Churchill, le “ventre mou de l’Europe” et la Roumanie (1941-1944)
Résumé
Attacking Germany and its allies through the “soft belly” of Europe by landing in
South-Eastern Europe - Gallipoli, Trieste, Greece - was the great idea of Winston
Churchill during WWI. Nevertheless, the idea was used in WWII by the creators
of the Bodyguard project to make Hitler believe that the defence of the Balkans
was a priority and send more troops in Greece and Yugoslavia thus depleting the
Atlantic wall in France of its best soldiers. The book that first revealed all the
hidden details of the Western Allies’ grand strategy was Anthony Cave Brown’s
best-selling Bodyguard of Lies, New York, 1975.
We also have the testimony of the German officer Hans Graf von Holtzendorff,
son-in-law of Manfred von Killinger, who reveals that Marshall Ion Antonescu
and the German minister in Romania wished since 1941 an American landing in
the Balkans in order to advance to the Baltic and create an obstacle to the
Russian offensive. The same testimony reveals that Killinger was a member of
the military conspiracy against Hitler and declared he was ready to
assassinate Hitler when the moment was ripe.
On the other side, Bodyguard insisted on creating an armed opposition and
foment troubles and sedition in the satellite countries in order to enforce the
German military presence to the detriment of the armies guarding the French
Atlantic coast thus facilitating the operation Overlord. The article depicts the
modus operandi of the British in the case of Hungary which was finally occupied
by the Germans in March 1944 (the plan Margarethe I). The authors demonstrate
that the same scenario was prepared for Romania which had begun not so
secret negotiations with the Allies, an activity that made Hitler
prepare Margarethe II for the occupation of the country. Finally, the
Fuhrer renounced at it because he had confidence in the capacity of Antonescu to
continue the war against USSR, but also because of the massive presence of
Soviet troops in North-Eastern Romania since March 1944. Nevertheless, the
British agents worked on the same scenario and manner as their colleagues in
Hungary (operation Autonomous), but they failed to provoke Hitler thanks,
probably, also to the lenient and favourable reports on Romania Killinger used to
send to Berlin.
Mots clés
WW2
Roumania
Histoire des relations internationales en Europe centrale et orientale
Eastern and Central Europe
Histoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale
Histoire de la Roumanie
Jalbele botezaților din timpul Regulamentelor, în actele Visteriei World War II Romania the Balkans Winston Churchill Ion Antonescu
Jalbele botezaților din timpul Regulamentelor, în actele Visteriei World War II
Romania
the Balkans
Winston Churchill
Ion Antonescu
Domaines
Sciences de l'Homme et SociétéOrigine | Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte |
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