740.0011 European War 1939/10565: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5 p.m.]
895. My 892, May 1, 8 p.m.69 The Swedish Minister confirmed to me this morning: 1, that General Mannerheim is in Sweden; 2, that Paasikivi is still in Helsinki; and 3, that consultations have been going on between the German and Finnish General Staffs. He also stated that high officials of the Finnish Government are convinced that Germany is preparing to attack the Soviet Union and that discussions are rife in Government circles as to whether Finland should content itself with taking back Hango70 and the Karelian Isthmus or whether it should seize in addition all of Soviet Karelia and the Kalo Peninsula.
The Minister added that relations between Stockholm and Helsinki have cooled perceptibly during the past few weeks and that both his Government and he had recently observed that the Finns are no longer “telling them everything” as they formerly did.
Assarsson said that in his opinion the Finns are playing an extremely dangerous game as von Schulenburg71 had told him on two occasions that the German Government regards Finland merely as a pawn in German policy. The Minister said that after entering the German camp in the hope of recouping the territorial losses of the recent war with the Soviet Union, the Finns might suddenly discover that notwithstanding the apparent German solicitude for their interests and the advantageous position in Finland which they are now [Page 26] giving to Germany, a sudden deal might be made by Germany and the Soviet Union under which the Soviet Union would make far-reaching concessions to Germany in another field in return for the German withdrawal from Finland and its annexation by the Soviet Union.