Ion Gheorghe to Nicolae Ceausescu

 

 

Nicolae Ceausescu, who was executed with his spouse on Christmas day of 1989, was a tyrannical Rumanian Communist chief who followed an independent course overseas and demanded unquestioning subservience at home. For one of Eastern Europe’s most long-lasting despots, Ceausescu’s fall after 24 years of subjugation at home and bridge-building to the West came incredibly fast, even when calculated against the hysterical swiftness of transform in the Soviet bloc that year. In the following letter, written in 1969, General Gheorghe is writing to inform Ceausescu of staff talks he had in Moscow regarding upcoming manoeuvres to be held in Romania.

9th September, 1969

To Comrade Nicolae Ceausescu,

General Secretary of the Romanian Communist PartyPresident of the State Council

In accordance with the approval of the Permanent Presidium of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, on 9 September 1969, the delegation of the Ministry of Armed Forces – headed by the undersigned –discussed in Moscow, with Army General S.M. Stemenko, Chief of General Staff of the Unified Command, the approved issues and, mainly, the issue of the common tactical-operative exercise with troops scheduled to take place on the territory of the Socialist Republic Romania in October this year.

At the discussions we maintained that this year, for various reasons, it was no longer possible to organize any common exercise on the territory of our country, and proposed that in 1970 a map exercise take place, in which commandments (operative groups) from the armed forces of the Romania, the USSR, and the Bulgarian People’s Republic participate.

In his turn, Army General Stemenko pointed out that he would understand why the exercise with troops in this year had to be put off, but it was unconceivable that it be completely taken out of the plan and replaced with a map exercise, all the more so as there was no precedent of this nature. Further, he maintained that operations with troops took place on the territory of all the countries participating in the Warsaw Treaty, for example in the People’s Republic of Bulgaria in 1967, in which troops from the Armed Forces of the Socialist Republic of Romania took part; in addition, missile shootings are carried out yearly in the shooting ranges in the USSR.

The non-execution of this operation, he said, would give rise – on the one side – to some commentaries and speculations that serious cracks existed within the framework of the Warsaw Treaty, and – on the other side – the other countries participating in the Warsaw Treaty would reproach the USSR that such operations are executed on their territories but not on the territory of the Socialist Republic Romania, as if the latter had a preferential regime.

It was clearly apparent from the whole argumentation of the Army General Stemenko that for the Unified Command it was a question of prestige in relation to both the other participants in the Warsaw Treaty and the countries outside the Treaty.

As no common point of view was reached, we left this discussion in the air and went on to discuss the other issues.

In the end, reverting to the exercise issue, we agreed not to carry out any exercise in the fall of 1969, and to re-plan for 1970 the exercise planned for 1969. As far as the development period of the exercise was concerned, Army General Stemenko maintained that this should take place in the spring of 1970 (the months of March and April) and not later since this would appear as a postponement of the exercise in 1969. We agreed that this issue should be agreed upon before the draft common-activity plan for 1970 is finalized.

I propose that the exercise with troops planned for 1969 be re-planned for 1970 and take place without troops under the form of a commandment and general staff exercise with communications equipment on the spot on the territory of our country headed by the Minister of Armed Forces of the Socialist Republic of Romania, in which the Socialist Republic Romania, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Bulgarian People’s Republic are to participate.

As far as the development period of this exercise is concerned, I ask you to approve that the Ministry of Armed Forces continue to insist that it take place in the fall, and if this is not possible to have execute the exercise in the spring in the months of March and April).

First Deputy of the Minister Of Armed Forces And Chief Of General Staff

Colonel General Ion Gheorghe