" over Greek resistance. "Not particularly sanguine" about USSR. Spain "another source of anxiety"
extract Halifax meets junior ministers. M. Petain wants "to be friendly with us" but UK has made "many mistakes of psychology"
person William Patrick Stuart-Houston
person Francisco Franco
person Maxime Weygand
person E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
place Athens
place Greece
place Egypt
place Turkey
place Washington
place Africa
place Bulgaria
place Republic of China
place Rome
organisation Foreign Office (Germany)
organisation Foreign and Commonwealth Office
 

Tuesday 5th November 1940

Overseas Air Communications.

extract Air Minister asks for resources to improve Empire communications links. "Reasonably quick air-mail" will boost morale
place Athens
place Egypt
place Iraq
place Hong Kong
place Cairo
place North America
place Europe
place South America
place Khartoum
place Africa
place Lisbon, New York
place Burma
place Rome
organisation Royal Air Force
organisation Foreign and Commonwealth Office
organisation Minister of Economic Warfare
organisation United States Army
 

Tuesday 7th January 1941

Attitude of His Majesty's Government towards the Emperor Haile Selassie and the position of Italian East Africa in the event of an Enemy Defeat.

extract Foreign Secretary Eden reaffirms UK's commitment "to an independent Ethiopia" and the recapture of British Somaliland
person Anthony Eden
person Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell
place Great Britain
place Somaliland
place Sudan
place Ethiopia
place Kismayo
place Eritrea
place Rome
organisation Foreign and Commonwealth Office
 

Saturday 1st March 1941

Possible revision of Italo-Yugoslav frontier in Istria.

extract Stafford Cripps suggests offering Yugoslavia Italian territory after the war to "intervene forcibly on behalf of Greece"
place Greece
place Belgrade
place Moscow
place Turkey
place Rome
 

Meeting minutes

extract Morrison: Casualties and damage in last night's bombing appear "to have been less than on the previous night"
extract Admiralty: Shipping losses for the last 4 days heavy but HMS Arbutus sunk a U-boat on the 7th March. 24 prisoners taken
person Herbert Morrison
place Greece
place Liverpool
place Greenwood, Nova Scotia
place Rome
place Portsmouth
organisation Home Office
organisation Foreign and Commonwealth Office