| Battle of Romania | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofWorld War II | |||||||
 Red Army offensives in 1943–1944. The Battle of Romania is covered by the blue area. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Soviet Union Romania (from 23 August) |  Germany Romania (until 23 August) Hungary | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Joseph StalinRodion MalinovskyFyodor TolbukhinMichael I | Ion Antonescu  Johannes FriessnerMaximilian Fretter-Pico | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,000,000+[1] | 1,000,000+[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | +500,000 killed | ||||||
TheBattle of Romania inWorld War II comprised several operations in or aroundRomania in 1944, as part of theEastern Front, in which theSoviet Army defeatedAxis (German andRomanian) forces in the area, Romania changed sides, and Soviet and Romanian forces drove the Germans back intoHungary.
Soviet troops entered Romanian territory during theUman–Botoșani offensive in March 1944, capturing several towns in northernMoldavia, includingBotoșani.
According to historianDavid Glantz, the Soviet Union first attempted to invade Romania during the spring of 1944, through the territory of present-dayMoldova. Between 8 April and 6 June, theSoviet Army launched thefirst Jassy–Kishinev offensive, so named after two major citiesIași (Jassy) andChișinău (Kishinev) in the area. A series of military engagements took place, with the objective of cutting off vital Axis defensive lines in Northern Romania, thus facilitating a subsequent advance by theRed Army into the entireBalkan region. Soviet forces failed to overcome German and Romanian defenses in the region. According to Glantz, the offensive operation ultimately failed, mainly due to the poor combat performance of Soviet troops and the effectiveness of German defensive preparations.[3]
The major attack of the Battle of Romania – thesecond Jassy–Kishinev offensive, between 20 August and 29 August – was a Soviet victory.[4] TheGerman Sixth Army was encircled by the initial Soviet onslaught and was destroyed for the second time (the first time was at theBattle of Stalingrad).
On 23 August,King Michael of Romania led a coup d'état against Prime MinisterIon Antonescu; the new government surrendered to the Allies and declared war on Germany. Romanian historianFlorin Constantiniu claims this shortened World War II in Europe by six months.[5]
The Axis front collapsed. In the north, the GermanEighth Army retreated to Hungary with heavy losses. Elsewhere, many German forces were cut off and captured, such as the large security and anti-aircraft force posted at thePloiești oil field. Other fragments of the German forces fled toward Hungary as best they could, fighting the Soviets and the recently defected Romanians, which stormed through the Carpathian Mountains. (Several passes through the mountains were held by Romanian troops.)
The Soviet victory in Romania causedBulgaria to withdraw from the Axis on 26 August, and allowed Soviet forces to invade it on 8 September.
By 24 September, nearly all of Romania was under Soviet control.Romania's defect initiated a collapse of many countries on the eastern front.The Soviet forces, now able to move through Romanian territory without opposition, captured nearly 120,000 Romanian soldiers (POW's) and sent them to concentration camps inside the Soviet Union where most perished through labor work or malnutrition.
The German forces meanwhile regrouped in Hungary with the aid of Hungarian forces using high ground positions on the hills of Buda in Budapest.
It was at this time Hitler declared the Hungarian city of Budapest a Fortress city, and to be defended at all costs.The German and Hungarian forces stood their ground fighting relentlessly even door to door as the Soviet forces continued entering the city.
