Germans in Rumania

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 92, 15 October 1940, Page 9

Germans in Rumania

RESENTMENT CAUSED BY THEIR BEHAVIOUR

LONDON, October 14.

News from Bucharest is again slow and unreliable, but there is every indication that the Germans are pushing on at high speed to tighten their grasp on Rumania before the Rumanian people have time to realise the size of the forces being sent into their country. The Germans are openly boasting that there are 10,000 German troops in Rumania. The military and naval attaches at the British Legation, together with their staffs, left Bucharest today. The British Legation will remain for the time being under the British Minister, Sir Reginald Hoare. It is expected that the 20 members of the skeleton Legation staff 'will be the only British subjects left in Rumania by the end of the week.

Reports describe the increasing number of German troops who are ' arriving in Rumania. About 3000, ; mostly anti-aircraft units, last night reached Galatz, the Danubian river port. The total of German troops in Rumania is said to be upwards of 30,000. The chief German officers are living in luxurious hotels in Bucharest, and their behaviour has already aroused the Rumanians' | resentment. Today there was a demonstration by a large crowd when | four German officers, after lunching exceedingly well, knocked down and killed a Rumanian pedestrian as they drove through one of the streets. j Feeling in the Rumanian army against the Germans is reported to Ibe very strong. The Germans have assured their home people that their troops are meeting with an enthusiastic welcome. In addition to the Germans, who are said to be planning a naval base on the Black Sea, it is now reported that Italian engineers are expected at Constanta to prepare a seaplane base. The first German submarines have been ] reported on the Black Sea, after having been carried down the Danube in parts and reassembled. Confirmation of reports that the German army of occupation in "Rumania is being strengthened rapidly comes from. Hungary, where it is stated that columns of Germans passed through the outskirts of Budapest at the weekend on their way to the frontier. Turkish comment on the German j occupation of Rumania remains firm and calm. Today the outstanding feature of Turkish Press comment is that a strong Turkish army stands ready; to meet any move against their country and that Germany must take the attitude of the Soviet into account, i One newspaper says that the most important factor that prevents Germany from even dreaming of a route to the south-east through Anatolia is the presence of invincible Turkish forces at the frontier. It also expresses its belief that Russia will not allow the Dardanelles to pass into other hands. Messages from Bucharest report that Soviet Russia is taking certain precautions in Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. Moscow is reticent about the recent developments, and statements are confined to a repetition of American reports that German troops have arrived in Rumania.