The Romanian move won’t look super dumb later this year [1940] or early next, when Stalin makes territorial demands.
That will also cause Hitler to send troops to Romania, to protect Ploesti [his major oil source], tie Romania closer to the Reich, and put the seal on Hitler’s decision [if he needed one] to settle up with Stalin.
I’m very much enjoying the articles on Romania. As I’ve said before, the diplomacy revolving around Romania and her resources during this time is fascinating. She really had very little control over her fate, and was more or less driven into Hitler’s arms by circumstances.
The destruction of the Romanian armies flanking Stalingrad has its seeds back in this time. Romania has plenty of natural resources, but little industrial capacity to turn them into weapons of war. Nor do the Romanians have the know-how to turn them out. As a result, they and the Hungarians were equipped with “hand-me-down” obsolete German equipment or captured French equipment. This was the German “Lend-lease” and it was far less effective than the American version. Instead of building up some native Romanian industry to turn out advanced 75mm high-velocity anti-tank guns, and having them equip the Romanian infantry divisions with them, the Germans gave them their old 37mm anti-tank guns. Indeed, until Speer took over the German armaments production in late 1942, the Germans had problems equipping their own forces.
While the Germans treated the Romanian army with scorn, they didn’t give them the means to fight effectively, either. There is a big difference between the 37mm and 75mm PAK when you are trying to stop a bunch of T-34s rolling up on your position. Had the Romanians been properly equipped to fight in 1942, they would probably have given a good account of themselves and who knows how the Soviet Operation Uranus would have played out.
For those who know what to look for in today’s article of the New York Times, you get some tantalizing hints of what is to come.