Romanian fleet in the Second World War. Romanian Navy during World War II

In the mid-1920s, Romania decided to implement a grandiose project: to build 20 submarines and several types of warships in order to completely rearm its navy. A special program was developed and adopted. Significant funds were allocated, with which the Romanians re-equipped a significant part of the fleet and built a new base in Mangalia. But instead of 20 submarines, one boat was manufactured at the Italian shipyard. It was given to the Romanians with a big scandal only five years later, when they paid the bills.

Early this morning, instead of wearing the uniform of an officer-commander of a Romanian ship, he put on an ordinary civilian suit. He had to go to England and, according to unofficial instructions received from his superiors, he could not attract increased attention when crossing the border. Also, as a precaution, officers were forbidden to tell their family and friends what country they were going to: the Romanian government did not want rumors to spread about the obvious involvement of the British in the training of domestic sailors.

And there were plenty of attacks on the Romanian navy. Especially in the mid-20s of the XX century.

The Romanian press treated its fleet with extreme disdain: almost all the ships were received by Romania as “compensation” during the division of Austro-German military property, which the victors joyfully shared after the end of the imperialist war. There were publications in newspapers stating that ships built at Austro-German shipyards did not meet modern requirements - it was necessary to create our own national fleet. Of course, journalists expressed on the pages of newspapers the opinion of some ministers who were interested not only in the revival of the navy, but also in receiving large military allocations from the state. Because along the route of government money one could put a considerable share of it in one’s pocket, hiding behind a powerful propaganda veil. And for these purposes all means were good. Including newspapers.

However, the press needed to cover both the negative and positive aspects. The September naval maneuvers on the Danube, which took place in 1924, received the most flattering reviews. Journalists who visited the site of the exercises wrote many laudatory articles that the resurgent fleet brilliantly completed the task of protecting the Danube channels.

However, real brilliance was still far away.

Therefore, the Romanians turned to their English colleagues for help, who, in turn, were interested in expanding their presence in the Black Sea and were constantly looking for allies. The First Sea Lord, Chief of the English Naval Military Staff, David Beatty, made frequent unofficial visits to Romania. Admiral David Beatty was called the best English flagship of the First World War. He almost exclusively decided on the main issues of maritime policy. In 1924, Beatty examined the Black Sea ports, choosing bases for an attack on the USSR" (K.A. Zalessky. Who was who in the First World War. Biographical Encyclopedic Dictionary. Moscow, 2003).

According to the agreements reached, Romanian naval units began to train on the basis of plans developed by British officers. The educational process was complicated by the fact that for four years Romanians, Bulgarians, Hungarians, and Moldovans were drafted into the fleet. And all this motley crew had to be taught the intricacies of naval warfare. The number of personnel in the Romanian navy reached about 6.5 thousand people. Presumably, most of them had to be subjected to fairly strict English drill. The British hoped that plans specially developed for these purposes would help achieve good results from what they considered uneducated Romanians.

The training went strictly according to plan.

But for special retraining, most Romanian officers were sent abroad.

The British also trained young sailors. The ship "Mircea" with Romanian cabin boys annually went on foreign voyages in the Black Sea.

The first shipbuilding state programs

Romania adopted two shipbuilding programs in the late 1920s. The first program was designed for four years. And it provided for the construction of two squadron torpedo bombers, one cruiser, two submarines and four motor boats (fighters). It was also planned to completely re-equip two squadron torpedo bombers, Myreshti and Myreshti.

In addition, it was planned to build a new naval base.

According to the second state program, within 10 years it was planned to build three cruisers, 16 squadron torpedo bombers and 18 submarines.

Thus, within 14 years, according to the programs, it was planned to build 4 cruisers, 18 squadron torpedo bombers, 20 submarines and 4 motor fighter boats.

Romania actually began implementing its state programs in 1926. In mid-1926, the Romanian Council of Ministers adopted a resolution according to which 850 million lei (about 105 million Italian lire) were allocated for new shipbuilding.

Different countries received orders for construction.

The Italian company Pattison in Naples began construction of two squadron torpedo bombers. The construction of two submarines was ordered in England. Romanian newspapers reported that shipyards in the Italian city of Trieste had received an order to build a submarine and a floating base for submarines: the Romanians were negotiating the construction of several more boats in Italy.

Simultaneously with the development of the shipbuilding program, with the undoubted participation of the British, a plan was developed to create a base near the city of Mangalia (located 22 km from the Constanta naval base). Before this, warships went to a base near the city of Constanta. But the city was open from the sea and was a major trading port. All this was difficult to combine with military courts. Therefore, the British recommended building a new base elsewhere. Upon completion of construction in Mangalia, the Romanian navy received well-equipped and convenient parking for its ships.

It must be admitted that Romania was unable to fully implement its two state programs for the construction of the military fleet. For example, plans to build submarines failed miserably: by mid-1941, Romania had only one submarine in service, the Delfinul, which was manufactured at Italian shipyards in 1929. The British did not fulfill the Romanian order because they did not receive from the Romanian treasury the very millions of lei that were planned to be used to create a new fleet. Where millions of lei disappeared remains a mystery to this day. But, knowing the simple scheme for enriching military officials, we can say with confidence that the money was stolen, as, indeed, is usually the case.

What was and what became

After the end of the imperialist war, the squadron torpedo bombers "Myreshti" and "Myreshti" were purchased by the Romanians from Italy. They reached a significant speed of 38 knots. The displacement of each of them, at full load, was 1,723 tons. They could travel 380 miles without refueling at a speed of 35 knots and 1,700 miles at 15 knots. Each of the torpedo bombers was equipped with the following: three 150 mm (40 caliber) anti-aircraft guns, four 76 mm anti-aircraft guns, and four 45 cm torpedo tubes. According to the state program, torpedo bombers were equipped with five 120 mm artillery guns and 533 mm torpedo tubes.

Torpedo bombers of the "Vifor" type ("Vifor", "Vartey", "Vizhele", "Sborul", "Naluka" and "Zmeul") built in 1913-1915, former Austrian. They had a small displacement - 262 tons. They were equipped with 70 mm anti-aircraft guns and three 45 cm torpedo tubes. However, in fact, the actual speed of the ships was significantly less than declared and did not exceed 21-22 knots. This significantly reduced combat effectiveness. Despite this fact, most of the torpedo bombers were sent on combat missions. Moreover, some of them - “Sborul”, “Naluka”, “Zmeul” - were also used as patrol ships during the Second World War.

In 1920, Romania purchased four French seaworthy gunboats "Locotenent-commandor Stihi Eugen", "Sublokotenent Giculescu", "Captain Dumitrescu", belonging to the "advice" class: their displacement - 355 tons (according to other sources - 430 tons), speed - 15 knots, engines - two diesel engines, armament - 102 mm guns. I also used them, as they say, “until I lost my pulse.” Moreover, the Romanian command was well aware that “these gunboats were clearly weaker not only than Soviet patrol boats of the Uragan type, but also minesweepers of the Tral type” (A.V. Platonov, “The Black Sea Fleet in the Great Patriotic War”). Nevertheless , all existing gunboats were sent on combat voyages during World War 2. In fairness, it is worth noting that “already during the war, their weapons were replaced by an 88-mm gun, 37-mm and 20-mm anti-aircraft guns.”

Naval aviation was small: there was a reconnaissance group of six aircraft based in Mangalia, as well as seaplanes of the Savoy type.

Also, the military river forces of Romania included river monitors, torpedo bombers of the Bogdan type, three river gunboats and several auxiliary vessels (armed steamers, boats, barges, floating batteries).

Romanian river monitors became Soviet

“Despite their venerable age (the monitors were built at the Austro-Hungarian shipyards), they clearly surpassed the ships of the Soviet Danube Flotilla in firepower” (A.V. Platonov “The Black Sea Fleet in the Great Patriotic War”).

The most powerful of them were "Bassarabia" and "Bukovina": displacement - 540-580 tons; travel - 12-13 knots, two 120 mm guns, three 120 mm howitzers, two 70 mm anti-aircraft guns, from 6 to 12 machine guns. The crew consisted of 86 to 106 people.

Four other monitors - "Ion K. Bratianu", "Mihail Kogelniceanu", "Alexandru Lahovari", and "Lascar Catargiu" had a displacement of 680 tons, a stroke of 13 knots, two 120 mm howitzers, two 47 mm anti-aircraft guns, two machine guns. Crew - one hundred people.

Another Ardeal monitor - 440 tons displacement, 13 knots speed - was equipped with 120 mm guns, two 120 mm howitzers, one 75 mm anti-aircraft gun and three machine guns.

The monitors had powerful armored bodies: some monitors had waist armor up to 75 mm thick.
Closer to the Second World War, monitors received new types of weapons. But initially all monitors were equipped with exactly the above.

It is curious that the Romanian monitors had a happy military fate: they all survived. True, the crews became Russian. After the surrender of Romania, "from November 10, 1944, captured river monitors became part of the Danube military flotilla under the names: "Azov" ("Ion K. Bratianu"), "Mariupol" ("Alexander Lakhovary"), "Berdyansk" ("Ardeal" ), “Izmail” (“Bukovina”) and “Kerch” (“Bessarabia”)” (I.I. Chernikov, “Encyclopedia of Monitors. Defenders of the river borders of Russia. Danube military river flotilla of the Soviet Union”).

"The wind... returning to the place from which it began to blow"

Today, two naval bases - Mangalia and Constanta - are the main bases of the Romanian fleet. But the fleet is again considered obsolete. "Navy composition: 1 submarine, 4 frigates, 4 corvettes, 6 missile boats, 5 mine ships, 5 artillery boats on the Danube. Marine battalion and 1 coastal defense division. Condition, like Bulgaria, old weapons, hope only for NATO help (Alexander Samsonov, "", "Military Review").

Well, everything is back to normal. In the encyclopedia, this expression “means” the return of something or someone, a return to its usual place, to its original position. This phraseological expression (derived from the Bible) ... refers to the wind blowing first to the south, then to the north and then returning again to the place from which it began to blow."

In the first photo: The Romanian monitor "Ardeal", which became Soviet and received a new name "Berdyansk".

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Noticed osh Y bku Select text and click Ctrl+Enter

Hour 0. Air Force Headquarters issues Combat Order No. 1001: all aviation formations must comply with Operational Directives No. 33, 34 and 35, developed during the period April-June 1941: reconnaissance and bomber aircraft will cross the eastern border of Romania, r. Prut, at 4 o'clock in the morning! In all aviation units, an Appeal to the troops was read, signed by General Ion Antonescu, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (“Fighters, I order you to cross the Prut!”) and Order No. 1 for the Air Force, signed by the squadron general, aviator Gheorghe Zhienescu: “Flyers, you have the honor of carrying to victory in the sky of Romanianism, a tricolor cross! The task for today is this: if the crew has used up all the ammunition, but was unable to win the battle, he directs his car at the enemy plane! (I find it difficult to translate this literally, but the meaning is this: if the ammunition runs out, and the enemy not shot down - ram the enemy plane!) Young flyers, the Motherland expects complete self-sacrifice from you..."

GAL flew 12 combat missions: 5 bombing missions, 4 long-range reconnaissance missions, and 3 short-range missions. 124 aircraft were involved (56 bombers, 64 fighters and 4 reconnaissance aircraft).

At 03.50 a Bristol Blenheim aircraft (tail number 36) set off for long-range reconnaissance. Crew: crew commander, Lieutenant Commander Corneliu Betacuy, commander of the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron; junior lieutenant Nicolae Urytu - letnab; and junior military expert Vasile Caruntu - radiotelegraph operator. The plane did not carry defensive weapons and did not have fighter cover. He bombed the airfields in Ungheni and Belgorod-Dnestrovsk and discovered and radioed the coordinates of the airfields in Kulevcha and Bolgrad. In the Bolgrad area, the reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted by Soviet fighters and shot down. The pilots of this crew became the first losses of Romanian aviation in the Second World War.

Subsequently, bomber flights, from 03.50 to 13.15, were covered by fighters.

Results of the first day of the war: 48 enemy aircraft destroyed (8 in air battles, 3 shot down by anti-aircraft artillery and 37 destroyed on the ground). Own losses: 11 aircraft destroyed, 37 crew members killed, wounded or missing.

Squadron General Aviator Gheorghe Zhienescu said later: “Small but determined, our Air Force rushed into the sky, starting a life-and-death battle with the enemy air force.”

On June 22, 1941, units of the Romanian army and the German Wehrmacht were in combat readiness on the eastern border of Romania, on the river. Rod. In the north, in Bukovina, the 3rd Romanian Army was located (commander: General Petre Dumitrescu). It was entrusted with the following combat mission: liberating the city of Chernivtsi, developing an offensive towards the Dniester and Bug, bypassing the enemy group in the direction of Odessa-Crimea.

In the east, on the river. Prut, the 11th Army of the Wehrmacht was located (commander: General R. von Schobert). Mission: advance in the direction of Chisinau-Tiraspol-Nikolaev, with the support of the forces of the 4th German Air Corps and the 1st Romanian Armored Division. The 4th Romanian Army (commander: General Nicolae Ciuperca) was also in the same sector with the task of attacking in the southern direction towards Bolgrad-Belgorod-Dnestrovsk-Odessa. The combat air group (GAL) was tasked with supporting the actions of the 4th Romanian Army, mainly in the areas of crossing the river. Rod. The development of the offensive of the 3rd Romanian Army led to the liberation of Chernivtsi on July 5, 1941. Chisinau was liberated on July 16, 1941. The pushing back of Soviet troops beyond the river. The Dniester was completed by July 26, 1941, when Romanian troops entered Belgorod-Dnestrovska.

But the fighting continued. GAL continued to fly combat missions across the river. Dniester and r. Bug against a retreating enemy.

The fiercest battles took place in the area of ​​the bridgehead near the village. Falciu village, Tsiganka-Stoenesti-Cania region, where Romanian troops tried to gain a foothold on the left bank of the river. Rod. Ground troops from the 5th Romanian Army Corps were supposed to secure the right flank of the front and advance on Chisinau in the area of ​​the hilly and forested Cornesti massif. The operation to force the river. Prut, launched on July 4, 1941, was supported by bomber and fighter aircraft from the GAL. By July 12, 1941, the situation of the 5th Romanian Army Corps became critical. Bridgehead at the village Falciu was under threat. The GAL intervention was quick and effective: 9 bombing missions involving 113 aircraft (59 bombers and 54 fighters), between 0850-1940. This made it possible to cancel the retreat across the river planned for the night of July 12–13. Rod of the 5th Romanian Army Corps. Romanian pilots showed their best side, performing heroic deeds. Thus, junior lieutenant aviator Vasile Claru from the 2nd Fighter Flotilla, in an aerial duel with six enemy aircraft, having used up all the ammunition, rammed an enemy fighter with his IAR-80. The pilot's feat was appreciated - he was posthumously awarded the highest award of the Romanian army - the Military Order "Mihai Vityazu". On the same day, July 12, 1941, lieutenant reserve aviator engineer Ioan Lasku died a brave death. He was shot down by He.112 in the Tsiganka area. Returning from a combat mission against ground forces, he refused to be replaced and was shot down in air combat on his next combat mission. He was also awarded the Military Order "Mihai Viteazu".

During the campaign in Bessarabia, Romanian aviation shot down 242 enemy aircraft (83 in air battles, 108 destroyed on the ground and 51 shot down by anti-aircraft artillery). Their losses amounted to 43 vehicles (7 in air battles, 13 destroyed on the ground, 4 shot down by anti-aircraft artillery and 18 not identified). Crew losses - 117 people, of which 46 officers, 25 non-commissioned officers, 9 military specialists and 37 privates. In total, the losses of Romanian aviation personnel were as follows: 252 people, of which 57 were killed, 108 wounded and 87 missing.

Battle for Odessa

Capturing the city of Odessa was one of the priorities of the Romanian army. Odessa was a powerful naval base and posed a constant threat to Romania, as it was 150 km from Sulina and the mouth of the Danube, about 300 km from Constanta and the Danube bridge at Cernavod, and 200 km from Bucharest and the Ploiesti oil region. Valya Prakhovey. The offensive of the 4th Romanian Army against Odessa lasted 70 days, from August 8 to October 16, 1941. In total, in 1941, Romanian troops fought for 118 days. From the 4th Romanian Army alone, 340,223 military personnel (12,049 officers, 9,845 non-commissioned officers and 318,329 soldiers) were involved in the attack on Odessa. Of these, 90,000 were lost killed, wounded and missing (officers - 28.5%, non-commissioned officers - 14.6% and soldiers - 28.7%).

The performance of GAL combat aircraft in this operation was impressive: 5,594 aircraft were involved; 1,733 combat sorties were flown (163 reconnaissance, 344 bomber, 714 fighter and 512 communications). 1249 tons of bombs were dropped on the enemy; 151 enemy aircraft were shot down. Their losses amounted to 20 aircraft destroyed.

The Soviet landing at Chebanki-Grigorievka, east of Odessa, on the night of September 21-22, 1941, created a real threat to the Romanian troops. The 5th Romanian Army Corps and the 13th Infantry Division were forced to retreat. GAL within ten hours (07.55-18.10) deployed 94 aircraft (32 bombers and 62 fighters), of which 71 operated directly in the landing zone. At n.p. Dalnik, east of Odessa, on the night of October 1-2, 1941, Soviet troops managed to encircle units of the 4th Romanian Army, whose position became critical. And only the active intervention of GAL aviation (40-60 aircraft were involved daily) saved the situation, and even then only by October 4.

During the offensive operation on Odessa, August 21, 1941, near the village. Vasilievskaya, the commander of the 7th Fighter Group, captain-commander (posthumously) Alexandru Popishteanu, holder of the Order “Mihai Vityazu”, died in an air battle.

On October 16, 1941, Romanian troops entered Odessa, and thus the 1941 campaign was practically over. Units included in the GAL returned home to replace losses. Various aviation units remained in the combat zone, subordinate to the 3rd Romanian Army, as well as military units located in Tiraspol, Nikolaev and Odessa. The GAL's performance in the 1941 campaign was impressive: 7,857 aircraft flew on missions; 2,405 combat missions were flown; 266 enemy aircraft were destroyed; 1974.86 tons of bombs were dropped. Their losses amounted to 40 aircraft.

Restoration of aviation units. Air Force equipment plan for the 1942-1943 campaign.

Restoration of aviation units in the winter of 1941-1942. was a difficult and complex process that involved psychological and physical recovery of the crews, repair of equipment, replacement of losses and replacement of equipment. For 1942-1943 a plan was adopted to equip the Air Force by importing equipment from Germany and the local aircraft industry. A major role in this was played by the IAR Brasov plant, which covered 50% of Air Force requests (IAR-80, 81, 37, 38, 39 aircraft, aircraft engines and other equipment) and was one of the largest aircraft factories in South-Eastern Europe (about 5,000 workers ).

It also provided for the creation of the required number of anti-aircraft batteries for:

a) air defense of the country’s territory,

b) air defense of ground units at the front,

c) support for aviation units.

This plan was only partially implemented; the rapid development of events did not allow suppliers to fulfill their obligations.

At the beginning of 1942, on the Eastern Front there were only air and anti-aircraft units subordinate to the 3rd and 4th Romanian Armies, since enemy air units were not active.

Romanian aviation on the Stalingrad front and at the Don bend (1942)

1) GAL (commander: squadron general aviator Ermil Georgiou) with 17 squadrons (2 reconnaissance, 4 heavy bombers, 3 light bombers, 6 fighter, 2 fighter-bomber/attack);

2) Air Force of the 3rd Army with 3 reconnaissance squadrons and an anti-aircraft artillery regiment (8 batteries: 2 - 75mm, 5 - 37mm and 1 - 13.2mm);

3) Air Force of the 4th Army with 3 reconnaissance squadrons and an anti-aircraft artillery group (6 batteries: 2 - 75mm, 3 - 37mm and 1 - 13.2mm);

4) 4th Air Defense Brigade with 21 batteries (8 - 75mm, 11 - 37mm, 1 - 13.2mm and 1 - radar); And

5) Forward Aviation Zone with 2 regional technical bases, 5 mobile workshops, 1 ambulance transport aircraft, 1 air transport group and 3 motor transport convoys.

Aviation units, operationally subordinate to the 4th German Air Fleet, were located at two base airfields, Tatsinskaya and Morozovskaya, located between the Don and Donets and four advanced airfields, Karpovka, Shutov, Bukovskaya, Pereyaslovsky. The actions of Romanian aviation were aimed at supporting the 6th German Army in the Stalingrad area and the 3rd Romanian Army at the Don Bend. In the Battle of Stalingrad, Romanian fighter aircraft accompanied German bomber aircraft on all of their missions. Basically, bombs were dropped on the northern part of the city, on fuel warehouses and railway tracks. At the same time, Romanian aviation operates in the northern direction of the advance of the German 6th Army in the Kotluban area. It bombs infantry concentrations, armored and vehicle convoys, railway tracks and buildings at the Kotluban, Katlinino, Ilovinskaya and Frolov stations. In September-October 1942 alone, 46 enemy aircraft were declared shot down in air battles (38 were confirmed). Until November 19, 1942, Romanian reconnaissance aircraft informed the command about the accumulation of enemy troops in the Kletskaya and Serafimovichi sectors and at the Chebotarev bridgehead, directly in front of the positions of the 3rd Romanian Army.

The Soviet counteroffensive on November 19-25, 1942 in the zone of the 3rd Romanian Army forced it to retreat and reach the northeastern borders of Romania in March 1944. The German 6th Army was surrounded and capitulated at Stalingrad, as were most of the Romanian ground units at the Don Bend. Due to unfavorable weather conditions, the actions of Romanian and German aviation were very limited.

The encircled group of General Mikhail Laskar was supplied with aviation as far as possible. On the morning of November 22, Captain Valentin Stanescu flew around the encircled troops on Fieseler Storch and landed near the village. Golovsky, which housed the headquarters of the 6th Romanian Infantry Division. He brought to General Petra Dumitrescu, commander of the 3rd Romanian Army, the last message from the encircled, signed by generals Lascar, Mazarin and Sian:

"1. The situation is very difficult. This morning (XI 22) a very powerful tank attack began, with the support of Katyushas on the left of the D.5I sector, on the right of the D.6I sector and on the left of the D.15I sector. The ring is shrinking every hour.

2. Only 40 artillery shells left. Most of the mortar rounds have been expended. The infantry has very little ammunition. Anti-tank artillery of all calibers is ineffective against enemy tanks. Infantry are dying under the tracks of tanks.

3. A very large number of wounded, but very little medicine.

4. We can hold out until tomorrow at most. People didn't eat for three days. On the night of November 22 to November 23, a breakthrough in the direction of Chernyshevskaya is planned."

The 7th IAG, located at the Karpovka airfield, on November 22 and 23 was forced, using the cannons of Bf.109G aircraft, to repel enemy attacks and evacuate under fire to the West, to the Morozovskaya airfield.

1st Romanian Royal Air Corps

In the period April-June 1943, the 1st Romanian Royal Air Corps was created at the Kirovograd airfield, with the support of the Luftwaffe. The German side provided aircraft for all types of aircraft (fighter, bomber, attack, reconnaissance), which were purchased by the Romanians; training of crews and ground personnel; provision (repairs, fuels and lubricants, etc.). In operational terms, the Corps was subordinate to the 4th German Air Fleet. On June 16, 1943, the 1st Romanian Royal Air Corps (commander: Squadron General Aviator Emanoil Ionescu, nicknamed "Pipitsu") entered the battle. He carried out both independent operations and in support of the Romanian-German troops operating on the Eastern Front, in the areas of Mius-Izyum-Donets, the Dnieper-Dnieper bend, Bessarabia, Moldova, covering their retreat to the West.

On June 15, 1943, the combat component of the 1st Romanian Royal Air Corps included: 1 reconnaissance squadron with 12 Ju.88D-1 aircraft; 1 fighter air group (3 squadrons) with 40 Bf.109G aircraft; 1 air group of heavy bombers (3 squadrons) with 25 aircraft (12 less than required) Ju.88A; 1 air group of dive bombers (3 squadrons) with 29 aircraft (12 less than required) Ju.87; 1 transport squadron with 4 Ju.52 aircraft; 1 communications squadron with 10 Fieseler Fleet and IAR-38 aircraft; 1 anti-aircraft artillery regiment (3 divisions) with 78 anti-aircraft guns to provide air defense for airfields. In August 1943, the 8th Assault Air Group (3 squadrons) with 34 Hs.129 aircraft arrived at the front. Thus, the 1st Romanian Royal Air Corps had 140 combat and 14 auxiliary aircraft, and 78 anti-aircraft guns.

Intensive use of equipment (5-6 and even 8 sorties/day/attack aircraft and 4-6 sorties/day/fighter) led from the very first months of fighting to severe wear and tear of equipment (less than 52% of combat-ready aircraft). For the period 06/16/43-06/16/44, fighter aviation had the largest number of days with combat sorties (256) and sorties (6006); next were attack aircraft (185, 3869), dive bombers (160, 3644), and heavy bombers (161, 2579). Heavy bombers dropped 3,742.5 tons of bombs on the enemy.

According to archival data, the fighter aircraft of the 1st Romanian Royal Air Corps during this period scored 299 confirmed air victories with the loss of 109 of their aircraft (all types). In total, the Air Force scored 401 victories, of which: anti-aircraft artillery - 62, heavy bombers - 13, dive bombers - 12, etc. The heaviest losses were among attack aircraft - 40, followed by fighters - 25, heavy bombers - 21, dive bombers - 15 and reconnaissance aircraft - 7. (I know the sum of these numbers is not 109, but that’s what my source says) Of the total losses 86 were operational, and 23 were lost in various accidents. Another 391 aircraft of the 1st Romanian Royal Air Corps were damaged in various accidents but could be repaired in the field or in the factory. Thus, 500 aircraft were disabled.

Human losses during the above-mentioned period amounted to 84 people. The greatest losses were among officers (pilots) and non-commissioned officers (pilots) in bomber (12; 4) and attack (4; 9) aviation...>

Large aviation losses are explained by the complexity of the missions performed (low flight altitude, density of anti-aircraft fire, etc.) and the numerical superiority of the enemy (1:3, and even 1:5 for fighter aircraft).

In 1944, the 1st Romanian Royal Air Corps was stationed in the south of Bessarabia and Moldova. In March 1944, the eastern and northeastern parts of Romania again became a theater of military operations. Until August 20, 1944, the front stabilized at the Carpathians-Pashcani (or more correctly Pashcani)-Iasi-Chisinau line.

During the period April-August 1944, the following events occurred: the retreat of German-Romanian troops from Crimea and the American-British bombing of Romanian territory, in particular the Ploiesti-Prahova oil region.

Evacuation of German-Romanian troops from Crimea

The evacuation of German-Romanian troops from Crimea was carried out in two stages, and each time only with the personal permission of Hitler, who did not want to cede Crimea, adhering to the geopolitical principle: “whoever owns Crimea controls the Black Sea.”

On April 9, 1944, of the Romanian troops in Crimea there were: 65,083 people (2,433 officers, 2,423 non-commissioned officers and 60,227 privates); 27472 horses; 7650 carts; 1811 cars, including motorcycles; 206 guns; 293 anti-tank guns; 12 tanks, etc.

Results of the first phase of the evacuation of German-Romanian troops from Crimea (April 14-27, 1944): 72,358 people were evacuated by sea, 25 convoys escorted by warships and partly by plane. Of the total number of evacuees, only 20,779 were Romanians, of whom 2,296 were wounded. By air, Romanian and German military transport aircraft, 6,365 people were evacuated, of which 1,199 were Romanians (384 wounded).

The second phase of the evacuation (May 9-12, 1944) took place with heavy losses, since naval convoys, deprived of air cover, were constantly attacked by Soviet aircraft. Losses amounted to: 9 sunk and 5 damaged ships, and about 9,000 people killed, of which 3,000 were Romanians.

Against the Germans

On August 23, 1944, a revolution occurred in Bucharest and King Mihai officially declared the start of war with Germany and its allies.

This development of events was a complete surprise for both Romanian and German pilots. The seizure of Luftwaffe aircraft and property began. The Romanians received only 228 aircraft, but most of the airworthy aircraft were transferred to new allies - the Red Army Air Force. Here is what the famous Soviet ace Skomorokhov recalled about this: “... German aircraft - Me-109 and FV-190 - were captured at Romanian airfields. We had the opportunity to fly them, to better study their strengths and weaknesses. And we immediately took advantage of this suitable occasion. We quickly got used to the cockpit equipment of captured vehicles and began to try them out in flights. Then we conducted a whole series of training air battles: “Messers” and “Fokkers” against “Lavochkin”. We were able to identify many interesting features in enemy vehicles, which later brought us invaluable benefit."

Vehicles that escaped confiscation received identification marks of the new Romanian Air Force - red, yellow and blue cockades.

The first combat mission of the Romanian Air Force was an attack by a pair of IAR-81Cs on a small post in Tanderei. As a captured German officer later claimed, after the raid, out of 80 soldiers of the garrison, only 27 remained alive.

Almost immediately the Germans began bombing Bucharest. Fighters of the 7th and 9th fighter groups were raised to defend the capital and transferred to the Popesti-Leordeni airfield. They were not bored. So, already on August 25, Captain Cantacuzino (the best Romanian ace of World War II) led six Bf-109Gs to intercept 11 He-111s heading towards the city. The bombers went without cover and as a result, the Luftwaffe was short of six vehicles (three vehicles were shot down and three more were damaged). On the way back, the Romanian pilots discovered a group of Ju.87s, also flying without cover. It was not a sin to take advantage of this, and soon one “thing” was already burning out on the ground. The Laptezhniki were saved from complete defeat only by the attackers' small amount of fuel and ammunition. The next day, the Messers shot down three more German aircraft and destroyed two Ju-52s on the ground.

In total, until August 31, the 9th IAG alone completed 41 combat missions. The pilots scored 7 confirmed victories, three more were recorded as speculative and two aircraft were destroyed on the ground. After the “battle for the capital,” the 7th IAG was disbanded (due to the presence of literally several airworthy vehicles) and joined the 9th IAG (Captain Lucian Toma was appointed as the new commander).

On September 1, the creation of the 1st Romanian Air Corps (Corpul 1 Aerian Roman) was announced to support the Soviet offensive in Transylvania and Slovakia. Almost all available vehicles were transferred to air bases in southern Transylvania. New conditions dictated new rules - a radical reorganization of the air force took place. And at the beginning of September the Corps consisted of:

Fighter Command

2nd Fighter Group (IAG): 65th and 66th Fighter Squadrons (IAE) (IAR-81C)

6th IAG: 59th, 61st and 62nd IAE (IAR-81C)

9th IAG: 47th, 48th and 56th IAE (Bf-109G)

Bomber Command

3rd Dive Bomber Group: 74th and 81st Dive Bomber Squadron (Ju-87D5)

5th Bomb Group: 77th and 78th Bombardment Squadrons (Ju-88A4)

8th Attack Group: 41st and 42nd Attack Squadrons (Hs-129B2)

11th and 12th Reconnaissance Squadrons (IAR-39)

2nd Long-Range Reconnaissance Squadron (Ju-88D1)

transport squadron (Ju-52 and IAR-39, DFS-230 glider tugs)

There are only 210 aircraft, half of which are German-made, which simply created enormous difficulties in operation.

44th IAE (IAR-80B, IAR-81A and Bf-109G)

85th Airborne Dive Bomber Squadron (Ju-87D5)

60th Assault Air Force (Hs-129B2)

14th and 15th reconnaissance air units (IAR-39)

Transylvania

The first to appear in Transylvania were the IAR-81Cs, which were relocated to the Turnizor airfield on September 7th. Two days later, the pilots completed their first combat mission. The most unpleasant surprise of the first combat day for the pilots was the fact of shelling by Soviet anti-aircraft gunners, who damaged one plane. Having managed to thoroughly study the silhouettes of the Henschels and other German-made aircraft, the anti-aircraft gunners opened fire without bothering to study the identification marks. Most could not even think that the Hs-129 or Ju-87 could fight on the side of the Red Army.

The flight of eight Hs-129B-2s to German positions in the area of ​​the town of Turda near Kolosvár on September 14, 1944 ended even more tragically. Two Romanian aircraft were shot down by German Bf.109s from the 52nd Fighter Squadron and two by Soviet anti-aircraft artillery. However, the most severe losses were among the flight crew - one pilot was killed, and another was hospitalized with serious injuries.

On the same day, IAR pilots, after attacking the airfield in Someseni, recorded one Gotha transport glider destroyed on the ground. On September 15, the same airfield (not far from Cluj) was also “visited” by the Messerschmitts. The pilots approached from the north (where they were not expected) and, as if at a training ground, they shot down all the equipment that was on the runway. Among those destroyed were the Re-2000, Fw-58 and three transport gliders of the Hungarian Air Force.

On September 16, IAR pilots encountered German fighters for the first time. While covering the He-111H group, six IAR-81Cs were attacked by a pair of Bf-109Gs. Romanian fighters by that time were morally and physically outdated, and therefore the Messers, despite the enemy’s numerical advantage, shot down one plane - adjutant Joseph Ciuhulescu (adj. av. Iosif Ciuhulescu). On the same day, during a similar mission, one bomber was shot down and one fighter was damaged.

September 18 was marked by the first battle between the Romanian “Messers” and their German colleagues. The score was in favor of the latter - one Romanian fighter was shot down, and the pilot of the second made an emergency landing. After this, the Messers were transferred mainly to escorting attack aircraft and bombers.

On September 23, eight IARs collided with a group of Bf-109Gs of the same size. In the ensuing battle (more like a beating), the 2nd Fighter Group lost 3 IAR-81Cs and two pilots. However, adjutant Andone Stavar (adj. av. Andone Stavar) managed to shoot down one of the attacking fighters, but this was more an accident than a pattern.

On the same day, IAR-81C (but from a different group - the 6th IAG) fought another battle. Over Turda, while covering an Hs-129B2 raid, eight fighters were intercepted by eight Fw-190Fs. Soon the ubiquitous "Messers" of JG 52 arrived in the area. In the battle, the Romanians lost two aircraft and one pilot. Upon their return, they recorded four Germans shot down (but only two victories were confirmed). This was the last battle of the group's pilots in the IARs - they soon began mastering the Messers (it is worth noting that they were never able to master the new machines and the group was unable to take virtually any part in further battles).

On September 25, the Air Corps lost 4 aircraft and 3 pilots (all IAR-81C). Four days later, another plane was lost (and again the pilot was killed). So in a short period of time, the 2nd Fighter Group lost 12 aircraft and 8 pilots killed and two wounded. Such catastrophic losses (such a level did not occur even at Stalingrad in 1942!) led to a complete decline in morale. The pilots began to actively express their dissatisfaction, and eventually the old IARs were transferred to assault work.

But the Messers distinguished themselves - Captain Tom shot down a Ju-188, but he himself was forced to land in a field (the gunners of the German bomber tried their best). Captain Konstantin Cantacuzino again took command of the group. In total, in September, Romanian Bf.109s made 314 combat missions.

In October and November the weather was very bad and the number of flights was minimal. In early November, the remaining IAR-81Cs were transferred to Turkeve airfield in Hungary. However, the Romanians managed to make their first combat mission only on the 17th. The task was to attack a German column, very little is known about the results, only Lieutenant Gheorghe Mociornita (Lt. av. Gheorghe Mociornita) recorded the destruction of his truck (apparently, this was the enemy’s only loss). Five days later, the same pilot was able to destroy two more trucks, and adjutant Mihai Momarla (adj. av. Mihai Momarla) destroyed an anti-aircraft battery. However, the losses were quite large: three aircraft were damaged during such attacks (two aircraft were able to make emergency landings on “friendly” territory). These were one of the last flights in Transylvania; in December the group was transferred to the Miskolc airfield.

On November 17, a lone Ju-87D took off to attack enemy positions south of Budapest (by the way, it is completely unclear why alone). Naturally, he was attacked by German fighters. The damage was very extensive, and the pilot adjutant Nicolae Stan (adj. sef av. Nicolae Stan) was seriously wounded (strangely, there is no information about the gunner). Fortunately, Romanian fighters appeared in the area and the Germans abandoned the bomber, considering it shot down.

However, despite the unfavorable development of events, Nicolae was still alive and, after two unsuccessful attempts, was able to land at a Soviet airfield. He only had the strength to open the lantern. The pilot was immediately sent to a field hospital, where he met the end of the war.

The fighting in Transylvania continued until October 25, when Romanian troops reached the modern Hungarian border. During seven weeks of fighting, Romanian aviation suffered heavy losses.

Slovakia

The first combat sorties over Czechoslovakia were carried out by Romanian aviation as part of the 5th Air Army of the Red Army Air Force. The attack aircraft worked in the interests of the 27th and 40th Soviet combined arms armies. In the second half of December, when the fighting moved to the territory of Slovakia, the Romanian aviation corps had 161 combat aircraft. In reality, the number of aircraft suitable for flight was much smaller: due to a lack of spare parts, combat readiness did not exceed 30-40%. The largest group that the Romanians sent on combat missions was six, but more often they flew in fours. The critical situation with spare parts for German-made equipment forced the cannibalization of several serviceable aircraft. Several serviceable and damaged captured aircraft were handed over to the Romanians by the Soviet command.

Despite all the efforts of the Romanian pilots, they were unable to satisfy the demands of the Soviet command, which were far from reality. Two or three combat sorties a day to attack the positions of the German-Hungarian troops seemed an impossible task. Nevertheless, the constant attacks carried out by the Henschels and Junkers on fortified defense points, railway stations, and reconnaissance brought tangible benefits to the Red Army troops. The importance of the actions of Romanian pilots was repeatedly noted with gratitude in orders, some pilots received Soviet military orders and medals.

On December 19, ten Hs-129Bs attacked the Rimavska Sobota railway station in two waves and then attacked a column of German troops on the highway leading out of the city. According to the pilots' reports, one train was burned at the station, and four trucks were destroyed on the highway. Most likely, this was the first combat flight of Romanian aircraft over Slovakia.

With the first success came the first losses. Already on the same day (December 19), five Romanian Henschels were intercepted by eight German Bf.109s, one attack aircraft was shot down. The slightly wounded pilot managed to make an emergency landing in the Miskolc area, during which the plane received minor damage.

On December 20, Romanian planes again appeared over the Rimavska Sobota station, they attacked columns of German troops retreating to the west. Another target of the raid that day was the Filakovo railway station and the bridge located near it. On December 21, units of the 27th and 40th Soviet combined arms armies launched an attack in the general direction of Lucenets. As weather conditions improved, aviation activity increased. 19 aircraft from Grupul 8 Asalt/Picaj attacked targets located in southern Slovakia and reappeared over the Filakovo station. On December 22, three Henschels attacked a column of troops on the street of the village of Zelena. First, the planes dropped bombs, and then they fired at the column with cannon and machine-gun fire.

The commander of the 27th Combined Arms Army, Colonel General Trofimenko, expressed gratitude in an order to the Romanian pilots for their actions during the period from December 20 to 22, 1944. Romanian aviation continued to carry out combat sorties on December 23. "Henschels" bombed a column of German troops numbering 150 vehicles near the village of Kälna. 15 cars were set on fire. On the same day, the Filakovo station was subjected to another raid. On the same day, while escorting several Ju-87Ds, German pilots from JG.52 intercepted a lone Messer with Adj sitting in the cockpit. av. Ioan Marinciu. At first he fought with two opponents, but soon there were four of them. It is clear that he had very little chance of survival. The Romanian's plane was practically torn to pieces, the pilot was wounded in the face, arms and legs. But despite the enormous blood loss, he was able to emergency land his Bf-109G6 near Zelok. Thanks to the Soviet soldiers, the pilot was immediately sent to a field hospital and survived. By the way, an interesting detail - to this day Ioan is sure that he was shot down by Erich Hartmann.

On December 24, only one attack aircraft was left in the Henschel group, so only Ju-87 dive bombers flew on combat missions. Moreover, upon returning, three “pieces” were intercepted by four “Messers”. The German pilots mistook them for their own and, flapping their wings, to the delight of the Romanian pilots, they went home.

On Catholic Christmas Day, December 25, the Romanian Air Force suffered further losses. Three IARs of the 2nd fighter group flew for armed reconnaissance to the Lutsenek area. After they attacked the ground units, a pair of Bf-109Gs took off to intercept them. The battle could not be avoided in the battle Adj. av. Dumitru Niculescu died, and adj. av. Nicolae Pelin made an emergency landing.

The first day of the last year of the Second World War turned out to be cloudy. Thanks to bad weather, pilots and technicians of both warring sides were able to celebrate the New Year calmly. On January 2, it froze, the fog cleared, and the war came into its own again. On this day, Romanian "Henschels" stormed convoys on the roads in the area of ​​the Tomaszow railway station and on the Luchinets-Poltar highway. The 41st Squadron continued active combat operations on January 3 and 5, 1945. The targets of attacks by Hs-129s with Romanian cockades on the wings and fuselages were the Kalnya and Luchinets railway stations and retreating columns of German troops in the areas of Tomashovets, Breznichi, and Poltara. On January 5, the plane of adjutant Konstinu Bogian was hit by an anti-aircraft shell, but the pilot was able to bring the damaged car home to the Miskolc airfield. During all combat missions, attack aircraft were covered by Bf fighters. 109G from Grupul 9 Vinatoare (9th Fighter Group). There was practically no German aviation in the air, so the Romanian Messerschmitts joined the attack aircraft and attacked ground targets. Over three days in January, Romanian aviation carried out 107 sorties and dropped 36 tons of bombs.

On January 12, 8 IAR-81 were transferred to Debrecen to strengthen the city's air defense, although their benefit was minimal. Although they did distinguish themselves once: on February 9, a pair of these “fighters” intercepted an Hs.129, the pilot of which was trying to desert to the German side. It is clear that the attack aircraft simply did not have a chance. The reality of the war was such that all three pilots knew each other very well, since they served in the same unit during the Eastern Campaign!

The next day (that is, January 13th), the commander of the 74th dive bomber squadron, lt. av. Badulescu led 7 Ju-87D5s to Budapest. The target was the Elizabeta Bridge - the main transport artery connecting Buda and Pest and therefore well covered by air defense systems. Soviet bombers made several attempts to destroy it and now it was the turn of the new allies. Having gained a height of 4000 meters, when approaching the city they received cover - Yaks. Romanian and Soviet pilots attacked the bridge from a dive. The strike was successful - four bombs hit the bridge, and the losses were only one plane, whose pilot was able to land the car at the nearest airfield. However, the bridge continued to function and the four Ju-88A-4s remaining in service were scrambled to bomb it. They were led by lt. av. Gheorghe Georgescu (very experienced pilot - 200 combat missions throughout the war). Even before approaching the target, one Junkers turned home - a worn-out engine failed. Therefore, only three aircraft attacked the bridge from an altitude of 5000 meters. From a height of 1,500 meters they dropped their deadly load and at least two 250-kg bombs hit the bridge. Despite the heavy anti-aircraft fire, all the vehicles returned home.

On January 19, the traditional winter offensive of the Soviet troops began. The blow was delivered from the border of the western and northern spurs of the Carpathians in the direction of the Vistula and Oder rivers. The right flank of the 2nd Ukrainian Front also took part in the winter offensive operation. The troops of the 2nd Ukrainian attacked on the territory of Czechoslovakia. On the first day of the operation, aviation activity was hampered by low clouds and snowstorms.

The next day the weather improved, the command of the 1st Romanian Air Corps threw all airworthy aircraft into battle. "Henschels" and "Junkers" of the Romanian Air Force worked directly over the battlefield and struck at the enemy's near rear. At approximately 16:00, several Ju.87s set off to attack the Banske Bistrich railway station. When approaching the target, the pilot of one aircraft (adjutant Ion Radu), board. No. 2 was forced to make an emergency landing due to engine failure. Unfortunately, this happened on the other side of the front. A Fieseler Fi.156C was sent to help the crew, but it got stuck in deep snow. Then the Romanian command sent Fleet F.10G (it is unclear what caused this decision - after all, the plane is two-seater!!), but there was no one at the landing site. German mountain riflemen captured Ion Radu, his rear gunner, Sergeant Constantin Perigescu, and the Fizler pilot, Reserve Lieutenant Emil Moga. But this was not known and the pilots were listed as missing in action. In reality they were taken to Banska Bistricha. But after the retreat on March 23, the Germans simply forgot them... The Romanians remained without water and food for three days until the Red Army entered the city. But their adventures did not end there. The pilots were in German flight uniforms, without documents, and SMERSH officers arrested them “just in case.” The investigation dragged on for a long time and only on June 12, 1945 they returned to their homeland.

It is interesting that the damaged “thing” was sent to the nearest aircraft workshop by the economic “things”, but they did not have time to repair it.

During the day, the Henschels twice attacked German heavy artillery positions near Tomashevets and the Lovinobana railway station. A strong explosion indicated that the bombs dropped from the Hs-129 hit the ammunition train. According to Romanian data, nine attack aircraft were in the air for 10 hours and 40 minutes and dropped 2,700 kg of bombs on the enemy. However, only seven cars returned home. Two subcontinents, Alexandru Nicolai and Constantin Dumitru, were declared missing. The exact cause of the death of the pilots (German anti-aircraft artillery fire or fighter attacks) remained unknown.

On February 14, the air war became even more fierce. Five Hs-129s destroyed four trucks and several carts in the vicinity of Podrichany. Then the Henschels, together with Ju-87 dive bombers, attacked the Lovinobanya railway station. This day was also not without losses: one Henschel crashed in Miskolc during a flight after engine repairs, the pilot adjutant Vasile Skripčar was killed. Skripchar was known in Romania not only as a pilot, but also as a talented reporter and artist.

On January 15, the first goal of the offensive operation was achieved - Soviet troops liberated Luchinets. During the offensive, Romanian aviation carried out 510 sorties, flying 610 hours and dropping about 200 tons of bombs. The pilots bombed nine prefabricated trains, three trains with fuel, three important bridges and a large number of pieces of equipment. The reports of the Romanian pilots were reflected in the operational reports of the command of the Soviet 27th combined arms and 5th air armies.

After several days of respite, Romanian aviation resumed combat operations, and now combat sorties were carried out in the area of ​​​​the city of Rozhnava. Soviet troops entered Roznava on the night of January 22, and a garrison of 1,700 Hungarian and German soldiers surrendered. The weather did not allow the use of aircraft until February 15. The Romanians used the three weeks of “vacation” to relocate from Miskolc to Lucinec, closer to the front. On February 15, the commander of the 41st squadron, Lazar Muntyatnu, performed two weather reconnaissance flights (on an Hs-129 with tail numbers 336 and 331). Later that day, the Zvolen, Brezno and Hayanačka railway stations were attacked by 26 aircraft, which dropped 8 tons of bombs. Adjutant Stefan Puskács destroyed the locomotive and four carriages with cannon fire. His Henschel was damaged by anti-aircraft fire, but Puskach made it to the Luchinets airfield, and after landing, 14 holes were counted in the attack aircraft. In total, during the war, Pushkač had to make five forced landings, and once behind the front line, and the pilot was lucky every time! After the war, Puskač remained in socialist Romania, and made an excellent political career.

The next day, Hs-129 attack aircraft and Ju-87 dive bombers attacked the railway stations of Kremnica, Hronska Breznica and Hajanaczka. The Soviet command gave the order to the 40th combined arms and 4th Romanian armies to go on the offensive and with decisive actions to press German troops to the eastern bank of the Gron River, the start date of the operation was set on February 24. At 19.00 on February 20, the commander of the 5th Air Army, General Ermachenko, and the chief of staff of the 40th Army, General Sharapov, arrived at the command post of the 1st Romanian Air Corps. The generals discussed the plan for upcoming actions with Romanian officers. On the morning of February 21, guidance officers of the 1st Air Corps of the Romanian Air Force moved to forward observation posts to study the terrain in detail and prepare the data necessary for planning air strikes. In a speech to Romanian pilot technicians, the Soviet general, in particular, said an interesting phrase: “... we hope that our Romanian comrades will not let us down.”

Direct air support for the advancing troops was assigned exclusively to the Romanian Air Force. Bad weather delayed the start of combat operations by one day. On February 25, the sky cleared of clouds and the planes were able to take off. This day is marked in the history of the Romanian Air Force with unusually high activity, victories and losses. In 148 sorties, Romanian pilots dropped 35 tons of bombs on German positions in the Ochova-Detva-Zvolesnka Slatina triangle. The pilots reported three destroyed half-track armored vehicles, one self-propelled artillery mount, two cars, five horse-drawn carriages and eight machine gun nests, and many enemy soldiers and officers killed. While attacking ground targets, Adjutant Viktor Dumbrava's Henschel received a direct hit from an anti-aircraft gun; the pilot barely pulled it across the front line and crashed into an emergency landing near Detva.

The 25th was also a busy day for the fighters. On the fifth mission of this day, Captain Cantacuzino and his wingman adj took off. Traian Dрjan. Above the front line they discovered eight Fw-190Fs storming Soviet troops. Without hesitation, they rushed into battle, one by one. It was not difficult for Cantacuzino to shoot down one attack aircraft, but a flight of “Messers” from I./JG 53 took advantage of the carelessness of the Romanians. Squadron commander Hauptmann Helmut Lipfert shot down Trajan, and the rest took care of the captain. Dryan apparently died in the air (the irony is that it was Lipfert who “put” Trajan “on the wing” - he was his instructor during the squadron’s deployment to the Tiraspol airfield). Cantacuzino fell near the Romanian positions and returned to his airfield by car the next day. He talked about what happened, but he did not actually see the shooting down of his wingman and stated: “Trajan must have been shot down.”

The second victory of the day (and the last in World War II) was won by Romanian fighters during a battle with the Bf-109K. Its author was adj. Constantin Nicoara. No aircraft were lost, but two were damaged.

The intensity of air strikes by Romanian aviation decreased slightly the next day. By evening it began to rain, and visibility decreased to 100 meters. In the last days of February, the air temperature reached +4 degrees, constant rains and melting snow turned the airfields into a sea of ​​water and mud, and aviation could not operate until March 4. On March 4, combat missions resumed. Grupul 8 Asalt/Picaj aircraft took to the air eight times (15 sorties). The targets of the Henschel strikes were German positions in the Zvolen-Lishkovets-Zsolna triangle. The Junkers also operated in the same area and suffered losses. In the Ivanka area at 20:45 (Moscow time), Lieutenant Sereda from the 178th IAP shot down a “thing”, which, according to his report, was German. In reality, he shot down a Romanian plane; fortunately, the crew managed to use parachutes.

On March 6, the target of the raids was the Zvolen railway station, troop columns, and artillery positions 2 km from Zvolen. The Romanians finally suppressed the German artillery batteries on March 7 with two air raids from Grupul 8 Asalt/Picaj (the Henschels flew combat missions in threes that day). In the third raid, three Hs-129s destroyed a convoy on the street of the village of Slyach.

The morning of March 8 for Romanian pilots began with the clink of faceted glasses raised in honor of International Women's Day, into which a clear liquid with a pungent odor was poured. The celebration did not last long; a few minutes after the toast was made, the pilots took their seats in the cockpits of their aircraft. The targets have not changed: Zvolen, Zholna, five machine-gun nests at height 391 near Zholna.

There were no flights on March 10 due to bad weather. On March 11, the Henschels made 21 sorties (five group sorties). Lieutenant Munteanu made four combat missions that day (all on the Hs-129 with tail number 228), Munteanu flew to Zvolen, Montova, Zholna and again to Zvolen.

On March 13, weather conditions deteriorated again; the weather did not allow aviation to operate for ten days.

On March 22, General Traian Bardulu took command of the 1st Romanian Air Corps, replacing General Emmanuel Ionescu, who became Minister of Aviation in the government of Petru Grosu. The change of corps commander had almost no effect on the daily life and combat work of the personnel. On the day of the change of command, eight Hs-129s stormed the highway west of Zvolen. Romanian aircraft bombed the car park in Kovačov, and ten horse-drawn carts were destroyed on the streets of Zvolen.

On March 23, 24 and 25, the weather confined the Henschel to the ground. On March 26, only two sorties were flown. But on that day, two Romanian pilots flying a Bf-109G deserted to the nearest German airbase.

It was on March 26 that the city of Zvolen was liberated by Soviet-Romanian troops. The total retreat of the Germans from Slovakia began. After crossing the Gron River, the offensive of the Soviet troops successfully developed in a western direction. Improved weather allowed Romanian aviation to begin combat work again. The iron strike fist of the command of the 1st Romanian Air Corps consisted of attack aircraft and dive bombers of the 8th group. Precision aircraft strikes on the enemy cleared the way for ground forces.

On April 1, four Henschels twice attacked retreating German columns on the highway leading from Levin to the west; the planes destroyed 11 horse-drawn carts and five trucks. On April 2, the Romanians carried out 19 sorties to attack the military echelon at the Nemanka station and the artillery battery located near the station. IAR-81Cs attacked two trains north of Kremnitz and damaged one of the locomotives.

On April 3, the only combat flight was made by a trio of Hs-129s; the planes attacked cars in the area of ​​the village of Yalovets. During the raid, Lieutenant Antonescu's plane was hit in the right engine. A plume of smoke trailed behind the engine and flames appeared. Antonescu immediately made an emergency landing. The plane had to be written off after landing, but the pilot escaped with bruises and bumps - the durable armored capsule survived the collision with the ground.

On April 4, two four Henschels struck a concentration of German vehicles and military equipment in the Brezhno area, destroying six pieces of equipment. Towards evening, eight Hs-129s attacked the Brezhno railway station, the pilots reported that a steam locomotive and four carriages were destroyed as a result of the attack.

On April 5, twin-engine attack aircraft appeared over Bodorova. The planes left behind 15 burning carts and the same number of wrecked cars.

On April 6, the aircraft of the 1st Romanian Air Corps were relocated to Zvolen airfield. Flight times in the White Carpathians and Low Tatras region have been reduced. The first combat flights from Zvolen were made against Kosice, Belusha, and Nozdrovica. On April 7, Pukhov, Belusha and Kosice were subjected to air strikes.

On April 11-13, Romanian aviation operated in the areas of Nemcova, Rajec, Zilina, Poluvsi, over the Slovak-Moravian border. The next day, planes did not fly due to bad weather.

As dawn broke on April 15, the weather improved and air attacks resumed. Three waves of Henschels (18 aircraft) bombed and stormed the highway leading to Makov, and the Nizhna and Shumitsa railway stations. Five and a half tons of bombs were dropped, and the pilots reported 30 wrecked cars, two trains and one steam locomotive. Adjutant Vasile Pescu suffered internal injuries as a result of exceeding the permissible overload at the exit from the dive. Pescu managed to return to base. Friends pulled the injured pilot from the cockpit of the attack aircraft and immediately sent him to the hospital. The 20-year-old guy, who had completed 225 combat missions by that time, remained disabled for life.

On Monday, April 16, the Minister of Defense of Romania, General Vasile Rasceanu, visited the front and personally presented awards to those who distinguished themselves. Before the minister’s eyes, two trios of Hs-129s, led by squadron commander Lazar Munteanu, went on a combat mission. Over Banov, his plane was hit in the right plane of the wing, as a result of which the fuel tank exploded and the engine failed. On one engine he pulled Munteanu across the Vas River and landed at the Trencin airfield, which had just been abandoned by the retreating Germans. During the rough landing, the car received additional damage, and Munteanu himself was injured. The plane and pilot immediately came under fire from small arms and mortars from the right bank of the Vash. The life of the Romanian pilot was saved by the commander of the Soviet artillery battery, Lieutenant Tunev, who, on his orders, opened hurricane fire along the borders of the airfield, preventing the Germans from approaching the plane. The lieutenant personally pulled Munteana to safety, from where the commander of the Romanian assault squadron was sent to the hospital. Munteanu's wounds turned out to be not dangerous - on April 21 he returned to his unit.

On April 17, the pilots of the 41st Squadron flew into battle four times without their commander. 16 “Henschels” used bombs and shells to strike at the concentration of enemy infantry and equipment, first in the area of ​​​​Dritomny, then in the Hungarian Brod, Prakshittsi and Korytne. Near Korytnaya, attack aircraft scattered a column of 60 horse-drawn carts and 30 cars.

Romanian ground services began restoring the Trencin airfield right under enemy fire, but bad weather prevented the relocation of aircraft here. For several days, aviation carried out only reconnaissance flights. Only on April 20, five Hs-129Bs were able to strike Korytnya; the planes suppressed a mortar battery located on the edge of the forest southwest of the village.

On April 21, a trio of Henschels in one flight first struck German positions in the Dolne Nemchi area, then struck Slavkov. In the next three, the weather worsened again, only once did four Hs-129Bs manage to bomb Dolna Nemchi. On the same day, the IAR-81C pilots distinguished themselves again - thanks to improved weather, they completed 31 combat missions. During the day, 11 trucks and many infantry were recorded destroyed. But this success was paid for by the death of av. Gheorghe Mociornita (IAR-81C no. 426), whose aircraft was shot down by air defense. There were two and a half weeks left until the end of the war...

The combat statistics of the Henschels in the period from March 25 to April 24, 1945 are as follows: 160 sorties were carried out (34 group combat sorties) with a total duration of 177 hours 20 minutes; 48.9 tons of bombs were dropped, 122 cars, 91 horse-drawn carts, 4 trains, 3 artillery positions, 1 tank and 1 bridge were destroyed. Romanian aviation did not take part in air battles due to the complete absence of enemy aircraft in the air. Losses amounted to two Hs-129B.

With the arrival of spring, it became clear to everyone that the end of the war was just around the corner, but the finale had not yet arrived. On April 26, the area of ​​active operations by aircraft of the 8th group became Hungarian Brod. Three Henschels bombed and stormed the city eight times. All combat missions of the group were led by Lieutenant Munteanu, who on that day flew an aircraft with tail number 222B. Eight raids on the Hungarian Broad were carried out by dive bombers from the fraternal Escadrile 74 Picaj. The first time on April 26, the planes took off at 7 a.m., the target of the attack was a bridge near the village of Sucha Lozh. The attack aircraft were covered by IAR-81 fighters, but since there were no enemy aircraft in the sky, they joined the Henschels, which attacked the bridge. The bridge was seriously damaged. During the day, attack aircraft attacked enemy positions in the areas of the settlements Sucha Lozh, Hungarian Brod, Dolne Nemchi, and three times Hs-129 stormed artillery positions near Nivinitsa. During the day, the Henschels dropped 72 tons of bombs and carried out 57 sorties. Pilots of the 2nd Fighter Group completed 68 missions, firing 23,100 bullets and 4,140 shells. As usual, there were losses - Adj died on the IAR-81C. av. Constantin Prisacar. The German anti-aircraft gunners, who by the end of the war had rich combat experience, distinguished themselves again.

On April 27, in an order on the occasion of the liberation of Hungarian Brod, the Soviet command noted: “The capture of the city became possible only thanks to the actions of aviation.”

On the same day, ten Henschels attacked Tishnov in three waves. On April 28, aircraft did not fly; on April 29, the Romanians bombed and stormed enemy columns on the roads in the vicinity of Dobikovtsy. On April 30, Romanian planes dropped 2,100 kg of bombs on the villages of Nidachlebitsy and Bojkovitsy.

On April 27, the last Junkers aircraft in the war was shot down. In the Dobikovice area, the plane was shot down by German anti-aircraft gunners. Pilot Adjutant Paul Lazaroiu was able to use a parachute and was captured, and his rear gunner (Sergeant George Popescu) was killed.

In April, according to official data, the Messers of the 9th IAG carried out 225 combat missions.

On the first day of May 1945, aircraft flew despite heavy rain. During one of the raids, four Henschels scattered an infantry column southwest of Olomouc. On May 2, the attention of Romanian pilots was attracted by the Holisov railway station. Raids on the station and the city continued on May 4 and 5.

On May 6, the last offensive operation of the war in Europe began - a push towards Prague. Romanian aviation supported the ground forces advancing on Protea. On May 7, Romanian pilots managed to destroy 15 vehicles northwest of Proteev.

On May 8, pilots stormed columns of enemy troops and equipment on the roads in the vicinity of Urczyce and Vysovitsa. The 2nd Fighter Group lost its last pilot in the war - it was SLT. av. Remus Vasilescu.

On May 9, 1945, only IAR-39 biplanes took off under the escort of Messerschmitts, which scattered leaflets. The Germans surrendered without offering resistance.

However, the war ended a little later for Romanian aviators. On May 11, the Romanians carried out attacks on units of the Russian Liberation Army of General Vlasov. The Vlasovites had nothing to lose, and they desperately resisted in the forests near the Hungarian Ford. On the evening of May 11, 1945, the planes (several bombers covered by four Bf-109Gs) returned from the last combat mission of the Romanian Air Force in the Second World War. Romanian pilots fought over the territory of Czechoslovakia for 144 days.

In total, until the end of the war (on May 12, 1945), the 1st Corps accounted for 8542 sorties and the destruction of 101 enemy aircraft (including anti-aircraft gunners). Losses amounted to 176 aircraft, shot down by fighters, air defenses and broken up in numerous accidents in bad weather conditions in the winter and spring of 1945.

There is specific data only on the participation of “henschels”; for the rest, the data is fragmentary. So, during five months of hostilities, from December 19, 1944 to May 11, 1945, the pilots of the 41st attack squadron ("Henschels") flew 422 sorties, flying 370 hours and dropping 130 tons of bombs. As a result of the squadron's actions, 66 columns of enemy troops were scattered, 185 cars and 66 horse-drawn carts were destroyed, at railway stations the Henschel pilots destroyed 13 trains, among other enemy property destroyed - artillery pieces, mortars, machine guns. The squadron lost eight HS-129B attack aircraft. Stuka pilots in Slovakia alone made 107 combat missions, logging 374 hours of flight time. They dropped 210 tons of bombs on 37 railway stations and 36 enemy positions. The destroyed ones included 3 tanks, 61 trucks and 6 anti-aircraft batteries.

During the entire war, the Romanian Air Force lost 4,172 people, of which 2,977 were fighting for Germany (972 dead, 1,167 wounded and 838 missing) and 1,195 fighting against Germany (356, 371 and 468, respectively).

The Royal Romanian Air Force met the end of the war in even worse condition than on June 22, 1941. In fact, aviators were left alone with their problems in the face of a complete cessation of supplies of spare parts for aircraft. The future was vague...

2. Magazines "Modelism" (Romania) for different years

3. Dénes Bernád, "Rumanian Air Force, the prime decade 1938-1947", Squadron/Signal Publications, 1999

"Romanian Navy
---
From the first days, the main opponent of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet was the Romanian naval forces. By mid-1941, they numbered 35 ships and vessels, united in two divisions - sea and river.

The largest and most modern Romanian ships were two destroyers “Regele Ferdinand” and “Regina Maria”.


She built them in 1927–1930. private Italian company in Naples. However, for the prototype she took not a domestic, that is, Italian, but a British project. Moreover, the destroyers received artillery from the Swedish company Bofors and main-caliber fire control devices from the German company Siemens. All this put them on a par with the best ships of their class of the early 30s for closed seas. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, they were little inferior to Soviet leaders and destroyers.

Two more destroyers, Marasti and Marasesti, also Italian-built, dated back to the First World War.



The Romanians ordered four such ships from Italy in 1913. At the beginning of the war, the Italians requisitioned them and, in a change to the original design, armed them with 152 mm artillery. After the end of the war, two of the four destroyers still ended up in Romania in 1920, but with 120 mm artillery. In 1926–1927 the ships underwent a major overhaul and by mid-1941 were already obsolete, but fully adequate to the Black Sea conditions. In any case, they were clearly superior to their Soviet “classmates” such as “Novik”.

By June 1941, Romania had only one submarine, the Delfinul, built in 1931 in Italy. She approximately corresponded to her Soviet peers of the “Shch” type.



The Romanian fleet included many ships built in the shipyards of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In particular, all three destroyers were like this. They belonged to the numerous and successful series of the “250-ton” type (27 units). During the entire First World War, not a single ship of this type was lost, but after its completion they were distributed to new owners. Romania received seven such ships in 1920, of which Sborul, Naluca and Smeul took part in the war with the Soviet Union. By that time, they were already morally and physically obsolete, but they were still quite suitable for use in the Black Sea as patrol ships.



Also, all seven river monitors belonged to the Austro-Hungarian heritage - although four of them were built in Austria-Hungary under Romanian order. Despite their venerable age, they clearly surpassed the ships of the Soviet Danube Flotilla in firepower.

In 1920, Romania acquired five seaworthy gunboats from France, although one of them was purposefully used as spare parts for the others. The remaining four - "Captain Dumitrescu C", "Locotenent-commandor Stihi Eugen", "Sublocotenent Ghiculescu" and "Locotenent Lepri Remus" - survived until the Second World War, but the latter died on January 11, 1941, blown up on its own minefield near Sulina. With a displacement of 430 tons, the boats had two 450 hp diesel engines, which provided them with a speed of up to 12 knots. Already during the war, their weapons were replaced and they consisted of one 88-mm gun, 37-mm and 20-mm anti-aircraft gun. Thus, these gunboats were clearly weaker not only than the Soviet Uragan-class patrol boats, but also the Tral-class minesweepers.

Just before the war, in 1940, the minelayer of its own construction, Admiral Murgescu, went into operation.

Combat boats in mid-1941 were represented by three torpedo and thirteen patrol boats of the Danube River Division, of which four types “Captain Nicolae Lascar Bogdan” were relatively large, but built in 1906–1907. The river division also included three floating batteries of the Bistrita type (100 tons) - built in 1888 and armed with only one 57-mm gun.

During the hostilities in the Black Sea, the most significant additions to the Romanian fleet were the submarines "Rechinul" and "Marsuinul", which entered service in August and September 1943. In addition, the Germans sold six former Dutch ones to the Romanian fleet at the end of 1942 - beginning of 1943 torpedo boats, but without engines, so they had to install aircraft engines from decommissioned fighters. As a result, the speed did not exceed 24 instead of the design 35 knots. In October 1943, the allies handed over to the Romanians three MFR landing barges, which received the designations RTA No. 404,405,406 in the Romanian fleet, as well as three anti-aircraft defense ships (formerly KFK-198, -199, -270 ), which became VS-1, -2, -3.

The Romanian naval forces were based at the naval bases of Constanta and Sulina.

In addition to the sea and river divisions, the Romanian Navy had a coastal division. It consisted of coastal defense artillery batteries, some of which were built and operated by the Germans. By the end of the war, the division consisted of two coastal defense regiments - Danube and Konstanz. The latter had two artillery divisions - Konstanz proper and Mangalsky.

The Constance Division included:

152/45 four-gun battery "Mircea" (north of Constanta, firing range 19 km, installed in the winter of 1940/41);

152/45 four-gun battery "Svidiu" (north of Constanta, firing range 19 km, installed in April 1943);

152/40 three-gun battery “Tudor” (north of Constanta, firing range 11.4 km, installed in 1928);

66/30 four-gun battery "Rares" (in the port of Constanta on the oil pier, installed in 1940);

76/40 three-gun battery “Viltur” (in the port of Constanta, W = 44°09′54 L = 28°27′54, firing range 8 km, ceiling 6.5 km, installed in 1940);

170/40 three-gun battery “Mihai” (in the port of Constanta south of the oil storage facility, W = 44°09′54 L = 28°37′54, firing range 18 km, installed in 1940);

105/45 three-gun battery “Karol” (in the port of Constanta south of the oil storage facility, W = 44°09′26 D = 28°37′54, firing range 15.2 km, installed in 1942);

152/47 four-gun battery “Ivan Dimitrov” (north of Constanta near Cape Midia, firing range 21.5 km, installed in 1944).

The Mangal division included:

120/50 four-gun battery "Elizabeth" (north of Tuala Cape, firing range 14 km, installed in 1940

122/46 four-gun battery “Vlayku” (south of Tuzla, firing range 18 km, installed in 1944);

152/40 three-gun battery "Aurora" (north of Mangalia, firing range 11.4 km, installed in 1941);

75/50 four-gun battery “Vasili Lupu” (on the northern outskirts of Mangalia, firing range 8 km, two guns installed in 1941 and 1944);

280/45 three-gun battery "Tirpitz" (6–8 km south of Constanta, firing range 36.9 km, installed in 1941).

Considering that the Tirpitz battery played a significant role in the events of the Black Sea War, let us dwell on it in more detail. Construction of the battery began in 1940 and was put into operation at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. It was both designed and maintained by the Germans. The battery was located on an elevated section of the coast, 0.6 km from the water's edge, on the reverse slope in its upper part. The gun yards were located at different distances from each other (250–300 m). One 280/45-mm gun of the 1907 model was manufactured in 1911, and the other two in 1915. Previously, they stood on one of the coastal batteries on the North Sea coast. Wedge shutter, with manual opening drive. Loading is done separately using sleeves. The ammunition included shells weighing 284 kg and 302 kg, a combat charge of 70 kg, and an initial flight speed of 885 m/s and 870 m/s, respectively. There were also reduced combat charges designed for an initial velocity of 580 and 284 m/s for a 284-kg projectile, and 625 and 230 m/s for a 302-kg projectile.

The rotary carriages had two supports: the front one - a relatively small pedestal on which the carriage frame rotates on rollers; the rear one consisted of two rollers that rolled along a circular track concreted on the foundation site. The horizontal guidance drive acting on these rollers is manual (from swings) and electric. The horizontal guidance angle is 360°. Vertical guidance also had manual and electric drives. The elevation angle of the guns is 40°. The mechanism for vertical guidance of the guns was of a somewhat unusual design - the cradle was engaged with the main shaft, which has two cylindrical toothed main gears, using two swinging (hinge-connected to the cradle) gear racks.

The supply of projectiles and charges was carried out by two cable lifts (chargers) located in vertical shafts at the rear of the installation. One lift is charging, the other is projectile. The projectile was taken from the cart onto the preparatory rotary table, from where it was loaded into the charger using a cam device. The charger lifting drive is manual and electric. There was an auxiliary manual feed - using a crane for the projectile and an inclined chute for the cartridges.

Charging was carried out by a special charging trolley located on the upper platform. From the charger, the projectile and cartridge case were loaded onto a cart, which was then manually moved towards the gun; on its way, the cart lowered the folding platform (balanced by a counterweight) and approached directly to the breech of the gun. After this, the projectile and then the cartridge case were sent manually using a hammer. The trolley was pulled back, and the folding platform rose, freeing up space for the gun to roll back. The compressor is hydraulic. The knurls are air.

The installations were covered on top with semi-cylindrical shields that protected from precipitation. The gunners' posts had side cover made of 10 mm thick armor plates. When leaving the battery, the Germans completely disabled all the guns by detonating the bombs in the chamber.

The fire control devices of the Tirpitz battery included: one open-type rangefinder post with a 14th rangefinder, a sighting post, a central post, a command post, a telephone exchange, a radio station, an aggregate and, according to some sources, a radar station located on the vehicles. The command post was located to the left of the rangefinder, and the sighting post was located to the right. Both points are of the unprotected type, in the trenches. There was a radio station in the dugout next to the command post. The central post, aggregate and telephone exchange were located in an underground block at a depth of 15 m.

In general, the equipment of the central post corresponded to those on similar batteries during the First World War; its basis was a central device 1.5 m long, 0.75 m wide and 0.5 m high without base. Since the Germans disabled all equipment before leaving , and the premises were blown up, it is impossible to say anything more about the fire control devices. Moreover, they did not allow Romanians there.

In total, the Romanian Royal Air Force, as of June 22, 1941, had at its disposal 572 combat aircraft, namely 157 reconnaissance aircraft (IAR-37 - 15, IAR-38 - 52, IAR-39 - 90); 270 fighters (IAR-80 - 58, Me-109E - 48, He-112B - 27, Hurricane - 13, PZL-11С - 28, PZL-11F - 68, PZL-24 - 28); 125 bombers (He-111 - 28, SM-79B - 22, PZL-37 - 16, PZL-23 - 10, Potez-63 - 18, Blenheim - 31); 20 seaplanes (S-55 - 5, S-62bis - 5, Cant Z-501 - 10).

The main strike force of the Romanian aviation was the Combat Air Group, under the command of squadron general Constantin Celernu. It was a formation that included two bomber flotillas (eleven bomber squadrons), a reconnaissance flotilla with four IAR-38 and IAR-39 squadrons, a fighter flotilla with eight squadrons of He-112, IAR-80, Me-109E, two communications squadrons, a medical squadron and an air transport group, for a total of approximately 300 aircraft.

The Romanian 4th Army had an air command with four squadrons at its disposal. The 3rd Romanian Army had at its disposal five squadrons, and another eleven squadrons provided air defense for the country.

With the outbreak of hostilities, Romanian aviation began to suffer losses, and it immediately became clear that without the help of the allies, at the expense of national production, it would not be possible to cover them.

German naval forces on the Black Sea
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Turkey's neutrality during the Second World War theoretically excluded the passage of warships of warring states into the Black Sea. True, for some classes of vessels (for example, MFR high-speed landing barges), this ban was easily circumvented by disarming the barges and assigning them “civilian” names. By the way, this technique was used not only by the Axis countries, but also by the USSR, when at the end of 1941 the icebreaker Mikoyan, which had previously been listed as an auxiliary cruiser, was withdrawn from the Black Sea.

Apart from these rather legally controversial issues, during the war there were no escorts of specially built warships of both warring parties through the Black Sea straits. This predetermined a fairly compact and stable grouping of the German Navy in the theater.

By the beginning of hostilities in the Black Sea, there were no German ships. They appeared there only in September - October 1941 in the form of groups of minesweepers from the German Danube flotilla. The boat minesweepers FR-1 - FR-12, as well as the floating bases that supported them, the minefield breaker "Sperrbrecher-191" and the river minelayer "Theresia Walner" made passages in Soviet and Romanian barriers from the mouth of the Danube to Odessa and the Dnieper estuary. A little later, Sonderkommando B, consisting of the first batch of Siebel ferries (about 30 units), was involved in this work. In addition to trawling, ferries have also been involved in transport operations since November.

Despite the fact that in 1941 the German group on the Black Sea was small, it suffered relatively heavy losses. The minesweepers FR-5 and FR-6 were lost to mines at the mouth of the Danube on September 6, FR- on October 12–11, Theresia Walner was lost at Ochakov on October 25. Of the 30 ferries, nine were lost. SF-25 ran aground on October 26 during an engagement with the submarine M-35 and was later destroyed by a storm. Navigation accidents caused the loss of ferries SF-4, SF-10, SF-11, SF-26, SF-27, SF-28. The ferry SF-16 was lost to a mine on November 24, and the SF-29 burned down in Constanta on December 3.

The formation of the German Navy on the Black Sea began in the spring of 1942 - on the eve of the summer campaign on the Soviet-German front. On January 2, the position of commander of the German naval mission in Romania was renamed Admiral of the Black Sea. This post was successively occupied by Vice Admiral F. Fleischer (until May 1942), Vice Admiral Wurmach (May - November 1942), Vice Admiral Witthöft-Emden (November 1942 - February 1943), Vice Admiral Kieseritzky (February - November 1943; killed during a raid by Soviet attack aircraft in the Kerch area), Vice Admiral G. Brinkman (until October 1944).

The German Naval Training Command "Romania" (Deutsches Martinelehrkommando Rumanien; from April 1943 - German Naval Command "Constanza"), which existed within the framework of the naval mission, took over the functions of the headquarters of the water area security formations in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. At the same time, the chief of this command was the German representative (in fact, the chief of staff) at the headquarters of the Romanian Navy. The chiefs of command were: Captain 1st Rank Gadov (until February 1943), Captain 1st Rank Kiderlen (February 1943 - January 1944), Captain 1st Rank Weyer (January - June 1944) , Captain 1st Rank Heinichen (June - September 1944).

Since January 1944, under the Constanta naval command, the headquarters of the 10th security division was formed, to which all the water area security flotillas operating between Constanta, Odessa and Sevastopol were subordinate. In June 1944, due to a sharp narrowing of the enemy fleet's operational zone in the Black Sea, the division headquarters was disbanded. Its commander throughout the entire period was the chief of the German naval command "Constanza", Captain 1st Rank Weyer.

The main task, for the sake of which, in fact, the German Navy was created in the Black Sea, was the capture of Sevastopol. The experience of the first two assaults showed that without isolating the main base of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet from the sea, solving this problem, if possible, would be extremely difficult. At the same time, the Romanian Navy was clearly not suitable for such actions. Despite the fact that the group being created was clearly aimed at attack, the German command provided for the inclusion of both landing flotillas for transport and escort forces to support them.

The largest German ships in the theater were submarines. Their transfer was carried out in a combined way: first on car trailers, then by tow along the Danube. Due to these difficulties, they were unable to make it in time for the assault on Sevastopol. Total to the Black Sea in 1942–1943. six submarines arrived, formed into the 30th flotilla: U-9 (entered service on the Black Sea on 10/28/42), U-18 (05/06/43), U-19 (12/9/42), U-20 (05/07/42) .43), U-23 (3.06.43) and U-24 (13.10.42). Since November 1942, they operated quite intensively on Soviet communications off the Caucasian coast, and by the time the hostilities ended they represented their only threat. The submarines had no losses during combat missions. It was not until August 20, 1944 that U-9 was lost during a Soviet air raid on Constanta. The U-18 and U-24, which were also being repaired there, received some damage during this raid and could not independently leave the base, which, due to Romania’s withdrawal from the war, had to be urgently evacuated. On August 23, both submarines were scuttled in the outer roadstead of Constanta. The remaining three German submarines operated until September 11, managing to make several more torpedo attacks on Soviet and Romanian ships, after which they were sunk by their crews off the Turkish coast.

By the beginning of June 1942, the 1st flotilla of torpedo boats (S-26, S-27, S-28, S-40, S-72, S-102) arrived in the Black Sea. Completely disarmed boats were transported from Dresden on the Elbe to Ingolstadt on the Danube on special heavy-duty vehicle platforms, after which they were launched, assembled and went under their own power to the Black Sea. All six boats took part in the blockade of Sevastopol, and the S-102 sank the Bialystok transport on June 19. Since August, the flotilla, replenished with boats S-47, S-49, S-51 and S-52 sent from Germany, was based in Feodosia and operated on communications off the coast of the Caucasus up to the Tuapse region; in the spring of 1943, she took part in the blockade of the Malaya Zemlya bridgehead. In June, the flotilla included S-42, S-45, S-46, and at the beginning of 1944 - S-131, S-148, S-149. The last trips of boats to our communications took place in January - February 1944, after which the activity of Soviet aviation forced the base to be moved to Sevastopol. In the last months of the war, boats were mainly used to escort their own convoys as anti-boat guards.

During the fighting the following died:

S-42, S-52 and S-131 - on August 20, 1944, destroyed by Soviet aviation in Constanta (on the S-28 and S-149, which were heavily damaged in the same raid, the engines were destroyed by the personnel);

S-26 and S-40 - August 19, 1944 destroyed by aircraft in Sulina, S-72, heavily damaged in this raid, was later scuttled;

Almost simultaneously with the 1 S-F1 flotilla, the 3rd flotilla of minesweepers (3 R-F1 - R-33, R-35, R-З6, R-37, R-163, R-164, R-165, R-166), which previously operated in the English Channel. Due to the absence of larger surface ships on the Black Sea, boat minesweepers solved a wide range of tasks: from trawling and escorting merchant ships to shelling the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov occupied by Soviet troops in August 1942. In 1943–1944. The flotilla was reinforced with boats R-196, R-197, R-203 - R-209, R-216 and R-248.

R-36 on April 29, 1943 was blown up by a Romanian mine near Constanta, and its aft section that remained afloat was not restored. R-33 was sunk by Soviet aircraft near Yalta on July 19, 1943. The same fate befell R-204 in Feodosia on April 11, 1944. On April 25, R-208 was lost on the Danube as a result of an explosion on a British bottom mine. The R-37, R-203 and R-205 damaged during the raid on Constanta were scuttled during the evacuation of the base on August 25, and all remaining “raumbots” were scuttled on August 30 in Varna Bay.

The second flotilla of boat minesweepers at the Black Sea theater was the 30th, which was formed in July 1943 from boats that were previously part of the Danube flotilla. It included the "raumboat" R-30 (sunk by aircraft on September 23, 1943 in Kerch), Dutch-built minesweepers RA-51, RA-52, RA-54 and RA-56 (sunk by crews in August 1944), breachers minefields "Sperrbrecher-192" and "Sperrbrecher-193" (the latter was sunk by Soviet aircraft on April 10, 1944), nine FR-type minesweepers, 18 FZ-type boats and two tugboats. Most of the ships of this flotilla managed to go up the Danube in August 1944 and continued fighting there until the end of the war.

Escort functions were performed by the 1st, 3rd and 23rd flotillas of anti-submarine ships. 1 Uj-Fl was formed in June 1943 on the basis of the Sulina group of anti-submarine ships of the Danube flotilla that existed since September 1942. It included KT-type military transports converted into submarine hunters: UJ-101 (KT-39), UJ-102 (KT-40), UJ-103 (KT-37), UJ-104 (KT-17) , UJ-105 (KT-24), UJ-106 (KT-23), UJ-107 (KT-33), UJ-108 (KT-29), UJ-109 (KT-4), UJ-110 ( KT-38), UJ-111 (KT-30), three ships: different types: UJ-115 “Rosita”, UJ-116 “Xanten”, UJ-117 “SchifF-19”; as well as a converted MFRUJ-118 (F-308).

UJ-102 (KT-40) died on December 15, 1943 in the Evpatoria region under rather curious circumstances. The ship's commander reported contact with a submarine, which he intended to attack, after which contact with him was lost. A few hours later, wreckage of the ship and the bodies of crew members were found on the water, none of which survived. The investigation proposed as the main version the death of the ship as a result of the explosion of ammunition on the Santa Fe transport lying at the bottom - the explosion was provoked by depth bombing. UJ-117 “SchifF-19” was washed ashore in a storm near Constanta on March 28, 1944. UJ-104 (KT-17) was torpedoed by a Soviet torpedo boat off Sevastopol on April 27 and towed to the port, where it was subsequently scuttled. UJ-115 "Rosita" was sunk by Soviet aircraft on August 20 during an attack on Constanta. UJ-113 (KT-39), apparently, received heavy damage at the same time and was scuttled five days later in the outer roadstead of the port. UJ-103 (KT-37), UJ-105 (KT-24), UJ-107 (KT-33), UJ-111 (KT-30) and UJ-118 (F-308) were scuttled on August 26–30 or abandoned by crews in Bulgarian waters. The same fate befell UJ-106 (KT-23) and UJ-110 (KT-38) in October when they tried to break through up the Danube. UJ-108 (KT-29) and UJ-109 (KT-4) in June 1944, disarmed, went to the Aegean Sea, where three months later they died under different numbers.

In addition, there were two fleets of small KFK submarine hunters in the theater. In April 1943, 23 Uj-Fl was formed. This flotilla was staffed by soldiers from the Croatian naval legion, although the officers remained German. Later, in March 1944, the ships of the formation received entirely German crews. From July 1943, the flotilla began escorting convoys between Constanta and Odessa, and later between Constanta and Sevastopol. It included hunters UJ 2301 (KFK-81), UJ-2302 (KFK-82), UJ-2303 (KFK-83), UJ-2304 (KFK-84), UJ-2305 (KFK-85), UJ -2306 (KFK-86), UJ-2307 (KFK-92), UJ-2309 (KFK-15), UJ-2310 (KFK-372), UJ-2311 (KFK-20), UJ-2312 (KFK- 17),UJ-2313(KFK-373),UJ-2314(K FK-202), UJ-2316 (KFK-31), UJ-2317 (KFK-200), UJ-2318 (KFK-47).

3 Uj-Fl was formed on November 16, 1943 from a group of cutters of the 30th flotilla. It included UJ-301 (KFK-7), UJ-302 (KFK-8), UJ-303 (KFK-9), UJ-304 (KFK-10), UJ-305 (KFK-11), UJ -306 (KFK-12), UJ-308 (KFK-44), UJ-309 (KFK-193), UJ-310 (KFK-194), UJ-312 (KFK-45), and later also UJ-307 (KFK-19), UJ-313 (KFK-21), UJ-314 (KFK-22), UJ-315 (), UJ-316 (), UJ-317 (KFK-46) and UJ-318 (KFK -195).

Both flotillas took an active part in protecting communications at the last stage of the war, including during the evacuation of troops of the 17th Army from Crimea. Accordingly, their losses turned out to be sensitive. UJ-2304 (KFK-84) was sunk by Soviet aircraft on May 3, 1944, UJ-2313 (KFK-373) and UJ-2314 (KFK-202) were killed on May 9 by Soviet field artillery fire in the South Bay of Sevastopol. UJ-2303 (KFK-83) ​​received serious damage and, according to some reports, sank on May 11 on the approaches to Varna. UJ-310 (KFK-194) on May 11 was hit by a heavy shell near Cape Khersones and sank in shallow water. UJ-316 died on a mine near Sulina on June 18, and UJ-2307 (KFK-92) died on June 23 near Varna. At the end of August, most of the boats were sunk by their crews, and some became Soviet trophies.

In the summer of 1943, the 30th and 31st escort flotillas were formed for escort and guard service off the coast of Romania and Bulgaria. They were based on patrol boats of the Danube Flotilla of the Dolphin type, newly built KFK and mobilized fishing boats. The 30th flotilla (which was operationally subordinate to the commander of the Danube flotilla) consisted of 29 boats with numbers between G-3001 and G-3080, the 31st - 26 with numbers between G-3101 and G-3184.

On August 1, 1944, all escort flotillas and submarine hunter flotillas were reorganized into the 1st and 2nd Black Sea Coast Defense Flotillas (Kuestenschutzflotillie Schwarzes Meet). The flotillas included ships with the letter designation SM: 1st - 101–111, 121–132, 141–147, 161–166, 2nd - 201–231, 241–247. As already noted, partly the flotillas were equipped with KFK-type boats, partly with ordinary fishing boats.

As in other theaters of war, in the Black and Azov Seas there were small formations of base patrol ships and privateers at the main bases and ports. There were raid guard units in Berdyansk (RJB01 - RB10), Feodosia (RF01 - RF15), Genichesk (RG01 - RG10), Kerch (RK01 - RK14), Mariupol (RM01 - RM10), Ochakov (R01 -

R015), Nikolaev (RN01 - RN04, RN21 - RN25), Odessa (PI - P5, R021 - R029), Sevastopol (RS01 - RS10, RS24 - RS31, RS1701 - RS1710), Taganrog (RTa01 - RTa10), Temryuk (RT01 - RT10) and Varna (BW01 - BW04, BW19, BW20). Some of the ships and boats of these flotillas were lost in combat, some were sunk during the evacuation of ports, and the survivors joined the coastal defense flotillas in August 1944.

Due to the lack of a sufficient number of transport ships on the Black Sea, as well as the need for transportation in the interests of troops preparing for an offensive, at the beginning of 1942 the Germans began forming landing flotillas of MFR barges in the theater. Subsequently, the role of the barges increased even more when, at the beginning of 1943, they were tasked with supplying the troops of the 17th Army on the Kuban bridgehead. In November - December of the same year, the landing flotillas formed the basis of the blockade forces of our troops on the Eltigen bridgehead south of Kerch, and in May 1944 they removed from Sevastopol at least half of the number of enemy military personnel evacuated by sea. Such active use of MFR resulted in both the large number of flotillas available in the theater and rather large losses.

1 L-F1 was formed in February 1942, 3 L-F1 - in October 1942, 5 L-F1 - in April 1943 and 7 L-F1 - in July 1943. In total, they were included in their composition at different times included: F-121, F-122, F-125, F-128, F-130 - F-139, F-142 - F-145, F-162, F-168, F-170, F-176, F-211, F-217, F-229, F-301 - F-307, F-312-F-316, F-322, F-323, F-325, F-326, F-329, F- 332-F-337, F-339 - F-342, F-353, F-367 - F-369, F-371 - F-374, F-382, F-386, F-394, F-395, F-401, F-405, F-406, F-418, F-419, F-445 - F-449, F-467, F-469 - F-476, F-492, F-493, F- 521, F-532-F-539, F-558 - F-586, F-589, F-591 - F-594, F-848 - F-852, F-893 - F-898.

The number of MFRs in the Black Sea has been constantly changing. The fact is that they were built in Varna (80 units) and in ports on the Danube River. Thus, German forces on the Black Sea were not only largely equipped with locally built ships, but also transferred them to other theaters. For example, F-123, F-124, F-126, F-127, F-129, F-331, F-338, F-370, after a short stay in the Black Sea, moved to the Aegean. The ships of the latest series, which entered service in 1944: F-899 - F-908, by the middle of the year, mostly went to the Danube and then fought there.

Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive information on MFR losses - they were very large and were not always documented at the final stage. The MFR's most terrible enemy was the aviation of the Black Sea Fleet. She sank: F-134 and F-125 (9.9.1942), F-533 (18.9.1942), F-176 (26.2.1943), F-535 (27.2.1943), F-386 (19.11.1943 ), F-309 and F-367 (19.5.1943), F-328 (27.5.1943), F-144 (7.7.1943), F-217 (24.9.1943), F-229 (9.10.1943) , F-418 (10/17/1943), F-449(11/9/1943), F-594(11/28/1943), F-306 (11/30/1943), F-573(12/1/1943), F-360 ( 3.12.1943), F-305 and F-369 (5.12.1943), F-565 (13.4.1944), F-395, F-564 and F-569 (15.4.1944), F-132 (6.5. 1944), F-130 (damaged by Soviet aviation and abandoned by the crew, 05/12/1944 finished off by the artillery of the S-33 submarine), F-568 (8/20/1944).

In second place were mines: F-145 (3.6.1942), F-133 (10.8.1942), F-138 (5.10.1942), F-336 and F-538 (19.12.1942), F-162 ( 2.1.1943), F-323 (24.1.1943), F-473 (17.2.1943), F-143 (24.2.1943), F-371 (9.3.1943), F-136 (14.3.1943), F-475 (15.3.1943), F-121 (15.6.1943), F-583 (6.09.1943), F-302 and F-315 (2.10.1943), F-125 (4.10.1943), F -128 (10/26/1943). Navigation accidents, including when evading attacks from Soviet forces, caused the death of F-470 (5/23/1943), F-126 (11/4/1943), F-419 (11/11/1943 sunk in shallow water as a result of damage received in night battle with F-305), F-536 (11/23/1943), F-341 and F-574 (11/30/1943, evading the attack of Il-2 attack aircraft, ran aground, where they were later destroyed), F-446 (01/09/1944), F-558 (02/16/1944). More than once the MFR also came under torpedo attacks from Black Sea submariners, which sank the F-329 (severely damaged on 5/23/1943 in a battle with the L-4 submarine, not restored), F-474 (10/10/1943), F-592 (11/15/1943 ), F-566 (12/2/1943), F-580 (12/9/1943). Coastal artillery destroyed F-313 (11/6/1943), F-135 (02/20/1944), torpedo boats - F-334 (08/1/1942). F-303, F-492, F-493, F-577 were scuttled on 10/28/1943 during the evacuation from Genichesk, and F-560 - on 11/2/1943 in Skadovsk. F-374 and F-521 were sunk on 08/25/1944 in Kiliya Girl. The remaining MFRs died as a result of reasons not established by documents, or were scuttled at the end of August 1944 in Romanian and Bulgarian waters. Some of them were raised and introduced into the Soviet Black Sea Fleet.

In February 1943, the 3rd flotilla of artillery barges was formed. It included artillery lighters of the MAL type: 1–4, 8–11. Since the lighters were built in Germany and then transported section by section by rail to the Black Sea, the formation of the flotilla was completed only by June. In subsequent months, the flotilla was engaged in escorting convoys going to Kuban, as well as performing patrol duty in the Sea of ​​Azov, and repeatedly participated in military clashes with armored boats of the Azov flotilla. MAL-8, damaged on September 18 by Il-2 attack aircraft, washed ashore, where it was blown up by sappers on September 26; MAL-1, MAL-3, MAL-9 - MAL-11 were blown up by their crews on October 29 in Genichesk during the evacuation of the port. MAL-2 and MAL-4, which were disassembled in Sevastopol, were transported to Constanta, but were never put into operation.

The flotilla, disbanded in October 1943, was recreated in February 1944 - this time it consisted of freshly built artillery barges. It included six AFs: 51–56. In April - May, the floating batteries of the flotilla took part in artillery support of the flank of the ground forces near Sevastopol, as well as carrying out night anti-boat patrols. All of them were sunk by their crews in Romanian and Bulgarian waters at the end of August.

In addition to naval formations, army sea transport vehicles operated in the Black and Azov Seas. First of all, these are the already mentioned self-propelled ferries of the Siebel type. In addition, the pontoon-bridge parks included PELB (Pionier-Landungs ​​boot) landing motorized boots of four types.

Italian Naval Forces on the Black Sea
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During World War II, the Italians deployed six midget submarines of the SV type and ten torpedo boats of the 500 type to the Black Sea. All of them were delivered to Constanta by rail. The submarine SV-5 was sunk in Yalta by torpedo boats, and SV-1 - SV-4 and SV-6 were captured by the Germans in September 1943, but were soon transferred to Romania. In January 1944, they were officially returned back to Italy - more precisely, to the puppet pro-fascist “Republic of Salo”. But they did not have time to transport them back, and Soviet troops captured SV-1-SV-4 in Constanta.

The first four torpedo boats MAS 570 - MAS 573 appeared on the Black Sea on May 20, 1942, of which they formed the 4th flotilla. Then on July 30 MAS 568 and MAS 569 arrived, on August 30 - MAS 566 and MAS 567, on October 21 - MAS 574 and MAS 575." (c)

Romania

At first XXcentury, the Kingdom of Romania was a backward agricultural country, with 80% of ethnic Romanians at that time living outside its borders. For economic reasons, the shipbuilding program adopted in 1899 (6 coastal defense battleships, 4 large and 12 small destroyers, 8 river monitors and 12 river destroyers) could not be completed (only 4 monitors and 8 river destroyers were built). In 1912, the Romanian government approved a new program that provided for the construction of 6 light cruisers of 3500 tons each, 12 destroyers of 1500 tons each and one submarine. However, before the start of the First World War, only 4 destroyers were actually ordered from Italy. Of these, only two were completed and entered service with the Italian fleet as Sparviero and Nibbio. Transferred to Romania on July 1, 1920, they were renamed “Marashti” and “Marashesti”. Already during the war, the Romanians ordered from Frantion 3 submarines of the "O" Byrne type, but they were never obtained.

In the First Balkan War, Romania remained neutral; in the Second, it opposed Bulgaria, which allowed it to expand its territory by annexing Silistria. With the outbreak of World War I, Romania supported the Entente, but officially declared war on Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria only on August 27, 1916, and soon suffered a crushing defeat on land.

The most combat-ready formation of the Romanian fleet was the Danube flotilla, which took an active part in the battles. The ships based in the Black Sea ports had no combat significance. Only former passenger steamships transferred to Russia and converted into auxiliary cruisers (Romania, Dacia, Imperator Trajan, Regele Carol) were of benefit.I»).

Armored cruiser "Elizabeth" - 1 unit.

1320 t, 73x10.21x3.66 m. PM-2, 4700 hp. = 17 knots, 80/300 t. Armor: deck 87 - 50 mm. Ek. 190 people 4-120 mm, 4 - 76 mm, 2 - 37 mm, 4 TA 356 mm.

An old cruiser (actually a seaworthy gunboat), built in 1888 in England by Armstrong. Initially carried 164 mm guns. In 1916 he was disarmed, in 1919 he was excluded from the lists of the fleet.

Monitors of the “Ion Bratianu” type - 4 units.

“Ion Bratianu”, “Lazar Catargiu”, “Mihail Kogalnicenu”, “Alexandru Lahovari”.

680 t, 63.5x10.3x1.6 m. PM - 2, 2 PCs, 1800 hp = 13 knots. 60 t ug. Armor: side and turrets 75 mm, deck 75 mm, deckhouse 50 mm. Ek. 110 people 3 - 120 mm/35, 2 - 120 mm/10, 4 - 47 mm, 2 bullets.

Built by order of Romania in Austria-Hungary (STT shipyard) in 1907-1908; collected from sections in Galati on the Danube. They actively participated in the battles in 1916-1917. Lived until World War II; "L. Katargiu" and "M. Kogalnichenu" 8/24/1944 sunk by Soviet aircraft; “I. Bratianu” and “A. Lahovari” were captured by the Red Army in August 1944 and renamed “Azov” and “Mariupol”.

River destroyers of the "Captain N.L. Bogdan" type - 8 units.

45/51 t, 30.4x3.96x0.8 m. PM-2, 2 PCs, 550 hp. = 18 knots 7.6 tons of oil. Ek. 18 people 1 - 47 mm, 1 bullet, 2 poles mines.

"Captain Nicolae Lazar Bogdan", "Major Ene Constantin", "Captain Romano Mihail", "Major Giurascu Di-mitre", "Major Sontu Gheorghe", "Major Grigore Ioan", "Locotenant Calinescu Dimitre", "Captain Walter Maracinenu" .

Built by order of Romania in England at the Thames Iron Works plant in 1906 - 1907. They served in the Danube Flotilla. “Captain V. Marachinenu” died in 1916 from a mine explosion. The rest survived until World War II; in 1944-1945, three of them were even part of the Soviet Navy.

Destroyers of the "Naluka" type - 3 units.

“Naluka”, “Collected”, “Smeul”.

56 t, 36.8x3.45x0.9 m. PM - 1, 1 PC, 540 hp. = 16 knots 7 t ug. Ek. 20 people 1 - 37 mm, 2 TA 356 mm.

Built in 1888 in France, the first two were modernized in 1907. In 1916-1917 they operated on the Danube, "Smeul" died on April 16, 1917 as a result of a mine explosion. The rest were scrapped immediately after the end of the First World War.

The main goal of Romania's foreign policy was the return of territories transferred in 1940 to the Soviet Union, Hungary and Bulgaria. Despite the tension in relations with the last two states, in reality Romania, under the auspices of Germany, could only lay claim to the return of lands (Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia) occupied by the USSR. In addition, she had the opportunity to increase her territory at the expense of the southwestern regions of the Soviet Union, which were not previously Romanian. Until 1940, Romanian military thought and military practice were guided by the French military school. However, after the defeat of France in June 1940, the Romanian military began to give preference to the German school. In October of the same year, a permanent German mission arrived in Romania. Its main goal was to prepare the Romanian army for war, with the greatest attention paid to the fight against tanks and the training of junior commanders. The modernization program was only partially successful. A 7.92 mm Czech-made rifle replaced the old 6.5 mm Mannlicher system, and the cavalry received the light Czech ZB 30 assault rifle. At the same time, there were still many weapons of outdated models in the army. Anti-tank artillery was weak, although the Germans supplied the Romanians with captured 47 mm guns. Only the mountain rifle corps received modern Skoda artillery guns. Most field guns have been in service since the beginning of the First World War, although captured French and Polish 75-mm guns also entered the army. Most of the artillery was still horse-drawn. On September 1, 1939, the Romanian army consisted of 1 Guards and 21 Infantry Divisions. In 1940, the intensive formation of new compounds began. By June 22, 1941, the strength of the Romanian armed forces was increased to 703 thousand people. The general management of military development was carried out by the Supreme Defense Council, chaired by the Prime Minister. With the outbreak of war, this post was taken by the leader (conducător) Ion Victor Antonescu. The military forces were directly led by the Ministry of War (through the General Staff). The Romanian armed forces consisted of the ground forces, air force and navy, as well as border guard corps, gendarmerie and construction corps. The ground forces included 3 combined arms armies (21 infantry divisions and 14 brigades). They were armed with 3,850 guns, up to 4 thousand. mortars, 236 tanks. The Romanian infantry division in 1941 included 3 infantry regiments, 1 artillery brigade (2 regiments), a battery of anti-aircraft guns, a company of anti-tank guns and machine guns, a reconnaissance squadron, a communications battalion, an engineer battalion and service units. In total, the division had 17,715 people, it had 13,833 rifles, 572 machine guns, 186 guns and mortars (75 mm field guns, 100 mm howitzers, 37 mm and 47 mm anti-tank guns). The regiments of the regular army bore numbers from the 1st to the 33rd and from the 81st to the 96th, and the regiments of the first group were traditionally called “grenadiers” - “Dorobanti”. Some divisions had "Vanatori" regiments, i.e. riflemen who wore numbers from 1 to 10. After the First World War, elite mountain units were formed according to the Italian model, like the “Alpine shooters”. Each of these 4 brigades had 1 artillery and 2 rifle regiments, as well as a reconnaissance squadron. The Romanian cavalry was considered especially strong. In addition to the Horse Guards, in the summer of 1941 there were 25 more line cavalry regiments. In 1941, the only separate tank regiment (which had existed since 1939) was combined with a motorized rifle regiment into an armored brigade. The Romanian army was mainly armed with Skoda LTvz 35 tanks at the beginning of the war, and units had a number of light CKD tanks for reconnaissance. Most of the Skodas were lost in the battles of Stalingrad (some were later converted to self-propelled 76 mm guns), and they were replaced by German PzKpfw 38(t) and T-IV. The Romanian Air Force included 11 aeroflotillas: fighter - 3, bomber - 3, reconnaissance - 3, seaplanes - 1, balloons - 1. In total, the Air Force had 1050 aircraft, of which about 700 were combat: fighters - 301, bombers - 122, others - 276. The Romanian naval forces consisted of the Black Sea Fleet and the Danube Flotilla. By the beginning of the war, the Romanian Black Sea Fleet had 2 auxiliary cruisers, 4 destroyers, 3 destroyers, a submarine, 3 gunboats, 3 torpedo boats, 13 minesweepers and minelayers. The Danube river flotilla included 7 monitors, 3 floating batteries, 15 armored boats, 20 river boats and auxiliary vessels. In the summer of 1941, to attack the Soviet Union, Romania allocated 2 field armies (3rd and 4th), consisting of 13 infantry divisions, 5 infantry, 1 motorized and 3 cavalry brigades, about 3 thousand. guns and mortars, 60 tanks. The offensive of the ground forces was to be supported by 623 combat aircraft. In total, 360 thousand troops were recruited to participate in the war against the Soviet Union. Romanian military uniform. 1st stage of the war against the USSR To wage the war against the Soviet Union, the Romanian army used mainly infantry weapons of its own production. In 1941, Romania produced 2.5 thousand light machine guns, 4 thousand machine guns, 2,250 60-mm and 81.4-mm mortars, 428 75-mm artillery pieces, 160 47-mm anti-tank guns, 106 37-mm mm and 75 mm anti-aircraft guns, over 2.7 million mines and shells. The German command assigned the Romanian troops the task of ensuring the deployment of the 11th German Army in Romania and its offensive in Right Bank Ukraine. The headquarters of the 11th Army were reassigned from the 3rd Romanian Army 4 infantry divisions, 3 mountain rifle and 3 cavalry brigades. The remaining Romanian troops, consolidated into the 4th Army, were deployed on the extreme right wing of the Soviet-German front. For combat operations in the Black Sea, Germany, not having its own warships there, used the Romanian Navy. The 3rd Romanian Army included mountain rifle (1st, 2nd and 4th mountain brigades) and cavalry (partially motorized 5th, 6th and 8th cavalry brigades) corps. The 4th Army included the first three divisions trained by German instructors (5th, 6th and 13th) and other selected formations (guards division, border and armored brigades). During the Siege of Odessa (August 5–October 16, 1941), Romanian troops received significant reinforcements and eventually included the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th -th, 11th, 14th, 15th, 18th and 21st infantry and 35th reserve divisions, 1st, 7th and 9th cavalry brigades; in addition, separate German units were assigned to the armies. Near Odessa, due to poor preparation and lack of weapons, the Romanian units suffered heavy losses - on September 22, 2 infantry divisions were defeated. After the garrison of Odessa was evacuated from October 1 to October 16, 1941, the 4th Romanian Army had to be sent for reorganization. Military units from the 3rd Army (as well as the 1st, 2nd, 10th and 18th Infantry Divisions) remained at the front, although they came under the command of German generals. The mountain rifle corps fought in the Crimea as part of the 11th German Army, and the cavalry corps as part of the 1st Tank Army. Smaller units, such as the Romanian mechanized regiment and ski squads, also operated alongside German units during the winter campaign. 2nd stage of the war against the USSR In the summer of 1942, there was a build-up of Romanian forces on the Eastern Front. The Mountain Rifle Corps (later the 18th Infantry and 1st Mountain Rifle Divisions) was involved in the attack on Sevastopol. In 1942, the brigade was reorganized according to Wehrmacht standards and the 1st Armored Division (later called “Greater Romania”) was created. In August, a strong Romanian corps (which included the 18th and 19th infantry, 8th cavalry and 3rd mountain rifle divisions) crossed the Kerch Strait with battles. At the same time, the 2nd Mountain Division, which had been on vacation since the end of 1941, was transferred to the North Caucasus, where it became part of the 3rd German Tank Corps. The 3rd Army of General Dumitrescu reappeared at the front (5th, 6th, 9th, 13th, 14th and 15th Infantry, 1st and 7th Cavalry, 1st Armored Divisions ) and in October occupied the area north of Stalingrad. Meanwhile, the Romanian corps reached the forefront on the southern flank. In November 1942, it was replenished with other units, and then transferred to the 4th German Tank Army (a total of 6 Romanian divisions: 1st, 2nd, 4th and 18th infantry, 5th and 8th cavalry ). Hitler proposed that most of the units of the German 4th Panzer Army go to General Constantinescu's 4th Army, and then, together with the Romanian 3rd and German 6th armies, form a new Army Group "Don" under the command of Marshal Antonescu. The 4th Army moved forward and began deployment just at the moment when Soviet troops began an operation to encircle the Stalingrad group. Most of the Romanian divisions were defeated, and two (20th Infantry and 1st Cavalry) ended up inside the “Stalingrad Pocket”. The remnants of the units were collected into hastily organized army groups "Goth" (1st, 2nd, 4th and 18th infantry, 5th and 8th cavalry divisions) and "Hollid" (7th, 9th I, 1st and 14th Infantry, 7th Cavalry and 1st Armored Divisions), but they suffered such heavy losses that by February 1943 they were withdrawn to reorganize. The morale of the Romanian military dropped significantly. This allowed the Soviet command to begin in the fall of 1943 to create Romanian formations from former prisoners of war as part of the Soviet army. 3rd stage of the war against the USSR The counter-offensive of the Soviet troops led to the fact that many Romanian divisions were under threat of encirclement on the Kuban bridgehead and in the Crimea (10th and 19th infantry, 6th and 9th cavalry, 1st , 2nd, 3rd and 4th mountain rifle divisions). The Germans sought to remove them from the front line and throughout 1943. Romanians were used mainly to protect the coastline and in the fight against partisans. In April 1944, the 10th Infantry and 6th Cavalry Divisions, which were considered “resistant,” were defeated in Crimea. Most of the units were withdrawn from the battles and returned to Romania for reorganization. The troops withdrawn to Romania were used to defend Bessarabia. 4th stage of the war against the USSR By May 1944, the 3rd and 4th armies went to the front. Now the Romanians managed to insist on establishing some kind of parity in the distribution of command posts in the German-Romanian group. On the right flank, as part of Dumitrescu’s army group, were the 3rd Romanian and 6th German armies (the 2nd, 14th and 21st infantry, 4th mountain rifle and 1st cavalry Romanian divisions fought here). The 4th Romanian Army, together with the 8th German Army, formed the Weller Army Group (it included the following Romanian formations: Guards, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 11 -I, 13th and 20th Infantry, 5th Cavalry and 1st Armored Divisions). With the start of the Soviet offensive in August 1944, this front collapsed. Romania in the war against Germany and Hungary (1944 - 1945) King Mihai arrested Antonescu, and Romania joined the anti-Hitler coalition. Her participation in the war on the German side ended. At the same time, a number of convinced Romanian fascists voluntarily joined the SS troops. After some hesitation, the Soviet command decided to use Romanian formations at the front. The 1st Army (created on the basis of divisions and training units withdrawn from Crimea) and the new 4th Army (almost entirely composed of training units) again began fighting in Transylvania. The Romanian Air Force actively showed itself in the hostilities against the German-Hungarian troops. In total, Romania lost 350 thousand people in battles with Soviet troops, and at the end of the war another 170 thousand in battles with German and Hungarian troops.