Romanian Eagle

"These Yugoslavs are really interesting."

After reading the telegram, Eder was somewhat satisfied with the attitude of these Yugoslavs.

In fact, this is nothing, that is, the Yugoslav government is sending a telegram to allow Romania to recruit volunteers to join the army in Yugoslavia. Although there is no clear text, the Yugoslav side has given enough hints.

Yes, Yugoslavia actively courted Romania and Italy after German diplomacy hit a wall. Not only quickly signed a friendship treaty with Italy and Romania, but also frequently dispatched senior officials to visit the two countries. Prime Minister Svetkov alone has visited Romania three times in just a few months. It's just that except for the first time, I didn't get the opportunity to meet Edel at other times.

Of course, it cannot be said that the visit to Yugoslavia was ineffective. The continuous visit has changed Romania's attitude towards Yugoslavia a lot. At least the Bulgarians have changed their attitude towards them. Although they still have Macedonia, they are no longer clamoring for the use of force to seize it. It can be said that the visit to Yugoslavia has achieved remarkable results.

But when it comes to another territorial issue, Yugoslavia is much more stubborn. Whether in negotiations with Italy or with Romania, Yugoslavia was unusually stubborn about territory, and they refused to discuss territorial issues. Even willing to compensate financially, not willing to talk about it.

This made Eder a little uncomfortable, but although uncomfortable, it was not enough to make Romania decide to go to war against Yugoslavia.

Although Yugoslavia seems to be a bit stubborn at present, Romania and Italy are too busy at the moment, and they have no interest in taking any radical actions against them.

And this also confuses Eder, what Yugoslavia has historically encountered a German attack. Looking at the performance of the Yugoslav government, there is absolutely nothing like the filial sons and grandsons of Britain and France.

In fact, there is no doubt about this, because Britain and France have more influence in Yugoslavia, especially the Yugoslav King Peter II, who is not yet an adult, and is the number one British fan.

After being able to defeat France in Germany, the European continent fell to the tide of the Axis powers. Peter II staged a coup d'etat, abolished the two-day agreement on Yugoslavia's entry into the axis, and dared to slap in the face when Hitler was in his prime. This is not true love for Britain and France. How could a fan do such a move.

It's just because Edel doesn't remember it at all, and it's too long ago that it's not the focus.

However, although Eder does not remember this, it does not affect his good mood, because this can allow Romania to expand its influence in Yugoslavia in an open and fair manner.

Since Yugoslavia is so sensible,

So how could Edel disagree? Naturally, he readily allowed it. And his good news didn't stop there. Two days later, a telegram from Finland appeared in front of him.

In fact, this is just a telegram that the Finnish government intends to purchase Romanian ordnance. The Finnish government wants to purchase a batch of artillery, guns, ammunition and other weapons from Romania, but the most important thing is that Finland wants to purchase 120 R20 fighters. Ten thousand U.S. dollars.

Now Finland is buying weapons all over the world in response to the threat from the Soviet Union. That's right, the Soviet-Finnish war, which had been fought for a long time in the original history, has been delayed until now, and the main reason is the influence from Romania.

Among them, the cross-cut from Romania has dragged down the industrialization of the Soviet Union, and its scale is about 10% lower than the overall history.

Therefore, the current size of the Soviet army is larger than that in history, but its equipment is still insufficient.

In addition, although Romania has acquiesced to the German-Soviet terms, its military strength on the border has still reached a new high. At present, Romania has deployed 34 divisions on the border of Su-Romania, with a total strength of 830,000 people.

In the face of pressure from Romania, the Soviet Union also deployed 1 million troops in the Kyiv Military District. Deducting the troops in the Far East and the border, plus the newly occupied eastern Polish territories, the Soviet Union's speed of assembling troops is naturally much slower.

So after the resistance in eastern Poland was cleared up, the Soviet Union was ready to have a good talk with the little Finnish brother. The Soviet Union has always been concerned about the fact that Finland's territory on the Karelian Isthmus is too close to Leningrad. The Soviet government has always believed that Finland's territory is likely to be used by third countries as a springboard for attacking the Soviet Union.

In addition, the Leningrad state was too important to the Soviet Union, and its enterprises were of unparalleled importance to the Soviet Union.

It's just that the result of the conversation was very unsatisfactory to Comrade Steel, because Finland rejected the Soviet Union's friendly demands. This time, the Soviet Union came with great goodwill, that is, it proposed that Finland move the border between Russia and Finland on the Karelian Isthmus 40 kilometers north, and in addition, several islands in the Gulf of Finland and Finnish territory on the Rybach Peninsula were ceded to the Soviet Union. , and the Hanko Peninsula was leased to the Soviet Union for 30 years at a cost of 8 million Finnish marks per year, totaling about 2,000 square kilometers.

In order to compensate for Finland's territorial losses, the Soviet Union expressed its willingness to hand over the land northwest of Lake Onega, twice the area ceded by Finland (4,000 square kilometers), to Finland (4,000 square kilometers).

It's just that the goodwill of the great Soviet was betrayed by Finland, the remnant of the white bandit army, who refused the goodwill of the Soviet without hesitation.

It's just that in Finland's view, the Soviet Union's demands were extremely vicious, and they just took over Finland's most dangerous Mannerheim line of defense. This was equivalent to dismantling Finland's barrier against the Soviet Union, which did not put Finland under the threat of the Soviet Union, so it was naturally rejected.

In the face of Finland's rejection, the Soviet Union naturally did not intend to let it go. The Soviet Union unabashedly assembled its troops and continued to provoke friction between the two countries.

Faced with this situation, the Finnish government naturally knew that this could not be done, and on the one hand, they sought diplomatic help. Although facing the Soviet Union's oppression of Finland, people all over the world sympathize with the weak Finland, but at the national level, not many countries give Finland support.

Among them, although Britain and France promised to send 100,000 troops to reinforce Finland, there are indications that the 100,000 troops of Britain and France were more to occupy the iron ore in Sweden and northern Norway and cut off the supply of iron ore to Germany. So Hitler said publicly that if the two countries let British and French troops in, then Germany would declare war on Sweden and Norway. Therefore, in order to prevent themselves from falling into war, the two countries did not dare to allow British and French troops to enter.

In addition, the mutual aid alliance signed by Finland, Norway and Sweden was also rejected by the two countries for various reasons. Although the two countries do not plan to give reinforcements at the national level, they still organize volunteers in private while giving some weapons to help Finland.

As to why Finland came to Romania, that's another question. Earlier Romania and Finland had no intersection, and the two countries were too far apart to form friendly relations at all.

In the 1920s and 1930s, when Romania became stronger, the relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union warmed up. At that time, in order to avoid stimulating the Soviet Union, the relationship between Finland and Romania, the enemy of the Soviet Union, did not develop much.

So when Finland asked for help all over the world to no avail, Romania said that it could help him, the mood of this small Nordic country can be imagined.

Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and the Finns know it too. It's just that at such a critical time, even the bait Finns plan to swallow it first.

So this time Finland will spend such a large sum of money to buy materials from Romania (cash is only 30 million, and 15 million needs to be exchanged for raw materials, and Romania has borrowed 15 million).

As for why other countries are so indifferent to aid Finland, the reason is very simple, that is, the gap between the two countries is too large. Many believed that Finland would automatically surrender as soon as the Soviet troops advanced. Because the gap between the two countries is too great, the difference in national strength should be calculated by more than 50 times.

To give the simplest example, the population of Finland is only 2 million, while the Soviet Union has over 3 million troops alone. How can this be fought?

In addition, the Soviet military industry is extremely developed, while Finland basically relies on outsourcing. Finland is nothing but per capita.

Including the Romanian military, which is most familiar with the Soviet Union, also thinks so. Relying on the experience of the previous two engagements with the Soviet Union, they believed that Finland would surrender a month after the Soviet attack because the Finnish army had been exhausted. Therefore, this aid to Finland can be said to be Edel's insistence.

Arms sales to Finland on behalf of Romania began when Eder signed the terms of the arms sale. It is hoped that the performance of the Finnish army this time will be worthy of Edel's full support this time.