740.00/342: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 2—10:45 a.m.]
523. The Rumanian Minister told me last night that “the present Popular Front Government” had been urging the Rumanian Government to permit the passage of Russian forces over Rumanian territory to go in case of necessity to the assistance of Czechoslovakia. He said that the Rumanian Government had flatly refused and that the Rumanians “would fight to the last man” to oppose Russian troops entering Rumanian territory since they knew that this would be the end of Rumania.
The Minister spoke bitterly of the efforts of the French Government to get little countries like Rumania to make sacrifices when it was only too evident that France would be unprepared or unwilling to go to the rescue of the little states. This is the first time in the two years I have known the Rumanian Minister that I have heard him speak critically of France. The Minister has a particularly close personal relationship with King Carol, having been one of the group who engineered Carol’s restoration.
The Minister spoke of Czechoslovakia as “finished”. He said that the best Czechoslovakia could hope for would be to become a neutralized state, abandoning any independent foreign policy which might run counter to German aims.