Chancellor: The opinion has been expressed that we are committing forces to the support of the troops of General Mannerheim, who intends to march against Russia.
His Excellency Ludendorff: I know nothing about it. We sent German troops to Finland to strengthen the Finnish army and to gain an ally in Finland. I have no reason to suppose that anyone is thinking about marching on Petersburg. Nor do I believe that the Russo-Finnish border has been crossed anywhere. I also do not believe that Mannerheim is going to do so. It is possible that he aims to go into East Karelia. According to information that I have from the F[oreign] O[ffice], the Foreign Office approves of Finnish expansion in the direction of the Murman Coast. (Ludendorff explains on the map.) There the English are in charge. The Finnish want the East Karelians to join them. At the moment it is not clear what the Finns are up to, that is to say, how far they want to go. Our only interest is that the English do not establish themselves on the Murman Coast.
Chancellor: Do the Germans intend to cooperate?
His Excellency Ludendorff: No!
In the Ukraine we have been operating according to the principles of the bread peace [Brotfriedens]. (Ludendorff explains on a map.) Originally we wanted to go only as far as Kharkov. The reason why we had to continue our advance through the Ukraine has to do with coal. We could not find enough coal for our trains. We thus imported 80,000 tons of coal a month into the Ukraine. This is a heavy burden on our trains; therefore, we had to take possession of the coal basins of Donez, which also still belong to the Ukraine. We proceeded beyond the eastern frontier of the Ukraine in order to secure the coal fields against attacks by the Bolsheviks. At present we have halted and ceased operations. We are in contact with several Russian leaders; a demarcation line is being drawn. We have achieved the goals we had to achieve.
The situation is the same in the Crimea. We moved in there in order to secure shipping in the Black Sea. This goal has been achieved, except that two large Russian warships have escaped. His Excellency von der Bussche has already spoken with Joffe about how we are to proceed with respect to these ships. If the ships return to Sebastopol on their own free will, we will be finished in the Crimea as well. If not, we may have to advance up to Noworossisk, where both ships have taken refuge. Otherwise, I believe that we have achieved everything that the Supreme Command had in mind. Militarily we are through.
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