Russia on the March Again

As everybody expected she would some day, Russia demanded Bessarabia from Rumania last week. And as everybody expected he would, King Carol II gave in. That much of what went on in the Balkans last week was accepted with a shrug by sophisticates in Realpolitik. Everything else was surprising.

It was surprising that Russia's Premier Viacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov took no trouble to make King Carol's capitulation easy. On the contrary, he handed Rumanian Minister Gheorghe Davidescu a brusque note demanding Bessarabia and northern Bucovina within 24 hours. The ceding of northern Bucovina, which, unlike Bessarabia, Russia never owned, would repay Russia for waiting 20 years for Bessarabia, said Viacheslav Mikhailovich. When Minister Davidescu returned to ask for negotiations to determine the procedure of transfer, Premier Molotov said flatly that the Red Army would begin to move in at 2 that afternoon and gave the Rumanian Army four days to clear out of both provinces.

Over the Dnestr bridge and down from Galicia, the Red Army poured on schedule.It moved so fast that it soon caught up with retreating Rumanian soldiers. Rumanians who stopped to argue were shot. While King Carol ordered full mobilization to resist a Hungarian threat to his western frontier, Bucharest buzzed with rumors that the Red Army had overstepped its mark and was pouring into Old Rumania. Baby tanks crawled out of pregnant Red Army planes at Reni on the Danube, overcame the Rumanian garrison there before it could unstack its arms.* Presently, isolated units of the Rumanian Army began to resist and two trainloads of wounded Rumanian soldiers arrived in Bucharest. That, apparently, suited the Russians fine. It looked as if Russia wanted trouble more than she wanted territory.

It was surprising that the German Legation at Bucharest was surprised at the Russian grab. Germany had already recognized Russia's claim to Bessarabia and would hardly have objected, even though King Carol had gone Nazi in a belated effort to get German protection (TIME, July 1). Both Berlin and Rome professed disinterest in what Russia was doing, blamed any agitation about it on a British plot to open an eastern front. Germany insisted that she would not be drawn into any Balkan adventure now and Italy told Hungary and Bulgaria not to press their claims against Rumania. But Berlin hinted darkly that present conditions were only temporary. The last thing Germany could tolerate would be permanent Russian control of the mouth of the Danube.

In the light of orders from the Axis, it was surprising that this week Bulgaria concentrated troops on both the Rumanian and Turkish frontiers while insisting that she would wait and press her claim on southern Dobruja peacefully. There was another miscue when Hungarian troops began trading shots with Rumanians at the Transylvanian frontier. Budapest, which would not normally act against Germany's orders either, announced that Rumania was "on the point of collapse" and issued a Foreign Office communique stressing Hungary's "historic mission" to defend "Western Latin civilization against any attacks coming from the East." It began to appear that Rumania might lose even the two provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia that became the Kingdom of Rumania in 1881. Throughout the Balkans conviction grew that Russia was not merely seeking to adjust an old frontier grievance, but was making a daring move to snatch the southeastern corner of Europe out of Germany's hands.

In spite of denials, Berlin seemed to be coming around to this point of view. Budapest announced that if Russia came any farther, Hungary would fight with Axis backing. In Budapest it was also reported that Russia had asked Turkey for the right to help defend the Dardanelles.

Back of Russia's moves was undoubtedly the fear that she would be next on Hitler's Blitzlist. Of late Germany has been backing Ukrainian separatism, which she renounced after last year's non-aggression treaty. The German attitude toward the Ukrainian problem has for years been the best barometer of Russo-German relations. Furthermore, British Ambassador Sir Richard Stafford Cripps has been working overtime in Moscow since he got there last month. Hard-pressed, Britain might consider pan-Slavism in the Balkans a cheap price to pay for a Russian stab in Germany's back.

A Russian push west across Moldavia to the Eastern Carpathians would give the U. S. S. R. a much better defense line for the Ukraine. Control of the Dardanelles would realize an old Tsarist dream and make Russia impregnable to sea attack. Behind every aggression that Russia commits lies a psychopathic fear of attack. How far she might go this time was something no one outside the Kremlin knew. As one diplomat put it: "He who prophesies what the Russians will do merits no respect, for the Russians don't know themselves."

*Use of these five-and-seven-ton tanks carried by big transports may have been a sly warning to Britain of what to expect from Germany.

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