Rumania's Unfriendly Attitude

Following the detention of three Rumanian vessels by the British authorities at Port Said, H.M. Government on July 29 lodged a formal protest in Bucharest against a series of measures taken recently by the Rumanian Government, all of which were designed to injure British interests. Restrictions were placed on the movements of British shipping in the Danube, British engineers and officials of the oil industry were expelled, and the British and Dutch - owned Astra Romana Oil Corporation virtually expropriated. All these acts, together with the summoning of the Rumanian Premier and the Foreign Minister to Berchtesgaden, mark an intensification of the Nazi drive to gain control of Rumania's oil industry. It was stated that the July shipments of oil to Germany would total about 180,000 tons, and that this purchase alone would suffice to keep 6,000 aeroplanes completely fuelled for more than a month.

August 1940