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Battle of Romania (1944)
Encyclopedia
The Jassy–Kishinev Operation, named after the two major cities, Iaşi
and Chişinău
, in the staging area, was a Soviet
offensive against Axis
forces, which took place in Eastern Romania
from 20–29 August 1944. The 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Front
s of the Red Army engaged Army Group South Ukraine
, which consisted of combined German
and Romanian formations, in an operation to reclaim the Moldavian SSR
and destroy the Axis forces in the region, opening a way into Romania and the Balkans.
The offensive resulted in the encirclement and destruction of defending German forces, allowing the Soviet Army to resume its strategic advance further into Eastern Europe. It also forced Romania to switch allegiance from the Axis powers to the Allies.
from 8 April-6 June 1944. In 1944, the Wehrmacht
was pressed back along its entire front line in the East. By May 1944, the South Ukraine Army Group (Heeresgruppe Südukraine) was pushed back towards the prewar Romanian frontier, and managed to establish a line on the Dniester
river, which was however breached in two places by Red Army bridgehead
s. After June, calm returned to the sector, allowing the rebuilding of the German formations.
While up to June 1944, Heeresgruppe Südukraine was one of the most powerful German formations in terms of armor, it had been denuded during the summer, with most of its armored formations moved to the Northern and Central front, in order to stem Red Army advances in the Baltic states
, Belarus
sia, Northern Ukraine
, and Poland
. On the eve of the offensive, the only armored formations left were the 1st Romanian Armored Division, and German 13th Panzer
and 10th Panzergrenadier Divisions.
's plan for the operation was based on a double envelopment
of German and Romanian armies by 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts.
2nd Ukrainian Front was to break through north of Iaşi
, and then commit mobile formations to seize the Prut
River crossings before the withdrawing German formations of 6th Army could make it there. It was then to introduce 6th Tank Army into the battlefield to seize the Siret River
crossings and the Focşani Gap
, a fortified line between the Siret River and the Danube
.
3rd Ukrainian Front
was to attack out of its bridgehead
across the Dniester
near Tiraspol
, and then insert mobile formations with a mission to head north and meet the mobile formations of 2nd Ukrainian Front. This would lead to the encirclement of the German forces near Chişinău.
Following the successful encirclement, 6th Tank Army and 4th Guards Mechanized Corps were to be launched towards Bucharest
and the Ploieşti
oil fields.
had dissolved as a coherent fighting force, and the German 6th Army had been encircled to a depth of 100 km (62.1 mi). The Red Army mobile group managed to cut off the retreat of the German formations into Hungary
. Isolated pockets of German formations were trying to fight their way through, but only small remnants managed to escape the encirclement.
(Commander Army General Fyodor Tolbukhin
)
The main effort of the front was in the sector of the 37th Army (2nd formation) (Commanded by Lieutenant General Sharokhin). The main effort of the 37th Army was with 66th Rifle Corps and 6th Guards Rifle Corps. The 37th Army had a 4 km (2.5 mi)-wide breakthrough frontage assigned to it. It was divided in two groupings, two Corps in the first echelon, and one Corps reserve. According to the plan, it was to break through the depth of the German-Romanian defense lines in seven days, to a distance of 110–120 km (68.4–74.6 mi), with a goal to cover 15 km (9.3 mi) per day during the first four days.
66th Rifle Corps (Commanded by Major General Kupriyanov), consisted of two groupings (61st Guards Rifle and 333rd Rifle Divisions in the first echelon, and 244th Rifle Division in reserve). Attached were 46th Gun Artillery Brigade, 152nd Howitzer Artillery Regiment, 184th and 1245th Tank Destroyer Regiment, 10th Mortar Regiment, 26th Light Artillery Brigade, 87th Recoilless Mortar Regiment, 92nd and 52nd Tank Regiment, 398th Assault Gun Regiment, two Pioneer Assault Battalions, and two Light Flamethrower Companies.
Corps frontage 4 km (2.5 mi)
Corps breakthrough frontage 3.5 km (2.2 mi) (61st Rifle Division 1.5 km (0.93205910497471 mi), 333rd Rifle Division 2 km (1.2 mi))
Troop density per kilometer of frontage:
Superiority
There is no manpower information on the divisions, but they probably had between 7,000-7,500 men each, with 61st Guards Rifle Division perhaps at 8,000-9,000. The soldiers were prepared over the course of August by exercising in areas similar to those they had to attack, with emphasis on special tactics needed to overcome the enemy in their sector.
Troops density in 61st Guards Rifle Division sector per kilometer of frontage was:
Troops density in 333rd Rifle Division sector per kilometer of frontage was:
were counterattacking.
The German–Romanian opposition was XXX. and XXIX. AK, with the 15th and 306th German Infantry Divisions, the 4th Romanian Mountain Division, and the 21st Romanian Infantry Division. The 13th Panzer Division was in reserve. At the end of day one, the 4th Romanian Mountain (General de divizie, (Major General) Gheorghe Manoiliu), and 21st Romanian Divisions were almost completely destroyed, while German 15th and 306th Infantry Divisions were heavily damaged (according to a German source: the 306th Infantry lost 50% in the barrage, and was destroyed apart from local strongpoints by evening). Almost no artillery survived the fire preparation.
The 13th Panzer Division counter-attacked the 66th Rifle Corps on the first day, and tried to stop its progress the next day, but to no avail. A study on the division's history says 'The Russians dictated the course of events.' The 13th Panzer Divisionat the time was a materially understrength, but high manpower unit, with a high proportion of recent reinforcements. It only had Panzer IV
s, StuG IIIs
and self-propelled anti-tank guns. By the end of the second day the division was incapable of attack or meaningful resistance.
At the end of the second day, the 3rd Ukrainian Front
stood deep in the rear of the German 6th Army. No more organised re-supply of forces would be forthcoming, and the 6th Army was doomed to be encircled and destroyed again. Franz-Josef Strauss, who was to become an important German politician after the war, served with the Panzer Regiment of the 13th Panzer Division. He comments that the division had ceased to exist as a tactical unit on the third day of the Soviet Offensive: 'The enemy was everywhere.'
The comment on the result of 66th Rifle Corps operations in Mazulenko is that "Because of the reinforcement of the Corps and the deep battle arrangements of troops and units the enemy defenses were broken through at high speed."
Comments by German survivors on the initial attack were that "By the end of the barrage, Russian tanks were deep into our position." (Hoffmann). A German battalion commander (Hauptmann Hans Diebisch, Commander II./IR579, 306.ID) commented that "The fire assets of the German defense were literally destroyed by the Soviet fighter bombers attacking the main line of resistance and the rear positions. When the Russian infantry suddenly appeared inside the positions of the battalion and it tried to retreat, the Russian air force made this impossible. The battalion was dispersed and partly destroyed by air attacks and mortar and machine gun fire."
, artillery
, and anti-air
weapons. In contrast to German claims, for instance, in the symposium notes published by David Glantz
, or in the history of the Offensive published by Kissel, it appears that Romanian 1st Armoured Division did offer resistance against the Soviet breakthrough.
However, Mark Axworthy states in his book Third Axis, Fourth Ally that the battered 1st Armoured Division maintained cohesion, experiencing some local, costly successes before being forced to cross the River Moldova. Axworthy claims that the postwar Communist government would have obviously used this act of betrayal for propaganda purposes. Also, there are no Soviet reports of a collaboration before 24 August 1944. The Soviet rates of progress imply a rather ineffective defense of the Romanian troops than active collaboration and en-masse surrender. The complete collapse of the German 6th Army and the Romanian 4th Army
was more likely caused by the inability of the numerous horse-drawn infantry divisions to maintain cohesion while on retreat and under attack of the Soviet mechanized troops. This claim is reinforced by the fact that the only Romanian division which retained its cohesion under the Soviet attack was the 1st Armoured Division, which had the mobility and the anti-tank weapons needed to do so.
The surrender of Romania took place at a time when the Soviet Army already stood deep inside Romania, and the German 6th Army had been cut off from the rest of the Wehrmacht troops in Romania. The opening of hostilities between the Wehrmacht and the Romanian Army commenced after a failed coup d'état
by the German ambassador.
on 23 August deposed the Romanian leader Ion Antonescu
. The Wehrmacht concentrated most of its forces in Moldavia, leaving only 11,000 troops deployed in the vicinity of Bucharest
, with another 25,000 around the Ploieşti
oilfields. German military formations promptly attempted to seize Bucharest in order to suppress the coup the following day, but were repelled by Romanian troops, who had some air support from the USAAF. German forces moving in to reinforce the assault on Bucharest from the west bank of the Prut
were cut off and destroyed by the rapidly advancing Soviet Army. At the same time, Wehrmacht formations guarding the Ploieşti oil fields were attacked by Romanian troops, and attempted to withdraw to Hungary
, again suffering heavy losses in the process. During the fighting, the Romanian Army captured 50,000 German prisoners, who were later surrendered to the Soviet Army.
Romanian sources claim that internal factors played a decisive role in Romania's liberation from the Nazis
, while external factors only gave support; this version is markedly different from the Soviet position on the events, which holds that the Offensive resulted in the Romanian coup and liberated Romania with the help of local insurgents.
and forced the rapid withdrawal of the German Army Groups E
and F
in Greece
, Albania
and Yugoslavia to rescue them from being cut off. Together with Yugoslav partisans and Bulgaria they liberated the capital city of Belgrade
in 20 October.
On the political level, the Soviet offensive triggered King Michael's coup d'état in Romania, and the switch of Romania from the Axis to the Allies. Almost immediately, a small border war between Romania and Germany's forced ally Hungary
erupted over territory that Romania was forced to cede to Hungary in 1940, as a result of the Second Vienna Award
.
Following the success of the operation, Soviet control over Bessarabia
and Northern Bukovina
, which had been occupied by the USSR in 1940, was re-established. Soviet forces proceeded to collect and expel the remaining Romanian troops. According to Anatol Petrencu, President of the Historians' Association of Moldova
, over 170,000 Romanian soldiers were deported, 40,000 of which were incarcerated in a prisoner-of-war camp
at Bălţi
, where they died of hunger, cold, disease, or were executed.
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
and Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
, in the staging area, was a Soviet
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
offensive against Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
forces, which took place in Eastern Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
from 20–29 August 1944. The 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Front
3rd Ukrainian Front
3rd Ukrainian Front was a Front of the Red Army during World War II.It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southwestern Front. It included 1st Guards Army, 8th Guards Army, 6th, 12th, and 46th Armies and 17th Air Army...
s of the Red Army engaged Army Group South Ukraine
Army Group South Ukraine
Army Group South Ukraine was a German army group on the Eastern Front during World War II.Army Group South Ukraine was created on 31 March 1944...
, which consisted of combined German
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and Romanian formations, in an operation to reclaim the Moldavian SSR
Moldavian SSR
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic , commonly abbreviated to Moldavian SSR or MSSR, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union...
and destroy the Axis forces in the region, opening a way into Romania and the Balkans.
The offensive resulted in the encirclement and destruction of defending German forces, allowing the Soviet Army to resume its strategic advance further into Eastern Europe. It also forced Romania to switch allegiance from the Axis powers to the Allies.
Setting the stage
The Red Army had made an unsuccessful attack in the same sector, known as the First Jassy-Kishinev OffensiveFirst Jassy-Kishinev Offensive
The First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, named after the two major cities in the area, was fought between 8 April and 6 June 1944 by the Soviets and Axis powers of World War II...
from 8 April-6 June 1944. In 1944, the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
was pressed back along its entire front line in the East. By May 1944, the South Ukraine Army Group (Heeresgruppe Südukraine) was pushed back towards the prewar Romanian frontier, and managed to establish a line on the Dniester
Dniester
The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe. It runs through Ukraine and Moldova and separates most of Moldova's territory from the breakaway de facto state of Transnistria.-Names:...
river, which was however breached in two places by Red Army bridgehead
Bridgehead
A bridgehead is a High Middle Ages military term, which antedating the invention of cannons was in the original meaning expressly a referent term to the military fortification that protects the end of a bridge...
s. After June, calm returned to the sector, allowing the rebuilding of the German formations.
While up to June 1944, Heeresgruppe Südukraine was one of the most powerful German formations in terms of armor, it had been denuded during the summer, with most of its armored formations moved to the Northern and Central front, in order to stem Red Army advances in the Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
sia, Northern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. On the eve of the offensive, the only armored formations left were the 1st Romanian Armored Division, and German 13th Panzer
13th Panzer Division (Germany)
The 13th Panzer Division was originally created in 1934 under the cover name Infanterieführer IV; it was unveiled as the 13th Infantry Division in 1935 when the creation of the Wehrmacht was announced...
and 10th Panzergrenadier Divisions.
Failure of intelligence
Soviet deception operations prior to the attack worked well. The German command staff believed that the movement of Soviet forces along the front line was a result of a troop transfer to the north. Exact positions of Soviet formations were also not known until the final hours before the operation.Soviet strategy
StavkaStavka
Stavka was the term used to refer to a command element of the armed forces from the time of the Kievan Rus′, more formally during the history of Imperial Russia as administrative staff and General Headquarters during late 19th Century Imperial Russian armed forces and those of the Soviet Union...
's plan for the operation was based on a double envelopment
Pincer movement
The pincer movement or double envelopment is a military maneuver. The flanks of the opponent are attacked simultaneously in a pinching motion after the opponent has advanced towards the center of an army which is responding by moving its outside forces to the enemy's flanks, in order to surround it...
of German and Romanian armies by 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts.
2nd Ukrainian Front was to break through north of Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, and then commit mobile formations to seize the Prut
Prut
The Prut is a long river in Eastern Europe. In part of its course it forms the border between Romania and Moldova.-Overview:...
River crossings before the withdrawing German formations of 6th Army could make it there. It was then to introduce 6th Tank Army into the battlefield to seize the Siret River
Siret River
The Siret or Sireth is a river that rises from the Carpathians in the Northern Bukovina region of Ukraine, and flows southward into Romania for 470 km before it joins the Danube...
crossings and the Focşani Gap
Focsani
Focşani is the capital city of Vrancea County in Romania on the shores the Milcov river, in the historical region of Moldavia. It has a population of 101,854.-Geography:...
, a fortified line between the Siret River and the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
.
3rd Ukrainian Front
3rd Ukrainian Front
3rd Ukrainian Front was a Front of the Red Army during World War II.It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southwestern Front. It included 1st Guards Army, 8th Guards Army, 6th, 12th, and 46th Armies and 17th Air Army...
was to attack out of its bridgehead
Bridgehead
A bridgehead is a High Middle Ages military term, which antedating the invention of cannons was in the original meaning expressly a referent term to the military fortification that protects the end of a bridge...
across the Dniester
Dniester
The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe. It runs through Ukraine and Moldova and separates most of Moldova's territory from the breakaway de facto state of Transnistria.-Names:...
near Tiraspol
Tiraspol
Tiraspol is the second largest city in Moldova and is the capital and administrative centre of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic . The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River...
, and then insert mobile formations with a mission to head north and meet the mobile formations of 2nd Ukrainian Front. This would lead to the encirclement of the German forces near Chişinău.
Following the successful encirclement, 6th Tank Army and 4th Guards Mechanized Corps were to be launched towards Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
and the Ploieşti
Ploiesti
Ploiești is the county seat of Prahova County and lies in the historical region of Wallachia in Romania. The city is located north of Bucharest....
oil fields.
General
Both the 2nd and the 3rd Ukrainian Front undertook a major effort, leading to a double envelopment of the German Sixth Army (2nd formation) and parts of the Eighth Army. The German-Romanian front line collapsed within two days of the start of the offensive, and 6th Guards Mechanized Corps was inserted as the main mobile group of the offensive. The initial break-in in the 6th Army's sector was 40 km (24.9 mi) deep, and destroyed rear-area supply installations by the evening of 21 August. By 23 August, the 13th Panzer Division13th Panzer Division (Germany)
The 13th Panzer Division was originally created in 1934 under the cover name Infanterieführer IV; it was unveiled as the 13th Infantry Division in 1935 when the creation of the Wehrmacht was announced...
had dissolved as a coherent fighting force, and the German 6th Army had been encircled to a depth of 100 km (62.1 mi). The Red Army mobile group managed to cut off the retreat of the German formations into Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. Isolated pockets of German formations were trying to fight their way through, but only small remnants managed to escape the encirclement.
Detailed study of the Soviet breakthrough
Operations of 3rd Ukrainian FrontSoviet Southwestern Front
The Southwestern Front was a name given to a Front by the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War, by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic during the Russian Civil War, and by the Red Army during the Second World War.The Southwestern Front in this article describes several...
(Commander Army General Fyodor Tolbukhin
Fyodor Tolbukhin
Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin was a Soviet military commander.-Biography:Tolbukhin was born into a peasant family in the province of Yaroslavl, north-east of Moscow. He volunteered for the Imperial Army in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I. He was steadily promoted, advancing from private to...
)
The main effort of the front was in the sector of the 37th Army (2nd formation) (Commanded by Lieutenant General Sharokhin). The main effort of the 37th Army was with 66th Rifle Corps and 6th Guards Rifle Corps. The 37th Army had a 4 km (2.5 mi)-wide breakthrough frontage assigned to it. It was divided in two groupings, two Corps in the first echelon, and one Corps reserve. According to the plan, it was to break through the depth of the German-Romanian defense lines in seven days, to a distance of 110–120 km (68.4–74.6 mi), with a goal to cover 15 km (9.3 mi) per day during the first four days.
66th Rifle Corps (Commanded by Major General Kupriyanov), consisted of two groupings (61st Guards Rifle and 333rd Rifle Divisions in the first echelon, and 244th Rifle Division in reserve). Attached were 46th Gun Artillery Brigade, 152nd Howitzer Artillery Regiment, 184th and 1245th Tank Destroyer Regiment, 10th Mortar Regiment, 26th Light Artillery Brigade, 87th Recoilless Mortar Regiment, 92nd and 52nd Tank Regiment, 398th Assault Gun Regiment, two Pioneer Assault Battalions, and two Light Flamethrower Companies.
Corps frontage 4 km (2.5 mi)
Corps breakthrough frontage 3.5 km (2.2 mi) (61st Rifle Division 1.5 km (0.93205910497471 mi), 333rd Rifle Division 2 km (1.2 mi))
Troop density per kilometer of frontage:
- Rifle battalions 7.7
- Guns/mortars 248
- Tanks and assault guns 18
Superiority
- Infantry 1:3
- Artillery 1:7
- Tanks and assault guns 1:11.2
There is no manpower information on the divisions, but they probably had between 7,000-7,500 men each, with 61st Guards Rifle Division perhaps at 8,000-9,000. The soldiers were prepared over the course of August by exercising in areas similar to those they had to attack, with emphasis on special tactics needed to overcome the enemy in their sector.
Troops density in 61st Guards Rifle Division sector per kilometer of frontage was:
- Rifle battalions 6.0
- Guns/mortars 234
- Tanks and assault guns 18
Troops density in 333rd Rifle Division sector per kilometer of frontage was:
- Rifle battalions 4.5
- Guns/mortars 231
- Tanks and assault guns 18
Initial attack
The 333rd Rifle Division did not establish a reserve and put three regiments in the first echelon. The 61st Guards Rifle Division attacked in a standard formation of two regiment in the first echelon and one in reserve. This proved to be fortunate, because the right wing of the 188th Guards Rifle Regiment was unable to advance past the Plopschtubej strongpoint . The 189th Guards Rifle Regiment on the left wing made good progress though, as did 333rd Rifle Division on its left. The commander of 61st Guards Rifle Division therefore inserted his reserve (the 187th Guards Rifle Regiment) behind the 189th Guards Rifle Regiment to exploit the break-in. When darkness came, the 244th Rifle Division was inserted to break through the second line of defense. It lost its way though, and only arrived at 23:00, by which time elements of 13th Panzer Division13th Panzer Division (Germany)
The 13th Panzer Division was originally created in 1934 under the cover name Infanterieführer IV; it was unveiled as the 13th Infantry Division in 1935 when the creation of the Wehrmacht was announced...
were counterattacking.
The German–Romanian opposition was XXX. and XXIX. AK, with the 15th and 306th German Infantry Divisions, the 4th Romanian Mountain Division, and the 21st Romanian Infantry Division. The 13th Panzer Division was in reserve. At the end of day one, the 4th Romanian Mountain (General de divizie, (Major General) Gheorghe Manoiliu), and 21st Romanian Divisions were almost completely destroyed, while German 15th and 306th Infantry Divisions were heavily damaged (according to a German source: the 306th Infantry lost 50% in the barrage, and was destroyed apart from local strongpoints by evening). Almost no artillery survived the fire preparation.
The 13th Panzer Division counter-attacked the 66th Rifle Corps on the first day, and tried to stop its progress the next day, but to no avail. A study on the division's history says 'The Russians dictated the course of events.' The 13th Panzer Divisionat the time was a materially understrength, but high manpower unit, with a high proportion of recent reinforcements. It only had Panzer IV
Panzer IV
The Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...
s, StuG IIIs
Sturmgeschütz III
The Sturmgeschütz III assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank...
and self-propelled anti-tank guns. By the end of the second day the division was incapable of attack or meaningful resistance.
At the end of the second day, the 3rd Ukrainian Front
Soviet Southwestern Front
The Southwestern Front was a name given to a Front by the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War, by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic during the Russian Civil War, and by the Red Army during the Second World War.The Southwestern Front in this article describes several...
stood deep in the rear of the German 6th Army. No more organised re-supply of forces would be forthcoming, and the 6th Army was doomed to be encircled and destroyed again. Franz-Josef Strauss, who was to become an important German politician after the war, served with the Panzer Regiment of the 13th Panzer Division. He comments that the division had ceased to exist as a tactical unit on the third day of the Soviet Offensive: 'The enemy was everywhere.'
The comment on the result of 66th Rifle Corps operations in Mazulenko is that "Because of the reinforcement of the Corps and the deep battle arrangements of troops and units the enemy defenses were broken through at high speed."
Comments by German survivors on the initial attack were that "By the end of the barrage, Russian tanks were deep into our position." (Hoffmann). A German battalion commander (Hauptmann Hans Diebisch, Commander II./IR579, 306.ID) commented that "The fire assets of the German defense were literally destroyed by the Soviet fighter bombers attacking the main line of resistance and the rear positions. When the Russian infantry suddenly appeared inside the positions of the battalion and it tried to retreat, the Russian air force made this impossible. The battalion was dispersed and partly destroyed by air attacks and mortar and machine gun fire."
Alleged Romanian collapse
It is often alleged that the speed and totality of the German collapse were caused by Romanian betrayal. For example, Heinz Guderian wrote of Romanian betrayal in his book "Panzer Leader". The study of the combat operations by Mazulenko indicates that this is probably not correct. Romanian formations did resist the Soviet attack in many cases, but were ill-equipped to defend themselves effectively against a modern army, due to a lack of modern anti-tankAnti-tank warfare
Anti-tank warfare was created by the need to seek technology and tactics to destroy tanks and their supporting infantry during the First World War...
, artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
, and anti-air
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
weapons. In contrast to German claims, for instance, in the symposium notes published by David Glantz
David Glantz
David M. Glantz is an American military historian and the editor of the Journal of Slavic Military Studies....
, or in the history of the Offensive published by Kissel, it appears that Romanian 1st Armoured Division did offer resistance against the Soviet breakthrough.
However, Mark Axworthy states in his book Third Axis, Fourth Ally that the battered 1st Armoured Division maintained cohesion, experiencing some local, costly successes before being forced to cross the River Moldova. Axworthy claims that the postwar Communist government would have obviously used this act of betrayal for propaganda purposes. Also, there are no Soviet reports of a collaboration before 24 August 1944. The Soviet rates of progress imply a rather ineffective defense of the Romanian troops than active collaboration and en-masse surrender. The complete collapse of the German 6th Army and the Romanian 4th Army
Fourth Army (Romania)
The Fourth Army was a field army of the Romanian Land Forces active from the 19th century to the 1990s.-History:The Fourth Army fought in the Romanian Campaign of World War I, under the command of General Prezan...
was more likely caused by the inability of the numerous horse-drawn infantry divisions to maintain cohesion while on retreat and under attack of the Soviet mechanized troops. This claim is reinforced by the fact that the only Romanian division which retained its cohesion under the Soviet attack was the 1st Armoured Division, which had the mobility and the anti-tank weapons needed to do so.
The surrender of Romania took place at a time when the Soviet Army already stood deep inside Romania, and the German 6th Army had been cut off from the rest of the Wehrmacht troops in Romania. The opening of hostilities between the Wehrmacht and the Romanian Army commenced after a failed coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
by the German ambassador.
German-Romanian combat
Concurrently, a coup d'état led by King Michael of RomaniaKing Michael's Coup
King Michael's Coup refers to the coup d'etat led by King Michael of Romania in 1944 against the pro-Nazi Romanian faction of Ion Antonescu, after the Axis front in Northeastern Romania collapsed under the Soviet offensive.-The coup:...
on 23 August deposed the Romanian leader Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
. The Wehrmacht concentrated most of its forces in Moldavia, leaving only 11,000 troops deployed in the vicinity of Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, with another 25,000 around the Ploieşti
Ploiesti
Ploiești is the county seat of Prahova County and lies in the historical region of Wallachia in Romania. The city is located north of Bucharest....
oilfields. German military formations promptly attempted to seize Bucharest in order to suppress the coup the following day, but were repelled by Romanian troops, who had some air support from the USAAF. German forces moving in to reinforce the assault on Bucharest from the west bank of the Prut
Prut
The Prut is a long river in Eastern Europe. In part of its course it forms the border between Romania and Moldova.-Overview:...
were cut off and destroyed by the rapidly advancing Soviet Army. At the same time, Wehrmacht formations guarding the Ploieşti oil fields were attacked by Romanian troops, and attempted to withdraw to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, again suffering heavy losses in the process. During the fighting, the Romanian Army captured 50,000 German prisoners, who were later surrendered to the Soviet Army.
Romanian sources claim that internal factors played a decisive role in Romania's liberation from the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
, while external factors only gave support; this version is markedly different from the Soviet position on the events, which holds that the Offensive resulted in the Romanian coup and liberated Romania with the help of local insurgents.
Consequences
The German formations suffered very high irrecoverable losses of over 200,000 men with 115,000 POWs, out of which 55,000 died before being transported to the Soviet Union. Remarkably, Soviet losses were extremely low for an operation of this size. The Red Army advanced into YugoslaviaYugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
and forced the rapid withdrawal of the German Army Groups E
Army Group E
Army Group E was a German Army Group active during World War II.Army Group E was created on 1 January 1943 from the 12th Army...
and F
Army Group F
Army Group F was a strategic command formation of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. The commander of Army Group F served also as the Oberbefehlshaber Südost ....
in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
and Yugoslavia to rescue them from being cut off. Together with Yugoslav partisans and Bulgaria they liberated the capital city of Belgrade
Belgrade Offensive
The Belgrade Offensive or the Belgrade Strategic Offensive Operation was an offensive military operation in which Belgrade was conquered from the German Wehrmacht by the joint efforts of the Yugoslav Partisans and the Soviet Red Army...
in 20 October.
On the political level, the Soviet offensive triggered King Michael's coup d'état in Romania, and the switch of Romania from the Axis to the Allies. Almost immediately, a small border war between Romania and Germany's forced ally Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
erupted over territory that Romania was forced to cede to Hungary in 1940, as a result of the Second Vienna Award
Second Vienna Award
The Second Vienna Award was the second of two Vienna Awards arbitrated by the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Rendered on August 30, 1940, it re-assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.-Prelude and historical background :After the World War I, the multi-ethnic...
.
Following the success of the operation, Soviet control over Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
and Northern Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
, which had been occupied by the USSR in 1940, was re-established. Soviet forces proceeded to collect and expel the remaining Romanian troops. According to Anatol Petrencu, President of the Historians' Association of Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, over 170,000 Romanian soldiers were deported, 40,000 of which were incarcerated in a prisoner-of-war camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
at Bălţi
Balti
Balti can refer to:* Balti language, a language spoken in Baltistan in Pakistan and Ladakh in Kashmir* Balti people, Muslims of Ladakhi/Tibetan origin from Baltistan in Pakistan and Ladakh in Kashmir...
, where they died of hunger, cold, disease, or were executed.
Soviet
- 2nd Ukrainian Front – Army General Rodion MalinovskyRodion MalinovskyRodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky was a Soviet military commander in World War II and Defense Minister of the Soviet Union in the late 1950s and 1960s. He contributed to the major defeat of Nazi Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Budapest...
- 6th Guards Tank Army6th Guards Tank ArmyThe 6th Guards Order of Red Banner Tank Army was a tank army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, first formed during World War II and disbanded in Ukraine in the 1990s after the dissolution of the Soviet Union....
– Major General A.G. Kravchenko - 18th Tank Corps – Major General V.I. Polozkov
- Cavalry-Mechanized Group Gorshkov – Major General S.I. Gorshkov
- 5th Guards Cavalry Corps
- 23rd Tank Corps – Lieutenant General A.O. Akhmanov
- 4th Guards Army – Galanin
- 27th Army27th Army (Soviet Union)The 27th Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, which fought in World War II. First formed in May 1941. Initial commander was H. E. Berzarin. Took part in battles in the Baltic. On 22 June 1941 it consisted of the 22nd and 24th Rifle Corps, 16th and 67th Rifle Divisions, 3rd Separate...
– Lieutenant General S.G. Trofimenko - 52nd Army – Koroteev
- Seventh Guards Army – Shumilov
- 40th Army40th Army (Soviet Union)The 40th Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army was an army-level command active from 1941 to 1945 and then again from 1979 to circa 1990.It was first formed, after Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, had commenced, from elements of the 26th and 37th Armies under the command...
– Lieutenant General F.F. Zhmachenko - 53rd Army – Lieutenant General I.M. Managarov
- 6th Guards Tank Army
- 3rd Ukrainian Front3rd Ukrainian Front3rd Ukrainian Front was a Front of the Red Army during World War II.It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southwestern Front. It included 1st Guards Army, 8th Guards Army, 6th, 12th, and 46th Armies and 17th Air Army...
– Army General Fyodor TolbukhinFyodor TolbukhinFyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin was a Soviet military commander.-Biography:Tolbukhin was born into a peasant family in the province of Yaroslavl, north-east of Moscow. He volunteered for the Imperial Army in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I. He was steadily promoted, advancing from private to...
- 5th Shock Army – Berzarin
- 4th Guards Mechanized Corps – Major General V.I. Zhdanov
- 7th Mechanized Corps – Major General F.G. Katkov
- 57th Army – Lieutenant General N.A. Gagen
- 46th Army – Lieutenant General I.T. Shlemin
- 37th Army – Major General M.N. Sharokhin
- 6th Guards Rifle Corps
- 66th Rifle Corps
- Black Sea FleetBlack Sea FleetThe Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....
Axis forces
Army Group South UkraineArmy Group South Ukraine
Army Group South Ukraine was a German army group on the Eastern Front during World War II.Army Group South Ukraine was created on 31 March 1944...
- Army Group Dumitrescu
- 3rd Romanian Army
- 6th Army
- 13th Panzer Division13th Panzer Division (Germany)The 13th Panzer Division was originally created in 1934 under the cover name Infanterieführer IV; it was unveiled as the 13th Infantry Division in 1935 when the creation of the Wehrmacht was announced...
- 306th Infantry Division
- 76th Infantry Division76th Infantry Division (Germany)The 76th Infantry Division was created on 26 August 1939 together with the 23rd Infantry Division in Potsdam. The division was annihilated in the Battle of Stalingrad and reformed by the OB West on 17 February 1943.-Commanding officers:...
- 13th Panzer Division
- Army Group Wohler
- 8th Army
- 10th Panzergrenadier Division
- 4th Romanian ArmyFourth Army (Romania)The Fourth Army was a field army of the Romanian Land Forces active from the 19th century to the 1990s.-History:The Fourth Army fought in the Romanian Campaign of World War I, under the command of General Prezan...
- 1st Romanian Armoured Division
- 4th Romanian Mountain division
- 8th Army
Sources
- Art of War Symposium, From the Dnepr to the Vistula: Soviet Offensive Operations – November 1943 – August 1944, A transcript of Proceedings, Center for Land Warfare, US Army War College, 29 April – 3 May 1985, Col. D.M. Glantz ed., Fort Leavewnworth, Kansas, 1992
- Mark Axworthy, Cornel Scafeș, Cristian Crãciunoiu,Third Axis. Fourth Ally. Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, Arms and Armour, London, 1995. ISBN 1854092677
- Ziemke, E.F. Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East, Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army; 1st edition, Washington D.C., 1968
- Roper, Steven D. Romania: The Unfinished Revolution (Postcommunist States and Nations), Routledge; 1 edition, 2000, ISBN 978-90-5823-027-0
- Vladimir TismăneanuVladimir TismaneanuVladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
, Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism, University of California PressUniversity of California PressUniversity of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
, Berkeley, 2003, p. 86. ISBN 0-520-23747-1