Centuur
Posts: 8802
Joined: 6/3/2011 From: Hoorn (NED). Status: offline
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When they receive this message, they read between the lines: “can't you get favourable terms to end this war?” September 6th: Vatican City: His Holyness, Pius XII grants an audience to mr. Taylor. This audience lasts only a couple of minutes. Half an hour later: Radio Vaticana interrupts all programs. The voice of the Pope comes on air: “The United States and the Commonwealth have asked me, if I'm willing to negotiate a peace between the Allied and Axis nations currently at war. In the name of peace, I have agreed to do so, if, and only if, all sides agree to cease fire, until such time as one side declares the negations for failed. This is my only condition, since the Holy Church cannot have hostilities continued and lives wasted in a sinful war when the representative of Christ on earth is trying to negotiate a peace”. This message shocks all warring nations. In Reykjavik, Roosevelt and Churchill acknowledge that they have asked his Holyness to negotiate, but that things are going very fast. September 8th: Tokyo, 10.00 hours, local time On the Japanese radio, all programs are halted. For the first time in history, the Emperor speaks to the world. The message is short: “If the Alied nations agree on the honorable demand of His Holyness, the Japanese weapons will be silent, starting the 10th of september on 0.00 hours, Tokyo time. It is the wish of your Emperor, that this chance for peace will at least be explored, now our victorious army and navy have given the Japanese Empire the breathing space it needs”. September 8th: Bolzano/Bozen, Italy: In the early morning, Mussolini and Hitler have a meeting near the Brenner Pass. It doesn't last long. After the meeting Mussolini returns in haste to Rome. September 8th: Vatican City, 13.00 hours: A few hours later, Victor Emmanuel III of Italy together with the German ambassador at the Holy See, Freiherr Ernst von Weizsecker are seen entering the Vatican, where they are immediately received by Pius XII. They carry with them official documents, signed by Hitler and Mussolini that same morning. Half an hour later, Mr. Taylor is ordered to an audience with his Holyness and receives the documents. A radio transmission is send to Reykjavik, where the meeting of Roosevelt and Churchill was planeed to end that day. September 8th: Reykjavik: 18.00 hours Churchill and Roosevelt adress the press: “We did ask his Holyness for his intervention. Now that the major Axis nations have agreed to a ceasefire, we have to abide to the wish of his Holyness, so that he can start negations on behalf of the world. The weapons of the forces of the Commonwealth and the United States will be silent from 0.00 hour Tokyo time on september 10th.” September 10th: Rabaul 0.00 hours: It's silent in the frontlines near the port of Rabaul. Ceasefire. Peace? Who knows. The peace negotiations might still collapse due to Axis or Allied demands...
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Peter
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