"The Japanese Government did indeed not act thoughtlessly; it had, he must say, shown angelical patience toward that ruffian, Roosevelt. There is a German proverb, saying: 'The most virtuous cannot live in peace if his evil neighbor dislikes it.1 These are words containing a bitter truth. If the neighbor is unwilling, one just has to destroy him. "The entry of Japan into the war was a great relief to Germany. He must freely admit having been worried about the prospects for success of the submarine war. How could a commander tell when he could torpedo and when not? American ships went in convoys and under dimmed lights, and besides the Americans had delivered to the English JO destroyers of a type of which they themselves had 80 more. One could not expect a U-boat commander to work through an entire book before each torpedoing in order to establish whether the ship were English or American. The U-boat commanders had been under an intolerable psychological strain, for in the last analysis each one of them felt the enormous responsibility at the thought that he might bring his country into a new war by a, misjudged torpedoing. These days were now definitely past. He had given the German U-boat commanders orders to torpedo everything in sight. The German surface naval forces could also feel more free to operate. Up till now American ships had stood nearby and radioed until the British naval forces arrived, without any possibility for the Germans to defend themselves against this. He would now send the U- boats up to American ports and would not have to take the three-mile zone into consideration any more.