740.0011 European War, 1939/34724: Telegram
The Consul General at Istanbul (Berry) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:36 p.m.]
351R77. The composition of the Bagryanov Cabinet indicates that the Bulgarian Army is likely to play an increasingly important role in the political life of the country. In addition to the Minister of War, General Rusev, Bagryanov, Vasilev and Kolchev are all ex-Army officers. They represent the point of view of the army. The army is the strongest and generally the most reliable force in Bulgarian public life. As the army is universally conscripted and the highest army posts are open to able officers regardless of their social origin, the army is truly national and has the confidence of the great mass of the people, including townsmen and peasantry. During the first year of the present war when the outcome of the struggle was uncertain the strong determination of the Army was that Bulgaria must not again fall into a catastrophe like that of 1918. The army turned to the Axis side only when an Axis victory appeared certain, but even then the army was unwilling to take an active part in the war. It is believed that the present position of the army can be summed up in the phrases: The maintenance of the dynasty, the preservation of the state, the defense of the nation.
In view of the growing realization of a certain German defeat we may expect the Bulgarian Army to resume the position it held at the beginning of the war, namely, that a national catastrophe such as that of 1918 must be avoided at all cost.
With the army thought so developing and the army position so strongly entrenched in the Cabinet that it is likely to be decisive in the formation of Bulgarian policy, the United Nations now have the opportunity, by skillfully exploiting this circumstance, to lay the foundation for the eventual withdrawal of Bulgaria from the war on terms acceptable to the United Nations.
Repeated to Amrep Algiers for Murphy as my 27. True reading sent to MacVeagh in Cairo.