Office of the Historian

740.00119 European War 1939/1568: Telegram

The Chargé in Finland (McClintock) to the Secretary of State

Helsinki, August 10, 1943—2 p.m.
[Received 2:43 p.m.]

999. This morning I found both the Swiss Military Attaché19 and the Secretary-Archivist20 inclined to place considerable credence in new rumors here of an impending separate peace between Germany and the USSR. It was urged that recent Russian radio broadcasts, the Pravda article complaining of the lack of a real second front,21 and the formation of the “Free German Committee” were evidence of increasing lack of confidence between the western Allies and the Soviet Union; and that it would be to Russian advantage to occupy without hindrance the territories Germany would offer in return for peace rather than to fight for them.

The Finns for their part seem again seriously concerned at the possibility of a separate Russian–German peace and may be inclined to connect reports to that effect with current rumors of a German intention to withdraw from Finland.

McClintock
  1. Maj. William Lűthi.↩
  2. Arthur Wegműller.↩
  3. Concerning this article, see telegram No. 1043, August 10, 7 p.m., from the Ambassador in the Soviet Union, p. 560.↩