Border clashes in 1940

[sid guttridge]

Hi Iamandi,

I thought JRS79B and JRS79B1 were the designations of the two sorts of Romanian-built Jumo-powered JRS79s. The Italian-built versions were the JIS79B.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Victor]

So did I. The JRS-79B1 had Jumo 211 F engines.

[dragos]

On 28 June 1940 the 3rd Frontier-guards Group reported that at 3 AM the frontier-guards picket in the sector of Româncăuţi company has been attacked with machine-gun fire from the Soviet bank of the Dniester. The picket and the cavalry troops nearby returned fire, the firefight lasting about 15 minutes. Between 4 and 5 AM several Soviet boats crossed the Dniester with approximately 60 soldiers near the village of Molcotova. An hour later, the 2nd Cavalry Division reported the fights with the Soviet troops that crossed the Dniester and took over the position of the platoon of Lieutenant Florescu. The Romanian platoon fell back gradually, fighting.

It is interesting to note that the violation of the Romanian territory at 3 AM in the night of 27/28 June 1940 - before the Romanian government responded the Soviet ultimatum - was an armed aggression against the Romanian state. According to the London Convention of 1933, it is an aggressor, in an international conflict, the state which invades with armed forces, even without declaration of war. Arguably, Romania was at war with Soviet Union since 28 June 1940, not since 22 June 1941.