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Rumanians are disgruntled over the loss of 300,000 men in the Russian campaign. Pro-Allied feeling is mounting. Peasant Leader Juliu Maniu is openly hostile to the Antonescu regime. There are reports that ex-Foreign Minister Grigore Gafencu has gone to Switzerland to form a Government to take over if Rumania is knocked out of the war.
With manpower dwindling rapidly, General Antonescu's Government last week called up boys from 17 to 21 for "pre-military training," ordered all Bessarabians between 12 and 70 to sign up for spring labor.
Bulgaria. Bidding farewell to Antonescu, Hitler would continue along a monotonous stretch of the Danube past filthy half-Rumanian, half-Bulgarian villages to the confluence of the Danube and the Isker. A hundred miles up the Isker lies Sofia. There, if he cared to paddle his canoe against the current, he could proudly observe the full effects of Nazi propaganda. Though the Bulgars would probably refuse to fight against Russia, they are in a mood to tackle the Turks the moment Hitler says so. In the Grand Hotel, diplomats, students and businessmen gather every noon to discuss the coming attack, pore over maps put out by a local Fascist organization showing Istanbul (called "Tsarigrad—City of the Kings") as part of the new Bulgaria. But Berlin-made propaganda has not impressed everyone. Said the newspaper Zora: "We are struck by the confused psychological conceptions of a small section of our intelligentsia. . . . Their nerves do not quiver if the Allies achieve a victory. There is no single grimace at the announcement of bad news. . . ."
Greece. Southward-flowing rivers would carry Hitler into Macedonia and Thrace, where he could witness the Bulgarian invasion of Greece: several hundred thousand peasants have been turned out of their homes to make room for Bulgarian settlers. Beyond Greece would be the blue waters of the Aegean Sea, the purple minarets of Turkey and the terraced olive groves of Syria to lure him on. But some tiresome Nazi underling no doubt would urge the Führer to inspect fleets of dull grey invasion barges, squadrons of bombers, fighters and troop carriers hidden away in the islands off Greece. On some later day Canoeist Hitler might travel on to new lands blessed by his new order.