incapacitated and deposed the Iron Guard, leaving Romania to be governed by General Ion Antonescu. Under Antonescu's watch, the country consolidated its alliance with Germany (see Romania during World War II); during his first meetings with PCR cadres, Foriș remained reassuring that there would be no German–Soviet war, though he also informed them: "in case there is a war, communists must present themselves for active duty with their respective military units", so as to bring propaganda efforts on the front line. Repression of the PCR, meanwhile, reached its most severe phase. The clampdown became manifest in April 1941, when the Siguranța managed to capture almost all of the PCR leadership, including Foriș's closest collaborators—party eminences Chișinevschi and Teohari Georgescu. The circumstances of this "spectacular arrest" are obscure, but there is indication that Foriș himself credited Siguranța informants for its success; when promoting a young man, Constantin Carp, to fill in a leadership position, he expressed his amazement that Carp had not been arrested—thus hinting that he considered all comrades suspect. A contributing factor to Siguranțas success was Birtaș's failure to uphold secrecy. Informed of this, Foriș had Birtaș and his wife stripped of their party membership. Resisting the resistance The PCR was thus successfully neutralized by Antonescu ahead of the German–Romanian attack on the Soviet Union, which took place in June 1941. "Zidaru" claimed that, just weeks ahead of the invasion, Foriș still vouched for the German–Soviet entente. The course of events pushed him to adopt a reserve plan. According to a hostile report by PCR activist Ștefan Pavel, Foriș now suggested that communists should still not resist recruitment into the Romanian Army: "he'd tell everyone: go into the army and, once there, defect to the Soviet side; as if the Soviets would be waiting for us with open arms!" From November 1941, Nicolae Petrea, Mihai Levente and Ion Vincze were tasked by the PCR with hampering the war effort in Transnistria, where they sold or donated food parcels stolen from the National Institute of Statistics. Interested in organizing more serious resistance, "Zidaru" took initiative in publishing his own manifesto, addressed to his subordinates in Ilfov County. Foriș criticized the text for its reference to Bessarabians as "our Romanian brethren", rather than as "Moldovans", but also for the claim that Romania and Finland were witting accomplices in Germany's actions. In private conversations, Foriș depicted "Zidaru" as a fascist. This dispute