740.0011 European War 1939/4387: Telegram
The Minister in Rumania (Gunther) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 3—4:35 p.m.]
326. I am privately informed by Mr. Gigurtu, who participated in all the deliberations last week when still Minister for Foreign Affairs, that the advisers of the King pointed out that Rumania had munitions for a month and a half at the most and sorely needed another 2,000 anti-aircraft and/or anti-tank guns and many more planes, both bombers and pursuit. It was pointed out that if at the end of a month and a half of resistance the Rumanian Army was badly broken both Hungary and Bulgaria would be in a position to enforce such demands as they wished whereas by concession now the Army would remain intact and there was always hope that a more favorable opportunity to attack Russia might present itself later on. It was argued that it would be impossible to explain to the Rumanian people such a lack of foresight in some weeks’ time should the Rumanian Army have broken down.
Mr. Gigurtu thought that what his Government should have done some time ago was to have thrown over the Franco-British guarantee which was already meaningless and have followed up the offers of a German guarantee and then have told Russia that they were ready to settle the Bessarabian and Ukrainian minority questions by negotiation when with the German guarantee behind them they could have [Page 489] made a good bargain and possibly an independent buffer state of Bessarabia. As you probably know the Council of Ministers last night formally renounced the Franco-British guarantee.61 The Council unanimously approved the new orientation of foreign policy to meet “the new European order in the course of installation”.
He confirmed the information I had already obtained from other official sources that every government consulted, including the German, had advised extreme prudence and conciliation. It is of historical interest that the King, throughout the crisis and until the cogency of the arguments presented convinced him, was for war. After being convinced by the arguments presented by his advisers he wept.
According to Mr. Gigurtu who is in close touch with German official circles the Germans are resigned but extremely annoyed. He himself hopes that peace in the west will ensue when Germany will have a freer hand to deal with Russia.
- On behalf of Great Britain this guarantee was reaffirmed on September 5, 1940, by Lord Halifax, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; see Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 1938–39, 5th series, vol. 117, col. 368.↩