10 Dec.
45
Three-Power-Pact States in the world will
be so gigantic that the question of England's collapse or the total
destruction of the British Isles will be only a matter of time. An
America totally isolated from the rest of the world would then be
faced with our taking possession of the remaining positions of the
British Empire which are important for the Three-Power-Pact countries.
I have the unshakeable conviction that a carrying through of the New
Order as desired by us will be a matter of course, and there would be
no insurmountable difficulties if the countries of the Three Power
Pact stand close together and encounter every action of the Americans
with the same weapons. I ask you to report in the near future, as
often as possible and in detail, on the political situation there."
We have Ott's reply to this telegram, dated 13 July 1941. This is our
Document Number 2897-PS, which I offer in evidence as Exhibit USA-156.
After reading the heading, I shall skip to the last paragraph on Page 3
of the German text, which is the paragraph appearing in the English
translation:
"Telegram; secret cipher system"
— Sent 14 July from Tokyo; arrived 14 July 1941 — "As
fast as possible.
"I am trying with all means to work toward Japan's entry into
the war against Russia as soon as possible, especially using arguments
of personal message of Foreign Minister and telegram cited above to
convince Matsuoka personally, as well as the Foreign Office, military
elements, nationalists, and friendly businessmen. I believe that
according to military preparations, Japanese participation will soon
take place. The greatest obstacle to this against which one has to
fight is the disunity within the activist group which, without unified
command, follows various aims and only slowly adjusts itself to the
changed situation." On subsequent occasions Ribbentrop repeated
his exhortations to induce the Japanese to aggression against the
U.S.S.R. I shall present three documents covering July of 1942 and
March and April of 1943. The first is our Document 2911-PS which
contains notes of a discussion between Ribbentrop and Oshima, Japanese
Ambassador to Berlin, on 9 July 1942. As a matter of background I note
that at this time German armies were sweeping forward in the U.S.S.R.
and the fall of Sevastopol had just been announced.
I
now offer our Document 2911-PS as Exhibit USA-157, and I quote the
relevant extracts appearing in the English translation thereof:
"He, the German Minister, had asked
to see the Ambassador at this time, when the situation was as
described, because