Hitler's Table Talk

666 US ATTACKS ON BRITAIN
that would enable me to withdraw the land forces, of which I
could make very good use elsewhere!
302 28th August 1942, midday
Italian susceptibilities—Germany faces the Asiatic hordes
—If Charles Martel had been defeated—Horthy and the
Habsburgs—Budapest and Vienna—The new capital of the
Reich.
I see Giano has again been invited to come and shoot. I shall
have to -use the soft pedal in expressing my views on sport!
What a light-hearted, lucky little nation they are ! When they
get a hiding, they forget all about it in a couple of days; but
when they have a success, they never forget it. That is the most
delightful frame of mind one could possibly wish for oneself—
forget all failures and magnify all successes ! Ciano still speaks no
German, but the Duce is making progress.
If we were to write a single article about the Italians in the
same style as the Americans write about the British, the fat
would be properly in the fire ! The Americans are a completely
unpredictable crowd. In a tight corner the British are infinitely
more courageous than they are—there's no comparison ! How
they have the nerve to cast aspersions on the British passes my
comprehension.
As regards the Russians, their powers of resistance are inimitable,
as they proved in the Russo-Japanese War. This is no
new characteristic which they have suddenly developed. If
anything happens to Stalin, this great Asiatic country will
collapse. As it was formed, so it will disintegrate.
In German history, the Reich, under the leadership of the
Habsburgs, fought an unbelievably bitter war with the Turks.
It continued for nearly three hundred years, and had it not been
for Russian intervention, the Turks would have been fiung out
of Europe. That was in the glorious days of Prince Eugene.
Here is a lesson we should do well to learn: if we do not complete
the conquest of the East utterly and irrevocably, each
successive generation will have war on its hands, in a greater or
lesser degree. Even stupid races can accomplish something,
given good leadership. Genghiz Khan's genius for organisation
was something quite unique.