740.0011 European War 1939/11857a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt)
776. According to reports received this weekend, principally from missions in Bucharest and Stockholm,62 Germany, while pressing the Soviet Union actively for economic and political concessions, is making immediate preparations for an invasion of the Soviet Union to take place within the next fortnight. A Bucharest source, for instance, states that Germany has delivered an ultimatum to the Soviet Union, to expire June 10, containing the following demands:
- 1.
- Restitution to Finland of seized Finnish territories;
- 2.
- The evacuation of Soviet-occupied Poland;
- 3.
- The return of the Baltic States to Germany;
- 4.
- The return of Bessarabia and Bukovina to Rumania;
- 5.
- The lease of the Ukraine to Germany for thirty years;
- 6.
- The transformation of the Soviet Union into a National Socialist state with German control over the Army;
- 7.
- The granting of an outlet on the Pacific to Germany.
Other sources report large concentrations of German troops in Tiflis and despatch of German oil technicians to Baku.
The reporting offices and the Department are inclined to treat these reports with some reserve. Nevertheless, since they are coming almost simultaneously from various points, it has been considered advisable to bring them to your attention for such comment as you may care to make.
- None printed.↩