740.0011 European War 1939/22878: Telegram
The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:15 p.m.]
567. In conversation this morning with Minister for Foreign Affairs he reiterated intention of Finnish Government to keep its military forces substantially in their present positions and seemed increasingly confident that success now attending German arms against Russians would make this possible without excessive further sacrifice on part of Finns. He repeated his statement of last year that Finns might have to stand on their present lines “with possible minor modifications” as they did in the period between 1918 and 1921. He appeared hopeful that at least as between Germans and Russians “war [Page 68] would be over soon”.3 He admitted strain on Finnish domestic economy by reason of large scale mobilization of manpower but was optimistic as to crop prospects for this year.
Again as in my conversation June 30 with Prime Minister Rangell, Foreign Minister Witting volunteered no reference to possible German offensive action against Russians in northern area and confined himself to giving me impression of substantial stabilization of Finnish front.
- The Minister in Finland in telegram No. 578, July 17, 1942, summarized Finnish public opinion as “hoping that Russia would speedily be defeated, preferring not to face fact that such defeat would be triumph for totalitarian system and defeat for free peoples of world. Devout believers in miracles, they dreamed of qualified victory sufficient to eliminate Russia followed by compromise peace after which Finland would again be friend of all nations except Russia.” (740.0011 European War 1939/22944)↩