On 28 September at 10 a.m., four hours before the deadline expired and without the approval of Hitler`s request to Czechoslovakia, the British Ambassador to Italy, Lord Perth, summoned the Italian Foreign Minister, Mr Galeazzo Ciano, to request an emergency meeting. [37] Perth informed Ciano that Chamberlain had ordered him to ask Mussolini in the negotiations and ask Hitler to delay the ultimatum. [37] At 11:00 a.m., Ciano met With Mussolini and informed him of Chamberlain`s proposal; Mussolini agreed and responded by questioning the Italian ambassador to Germany and telling him: “Go immediately to Fuhrer`s house and tell him that I will be by his side, but that I ask for a 24-hour delay before hostilities begin. In the meantime, I will study what can be done to solve the problem. [40] Hitler received Mussolini`s message during an interview with the French ambassador. Hitler told the ambassador: “My good friend, Benito Mussolini, asked me to delay the Marching Orders of the German Army by 24 hours, and I agreed. Of course, this was not a concession, since the invasion date was set for October 1, 1938. [41] After a meeting with Chamberlain, Lord Perth Mussolini and Chamberlain`s request thanked Mussolini for attending a four-power conference in Munich on 29 September from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy to resolve the Sudetenland problem before the 14:00 deadline. Mussolini agreed. [41] Hitler`s only request was to have Mussolini involved in the negotiations of the conference. [41] When U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt learned that the conference was being held, he telegraphed Chamberlain: “Good Man.” [42] On 22 September Chamberlain, who wanted to go to Bad Godesberg for further conversations just before his plane to Germany, told the press who met him there that “my goal is peace in Europe, I hope this journey is the way to that peace.” [32] Chamberlain came to Cologne, where he received a big reception with a German band that played “God Save the King” and Germans who offered flowers and gifts to Chamberlain.
[32] Chamberlain had calculated that full acceptance of the German annexation of all Sudetenland without reduction would force Hitler to accept the agreement. [32] When Hitler heard, he replied, “Does this mean that the Allies have accepted the transfer of the Sudetenland to Germany?”, Chamberlain replied “Exactly,” to which Hitler replied by shaking his head, saying that the Allies` offer was insufficient.