Adolf Hitler and Ion Antonescu at the Schloss Kleßheim (1943)

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Date: Monday, 12 April 1943
Place: Schloss Kleßheim, Salzburg, Austria
Photographer: Walter Frentz

This picture was taken by Walter Frentz at the Schloss Kleßheim in Salzburg, 12 April 1943. From left to right: Otto Meißner (Leiter der Präsidialkanzlei), Generalleutnant Walter Warlimont (Stellvertretender Chef des Wehrmachtführungsstabes), Paul Otto Schmidt (interpreter), Marshal Ion Antonescu (Romanian dictator and Prime Minister), unknown Romanian official, Adolf Hitler (Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht), and Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (Chef der Oberkommando der Wehrmacht).

By April 1943, World War II had reached a turning point on the Eastern Front following the devastating German defeat at Stalingrad earlier that year. Romania, under Marshal Ion Antonescu's authoritarian rule since 1940, remained a vital Axis ally, supplying troops, oil, and resources to Nazi Germany. However, mounting losses and the advancing Soviet forces strained the partnership. Antonescu sought reassurances from Adolf Hitler regarding Romania's territorial integrity, particularly the return of Northern Transylvania, ceded to Hungary via the 1940 Vienna Award. Hitler, facing wavering commitment from his satellites, convened a series of bilateral summits at Schloss Klessheim, a Baroque palace near Salzburg, Austria, renovated in 1940 as a luxurious guest house for diplomatic receptions. The palace, originally built in the 18th century by Prince-Archbishop Firmian, featured opulent halls, gardens, and conference rooms equipped for high-level discussions, including strategic planning with maps.

These meetings included Italian leader Benito Mussolini, Romanian Marshal Ion Antonescu, and Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy, each held separately to bolster Axis unity. For Antonescu, the visit on April 12-13, 1943, was an opportunity to address military cooperation, economic strains, and the sensitive "Jewish question," where Germany pressured Romania to accelerate deportations as part of the Final Solution. Despite earlier alignments, Antonescu resisted full compliance, prioritizing Romanian sovereignty.

Marshal Ion Antonescu arrived at Schloss Klessheim on April 12, 1943, amid a backdrop of spring landscapes and heightened security. The palace, serving as a neutral yet grandiose venue for Axis diplomacy, was guarded by SS personnel and equipped with anti-aircraft defenses. Hitler personally welcomed Antonescu, a gesture reflecting the Romanian leader's importance as a key supplier of oil and manpower. Accompanied by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and other officials, the two leaders exchanged formal salutes and handshakes before proceeding to the palace's interior. Newsreel footage and photographs captured the arrival, emphasizing the ceremonial aspects of the visit.

The two-day summit included private discussions and formal receptions, with Antonescu's delegation including advisors focused on military and economic matters. The atmosphere was tense, as both sides grappled with the war's deteriorating outlook.

The centerpiece of the visit was a strategic conference held in one of Schloss Klessheim's equipped rooms, where Hitler and Antonescu reviewed military maps spread across a large table. Joined by high-ranking officers such as Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and Walter Warlimont, the leaders discussed the Eastern Front's challenges, Romania's ongoing contributions, and future operations. Hitler urged Antonescu to maintain commitment despite recent setbacks, criticizing other allies for insufficient effort while praising Romania's role.

A significant portion of the talks addressed the "Jewish question." Germany intensified pressure on Antonescu to deport Romanian Jews to extermination camps in occupied Poland, following earlier plans discussed in 1942. Antonescu, aware of the deportations' lethal implications, resisted, citing Romania's independent approach and refusing to yield without concessions like the return of Northern Transylvania. The discussions also touched on economic cooperation, with Romania's oil fields critical to the German war machine, and territorial assurances against Hungarian and Bulgarian claims.

The map room setting allowed for detailed examination of frontline positions, supply lines, and potential counteroffensives, underscoring the military dimension of the alliance. Follow-up talks on April 14 involved Ribbentrop and Mihai Antonescu, Romania's Foreign Minister, further emphasizing resistance to German demands on deportations.

The April 1943 summit at Schloss Klessheim highlighted the fragility of the Axis coalition. While Hitler sought to rally his allies, Antonescu's visit revealed growing Romanian disillusionment with the war. Antonescu secured no firm commitments on Transylvania but maintained Romania's autonomy on internal policies, notably halting Jewish deportations from core territories. This resistance marked a divergence from full Nazi compliance, influenced by shifting war fortunes.

In the ensuing months, Romania's position worsened, leading to secret overtures to the Allies. By August 1944, King Michael orchestrated a coup, arresting Antonescu and switching sides to the Allies. Antonescu was tried and executed in 1946 for war crimes. Schloss Klessheim, once a hub of Axis diplomacy, now houses a casino and serves as a reminder of wartime intrigue. The meeting exemplifies the personal dynamics between Hitler and his allies, blending strategy, ideology, and pragmatism in the face of impending defeat.


Source:
https://www.walter-frentz-collection.de/fotoarchiv/personenarchiv-a-z/personen-a-b/

Adolf Hitler and Ion Antonescu at the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze (1942)

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Date: Wednesday, 11 February 1942
Place: Führerhauptquartier Wolffschanze, Rastenburg, East Prussia
Photographer: Walter Frentz

This picture was taken by Walter Frentz at the Führerhauptquartier Wolffschanze, 11 February 1942. From left to right: General der Artillerie Alfred Jodl (Chef des Wehrmachtsführungsamtes), Marshal Ion Antonescu (Romanian dictator and Prime Minister), Paul Otto Schmidt (interpreter), Adolf Hitler (Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht), Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (Chef der Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), Major Eckhard Christian (persönlicher Luftwaffen Generalstabsoffizier des Chef Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), and Generaloberst Franz Halder (Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres).

In the midst of World War II, Romania under the leadership of Marshal Ion Antonescu was a key ally of Nazi Germany. Having joined the Axis powers through the Tripartite Pact in November 1940, Romania contributed significantly to the Eastern Front campaign against the Soviet Union, providing the third-largest Axis army. By early 1942, the war effort was intensifying, with Operation Barbarossa facing harsh winter conditions and logistical challenges. Antonescu's visit to Adolf Hitler's eastern headquarters, the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair), located in the dense forests near Rastenburg in East Prussia (now Kętrzyn, Poland), was a critical diplomatic and strategic engagement. This fortified complex, built in 1940-1941, served as Hitler's primary command center for directing operations on the Eastern Front. The visit on February 11, 1942, aimed to strengthen coordination between the two nations, discuss military contributions, and address territorial concerns involving Romania's neighbors.

The Wolfsschanze was a sprawling, heavily secured site encompassing over 6.5 square kilometers, divided into three security zones. It included bunkers, barracks, a power station, and specialized facilities like a map room for strategic planning and a radio communication center for maintaining contact with field units. The headquarters housed up to 2,000 personnel at its peak, reflecting its role as the nerve center of German operations.

On the morning of February 11, 1942, amid falling snow and frigid temperatures, Marshal Ion Antonescu arrived by train at the nearby Görlitz station. Hitler personally greeted him on the platform, a gesture underscoring the importance Germany placed on the Romanian alliance. Snow blanketed the ground, and the two leaders exchanged salutes before proceeding in a car to the main complex. Accompanied by high-ranking German officials, including General Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command, they drove through the forested paths to the inner security zone (Sperrkreis 1). This arrival was captured in newsreel footage, highlighting the ceremonial aspects of the visit amid the harsh winter landscape.

Upon entering the headquarters, Antonescu was welcomed by additional officers, setting the stage for substantive discussions. The Wolfsschanze's design emphasized security and functionality, with reinforced concrete bunkers camouflaged to blend into the surroundings. Hitler's personal bunker, along with guest accommodations, ensured that high-level visitors like Antonescu could engage in confidential talks without interruption.

The core of the visit was a strategic meeting held in the map room, a central facility within the Wolfsschanze equipped with large tables covered in detailed military maps and walls adorned with operational charts. Here, Hitler and Antonescu, joined by key advisors such as Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, reviewed the ongoing war effort. The discussions focused on political and military issues, including Romania's contributions to the Eastern Front and economic cooperation.

A significant outcome was Hitler's personal assurance to Antonescu that Germany would guarantee Romania's territorial integrity post-war, specifically preventing any aggressive actions by Hungary and Bulgaria against Romania. The leaders also critiqued the perceived inadequate war efforts of these two nations, emphasizing Romania's more substantial role. These talks were crucial for Antonescu, who sought to safeguard Romania's interests amid shifting alliances and border disputes, particularly regarding Transylvania. The map room, often used for daily situation briefings (Lagebesprechungen), provided the perfect setting for poring over frontline positions and planning future operations.

As part of the visit, Antonescu was given a tour of the Wolfsschanze's key operational areas to demonstrate German military efficiency and foster closer collaboration. This included an inspection of the radio communication room, a vital component of the headquarters' infrastructure. The communication center, equipped with advanced radio equipment and telegraph lines, was essential for relaying orders to distant fronts and maintaining real-time coordination with Axis forces. Antonescu's inspection highlighted the technological prowess of the German command system, allowing him to observe how Hitler maintained control over vast theaters of war. While specific details of this inspection are sparse in surviving records, such tours were common for high-profile allies to build trust and share insights into operational capabilities. The facility underscored the Wolfsschanze's role as a hub for encrypted communications, ensuring secure links with Berlin and field commanders.

The tour also likely encompassed other elements of the complex, such as the power generation bunkers and anti-aircraft defenses, emphasizing the site's self-sufficiency and defensive fortifications.

Antonescu's visit to the Wolfsschanze on February 11, 1942, reinforced the Axis partnership at a pivotal moment when the Eastern Front was bogged down in winter stalemates. It boosted Romanian morale and commitment to the war, while providing Antonescu with reassurances on territorial matters. However, as the war turned against the Axis, these alliances frayed; Romania would switch sides in August 1944, leading to Antonescu's arrest and execution in 1946.

This meeting exemplifies the personal diplomacy between Hitler and his allies, conducted in the secretive confines of the Wolfsschanze. Despite the site's eventual abandonment and destruction in 1945, it remains a symbol of Nazi wartime strategy, now preserved as a historical site open to the public.

Inspection to the communication room. The two generals at left is Generaloberst Franz Halder (Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres) and General der Nachrichtentruppe Erich Fellgiebel (Chef des Wehrmachtnachrichten-Verbindungswesen).

Source :
https://grokipedia.com/
https://www.walter-frentz-collection.de/fotoarchiv/personenarchiv-a-z/personen-a-b/

Reception for Soviet's Foreign Minister at Hotel Kaiserhof

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Date: Wednesday, 13 November 1940
Place: Hotel Kaiserhof, Berlin, Germany
Photographer: Unknown

At the Hotel Kaiserhof, left to right: Head of the personal staff of German Foreign Ministry Walther Hewel (2 January 1904 – 2 May 1945), German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop (30 April 1893 - 16 October 1946); Head of the Defense and Economic Office of the Wehrmacht General der Infanterie Georg Thomas (29 February 1890 - 29 December 1946), State Minister of the Rank of a Federal Minister and Chief of the Presidential Chancellery of the Führer and Reich Chancellor Doctor Otto Meissner (13 March 1880 - 27 May 1953); and Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (9 March 1890 - 8 November 1986). Ribeentrop threw a lavish reception for the Soviet delegation at the Hotel Kaiserhof, just down Wilhelmstrasse from the German Foreign Ministry. Molotov was in Berlin to discuss joining the Axis Powers. the day before, Reichkanzler Adolf Hitler could not convince Molotov to give up Soviet interests in the Balkans. Hitler did not even attend the Kaiserhof reception or the Soviet reception at their embassy the next day. Molotov left Berlin without the Soviet Union joining the Axis. General Thomas, in charge of economic cooperation with the Soviet Union, wrote after the war, "The Russians executed their deliveries up to the eve of the attack, and in the last days the transport of rubber from the Far East was expedited by express trains." After being implicated in the July 20 plot, Thomas survived a concentration camp. He died in American captivity in 1946. Ribbentrop was hung as a war criminal. Meissner survived the war and wrote his memoirs. The Hotel Kaiserhof was leveled by British bombs in 1943; the North Korean Embassy stands there today.

Source :
https://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii0244

First German POWs in North Africa

 

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Date: Thursday, 17 April 1941
Place: Tobruk, Libya, North Africa
Photographer: Unknown

Men of the Australian 9th Infantry Division guard Italians and some of the first German prisoners to be taken during the war in North Africa, after Rommel's first unsuccessful assault on Tobruk, 17 April 1941. If we are talking about Heer Division, it was the 5. leitche-Division during the 1st Siege of Tobruk that was on 10-14 April 1941. However, on the 2nd Siege of Tobruk from 30 April to 7 May 1941 it was a mix between the elements of the 5.leichte-Division and the newly arrived 15. Panzer-Division (except for Panzer-Regiment 8 that was not involved yet). BTW, if someone asking: Why are their heads bowed? It is actually a basic techniek of not to look your captors in their eyes, state only your name and number. Look what happened at Malmedy: at the Nuremberg Trials the SS Soldiers stated in their defense that the American POW’s looked at them tauntingly almost staring them down ... we all know how that ended for the Americans! 

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4981605118546865&set=gm.2563691697254982
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205205791
http://menofwehrmacht.blogspot.com/2020/12/first-axis-pows-at-tobruk.html

Benito Mussolini Speaks with Wilhelm Keitel at Feltre Airfield

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Date: Monday, 19 July 1943
Place: Feltre, Belluno, Veneto, Italy
Photographer: Walter Frentz

Il Duce Benito Mussolini speaking with Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (Chef des Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) at Feltre airfield (Northern Italy) before Keitel leaves for Berlin. The picture was made by Walter Frentz in the evening of 19 July 1943. Only a couple of days later (24 July 1943), the Italian dictator would be defeated in the vote at the Grand Council of Fascism, and the King Victor Emmanuel had him arrested the following day. On 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces led by the daring Otto Skorzeny. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape north, only to be quickly captured and summarily executed near Lake Como by Italian partisans. His body was then taken to Milan where it was hung upside down at a service station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his demise. In this picture Keitel holding his Interimstab (baton), while in his uniform we can see his Italian Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy, awarded to him by King Victor Emmanuel on 24 April 1942, along with Großadmiral Erich Raeder


Source:
https://www.ullsteinbild.de/ullstein-webshop/workbench.html?queryWord=walter+frentz&newTitle=ullstein+bild+|+Search%3A+walter+frentz&qwAction=searchQueryWord&viewMode=tile

Ion Antonescu and Adolf Hitler Met for the Last Time

Image size: 1600 x 1074 pixel. 337 KB
Date: Saturday, 5 August 1944
Place: Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze, Rastenburg, Ostpreußen/East Prussia
Photographer: Unknown

Romanian Head of State general Ion Antonescu (left) visits Adolf Hitler for the last time at the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze, Rastenburg, 5 August 1944. In the middle is the interpreter, Gesandter SS-Standartenführer Paul Otto Schmidt, while standing in the left background (wearing glasses) is SS-Obergruppenführer Julius Schaub (Chefadjutant des Führers Adolf Hitler). Only three weeks later Antonescu is deposed and Romania declares war on Germany! Ion Victor Antonescu (June 15, 1882 – June 1, 1946) was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician, and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships. A Romanian Army career officer who made his name during the 1907 peasants' revolt and the World War I Romanian Campaign, the antisemitic Antonescu sympathized with the far right and fascist National Christian and Iron Guard groups for much of the interwar period. He was a military attaché to France and later Chief of the General Staff, briefly serving as Defense Minister in the National Christian cabinet of Octavian Goga. During the late 1930s, his political stance brought him into conflict with King Carol II and led to his detainment. Antonescu nevertheless rose to political prominence during the political crisis of 1940, and established the National Legionary State, an uneasy partnership with the Iron Guard's leader Horia Sima. After entering Romania into an alliance with Nazi Germany and the Axis and ensuring Adolf Hitler's confidence, he eliminated the Guard during the Legionary Rebellion of 1941. In addition to leadership of the executive, he assumed the offices of Foreign Affairs and Defense Minister. Soon after Romania joined the Axis in Operation Barbarossa, recovering Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Antonescu also became Marshal of Romania. An atypical figure among Holocaust perpetrators, Antonescu enforced policies independently responsible for the deaths of as many as 400,000 people, most of them Bessarabian, Ukrainian and Romanian Jews, as well as Romanian Romani. The regime's complicity in the Holocaust combined pogroms and mass murders such as the Odessa massacre with ethnic cleansing, systematic deportations to occupied Transnistria and widespread criminal negligence. The system in place was nevertheless characterized by singular inconsistencies, prioritizing plunder over killing, showing leniency toward most Jews in the Old Kingdom, and ultimately refusing to adopt the Final Solution as applied throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. Confronted with heavy losses on the Eastern Front, Antonescu embarked on inconclusive negotiations with the Allies, just before a political coalition, formed around the young monarch Michael I, toppled him during the August 23, 1944 Coup. After a brief detention in the Soviet Union, the deposed Conducător was handed back to Romania, where he was tried by a special People's Tribunal and executed. This was part of a series of trials that also passed sentences on his various associates, as well as his wife Maria. The judicial procedures earned much criticism for responding to the Romanian Communist Party's ideological priorities, a matter that fueled nationalist and far right attempts to have Antonescu posthumously exonerated. While these groups elevated Antonescu to the status of hero, his involvement in the Holocaust was officially reasserted and condemned following the 2003 Wiesel Commission report.

Source:

Fotos aus dem Führerhauptquartier - Hermann Historica München

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Antonescu

Artur Phleps and Kurt Waldheim at Yugoslavia

Image size: 1600 x 1035 pixel. 333 KB
Date: Monday, 22 March 1943
Place: Podgorica, Montenegro, Yugoslavia
Photographer: Unknown

SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Artur Martin "Papa" Phleps (with briefcase, Commander of 7. SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen") with Italian and German officers, March 1943 (some sources said as May 1943). From left to right: Italian commander Escola Roncagli; Leutnant Kurt Waldheim; Oberst Hans Herbert Macholtz, and Artur Phleps. Note in background a former Ala Littoria transport biplane Breda Ba.44 "militarized" and employed by Italian Regia Aeronautica for liason in Balkans and from Albania to Italy. The tall German officer is Austrian-born Kurt Waldheim (last rank Oberleutnant), who at this time was serving as Ordnance Officer and Interpreter/Liaison Officer (primarily with Italian forces) for German Army Group E (Heeresgruppe E), commanded by his fellow Austrian, Luftwaffe Generaloberst Alexander Löhr. Heeresgruppe E was held responsible for the reprisal killing of a fair number of civilians in this period, which led to Löhr being convicted of war crimes and executed by the Yugoslavs in 1947. Waldheim was luckier; he surrendered to the British (with whom he seems to have been negotiating on Löhr's behalf), and went on to a glittering diplomatic career, serving for 10 years as Secretary General of the United Nations, and 6 years as President of Austria! Waldheim attempted to hide his service between 1942 and 1945 (he had been invalided from the Eastern Front following a wound in 1941, and claimed to have been permanently discharged) and, when the beans were spilled (by the declassification of CIA files and Holocaust investigators), claimed to have had no knowledge of any massacres or illegal killings. This was quite possibly true; in any event, as a mere Oberleutant, there was little he could have done about them. In any case, the revelations - attended by much media exaggeration as to Waldheim's alleged role in war crimes - effectively ruined his Austrian Presidency, and cast what was, perhaps, an unfairly bad reflection on his period of service as UN Secretary General. In 1986, four years after his tenure as the UN Secretary General, Waldheim made a bid to lead his native Austria. During his presidential campaign, the press released documents indicating that he had, contrary to his claims, been aware of and perhaps involved in war crimes, including the deportation of Jews to death camps in World War II. For decades, the charming, worldly diplomat insisted that by serving in the German Army, he was protecting his family; and that he never even knew that the Jews of Salonika — who accounted for one third of the city’s population – were being shipped off to Auschwitz. But as an adjutant on the staff of Alexander Löhr, an Austrian General who was executed for war crimes, Waldheim must have known more than he admitted. Waldheim nonetheless denounced the scandal as a conspiracy to defame Austria, and as directly motivated by the UN’s denunciation of Zionism as racism during his tenure. Selective memory, on Waldheim’s part and on many Austrians’ part, would prove to be very dangerous indeed: some of his own generation felt that he was, like them, simply a man who had been conscripted into the Nazi German army and forced to serve. His utterances, “Ich kann mich nicht erinnern” (“I cannot remember”) and “Ich habe nur meine Pflicht getan” (“I only did my duty”) resonated. They saw the attack on him as an attack on Austria. They did not want outsiders telling them whom they could or could not vote for. For many Austrians, Waldheim’s tales — no matter how tall they seemed to outsiders — aligned with their own recollections, and he won the election in a nation that remained unsure how to confront its demons. While Germany bore the brunt of the blame for the Holocaust, other villains and collaborators slipped away unnoticed. In a country of less than seven million, there were more than 500,000 registered Nazis in Austria at the end of the war. Austrians were greatly overrepresented in the SS and among concentration-camp staff. Over 38% of the members of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra were Nazis, compared with just 7% of the Berlin Philharmonic. Jane Kramer notes in her book "Europeans" (1988) that although most Austrians today have never met an Austrian Jew, polls repeatedly show that about 70% of Austrians do not like Jews and a little over 20% actively loathe them. A poll by the London Observer, conducted shortly after Waldheim came to power, revealed that almost 40% of Austrians thought the Jews were at least partly responsible for what happened to them during the war and 48% of Austrians still believed that the country’s 8,000 remaining Jews — about 0.001% of total population — still enjoy too much economic power and influence. Media quickly termed the inability to remember what you did during the war ”Waldheimer’s disease”. An international panel concluded that Waldheim was not guilty of any war crimes, but seriously cast doubts of his claims of ignorance. It also pointed out that he was guilty of lying about his military record. In his memoirs Recht, nicht Rache, Simon Wiesenthal, the Jewish Nazi hunter, devoted a whole chapter to the Waldheim affair, noting Waldheim was neither a Nazi nor a war criminal. Regardless, Waldheim became a pariah on the world stage. His European neighbors had shunned him, and in 1987 he was put on America’s ’Watch List’ of undesirable aliens — a signal humiliation. Thus, he became the first leader of a friendly nation to be barred from entering the U.S. He decided not to seek re-election for a second term, and quietly faded away.

Source:

http://collections.yadvashem.org/photosarchive/en-us/26408.html

http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/kurt-waldheim/

http://www.ww2incolor.com/german/PhlepsWaldheim.html

Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in Münich, June 1940

Image size: 1600 x 1199 pixel. 332 KB
Date: Tuesday, 18 June 1940
Place: Münich, Bavaria,Germany
Photographer: Unknown

On this day in 1940, Italian leader Benito Mussolini arrives in Münich with his foreign minister, Count Ciano, to discuss immediate plans with the Führer, and doesn’t like what he hears. Embarrassed over the late entry of Italy in the war against the Allies, and its rather tepid performance since, Mussolini met with Hitler determined to convince his Axis partner to exploit the advantage he had in France by demanding total surrender and occupying the southern portion still free. The Italian dictator clearly wanted “in” on the spoils, and this was a way of reaping rewards with a minimum of risk. But Hitler, too, was in no mood to risk, and was determined to put forward rather mild terms for peace with France. He needed to ensure that the French fleet remained neutral and that a government-in-exile was not formed in North Africa or London determined to further prosecute the war. He also denied Mussolini’s request that Italian troops occupy the Rhone Valley, and that Corsica, Tunisia, and Djibouti (adjacent to Italian-occupied Ethiopia) be disarmed. Ciano recorded in his diary that Mussolini left the meeting frustrated and “very much embarrassed,” feeling “that his role is secondary.” Ciano also records a newfound respect for Hitler: “Today he speaks with a reserve and perspicacity which, after such a victory, are really astonishing.”

Source:

http://www.researchhistory.org/tag/benito-mussolini/