Romanian Armies in the Battle of Stalingrad

Two Romanian armies, the Third and the Fourth, were involved in the Battle of Stalingrad, helping to protect the
northern and southern anks respectively of the German
6th Army as it tried to conquer the city of Stalingrad,
defended by the Soviet Red Army in mid to late 1942.
Overpowered and poorly equipped, these forces were
unable to stop the Soviet November oensive which
punched through both anks and left the 6th Army encircled in Stalingrad. The Romanians suered enormous
losses, which eectively ended their oensive capability
on the Eastern Front for the remainder of the war.

Background
German advance on the Eastern Front from 7 May to 18 November 1942

Following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939,

Romania lost almost one third of its territory without a single shot being red, as Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were annexed[4][5] by the Soviet Union
on June 28, 1940, after Romania yielded to a Soviet
ultimatum.[6][7][8][9] As a result, King Carol II was forced
to abdicate in September 1940, and General Ion Antonescu rose to power.

September 16, the 7th Fighter Group, on September

25, the 5th Bomber Group and, on October 4, the 1st
Bomber, 8th Fighter, 6 Fighter-Bomber and 3rd Bomber
Group arrived with the mission of providing air support
for the Third Romanian and 6th German Armies.

The Romanian Third Army, commanded by General

Petre Dumitrescu, was transferred from the Caucasus and
replaced ve Italian and two German divisions between
Blij Perekopa and Bokovkaya, with the task of defending a front 138 km long, far beyond its capabilities. To
make things worse, the Soviets had two bridgeheads over
the Don River, at Seramovich and Kletskaya, which the
German High Command ignored, despite repeated requests by General Dumitrescu for permission to eliminate them. At the start of the Soviet oensive in November 1942, the Third Army had a nominal strength of
152,492 Romanian troops and 11,211 German troops,
being made up from 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Army Corps
in a single echelon (1st Cavalry, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th,
13th and 14th Infantry Divisions) from West to East,
with 7th Cavalry and 15th Infantry Divisions in reserve.
The Long Range Recon (DO-17M) and the 112th Liaison Squadrons (Fleet 10G) were also at its disposal.
In November came the German XLVIII Panzer Corps,
composed of the 22nd Panzer Division and the 1st Armoured Division (Romania), which also was put in reserve. It also had the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 8th Motorized
2 Prelude
Heavy Artillery Regiments and the 41st Independent Motorized Heavy Artillery Battalion. Opposite the 3rd Army
In September 1942, the Romanian Third and Fourth was the Southwestern Front (1st Guards Army, 5th Tank
Armies took up their positions around Stalingrad together Army and 21st Army), with a staggering force of 5,888
with the rst elements of the Romanian Air Corps: on artillery pieces, 728 tanks and 790 planes.
In October, Romania joined the Axis and expressed its
availability for a military campaign against the Soviet
Union, in order to recapture the provinces ceded in June.
After a highly successful summer campaign in 1941 as
part of Army Group South, the Romanian Armed Forces
regained the territory between the Prut and Dniestr rivers.
General Antonescu decided to continue to advance alongside the Wehrmacht, disregarding the Romanian High
Commands doubts over the possibility of sustaining a
mobile warfare campaign deep inside Soviet territory.
In October 1941, the Romanian Fourth Army occupied
Odessa after a protracted siege which caused more than
80,000 casualties on the Romanian side, severe destruction and many casualties among the civilian population
(the Odessa massacre). The spring and summer of 1942
saw the Third and Fourth Romanian Armies in action in
the Battle of Crimea and the Battle of the Caucasus. By
the fall of 1942, the two armies were poised to join the
attack on Stalingrad.

IAR 80 ghter planes

THE BATTLE

and at Raspopinskaya, but were repulsed. In response to

the situation that developed south of Kletskaya, the 48th
Armored Corps was ordered to move towards the Soviet
main thrust and shortly afterwards, the 22nd Panzer Division was redirected to the northwest towards Bolsoy and,
reaching Petshany, it engaged Soviet armor. By evening,
the 1st Romanian Armored Division reached Sirkovsky,
making preparations to attack Bolsoy the next day. In the
rst day of the oensive, the Soviet forces succeeded in
making two breaches in the defences of the Third Romanian Army: one in the center, 1618 km wide and 15 km
deep and one in the right wing, between the Third Romanian Army and the 6th German Army, 1012 km wide
and 3540 km deep.

The Romanian Fourth Army, commanded by General

Constantin Constantinescu, with 75,580 men, occupied a
line south of the city, between Staraya Otrada and Sarpa.
It comprised the 6th and 7th Army Corps (1st, 2nd, 4th,
18th, 20th Infantry Divisions and the 5th and 8th Cavalry
Divisions). The Romanian Air Corps put at its disposal
the 15th, 16th, 17th Observation (IAR 39) and the 114th
Liaison Squadrons (Fleet 10G) covering a front of 270
km long. Thus the 18th Cavalry covered a line of 100 km.
The reserve consisted of the 6th Roiori Regiment, the
27th, 57th Pioneer Battalions and the 57th Recon Group.
Also, the Fourth Panzer Army had in the area the 29th
Motorized Infantry Division. This army was supposed to
check the advance of the Stalingrad Front (51st, 62nd,
63rd and 57th Armies), which possessed 4,931 artillery
pieces and 455 tanks.
Most of these formations were in deplorable shape, with
at best 73% of necessary manpower, with the 1st Infantry
Division going as low as 25% and an almost nonexistent arsenal of heavy antitank guns.[10] Between these two Soviet advance at Stalingrad from November 19 to November 28,
armies was the Sixth German Army, under General der 1942
Panzertruppe Friedrich Paulus.
On 20 November, the Soviet armored and motorized
forces advanced towards Kalach, with the intention of
encircling the 6th German Army ghting at Stalingrad.
3 The battle
The 22nd Panzer Division, overwhelmed at Petshany by
the large number of Soviet tanks, withdrew north to
3.1 In the north
Bol. Donschynka. The 1st Romanian Armored Division, without any available radio contact, tried to advance
On 19 November at 0530, in the sector of the Third Ro- to Petshany in order to make the junction with the 22nd
manian Army, artillery barrages battered the entire front Panzer Division, but was forced to stop a few kilometers
line, while blizzards, snow fall, and 20 degrees Cel- west of Korotovsky by sti Soviet resistance and numersius made close air support impossible. The Soviets as- ous counterattacks by Soviet tanks, owing between the
saulted the positions of the 14th Infantry Division with German 22nd and the Romanian 1st, occupying the Varthe 5th Tank Army and the junction between the 13th In- lamovsky and Peralasovsky villages and making the juncfantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division with the 21st tion with forces coming from Gromsky, thus encircling
Army, with a total of 338,631 men against three weak the 5th Corps. In the 4th Corps sector, 40 Soviet tanks
divisions. The 37mm and 47mm AT guns were useless attacked the 15th Infantry Division but were repulsed by
against Soviet tanks, so the Romanian troops had to use evening with heavy loses. Meanwhile, the 7th Cavalry Digrenades, anti-tank mines and Molotov cocktails. In the vision unsuccessfully tried to block the enemys advance;
rst hours, they managed to delay the advance and de- the right wing of the division, which had fully received
stroy some armor, but later they had to retreat or be en- the blow, retreated south while the left wing was reascircled. The Soviets also attacked west of Tsaritsa Valley signed to the 9th Infantry Division. Also, the 1st Cavalry

3
Division had to retreat towards Stalingrad and was subordinated to the 6th Army. At the end of the day, the
defence position of the Third Romanian Army had a 70
km wide gap in the centre. In this pocket were encircled
the 1st Armored Division, three infantry divisions (5th,
6th and 15th) and remains of other two infantry divisions
(13th and 14th). The former commander of the 6th Infantry Division, Major General Mihail Lascr, took command of the troops from the infantry divisions and formed
the General Lascr Group (40,000 men). At this point,
the command point of the Third Army began moving to
Morozovskaya.

danger of encirclement. Also, the link with the 20th Infantry Division was broken. Despite the stubborn resistance put up by the 91st Infantry Regiment and the 20th
Pioneer Battalion, the Soviets broke through Tundutovo
and Ivanovka, getting behind the division and, within an
hour, most of the Romanian soldiers were either dead or
captured.
On 21 November, the 57th Army advanced towards
Sovetsky (17 km southeast of Kalach) to meet the forces
of the South Western Front and encircle the German
forces at Stalingrad, while the 51st Army advanced
towards Kotelnikovo, along the Kotelnikovo-Stalingrad
railroad. The 6th Corps tried to resist, while the "Korne"
Detachment (3rd, 4th Cavalry Regiments, 2nd Artillery
Battalion and the 7th Heavy Artillery Regiment), backed
by German armored units, launched a counterattack towards Abganerovo, with the 29th German Motorized Infantry Division attacking from the northwest. The action
failed due to lack of eective anti-tank weapons.

On 21 November, the 22nd Panzer Division tried to advance towards Perelasovsky in order to make the junction
with the 1st Armored Division and to relieve the General Lascr Group, but failed and was stopped the next
day between Bol. Donschynka and Perelasovsky. The
1st Romanian Armored Division advanced towards Bol.
Donschynka, where it was hoping to nd the German division, but the village was under Soviet control and then On 22 November, the Soviets took hold of Mal. Derheaded south and, after grim ghting, crossed the Chir bety and Tundutovo and the Korne Detachment was atriver on the 25 November.
tacked in the Krasnay-Geroy area, suering heavy losses.
On 22 November, the encircled General Lascr Group, The proposal by the Romanian command to fall back to
which had been ordered to resist at any cost, was attacked better positions on the Aksay River clashed with the Gerand transmitted its last message. They had run out of food man decision to hold rmly.
and each gun had only 40 rounds left. After refusing the
On 23 November, the Deputy Chief of Sta of the Fourth
Soviet proposal to surrender they were entirely destroyed. Army demanded and received from the Romanian GenOnly the 1st Battalion of the 15 Infantry Regiment (6th
eral Headquarters the authorization to make decisions ininfantry Division), commanded by Major Gheorghe Ras- dependently from the 4th Panzer Army. Subsequently,
conescu, succeeded in getting to the river Chir with all the 6th Corps fell back to the Aksay River, but to no avail,
its soldiers and equipment. His battalion had managed to as the Soviets were already in control of the communicaprevent the Soviet 8th Cavalry Division from capturing tion center of Aksay. The Korne Detachment fell back,
the vital German aireld at Oblivskaya from 26 Novem- leaving the ank of the 7th Corps uncovered. At the same
ber to 3 December.
time, the 5th Cavalry and the 4th Infantry Divisions were
On 23 November, the Soviet troops of the South-Western
Front and of the Stalingrad Front met at Kalach-na-Donu,
completing the encirclement of the German 6th Army,
parts of the Fourth Army and six other Romanian infantry
divisions and one cavalry division.

3.2

In the south

On 20 November, the Fourth Romanian Army was attacked by the Soviet 57th Army and 51st Armies, with
the main blow in the sector of the 20th, 2nd, 18th and
1st Infantry Divisions. The 57th Army attacked towards
Sovetsky in the northeast and the 51st Army towards
Kotelnikovo in the south. The front was broken at the
junction of the 2nd and 20th Infantry Divisions and at
the junction ot the 1st and 18th Infantry Divisions. The
Soviets advanced fast into the breaches created by the
rst wave, pushing the 13th Tank Corps towards Saty,
the Soviet 4th Mechanized Corps towards Plodovitoye
and, later, the 4th Cavalry Corps towards Abganerovo.
By evening, the 1st and 2nd Infantry Divisions were virtually destroyed and the 18th Infantry Division was in

attacked from the east. In order to prevent the Soviet advance between the railroad and the river Don, a new defence line, with its center at Kotelnikovo, was established.
In the afternoon, the Soviet troops of the Stalingrad Front
met the South-Western Front troops in Sovetsky area, encircling the German forces at Stalingrad. Receiving information about the arrival of a German detachment, the
Fourth Romanian Armys commander decided to hold its
position. The 6th Corps was on the southern bank of the
Aksay River, the 4th Infantry Division from Umansevo
to Kotsubayev and the 5th Cavalry Division further to
Perednaya Elista with the link between the two corps being provided by the Korne Detachment.

4 The end
On 24 November, Soviet activity abated, but the next day,
the Russian troops attacked towards Kotelnikovo between
the Don and the railroad, pushing the 4th Infantry Division southwards from the left bank of the 7th Corps.
On 26 November, the Korne and "Pannwitz" Detach-

REFERENCES

ank. They were stopped 50 km from Stalingrad and, on

18 December, the front held by the 8th Italian Army was
broken, with seven Italian divisions and the Italian Alpine
Corps being encircled.
On 24 December, the Red Army counterattacked, with
149,000 men and 635 tanks, the German 57th Panzer
Corps and the Romanian Fourth Army and on 29 December, the 57th Panzer had to abandon Kotelnikovo, which
sealed the fate of the Axis troops in Stalingrad.
On 15 January 1943, came another devastating blow: The
Hungarian 2nd Army was encircled and eventually destroyed, with 147,971 casualties.
Soviet advances on the Eastern Front, November 18, 1942 to
March 1943

5 Aftermath

On 2 February 1943, the resistance of Axis troops in Stalingrad ceased. Out of the 91,000 prisoners taken by the
Soviets, 3,000 were Romanian. These were the survivors
of the 20th Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division and
Colonel Voicu Detachment. The Romanian Army lost
158,854 men (dead, wounded and missing) between 19
November 1942 and 7 January 1943. This represented
16 of the 18 divisions engaged at Stalingrad and half of
the active troops (31 divisions). The Romanian Air Corps
lost 73 airplanes (26 in battle and the rest on the ground).
The Romanian armed forces were not capable of recovering after such catastrophic losses, and from this point
onward, they would only ght desperate defensive battles
On 16 December, the Soviet Third Guards Army started on their way back to Romania.
Operation Little Saturn and attacked Army Group Hollidt
to which was subordinated the Third Romanian Army,
along the river Chir. On 18 December, the Soviet Sixth 6 See also
Army broke through the defence of the Italian 8th Army
and the 18th, 24th and 25th Tank Corps penetrated deep
Operation Uranus
behind Axis lines, threatening the rear of the front on the
Chir.
Romania during World War II
On 22 December, the banks of the river Chir were aban Battle of Stalingrad German Order of Battle
doned by the left wing of Army Group Hollidt as they
retreated towards Morozovskaya. On 27 December, the
7th Cavalry Division started to retreat towards Bisry after 40 days of continuous ghting, but the following day,
7 References
General Karl-Adolf Hollidt assigned the 11th Roiori and
11th Clrai Regiments and the 61st Recon Group the
task of defending the German depots at Chernigof. The [1] Mark Axworthy, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian
Armed Forces in the European War, 1941-1945, Arms &
Romanian cavalrymen held the town against Soviet atArmour Press, ISBN 1-85409-267-7, p. 91
tacks until 2 January 1943, when they eventually retreated. They were the last Axis troops to leave the Chir [2] Axworthy, p. 107
line.
ments managed to push back the Soviet troops which
had inltrated between the two Romanian corps. On the
27th, the Soviets approaching Kotelnikovo were also repelled by counterattack of the Pannwitz Detachment
and units of the 6th Panzer Division, which had recently
arrived in preparation for the counter strike to relieve the
Axis forces in Stalingrad. The Soviets managed to break
through the line of the 6th Corps at the 18th Infantry Division, thus forcing it to retreat 2530 km south of the
river. The losses of the Fourth Romanian Army in this
operation were catastrophic: up to 80% in personnel at
the 1st, 2nd and 18th Infantry divisions.

To the south, the remains of the Fourth Army and the

Romanian Air Corps were engaged in Operation Wintergewitter, which aimed to create a link with the Axis
troops in Stalingrad. The main blow was to be delivered
by the German 57th Panzer Corps; on its left ank was
the Romanian 6th Corps with the Romanian 7th Corps
and the Cavalry Group General Popescu forming the right

[3] Axworthy, p. 113

[4] Background Note: Romania, United States Department
of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Aairs, October 2007. The text says: Romania entered World War II
on the side of the Axis Powers in June 1941, invading the
Soviet Union to recover Bessarabia and Bukovina, which
had been annexed in 1940.

[5] (French) Pacte Molotov-Ribbentrop, at the French embassy in Romania, June 25, 2005, quoting a declaration by
Romanian President Traian Bsescu, as rmly condemning the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact that led to the annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina by the USSR
[6] Istvn Dek, Essays on Hitlers Europe, University of Nebraska Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8032-6630-8, p. 131. The
text says: the Fhrer...now allowed his allies to seize Romanian territory. On June 27, following Stalins ultimatum, Romania ceded Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
to the Soviet Union.
[7] Moshe Y. Sachs, Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations,
John Wiley & Sons, 1988, ISBN 0-471-62406-3, p. 231
[8] William Julian Lewis, The Warsaw Pact: Arms, Doctrine,
and Strategy, Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, 1982,
p. 209
[9] Karel C Wellens, Eric Suy, International Law: Essays in
Honour of Eric Suy, Martinus Nijho Publishers, 1998,
ISBN 90-411-0582-4, p. 79. The text says: This secret
diplomacy was followed by a series of brutal violations
of the standards of international law by the Soviet Union
for purposes of expanding its territory: on 27 July having
yielded to the ultimatum of the USSR, Romania ceded
Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina to the Soviet Union.
[10] Hans Wijers, ED, Eastern Front Combat, Stackpole
Books, 20088, ISBN 978-0-8117-3442-4, p. 79

External links
Map, by Geert Rottiers
Website dedicated to the Romanian Army in WW
II
The Romanian Army in World War II, by Jonathan
Forsey

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

Romanian Armies in the Battle of Stalingrad Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian%20Armies%20in%20the%20Battle%

20of%20Stalingrad?oldid=622715171 Contributors: Berek, Markewilliams, Ezhiki, Domino theory, Irpen, 96T, Giraedata, Darwinek,
Tainter, GraemeLeggett, BD2412, Kmorozov, Kirill Lokshin, Anonimu, SmackBot, Gilliam, Tswold@msn.com, Robosh, Volker89, Andrwsc, Hu12, Clarityend, AdrianTM, Alexone, CmdrObot, Cydebot, Hydraton31, Tec15, Biruitorul, Olahus, Turgidson, Ericoides, Bibi
Saint-Pol, MartinDK, Buckshot06, The Anomebot2, MetsBot, MartinBot, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Taoyyz, Mrg3105, MisterBee1966,
Hugo999, Bob103051, Thefrood, Eurocopter, MBK004, Keeper76, Calistemon1, Bogorm, Addbot, Worldbruce, Materialscientist, OllieFury, Mcoupal, Jstamp, CaptainFugu, Full-date unlinking bot, Cazantheman, John of Reading, Donner60, WorldWarTwoEditor, Helpful Pixie Bot, Hamish59 and Anonymous: 27

9.2

Images

File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-218-0501-27,_Russland-Sd,_rumnische_Soldaten.jpg Source:
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License: CC-BY-SA-3.0-de Contributors: This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive (Deutsches
Bundesarchiv) as part of a cooperation project. The German Federal Archive guarantees an authentic representation only using the originals
(negative and/or positive), resp. the digitalization of the originals as provided by the Digital Image Archive. Original artist: Lechner
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1942-11_to_1943-03.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Sdrtirs
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Glantz, David M.; Jonathan House (1995) When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler, Lawrence, Kansas: Kansas University
Press, pp. 135 ISBN: 0-7006-0717-X. Original artist: Original uploader was Gdr at en.wikipedia Later version(s) were uploaded by Zocky,
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