20 August 1944

[Carol I]

QUOTE

The sun rose blood-red on Sunday, August 20. As the Romanian soldiers of the Fourth Army began their day, a distant rumble was heard behind enemy lines. It was 5 a.m. when the Soviet offensive opened with a huge artillery bombardment from the massed guns of Malinovsky's Second Ukrainian Front. The shells fell without mercy on the surprised Romanians for 1½ hours. Meanwhile, the positions of the Sixth [German] Army and Third Romanian Army also came under a heavy barrage. Pat McTaggart Red Storm in Romania World War II March 2001

I have no idea if it is accurate or not, but I thought this fragment would be appropriate to remind you that 60 years ago the Soviet offensive which eventually sealed the fate of Romania in WWII had begun.

I have got the impression that little is known about the events taking place in those days largely because another event taking place only three days later (on 23 August 1944) captivated most if not all the attention and interest. As I would be interested to find out more, I would appreciate if you could try to reconstitute the details of the last days of fighting between the Romanian Army and the Soviets. Thank you.

[Victor]

That will eventually be done in the Operations section of the site... sometime in the future.

[Carol I]

Thank you Victor. Meanwhile, I guess it would be great if we could gather as much data as possible.

I have just remembered that you have posted earlier some details about the participation of Slt. Ion S. Dumitru of the 1st Armoured Regiment to the fights taking place in the last days of August 1944.

[Benoit Douville]

That it will be really interesting to learn more about that Battle who sealed the fate of the Romanian Army.

Regards