S.O.E. ÎN ROMÂNIA ÎN VREME DE RĂZBOI. CAZUL CĂTĂLIN VLĂDESCU-OLT
S.O.E. IN WARTIME ROMANIA. THE CASE OF CĂTĂLIN VLĂDESCU-OLT

Summary/Abstract: In October 1943, the Romanian vice-consul in Istanbul (Constantinople) Cătălin Vlădescu-Olt approached the S.O.E. with plans for a military uprising in Romania, supported by a group of generals and a large number of senior army officers. The group's spokesman informed the vice-consul that the group is willing to overthrow Antonescu in a coup d'état executed in the name of the King. S.O.E. had collaborated with the Vice Consul in the past and had complete confidence in him. General Gheorghe Potopeanu and the acting commander of the 4th Army and Constantin Nicolescu. The War Office believed that by holding high positions throughout the war they could influence the men under their command. After further consultation with the S.O.E. the Vice Consul informed the group that this message had been passed on and was exploring means of communicating with them wirelessly. About Cătălin Vlădescu it is said that this Vice-Consul and the S.O.E. people in the Middle East have every confidence in him. He is an intimate collaborator of Ion Christu, the current Romanian Minister in Sofia, who, while on mission in Turkey not long ago, also gave evidence of his pro-Alied sympathies. This article traces the activity of Cătălin Vlădescu-Olt between October 1943 and March 1945 and presents his collaboration with the S.O.E. in the development of the Black Plan and Vlădescu's attempts to leave Romania after the establishment of Dr Petru Groza's regime.

• Details
• Contents