Preparations
According to Silviu Brucan, from the Communist Party's side, the two main conspirators were Emil Bodnăraş and Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, who contacted King Michael to prepare a coup d'etat against Ion Antonescu. The first meeting between King Michael's representatives with the Communists was during the night of June 13/14, 1944 in a secret house of the communists, at 103 Calea Moşilor. Apart from the two communist conspirators, participants in the meeting were General Gheorghe Mihail, General Constantin Sănătescu, Colonel Dumitru Dămăceanu, while King Michael was represented by Baron Ion Mocsony-Stîrcea (marshal of the palace), Mircea Ioaniţiu (private secretary) and Grigore Niculescu-Buzeşti (diplomatic adviser).
The King's representatives presented the Gigurtu plan, through which the King would meet Baron Manfred von Killinger, German ambassador in Bucharest, to discuss the replacement of Ion Antonescu with a cabinet led by Ion Gigurtu. The Communist Party thought that this plan was "naive and dangerous", as it would have alerted the Gestapo and that it would have sharpened Germany's espionage.
The Communist Party presented an alternate plan, through which, King Michael, who was the commander-in-chief, would order to turn the weapons against Nazi Germany and Ion Antonescu would be summoned to the palace, ordered to sign an armistice with the Allies, and if he refuses, he would be arrested on the spot. After this, a coalition government of the National Democratic Bloc (the National Peasant Party, the National Liberal Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Romanian Communist Party) would take the power.
This proposal was accepted by both the military representatives and by King's advisers, who then convinced King Michael that it was the best solution.
Read more about this topic: King Michael's Coup
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