18. The Cavalry’s Offensive

[dragos]

by Nicolae Ciobanu

Within the overall concept of the military operations for the liberation of Northern Bessarabia, the Romanian Cavalry Corps (the 5th, and 6th, Cavalry Brigades), commanded by General Mihai Racovita, was assigned the task of conducting the offensive on the direction: Movila Rupta, Terebna, Edinita, Ocnita, with a view to reach the left bank of the Dniester river, in Secureni, Voloscova, Barnova area, and supporting, simultaneously, the XI German Corps' left flank that directed its attack towards Mogilev.

The offensive was lauched on July 4, 1941, after the creation of the Cucoresti, Movila Rupta bridgehead, and the operations were carried out on directions, with detachments preceded by small reconnaissance units. After liberating the locality of Edinita, on July 5, 1941, and neutralising the Soviet forces' counterattack against the German 76th Infantry Division, at Bratuseni, the advance was resumed and the Romanian troop reached, on July 7 and 8, the right bank of the Dniester, in Ocnita, Lipnic, Voloscova, Secureni area, where protection was secured. By July 15, the Cavalry Corps' forces had repelled the Soviet troops incursions and carried out reconaissance missions across the Dniester, for the future crossing of the river, which was due between July 17 and 19, 1941. By pointing out the Cavalry Corps' offensive, General Eugen von Schobert, commander of the 11th, German Army expressed, on July 11, his thanks to General Mihail Racovita, "for the Prut river crossing, for the reconnaissance mission, for the efforts of the march”. In his turn, the Cavalry Corps' commander underlined that the first units that reached the Dniester River belonged to the Cavalry and stressed that the efforts made were meant to wrote "the first page of our fight: reconquering the national territory".

[Florin]

It is interesting how cavalry and horse drawn vehicles were still going along in all armies, in those years.
Even Germany, in her best days, when the German Army strength was at its peak (1942), had only a half of the army in motorized vehicles.

The first armies completely motorized were the landing Allies, American and British, in 1944.