10 Dec.
45
Berlin before giving a reply. The Duce was
pleased with the communication and said, 'We are now on the brink of
the inter-continental war which I predicted as early as September
1939.' What does this new event mean? In any case it means that
Roosevelt has succeeded in his maneuver. Since he could not enter the
war immediately and directly, he entered it indirectly by letting
himself be attacked by Japan. Furthermore, this event also means that
every prospect of peace is becoming further and further removed and
that it is now easy — much too easy — to predict a long war.
Who will be able to hold out longest? It is on this basis that the
problem must be considered. Berlin's answer will be somewhat delayed
because Hitler has gone to the southern Front to see General Kleist,
whose armies continue to give way under the pressure of an unexpected
Soviet offensive."
And then
December 4, Thursday-that is 3 days before Pearl Harbor:
"Berlin's reaction to the Japanese
move is extremely cautious. Perhaps they will accept because they
cannot get out of it, but the idea of provoking America's intervention
pleases the Germans less and less. Mussolini, on the other hand, is
pleased about it."
And
December 5, Friday:
"A night interrupted by Ribbentrop's
restlessness. After delaying 2 days, now he cannot wait a minute to
answer the Japanese; and at three in the morning he sent Mackensen to
my house to submit a plan for a triple agreement relative to Japanese
intervention and the pledge not to make a separate peace. He wanted me
to awaken the Duce, but I did not do so, and the latter was very glad
I had not."
It appears from
the last entry I have read, that of December 5, that some sort of an
agreement was reached.
On Sunday, 7 December 1941, Japan, without previous warning or
declaration of war, commenced an attack against the United States at
Pearl Harbor and against the British Commonwealth of Nations in the
Southwest Pacific. On the morning of 11 December, 4 days after the
Japanese assault in the Pacific, the German Government declared war on
the United States, committing the last act of aggression which was to
seal their doom. This declaration of war is contained in Volume IX of
the Dokumente der Deutschen Politik, of which I now ask the
Tribunal to take judicial notice as Exhibit USA-164. An English
translation is contained in our document book, and for the convenience
of the Tribunal is Number 2507-PS.