740.0011 European War 1939/8719: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State

402. A German who has previously been a reliable source of information and who arrived yesterday from Berlin stated to a member of my staff that in his opinion the German invasion of Greece via Bulgaria was imminent and that the Grecian-Italian war would be brought to an end within a month. He added that he did not believe Turkey would take any action. He also expressed the opinion that a German invasion of Greece would be motivated not by a desire to help Italy but by the necessity of protecting the Rumanian oil fields from British aerial attacks based on airfields in continental Greece.

If the foregoing information is accurate it must be assumed that the reputed proposal, referred to in my 398, March 1, 6 p.m. was rejected.

Steinhardt