Partial translation of document C-53

High Command of Armed Forces
"WFSt"/Dep. L. No. 33 298/40 Top Secret (I)

                                              Fuehrer HQ, 20 Sept. 1940.
                                                                6 copies
                                                              Copy No. 3

                         TOP SECRET
                       By officer only

Since the Rumanian Government has applied for German instructors and
instruction troops, the Fuehrer and Supreme Commander has decided as
follows:

1. Army and Air Forces will send Military Missions to Rumania. To the
world their tasks will be to guide friendly Rumania in organizing and
instructing her forces.

2. The real tasks — which must not become apparent either to the
Rumanians or to our own troops — will be

     a. To protect the oil district against seizure by third powers or
     destruction.

     b. To enable the Rumanian forces to fulfill certain tasks according
     to a systematic plan, worked out with special regard to German
     interests.

     c. To prepare for deployment from Rumanian bases of German and
     Rumanian forces in case a war with Soviet Russia is forced upon us.

                           *******

                                           The Chief of the High Command
                                                         [signed] Keitel