IRON GUARD PLOT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 September 1940, Page 5

IRON GUARD PLOT

DEFEATED IN RUMANIA

MORE ABOUT ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT.

ATTEMPT TO PUT CROWN PRINCE ON THRONE (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 4. An attempt to assassinate King Carol of Rumania failed last night. Shots were fired at open windows of the Royal Palace in Bucharest by three men, shouting: “Long live the Iron Guards.” The men leapt from a motor-car and surprised the guards, running through the gates of the drive leading to the palace. After the shots were fired they were surrounded, overcome and bundled into their own motor-car. The attackers had scattered armfuls of badlyprinted leaflets which reviewed the Transylvanian situation. Officials said the leaflets contained scurrilous attacks on King Carol. The Bucharest correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says the attempted assassination of the King was allegedly part of an Iron Guard plot to seize power and put the Crown Prince Michael on the throne. King Carol was in the palace at the time. Other members of the Iron Guard simultaneously attacked the Bucharest radio station and the central telephone office, wrecking some switchboards and causing other damage. All were arrested.

News of the attempted assassination spread through Bucharest like wildfire. Local and international telephones were immediately cut off. The Rumanian Government Press Office minimises the attempt on King Carol, asserting that the shots were not fired at him, but at police outside the palace, two of whom were wounded, but it admits that the shots were intended as a signal for an Iron Guard coup d’etat, which failed. The man who fired the shots, they stated, was alleged to be Horia Sima, a member of the Iron Guard, who recently resigned from the Cabinet. Leaflets bearing his signature were found in the palace yard and they called on King Carol to abdicate and proclaimed Prince Michael as king. The leaflets also stated that those responsible for the loss of the Rumanian territory would be put to death. The attempted coup was reported to have extended to other parts of the country, including, Brapov and Constanza.

TENSION UNABATED ATTEMPTS TO RESTORE ORDER. GOVERNMENT RESIGNS. LONDON, September 4. Agency reports from. Bucharest say that troops are standing by. All public buildings are strongly guarded. Though the city it outwardly calm, a degree of tension prevails. The Rumanian Government this morning issued a warning against the formation of new political parties. Those who defy the order will be sent to concentration camps.

The Rumanian Press reveals that the Rumanian Foreign Minister has had a nervous breakdown after his browbeating by the Nazis at the Vienna conference. He was taken home by a Vienna specialist on orders from Herr von Ribbentrop.

The Rumanian Cabinet has resigned, Daventry reports.