Operation München
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Operation München (Romanian: Operațiunea München) was the Romanian codename of a joint German-Romanian offensive during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II, with the primary objective of recapturing Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and the Hertsa region, ceded by Romania to the Soviet Union a year before (Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina).[6] The operation concluded successfully after 24 days of fighting. Axis formations involved included the Romanian Third and the Fourth Armies and the German Eleventh Army.[7] The invasion was followed by a genocide against the Jewish population of Bessarabia.[8]
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Operation München | |||||||
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Part of Operation Barbarossa of the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||
Romanian cavalryman escorting Soviet prisoners | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Soviet Union |
Romania Germany | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Yakov Cherevichenko Ivan Tyulenev Pavel Ponedelin Filipp Oktyabrskiy |
Ion Antonescu Nicolae Ciupercă Petre Dumitrescu Eugen von Schobert Horia Macellariu | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Odessa Military District: 9th Army 12th Army 18th Army |
Army Group Antonescu: | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
364,700 troops 700 tanks 1,750 aircraft 5 river monitors 22 armored motor gunboats |
325,685 troops[1] 201 tanks 672 aircraft 1 monitor 6 river monitors 4+ armed boats 5 divisions, 420 aircraft | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Total: 17,893 255 aircraft[2] 2 river monitors damaged 7 armored motor gunboats sunk[3] |
Total: 21,738 4,112 killed, 12,120 wounded, 5,506 missing[4] 58 aircraft[5] |
The offensive started on 2 July, with Romanian forces striking north. On 5 July, Chernivtsi, the capital of Northern Bukovina, was seized by the 3rd and 23rd Vânători de Munte Battalions. On 16 July, Chișinău, the Bessarabian capital, was seized after heavy fighting by Romanian forces spearheaded by the 1st Romanian Armored Division (Divizia 1 Blindată), equipped mainly with 126 R-2 light tanks. By 26 July, the entire region was under Romanian-German control. On 17 August, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were formally re-integrated into the Romanian state.[9]