Russia at war 1941-1945

At that stage the Soviet Government raised no objections to the composition of the new Rumanian Government and was in a hurry to conclude an armistice with Rumania;

however, before long, it began to bring strong pressure to bear on the "double-crossing elements" in the Rumanian "democratic bloc". Under Russian pressure Sanatescu was later replaced by General Radescu and, finally, by the much more pliable Petru Groza.

The very cordial Russian attitude to the young King, who at first was given a high Soviet decoration, also changed before very long, and later the terrible Mr Vyshinsky was sent down to Bucharest to bully the life out of him.

But that came later. Early in September the Rumanian Armistice Delegation arrived in Moscow. It was received in style—almost like representatives of a new Allied Power—

and lived in luxury at the Government Guest House in Ostrovsky Lane.

Although the delegation was headed by Prince Stirbea who, earlier in the year, had

established contact with the British in Cairo, most of the talking was done by the

communist leader, the new Minister of Justice, Mr Patrasceanu, a man of drive and

ability and great personal charm.

[He was later to be shot as a "Titoite".]

With him was his pretty young wife. Mme Patrasceanu was a product of French culture in Rumania; elegant, petite, vivacious, she evoked visions of the rue de la Paix. She would come to tea and cocktail parties given by British and American correspondents and would bring a whiff of Guerlain into the dingy rooms of the Hotel Metropole. With a playful grimace she would chatter about the "frightful" week in Bucharest before the Russians came, and when the Germans were dropping bombs on the city all the time. She said that King Michael was un très joli garçon and most intelligent; and she related how difficult life had been for her under the Fascist régime. "Of course, even our Rumanian Fascists aren't quite like the Germans; my husband was in a concentration camp, but I can't really say he was ill-treated; I could visit him and take him food parcels."

At his press conferences, Mr Patrasceanu graphically described the coup d'état of August 23, and the way in which Antonescu was trapped by "our King"; he also stressed the heroic deeds of the Rumanian troops during the days when Bucharest was being bombed

and shelled by the Germans, and concluded that the Rumanians were a peace-loving and democratically-minded people who at heart had always hated the Germans.

Of the difficulties that were likely to arise inside the new coalition he said nothing. In the background, at one of his press conferences, sat a Mr Popp, the Minister of Agriculture, but he had little to say about land reform, and preferred to let Patrasceanu do the talking.

[Privately, Mr Popp remarked to me that the Germans would have found it difficult to drag the Rumanians into the war against Russia, if the Russians hadn't recklessly grabbed Bessarabia and Bukovina from them in 1940.]

That month Armistice Delegations were simply queueing up in Moscow. No sooner had

the Rumanians gone than the Finns were ready to be received. The Rumanian Armistice

was signed on the 12th, and the Finnish on the 19th; and then came the Bulgarians.

In June, after their capture of Viipuri (Viborg), the Russians had stopped at the 1940

Finnish frontier, and did not go beyond it. They were giving the Finns time to reflect. But the Finns refused to be rushed.

It was not till the beginning of the Russian invasion of Estonia, that they became

thoroughly alarmed. For what if the Russians were to land troops from Estonia in the most vital parts of Finland, just across the Gulf of Finland? In the first week of August President Ryti, the person most responsible for the recent last-ditch agreement with Germany—an agreement under which the Finns would not conduct separate peace

negotiations without Germany's approval— very suddenly resigned, and the Finnish

Parliament, ignoring the usual procedure in these matters, passed a law handing over the President's powers to Field-Marshal Mannerheim. Keitel, who rushed to Helsinki on

August 17, was informed by Mannerheim that the Ryti-Ribbentrop agreement was "off".

On August 25 the Finnish Minister in Stockholm handed a Note to the Soviet

Ambassador, Mme Kollontai, asking that an Armistice Delegation be received in

Moscow. The Soviet Government agreed, provided Finland publicly announced its

breach with Germany and demanded that all German troops be withdrawn from Finland

by September 15. If the Germans refused, the Finns would disarm them and hand them

over to the Allies as war prisoners. The Soviet Note added that it was sent in agreement with Britain, and with no objections from the United States.

Despite some hedging by the Finns on the question of "disarming" the Germans, a cease-fire was agreed to, to take place on September 4 along the Finnish frontier of 1940.

The Finnish Armistice Delegation, headed by K. Enckel, arrived in Moscow on