TheRomanian resistance movement during World War II (Romanian:Mișcarea de rezistență din România) was a part of the anti-Axisresistance during World War II. This movement included both armed and unarmed actions by various resistance groups determined to overthrow the dictatorship ofIon Antonescu, which was allied withNazi Germany, and to expel theWehrmacht troops from theKingdom of Romania. InNorthern Transylvania, which was controlled by Nazi-alignedHungary from 1940 to 1944, the resistance movement also sought the region's reintegration into Romania. Unlike other countries under Nazi occupation, no extensivepartisan movement developed in the country.
The movement comprised several factions, including a predominantly political faction led by theNational Peasants' Party (PNȚ), more militant groups influenced by theRomanian Communist Party (PCR), and various militaries and civilians without specific party affiliations. The PNȚ faction, which also received support from theNational Liberal Party leadership, avoided direct confrontation with Antonescu and Germany, aiming instead to peacefully influence the dictator to relinquish his powers and withdraw from Germany's war effort. Throughout the conflict, this group maintained contact withBritain'sSpecial Operations Executive, yet it resisted calls for acts of sabotage or violent uprisings. Conversely, the PCR faction, already banned prior to the war, achieved only limited success in sabotage operations. However, by 1944, it had established a few partisan groups and a significantparamilitary force. Unlike the PNȚ, the propaganda of the PCR and its affiliated organizations openly advocated for the regime's overthrow and active combat against German forces. Despite its support for theSoviet Union, the PCR struggled to establish consistent contact with the Soviets for most of the war. Romanian communists exiled in the Soviet Union before the war however helped the Soviet authorities establish two divisions made up of Romanian prisoners of war. Created in 1943, the two divisions ("Tudor Vladimirescu" and"Horea, Cloșca și Crișan") would eventually fight on the side of theAllies, initially under Soviet command, and later integrated into the Romanian Army.
Following the Axis defeat at theBattle of Stalingrad, a number of high-ranking officers loyal toKing Michael I, who resented his reduction tofigurehead status by Antonescu, joined the resistance. As theSoviet counter-offensive breached Romanian borders in the spring of 1944, these various resistance factions united to form theNational Democratic Bloc in June. This coalition played a pivotal role in the overthrow of Antonescu by King Michael onAugust 23, subsequently supporting the Romanian Army in the liberation of the country from German occupation.
Against the backdrop of Nazi successes on theWestern Front, the Romanian government underKingCarol II was compelled in the summer of 1940 tocedeBessarabia andNorthern Bukovina to the Soviet Union and to relinquish Northern Transylvania to Hungary as mandated by theSecond Vienna Award.[n 1] The king was subsequently overthrown in acoup in September 1940, resulting in the establishment of a "National Legionary State" led by thefascistIron Guard and General Ion Antonescu. In October 1940, the Wehrmacht was "invited" to occupy the remaining parts of Romania, and Germany gradually assumed control of the Romanian economy. Following anabortive rebellion, the Iron Guard was suppressed, solidifying Antonescu's position as the sole totalitarian ruler of Romania. The country maintained its pro-Nazi trajectory, and in June 1941, it joined Germany in theinvasion of the Soviet Union.
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Anti-German sentiment remained very strong inRomania, both among civilians and soldiers, following the harshCentral Power occupation duringWorld War I, and the fact that, since its arrival in Romania in October 1940, theWehrmacht behaved like a conqueror, multiplying military requisitions, although the Antonescu regime wasNazi Germany's ally. The partisans were actually peasants starved due to military requisitions and who were fleeing from conscription, anti-fascist townspeople, Jews fleeing thepogroms of the Iron Guard,forced labor and deportation toTransnistria, as well as deserters. Anti-fascist soldiers secretly procured them weapons; between June 1941 and August 1944, 8,600 court-martial sentences were handed down for such actions.[1] As happened in France,the attack on the USSR in June 1941 brought to light theCommunist Party[clarification needed] and made it join the opponents of fascism.[2]
The"Tudor Vladimirescu" and"Horea, Cloșca și Crișan" divisions fought in the Soviet Union against the Germans. Their numbers increased during thecampaign against the USSR (June 1941 - August 1944), due to the large number of deserters and Romanian prisoners captured by theRed Army.[3] The "Tudor Vladimirescu" Division was commanded by generalsNicolae Cambrea andIacob Teclu [ro]. The "Horea, Cloșca și Crișan" Division was commanded by generalMihail Lascăr, who had surrendered and joined the Soviets at theBattle of Stalingrad. The two divisions advanced westward, by the end of the war reachingBratislava inSlovakia on April 4, 1945[4]Humpolec, inBohemia, on May 7, 1945.[5]: 79 The "Tudor Vladimirescu" Division (6,000 men at formation, 19,000 at the end of the war, mostly peasants) was placed in front of the German or Hungarian divisions and used in direct combat. As for the Romanian prisoners captured by the Soviets, the choice between captivity inSiberia and enlistment in the "Tudor Vladimirescu" or "Horea, Cloșca și Crișan" Divisions led many of them to choose the second option, even if they had no clear political beliefs. By joining these divisions, they received a left-wing political education under the supervision ofpolitical commissars, members of theRomanian Communist Party: ColonelMircea Haupt [fr] (brother of the Communist historian turned French citizenGeorges Haupt) for the "Tudor Vladimirescu" Division and ColonelValter Roman (former member of theInternational Brigades in theSpanish Civil War and father of the former prime minister of Romania,Petre Roman) for the "Horea, Cloșca and Crișan" Division. After the war, on February 9, 1946, 58 officers from these two divisions were awarded theOrder of Victory.[6]
![The turning of the Romanian Front in August 1944[5]: 76](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCampa%25C3%25B1aRumana1944.svg)
As Antonescu's Romania engaged in theHolocaust, humanitarian organizations, among which theRomanian Red Cross played the main role, created aid channels (essentially food and medical supplies) for the persecuted people (especially those deported to theTransnistria Governorate) in order to ensure passage throughBulgaria (a member of theAxis but which did not participate in fighting against theAllies) andTurkey (a neutral state) toPalestine.[citation needed][clarification needed] Another organization was theRomanian Maritime Service [ro],[n 2] who operated throughout the war thepassenger shipsTransilvania [ro],Medeea,Emperor Trajan andDacia, together with a dozen other smaller ships, betweenConstanța andIstanbul, in the service of the organization "Aliya" led by Samuel Leibovici and Eugen Maissner, saving over 60,000 people.
More than 1,000 people perished due to thetorpedoing of their ships by Soviet submarines or the refusal of the Turkish authorities to allow them to disembark (the tragedies of the shipsStruma andMefküre).[7][8][9] "Aliya" also rented trains that, passing through Bulgaria (which was in the Axis, but did not participate in the fighting with the Allies), transported tens of thousands ofRomanian Jews to Turkey (a neutral country).
For their merits, 69 Romanians were awarded the title granted by the Israeli state through theYad Vashem institute, of "Righteous Among the Nations". Among them wereViorica Agarici, chairwoman of a local office of theRomanian Red Cross, the pharmacist Dr. Dumitru Beceanu fromIași, andTraian Popovici, the mayor ofCernăuți.[10] The Red Cross sent food and medicine to deportees in Transnistria and persuaded officers not to carry out orders, allowing families likeWilhelm Filderman's orNorman Manea's to survive. The leading World War II fighter ace in Romania,Constantin Cantacuzino,[n 3] organized a network of taking over the downed American airmen in Romania and clandestinely transporting them to Turkey.[11][12] He was secretly protected by KingMichael I and the commander of the Bucharest garrison, GeneralConstantin Sănătescu, who provided him with communication resources and connected him with the clandestine inter-allied missionOperation Autonomous of theSOE.
Political personalities formed, without Antonescu reacting otherwise than by ordering house arrest measures, opposition groups that publicly protested against the regime's policy. Exasperated by the "passive betrayal" of the Romanian dictator, who "has assured the Führer of his loyalty, but tolerates anti-German actions",Joseph Goebbels noted, on February 19, 1941, in his diary: "Antonescu maintains his government with the support ofFreemasonry and Germany's enemies.Our local minority is having a hard time. The Reich made such an effort in vain".
In the summer of 1944, all these political groups, including the Communists, united in a "National Democratic Bloc", secretly led by the young KingMichael I and the leaders of the traditional democratic parties. This council attempted to negotiate inSweden (through ambassadorFrederic Nanu and his agentNeagu Djuvara) and inTurkey (through PrinceBarbu Știrbey, descendant of the formerWallachian rulerBarbu Dimitrie Știrbei) about a change of alliance in favor of theWestern Allies, requesting instead an Anglo-American landing in theBalkans and an occupation of Romania by the armies of the western countries and not by the Red Army.[3][13]
In order to discuss directly with the Romanian government the possibility of a Romanian defection from the Axis to the Allied camp, a clandestine inter-allied mission ofSpecial Operations Executive (SOE) was parachuted near Bucharest, (Operation Autonomous).[14]: 33 The three agents parachuted into Romania were Lieutenant ColonelAlfred Gardyne de Chastelain, experienced SOE officer, as the leader, CaptainIvor Porter, and Captain Silviu Mețianu, a Romanian who had emigrated to the UK. They were captured byRomanian gendarmerie almost immediately in the area ofPlosca. They were held as well-treated prisoners of war at the gendarmerie headquarters in Bucharest. On 23 August 1944 the young King Michael I carried out his well preparedcoup d’état which took Adolf Hitler completely by surprise, and Romania then changed sides. The British prisoners were released and that evening the king arranged for de Chastelain to fly to Istanbul, whence he could travel to Cairo and then London to report. Mețianu stayed on for a time and then returned to England. Porter remained to maintain a radio link with SOE headquarters until the British mission arrived in the country.[15]
The two divisions,Tudor Vladimirescu andHorea, Cloșca și Crișan, were joined by theRomanian army, since on August 23, 1944, the dictatorIon Antonescu was deposed and arrested by KingMichael I. Without waiting for the Soviet response to its request for an armistice, Romania declared war on theAxis powers and committed its 550,000 soldiers to the fight againstNazi Germany. As a result, the front moved 700 km west and south in less than a week, and according toWinston Churchill's estimates, Romania's entry into the war alongside theAllies would avoided the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers and hastened the end of World War II by six months.[16][17][3] Once war against the Axis was declared, the Romanian forces, reinforced with partisan recruits and placed under Soviet command, launched their offensive againstHungary, advancing as far asSlovakia.
From August 24, 1944 to May 9, 1945,Romania was an allied country, which allowed it to participate at theParis Peace Conference of 1947 to recoverNorthern Transylvania, which had been assigned to Hungary in 1940 as a result of theSecond Vienna Award. The military operations of the Romanian Army against the Axis took place between August 24, 1944 (starting from Romania's own territory) and May 7, 1945 (Chotěboř–Humpolec area, 90 km (56 mi) east ofPrague). For his contribution to the side of the Allies, KingMichael I received theOrder of Victory, by order ofJoseph Stalin himself.
