Statement by the President on the Surrender of German Forces in Italy.

THE ALLIED ARMIES in Italy have won the unconditional surrender of German forces on the first European soil to which, from the West, we carried our arms and our determination. The collapse of military tyranny in Italy, however, is no victory in Italy alone, but a part of the general triumph we are expectantly awaiting on the whole continent of Europe. Only folly and chaos can now delay the general capitulation of the everywhere defeated German armies.

I have dispatched congratulatory messages to the Allied and American officers who led our forces to complete defeat of the Germans in Italy. They deserve our praise for the victory. We have right to be proud of the success of our armies.

Let Japan as well as Germany understand the meaning of these events. Unless they are lost in fanaticism or determined upon suicide, they must recognize the meaning of the increasing, swifter-moving power now ready for the capitulation or the destruction of the so recently arrogant enemies of mankind.