On March 12 the American Ambassador, Admiral Standley, on behalf of the U.S.A. Government, conveyed to Mr. Molotov the following message:
"The Government of the U.S.A. offers its good offices as intermediary between the U.S.S.R. and Finland in order to explore the possibility of a separate peace."
On Mr. Molotov's question whether the American Government has information that Finland desires peace and what is her real position, Admiral Standley replied that he cannot say anything on the matter. As is well known, the Anglo-Soviet Treaty of May 26, 1942, stipulates that our countries cannot negotiate on the conclusion of a separate peace with Germany or her Allies otherwise than by mutual agreement. I consider this a fundamental and unalterable principle. In view of this I felt it is my duty first to inform you about the American proposal and second to ask your opinion on the matter. I have no reasons to believe that Finland really desires peace, that she has decided already to part with Germany and to offer acceptable conditions. It seems to me that Finland has not yet escaped from Hitler's claws, if she has this intention at all. The present Finnish Government, which concluded a peace treaty with the Soviet Union and then violated it and attacked the Soviet Union in alliance with Germany, is hardly able to break with Hitler.
Notwithstanding all that, in view of the proposal made by the Government of the U.S.A., I deemed it my duty to inform you of the above."
To which the Prime Minister replied:
"You can best judge of how much military value it would be in the struggle against the Germans on your front to get Finland out of the war. I should suppose that it would have the effect of releasing more Soviet divisions than German divisions for use elsewhere. Further, the defection of Finland from the Axis might have considerable effect on Hitler's other satellites.
Taken from
http://uralica.com/finnliv2.htm, originally from
The Hinge of Fate pg. 673 by Winston Churchill
Vinogradov asked McClintock's opinion as to the bona fides of a Finnish desire to conclude peace with USSR but answered his own question by saying 'We don't believe the Finns want peace,'......As for Vinogradov's comment that his government was not interested McClintock was unable to make any comment other than that to him it still seemed of interest from a Russian point of view to pry open Axis structure by getting satellite states away from Germany.
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bi ... nd&q3=axis
From these, and the previous links I posted on this thread, it seems to me that detaching Finland from Nazi Germany was a priority for the Western Allies during WWII. Of course, they also made efforts to do the same with Italy, Rumania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. While some political and military leaders mistakenly labeled Finland as an Axis country, others (McClintock being the notable exception) understood that it was not waging the same war of annihilation as Germany. However, they all understood that Finland was very much part of WWII in Europe despite their efforts to remain separate.
