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Romania in World War II

Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania under King Carol II officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces, especially the Iron Guard, rose in popularity and power, urging an alliance with Nazi Germany and its allies. As the military fortunes of Romania's two main guarantors of territorial integrity—France and Britain—crumbled in the Fall of France (May to June, 1940), the government of Romania turned to Germany in hopes of a similar guarantee, unaware that the then-dominant European power had already granted its blessing to Soviet claims on Romanian territory, in a secret protocol of 1939's Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

In the summer of 1940 diplomacy resolved a series of territorial disputes in a manner unfavorable to Romania, resulting in the loss of most of the territories gained in the wake of World War I. This caused the popularity of Romania's government to plummet, further reinforcing the fascist and military factions, who eventually staged a coup (September 1940) that turned the country into a dictatorship under Mareșal Ion Antonescu. The new regime firmly set the country on a course towards the Axis camp, officially joining the Axis powers on 23 November 1940. As a member of the Axis, Romania joined the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) on 22 June 1941, providing equipment and oil to Nazi Germany as well as committing more troops to the Eastern Front than all the other allies of Germany combined. Romanian forces played a large role during fighting in Ukraine, Bessarabia, Stalingrad and elsewhere. Romanian troops were responsible for the persecution and massacre of 260,000 Jews in Romanian-controlled territories, though half of the Jews living within Romania itself survived the war.[1] Romania controlled the third largest Axis army in Europe and the fourth largest Axis army in the world, only behind the three principal Axis powers of Germany, Japan, and Italy.[2][3]

As the tide of war turned against the Axis, the Allies bombed Romania from 1943 onwards, and advancing Soviet armies invaded the country in 1944. With popular support for Romania's participation in the war faltering, and German-Romanian fronts collapsing under the Soviet onslaught, King Michael of Romania led a coup d'état that deposed the Antonescu regime (August 1944) and put Romania on the side of the Allies for the remainder of the war (Antonescu was executed in June 1946). Despite this late association with the winning side, Greater Romania was not restored. However, the country was able to regain Northern Transylvania from Hungary.

Background

 
Ethnic map of Greater Romania according to the 1930 Romanian census. Sizeable ethnic minorities put Romania at odds with Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union throughout the interwar period.

In the aftermath of World War I, Romania, which fought with the Entente against the Central Powers, had greatly expanded its territory, incorporating the regions of Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina, largely as a result of the vacuum created by the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires. This led to the achievement of the long-standing nationalist goal of creating a "Greater Romania", a national state that would incorporate all ethnic Romanians. However, the newly gained territories also included significant Hungarian, German, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and Russian minorities, which put Romania at odds with several of her neighbours.[4] This occasionally led to violent conflicts, as exemplified by the Hungarian–Romanian War and the Tatarbunary Uprising. To contain Hungarian irredentism, Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia established the Little Entente in 1921. That same year Romania and Poland concluded a defensive alliance against the emergent Soviet Union, and in 1934 the Balkan Entente was formed with Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey, which were suspicious of Bulgaria.[5]

Since the late 19th century onwards Romania had been a relatively democratic constitutional monarchy with a pro-Western outlook, but the country faced increasing turmoil in the 1930s as a result of the Great Depression in Romania and the rise of fascist movements such as the Iron Guard, which advocated revolutionary terrorism against the state. Under the pretext of stabilizing the country, the increasingly autocratic King Carol II proclaimed a 'royal dictatorship' in 1938. The new regime featured corporatist policies that often resembled those of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.[6] In parallel with these internal developments, economic pressures and a weak Franco-British response to Hitler's aggressive foreign policy caused Romania to start drifting away from the Western Allies and closer to the Axis.[5]

On 13 April 1939, France and the United Kingdom had pledged to guarantee the independence of the Kingdom of Romania. Negotiations with the Soviet Union concerning a similar guarantee collapsed when Romania refused to allow the Red Army to cross its frontiers.[1][7]

On 23 August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Among other things, this recognized in a secret annex the Soviet "interest" in Bessarabia (which had been ruled by the Russian Empire from 1812 to 1918). This Soviet interest was combined with a clear indication that there was an explicit lack of any German interest in the area.

Eight days later Nazi Germany invaded the Second Polish Republic. Expecting military aid from Britain and France, Poland chose not to execute its alliance with Romania in order to be able to use the Romanian Bridgehead. Romania officially remained neutral and, under pressure from the Soviet Union and Germany, interned the fleeing Polish government after its members had crossed the Polish–Romanian border on 17 September, forcing them to relegate their authority to what became the Polish government-in-exile.[8] After the assassination of Romanian Prime Minister Armand Călinescu on 21 September, King Carol II tried to maintain neutrality for several months longer, but the surrender of the Third French Republic and the retreat of British forces from continental Europe rendered the assurances that both countries had made to Romania meaningless.[1]

 
Romania after the territorial losses of 1940. The recovery of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina was the catalyst for Romania's entry into the war on Germany's side.

In 1940 Romania's territorial gains made following World War I were largely undone. In July, after a Soviet ultimatum, Romania agreed to give up Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (the Soviets also annexed the city of Hertsa, which was not stated in the ultimatum). Two-thirds of Bessarabia were combined with a small part of the Soviet Union to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The rest (northern Bukovina, the northern half of Hotin county and Budjak) was apportioned to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Shortly thereafter, on 30 August, under the Second Vienna Award, Germany and Italy mediated a compromise between Romania and the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary received a region referred to as 'Northern Transylvania', while 'Southern Transylvania' remained part of Romania (Hungary had lost Transylvania after World War I in the Treaty of Trianon). On 7 September, under the Treaty of Craiova, Southern Dobruja (which Bulgaria had lost after the Romanian invasion during the Second Balkan War in 1913), was ceded to Bulgaria under pressure from Germany. Despite the relatively recent acquisition of these territories, those were inhabited by a majority of Romanian speaking people (except Southern Dobruja), so the Romanians had seen them as historically belonging to Romania, and the fact that so much land was lost without a fight shattered the underpinnings of King Carol's power.

On 4 July, Ion Gigurtu formed the first Romanian government to include an Iron Guardist minister, Horia Sima. Sima was a particularly virulent antisemite who had become the nominal leader of the movement after the death of Corneliu Codreanu. He was one of the few prominent far-right leaders to survive the bloody infighting and government suppression of the preceding years.

Antonescu comes to power

 
Antonescu and Adolf Hitler at the Führerbau in Munich (June 1941).

In the immediate wake of the loss of Northern Transylvania, on 4 September 1940, the Iron Guard (led by Horia Sima) and General (later Marshal) Ion Antonescu united to form the "National Legionary State", which forced the abdication of Carol II in favor of his 19-year-old son Michael. Carol and his mistress Magda Lupescu went into exile, and Romania, despite the unfavorable outcome of recent territorial disputes, leaned strongly toward the Axis. As part of the deal, the Iron Guard became the sole legal party in Romania. Antonescu became the Iron Guard's honorary leader, while Sima became deputy premier.

In power, the Iron Guard stiffened the already harsh anti-Semitic legislation, enacted legislation directed against minority businessmen, tempered at times by the willingness of officials to take bribes, and wreaked vengeance upon its enemies. On 8 October 1940 German troops began crossing into Romania. They soon numbered over 500,000.

On 23 November Romania joined the Axis powers. On 27 November 1940, 64 former dignitaries or officials were executed by the Iron Guard in the Jilava prison while awaiting trial (see Jilava Massacre). Later that day, historian and former prime minister Nicolae Iorga and economist Virgil Madgearu, a former government minister, were assassinated.

The cohabitation between the Iron Guard and Antonescu was never an easy one. On 20 January 1941, the Iron Guard attempted a coup, combined with a bloody pogrom against the Jews of Bucharest. Within four days, Antonescu had successfully suppressed the coup. The Iron Guard was forced out of the government. Sima and many other legionnaires took refuge in Germany;[9] others were imprisoned. Antonescu abolished the National Legionary State, in its stead declaring Romania a "National and Social State."

The war on the Eastern Front

 
Romania annexed Transnistria, the area between the Dniester and Southern Bug, in July 1941 (1941 Romanian census).
 
1941 stamp depicting a Romanian and a German soldier in reference to the two countries' common participation in Operation Barbarossa. The text below reads "the holy war against Bolshevism".

On 22 June 1941, German armies with a massive Romanian support attacked the Soviet Union. German and Romanian units conquered Bessarabia, Odessa, and Sevastopol, then marched eastward across the Russian steppes toward Stalingrad. Romania welcomed the war because they were allies with Germany. Hitler rewarded Romania's loyalty by returning Bessarabia and northern Bukovina and by allowing Romania to administer Soviet lands immediately between the Dniester and the Bug, including Odessa and Nikolaev.[10] Romanian jingoes in Odessa even distributed a geography showing that the Dacians had inhabited most of southern Russia.[1][11] After recovering Bessarabia and Bukovina (Operation München), Romanian units fought side by side with the Germans onward to Odessa, Sevastopol, Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The total number of troops involved on the Eastern Front with the Romanian Third Army and the Romanian Fourth Army was second only to that of Nazi Germany itself. The Romanian Army had a total of 686,258 men under arms in the summer of 1941 and a total of 1,224,691 men in the summer of 1944.[12] The number of Romanian troops sent to fight in the Soviet Union exceeded that of all of Germany's other allies combined. A Country Study by the U.S. Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress attributes this to a "morbid competition with Hungary to curry Hitler's favor... [in hope of]... regaining northern Transylvania."[1]

Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were now fully re-incorporated into the Romanian state after they had been occupied by the USSR a year earlier. As a substitute for Northern Transylvania, which had been given to Hungary following the Second Vienna Award, Hitler persuaded Antonescu in August 1941 to also take control of the Transnistria territory between the Dniester and the Southern Bug, which would also include Odessa after its eventual fall in October 1941. Although the Romanian administration set up a civil government, the Transnistria Governorate, the Romanian state had not yet formally incorporated Transnistria into its administrative framework by the time it was retaken by Soviet troops in early 1944.

Romanian armies advanced far into the Soviet Union during 1941 and 1942 before being involved in the disaster at the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–43. Petre Dumitrescu, one of Romania's most important generals, was commander of the Third Army at Stalingrad. In November 1942, the German Sixth Army was briefly put at Dumitrescu's disposal during a German attempt to relieve the Third Army following the devastating Soviet Operation Uranus.

Prior to the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, the Antonescu government considered a war with Hungary over Transylvania an inevitability after the expected victory over the Soviet Union.[1] Although it was an ally of Germany, Romania's later turning to the Allied side in August 1944 was rewarded by returning Northern Transylvania, which had been granted to Hungary in 1940 after the Second Vienna Award.

War comes to Romania

Air raids

 
American B-24 Liberator flying over a burning oil refinery at Ploiești, as part of Operation Tidal Wave on 1 August 1943. Due to its role as a major supplier of oil to the Axis, Romania was a prime target of Allied strategic bombing in 1943 and 1944.

Throughout the Antonescu years, Romania supplied Nazi Germany and the Axis armies with oil, grain, and industrial products.[1] Also, numerous train stations in the country, such as Gara de Nord in Bucharest, served as transit points for troops departing for the Eastern Front. Consequently, by 1943 Romania became a target of Allied aerial bombardment. One of the most notable air bombardments was Operation Tidal Wave — the attack on the oil fields of Ploiești on 1 August 1943. Bucharest was subjected to intense Allied bombardment on 4 and 15 April 1944, and the Luftwaffe itself bombed the city on 24 and 25 August after the country switched sides.

Ground offensive

In February 1943, with the decisive Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, it was growing clear that the tide of the war was turning against the Axis powers.

By 1944, the Romanian economy was in tatters because of the expenses of the war, and destructive Allied air bombing throughout the country, including the capital, Bucharest. In addition, most of the products sent to Germany – such as oil, grain, and equipment – were provided without monetary compensation, as Germany refused to pay. As a result of these uncompensated exports, inflation in Romania skyrocketed. This caused widespread discontent among the Romanian population, even among those who had once enthusiastically supported the Germans and the war, and an angry relationship between Romania and Germany.[1]

Beginning in December 1943, the Soviet Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive pushed Axis forces all the way back to the Dniester by April 1944. In April–May 1944, the Romanian forces led by General Mihai Racovițǎ, together with elements of the German Eighth Army were responsible for defending northern Romania and took part in the Battles of Târgu Frumos, which David Glantz considered to be an initial Soviet attempt to invade Romania, supposedly held back by Axis defensive lines in northern Romania. The Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, launched on 20 August 1944, resulted in a quick and decisive Soviet breakthrough, collapsing the German-Romanian front in the region. Soviet forces captured Târgu Frumos and Iași on 21 August and Chișinău on 24 August 1944.[citation needed] The strategic Focșani Gate was invaded on 27 August 1944 by Soviet forces, which allowed them to spread out onto Bucharest, the Black Sea and the Eastern Carpathians.[13]

The Holocaust

See also Responsibility for the Holocaust (Romania), Antonescu and the Holocaust, Porajmos#Persecution in other Axis countries.
 
Sephardic Temple in Bucharest after it was plundered and set on fire in 1941

According to an international commission report released by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were murdered or died in various forms on Romanian soil, in the war zones of Bessarabia, Bukovina, and in the formerly-occupied Soviet territories under Romanian's control (Transnistria Governorate). Of the 25,000 Romani deported, who were deported to concentration camps in Transnistria, 11,000 died.[14]

Though much of the killing was committed in the war zone by Romanian and German troops, there were also substantial persecutions behind the front line. During the Iaşi pogrom of June 1941, over 13,000 Jews were massacred or killed slowly in trains traveling back and forth across the countryside.

Half of the estimated 270,000 to 320,000 Jews living in Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Dorohoi County in Romania were murdered or died between June 1941 and the spring of 1944, of which between 45,000 and 60,000 Jews were killed in Bessarabia and Bukovina by Romanian and German troops, within months from the entry of the country into the war during 1941. Even after the initial killings, Jews in Moldavia, Bukovina and Bessarabia were subject to frequent pogroms, and were concentrated into ghettos from which they were sent to Transnistria, including camps built and run by the Romanian authorities.

Romanian soldiers and gendarmes also worked with the Einsatzkommandos, German killing squads, tasked with massacring Jews and Roma in conquered territories, the local Ukrainian militia, and the SS squads of local Ukrainian Germans (Sonderkommando Russland and Selbstschutz). Romanian troops were in large part responsible for the Odessa massacre, in which from October 18, 1941, until mid-March 1942, Romanian soldiers in Odessa, aided by gendarmes and police, killed up to 25,000 Jews and deported more than 35,000.[14]

The number of deaths in all areas is not certain, but the lowest respectable estimates run to about 250,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma in these eastern regions.

Nonetheless, half of the Jews living within the pre-Barbarossa borders survived the war, although they were subject to a wide range of harsh conditions, including forced labor, financial penalties, and discriminatory laws. All Jewish property was nationalized.

The report commissioned and accepted by the Romanian government in 2004 on the Holocaust concluded:[14]

Of all the allies of Nazi Germany, Romania bears responsibility for the deaths of more Jews than any country other than Germany itself. The murders committed in Iasi, Odessa, Bogdanovka, Domanovka, and Peciora, for example, were among the most hideous murders committed against Jews anywhere during the Holocaust. Romania committed genocide against the Jews. The survival of Jews in some parts of the country does not alter this reality.

The royal coup

 
King Michael I of Romania led the coup that put Romania on the Allied side.

On 23 August 1944, with the Red Army penetrating German defenses during the Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, King Michael I of Romania led a successful coup against the Axis with support from opposition politicians, most of the army and Communist-led civilians.[15] Michael I, who was initially considered to be not much more than a figurehead, was able to successfully depose the Antonescu dictatorship. The King then offered a non-confrontational retreat to German ambassador Manfred von Killinger. But the Germans considered the coup "reversible" and attempted to turn the situation around by military force. The Romanian First, Second (forming), and what little was left of the Third and the Fourth Armies (one corps) were under orders from the King to defend Romania against any German attacks. King Michael offered to put the Romanian Army, which at that point had a strength of nearly 1,000,000 men,[16] on the side of the Allies. Stalin immediately recognized the king and the restoration of the conservative Romanian monarchy.[17]

In a radio broadcast to the Romanian nation and army on the night of 23 August King Michael issued a cease-fire,[15] proclaimed Romania's loyalty to the Allies, announced the acceptance of an armistice (to be signed on September 12)[18] offered by Great Britain, the United States, and the USSR, and declared war on Germany.[19] The coup accelerated the Red Army's advance into Romania, but did not avert a rapid Soviet occupation and capture of about 130,000 Romanian soldiers, who were transported to the Soviet Union, where many perished in prison camps. The armistice was signed three weeks later on 12 September 1944, on terms virtually dictated by the Soviet Union.[15] Under the terms of the armistice, Romania announced its unconditional surrender[20] to the USSR and was placed under occupation of the Allied forces with the Soviet Union as their representative, in control of media, communication, post, and civil administration behind the front.[15] Some attribute the postponement of a formal Allied recognition of the de facto change of orientation until 12 September (the date the armistice was signed in Moscow) to the complexities of the negotiations between the USSR and UK.[21]

 
Nicolae Ceaușescu and others welcome the Red Army as it enters Bucharest on 30 August 1944

During the Moscow Conference in October 1944 Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, proposed an agreement to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on how to split up Eastern Europe into spheres of influence after the war. The Soviet Union was offered a 90% share of influence in Romania.[22]

The Armistice Agreement of 12 September stipulated in Article 18 that "An Allied Control Commission will be established which will undertake until the conclusion of peace the regulation of and control over the execution of the present terms under the general direction and orders of the Allied (Soviet) High Command, acting on behalf of the Allied Powers". The Annex to Article 18 made clear that "The Romanian Government and their organs shall fulfil all instructions of the Allied Control Commission arising out of the Armistice Agreement." The Agreement also stipulated that the Allied Control Commission would have its seat in Bucharest. In line with Article 14 of the Armistice Agreement, two Romanian People's Tribunals were set up to try suspected war criminals.[23]

Campaign against the Axis

 
Romanian operations against the Axis
 
Romanian soldiers in Transylvania, September–October 1944

As the country declared war on Germany on the night of 23 August 1944, border clashes between Hungarian and Romanian troops erupted almost immediately. On 24 August, German troops attempted to seize Bucharest and suppress Michael's coup, but were repelled by the city's defenses, which received some support from the United States Air Force.[citation needed] Other Wehrmacht units in the country suffered severe losses: remnants of the Sixth Army retreating west of the Prut River were cut off and destroyed by the Red Army, which was now advancing at an even greater speed, while Romanian units attacked German garrisons at the Ploiești oilfields, forcing them to retreat to Hungary. The Romanian Army captured over 50,000 German prisoners around this time, who were later surrendered to the Soviets.[24]

In early September 1944, Soviet and Romanian forces entered Transylvania and captured the towns of Brașov and Sibiu while advancing toward the Mureș River. Their main objective was Cluj, a city regarded as the historical capital of Transylvania. However, the Second Hungarian Army was present in the region, and together with the Eighth German Army engaged the Allied forces on 5 September 1944 in what was to become the Battle of Turda, which lasted until 8 October and resulted in heavy casualties for both sides.[citation needed] Also around this time, the Hungarian Army carried out its last independent offensive action of the war, penetrating Arad County in western Romania. Despite initial success, a number of ad-hoc Romanian cadet battalions managed to stop the Hungarian advance at the Battle of Păuliș, and soon a combined Romanian-Soviet counterattack overwhelmed the Hungarians, who gave ground and evacuated Arad itself on 21 September.[citation needed]

The Battle of Carei marked the last stage of recovering Romania's former territory of Northern Transylvania, ceded in 1940 to Hungary as a result of the Second Vienna Award. On the evening of October 24, 1944, the Romanian 6th Army Corps attacked in the direction of Carei with a force comprising 4 divisions; at the same time, the 2nd Infantry Division of 2nd Army Corps attacked in the direction of Satu Mare, in a pincer movement. On October 25, both cities were freed from Hungarian and German control; by a decree from 1959, this day was established as the Romanian Armed Forces Day.[25][26]

The Romanian Army ended the war fighting against the Wehrmacht alongside the Red Army in Transylvania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, from August 1944 until the end of the war in Europe. In May 1945, the First and Fourth armies took part in the Prague Offensive. The Romanian Army incurred heavy casualties fighting Nazi Germany. Of some 538,000 Romanian soldiers who fought against the Axis in 1944–45, some 167,000 were killed, wounded or went missing.[27]

Location Beginning End Personnel Casualties
(KIA, WIA, MIA)
Mountains crossed Rivers crossed Liberated villages From which towns Losses
of the enemy
Romania 1944-08-23 1945-05-12 >275,000 (538,000) 58,330 3,831 31 167,000 KIA, WIA
Materiel
Hungary 1944-10-08 1945-01-15 210,000 42,700 3 4 1,237 14 21,045 POW
9,700 KIA
? WIA
Materiel
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 1944-12-18 1945-05-12 248,430 66,495 10 4 1,722 31 22,803 KIA, WIA, POW
Alpine and Danube Reichsgaue 1945–04-10 1945-05-12 2,000 100 7 1 4,000 KIA, WIA, POW
Materiel
TOTAL 1944-08-23 1945-05-12 538,536 169,822 20 12 3,821 53 117,798 POW
18,731 KIA
LEGEND: KIA = Killed in Action; MIA = Missing in Action; WIA = Wounded in Action; POW = Prisoners of war.[28][29][30]

Aftermath

 
Map of Romania after World War II indicating lost territories.

Under the 1947 Treaty of Paris,[31] the Allies did not acknowledge Romania as a co-belligerent nation but instead applied the term "ally of Hitlerite Germany" to all recipients of the treaty's stipulations. Like Finland, Romania had to pay $300 million to the Soviet Union as war reparations. However, the treaty specifically recognized that Romania switched sides on 24 August 1944, and therefore "acted in the interests of all the United Nations". As a reward, Northern Transylvania was, once again, recognized as an integral part of Romania, but the border with the USSR and Bulgaria was fixed at its state in January 1941, restoring the pre-Barbarossa status quo (with one exception). Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Eastern territories became part of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.

In Romania proper, Soviet occupation following World War II facilitated the rise of the Communist Party as the main political force, leading ultimately to the forced abdication of the King and the establishment of a single-party people's republic in 1947.

Major battles and campaigns

This is a list of battles and other combat operations in World War II in which Romanian forces took part.

Battle Date Location Romania and its allies Enemies Issue
Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina 28 June – 3 July 1940 Romania   Romania   Soviet Union Defeat
Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom 21–23 January 1941 Romania   Romanian government   Iron Guard Victory
As part of the Axis (1941–1944)
Operation Barbarossa 22 June – 5 December 1941 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Finland
  Italy
  Hungary
  Slovakia
  Croatia
  Soviet Union Defeat
Raid on Constanța 26 June 1941 Romania   Romania
  Germany
  Soviet Union Victory
Operation München 2–26 July 1941 Romania   Romania
  Germany
  Soviet Union Victory
Battle of Uman 15 July – 8 August 1941 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Hungary
  Slovakia
  Croatia
  Soviet Union Victory
Siege of Odessa 8 August – 16 October 1941 Soviet Union   Romania
  Germany
  Soviet Union Victory
Battle of the Sea of Azov September 1941 – August 1942 Soviet Union   Romania
  Germany
  Soviet Union Victory
Siege of Sevastopol 30 October 1941 – 4 July 1942 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Italy
  Soviet Union Victory
Battle of Rostov 21 – 27 November 1941 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Slovak Republic
  Soviet Union Defeat
Second Battle of Kharkov 12 – 28 May 1942 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Italy
  Soviet Union Victory
Case Blue 28 June – 24 November 1942 Soviet Union   Germany
  Italy
  Romania
  Hungary
  Slovakia
  Croatia
  Soviet Union Defeat
Battle of the Caucasus 25 July 1942 – 12 May 1944 Soviet Union   Germany
  Italy
  Romania
  Soviet Union Defeat
Battle of Stalingrad 23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943 Soviet Union   Germany
  Italy
  Romania
  Hungary
  Croatia
  Soviet Union Defeat
Operation Uranus 19 – 23 November 1942 Soviet Union   Germany
  Italy
  Romania
  Hungary
  Soviet Union Defeat
Operation Winter Storm 12 – 23 December 1942 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Soviet Union Defeat
Operation Little Saturn 12 December 1942 – 18 February 1943 Soviet Union   Germany
  Italy
  Romania
  Hungary
  Soviet Union Defeat
Operation Tidal Wave 1 August 1943 Romania   Germany
  Romania
  Bulgaria
  United States Victory
Donbass Strategic Offensive 13 August – 22 September 1943 Soviet Union   Germany
  Italy
  Romania
  Hungary
  Soviet Union Defeat
Battle of the Dnieper 24 August – 23 December 1943 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Soviet Union
  Czechoslovak Army Corps
Defeat
Kerch-Eltigen Operation November 1943 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Soviet Union Defeat
Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive 24 December 1943 – 14 April 1944 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Soviet Union Defeat
Uman–Botoșani Offensive 5 March – 17 April 1944 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Soviet Union Defeat
First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive 8 April – 6 June 1944 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Soviet Union Victory
Crimean Offensive 8 April – 12 May 1944 Soviet Union   Germany
  Romania
  Bulgaria
  Soviet Union Defeat
Lublin-Brest Offensive 18 July – 2 August 1944 Belarus/Poland   Germany
  Romania
  Soviet Union
  Poland
Defeat
Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (First phase) 20–23 August 1944 Romania   Germany
  Romania
  Soviet Union Switched sides
As part of the Allies (1944–1945)
Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (Second phase) 23–29 August 1944 Romania   Soviet Union
  Romania
aerial support:
  United States
  Germany Victory
Battle of Turda 5 September – 8 October 1944 Romania   Soviet Union
  Romania
  Germany
  Hungary
Victory
Battle of Păuliș 14–19 September 1944 Romania   Romania   Hungary Victory
Battle of Debrecen 6–29 October 1944 Hungary   Soviet Union
  Romania
  Germany
  Hungary
Victory
Battle of Carei 21–25 October 1944 Hungary   Romania   Hungary Victory
Budapest Offensive 29 October 1944 – 13 February 1945 Hungary   Soviet Union
  Romania
  Germany
  Hungary
Victory
Siege of Budapest 29 December 1944 – 13 February 1945 Hungary   Soviet Union
  Romania
  Germany
  Hungary
Victory
Bratislava–Brno Offensive 25 March – 5 May 1945 Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Slovakia   Soviet Union
  Romania
  Czechoslovakia Army Corps
  Germany
  Hungary
Victory
Prague Offensive 6–11 May 1945 Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia   Soviet Union
  Poland
  Romania
  Russian Liberation Army
  Germany
  Hungary
  Slovakia
Victory

Romanian armament during World War II

Modern non-self-propelled weapons

The list below displays the modern (designed and built after the end of World War I) infantry weapons and artillery pieces used by the Romanian Army during World War II.

Tanks

The list below comprises the models and numbers of Romanian Army tanks of all types in service as of 19 July 1944:[45]

 
A Romanian TACAM T-60 during the National Day parade, 10 May 1943.
 
The Mareșal tank destroyer (prototype M-05), the best-known Romanian-built armored vehicle of the war, was in service with the M Battalion of the 2nd Armored Regiment from May to October 1944[46]
Name Type Country of Origin Quantity
FT-17 Light tank   France 62
R-1 Tankette   Czechoslovakia 14
R-35 Light tank   France 30
R-35/45 Tank destroyer   Romania 30
R-2 Light tank   Czechoslovakia 44
T-38 Light tank   Nazi Germany 19
T-3 Medium tank   Nazi Germany 2
T-4 Medium tank   Nazi Germany 81
TACAM T-60 Tank destroyer   Romania 34
TACAM R-2 Tank destroyer   Romania 20
TAs Assault gun   Nazi Germany 60
Mareșal Tank destroyer   Romania 7
STZ Tankette   Romania 34

Naval forces

Air force

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h U.S. government Country study: Romania, c. 1990.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ According to historian and author Mark Axworthy, the second largest Axis army in Europe, arguably, belonged to Romania, though most would dispute this, regarding the Italian army as more significant.
  3. ^ Third Axis Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, by Mark Axworthy, Cornel Scafeș, and Cristian Crăciunoiu, page 9.
  4. ^ Axworthy, p. 12
  5. ^ a b Axworthy, p. 13
  6. ^ Axworthy, p. 22
  7. ^ Henig, Ruth (2013). The Origins of the Second World War 1933–1941. Routledge. pp. 92–93. ISBN 9781134319879.
  8. ^ Michael Alfred Peszke. The Polish Underground Army, the Western Allies and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II, McFarland, 2005, ISBN 0-7864-2009-X
  9. ^ Țiu, Ilarion. (2010). The legionary movement after Corneliu Codreanu : from the dictatorship of King Carol II to the communist regime (February 1938 – August 1944). East European Monographs. pp. 184–186. ISBN 978-0-88033-659-8. OCLC 630496676.
  10. ^ Vladimir Solonari, A Satellite Empire: Romanian Rule in Southwestern Ukraine, 1941–1944 (2019).
  11. ^ Bachman, Ronald D.; Keefe, Eugene K. Area handbook for Romania; Library of Congress. Federal Research Division (1991). Romania : a country study. The Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. : The Division : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O. pp. 41.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  12. ^ Axworthy, Mark; Scafes, Cornel; Craciunoiu, Cristian (editors) (1995). Third axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces In the European War 1941–1945. London: Arms & Armour Press. pp. 1–368. ISBN 963-389-606-1. {{cite book}}: |first3= has generic name (help)
  13. ^ McMichael, Scott R. (1985). "The battle of Jassy–Kishinev". Military Review. United States Army Combined Arms Center. 65 (7): 52–65.
  14. ^ a b c International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania (November 11, 2004). "Executive Summary: Historical Findings and Recommendations" (PDF). Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania. Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority). Retrieved 2012-05-17.
  15. ^ a b c d Country Studies: Romania, Chap. 23, Library of Congress
  16. ^ "Second World War (1941 - 1945)". Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  17. ^ Deutscher, Stalin. 1967, p. 519
  18. ^ (in Romanian) Delia Radu, "Serialul 'Ion Antonescu și asumarea istoriei' (3)", BBC Romanian edition, August 1, 2008
  19. ^ (in Romanian) "The Dictatorship Has Ended and along with It All Oppression" – From The Proclamation to The Nation of King Michael I on The Night of August 23 1944 2016-02-28 at the Wayback Machine, Curierul Național, August 7, 2004
  20. ^ "King Proclaims Nation's Surrender and Wish to Help Allies", The New York Times, August 24, 1944
  21. ^ (in Romanian) Constantiniu, Florin, O istorie sinceră a poporului român ("An Honest History of the Romanian People"), Ed. Univers Enciclopedic, Bucureşti, 1997, ISBN 973-9243-07-X
  22. ^ European Navigator: The division of Europe
  23. ^ . Archived from the original on August 20, 2016.
  24. ^ (in Romanian) Florin Mihai, "Sărbătoarea Armatei Române" 2013-06-16 at the Wayback Machine, Jurnalul Național, October 25, 2007
  25. ^ Curtifan, Tudor (25 October 2019). "Ziua Armatei – Bătălia de la Carei – Ultima palmă de pământ românesc eliberată în Ardeal". defenseromania.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  26. ^ Ilie, Andreea (October 25, 2019). "25 octombrie 1944, eliberarea Ardealului de sub ocupația trupelor nazisto-horthyste: "Tineri și bătrâni ați pornit spre hotarele sfinte ale patriei și cu piepturile voastre ați făcut zăgaz neînfricat dușmanului care voia să ajungă la Carpați"". activenews.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  27. ^ Third Axis Fourth Ally, p. 214
  28. ^ (in Romanian) Teroarea horthysto-fascistă în nord-vestul României, București, 1985
  29. ^ (in Romanian) Romulus Dima, Contribuția României la înfrângerea Germaniei fasciste, București, 1982
  30. ^ Armata Română în al Doilea Război Mondial/Romanian Army in World War II, Editura Meridiane, București, 1995, ISBN 973-33-0329-1.
  31. ^ *United Nations Treaty Series volume 49
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, p. 29
  33. ^ Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, p. 76
  34. ^ a b c Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, p. 75
  35. ^ Mark Axworthy, Osprey Publishing, 1991, The Romanian Army of World War II, p. 42
  36. ^ John Walter, Greenhill Books, 2004, Guns of the Third Reich, p. 86
  37. ^ a b c Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, pp. 29-30 and 75
  38. ^ a b c Great Britain. Foreign Office, Ministry of Economic Warfare, 1944, Rumania Basic Handbook, p. 27
  39. ^ Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, p. 147
  40. ^ a b c d e Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, p. 30
  41. ^ a b Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, pp. 30 and 75
  42. ^ American Military Institute, 1996, The Journal of Military History, Volume 60, p. 720
  43. ^ a b c Ronald L. Tarnstrom, Trogen Books, 1998, Balkan Battles, p. 407
  44. ^ Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, pp. 149 and 235-237
  45. ^ Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, pp. 153 and 219
  46. ^ Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, p. 232

Further reading

  • Bucur, Maria (April 1, 2002). "Treznea: Trauma, nationalism and the memory of World War II in Romania". Rethinking History. 6 (1): 35–55. doi:10.1080/13642520110112100. S2CID 143005164.
  • Harward, Grant T. (2021). Romania's Holy War: Soldiers, Motivation, and the Holocaust. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501759963.
  • Bucur, Maria. Heroes and victims: Remembering war in twentieth-century Romania, Indiana University Press, 2009.
  • Butnaru, I. C. Silent Holocaust: Romania & Its Jews (HIA Book Collection, 1992) 225pp.
  • Case, Holly. Between states: the Transylvanian question and the European idea during World War II. Stanford University Press, 2009.
  • Crăciunoiu, Cristian; Mark W. A. Axworthy; Cornel Scafeș (1995). Third Axis Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945. London: Arms & Armour. p. 368. ISBN 1-85409-267-7.
  • Deletant, Dennis. "Romania" in The Oxford Companion to World War II edited by I. C. B. Dear and M. R. D. Foot (2001) pp 954–959.
  • Deletant, Dennis. Hitler's Forgotten Ally, Ion Antonescu and his Regime, Romania, 1940–44 (London, 2006).
  • Glantz, David M. (2007). Red Storm over the Balkans: The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania, Spring 1944. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. p. 448. ISBN 978-0-7006-1465-3.
  • Harward, Grant T. Romania's Holy War: Soldiers, Motivation, and the Holocaust, Ithaca NY: Cornell Univ. Press, 2021. Pp. xvi, 340. ISBN 978-1-5017-5996-3. Review at https://www.miwsr.com/2022-066.aspx.
  • Thomas, Martin. "To arm an ally: French arms sales to Romania, 1926–1940." Journal of Strategic Studies 19.2 (1996): 231–259.
  • Michelson, Paul E. "Recent American historiography on Romania and the second world war" Romanian Civilization. (1996) 5#2 pp 23–42.
  • Solonari, Vladimir (2019). A satellite empire: Romanian rule in southwestern Ukraine, 1941–1944. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501743191.
  • Popa, Ion (2018). "The 7th Roșiori (Cavalry) Regiment and the Holocaust in Romania and the Soviet Union". Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust. 32 (1): 38–56. doi:10.1080/23256249.2018.1432250. S2CID 159021449.
  • Porter, Ivor. Operation Autonomous. With SOE in Wartime Romania (1989) 268pp; The British intelligence operation.
  • Saiu, Liliana. Great Powers & Rumania, 1944–1946: A Study of the Early Cold War Era (HIA Book Collection, 1992), 290pp.
  • Weinbaum, Laurence. "The Banality of History and Memory: Romanian Society and the Holocaust", Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism No. 45 (June 2006)
  • Some passages in this article have been taken from the (public domain) U.S. Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress Country Study on Romania, sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Army, researched shortly before the 1989 fall of Romania's Communist regime and published shortly after. Romania – World War II, accessed July 19, 2005.

  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Country Studies. Federal Research Division.

External links

Military and political history

  • worldwar2.ro: Romanian Armed Forces in the Second World War
  • Dan Reynolds.
  • Paul Paustovanu. The War in the East seen by the Romanian Veterans of Bukovina
  • Rebecca Ann Haynes.
  • Stefan Gheorge.
  • Map of Romania's territorial changes during World War II
  • World War II archive images with the Romanian Forces

Holocaust

  • Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania (pdf). Bucharest, Romania: International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania. November 2004. p. 89. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
  • Murder of the Jews of Romania 2021-10-26 at the Wayback Machine on the Yad Vashem website
  • Holocaust in Romania from Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project: "Forget You Not"
  • Roma Holocaust victims speak out

romania, world, following, outbreak, world, september, 1939, kingdom, romania, under, king, carol, officially, adopted, position, neutrality, however, rapidly, changing, situation, europe, during, 1940, well, domestic, political, upheaval, undermined, this, st. Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 the Kingdom of Romania under King Carol II officially adopted a position of neutrality However the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940 as well as domestic political upheaval undermined this stance Fascist political forces especially the Iron Guard rose in popularity and power urging an alliance with Nazi Germany and its allies As the military fortunes of Romania s two main guarantors of territorial integrity France and Britain crumbled in the Fall of France May to June 1940 the government of Romania turned to Germany in hopes of a similar guarantee unaware that the then dominant European power had already granted its blessing to Soviet claims on Romanian territory in a secret protocol of 1939 s Molotov Ribbentrop Pact In the summer of 1940 diplomacy resolved a series of territorial disputes in a manner unfavorable to Romania resulting in the loss of most of the territories gained in the wake of World War I This caused the popularity of Romania s government to plummet further reinforcing the fascist and military factions who eventually staged a coup September 1940 that turned the country into a dictatorship under Mareșal Ion Antonescu The new regime firmly set the country on a course towards the Axis camp officially joining the Axis powers on 23 November 1940 As a member of the Axis Romania joined the invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941 providing equipment and oil to Nazi Germany as well as committing more troops to the Eastern Front than all the other allies of Germany combined Romanian forces played a large role during fighting in Ukraine Bessarabia Stalingrad and elsewhere Romanian troops were responsible for the persecution and massacre of 260 000 Jews in Romanian controlled territories though half of the Jews living within Romania itself survived the war 1 Romania controlled the third largest Axis army in Europe and the fourth largest Axis army in the world only behind the three principal Axis powers of Germany Japan and Italy 2 3 As the tide of war turned against the Axis the Allies bombed Romania from 1943 onwards and advancing Soviet armies invaded the country in 1944 With popular support for Romania s participation in the war faltering and German Romanian fronts collapsing under the Soviet onslaught King Michael of Romania led a coup d etat that deposed the Antonescu regime August 1944 and put Romania on the side of the Allies for the remainder of the war Antonescu was executed in June 1946 Despite this late association with the winning side Greater Romania was not restored However the country was able to regain Northern Transylvania from Hungary Contents 1 Background 2 Antonescu comes to power 3 The war on the Eastern Front 4 War comes to Romania 4 1 Air raids 4 2 Ground offensive 5 The Holocaust 6 The royal coup 7 Campaign against the Axis 8 Aftermath 9 Major battles and campaigns 10 Romanian armament during World War II 10 1 Modern non self propelled weapons 10 2 Tanks 10 3 Naval forces 10 4 Air force 11 See also 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links 14 1 Military and political history 14 2 HolocaustBackground EditSee also Little Entente Polish Romanian alliance Second Vienna Award and Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina Ethnic map of Greater Romania according to the 1930 Romanian census Sizeable ethnic minorities put Romania at odds with Hungary Bulgaria and the Soviet Union throughout the interwar period In the aftermath of World War I Romania which fought with the Entente against the Central Powers had greatly expanded its territory incorporating the regions of Transylvania Bessarabia and Bukovina largely as a result of the vacuum created by the collapse of the Austro Hungarian and Russian empires This led to the achievement of the long standing nationalist goal of creating a Greater Romania a national state that would incorporate all ethnic Romanians However the newly gained territories also included significant Hungarian German Bulgarian Ukrainian and Russian minorities which put Romania at odds with several of her neighbours 4 This occasionally led to violent conflicts as exemplified by the Hungarian Romanian War and the Tatarbunary Uprising To contain Hungarian irredentism Romania Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia established the Little Entente in 1921 That same year Romania and Poland concluded a defensive alliance against the emergent Soviet Union and in 1934 the Balkan Entente was formed with Yugoslavia Greece and Turkey which were suspicious of Bulgaria 5 Since the late 19th century onwards Romania had been a relatively democratic constitutional monarchy with a pro Western outlook but the country faced increasing turmoil in the 1930s as a result of the Great Depression in Romania and the rise of fascist movements such as the Iron Guard which advocated revolutionary terrorism against the state Under the pretext of stabilizing the country the increasingly autocratic King Carol II proclaimed a royal dictatorship in 1938 The new regime featured corporatist policies that often resembled those of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany 6 In parallel with these internal developments economic pressures and a weak Franco British response to Hitler s aggressive foreign policy caused Romania to start drifting away from the Western Allies and closer to the Axis 5 On 13 April 1939 France and the United Kingdom had pledged to guarantee the independence of the Kingdom of Romania Negotiations with the Soviet Union concerning a similar guarantee collapsed when Romania refused to allow the Red Army to cross its frontiers 1 7 On 23 August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact Among other things this recognized in a secret annex the Soviet interest in Bessarabia which had been ruled by the Russian Empire from 1812 to 1918 This Soviet interest was combined with a clear indication that there was an explicit lack of any German interest in the area Eight days later Nazi Germany invaded the Second Polish Republic Expecting military aid from Britain and France Poland chose not to execute its alliance with Romania in order to be able to use the Romanian Bridgehead Romania officially remained neutral and under pressure from the Soviet Union and Germany interned the fleeing Polish government after its members had crossed the Polish Romanian border on 17 September forcing them to relegate their authority to what became the Polish government in exile 8 After the assassination of Romanian Prime Minister Armand Călinescu on 21 September King Carol II tried to maintain neutrality for several months longer but the surrender of the Third French Republic and the retreat of British forces from continental Europe rendered the assurances that both countries had made to Romania meaningless 1 Romania after the territorial losses of 1940 The recovery of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina was the catalyst for Romania s entry into the war on Germany s side In 1940 Romania s territorial gains made following World War I were largely undone In July after a Soviet ultimatum Romania agreed to give up Bessarabia and northern Bukovina the Soviets also annexed the city of Hertsa which was not stated in the ultimatum Two thirds of Bessarabia were combined with a small part of the Soviet Union to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic The rest northern Bukovina the northern half of Hotin county and Budjak was apportioned to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Shortly thereafter on 30 August under the Second Vienna Award Germany and Italy mediated a compromise between Romania and the Kingdom of Hungary Hungary received a region referred to as Northern Transylvania while Southern Transylvania remained part of Romania Hungary had lost Transylvania after World War I in the Treaty of Trianon On 7 September under the Treaty of Craiova Southern Dobruja which Bulgaria had lost after the Romanian invasion during the Second Balkan War in 1913 was ceded to Bulgaria under pressure from Germany Despite the relatively recent acquisition of these territories those were inhabited by a majority of Romanian speaking people except Southern Dobruja so the Romanians had seen them as historically belonging to Romania and the fact that so much land was lost without a fight shattered the underpinnings of King Carol s power On 4 July Ion Gigurtu formed the first Romanian government to include an Iron Guardist minister Horia Sima Sima was a particularly virulent antisemite who had become the nominal leader of the movement after the death of Corneliu Codreanu He was one of the few prominent far right leaders to survive the bloody infighting and government suppression of the preceding years Antonescu comes to power Edit Antonescu and Adolf Hitler at the Fuhrerbau in Munich June 1941 In the immediate wake of the loss of Northern Transylvania on 4 September 1940 the Iron Guard led by Horia Sima and General later Marshal Ion Antonescu united to form the National Legionary State which forced the abdication of Carol II in favor of his 19 year old son Michael Carol and his mistress Magda Lupescu went into exile and Romania despite the unfavorable outcome of recent territorial disputes leaned strongly toward the Axis As part of the deal the Iron Guard became the sole legal party in Romania Antonescu became the Iron Guard s honorary leader while Sima became deputy premier In power the Iron Guard stiffened the already harsh anti Semitic legislation enacted legislation directed against minority businessmen tempered at times by the willingness of officials to take bribes and wreaked vengeance upon its enemies On 8 October 1940 German troops began crossing into Romania They soon numbered over 500 000 On 23 November Romania joined the Axis powers On 27 November 1940 64 former dignitaries or officials were executed by the Iron Guard in the Jilava prison while awaiting trial see Jilava Massacre Later that day historian and former prime minister Nicolae Iorga and economist Virgil Madgearu a former government minister were assassinated The cohabitation between the Iron Guard and Antonescu was never an easy one On 20 January 1941 the Iron Guard attempted a coup combined with a bloody pogrom against the Jews of Bucharest Within four days Antonescu had successfully suppressed the coup The Iron Guard was forced out of the government Sima and many other legionnaires took refuge in Germany 9 others were imprisoned Antonescu abolished the National Legionary State in its stead declaring Romania a National and Social State The war on the Eastern Front EditFurther information Romanian armies in the Battle of Stalingrad and Romanian Navy during World War II Romania annexed Transnistria the area between the Dniester and Southern Bug in July 1941 1941 Romanian census 1941 stamp depicting a Romanian and a German soldier in reference to the two countries common participation in Operation Barbarossa The text below reads the holy war against Bolshevism On 22 June 1941 German armies with a massive Romanian support attacked the Soviet Union German and Romanian units conquered Bessarabia Odessa and Sevastopol then marched eastward across the Russian steppes toward Stalingrad Romania welcomed the war because they were allies with Germany Hitler rewarded Romania s loyalty by returning Bessarabia and northern Bukovina and by allowing Romania to administer Soviet lands immediately between the Dniester and the Bug including Odessa and Nikolaev 10 Romanian jingoes in Odessa even distributed a geography showing that the Dacians had inhabited most of southern Russia 1 11 After recovering Bessarabia and Bukovina Operation Munchen Romanian units fought side by side with the Germans onward to Odessa Sevastopol Stalingrad and the Caucasus The total number of troops involved on the Eastern Front with the Romanian Third Army and the Romanian Fourth Army was second only to that of Nazi Germany itself The Romanian Army had a total of 686 258 men under arms in the summer of 1941 and a total of 1 224 691 men in the summer of 1944 12 The number of Romanian troops sent to fight in the Soviet Union exceeded that of all of Germany s other allies combined A Country Study by the U S Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress attributes this to a morbid competition with Hungary to curry Hitler s favor in hope of regaining northern Transylvania 1 Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were now fully re incorporated into the Romanian state after they had been occupied by the USSR a year earlier As a substitute for Northern Transylvania which had been given to Hungary following the Second Vienna Award Hitler persuaded Antonescu in August 1941 to also take control of the Transnistria territory between the Dniester and the Southern Bug which would also include Odessa after its eventual fall in October 1941 Although the Romanian administration set up a civil government the Transnistria Governorate the Romanian state had not yet formally incorporated Transnistria into its administrative framework by the time it was retaken by Soviet troops in early 1944 Romanian armies advanced far into the Soviet Union during 1941 and 1942 before being involved in the disaster at the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942 43 Petre Dumitrescu one of Romania s most important generals was commander of the Third Army at Stalingrad In November 1942 the German Sixth Army was briefly put at Dumitrescu s disposal during a German attempt to relieve the Third Army following the devastating Soviet Operation Uranus Prior to the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad the Antonescu government considered a war with Hungary over Transylvania an inevitability after the expected victory over the Soviet Union 1 Although it was an ally of Germany Romania s later turning to the Allied side in August 1944 was rewarded by returning Northern Transylvania which had been granted to Hungary in 1940 after the Second Vienna Award War comes to Romania EditAir raids Edit Main articles Bombing of Romania in World War II and Oil Campaign of World War II American B 24 Liberator flying over a burning oil refinery at Ploiești as part of Operation Tidal Wave on 1 August 1943 Due to its role as a major supplier of oil to the Axis Romania was a prime target of Allied strategic bombing in 1943 and 1944 Throughout the Antonescu years Romania supplied Nazi Germany and the Axis armies with oil grain and industrial products 1 Also numerous train stations in the country such as Gara de Nord in Bucharest served as transit points for troops departing for the Eastern Front Consequently by 1943 Romania became a target of Allied aerial bombardment One of the most notable air bombardments was Operation Tidal Wave the attack on the oil fields of Ploiești on 1 August 1943 Bucharest was subjected to intense Allied bombardment on 4 and 15 April 1944 and the Luftwaffe itself bombed the city on 24 and 25 August after the country switched sides Ground offensive Edit In February 1943 with the decisive Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad it was growing clear that the tide of the war was turning against the Axis powers By 1944 the Romanian economy was in tatters because of the expenses of the war and destructive Allied air bombing throughout the country including the capital Bucharest In addition most of the products sent to Germany such as oil grain and equipment were provided without monetary compensation as Germany refused to pay As a result of these uncompensated exports inflation in Romania skyrocketed This caused widespread discontent among the Romanian population even among those who had once enthusiastically supported the Germans and the war and an angry relationship between Romania and Germany 1 Beginning in December 1943 the Soviet Dnieper Carpathian Offensive pushed Axis forces all the way back to the Dniester by April 1944 In April May 1944 the Romanian forces led by General Mihai Racovițǎ together with elements of the German Eighth Army were responsible for defending northern Romania and took part in the Battles of Targu Frumos which David Glantz considered to be an initial Soviet attempt to invade Romania supposedly held back by Axis defensive lines in northern Romania The Jassy Kishinev Offensive launched on 20 August 1944 resulted in a quick and decisive Soviet breakthrough collapsing the German Romanian front in the region Soviet forces captured Targu Frumos and Iași on 21 August and Chișinău on 24 August 1944 citation needed The strategic Focșani Gate was invaded on 27 August 1944 by Soviet forces which allowed them to spread out onto Bucharest the Black Sea and the Eastern Carpathians 13 The Holocaust EditMain article History of the Jews in Romania The Holocaust See also Responsibility for the Holocaust Romania Antonescu and the Holocaust Porajmos Persecution in other Axis countries Sephardic Temple in Bucharest after it was plundered and set on fire in 1941 According to an international commission report released by the Romanian government in 2004 between 280 000 and 380 000 Jews were murdered or died in various forms on Romanian soil in the war zones of Bessarabia Bukovina and in the formerly occupied Soviet territories under Romanian s control Transnistria Governorate Of the 25 000 Romani deported who were deported to concentration camps in Transnistria 11 000 died 14 Though much of the killing was committed in the war zone by Romanian and German troops there were also substantial persecutions behind the front line During the Iasi pogrom of June 1941 over 13 000 Jews were massacred or killed slowly in trains traveling back and forth across the countryside Half of the estimated 270 000 to 320 000 Jews living in Bessarabia Bukovina and Dorohoi County in Romania were murdered or died between June 1941 and the spring of 1944 of which between 45 000 and 60 000 Jews were killed in Bessarabia and Bukovina by Romanian and German troops within months from the entry of the country into the war during 1941 Even after the initial killings Jews in Moldavia Bukovina and Bessarabia were subject to frequent pogroms and were concentrated into ghettos from which they were sent to Transnistria including camps built and run by the Romanian authorities Romanian soldiers and gendarmes also worked with the Einsatzkommandos German killing squads tasked with massacring Jews and Roma in conquered territories the local Ukrainian militia and the SS squads of local Ukrainian Germans Sonderkommando Russland and Selbstschutz Romanian troops were in large part responsible for the Odessa massacre in which from October 18 1941 until mid March 1942 Romanian soldiers in Odessa aided by gendarmes and police killed up to 25 000 Jews and deported more than 35 000 14 The number of deaths in all areas is not certain but the lowest respectable estimates run to about 250 000 Jews and 11 000 Roma in these eastern regions Nonetheless half of the Jews living within the pre Barbarossa borders survived the war although they were subject to a wide range of harsh conditions including forced labor financial penalties and discriminatory laws All Jewish property was nationalized The report commissioned and accepted by the Romanian government in 2004 on the Holocaust concluded 14 Of all the allies of Nazi Germany Romania bears responsibility for the deaths of more Jews than any country other than Germany itself The murders committed in Iasi Odessa Bogdanovka Domanovka and Peciora for example were among the most hideous murders committed against Jews anywhere during the Holocaust Romania committed genocide against the Jews The survival of Jews in some parts of the country does not alter this reality The royal coup EditMain article King Michael s Coup King Michael I of Romania led the coup that put Romania on the Allied side On 23 August 1944 with the Red Army penetrating German defenses during the Jassy Kishinev Offensive King Michael I of Romania led a successful coup against the Axis with support from opposition politicians most of the army and Communist led civilians 15 Michael I who was initially considered to be not much more than a figurehead was able to successfully depose the Antonescu dictatorship The King then offered a non confrontational retreat to German ambassador Manfred von Killinger But the Germans considered the coup reversible and attempted to turn the situation around by military force The Romanian First Second forming and what little was left of the Third and the Fourth Armies one corps were under orders from the King to defend Romania against any German attacks King Michael offered to put the Romanian Army which at that point had a strength of nearly 1 000 000 men 16 on the side of the Allies Stalin immediately recognized the king and the restoration of the conservative Romanian monarchy 17 In a radio broadcast to the Romanian nation and army on the night of 23 August King Michael issued a cease fire 15 proclaimed Romania s loyalty to the Allies announced the acceptance of an armistice to be signed on September 12 18 offered by Great Britain the United States and the USSR and declared war on Germany 19 The coup accelerated the Red Army s advance into Romania but did not avert a rapid Soviet occupation and capture of about 130 000 Romanian soldiers who were transported to the Soviet Union where many perished in prison camps The armistice was signed three weeks later on 12 September 1944 on terms virtually dictated by the Soviet Union 15 Under the terms of the armistice Romania announced its unconditional surrender 20 to the USSR and was placed under occupation of the Allied forces with the Soviet Union as their representative in control of media communication post and civil administration behind the front 15 Some attribute the postponement of a formal Allied recognition of the de facto change of orientation until 12 September the date the armistice was signed in Moscow to the complexities of the negotiations between the USSR and UK 21 Nicolae Ceaușescu and others welcome the Red Army as it enters Bucharest on 30 August 1944 During the Moscow Conference in October 1944 Winston Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom proposed an agreement to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on how to split up Eastern Europe into spheres of influence after the war The Soviet Union was offered a 90 share of influence in Romania 22 The Armistice Agreement of 12 September stipulated in Article 18 that An Allied Control Commission will be established which will undertake until the conclusion of peace the regulation of and control over the execution of the present terms under the general direction and orders of the Allied Soviet High Command acting on behalf of the Allied Powers The Annex to Article 18 made clear that The Romanian Government and their organs shall fulfil all instructions of the Allied Control Commission arising out of the Armistice Agreement The Agreement also stipulated that the Allied Control Commission would have its seat in Bucharest In line with Article 14 of the Armistice Agreement two Romanian People s Tribunals were set up to try suspected war criminals 23 Campaign against the Axis Edit Romanian operations against the Axis Romanian soldiers in Transylvania September October 1944 As the country declared war on Germany on the night of 23 August 1944 border clashes between Hungarian and Romanian troops erupted almost immediately On 24 August German troops attempted to seize Bucharest and suppress Michael s coup but were repelled by the city s defenses which received some support from the United States Air Force citation needed Other Wehrmacht units in the country suffered severe losses remnants of the Sixth Army retreating west of the Prut River were cut off and destroyed by the Red Army which was now advancing at an even greater speed while Romanian units attacked German garrisons at the Ploiești oilfields forcing them to retreat to Hungary The Romanian Army captured over 50 000 German prisoners around this time who were later surrendered to the Soviets 24 In early September 1944 Soviet and Romanian forces entered Transylvania and captured the towns of Brașov and Sibiu while advancing toward the Mureș River Their main objective was Cluj a city regarded as the historical capital of Transylvania However the Second Hungarian Army was present in the region and together with the Eighth German Army engaged the Allied forces on 5 September 1944 in what was to become the Battle of Turda which lasted until 8 October and resulted in heavy casualties for both sides citation needed Also around this time the Hungarian Army carried out its last independent offensive action of the war penetrating Arad County in western Romania Despite initial success a number of ad hoc Romanian cadet battalions managed to stop the Hungarian advance at the Battle of Păuliș and soon a combined Romanian Soviet counterattack overwhelmed the Hungarians who gave ground and evacuated Arad itself on 21 September citation needed The Battle of Carei marked the last stage of recovering Romania s former territory of Northern Transylvania ceded in 1940 to Hungary as a result of the Second Vienna Award On the evening of October 24 1944 the Romanian 6th Army Corps attacked in the direction of Carei with a force comprising 4 divisions at the same time the 2nd Infantry Division of 2nd Army Corps attacked in the direction of Satu Mare in a pincer movement On October 25 both cities were freed from Hungarian and German control by a decree from 1959 this day was established as the Romanian Armed Forces Day 25 26 The Romanian Army ended the war fighting against the Wehrmacht alongside the Red Army in Transylvania Hungary Yugoslavia Austria and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from August 1944 until the end of the war in Europe In May 1945 the First and Fourth armies took part in the Prague Offensive The Romanian Army incurred heavy casualties fighting Nazi Germany Of some 538 000 Romanian soldiers who fought against the Axis in 1944 45 some 167 000 were killed wounded or went missing 27 Location Beginning End Personnel Casualties KIA WIA MIA Mountains crossed Rivers crossed Liberated villages From which towns Lossesof the enemyRomania 1944 08 23 1945 05 12 gt 275 000 538 000 58 330 3 831 31 167 000 KIA WIAMaterielHungary 1944 10 08 1945 01 15 210 000 42 700 3 4 1 237 14 21 045 POW9 700 KIA WIAMaterielProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 1944 12 18 1945 05 12 248 430 66 495 10 4 1 722 31 22 803 KIA WIA POWAlpine and Danube Reichsgaue 1945 04 10 1945 05 12 2 000 100 7 1 4 000 KIA WIA POWMaterielTOTAL 1944 08 23 1945 05 12 538 536 169 822 20 12 3 821 53 117 798 POW18 731 KIALEGEND KIA Killed in Action MIA Missing in Action WIA Wounded in Action POW Prisoners of war 28 29 30 Aftermath EditMain articles Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina Soviet occupation of Romania and Socialist Republic of Romania Map of Romania after World War II indicating lost territories Under the 1947 Treaty of Paris 31 the Allies did not acknowledge Romania as a co belligerent nation but instead applied the term ally of Hitlerite Germany to all recipients of the treaty s stipulations Like Finland Romania had to pay 300 million to the Soviet Union as war reparations However the treaty specifically recognized that Romania switched sides on 24 August 1944 and therefore acted in the interests of all the United Nations As a reward Northern Transylvania was once again recognized as an integral part of Romania but the border with the USSR and Bulgaria was fixed at its state in January 1941 restoring the pre Barbarossa status quo with one exception Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 the Eastern territories became part of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova In Romania proper Soviet occupation following World War II facilitated the rise of the Communist Party as the main political force leading ultimately to the forced abdication of the King and the establishment of a single party people s republic in 1947 Major battles and campaigns EditThis is a list of battles and other combat operations in World War II in which Romanian forces took part Battle Date Location Romania and its allies Enemies IssueSoviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina 28 June 3 July 1940 Romania Romania Soviet Union DefeatLegionnaires rebellion and Bucharest pogrom 21 23 January 1941 Romania Romanian government Iron Guard VictoryAs part of the Axis 1941 1944 Operation Barbarossa 22 June 5 December 1941 Soviet Union Germany Romania Finland Italy Hungary Slovakia Croatia Soviet Union DefeatRaid on Constanța 26 June 1941 Romania Romania Germany Soviet Union VictoryOperation Munchen 2 26 July 1941 Romania Romania Germany Soviet Union VictoryBattle of Uman 15 July 8 August 1941 Soviet Union Germany Romania Hungary Slovakia Croatia Soviet Union VictorySiege of Odessa 8 August 16 October 1941 Soviet Union Romania Germany Soviet Union VictoryBattle of the Sea of Azov September 1941 August 1942 Soviet Union Romania Germany Soviet Union VictorySiege of Sevastopol 30 October 1941 4 July 1942 Soviet Union Germany Romania Italy Soviet Union VictoryBattle of Rostov 21 27 November 1941 Soviet Union Germany Romania Slovak Republic Soviet Union DefeatSecond Battle of Kharkov 12 28 May 1942 Soviet Union Germany Romania Italy Soviet Union VictoryCase Blue 28 June 24 November 1942 Soviet Union Germany Italy Romania Hungary Slovakia Croatia Soviet Union DefeatBattle of the Caucasus 25 July 1942 12 May 1944 Soviet Union Germany Italy Romania Soviet Union DefeatBattle of Stalingrad 23 August 1942 2 February 1943 Soviet Union Germany Italy Romania Hungary Croatia Soviet Union DefeatOperation Uranus 19 23 November 1942 Soviet Union Germany Italy Romania Hungary Soviet Union DefeatOperation Winter Storm 12 23 December 1942 Soviet Union Germany Romania Soviet Union DefeatOperation Little Saturn 12 December 1942 18 February 1943 Soviet Union Germany Italy Romania Hungary Soviet Union DefeatOperation Tidal Wave 1 August 1943 Romania Germany Romania Bulgaria United States VictoryDonbass Strategic Offensive 13 August 22 September 1943 Soviet Union Germany Italy Romania Hungary Soviet Union DefeatBattle of the Dnieper 24 August 23 December 1943 Soviet Union Germany Romania Soviet Union Czechoslovak Army Corps DefeatKerch Eltigen Operation November 1943 Soviet Union Germany Romania Soviet Union DefeatDnieper Carpathian Offensive 24 December 1943 14 April 1944 Soviet Union Germany Romania Soviet Union DefeatUman Botoșani Offensive 5 March 17 April 1944 Soviet Union Germany Romania Soviet Union DefeatFirst Jassy Kishinev Offensive 8 April 6 June 1944 Soviet Union Germany Romania Soviet Union VictoryCrimean Offensive 8 April 12 May 1944 Soviet Union Germany Romania Bulgaria Soviet Union DefeatLublin Brest Offensive 18 July 2 August 1944 Belarus Poland Germany Romania Soviet Union Poland DefeatJassy Kishinev Offensive First phase 20 23 August 1944 Romania Germany Romania Soviet Union Switched sidesAs part of the Allies 1944 1945 Jassy Kishinev Offensive Second phase 23 29 August 1944 Romania Soviet Union Romania aerial support United States Germany VictoryBattle of Turda 5 September 8 October 1944 Romania Soviet Union Romania Germany Hungary VictoryBattle of Păuliș 14 19 September 1944 Romania Romania Hungary VictoryBattle of Debrecen 6 29 October 1944 Hungary Soviet Union Romania Germany Hungary VictoryBattle of Carei 21 25 October 1944 Hungary Romania Hungary VictoryBudapest Offensive 29 October 1944 13 February 1945 Hungary Soviet Union Romania Germany Hungary VictorySiege of Budapest 29 December 1944 13 February 1945 Hungary Soviet Union Romania Germany Hungary VictoryBratislava Brno Offensive 25 March 5 May 1945 Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Slovakia Soviet Union Romania Czechoslovakia Army Corps Germany Hungary VictoryPrague Offensive 6 11 May 1945 Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Soviet Union Poland Romania Russian Liberation Army Germany Hungary Slovakia VictoryRomanian armament during World War II EditSee also Romanian Land Forces World War II and List of Romanian military equipment of World War II Modern non self propelled weapons Edit The list below displays the modern designed and built after the end of World War I infantry weapons and artillery pieces used by the Romanian Army during World War II Vessel Origin Number NotesRiflesvz 24 Czechoslovakia 445 640 700 000 ordered 445 640 received by the Romanian Army by mid 1943 32 Submachine gunsBeretta Model 38 Italy 5 000 5 000 ordered in 1941 and delivered during 1942 33 Orița M1941 Romania Unknown 10 000 Local design entered operational service with the Romanian Army in 1943 with a production rate of 666 pieces per month as of October 1942 34 MP 40 Germany Unknown Supplied by Germany 35 Machine gunsZB vz 30 Czechoslovakia Romania 28 000 18 000 imported from Czechoslovakia 32 and 10 000 licence built locally at Cugir 36 with a production rate of 250 pieces per month as of October 1942 34 ZB 53 Czechoslovakia 5 500 5 500 purchased 3 500 in 1941 followed by 2 000 in 1943 32 Hotchkiss M1929 France 200 200 ordered and all delivered before the fall of France 32 MortarsBrandt Mle 1935 Romania France 300 125 imported from France and well over 175 built locally under licence at the Voina Works in Brașov with a production rate of 26 pieces per month as of October 1942 37 38 Brandt Mle 27 31 Romania France 1 188 188 imported from France and well over 410 built locally under licence at the Voina Works in Brașov with a production rate of 30 pieces per month as of October 1942 37 38 over 1 000 such mortars were built in Romania by mid 1943 39 M1938 Romania Soviet Union Unknown hundreds Captured and reverse engineered Soviet model produced at the Reșița Works with a production rate of 80 pieces per month as of October 1942 34 Anti aircraft guns2 cm flak Germany 300 300 ordered in September 1940 the delivery beginning in May 1941 known as Gustloff guns after one of their manufacturers 40 20 mm Oerlikon Switzerland 45 45 pieces purchased from Germany 40 25 mm Hotchkiss France 72 300 ordered but only 72 delivered until the fall of France 32 3 7 cm flak Romania Germany 360 360 produced under licence at the Astra Works beginning with 1938 with 102 delivered by May 1941 and a production rate of 6 pieces per month as of October 1942 41 40 mm Bofors Sweden 54 54 purchased from Germany 40 75 mm Vickers Romania United Kingdom 200 200 built under licence by the Reșița Works with 100 delivered by mid 1941 and the second batch of 100 started in July 1941 the production rate being of 5 pieces per month as of October 1942 41 Anti tank guns25 mm Hotchkiss France Unknown Unknown quantity delivered 42 37 mm Bofors Sweden Poland 669 669 pieces former Polish ones purchased from Germany most common Romanian anti tank gun in 1941 40 45 mm M1942 Soviet Union Unknown Captured Soviet model some Romanian anti tank platoons had four pieces during the second half of World War II 43 47 mm Bohler Federal State of Austria Italy 820 545 made in Austria and 275 made in Italy all purchased from Germany 40 47 mm Schneider Romania France 300 160 purchased from France and well over 140 licence produced at the Concordia Works in Ploiești with a production rate of 14 pieces per month as of October 1942 37 38 50 mm Pak 38 Germany 110 Towed by captured and overhauled Komsomolets armored tractors 43 75 mm Pak 40 Germany Unknown During the second half of World War II some Romanian anti tank platoons each had three Pak 40 guns used interchangeably with Romania s own 75 mm Reșița Model 1943 anti tank gun 43 75 mm Reșița Romania 375 Native design combining features from several foreign models a total of 210 pieces were produced at the Reșița Works 120 at the Astra Works in Brașov and 42 at the Concordia Works in Ploiești in addition to three prototypes 44 Field artillery100 mm Skoda Czechoslovakia Romania 500 248 purchased from Czechoslovakia in the mid 1930s and 252 from Germany in 1940 1941 the Astra Works in Romania manufactured barrels 32 105 mm Schneider France 144 180 ordered but only 144 delivered until the fall of France 32 150 mm Skoda Czechoslovakia Romania 180 180 purchased from Czechoslovakia between 1936 and 1939 the Astra Works in Romania manufactured barrels 32 Tanks Edit See also Romanian armored fighting vehicle production during World War II The list below comprises the models and numbers of Romanian Army tanks of all types in service as of 19 July 1944 45 A Romanian TACAM T 60 during the National Day parade 10 May 1943 The Mareșal tank destroyer prototype M 05 the best known Romanian built armored vehicle of the war was in service with the M Battalion of the 2nd Armored Regiment from May to October 1944 46 Name Type Country of Origin QuantityFT 17 Light tank France 62R 1 Tankette Czechoslovakia 14R 35 Light tank France 30R 35 45 Tank destroyer Romania 30R 2 Light tank Czechoslovakia 44T 38 Light tank Nazi Germany 19T 3 Medium tank Nazi Germany 2T 4 Medium tank Nazi Germany 81TACAM T 60 Tank destroyer Romania 34TACAM R 2 Tank destroyer Romania 20TAs Assault gun Nazi Germany 60Mareșal Tank destroyer Romania 7STZ Tankette Romania 34Naval forces Edit Main article Romanian Navy during World War II Air force Edit Main article Romanian Air Force World War IISee also EditGerman Military Mission in Romania Military history of Romania List of battles of the Romanian Navy Latin Axis World War II Croatian Romanian Slovak friendship proclamationReferences Edit a b c d e f g h U S government Country study Romania c 1990 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain According to historian and author Mark Axworthy the second largest Axis army in Europe arguably belonged to Romania though most would dispute this regarding the Italian army as more significant Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 by Mark Axworthy Cornel Scafeș and Cristian Crăciunoiu page 9 Axworthy p 12 a b Axworthy p 13 Axworthy p 22 Henig Ruth 2013 The Origins of the Second World War 1933 1941 Routledge pp 92 93 ISBN 9781134319879 Michael Alfred Peszke The Polish Underground Army the Western Allies and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II McFarland 2005 ISBN 0 7864 2009 X Țiu Ilarion 2010 The legionary movement after Corneliu Codreanu from the dictatorship of King Carol II to the communist regime February 1938 August 1944 East European Monographs pp 184 186 ISBN 978 0 88033 659 8 OCLC 630496676 Vladimir Solonari A Satellite Empire Romanian Rule in Southwestern Ukraine 1941 1944 2019 Bachman Ronald D Keefe Eugene K Area handbook for Romania Library of Congress Federal Research Division 1991 Romania a country study The Library of Congress Washington D C The Division For sale by the Supt of Docs U S G P O pp 41 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Axworthy Mark Scafes Cornel Craciunoiu Cristian editors 1995 Third axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces In the European War 1941 1945 London Arms amp Armour Press pp 1 368 ISBN 963 389 606 1 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a first3 has generic name help McMichael Scott R 1985 The battle of Jassy Kishinev Military Review United States Army Combined Arms Center 65 7 52 65 a b c International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania November 11 2004 Executive Summary Historical Findings and Recommendations PDF Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority Retrieved 2012 05 17 a b c d Country Studies Romania Chap 23 Library of Congress Second World War 1941 1945 Archived from the original on 2012 07 13 Retrieved 2011 01 26 Deutscher Stalin 1967 p 519 in Romanian Delia Radu Serialul Ion Antonescu și asumarea istoriei 3 BBC Romanian edition August 1 2008 in Romanian The Dictatorship Has Ended and along with It All Oppression From The Proclamation to The Nation of King Michael I on The Night of August 23 1944 Archived 2016 02 28 at the Wayback Machine Curierul Național August 7 2004 King Proclaims Nation s Surrender and Wish to Help Allies The New York Times August 24 1944 in Romanian Constantiniu Florin O istorie sinceră a poporului roman An Honest History of the Romanian People Ed Univers Enciclopedic Bucuresti 1997 ISBN 973 9243 07 X European Navigator The division of Europe The Armistice Agreement with Romania Archived from the original on August 20 2016 in Romanian Florin Mihai Sărbătoarea Armatei Romane Archived 2013 06 16 at the Wayback Machine Jurnalul Național October 25 2007 Curtifan Tudor 25 October 2019 Ziua Armatei Bătălia de la Carei Ultima palmă de pămant romanesc eliberată in Ardeal defenseromania ro in Romanian Retrieved 4 March 2022 Ilie Andreea October 25 2019 25 octombrie 1944 eliberarea Ardealului de sub ocupația trupelor nazisto horthyste Tineri și bătrani ați pornit spre hotarele sfinte ale patriei și cu piepturile voastre ați făcut zăgaz neinfricat dușmanului care voia să ajungă la Carpați activenews ro in Romanian Retrieved 4 March 2022 Third Axis Fourth Ally p 214 in Romanian Teroarea horthysto fascistă in nord vestul Romaniei București 1985 in Romanian Romulus Dima Contribuția Romaniei la infrangerea Germaniei fasciste București 1982 Armata Romană in al Doilea Război Mondial Romanian Army in World War II Editura Meridiane București 1995 ISBN 973 33 0329 1 United Nations Treaty Series volume 49 a b c d e f g h Mark Axworthy London Arms and Armour 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 p 29 Mark Axworthy London Arms and Armour 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 p 76 a b c Mark Axworthy London Arms and Armour 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 p 75 Mark Axworthy Osprey Publishing 1991 The Romanian Army of World War II p 42 John Walter Greenhill Books 2004 Guns of the Third Reich p 86 a b c Mark Axworthy London Arms and Armour 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 pp 29 30 and 75 a b c Great Britain Foreign Office Ministry of Economic Warfare 1944 Rumania Basic Handbook p 27 Mark Axworthy London Arms and Armour 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 p 147 a b c d e Mark Axworthy London Arms and Armour 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 p 30 a b Mark Axworthy London Arms and Armour 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 pp 30 and 75 American Military Institute 1996 The Journal of Military History Volume 60 p 720 a b c Ronald L Tarnstrom Trogen Books 1998 Balkan Battles p 407 Mark Axworthy London Arms and Armour 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 pp 149 and 235 237 Mark Axworthy London Arms and Armour 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 pp 153 and 219 Mark Axworthy London Arms and Armour 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 p 232 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Romania a country study Country Studies Federal Research Division Further reading EditFurther information Ion Antonescu References and further reading Bucur Maria April 1 2002 Treznea Trauma nationalism and the memory of World War II in Romania Rethinking History 6 1 35 55 doi 10 1080 13642520110112100 S2CID 143005164 Harward Grant T 2021 Romania s Holy War Soldiers Motivation and the Holocaust Ithaca New York Cornell University Press ISBN 9781501759963 Bucur Maria Heroes and victims Remembering war in twentieth century Romania Indiana University Press 2009 Butnaru I C Silent Holocaust Romania amp Its Jews HIA Book Collection 1992 225pp Case Holly Between states the Transylvanian question and the European idea during World War II Stanford University Press 2009 Crăciunoiu Cristian Mark W A Axworthy Cornel Scafeș 1995 Third Axis Fourth Ally Romanian Armed Forces in the European War 1941 1945 London Arms amp Armour p 368 ISBN 1 85409 267 7 Deletant Dennis Romania in The Oxford Companion to World War II edited by I C B Dear and M R D Foot 2001 pp 954 959 Deletant Dennis Hitler s Forgotten Ally Ion Antonescu and his Regime Romania 1940 44 London 2006 Glantz David M 2007 Red Storm over the Balkans The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania Spring 1944 Lawrence University Press of Kansas p 448 ISBN 978 0 7006 1465 3 Harward Grant T Romania s Holy War Soldiers Motivation and the Holocaust Ithaca NY Cornell Univ Press 2021 Pp xvi 340 ISBN 978 1 5017 5996 3 Review at https www miwsr com 2022 066 aspx Thomas Martin To arm an ally French arms sales to Romania 1926 1940 Journal of Strategic Studies 19 2 1996 231 259 Michelson Paul E Recent American historiography on Romania and the second world war Romanian Civilization 1996 5 2 pp 23 42 Solonari Vladimir 2019 A satellite empire Romanian rule in southwestern Ukraine 1941 1944 Cornell University Press ISBN 9781501743191 Popa Ion 2018 The 7th Roșiori Cavalry Regiment and the Holocaust in Romania and the Soviet Union Dapim Studies on the Holocaust 32 1 38 56 doi 10 1080 23256249 2018 1432250 S2CID 159021449 Porter Ivor Operation Autonomous With SOE in Wartime Romania 1989 268pp The British intelligence operation Saiu Liliana Great Powers amp Rumania 1944 1946 A Study of the Early Cold War Era HIA Book Collection 1992 290pp Weinbaum Laurence The Banality of History and Memory Romanian Society and the Holocaust Post Holocaust and Anti Semitism No 45 June 2006 Some passages in this article have been taken from the public domain U S Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress Country Study on Romania sponsored by the U S Department of the Army researched shortly before the 1989 fall of Romania s Communist regime and published shortly after Romania World War II accessed July 19 2005 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain Country Studies Federal Research Division External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Romania in World War II Military and political history Edit Axis History Factbook Romania worldwar2 ro Romanian Armed Forces in the Second World War Dan Reynolds The Rifles of Romania 1878 1948 Paul Paustovanu The War in the East seen by the Romanian Veterans of Bukovina Rebecca Ann Haynes A New Greater Romania Romanian Claims to the Serbian Banat in 1941 Stefan Gheorge Romania s economic arguments regarding the shortness of the Second World War Map of Romania s territorial changes during World War II World War II archive images with the Romanian ForcesHolocaust Edit Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania pdf Bucharest Romania International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania November 2004 p 89 Retrieved 2012 05 17 Murder of the Jews of Romania Archived 2021 10 26 at the Wayback Machine on the Yad Vashem website Holocaust in Romania from Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project Forget You Not Roma Holocaust victims speak out lt Greater Romania History of Romania Communist Romania gt Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Romania in World War II amp oldid 1137597476, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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