| Danube Delta Campaign | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theEastern Front ofWorld War II | |||||||
 The Romanian monitorMihail Kogălniceanu in 1941 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Romania |  Soviet Union | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Eugeniu Roșca [ro] |  Alexander Frolov | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2 river monitors 4 torpedo gunboats | 3 river monitors 5+ patrol boats | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 3 monitors damaged 2 patrol boats sunk 3 patrol boats damaged 1 tug damaged 1 barge sunk | ||||||
TheDanube Delta Campaign was a series of naval engagements between theSoviet Danube Flotilla and itsRomanian counterpart in late June 1941, during the first days ofOperation Barbarossa.
Afterannexing Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania in the summer of 1940, the Soviet Union gained a border on theDanube. The Soviets created a newflotilla on the Danube, which was formed of ships transferred from theDnieper Flotilla. The new Danube Flotilla consisted of fivemonitors (armed with 102 mm and 130 mm guns), twenty-two armored boats, and five transports, supported by an anti-aircraft battalion,fighter andbomber squadrons, a riflecompany, a machine gun company, anaval infantry company, and eightshore batteries (two 152 mm, one 130 mm, one 122 mm, one 76 mm, and three 45 mm gun batteries).[1]
Romania joined Operation Barbarossa and declared war on theSoviet Union on 22 June 1941, launching attacks against Soviet airfields in Bessarabia and destroying numerous aircraft on the ground.[2] The Romanian Danube Flotilla consisted of fourBrătianu-class monitors (Ion C. Brătianu,Lascăr Catargiu,Mihail Kogălniceanu andAlexandru Lahovari), three ex-Austro-Hungarian monitors (Ardeal,Basarabia andBucovina) and various other ships.[3] The Romanian Flotilla was supported by aircraft of theRoyal Romanian Air Force inartillery spotting.[4]
The first Soviet-Romanian naval engagement occurred on 22 June 1941, the first day of Operation Barbarossa, when one Soviet monitor and onepatrol boat attacked the port-city ofTulcea. The Romanianriver monitorsBasarabia and theBrătianu-classMihail Kogălniceanu repulsed the attack, sinking the patrol boat.[2][5]
The main naval engagement on the Danube occurred on the following day, when the Romanian Tulcea Tactical Group (Basarabia,Mihail Kogălniceanu and four patrol boats) repelled another attack of the Soviet Danube Flotilla, damaging two monitors and two patrol boats and one tug. The Romanian monitors then counterattacked atReni, sinking one patrol boat and one barge and damaging another Soviet monitor.[2][5]
The last naval engagement on the Danube occurredon 26 June, when two Romaniantorpedo gunboats,V1 andV3, engaged three Soviet patrol boats, setting one of them on fire and forcing all three to retreat.[6]
Despite these defeats, the Soviet Danube Flotilla continued to support ground forces in bridgeheads and landing operations, and also fought numerous artillery duels with theRomanian Land Forces during and in the days prior toOperation München.[7] Artillery duels with the Romanian Flotilla also continued until 9/10 July when the Soviet ships retreated toIzmail. The Soviets retreated completely from theChilia branch of the Danube on 20 July.[8]
The Romanian monitors also fought against theRed Army troops, shelling Soviet artillery positions in the Reni-Giurgiulești sector, with the positions nearGiurgiulești shelled on 8 and 14 July.[4][6]