was see if it was possible for the Soviets to obtain transit rights with Poland and/or Romania to allow the Red Army to reach Czechoslovakia if Germany should attack the latter. In April 1937, Coulondre returned to Paris to take part in the discussions held by French decision-makers about what would be the place of the Soviet Union in French strategy in the event of a war with Germany. To Coulondre's disappointment, Marshal Maurice Gamelin of the French general staff, reached the conclusion that it was not possible to make such plans as it was clear that neither Poland nor Romania would permit the Red Army transit rights. When Coulondre told Litvinov in 1937 that King Carol II of Romania was prepared to allow the Soviets overflight rights to send aid to Czechoslovakia in the event of a German invasion, Litvinov insisted on land transit rights as well, which the Romanians refused, leading to Coulondre to the conclusion that the Soviets were not serious about helping Czechoslovakia. In June 1937, the Yezhovshchina turned on the Red Army leadership, which led Coulondre to report to Paris on 13 June 1937 that through a "more docile new generation of Bolshevists" could be assumed, the Soviet Union "risks remaining weakened and limited in its means of action...The Red Army itself cannot escape the effects of this sort of rage". Coulondre's statements that the Red Army had been weakened by the execution of much of its leadership, was used by opponents of the Franco-Soviet pact in Paris to argue that the Soviet Union was not a major power, and hence not worth cultivating. The execution of Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky together with seven other senior Red Army generals on charges of espionage on behalf of Germany and Japan together with plotting to overthrow Stalin on 11 June 1937 caused considerable distrust of the Red Army within the French Army, and Marshal Maurice Gamelin ended all Franco-Soviet staff talks. Gamelin argued since that according to Pravda Marshal Tukhachevsky was a spy for Germany and Japan, then logically any information he had shared with Tukachevsky must had reached Berlin and Tokyo, and he would share no more information until the "appearance of a certain internal pacification within the USSR". Coulondre continued to press for Franco-Soviet staff talks to resume for the rest of his ambassadorship, but Gamelin remained opposed and the talks were never resumed. The Soviets