Romania in World War II

It was clear that Karol needed to receive divine sanction in the form of the patriarch heading the cabinet of ministers in order to implement radical changes. And they were not slow to follow. In February 1938, the king held a referendum to approve the new constitution. Voting took place as follows - the voter had to come to the polling station and verbally, of course, without any observance of the secrecy of the will, speak out for or against the fundamental law. The constitution is adopted by a 99.87% majority.

The new basic law radically expands the powers of the king. The existence of a parliament, it is true, is also provided for, but the essence of this institution is changing due to the fact that all parties are banned. Instead, the National Renaissance Front is being created. Very quickly, 3.5 million people join it. Young people do not have to make a choice at all - the entire population of the country who has reached the age of 17 is enrolled in the organization "Guards of the Sea". In vain, communist propaganda scolded Karol for many decades - after all, the man did so much to prepare the future citizens of socialist Romania and Soviet Moldova for their already very close communist future.

Introduced the death penalty, more than a hundred years earlier canceled by General Kiselev. But the right to vote now extends to women. Another thing is that only the youngest girls had a chance to live until the next free elections - Romania and Moldova had to wait 52 years for them.

The country meekly accepted the destruction by the king of democratic institutions that had been so long and difficult to build. Karol, in turn, did not use repressions against representatives of democratic parties, being satisfied that they were sitting quietly. But in the legionnaires, he saw serious opponents, the fifth column of the German Nazis, and, presumably, he was simply jealous of Codreanu's popularity. So mass arrests fell upon them, and then executions. Codreanu was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison, but in November 1938, by order of the king, he was killed in prison.

If at the time of the establishment of the royal dictatorship in Romania, the situation in Europe was still relatively calm, then in the following months, as if trying to justify the measures of the Romanian authorities for internal consolidation, it begins to deteriorate rapidly. The betrayal by Great Britain and France of Czechoslovakia, which led to the rejection of the Sudetenland by Hitler in October 1938, was very bad news for Romania. The country felt abandoned by its traditional allies, defenseless in the face of the USSR, Hungary and Bulgaria, who were thirsting for revenge. The ancient fear, which receded in 1856 and seemed to dissipate in 1918, begins to rise again from the depths of the Romanian soul.

In March 1939, Germany liquidates Czechoslovakia. The Small Entente, from which the strongest link has been knocked out, ceases to exist. Karol, although inspired by Italian and German examples in domestic politics, still wants to remain an ally of Great Britain and France. But the fear of Hitler is also growing. Therefore, Romania is trying to please both camps of opponents in the impending war.

The Romanians are inferior to the Nazis on the most important issue for the latter, which will run like a red thread through the entire history of Romanian-German relations during World War II - access to Romanian oil. On March 23, 1939, an economic agreement is concluded between Romania and Germany, according to which the latter becomes the priority buyer of Romanian oil, but Hitler does not want to pay in hard currency. The Germans pay off by barter, mostly with weapons. This ends the golden age of the oil boom in Romania.

On the other hand, in April 1939 Romania accepted the British and French military guarantees of its sovereignty. A project for a joint confrontation with Germany by the forces of France, Great Britain, the USSR and Eastern European countries begins to be developed. Refusal of Poland to admit to its territory Soviet troops led to the failure of this first attempt to create anti-Hitler coalition followed by the conclusion of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the outbreak of World War II. The consequences of the Polish refusal became catastrophic, but the events of 1944-1948. proved that there were good reasons for such a decision.

Having agreed with Stalin on the division of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, Hitler agreed to the return of the USSR to the territories that had ceded to Romania in 1918, and at the same time belonged to Romania, but inhabited mainly by Ukrainians in northern Bukovina.

Romania did not know that it had already begun to be divided, but the brutal defeat of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union could not but give rise to the most terrible premonitions about their own future. Great Britain and France, following the guarantees provided to Poland, declared war on the Nazis. The Romanian leadership, numb with horror, does not even dare to think about any attempts to join the struggle on the side of its allies in the last world war. At the Crown Council on September 6, 1939, a decision was made to strictly observe neutrality.

But the Romanians nevertheless showed a minimum of solidarity in the tragedy that befell Poland. The border with Romania was the only loophole where the Poles could hide from the German and Soviet vise that squeezed them. In September 1939, many trains passed through Romanian territory, carrying the Polish government and gold reserves, thousands of soldiers and refugees. They reached the Black Sea ports of Romania, from where they went into a long exile.

While the trains with the unfortunate Poles went through Romania from the northern border to Constanta, events broke out in the country, ugly in terms of the intensity of hatred and rampant barbarism. On September 21, 1939, Prime Minister Călinescu (who took over the government in March 1939, after the death of the patriarch) was assassinated by the Iron Guard. In response, the king, distraught with fear and hatred, ordered immediately, without trial, to kill 252 legionnaires who were in prison. The bodies of the dead were thrown into the main streets of Romanian cities and lay there for three days to intimidate the people. Romania dreamed of being like Ancient Rome, and achieved something. If Karol I is comparable in his merits with the emperor Octavian Augustus, then in the person of Karol II the country received a ruler in the spirit of Nero or Caligula.

The Romanians might indeed have been frightened for a long time, but in their past, which was now returning, external circumstances often prevented the strengthening of the power of tyrants at home. On May 10, 1940, German troops launched a general offensive on the western front. By the end of May french army was defeated, the remnants of the English fled from the continent. On June 14, the Nazis entered Paris. On June 22, France surrendered. On June 17, the USSR proceeds to the occupation and annexation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Only 20 years have passed since the West was at the height of its power. But the top is a slippery and windy thing, it is not easy to stay on it for a long time. From the turn of the 1920s - 30s economic crisis, the growth of the power of the Soviet Union and the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany undermined the strength and influence of Western civilization so that it now stood on the brink of death. Romania had shared in the triumph of the West in 1918, and now she had to share in its disasters.

The situation forces the Romanians to make decisions quickly - already on May 28, without waiting for the final fall of France, the Romanian Crown Council decides on the country's orientation towards an alliance with Germany. But in the fate of the eastern lands of Romania, already spelled out in the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, this could not change anything.

On the night of June 27, 1940, the USSR presented an ultimatum to Romania demanding the immediate transfer of the eastern provinces. English guarantees are still formally in force, but it is obvious to everyone that Great Britain cannot provide any assistance. Romanians ask for German support, but receive a recommendation from Berlin not to resist Soviet Union. June 28 Romania accepts an ultimatum, and on the same day the Soviet army crosses the Dniester.

Parts of the Soviet army occupy Bessarabia and northern Bukovina in three days, ahead of the Romanian military units and administration trying to evacuate at least something, as well as hundreds of thousands of refugees rushing to the Prut. Bessarabian Jews, being offended by the Romanian society for anti-Semitism, and trying to curry favor with the new masters, welcome the Soviet troops and rob the property of the Romanian army and administration. On July 3, the withdrawal of Romanian troops from the provinces transferred to the Soviet Union is completed. Together with them, about 300 thousand refugees leave Bessarabia and northern Bukovina - a significant part of the representatives of the propertied and educated classes of these lands. Those who ventured to stay soon regretted it. During the year from the moment of the Soviet occupation to the offensive of the German and Romanian troops in June 1941, 90 thousand people were repressed in Eastern Moldavia and Northern Bukovina. The most severe blow to the population of the regions was the deportation of 31 thousand Bessarabians and Bukovinians in June 1941. There was also a considerable reverse flow - 150 thousand inhabitants of Eastern Moldavia who were in other regions of Romania, either hoping for a better future under socialism, or fearing the closure of the border , hurried back to their homeland.

On August 2, 1940, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a resolution on the creation of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. At the same time, the borders in the region have undergone a serious revision. Northern Bukovina, as well as southern Bessarabia adjacent to the Danube and the Black Sea, where the Moldavians were a minority, were transferred to Ukraine. Part of the Bulgarian and Gagauz lands went to Moldova. But there were no Germans left in these lands. By agreement between the USSR and Germany, all of them in the amount of 110 thousand were taken to German territory. The Germans traveled with greater comfort than those Bessarabians whom the Soviet authorities took to Siberia, but it is unlikely that separation from their homeland, where several generations of their ancestors lived, became much easier from this.

But a strip of land along east coast The Dniester, on which the Moldavian autonomy previously existed, was taken from Ukraine and transferred to Moldova.

The new possessions of the communist empire were brought to the all-Soviet standard with maximum speed. Already in July, they exchanged lei for rubles, which ensured equality in poverty for the population of the new Soviet lands - only a very small amount was exchanged, and all savings in excess of it turned into nothing. On August 15, 1940, a law was followed on the nationalization of all large and medium-sized enterprises in Eastern Moldavia and Northern Bukovina. And the Soviet authorities did not have to close the free Russian-language press of Bessarabia - this work was done for them by the Romanian royal dictatorship in 1938.

Greater Romania no longer existed. The country was again defenseless, desperately looking for a ruler whose patronage would allow it to survive. Karol II demonstrates his readiness to go to any humiliation, if only Hitler would protect the unfortunate country from its neighbors.

The surviving legionnaires are amnestied, and their new leader, Horia Sima, is included in the cabinet of ministers. Jews are dismissed from state institutions, a law is passed banning marriages with representatives of the “small people”. Continuing to live with a Jewish woman without formalizing the relationship, Karol, presumably, shows his subjects that the ugly law he has adopted can be easily circumvented. Romania refuses British military guarantees and withdraws from the League of Nations, then asks to join it to the Berlin-Rome axis.

After leaving the eastern regions, Defense Minister Ion Antonescu demanded that the king grant him emergency powers, for which he was removed and sent into exile. Karol's power still held out, but the events that put an end to it were approaching quickly and inexorably.

Romania seems to be able to count on the understanding of Germany, given the importance of its oil sources. But Romanian fuel is not yet critical for the Nazis. Relations with the USSR are good, and Germany can buy oil there. So Karol receives from Berlin the most terrible answer he expected - Germany will condescend to an alliance with Romania only after the claims of Hungary and Bulgaria regarding compensation for the lost in 1918 and 1913 are settled.

Budapest demands to give up most of Transylvania, agreeing to leave some areas along the southern Carpathians to the Romanians. Bucharest is trying to object. Germany, as the supreme European arbiter, undertakes to make an arbitral award. On August 30, 1940, the decision of the Vienna Arbitration was announced - Transylvania is divided in half. Romania must give Hungary the northern part of the region with Cluj and the Szekely lands. Thousands of Romanians themselves flee northern Transylvania, and thousands more are deported by the Hungarian authorities to Romanian territory. In general, Romania receives another 300,000 displaced persons. In a number of places the Hungarian army massacres the Romanian population.

Finally, on September 7, 1940, an agreement was signed in Craiova with Bulgaria on the return of southern Dobruja to it. Although the Bulgarians and Romanians do not seem to be divided by fierce enmity, according to the custom of the fierce times that have come, the parties agree on mutual ethnic cleansing. Several tens of thousands of Bulgarians are being deported from Romania, several tens of thousands of Romanians are being deported from Bulgaria. In total, Romania in 1940 lost a third of its territory and a third of its population.

Cruelty, corruption and the pervasive influence of the Jewish mistress have long made Carol II unpopular in the country. For the time being, he was feared. But the endless nightmare of surrendering Romanian lands without a fight forced the Romanians to overcome fear. The finest hour of the legionnaires has come. After the decision of the Vienna Arbitration on Transylvania was announced, hundreds of thousands of people across the country, responding to the call of the leadership of the Iron Guard, took to the streets demanding the abdication of Karol from the throne. To force the army to fight against its own people, which had just given away many lands to foreign peoples without a fight, the king did not dare.

He is trying to find common ground with society by placing the disgraced Minister of Defense Antonescu at the head of the government on 4 September. But he deals the final blow to him - on behalf of the army, he joins the demand of the Iron Guards for the abdication of the king. There is nothing more to hope for, so on the morning of September 6, Carol II abdicates the throne. The day is spent collecting and loading money and valuables that will help the deposed king and his girlfriend spend the rest of their days comfortably, and in the evening Karol and Elena Lupescu board a train that takes them to the Yugoslav border.

The deposed monarch lived until 1953, settling in Portugal. Leaving the homeland that delivered this lover good life so much trouble and grief for a man, Karol, finally, formalized a legal marriage with Elena Lupescu.

Mihai returns to the Romanian throne. He has already reached the age of majority, but no one intends to allow the king to rule the country. The only thing he needs is to endow Prime Minister Antonescu with dictatorial powers. But the young man can meet his mother again. Queen Helena returns from exile.

A frightening-looking column of legionary militants is marching through the streets of Bucharest. Multi-million dollar royal party of 1938 disappears overnight without a trace. Romania is proclaimed a "national legionary state". As in the early days of Turkish domination, when Dracula raged in Wallachia, the people are not ready to come to terms with the loss of the country's former status. Discipline, determination and ruthlessness towards enemies should help the nation overcome a merciless fate.

The object of revenge for Romania's impotence in the face of external enemies is people of the “wrong” nationality living quietly inside the country. In the autumn of 1940, laws were passed on the nationalization of the property of Jews and Hungarians, then on their dismissal from all more or less decent jobs. The persecution of the Jews also serves to improve relations with Germany, with which hopes for revenge are associated.

And things are improving in this direction. The Nazi government says that now that Romania has shared its lands with its neighbors, it can provide it with guarantees of territorial integrity. The latter very quickly receive a material embodiment - in October, German troops are introduced into Romania. November 23, Antonescu is favorably received in Berlin, where Romania's accession to the Berlin-Rome axis is formalized.

It remains only to decide who will lead the country to revenge - Antonescu or legionnaires led by Sima. The government formed in September included several legionnaires, but the military loyal to the prime minister occupied key posts. The Iron Guards are putting more and more pressure on Antonescu, demanding the transfer of control over the army and police, the entire social life and the economy of the country.

Organized in November, the reburial of Codreanu and other legionnaires who were victims of the royal dictatorship sent society into a state of hysteria. The general brutality, the first victims of which were Jews and Hungarians, now fell upon the Romanians as well. On the night when the secret burial of Codreanu was opened in the courtyard of the Jilava prison, the legionnaires killed 64 officials from the time of the royal dictatorship, who were sitting there, in the following days, the economist Madzharu and the historian Iorgu. Nature, as it were, also responded to the madness of people - in November 1940, a powerful earthquake led to great destruction and casualties in the south of Moldavia and in the east of Wallachia. In Bucharest, the elite residential complex "Carlton" collapsed - a 12-story concrete brainchild of the economic boom of the second half of the thirties. Thus, the hopes of Romania to quickly and simply come to an industrial democratic society fell apart.

However, the opinions of Romanian historians as to whether the Holocaust took place in their country are divided. Because Romanians destroyed Jews, but not on Romanian territory. There was no persecution in Romania itself after the Iasi pogrom. Many were even able to keep their property, since there were enough loopholes in the laws of 1940, such as an exception for Jews "having services to the Romanian state."

Although the Moldavian peasantry, of course, bore the brunt of the war, for them the short return of the Romanians was a respite between Soviet taxes. During the three years of Romanian rule in Bessarabia, 417 thousand tons of grain were collected in the form of taxes and requisitions, while at the same time in 1940-1941, in just one year of Soviet administration, the state took 356 thousand tons of grain. And in 1944, the returned Soviet government pumped out 480 thousand tons from the war-ravaged Eastern Moldavia!

If in Eastern Moldova there is a significant partisan movement was not, then 10,000 partisans settled in the huge catacombs of Odessa. The Romanian army did not make any attempt to defeat them, the partisans were also limited to minor operations. So all two and a half years of occupation in Odessa, there were two authorities side by side - from above Romania, from below - the USSR.

Meanwhile, the quagmire of war dragged Romania deeper and deeper. I had to fight not only with those who had taken the eastern provinces of the USSR, but also with those to whom the Romanians had no claims. On December 7, 1941, Romania declared war on Great Britain, on December 12, fulfilling an allied duty to Japan, the United States. In the east, the clash between the USSR and Germany approached highest point. In the spring of 1942, after the success near Moscow, the Soviet army launched a series of counter-offensives against the Germans, but was not ready and was driven back with heavy losses, after which the Nazis launched an offensive on the southern sector of the front. The Romanian army took part in the most important of the battles of the spring campaign of 1942 - the defeat of the Soviet troops near Kharkov. In June-July 1942, the Romanians helped the Germans take Sevastopol.

By the end of the summer of 1942, the Nazis managed to ensure the greatest mobilization of their European allies. It had already become clear that it was incredibly difficult to defeat the Soviet Union, but after the German victories in the spring of 1942, Hitler's chances seemed to be preferable. Therefore, two German, one Italian and one Hungarian armies went on the offensive against Stalingrad. There were two Romanian armies, as well as German ones. In total, Romania had about 400,000 people on the eastern front in 1942 - two-thirds of the forces at its disposal. Hungary sent only one-third of its army to the eastern front. Of all the Europeans forced to fight for Hitler, the Romanians were still the most enthusiastic in selling their souls to the Nazi devil.

By the end of August, when the German troops began the assault on Stalingrad, the Romanian forces (third and fourth armies) were entrusted with the responsible task of covering the German troops fighting for Stalingrad from both flanks. The Third Army occupied the front line, which went northwest from Stalingrad along the Don and turned to central Russia. The Fourth Army was deployed on a huge front between Stalingrad and the Caucasus, in the steppes of Kalmykia.

September, October, half of November passed. The terrible massacre in Stalingrad continued month after month, but the Soviet troops fought to the death and did not allow the Nazis to reach the lines outlined by Hitler. Romanian soldiers froze in the trenches and died in battles thousands of kilometers from their native land. And they died inefficiently. They had to fight against the Soviet army, which, despite the terrible situation in the country, received tanks, guns, and aircraft in abundance. The technical lag of the Romanian army during the Second World War was almost greater than in the First. An outstanding achievement of the interwar period was the construction of our own aircraft factory and the creation of good combat aircraft. But the artillery was poor, and the huge war exhausted its capabilities - by November 1942, the Romanian Third Army had only 20% of the necessary ammunition. The Romanians were representatives of an oil-producing country, but their army had only 30% of the required gasoline in the most important strategic direction.

And most importantly, there were negligibly few tanks. The Third Army consisted of eight infantry and two cavalry divisions, there were no tank formations, and on the northern bank of the Don, hundreds of combat vehicles of the Soviet Fifth Tank Army were deployed to attack the Romanian infantry and cavalry.

So the artillery and tank hell that opened up on the Romanian positions along the Don on November 19, 1942 did not give the Romanians any chance. In the history of the Romanian wars, as we know, there were cases when the army fought to the last, but this happened only when defending the last line on their native land. There was nothing similar here, so the third Romanian army fled and was destroyed in a matter of days. The Fourth Army, on which the Soviet attack hit on November 20, withdrew with heavy losses. The lightning-fast defeat of the Romanians allowed the Soviet army very quickly, by November 23, to surround the German forces that had stormed Stalingrad. In January 1943, the withdrawal of the Nazis from the Caucasus began. At the same time, the only Hungarian army sent to the eastern front died near Voronezh.

The enemy turned out to be stronger than not only the Romanians, but also the Germans. In the early 1920s, the Russian Bolsheviks experienced great disappointment when the rest of the world, even after a terrible war, did not make a communist revolution. But the belief in the correctness of the communist idea of ​​the Bolsheviks did not leave, so it was decided to make the world happy by force. And in creating a strong army, designed to carry the red banners and impose the power of party committees throughout the earth, the USSR succeeded. The general confiscation of property by the state from the people made it possible to create an unprecedented system of resource mobilization in terms of efficiency and cruelty. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall the 30,000 Bessarabians sent deep into the USSR to work on slave terms - for minimal food, without a penny of wages, and the scale of grain procurements in Eastern Moldavia.

And one more earlier circumstance. In 1933, Romania began to emerge from the crisis, agriculture revived, and nothing resembling a famine was observed. And beyond the Dniester, where climatic conditions could not seriously differ from Romanian ones, millions of Soviet peasants, from whom the latter was taken away for the industrialization of the communist empire, were dying of hunger. Near Stalingrad, those peasants who survived in 1933, but now died by the millions on the fronts of the bloodiest war in human history, were given moral compensation for their suffering - they became citizens of a great power. And for the Romanians, in the winter sky over the frozen Don steppes, ruthless fate began to display the first lines new chapter their history is from the era of communist rule.

Defeat

Nazi Germany had no truly loyal allies. Hungary, after the defeat of its army near Voronezh, curtailed participation in the struggle on the eastern front. Bulgaria, which took advantage of Hitler's victories over Yugoslavia and Greece, never sent a single soldier against the Soviet Union. Far to the west, Franco, who came to power largely thanks to the support of Germany, could have prevented the penetration of the American and British fleets into the Mediterranean, but he did not think to do so. A country whose official ideology was extreme nationalism could hardly hope for anything better. Antonescu was Hitler's best ally, but his words about his readiness to go to the end were not sincere either.

The harsh history of the country has developed among the Romanian elite an exceptionally keen sense of who this moment strength and luck. And if in 1940 the Romanian Crown Council decided to seek an alliance with the Nazis even before the final fall of France, then Antonescu orders the withdrawal of most of the Romanian forces from the eastern front already on November 26, 1942. Complete the withdrawal of the remnants of the third and fourth armies within the Romanian possessions succeed in February 1943. On the eastern front, 40,000 Romanian troops remain, who fight in the North Caucasus, then evacuate to the Crimea, where they receive a respite until April 1944.

Antonescu's strategy is changing. He is doing everything possible to restore and strengthen the Romanian army, but is in no hurry to throw it into the hell of the eastern front again. Domestic politics softens. There is no more talk of further extermination of the Jews. Hitler's demand to start sending them to concentration camps on the territory of the Reich is ignored by the Romanian authorities. The Jewish population of Odessa, although it suffered losses in the first months of the occupation, largely survived thanks to a change in the approach of the Romanians. At the same time, Germany's attitude towards Romania is quite loyal - Hitler knows that without Romanian oil he will end.

Rumania's hopes are pinned on the advance of American and British troops, especially since their main theater of operations is relatively close to Romanian territory. In May 1943, the Allies defeat the Germans and Italians in Africa, and on September 8, their landing in Italy leads to the overthrow of the Nazis and the country's withdrawal from the war. This development of events gives Romania hope that the troops of the Western members of the anti-Hitler coalition will land in the Balkans, and then it will be possible to join them in order to expel the Nazis from South-Eastern Europe and prevent the Communists from entering there. But the course of the Italian campaign may already give rise to doubts about the reality of the prospects presented by the Romanian politicians. reluctance democratic governments to shed the blood of its citizens, which led to the grandiose defeats of the West in 1938-1940, and is now turning into indecisive hostilities. The Americans and the British allow the Germans to take over

The reader is offered excerpts from the memoirs of Manole Zamfir, recorded by his friend.

Today, Sergeant Manola Zamfir is 86 years old, he lives alone in the village of Sinesti, 25 kilometers from Bucharest. He is called "Uncle Manole"; Few people know that he is a World War II veteran. His wife recently died at an advanced age. His son, who is almost60, lives in Bucharest. Uncle Manole owns an old adobe three-room house, a goat and a plot of land with an area of ​​2000 square meters. On this piece of land, he grew the most beautiful garden in the whole village, and lives on its fruits.–vegetables and grapes that he cultivates himself. Many young peasants come to him for advice on crop production. Near his garden is my summer house, we have known him for 10 years. I wrote down his story, because I think: such a person deserves not to be forgotten..

On February 15, 1941, the training of the soldier Manole Zamfir began in military school named after Petru Rares near Cernavoda. After leaving school, he was enlisted in the sapper company of the 36th regiment of the 9th infantry division (battalion commander - Major Sekarianu, regiment commander - Colonel Vatasescu, division commander - General Panaiti).

On September 1, 1942, part of it was sent to the Don section of the Eastern Front. The fighters of the unit were taken by train to the station in the city of Stalino, and then they marched for 6 weeks to the front line. At the time of their arrival, the situation on this sector of the front was calm, and they received the task of building fortifications and winter shelters.

The first serious attack by Soviet troops on their positions began on November 9, 1942. It turned out to be unsuccessful, the Red Army units suffered heavy losses. This attack was followed by a month of heavy fighting, with attacks from both sides, resulting in neither side making any significant progress. It was a senseless massacre in which both sides suffered heavy casualties.

During the attacks, under the command of Soviet officers, the Red Army soldiers shouted (in Romanian): “Brothers, why are you killing us? Antonescu and Stalin drink vodka together, and we kill each other for nothing!”

Romanian soldiers were sent to frontal infantry attacks, which were preceded by artillery shelling of enemy positions. On the one hand, the Romanian artillery had little effect on the strengths of the enemy, since the guns were of small caliber, and the shots were not accurate. Our other weakness was the obsolescence of weapons. Most of the soldiers were armed with ZB rifles with bayonets. There were only two machine guns and one Brandt cannon per company, and 1-2 machine guns per platoon. This led to huge losses, sometimes up to 90% of the personnel. During this period, Manola Zamfir was awarded the rank of sergeant - both for bravery and to compensate for losses among sergeants.

He recalls that after one of the unsuccessful attacks, only 7 soldiers survived from the entire company, including himself. Young officers from the command of the sapper company died so often that Sergeant Zamfir did not even have time to learn their names. During the attacks, they were in front, so they were often killed first.

After several battles, Romanian soldiers began to use captured weapons and equipment. Sergeant Zamfir took the Beretta submachine gun as his main weapon. With regard to anti-tank weapons, the situation was even worse. Grenades against tanks were ineffective, and there were no mines or special anti-tank weapons. Molotov cocktails were used quite successfully. When the tank caught fire, the crew surrendered. But there were few tanks on this sector of the front, and Soviet commanders rarely used them to support infantry attacks. They kept the tanks behind their infantry, for a kind of artillery support, useless enough. And the Romanian sappers used tanks mainly in those cases when they moved forward during the attacks.

Most of the fighting was the usual for the Second World War - infantry attacks with hand-to-hand combat in trenches. In one of these fights, Sergeant Zamfir stabbed a Soviet soldier with a bayonet. Before he died, this soldier told him in Romanian that he had five children at home. Until today, Uncle Manole regrets that incident, although he knows that he had no choice.

Another striking event on that sector of the front was the order received from the German high command to kill all Soviet prisoners. For the Romanian officers, this was unacceptable, so the Romanian soldiers who released the Soviet prisoners, taking their weapons and equipment from them, were not punished. Many times, after successful attacks by the Romanian units, those captured by them ran across the "no man's" lane, while the Romanian officers "looked the other way." Sgt. Zamfir remembers a time when his platoon captured four female officers (these were supply unit officers caught on the front lines). The company commander ordered him to take them behind a thick bush and shoot them there. In these bushes, Manole asked the women if they spoke Romanian. To his surprise, they all knew Romanian, as they were Moldavians. And he told them: “Now you know where the positions of your troops are. I'll shoot at the ground, I hope I never see you here again. Women are made to be mothers, not soldiers!” The captives kissed him and disappeared into the forest. After that, he fired several bursts into the ground and returned to his platoon.

Romanian troops in the south of Moldova, 1944.

Some Romanian soldiers raped Soviet women when the opportunity arose. Sergeant Zamfir was horrified by this, he is convinced that this is one of the worst sins. If an officer saw this, he would have shot such a soldier on the spot, but the soldiers were not constantly in front of the officers. Often the rapists were punished by their own fighters. If the rapist was wounded, he was never taken out of the battlefield.

At the end of 1942, four high-ranking German officers visited the positions of the Romanian troops. Although the front advanced only 2-3 kilometers after several weeks of fierce fighting, the German general proclaimed: "Even before next Christmas, we will march with you through the streets of America!" Sergeant Zamfir had no idea where this America was, he fought to the point of exhaustion in the cold Russian winter in the hope of surviving and celebrating the next Christmas alive.

Three days after the visit of the German officers, the Soviet troops launched a massive attack supported by powerful artillery fire, as well as many T-34 tanks and dive bombers. In just one night, the Romanian front was broken through, and a hasty retreat of the troops began. Soviet soldiers shouted to us: “Romanian brothers, see you in Bucharest!”

In the first week, the retreat was so fast that they left the wounded who could not walk. Sergeant Zamfir cannot forget the desperate cries of the wounded soldiers and their hands, with which they tried to reach their comrades. The Soviet army killed all the wounded prisoners.

The Romanian troops had almost no supplies, so they had to use captured weapons and captured ammunition and eat what they got on the way. There were periods when they ate dogs, dead horses, or even raw grain and raw potatoes found in the villages. The captured army food was most valued, so several attacks were made - by guerrilla infiltrations into the enemy's location - in order to capture provisions. Soon the Soviet troops became more cautious and better defended their supply units.

On May 2, 1943, in one of the clashes with the Soviet infantry, Sergeant Zamfir was wounded by fragments of an artillery shell. He was lucky: he was evacuated to a field hospital, so he survived. A week later, this hospital retreated to Sevastopol with all the wounded. Sergeant Zamfir, among 700 Romanian and German wounded, was taken aboard a German floating hospital and evacuated in the direction of Constantinople.

Despite the fact that the hospital ship was painted white and had a red cross on it, it was attacked by Soviet bombers immediately after leaving the Sevastopol harbor. It sank 12 kilometers from the coast. After the attack, only 200 people survived, including the crew. They had to spend the night in the water, as the lifeboats that were on the ship sank with him. By morning, less than 100 people remained alive. The survivors were picked up by a German submarine leaving Sevastopol, but its command could not change its route to deliver the rescued Romanians to the Romanian port of Constanta. Many rescued from the water died on the way, as there were no doctors on board the boat, only crew members. By the end of the journey, only 30 people from the wrecked hospital ship survived.

Destroyed as a result of the fighting Sevastopol

Sergeant Zamfir was taken to a large hospital in Vienna, where he was cured. Two months later, he was sent by plane to Constanta to return to the combat unit. By that time, his division had been assigned to carry out the coast guard of the Constanta region, recovering from huge losses on Eastern Front. For the division, this was a quiet period, since the enemy did not attempt to land on the Romanian coast.

During the autumn of 1944, the reconstruction and re-equipment of the 9th Division was completed, and it was sent by train to Tarnaveni, and from there on foot to Oarba de Mures. There, the division met with several Soviet combat units and was ordered to force the Muresh River and attack the Germans, taking them by surprise. The Romanian fighters were supposed to go on the attack, and the Soviet troops "support" them from the rear. Colonel Vatasescu turned to his fighters and told the truth about the situation: “We must do this in order to stay alive and protect our country. If we do not attack the Germans, the Soviet troops will shoot us as prisoners, burn our houses, kill our children. Those Soviet units that you see here are not here to support us, but to shoot us if we retreat. So don't count on their help. If any of you survive this war, remember that we did it for our people."

They crossed the Mures River, crossing in rubber boats, and went on a frontal attack on the German troops located across the river. The attack was successful, mainly because the fighters fought to the last, knowing that they had little support from artillery and armored vehicles. And the Germans had good artillery support and even several tanks, so the losses of the Romanians were significant. But the Romanians nevertheless made a breakthrough and then continued the offensive almost without delay, freeing Hungary from the Nazis.

From Soviet command orders were received to attack constantly, without breaks for rest or replenishment of personnel. The first stop was only allowed at Debrecen, when the 9th Division was so weakened that it no longer had any chance of successfully advancing. Even the Soviet command understood that for further advancement, it needed replenishment from Romania.

After a short break in Debrecen, the offensive resumed under the same difficult conditions. The most brutal and terrible battles were in the highlands, in the Tatras, where the battles often turned into fights in trenches one on one, with the help of knives and stakes. A real mutual slaughter. Here Sergeant Zamfir was wounded once more, with three bullets in his right thigh. He was evacuated by plane to Medias (Romania) and operated on. Luckily for him, the shots were fired from a long distance, and the thigh bone was not crushed very badly. Just two weeks later, he was returned to the front, not fully recovered, but "fit for combat service."

One day some Soviet officer addressed the Romanian troops with the following words: “We must completely destroy Germany, shoot everyone, from children to the elderly, and women too. Germany must remain completely deserted." (Where this was said is unknown, as many soldiers were not told where they were.) Most Romanians were shocked by this order, only a few carried it out. But the attitude of Soviet soldiers towards the Germans prompted some Romanian soldiers to the fact that they, like some Red Army soldiers, began to rape German women and rob German houses.

Sgt. Zamfir remembers that the women smeared themselves with earth and feces to keep the soldiers of the invading armies from raping them. Sometimes mothers themselves gave themselves up to soldiers in order to save their children from violence. German men preferred suicide Soviet captivity so as not to be tormented by Soviet soldiers. These were inhuman principles of behavior, a terrible time. Sergeant Zamfir is convinced that only faith in God saved him. The principles of Christian doctrine were the only law for him. He is ashamed of the behavior of some members of his army and prays for the German civilians who were then killed.

The advance of the Romanian troops ceased with the end of the war. Over the next month, the Romanians, under the leadership of Soviet commanders, patrolled the occupied territory. After that, they were sent to get home on foot, as the Soviet command refused to provide rail transport. They reached the Romanian border on July 19, 1945, from there they were sent to the city of Brasov. There the Red Army soldiers disarmed them and sent them home. During the time that they fought against the German troops, they did not receive any payment, they went home with nothing but their clothes. But they were glad to be alive.

A smart person and a professional in his field, who, however, is not aware of what battles are now going on to increase the paper population of those who died in the Great Patriotic War fascist invaders and their allies. It is clear that despite all the conscientiousness of a person, many figures somehow do not fight with my sources.

Data by G.F. Krivosheev in "Secret Grip..." look like this:


Collection "Prisoners of war in the USSR. 1939-1956" Grigory Fedotovich's figures regarding the captured Romanians are sufficiently confirmed, the problem of four thousand people is crumbs, we will neglect it.

However, in this situation, it is logical to ask what the Romanians themselves think about their losses in WWII.
And the Romanians, according to "Armata Romana in al doilea razboi mondial", Meridiane, Bucharest 1995. think about their losses the following:

Table error. In the missing after 08/23/1944, the numbers of the column Total armies are copied from those killed. Instead of 21.355 must be a number 57.974 .

In total, in the battles with the Red Army, the Romanians lost dead and missing according to their data: 380 138 military personnel.
According to Soviet data, from this figure from 225 518 before 229 682 Romanian soldiers were taken prisoner. Accordingly, the remaining 150 454 before 154 620 Romanians either died or deserted during the fighting in the territories of Moldova and Romania, fleeing home. This is especially true for Moldovans.

We look at the plate from G.F. Krivosheev higher with 245 388 dead "Rumaneshtami" and begin to guess where and where the extra ones came from in it one hundred thousand Human. Here, even nodding at the Romanians who died in captivity will not work, since they are shown in a separate column regarding the fate of those who were captured. And even if it were possible to add up these figures, 40-50 thousand heads still do not fight.
We look further.

The total losses of the Romanian troops killed and missing in battles with the Wehrmacht amounted to 79 709 Human.

I must say that the Germans were a little out of sorts from the "betrayal" of the Romanians, the war by the end of 1944 reached extreme bitterness, respectively, the Germans were somewhat reluctant to take their former allies prisoner. I think at least half of the descendants of the Romans who went missing in battles with the Nazis died, taking into account the massacres of prisoners and the problems of surviving in concentration camps in the last months of the war, the reliable figure is rather closer to two-thirds, or even more.

Taking into account the latest conclusion, the estimated number of soldiers of the Romanian army killed in battles, died from wounds and diseases, died from accidents in the Second World War will be:

On the Soviet-Romanian Front: about 150,000-155,000 people(in this figure, the number of missing deserters is unknown).

On the Romanian-German Front: about 60,000 people.

total - approx. 210 000 military personnel.

In addition, in Soviet captivity until 1956, according to G.F. Krivosheeva died 54 612 captured soldiers of the Romanian army and, according to my estimates, up to about 20 000 captured Romanians were killed or died in German captivity before the surrender of Germany.

In principle, when adding or partially adding the above figures (those who died in the SRF, died in the RHF, died in captivity in the east and died in captivity in the west) and adjusted for the difference and completeness of the sources, the result turns out to be somewhat close 245 388 to the dead Romanians from the table of Grigory Fedotovich. But if his group really counted the Romanian dead according to this method, I can say that all its members made a mistake with their profession at one time, they all, as one, should have become accountants or economists. In the "epoch of capital accumulation" of the late 80-90s. neither competitors nor auditors would have anything to catch, and Deribaska, unable to withstand competition with such wolves, would now be making crafts anywhere in Arzamas, or even sweeping the streets.

On June 22, 1941, together with Germany, fascist Romania attacked the USSR. main goal foreign policy Romania was the return of the territories transferred in 1940 to the Soviet Union, Hungary and Bulgaria. Despite the tense relations with the last two states, in reality, under the auspices of Germany, Romania could only claim the return of the lands occupied by the USSR (Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia).

Preparing for an attack

For military operations against the USSR, the Romanian 3rd Army (mountain and cavalry corps) and the 4th Army (3 infantry corps), with a total strength of about 220 thousand, were intended. According to statistics, the Romanian army was the largest among the troops allied with Germany.

However, 75% of the Romanian soldiers were from among the destitute peasants. They were distinguished by unpretentiousness, patience, but they were illiterate and therefore could not understand the complex army equipment: tanks, vehicles, rapid-fire German guns, machine guns confused them. He was brisk and National composition Romanian army: Moldovans, Gypsies, Hungarians, Turks, Transcarpathian Ukrainians. Romanian officers were extremely poorly trained. There were no fighting traditions in the Romanian army, on which military personnel could be trained. As a German corporal recalls: “The Romanian army was the most demoralized. The soldiers hated their officers. And the officers despised their soldiers.”

Along with the infantry, Romania provided the largest contingent of cavalry. Six pre-war cavalry brigades were deployed in divisions in March 1942, and in 1944 the number of regiments in each division was increased from three to four. The regiments were traditionally divided into two types - roshiors (Rosiori) and kalarashi (Calarasi). Roshiors in the 19th - early 20th centuries. called the Romanian regular light cavalry, reminiscent of hussars. Calarasi were territorial cavalry formations, recruited from large and medium-sized landowners, who provided themselves with horses and some equipment. However, already in 1941, the whole difference was reduced only to names. Foreign observers have repeatedly noted that, compared with ordinary infantry divisions, high discipline and a spirit of military brotherhood reigned in the Romanian cavalry.

The logistics of the army were poor. All this was known to Hitler, so he did not count on the Romanian army as a force capable of solving strategic problems. German General Staff planned to use it mainly for support service in rear areas.

Invasion of the USSR

The first German troops numbering 500,000 people arrived in Romania as early as January 1941 under the pretext of protecting the Antonescu regime from the Iron Guard. Also, the headquarters of the 11th German army was transferred to Romania. However, the Germans settled down near the oil fields, as they were afraid of losing access to Romanian oil in the event of larger legionary riots. By that time, Antonescu had managed to enlist the support of the Third Reich in the fight against legionnaires. In turn, Hitler demanded that Antonescu assist Germany in the war against the USSR. Despite this, no joint agreements were concluded.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the 11th german army and parts of the 17th German Army and the 3rd and 4th Romanian armies with a total strength of more than 600,000 people. The Romanian command planned to capture small bridgeheads on the left bank of the Prut (the river along which the eastern Romanian border runs) and launch an offensive from them. Bridgeheads were located at a distance of 50-60 km from each other.

At 3:15 am on June 22, Romania attacked the USSR. Romanian aviation in the first hours of the fighting launched air strikes on the territory of the USSR - the Moldavian SSR, the Chernivtsi and Akkerman regions of the Ukrainian SSR, the Crimean ASSR of the Russian SFSR. At the same time, artillery shelling of border settlements began from the southern bank of the Danube and the right bank of the Prut. On the same day, after artillery preparation, the Romanian and German troops crossed the Prut near Kukonesti-Veki, Skulen, Leushen, Chory and in the direction of Cahul, the Dniester near Kartal, and also tried to force the Danube. The plan with bridgeheads was partially implemented: already on June 24, Soviet border guards destroyed all Romanian troops on the territory of the USSR, with the exception of Sculen. There the Romanian army took up defensive positions. The Romanian troops were opposed by the 9th, 12th and 18th Soviet armies, as well as the Black Sea Fleet.

The occupation of Bukovina, Bessarabia and the interfluve of the Dniester and the Bug

Hitler agreed to the annexation of Bessarabia, Bukovina and the interfluve of the Dniester and the Southern Bug to Romania. These territories came under the control of the Romanian authorities, they established the Bukovina Governorate (under the rule of Rioshianu), the Bessarabian Governorate (Governor - K. Voiculescu) and Transnistria (G. Aleksyanu became the governor). Chernivtsi became the capital of the Bukovina governorate, Chisinau became the capital of the Bessarabian governorate, and first Tiraspol and then Odessa became the capital of Transnistria.

These territories (primarily Transnistria) were necessary for Antonescu's economic exploitation. They carried out active Romanianization of the local population. Antonescu demanded that the local authorities behave as if "the power of Romania had been established in this territory for two million years", and declared that it was time to move on to an expansionist policy that included the exploitation of all kinds of resources in the occupied territories.

The Romanian administration distributed all local resources, which were previously state property of the USSR, to Romanian cooperatives and entrepreneurs for exploitation. The local population was mobilized to serve the needs of the Romanian army, which led to damage to the local economy due to the outflow work force. On occupied territories free labor of the local population was actively used. The inhabitants of Bessarabia and Bukovina were used for the repair and construction of roads and technical structures. By Decree-Law No. 521 of August 17, 1943, corporal punishment of workers was introduced by the Romanian administration. Also, local residents of the regions were taken to the Third Reich as Ostarbeiters. About 47,200 people were driven from the territories controlled by Romania to Germany.

In agriculture, the labor of "working communities" - former collective farms and state farms - was used. Each community had at its disposal from 200 to 400 hectares of land and consisted of 20-30 families. They grew crops both for their own needs and for the needs of the Romanian troops and administration. The communities and farms were not engaged in cattle breeding, since all the cattle were expropriated by the Romanian army. Of the total produced in the community for the year, the Romanian authorities were allowed to leave only 80 kg of grain per adult and 40 kg per child for food, the rest was confiscated. In cities and other settlements, where they did not work agriculture, a card system for the purchase of bread was introduced. For a day, one person received from 150 to 200 g of bread. In 1942, Antonescu issued an order according to which the norms for issuing food on the territory of Bessarabia were reduced to a minimum (apparently, this was the minimum in calories necessary for physical survival), while the harvest was collected under the supervision of the police and the gendarmerie, and agricultural products, up to to production waste, were transferred to the jurisdiction of local Romanian authorities.

The Romanian administration pursued a policy of Romanization in the occupied regions. A number of laws were adopted that ousted Russian, Ukrainian and other languages ​​not only from the business sphere, but also from Everyday life. Thus, all books in Russian, including those written in pre-reform Russian, were compulsorily withdrawn from libraries. Books in other European languages ​​were also confiscated. The confiscated literature was dealt with in different ways: some were burned on the ground, some were taken to Romania.

The population of the occupied territories was divided into three categories - ethnic Romanians, national minorities and Jews, who received identity cards of different colors (Romanians - white, national minorities - yellow, Jews - green); all representatives of the Romanian state apparatus (including educators and priests) were ordered to "prove to the population that they are Romanians."

A repressive policy was carried out against the civilian population, affecting all spheres of life. According to the orders of the Romanian gendarmerie, not only weapons that were in private use were subject to confiscation, but also all radios of private individuals. Repressions were envisaged even for group singing in the street. It should be noted that these orders in many respects have something in common with similar German ones that were in force in Ukraine. As the local Romanian authorities themselves admitted, in reality, the Germans controlled the occupation activities in Romania, moreover, in order to avoid the Romanians’ unwillingness to fight on the side of Germany, the Germans deployed the so-called “points for the re-education of Romanian deserters”, and the advancing Romanian units were often followed by SS barrage detachments .

Gradual Romanianization was carried out educational institutions. First of all, this concerned Transnistria, where more Ukrainians and Russians lived than Moldovans. Romanian language teachers were sent to schools in the region and assigned to each class. In Chisinau, a strict law was introduced that generally forbade speaking Russian. In addition, the administration required the use of Romanian equivalents of Slavic names: Dmitry - Dumitru, Mikhail - Mihai, Ivan - Ion, etc. The local population did not obey these laws. According to the governor of Chisinau, "the use of the Russian language is once again becoming a custom." In order to resist Romanian laws and preserve the original culture of the peoples of Bessarabia, the intelligentsia created underground circles. These societies were persecuted by the police, as they carried out the popularization and propaganda of the non-Romanian cultures of Bessarabia and Bukovina among the population.

Battle of Stalingrad

In September 1942, the 3rd and 4th Romanian armies arrived at Stalingrad, along with them were units of the Romanian Air Force: the 7th link of fighters, the 5th link of bombers, the 1st link of bombers, the 8th link of fighters, 6 th link of fighter-bombers and 3rd link of bombers. These links were supposed to provide air support to the Romanian armies and the German 6th. The 3rd Army under the command of Petre Dumitrescu defended the German positions from the Don. By November 19, 1942, this army numbered about 152,490 men. The 4th Army under the command of Constantine Constantinescu took up positions south of Stalingrad. In November 1942, this army numbered 75,580 men.

Between the 3rd and 4th Romanian armies was the 6th German army under the command of Friedrich Paulus. Also in this region were the German 4th Army, the Italian 8th Army and the Hungarian 2nd Army, which, together with the Romanian troops, were part of Army Group B. They were opposed by the 51st and 57th Soviet armies.

On November 19, near Stalingrad, the first major battle with the participation of the Romanian troops. It began with Soviet artillery preparation, after which the Red Army went on the offensive. The Romanian units found themselves in a difficult situation, since heavy Soviet tanks took part in the offensive. In this regard, they had to retreat to Raspopinskoe. Another major battle took place in this village, when Soviet tank units tried to liberate the village. The Romanian troops managed to repel the attack, but the Red Army broke through the Stalingrad front near the 3rd Romanian army in two places.

By the end of November 20, the front near the 3rd Army was broken through for 70 kilometers. In this regard, the army headquarters was transferred to the Morozovskaya settlement, and the 15,000-strong group of General Mihai Laskar was surrounded. On the same day, the 51st and 57th Soviet armies launched an offensive against the 4th Romanian, and in the evening the 1st and 2nd Romanian divisions were defeated. On November 21, the 22nd Division tried to ease the pressure on the Mihai Lascar group, but along the way it was itself drawn into the battle. The 1st Romanian division tried to help the 22nd division, however, during the counteroffensive, they mistakenly arrived at the Soviet positions. Only on November 25 did the remnants of the 1st division manage to leave the dangerous area.

On the evening of November 22, the Laskar group tried to get out of the encirclement, but on the way to the German positions, Mihai Laskar was captured, and most of the soldiers were killed. On November 23, this group was destroyed. Many Romanian units were also surrounded. On November 24, the Red Army continued its offensive, as a result of which the Romanian units suffered heavy losses. Only 83,000 Romanian soldiers managed to escape from the encirclement. The Stalingrad Front was now passing along the Chir River.

In the days that followed, the situation at the front only worsened. On November 25, the 4th Romanian division, under the pressure of the Soviet troops, was forced to retreat. However, on November 26, the Romanian-German troops took the initiative in their own hands, stopping the Soviet offensive. November 27, during the operation German troops"Wintergewitter", the advancing Soviet units were stopped at Kotelnikovo. Although the offensive of the Red Army was suspended, but during the operation, the 4th Romanian Army suffered losses of more than 80% of its personnel. On December 16, Soviet troops launched Operation Little Saturn, as a result of which the Romanian armies again suffered heavy losses. On the night of December 18-19, the 1st Corps, while trying to retreat, was detained by the 6th Soviet Army and defeated. To the south of the defeated 3rd Army, the Romanian 4th Army and the Italian 8th Army were still located, which jointly defended and tried to establish contact with the German troops in Stalingrad. The Italian army was defeated on December 18, and on December 26, the 4th Army retreated, having suffered serious losses. On January 2, the last Romanian troops left the Chir River.

During Battle of Stalingrad Romanian troops suffered a total loss of 158,850 people, the Romanian Air Force lost 73 aircraft during the fighting. Of the 18 Romanian divisions stationed near Stalingrad, 16 suffered heavy losses. Another 3,000 Romanian soldiers were captured. On February 2, 1943, the battle of Stalingrad ended with the victory of the Red Army.

Krasnodar operation

In December, the Romanian troops were defeated near Stalingrad, and in the Caucasus, a difficult situation developed for the 2nd mountain division. On December 4, 1942, the 2nd division received an order to leave North Ossetia. The retreat was carried out in difficult conditions, at low temperatures and constant attacks by Soviet troops. The 17th German army was already in the Kuban, in which there were 64,000 Romanian soldiers.

On January 11, 1943, the 6th and 9th Cavalry Divisions, together with the German 44th Corps, blocked the Red Army's path to Krasnodar. On January 16, the 9th division entered into battle with three Soviet divisions, during which it was able to repel the attack. On February 12, the troops of the Red Army entered Krasnodar, and then made an attempt to dislodge the German armies from the Kuban. The 2nd Romanian mountain division was in a difficult situation, and therefore on February 20 the German 9th infantry division and the 3rd Romanian mountain division temporarily suspended the Soviet offensive and broke through to the 2nd division.

At the same time there was a reorganization of the Kuban front. Two Romanian cavalry divisions were sent to Anapa and the Black Sea coast. The rest of the Romanian divisions were attached to the German troops or divided into several parts. The 2nd Mountain Division remained in its original positions. This reorganization preceded the Soviet advance towards the Taman Peninsula. The offensive began on February 25, 1943. The 17th German Army managed to hold its positions and repel the attack, and all Romanian units also remained in their positions. Despite the successful actions of the Romanian-German troops, they suffered heavy losses. Because of this, the 17th Army reduced the front line, and the 2nd Mountain Division left the Kuban and retreated to the Crimea. On March 25, Soviet troops again tried to break through the German defenses, but the offensive again ended in failure. During the battle, the 1st Romanian battalion distinguished itself, which did not allow the Red Army to encircle the 17th Army. During the third Soviet offensive in April, the 19th division was forced to withdraw to the rear due to heavy losses. On May 26, the fourth offensive began, this time Anapa became the main direction. During the battles of the Red Army, by June 4, only Hill 121 was taken. By that time, the 19th division had returned to the front.

In early June 1943, the intensity of the fighting in the Kuban decreased, during a break, the 3rd Mountain Division was sent to the Crimea. On July 16, Soviet troops launched another offensive, but were driven back to their original positions. On July 22, two Soviet battalions broke through to Novorossiysk, all attempts to repel the offensive were unsuccessful. During the battle for the city, the Romanian-German troops suffered heavy losses, some units lost more than 50% of their personnel. Meanwhile, the evacuation of Romanian troops to the Crimea continued, the Romanian air force units were sent to Kerch, the 6th Cavalry Division was also sent to the Crimea. The 4th Mountain Division arrived to replace it.

On September 9, the Novorossiysk-Taman offensive operation of the Red Army began. In order not to lose control over Novorossiysk, the Romanian-German troops threw all their forces into battle. However, the Red Army spent September 10 landing operation, landing 5,000 people in the port of Novorossiysk. On September 15, the battle for Novorossiysk ended - the German-Romanian troops were driven out of it. In the north of the Kuban, a difficult situation also developed, in connection with which the Romanian troops began to retreat.

On September 4, plans began to be developed for the evacuation of the Romanian-German troops from the Taman Peninsula, and in mid-September, after the defeat of the German troops in Novorossiysk, evacuation began. The 1st and 4th divisions left the region by aircraft on 20 September. On September 24 and 25, the rest of the Romanian units retreated from the Kuban to the Crimea, but the 10th Infantry Division only got to the Crimea on October 1. The retreat was accompanied by constant battles with the Soviet troops. As a result, from February to October, the Romanian troops lost 9668 people (of which 1598 were killed, 7264 were wounded and 806 were missing.

Coup d'état and foreign policy reorientation

On August 23, 1944, Ion Antonescu, with his advisers, on the advice of the faithful Mihai I, Constantin Senatescu, went to the palace of Mihai I in order to report on the situation at the front and discuss further military operations. By that time, during the Iasi-Chisinau operation, there was a breakthrough of 100 km at the front, and Antonescu urgently arrived at the king. He did not know that Mihai I and the Communist Party agreed on a coup d'etat, and the Communists were even preparing an armed uprising. Ion Antonescu, arriving at the palace, was arrested and removed from power. At the same time, in Bucharest, military units led by the communists and volunteer detachments took control of all government agencies, telephone and telegraph stations, depriving the country's leaders and German commanders of communication with Germany. At night, Mihai I spoke on the radio. During his speech, he announced a change of power in Romania, a cessation of hostilities against the USSR and a truce with Great Britain and the United States, as well as the formation of a new government headed by Constantin Senatescu. Despite this, the war continued. Not all Romanian officers knew about the armistice or supported the new government. So, hostilities in the south of Moldova continued until August 29, but already on August 31, Soviet troops occupied Bucharest.

The coup was not beneficial to Germany and the German troops stationed in Romania. It was the Army Group "Southern Ukraine", which included the 6th German Army, the 8th German Army, the 17th German Army Corps and the 2nd Hungarian Army. In order to suppress the uprising in Bucharest, German units were sent there, which were stopped by Romanian troops loyal to the king. German aviation undertook several bombardments of Bucharest, Romanian fighters entered into fierce battles with them. The German troops, who were at the front near the Prut, also immediately went to the capital of Romania, but they were surrounded by the Red Army. At the same time, Romanian troops attacked German military units stationed in Ploiesti to protect oil fields. These units tried to retreat from Ploiesti to Hungary, but suffered heavy losses and were unable to advance further. As a result, more than 50,000 German soldiers fell into Romanian captivity. The Soviet command sent 50 divisions to help the Romanian troops and the rebels.

In Romanian historiography, it is generally accepted that the Romanian people independently overthrew Ion Antonescu and defeated the German armies in Romania, and the help of the USSR and other foreign policy factors did not play the most significant role in the coup d'état.

Ion Antonescu was extradited to the Soviet Union, the Siguranian service that supported him was dissolved. However, later he returned the former conductor of the USSR back to Romania, where he, according to the verdict of the tribunal, was shot along with some of his entourage.

February 14, 1945 air war became even more violent. Five Romanian Hs-129s destroyed four trucks and several wagons in the vicinity of Podriceni. Then the Henschels, together with Ju-87 dive bombers, attacked the Lovinobanya railway station. This day was also not without losses: one Henschel crashed in Miskolc during a flyby after engine repairs, the adjutant pilot Vasile Skripchar died. The violinist was known in Romania not only as a pilot, but also as a talented reporter and artist.
On January 15, the first goal of the offensive operation was achieved - the Soviet troops liberated Luchinets. During the offensive, Romanian aviation carried out 510 sorties, flying 610 hours and dropping about 200 tons of bombs. The pilots bombed nine prefabricated trains, three fuel trains, three important bridges and a large number of units of technology. The reports of the Romanian pilots were reflected in the operational reports of the command of the Soviet 27th combined arms and 5th air armies. http://www.allaces.ru/cgi-bin/s2.cgi/rom/publ/01.dat

On February 20, the commander of the 5th air army, General Ermachenko, and the chief of staff of the 40th army, General Sharapov, arrived at the command post of the 1st Romanian air corps. The generals discussed with the Romanian officers a plan for future actions. On the morning of February 21, the guidance officers of the 1st Air Corps of the Romanian Air Force moved to forward observation posts to study the terrain in detail and prepare the data necessary for planning air strikes. In a speech to the Romanian pilots and technicians, the Soviet general, in particular, said an interesting phrase: "... we hope that our Romanian comrades will not let us down." And they did not disappoint.

In some areas, direct air support for the advancing troops was assigned exclusively to the Romanian Air Force. Bad weather delayed the start of aviation combat work by one day. On February 25, the sky cleared of clouds, the planes were able to take off.
This day is marked in the history of the Romanian Air Force with unusually high activity, victories and losses. In 148 sorties, Romanian pilots dropped 35 tons of bombs on the positions of German troops in the Ochova-Detva-Zvolesnka Slatina triangle. The pilots reported three destroyed half-tracked armored vehicles, one self-propelled artillery mount, two vehicles, five horse-drawn carts and eight machine-gun nests, and many enemy soldiers and officers destroyed. When attacking ground targets, the Henschel of adjutant Viktor Dumbrava received a direct hit from an anti-aircraft gun projectile, the pilot hardly pulled it over the front line and plopped down on an emergency landing near Detva.
The 25th was also a busy day for the fighters. On the fifth sortie that day, Captain Cantacuzino and his wingman adj took off. Traian Dbrjan. Above the front line, they found eight Fw-190Fs storming the Soviet troops. Without hesitation, they rushed into battle, and one by one.
http://www.allaces.ru/cgi-bin/s2.cgi/rom/publ/01.dat


This is how the Romanian pilots, not sparing their lives, covering our troops from the air.
May 6 began the last offensive operation of the war in Europe - a breakthrough to Prague. Romanian aviation supported the ground forces advancing on Proteev. On May 7, Romanian pilots managed to destroy 15 vehicles northwest of Proteev.
On May 8, pilots stormed columns of enemy troops and equipment on the roads in the vicinity of Urchitsa and Vyshovitsa. The 2nd Fighter Group lost its last pilot in the war - it was slt. av. Remus Vasilescu.
On May 9, 1945, only IAR-39 biplanes took off under the escort of Messerschmitts, who scattered leaflets. The Germans surrendered without offering resistance.

However, the war for the Romanian aviators ended a little later. On May 11, the Romanians carried out, struck at parts of the Russian liberation army General Vlasov. The Vlasovites had nothing to lose, and they desperately resisted in the forests under the Hungarian Ford. On the evening of May 11, 1945, the planes (several bombers under cover of four Bf-109Gs) returned from the last sortie of the Romanian Air Force in World War II. Over the territory of Czechoslovakia, Romanian pilots fought for 144 days.
In total, until the end of the war (on May 12, 1945), the 1st Corps accounted for 8542 sorties and the destruction of 101 enemy aircraft (together with anti-aircraft gunners). Losses amounted to 176 aircraft shot down by fighters, air defense and broken in numerous accidents in conditions bad weather winter - spring 1945.

There is concrete data only on the participation of Henschels, on the rest - fragmentary data. So, in five months of hostilities, from December 19, 1944 to May 11, 1945, the pilots of the 41st assault squadron ("Henschels") completed 422 sorties, flying 370 hours and dropping 130 tons of bombs. As a result of the squadron's actions, 66 columns of enemy troops were dispersed, 185 cars and 66 horse-drawn carts were destroyed, Henschel pilots smashed 13 trains at railway stations, among other destroyed enemy property - artillery pieces, mortars, machine guns. The squadron lost eight HS-129B attack aircraft. Pilots "pieces" only in Slovakia made 107 sorties, flying 374 hours. They dropped 210 tons of bombs on 37 railway stations and 36 enemy positions. 3 tanks, 61 trucks and 6 anti-aircraft batteries were recorded as destroyed.
During the entire war, the Romanian Air Force lost 4172 people, of which 2977 fought for Germany (972 dead, 1167 wounded and 838 missing) and 1195 fought against Germany (respectively 356, 371 and 468).
http://www.allaces.ru/cgi-bin/s2.cgi/rom/publ/01.dat
Thus, the Romanian Royal Army, starting the war as one of the main allies of the German Wehrmacht, ended it as one of the main allies of the Red Army, in the southwestern direction of the Soviet-German front.
The paradox of history, however, in the victorious year of 1945, many Romanian soldiers and officers had on their dress uniforms both the Romanian awards they received for the capture of Sevastopol and the Soviet medals for the capture of Budapest.
Romanian King MihaiIstill remains the only living cavalier of the highest Soviet military order "Victory"