View source for Romania in World War II

{{Short description|none}}
{{History of Romania}}
{{Romanian military actions in World War II}}
{{Campaignbox Balkans 1944}}
The [[Kingdom of Romania]], under the rule of [[King Carol II of Romania|King Carol II]], was initially a [[Neutral country|neutral]] country in [[World War II]]. However, [[Fascist]] political forces, especially the [[Iron Guard]], rose in popularity and power, urging an alliance with [[Nazi Germany]] and its [[Axis powers|allies]]. As the military fortunes of Romania's two main guarantors of territorial integrity—France and Britain—crumbled in the [[Battle of France|Fall of France]] (May to June, 1940), the government of Romania turned to Germany in hopes of a similar guarantee, unaware that Germany, in [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact#Secret protocol|the supplementary protocol]] to the 1939 [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]], had already granted its blessing to [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] claims on Romanian territory.

In the summer of 1940, as had been agreed with Germany, the [[USSR]] [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|occupied Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina]]; in August and September 1940, two territorial disputes, arbitrated by Germany and Italy, were decided against Romania: Romania [[Second Vienna Award|lost Northern Transylvania]] to [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] and had to [[Treaty of Craiova|cede Southern Dobruja]]  to [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]. The popularity of the Romanian government plummeted, further reinforcing the fascist and military factions, who eventually staged a coup in September 1940 that turned the country into a dictatorship under [[Mareșal (Romania)|Mareșal]] [[Ion Antonescu]]. The [[National Legionary State|new regime]] officially joined the [[Axis powers]] on 23 November 1940. As a member of the Axis, Romania joined the [[invasion of the Soviet Union]] (Operation Barbarossa) on 22 June 1941, providing equipment and [[Petrochemical industry in Romania|oil]] to Nazi Germany and committing more troops to the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] than all other allies of Germany combined. Romanian forces played a large role during fighting in [[Ukraine#Ukraine during World War II|Ukraine]], [[Bessarabia]], and in the [[Battle of Stalingrad]]. Romanian troops were responsible for the [[History of the Jews in Romania#The Holocaust|persecution and massacre]] of 260,000 Jews in Romanian-controlled territories, though half of the Jews living in Romania itself survived the war.<ref name="Study">U.S. government [http://countrystudies.us/romania/22.htm Country study: Romania], c. 1990. {{PD-notice}}</ref> Romania controlled the third-largest Axis army in Europe and the fourth largest Axis army in the world, only behind the three principal Axis powers of Germany, Japan, and Italy.<ref>According to historian and author Mark Axworthy, the second largest Axis army in Europe, arguably, belonged to Romania, though most would dispute this, regarding the Italian army as more significant.</ref><ref>
''Third Axis Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', by Mark Axworthy, Cornel Scafeș, and Cristian Crăciunoiu, page 9.
</ref> Following the September 1943 [[Armistice of Cassibile]] between the Allies and Italy, Romania became the second Axis Power in Europe.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VMk-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 David Stahel, Cambridge University Press, 2018, ''Joining Hitler's Crusade'', p. 78]</ref>

[[Bombing of Romania in World War II|The Allies bombed Romania]] from 1943 onwards, and [[Battle of Romania|advancing Soviet armies invaded the country in 1944]]. Popular support for Romania's participation in the war faltered, and the German-Romanian fronts collapsed under the Soviet onslaught. King [[Michael of Romania]] [[King Michael's Coup|led a ''coup d'état'']] that deposed the Antonescu regime (August 1944) and put Romania on the side of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] for the remainder of the war (Antonescu was executed in June 1946). Despite this late association with the winning side, [[Greater Romania]] was not restored. However, the country was able to regain [[Northern Transylvania]] from [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]].

==Background==
{{See also|Little Entente|Polish–Romanian alliance|Second Vienna Award|Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina}}

[[File:Romania 1930 ethnic map EN.png|thumb|right|Ethnic map of Greater Romania according to the [[1930 Romanian census]]. Sizeable ethnic minorities put Romania at odds with Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union throughout the interwar period.]]

In the aftermath of [[World War I]], Romania, which fought alongside the [[Triple Entente|Entente powers]] against the [[Central Powers]], had greatly expanded its territory, incorporating the regions of [[Transylvania]], [[Bessarabia]] and [[Bukovina]], largely as a result of the vacuum created by the collapse of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire|Austro-Hungarian]] and [[Russian Empire|Russian]] empires. This led to the achievement of the long-standing nationalist goal of creating a "[[Greater Romania]]", a national state that would incorporate all ethnic Romanians. However, the newly gained territories also included significant Hungarian, German, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and Russian minorities, which put Romania at odds with several of her neighbours.<ref>Axworthy, p. 12</ref> This occasionally led to violent conflicts, as exemplified by the [[Hungarian–Romanian War]] and the [[Tatarbunary Uprising]]. To contain Hungarian irredentism, Romania, [[Yugoslavia]] and [[Czechoslovakia]] established the [[Little Entente]] in 1921. That same year Romania and Poland concluded a [[Polish–Romanian alliance|defensive alliance]] against the emergent Soviet Union, and in 1934 the [[Balkan Pact|Balkan Entente]] was formed with Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey, which were suspicious of Bulgaria.<ref name="Axworthy, p. 13">Axworthy, p. 13</ref>

Since the late 19th century onwards Romania had been a relatively democratic [[constitutional monarchy]] with a pro-Western outlook, but the country faced increasing turmoil in the 1930s as a result of the [[Great Depression in Romania]] and the rise of fascist movements such as the [[Iron Guard]], which advocated revolutionary terrorism against the state. Under the pretext of stabilizing the country, the increasingly autocratic King [[Carol II]] proclaimed a 'royal dictatorship' in 1938. The new regime featured [[corporatist]] policies that often resembled those of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.<ref>Axworthy, p. 22</ref> In parallel with these internal developments, economic pressures and a weak Franco-British response to Hitler's aggressive foreign policy caused Romania to start drifting away from the Western Allies and closer to the Axis.<ref name="Axworthy, p. 13"/>

On 13 April 1939, France and the United Kingdom had pledged to guarantee the independence of the Kingdom of Romania. Negotiations with the [[Soviet Union]] concerning a similar guarantee collapsed when Romania refused to allow the [[Red Army]] to cross its frontiers.<ref name="Study"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Henig|first=Ruth|title=The Origins of the Second World War 1933–1941|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134319879|pages=92–93|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OVwVO58pI0C&pg=PA93}}</ref>

On 23 August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]. Among other things, this recognized in a secret annex the Soviet "interest" in [[Bessarabia]] (which had been ruled by the [[Russian Empire]] from 1812 to 1918). This Soviet interest was combined with a clear indication that there was an explicit lack of any German interest in the area.

Eight days later Nazi Germany invaded the [[Second Polish Republic]]. Expecting military aid from Britain and France, Poland chose not to execute its alliance with Romania in order to be able to use the [[Romanian Bridgehead]]. Romania officially remained neutral and, under pressure from the Soviet Union and Germany, interned the fleeing Polish government after its members had crossed the Polish–Romanian border on 17 September, forcing them to relegate their authority to what became the [[Polish government-in-exile]].<ref>Michael Alfred Peszke. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zhb2doihL1wC&pg=PA25 ''The Polish Underground Army, the Western Allies and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II''], McFarland, 2005, {{ISBN|0-7864-2009-X}}</ref> After the assassination of Romanian Prime Minister [[Armand Călinescu]] on 21 September, King Carol II tried to maintain neutrality for several months longer, but the surrender of the [[Third French Republic]] and the retreat of British forces from continental Europe rendered the assurances that both countries had made to Romania meaningless.<ref name="Study" />

[[File:PérdidasTerritorialesRumanas1940-ro.svg|thumb|right|Romania after the territorial losses of 1940. The recovery of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina was the catalyst for Romania's entry into the war on Germany's side.]]

In 1940 Romania's territorial gains made following [[World War I]] were largely undone. In July, after a Soviet ultimatum, Romania agreed to [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|give up Bessarabia and northern Bukovina]] (the Soviets also annexed the city of [[Hertsa]], which was not stated in the ultimatum). Two-thirds of Bessarabia were combined with a [[Moldavian ASSR|small part of the Soviet Union]] to form the [[Moldavian SSR|Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. The rest (northern Bukovina, the northern half of [[Hotin county]] and [[Budjak]]) was apportioned to the [[Ukrainian SSR|Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]].

Shortly thereafter, on 30 August, under the [[Second Vienna Award]], Germany and [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] mediated a compromise between Romania and the [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Kingdom of Hungary]]: Hungary received a region referred to as '[[Northern Transylvania]]', while 'Southern Transylvania' remained part of Romania (Hungary had lost [[Transylvania]] after [[World War I]] in the [[Treaty of Trianon]]). On 7 September, under the [[Treaty of Craiova]], [[Southern Dobruja]] (which Bulgaria had lost after the Romanian invasion during the [[Second Balkan War]] in 1913), was ceded to Bulgaria under pressure from Germany. Despite the relatively recent acquisition of these territories, those were inhabited by a majority of Romanian speaking people (except Southern Dobruja), so the Romanians had seen them as historically belonging to Romania, and the fact that so much land was lost without a fight shattered the underpinnings of King Carol's power.

On 4 July, [[Ion Gigurtu]] formed the first Romanian government to include an [[Iron Guard]]ist minister, [[Horia Sima]]. Sima was a particularly virulent [[Antisemitism|antisemite]] who had become the nominal leader of the movement after the death of [[Corneliu Codreanu]]. He was one of the few prominent far-right leaders to survive the bloody infighting and government suppression of the preceding years.

==Antonescu comes to power==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B03212, München, Staatsbesuch Jon Antonescu bei Hitler.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ion Antonescu|Antonescu]] and [[Adolf Hitler]] at the ''[[Hochschule für Musik und Theater München|Führerbau]]'' in [[Munich]] (June 1941).]]

In the immediate wake of the loss of Northern Transylvania, on 4 September 1940, the Iron Guard (led by Horia Sima) and General (later Marshal) [[Ion Antonescu]] united to form the "[[National Legionary State]]", which forced the abdication of Carol II in favor of his 19-year-old son [[Michael of Romania|Michael]]. Carol and his mistress [[Magda Lupescu]] went into exile, and Romania, despite the unfavorable outcome of recent territorial disputes, leaned strongly toward the [[Axis powers|Axis]]. As part of the deal, the Iron Guard became the sole legal party in Romania. Antonescu became the Iron Guard's honorary leader, while Sima became deputy premier.

In power, the Iron Guard stiffened the already harsh anti-Semitic legislation, enacted legislation directed against minority businessmen, tempered at times by the willingness of officials to take bribes, and wreaked vengeance upon its enemies. On 8 October 1940 German troops began crossing into Romania. They soon numbered over 500,000.

On 23 November Romania joined the Axis powers. On 27 November 1940, 64 former dignitaries or officials were executed by the [[Iron Guard]] in the [[Jilava]] prison while awaiting trial (see ''[[Jilava Massacre]]''). Later that day, historian and former prime minister [[Nicolae Iorga]] and economist [[Virgil Madgearu]], a former government minister, were assassinated.

The cohabitation between the Iron Guard and Antonescu was never an easy one. On 20 January 1941, the Iron Guard attempted a [[Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom|coup, combined with a bloody pogrom against the Jews]] of [[Bucharest]]. Within four days, Antonescu had successfully suppressed the coup. The Iron Guard was forced out of the government. Sima and many other legionnaires took refuge in Germany;<ref>{{Cite book|title=The legionary movement after Corneliu Codreanu : from the dictatorship of King Carol II to the communist regime (February 1938 – August 1944)|last=Țiu, Ilarion.|date=2010|publisher=East European Monographs|isbn=978-0-88033-659-8|pages=184–186|oclc=630496676}}</ref> others were imprisoned. Antonescu abolished the National Legionary State, in its stead declaring Romania a "National and Social State."

==The war on the Eastern Front==
{{Further|Romanian armies in the Battle of Stalingrad|Romanian Navy during World War II}}
[[File:RECENSAMANT 1941 JUDETE.png|thumb|Romania [[Transnistria Governorate|annexed Transnistria]], the area between the [[Dniester]] and [[Southern Bug]], in July 1941 ([[1941 Romanian census]]).]]
[[File:Razboiul Sfant Contra Bolsevismului (1941 stamp).svg|thumb|1941 stamp depicting a Romanian and a German soldier in reference to the two countries' common participation in Operation Barbarossa. The text below reads ''"the holy war against [[Bolshevism]]"''.]]

On 22 June 1941, German armies with a massive Romanian support attacked the Soviet Union. German and Romanian units conquered Bessarabia, Odessa, and Sevastopol, then marched eastward across the Russian steppes toward Stalingrad. Romania welcomed the war because it allowed them to retake lands annexed by the Soviet Union a year prior. Hitler rewarded Romania's loyalty by returning Bessarabia and northern Bukovina and by allowing Romania to administer Soviet lands immediately between the Dniester and the Bug, including Odessa and Nikolaev.<ref name=solonari>Vladimir Solonari, ''A Satellite Empire: Romanian Rule in Southwestern Ukraine, 1941–1944'' (2019).</ref> Romanian jingoes in Odessa even distributed a geography showing that the Dacians had inhabited most of southern Russia.<ref name="Study"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/romaniacountryst00bach_0|title=Romania : a country study|last1=Bachman|first1=Ronald D.|last2=Keefe|first2=Eugene K. Area handbook for Romania|last3=Library of Congress. Federal Research Division|date=1991|publisher=Washington, D.C. : The Division : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O.|others=The Library of Congress|pages=[https://archive.org/details/romaniacountryst00bach_0/page/41 41]}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> After recovering Bessarabia and Bukovina ([[Operation München]]), Romanian units fought side by side with the Germans onward to [[Odessa]], [[Sevastopol]], [[Stalingrad]] and the [[Caucasus]]. The total number of troops involved on the Eastern Front with the [[Third Army (Romania)|Romanian Third Army]] and the [[Fourth Army (Romania)|Romanian Fourth Army]] was second only to that of Nazi Germany itself. The Romanian Army had a total of 686,258 men under arms in the summer of 1941 and a total of 1,224,691 men in the summer of 1944.<ref name='Sources'>{{cite book|last1=Axworthy|first1=Mark| last2=Scafes|first2=Cornel|last3=Craciunoiu|first3=Cristian (editors)|title=Third axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces In the European War 1941–1945|publisher=Arms & Armour Press|year=1995| location=London|pages=1–368|isbn=963-389-606-1}}</ref> The number of Romanian troops sent to fight in the Soviet Union exceeded that of all of Germany's other allies combined. A ''[[Library of Congress Country Studies|Country Study]]'' by the U.S. Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress attributes this to a "morbid competition with Hungary to curry Hitler's favor... [in hope of]... regaining northern Transylvania."<ref name="Study"/>

[[Bessarabia]] and [[Northern Bukovina]] were now fully re-incorporated into the Romanian state after they had been [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|occupied by the USSR a year earlier]]. As a substitute for Northern Transylvania, which had been given to Hungary following the [[Second Vienna Award]], Hitler persuaded Antonescu in August 1941 to also take control of the [[Transnistria]] territory between the [[Dniester]] and the [[Southern Bug]], which would also include [[Odessa]] after its eventual [[Battle of Odessa (1941)|fall in October 1941]]. Although the Romanian administration set up a civil government, the [[Transnistria Governorate]], the Romanian state had not yet formally incorporated Transnistria into its administrative framework by the time it was retaken by Soviet troops in early 1944.

Romanian armies advanced far into the Soviet Union during 1941 and 1942 before being involved in the disaster at the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] in the winter of 1942–43. [[Petre Dumitrescu]], one of Romania's most important generals, was commander of the Third Army at Stalingrad. In November 1942, the [[6th Army (Wehrmacht)|German Sixth Army]] was briefly put at Dumitrescu's disposal during a German attempt to relieve the Third Army following the devastating Soviet [[Operation Uranus]].

Prior to the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, the Antonescu government considered a war with Hungary over Transylvania an inevitability after the expected victory over the Soviet Union.<ref name="Study"/> Although it was an ally of Germany, Romania's later turning to the Allied side in August 1944 was rewarded by returning Northern Transylvania, which had been granted to Hungary in 1940 after the [[Second Vienna Award]].

==War comes to Romania==

=== Air raids ===
{{Main article|Bombing of Romania in World War II|Oil Campaign of World War II}}
[[File:Operation Tidal Wave in 1943.jpg|thumb|American [[B-24 Liberator]] flying over a burning oil refinery at Ploiești, as part of [[Operation Tidal Wave]] on 1 August 1943. Due to its role as a major supplier of oil to the Axis, Romania was a prime target of Allied strategic bombing in 1943 and 1944.]]

Throughout the Antonescu years, Romania supplied Nazi Germany and the Axis armies with oil, grain, and industrial products.<ref name="Study"/> Also, numerous train stations in the country, such as [[Gara de Nord]] in Bucharest, served as transit points for troops departing for the Eastern Front. Consequently, by 1943 Romania became a target of Allied [[Strategic bombing|aerial bombardment]]. One of the most notable air bombardments was [[Operation Tidal Wave]] — the attack on the [[oil field]]s of [[Ploiești]] on 1 August 1943. Bucharest was subjected to intense Allied bombardment on 4 and 15 April 1944, and the [[Luftwaffe]] itself bombed the city on 24 and 25 August after the country switched sides.

=== Ground offensive ===
In February 1943, with the decisive Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, it was growing clear that the tide of the war was turning against the Axis powers.

By 1944, the Romanian economy was in tatters because of the expenses of the war, and destructive [[Bombing of Romania in World War II|Allied air bombing throughout the country]], including the capital, [[Bombing of Bucharest in World War II|Bucharest]]. In addition, most of the products sent to Germany – such as oil, grain, and equipment – were provided without monetary compensation, as Germany refused to pay. As a result of these uncompensated exports, [[inflation]] in Romania skyrocketed. This caused widespread discontent among the Romanian population, even among those who had once enthusiastically supported the Germans and the war, and an angry relationship between Romania and Germany.<ref name="Study"/>

Beginning in December 1943, the Soviet [[Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive]] pushed Axis forces all the way back to the Dniester by April 1944. In April–May 1944, the Romanian forces led by General [[Ioan Mihail Racoviță|Mihai Racoviță]], together with elements of the [[8th Army (Wehrmacht)|German Eighth Army]] were responsible for defending northern Romania and took part in the [[First Battle of Târgu Frumos|Battles of Târgu Frumos]], which [[David Glantz]] considered to be an [[First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive|initial Soviet attempt to invade Romania]], supposedly held back by Axis defensive lines in northern Romania. The [[Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (August 1944)|Jassy–Kishinev Offensive]], launched on 20 August 1944, resulted in a quick and decisive Soviet breakthrough, collapsing the German-Romanian front in the region. Soviet forces captured [[Târgu Frumos]] and [[Iași]] on 21 August and [[Chișinău]] on 24 August 1944.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} The strategic [[Focșani Gate]] was invaded on 27 August 1944 by Soviet forces, which allowed them to spread out onto Bucharest, the Black Sea and the Eastern Carpathians.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rAKmUiGeTyoC&pg=PA52|title=The battle of Jassy–Kishinev|first=Scott R.|last=McMichael|publisher=[[United States Army Combined Arms Center]]|journal=[[Military Review]]|volume=65|issue=7|pages=52–65|year=1985}}</ref>

==Highlights (Axis)==
*Romanian engineers contributed to the construction of the longest bridge ever built under fire – the bridge over the [[Dnieper]] at [[Beryslav]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wm_YDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1422 Spencer C. Tucker, ABC-CLIO, 2016, ''World War II: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection'', p. 1422]</ref>
*The Romanian [[Siege of Odessa|capture of Odessa]] was the most important wartime conquest – without substantial German support – by any of the minor European Axis powers.<ref>Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', p. 58</ref>
*On 1 September 1942, the Romanian 3rd Mountain Division took part in the largest amphibious assault undertaken in Europe by the Axis Powers during the war.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wm_YDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1422 Spencer C. Tucker, ABC-CLIO, 2016, ''World War II: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection'', p. 1422]</ref> 
*In late 1942, General [[Ioan Dumitrache]] captured [[Nalchik]], the furthest point of Axis advance in the [[Battle of the Caucasus|Caucasus]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wm_YDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1422 Spencer C. Tucker, ABC-CLIO, 2016, ''World War II: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection'', p. 1422]</ref>  
*Romania provided up to 40% of the Axis personnel in the [[Kuban Bridgehead]]. On 7 April 1943, a single Romanian battalion restored the front of an entire German division.<ref>Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', pp. 127–128</ref>   
*When an entire German army ([[6th Army (Wehrmacht)|the 6th]]) came under Romanian command in May 1944 (as part of general [[Petre Dumitrescu]]'s ''Armeegruppe''), German commanders came under the actual (rather than nominal) command of their foreign allies for the first time in the war.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=e__d6mE5ocsC&pg=PA163 Samuel W. Mitcham, Stackpole Books, 2007, ''The German Defeat in the East, 1944–45'', p. 163]</ref>
*Romania received more Knight's Crosses than any other non-German Axis power.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wm_YDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1422 Spencer C. Tucker, ABC-CLIO, 2016, ''World War II: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection'', p. 1422]</ref>
**[[Ion Antonescu]] was the first foreigner to be awarded the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MqcpDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA317 Joseph Rothschild, University of Washington Press, 2017, ''East Central Europe between the Two World Wars'', p. 317]</ref>
**[[Mihail Lascăr]] was the first foreign recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=iJOoEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA351 David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House, University Press of Kansas, 2019, ''Stalingrad'', p. 351]</ref>
*The Romanian [[Mareșal (tank destroyer)|Mareșal]] tank destroyer is credited with being the inspiration for the German ''[[Hetzer]]''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=z02bCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 Steven J. Zaloga, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013, ''Tanks of Hitler’s Eastern Allies 1941–45'', p. 31]</ref>
*In terms of heavy armored vehicles, Romania captured 2 [[Kliment Voroshilov tank|KV-1]] tanks, 1 [[IS-2]] tank and 1 [[ISU-152]] assault gun. These were the only heavy [[Armoured fighting vehicle|AFVs]] that Romania possessed throughout the war, as the country's armor establishment - even as late as July 1944 - never went beyond medium tanks and assault guns.<ref>Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', pp. 153 and 221</ref>
<gallery widths="170">
File:1940.7.3REGAT.png|The Carpatho-Danubian-Pontic Space on 3 July 1940 AD, after the [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina]].
File:1940.8.30REGAT.png|The Carpatho-Danubian-Pontic Space on 30 August 1940 AD, after the [[Second Vienna Award]]. The Hungarian advance into Northern Transylvania began on the 5th of September.
File:1940.9.7REGAT.png|The Carpatho-Danubian-Pontic Space on 7 September 1940 AD, after the [[Treaty of Craiova]].
File:1940.9.13REGAT.png|The Carpatho-Danubian-Pontic Space on 13 September 1940 AD, after the Hungarian army reached the [[Second Vienna Award]] frontier.
File:1941.7.25REGAT.png|The Carpatho-Danubian-Pontic Space on 25 July 1941 AD, after [[Operation München]].
File:1941.8.19REGAT.png|The Carpatho-Danubian-Pontic Space on 19 August 1941 AD, after the establishment of the [[Transnistria Governorate]]. Odessa fell to the Axis armies on the 16th of October.
File:1944.8.23REGAT.png|The Carpatho-Danubian-Pontic Space on 23 August 1944 AD, after [[1944 Romanian coup d'état|King Michael's coup]] and its withdrawal from the Axis. German troops were present on the eastern front at the time.
File:1947.2.10REGAT.png|The Carpatho-Danubian-Pontic Space on 10 February 1947 AD, after the [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|Paris Peace Treaties]].
</gallery>

==The Holocaust==
{{Main article|History of the Jews in Romania#The Holocaust}}
:''See also [[Responsibility for the Holocaust#Romania|Responsibility for the Holocaust (Romania)]], [[Ion Antonescu#Antonescu and the Holocaust|Antonescu and the Holocaust]]'', ''[[Porajmos#Persecution in other Axis countries]]''.
[[File:Templul evreilor spanioli din Bucureşti.jpg|thumb|[[Sephardic]] Temple in [[Bucharest]] after it was plundered and set on fire in 1941]]

According to an [[Wiesel Commission|international commission report]] released by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were murdered or died in various forms on Romanian soil, in the war zones of [[Bessarabia]], [[Bukovina]], and in the formerly-occupied Soviet territories under Romanian's control ([[Transnistria Governorate]]). Of the 25,000 [[Romani people|Romani]] deported, who were deported to concentration camps in Transnistria, 11,000 died.<ref name="Commission">{{cite web|author=International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania|title=Executive Summary: Historical Findings and Recommendations|work=Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania|publisher=Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority)|date=November 11, 2004|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Romania/execsum.pdf|access-date=2012-05-17|author-link=Wiesel Commission}}</ref>

Though much of the killing was committed in the war zone by Romanian and German troops, there were also substantial persecutions behind the front line. During the [[Iaşi pogrom]] of June 1941, over 13,000 Jews were massacred or killed slowly in trains traveling back and forth across the countryside.

Half of the estimated 270,000 to 320,000 Jews living in Bessarabia, Bukovina, and [[Dorohoi County]] in Romania were murdered or died between June 1941 and the spring of 1944, of which between 45,000 and 60,000 Jews were killed in Bessarabia and Bukovina by Romanian and German troops, within months from the entry of the country into the war during 1941. Even after the initial killings, Jews in [[Western Moldavia|Moldavia]], Bukovina and Bessarabia were subject to frequent [[pogroms]], and were concentrated into [[ghettos]] from which they were sent to Transnistria, including camps built and run by the Romanian authorities.

Romanian soldiers and gendarmes also worked with the ''[[Einsatzkommando]]s'', German killing squads, tasked with massacring Jews and Roma in conquered territories, the local Ukrainian militia, and the SS squads of local Ukrainian Germans ([[Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle#Role in the Holocaust|Sonderkommando Russland]] and [[Selbstschutz]]). Romanian troops were in large part responsible for the [[1941 Odessa massacre|Odessa massacre]], in which from October 18, 1941, until mid-March 1942, Romanian soldiers in Odessa, aided by gendarmes and police, killed up to 25,000 Jews and deported more than 35,000.<ref name="Commission"/>

The number of deaths in all areas is not certain, but the lowest respectable estimates run to about 250,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma in these eastern regions.

Nonetheless, half of the Jews living within the pre-Barbarossa borders survived the war, although they were subject to a wide range of harsh conditions, including forced labor, financial penalties, and discriminatory laws. All Jewish property was [[Nationalization|nationalized]].

The report commissioned and accepted by the Romanian government in 2004 on the Holocaust concluded:<ref name="Commission"/>
<blockquote>''Of all the allies of Nazi Germany, Romania bears responsibility for the deaths of more Jews than any country other than Germany itself. The murders committed in <!--don't change spelling on "Iasi", it's a direct quote-->[[Iași pogrom|Iasi]], [[1941 Odessa massacre|Odessa]], [[Bogdanovka concentration camp|Bogdanovka]], Domanovka, and Peciora, for example, were among the most hideous murders committed against Jews anywhere during the Holocaust. Romania committed [[genocide]] against the Jews. The survival of Jews in some parts of the country does not alter this reality.''</blockquote>

==The royal coup==
{{Main article|King Michael's Coup}}
{{See also|Operation Margarethe II}}
[[File:Mihai.jpg|thumb|left|King [[Michael I of Romania]] led the coup that put Romania on the Allied side.]]

On 23 August 1944, with the Red Army penetrating German defenses during the [[Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive|Jassy–Kishinev Offensive]], King [[Michael I of Romania]] led a successful coup against the Axis with support from opposition politicians, most of the army and [[Romanian Communist Party|Communist]]-led civilians.<ref name="Library"/> Michael I, who was initially considered to be not much more than a figurehead, was able to successfully depose the Antonescu dictatorship. The King then offered a non-confrontational retreat to German ambassador [[Manfred von Killinger]]. But the Germans considered the coup "reversible" and attempted to turn the situation around by military force. The Romanian [[First Army (Romania)|First]], [[Second Army (Romania)|Second (forming)]], and what little was left of the [[Third Army (Romania)|Third]] and the [[Fourth Army (Romania)|Fourth Armies]] (one corps) were under orders from the King to defend Romania against any German attacks. King Michael offered to put the Romanian Army, which at that point had a strength of nearly 1,000,000 men,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rohistory.ici.ro/eng09.htm |title=Second World War (1941–1945) |access-date=2011-01-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713084246/http://rohistory.ici.ro/eng09.htm |archive-date=2012-07-13 }}</ref> on the side of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. Stalin immediately recognized the king and the restoration of the conservative Romanian monarchy.<ref>Deutscher, Stalin. 1967, p.&nbsp;519</ref>

In a radio broadcast to the Romanian nation and army on the night of 23 August King Michael issued a cease-fire,<ref name="Library">[http://countrystudies.us/romania/23.htm ''Country Studies: Romania''], Chap. 23, [[Library of Congress]]</ref> proclaimed Romania's loyalty to the Allies, announced the acceptance of an armistice (to be signed on September 12)<ref>{{in lang|ro}} Delia Radu, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/romanian/news/story/2008/08/080801_serial_antonescu_episod3.shtml "Serialul 'Ion Antonescu și asumarea istoriei' (3)"], [[BBC]] Romanian edition, August 1, 2008</ref> offered by Great Britain, the United States, and the [[USSR]], and declared war on Germany.<ref>{{in lang|ro}} [http://www.curierulnational.ro/Specializat/2004-08-07/“Dictatura+a+luat+sfarsit+si+cu+ea+inceteaza+toate+asupririle” ''"The Dictatorship Has Ended and along with It All Oppression" – From The Proclamation to The Nation of King Michael I on The Night of August 23, 1944''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160228102833/http://www.curierulnational.ro/Specializat/2004-08-07/%E2%80%9CDictatura+a+luat+sfarsit+si+cu+ea+inceteaza+toate+asupririle%E2%80%9D |date=2016-02-28 }}, ''[[Curierul Național]]'', August 7, 2004</ref> The coup accelerated the [[Red Army]]'s advance into Romania, but did not avert a rapid Soviet occupation and capture of about 130,000 Romanian soldiers, who were transported to the Soviet Union, where many perished in prison camps. The armistice was signed three weeks later on September 12, 1944, on terms virtually dictated by the Soviet Union.<ref name="Library"/> Under the terms of the armistice, Romania announced its unconditional surrender<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1944/08/24/archives/break-in-balkans-king-proclaims-nations-surrender-and-wish-to-help.html?scp=1 ''"King Proclaims Nation's Surrender and Wish to Help Allies"''], ''[[The New York Times]]'', August 24, 1944</ref> to the USSR and was placed under occupation of the Allied forces with the Soviet Union as their representative, in control of media, communication, post, and civil administration behind the front.<ref name="Library"/> Some attribute the postponement of a formal Allied recognition of the ''de facto'' change of orientation until 12 September (the date the armistice was signed in Moscow) to the complexities of the negotiations between the USSR and UK.<ref name="Honest">{{in lang|ro}} Constantiniu, Florin, ''O istorie sinceră a poporului român'' ("An Honest History of the Romanian People"), Ed. Univers Enciclopedic, Bucureşti, 1997, {{ISBN|973-9243-07-X}}</ref>

[[File:1944soviet1.png|thumb|[[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] and others welcome the Red Army as it enters Bucharest on 30 August 1944]]

During the [[Moscow Conference (1944)|Moscow Conference]] in October 1944 [[Winston Churchill]], [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]], proposed an [[Percentages agreement|agreement]] to [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet leader]] [[Joseph Stalin]] on how to split up [[Eastern Europe]] into spheres of influence after the war. The Soviet Union was offered a 90% share of influence in Romania.<ref>European Navigator: [http://www.ena.lu?lang=2&doc=4272 The division of Europe]</ref>

The Armistice Agreement of 12 September stipulated in Article 18 that "An Allied Control Commission will be established which will undertake until the conclusion of peace the regulation of and control over the execution of the present terms under the general direction and orders of the Allied (Soviet) High Command, acting on behalf of the Allied Powers". The Annex to Article 18 made clear that "The Romanian Government and their organs shall fulfil all instructions of the Allied Control Commission arising out of the Armistice Agreement." The Agreement also stipulated that the [[Allied Control Commission#Romania|Allied Control Commission]] would have its seat in [[Bucharest]]. In line with Article 14 of the Armistice Agreement, two [[Romanian People's Tribunals]] were set up to try suspected war criminals.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/rumania.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820014103/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/rumania.htm|url-status=dead|title=The Armistice Agreement with Romania|archive-date=August 20, 2016}}</ref>

==Campaign against the Axis==
[[File:WWII Southern Central Europe 1944-1945.png|thumb|Romanian operations against the [[Axis powers|Axis]]]]
[[File:Romanian soldiers in Transilvania 1944.jpg|thumb|Romanian soldiers in [[Transylvania]], September–October 1944]]

As the country declared war on Germany on the night of 23 August 1944, border clashes between Hungarian and Romanian troops erupted almost immediately. On 24 August, German troops attempted to seize Bucharest and suppress Michael's coup, but were repelled by the city's defenses. Other Wehrmacht units in the country suffered severe losses: remnants of the Sixth Army retreating west of the [[Prut|Prut River]] were cut off and destroyed by the Red Army, which was now advancing at an even greater speed, while Romanian units attacked German garrisons at the [[Ploiești]] oilfields, forcing them to retreat to Hungary. The Romanian Army captured over 50,000 German prisoners around this time, who were later surrendered to the Soviets.<ref name="jn">{{in lang|ro}} Florin Mihai, [http://www.jurnalul.ro/articole/106834/sarbatoarea-armatei-romane "Sărbătoarea Armatei Române"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616194953/http://jurnalul.ro/articole/106834/sarbatoarea-armatei-romane |date=2013-06-16 }}, ''[[Jurnalul Național]]'', October 25, 2007</ref>

In early September 1944, Soviet and Romanian forces entered Transylvania and captured the towns of [[Brașov]] and [[Sibiu]] while advancing toward the [[Mureș River]]. Their main objective was [[Cluj-Napoca|Cluj]], a city regarded as the historical capital of Transylvania. However, the [[Second Army (Hungary)|Second Hungarian Army]] was present in the region, and together with the [[8th Army (Wehrmacht)|Eighth German Army]] engaged the Allied forces on 5 September 1944 in what was to become the [[Battle of Turda]], which lasted until 8 October and resulted in heavy casualties for both sides.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} Also around this time, the Hungarian Army carried out its last independent offensive action of the war, penetrating [[Arad County]] in western Romania. Despite initial success, a number of ad-hoc Romanian cadet battalions managed to stop the Hungarian advance at the [[Battle of Păuliș]], and soon a combined Romanian-Soviet counterattack overwhelmed the Hungarians, who gave ground and evacuated [[Arad, Romania|Arad]] itself on 21 September.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The [[Battle of Carei]] marked the last stage of recovering Romania's former territory of [[Northern Transylvania]], ceded in 1940 to Hungary as a result of the [[Second Vienna Award]]. On the evening of October 24, 1944, the Romanian 6th Army Corps attacked in the direction of [[Carei]] with a force comprising 4 divisions; at the same time, the 2nd Infantry Division of 2nd Army Corps attacked in the direction of [[Satu Mare]], in a pincer movement. On October 25, both cities were freed from [[Government of National Unity (Hungary)|Hungarian]] and [[Nazi Germany|German]] control; by a decree from 1959, this day was established as the [[Armed Forces Day#Romania|Romanian Armed Forces Day]].<ref name="defense">{{cite web|url=https://www.defenseromania.ro/ziua-armatei-batalia-de-la-carei-ultima-palma-de-pamant-romanesc-eliberata-in-ardeal_599497.html|first=Tudor|last=Curtifan|date=25 October 2019|website=defenseromania.ro|title=Ziua Armatei – Bătălia de la Carei – Ultima palmă de pământ românesc eliberată în Ardeal|language=ro|access-date=4 March 2022}}</ref><ref name="Ilie">{{cite web|url=https://www.activenews.ro/stiri/25-octombrie-1944-eliberarea-Ardealului-de-sub-ocupatia-trupelor-nazisto-horthyste-„Tineri-si-batrani-ati-pornit-spre-hotarele-sfinte-ale-patriei-si-cu-piepturile-voastre-ati-facut-zagaz-neinfricat-dusmanului-care-voia-sa-ajunga-la-Carpati-147036|title=25 octombrie 1944, eliberarea Ardealului de sub ocupația trupelor nazisto-horthyste: "Tineri și bătrâni ați pornit spre hotarele sfinte ale patriei și cu piepturile voastre ați făcut zăgaz neînfricat dușmanului care voia să ajungă la Carpați"| language=ro|website=activenews.ro|first=Andreea|last=Ilie|date=October 25, 2019|access-date=4 March 2022}}</ref>

The [[Romanian Army]] ended the war fighting against the [[Wehrmacht]] alongside the Red Army in Transylvania, Hungary, [[Yugoslavia]], Austria and the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]], from August 1944 until the [[End of World War II in Europe|end of the war in Europe]]. In May 1945, the [[Romanian First Army|First]] and [[Romanian Fourth Army|Fourth]] armies took part in the [[Prague Offensive]]. The Romanian Army incurred heavy casualties fighting Nazi Germany. Of some 538,000 Romanian soldiers who fought against the Axis in 1944–45, some 167,000 were killed, wounded or went missing.<ref>Third Axis Fourth Ally, p. 214</ref>

{|class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
!width="12%"|Location
!width="10%"|Beginning
!width="10%"|End
!width="10%"|Personnel
!width="10%"|Casualties<br />(KIA, WIA, MIA)
!width="7%"|Mountains crossed
!width="7%"|Rivers crossed
!width="8%"|Liberated villages
!width="8%"|From which towns
!width="20%"|Losses<br />of the enemy
|-
|[[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]] || 1944-08-23 || 1945-05-12 || >275,000 (538,000) || 58,330 || || || 3,831 || 31 || 167,000 KIA, WIA<br />[[Materiel]]
|-
|[[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] || 1944-10-08 || 1945-01-15 || 210,000 || 42,700 || 3 || 4 || 1,237 || 14 || 21,045 POW<br />9,700 KIA<br />? WIA<br />Materiel
|-
|[[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] || 1944-12-18 || 1945-05-12 || 248,430 || 66,495 || 10 || 4 || 1,722 || 31 ||22,803 KIA, WIA, POW
|-
|[[Austria under National Socialism|Alpine and Danube Reichsgaue]] || 1945–04-10 || 1945-05-12 || 2,000 || 100 || || || 7 || 1 || 4,000 KIA, WIA, POW<br />Materiel
|-
|<small>TOTAL</small>|| 1944-08-23 || 1945-05-12 || 538,536 || 169,822 || 20 || 12 || 3,821 || 53 || 117,798 POW<br />18,731 KIA
|-
|colspan="10"|<small>LEGEND:</small> KIA = Killed in Action; MIA = Missing in Action; WIA = Wounded in Action; POW = Prisoners of war.<ref>{{in lang|ro}} ''Teroarea horthysto-fascistă în nord-vestul României'', București, 1985</ref><ref>{{in lang|ro}} Romulus Dima, ''Contribuția României la înfrângerea Germaniei fasciste'', București, 1982</ref><ref>''Armata Română în al Doilea Război Mondial/Romanian Army in World War II'', Editura Meridiane, București, 1995, {{ISBN|973-33-0329-1}}.</ref>
|}

==Aftermath==
{{Main article|Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|Soviet occupation of Romania|Socialist Republic of Romania}}
[[File:Romania WWII.png|thumb|right|Map of Romania after World War II indicating lost territories.]]

Under the [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|1947 Treaty of Paris]],<ref>[https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%2049/v49.pdf United Nations Treaty Series volume 49]</ref> the Allies did not acknowledge Romania as a co-belligerent nation but instead applied the term "ally of Hitlerite Germany" to all recipients of the treaty's stipulations. Like Finland, Romania had to pay $300 million to the Soviet Union as war reparations. However, the treaty specifically recognized that Romania switched sides on 24 August 1944, and therefore "acted in the interests of all the United Nations". As a reward, Northern Transylvania was, once again, recognized as an integral part of Romania, but the border with the USSR and Bulgaria was fixed at its state in January 1941, restoring the pre-Barbarossa status quo (with [[Tătaru Mare Island|one exception]]). Following the [[History of the Soviet Union (1985–1991)|dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, the Eastern territories became part of Ukraine and the [[Moldova|Republic of Moldova]].

In Romania proper, [[Soviet occupation of Romania|Soviet occupation]] following World War II facilitated the rise of the [[Communist Party of Romania|Communist Party]] as the main political force, leading ultimately to the abdication of the King and the establishment of a single-party [[Socialist Republic of Romania|people's republic]] in 1947.

==Major battles and campaigns==
This is a list of battles and other combat operations in World War II in which Romanian forces took part.
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
! Battle !! width="120" | Date !! width="180" | Location !! width="150" | Romania and its allies !! width="150" | Enemies !! width="80" | Issue
|-
| [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina]] || 28 June – 3 July 1940 || Romania || {{flagicon|Romania}} [[Romania]] || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom]] || 21–23 January 1941 || Romania || {{flag|Kingdom of Romania|name=Romanian government}} || {{flagicon image|Flag of the Legionary Movement.png}} [[Iron Guard]] || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
! colspan="6" | As part of the [[Axis powers|Axis]] (1941–1944)
|-
| [[Operation Barbarossa]] || 22 June – 5 December 1941 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flag|Finland}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}}{{-}}{{flag|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|name=Slovakia}}{{-}}{{flag|Independent State of Croatia|name=Croatia}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Raid on Constanța]] || 26 June 1941 || Romania || {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Operation München]] || 2–26 July 1941 || Romania || {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Battle of Uman]] || 15 July – 8 August 1941 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}}{{-}}{{flag|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|name=Slovakia}}{{-}}{{flag|Independent State of Croatia|name=Croatia}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Siege of Odessa (1941)|Siege of Odessa]] || 8 August – 16 October 1941 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Battle of the Sea of Azov]] || September 1941 – August 1942 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Siege of Sevastopol (1941–42)|Siege of Sevastopol]] || 30 October 1941 – 4 July 1942 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Battle of Rostov (1941)|Battle of Rostov]] || 21 – 27 November 1941 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Second Battle of Kharkov]] || 12 – 28 May 1942 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Case Blue]] || 28 June – 24 November 1942 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}}{{-}}{{flag|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|name=Slovakia}}{{-}}{{flag|Independent State of Croatia|name=Croatia}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Battle of the Caucasus]] || 25 July 1942 – 12 May 1944 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}||{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Battle of Stalingrad]] || 23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}}{{-}}{{flag|Independent State of Croatia|name=Croatia}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Operation Uranus]] || 19 – 23 November 1942 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Operation Winter Storm]] || 12 – 23 December 1942 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Operation Little Saturn]] || 12 December 1942 – 18 February 1943 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Operation Tidal Wave]] || 1 August 1943 || Romania || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Bulgaria}} || {{flag|United States|1912}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Donbass Strategic Offensive (August 1943)|Donbass Strategic Offensive]] || 13 August – 22 September 1943 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Battle of the Dnieper]] || 24 August – 23 December 1943 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}{{-}}{{flagicon|Czechoslovakia}} [[I Corps (Czechoslovakia)|Czechoslovak Army Corps]] || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Kerch-Eltigen Operation]] || November 1943 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}||{{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive]] || 24 December 1943 – 14 April 1944 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Uman–Botoșani Offensive]] || 5 March – 17 April 1944 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive]] || 8 April – 6 June 1944 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Crimean Offensive]] || 8 April – 12 May 1944 || [[Soviet Union]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Bulgaria}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Lublin-Brest Offensive]] || 18 July – 2 August 1944 || Belarus/Poland || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}{{-}}{{flagicon|Poland|1928}} [[Polish Armed Forces in the East|Poland]] || style="background:#F88"|Defeat
|-
| [[Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive|Jassy–Kishinev Offensive]] (First phase) || 20–23 August 1944 || Romania || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || style="background:#ACF"|Switched sides
|-
! colspan="6" | As part of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] (1944–1945)
|-
| [[Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive|Jassy–Kishinev Offensive]] (Second phase) || 23–29 August 1944 || Romania || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}''aerial support:''{{-}}{{flag|United States|1912}} || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Battle of Turda]] || 5 September – 8 October 1944 || Romania || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Battle of Păuliș]] || 14–19 September 1944 || Romania || {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Battle of Debrecen]] || 6–29 October 1944 || [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagicon|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Battle of Carei]] || 21–25 October 1944 || [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] || {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Budapest Offensive]] || 29 October 1944 – 13 February 1945 || [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagicon|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Siege of Budapest]] || 29 December 1944 – 13 February 1945 || [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagicon|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Bratislava–Brno Offensive]] || 25 March – 5 May 1945 || [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]], [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovakia]] || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagicon|Czechoslovakia}} [[I Corps (Czechoslovakia)|Czechoslovakia Army Corps]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagicon|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
| [[Prague Offensive]] || 6–11 May 1945 || [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] || {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}{{-}}{{flagicon|Poland|1928}} [[Polish Armed Forces in the East|Poland]]{{-}}{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}{{-}}{{flagicon|Russia|naval}} [[Russian Liberation Army]] || {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}{{-}}{{flagicon|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)}} [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]]{{-}}{{flag|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|name=Slovakia}}{{-}} || style="background:#AFA"|Victory
|-
|}

==Romanian armament during World War II==
{{See also|Romanian Land Forces#World War II|List of Romanian military equipment of World War II}}

===Modern non-self-propelled weapons===
The list below displays the modern (designed and built after the end of World War I) infantry weapons and artillery pieces used by the Romanian Army during World War II.
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable"
! style="text-align: left;"|Type
! style="text-align: left;"|Origin
! style="text-align: left;"|Number
! style="text-align: left;"|Notes
|-
! colspan="6" style="background:#f9f9f9;|Rifles
|-
| [[vz. 24]]
| {{flagcountry|Czechoslovakia}}
| 445,640+
| 700,000 ordered, 445,640 received by the Romanian Army by mid-1943<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 29">Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', p. 29</ref>
|-
! colspan="6" style="background:#f9f9f9;|Submachine guns
|-
| [[Beretta Model 38]]
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}
| 5,000
| 5,000 ordered in 1941 and delivered during 1942<ref>Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', p. 76</ref>
|-
| [[Orița M1941]]
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
| Unknown (10,000+)
| Local design, entered operational service with the Romanian Army in 1943 with a production rate of 666 pieces per month as of October 1942<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 75">Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', p. 75</ref>
|-
| [[MP 40]]
| {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}
| Unknown
| Supplied by Germany<ref>Mark Axworthy, Osprey Publishing, 1991, ''The Romanian Army of World War II'', p. 42</ref>
|-
! colspan="6" style="background:#f9f9f9;|Machine guns
|-
| [[ZB vz. 30]]
| {{flagcountry|Czechoslovakia}}<br />{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
| 28,000
| 18,000 imported from Czechoslovakia<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 29"/> and 10,000 licence-built locally at [[Cugir]]<ref>John Walter, [[Lionel Leventhal|Greenhill Books]], 2004, ''Guns of the Third Reich'', p. 86</ref> with a production rate of 250 pieces per month as of October 1942<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 75"/>
|-
| [[ZB-53]]
| {{flagcountry|Czechoslovakia}}
| 5,500
| 5,500 purchased, 3,500 in 1941 followed by 2,000 in 1943<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 29"/>
|-
| [[Hotchkiss M1929 machine gun|Hotchkiss M1929]]
| {{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
| 200
| 200 ordered and all delivered before the [[Battle of France|fall of France]]<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 29"/>
|-
! colspan="6" style="background:#f9f9f9;|Mortars
|-
| [[Brandt Mle 1935]]
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}<br />{{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
| 300+
| 125 imported from France and well over 175 built locally under licence at the [[Voina Works]] in [[Brașov]], with a production rate of 26 pieces per month as of October 1942<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, pp. 29-30">Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', pp. 29–30, 75</ref><ref name="Great Britain 1944, p. 27">Great Britain. Foreign Office, Ministry of Economic Warfare, 1944, ''Rumania Basic Handbook'', p. 27</ref>
|-
| [[Brandt Mle 27/31]]
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}<br />{{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
| 1,188+
| 188 imported from France and well over 410 built locally under licence at the [[Voina Works]] in [[Brașov]], with a production rate of 30 pieces per month as of October 1942<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, pp. 29-30"/><ref name="Great Britain 1944, p. 27"/> (over 1,000 such mortars were built in Romania by mid-1943)<ref>Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', p. 147</ref>
|-
| [[M1938 mortar|M1938]]
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}<br />{{flagcountry|Soviet Union}}
| Unknown (hundreds)
| Captured and reverse-engineered Soviet model, produced at the [[Reșița Works]] with a production rate of 80 pieces per month as of October 1942<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 75"/>
|-
! colspan="6" style="background:#f9f9f9;|Anti-aircraft guns
|-
| [[2 cm Flak 30/38/Flakvierling|2 cm flak]]
| {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}
| 300
| 300 ordered in September 1940, the delivery beginning in May 1941, known as ''Gustloff'' guns (after one of their manufacturers)<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 30">Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', p. 30</ref>
|-
| [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm Oerlikon]]
| {{flagcountry|Switzerland}}
| 45
| 45 pieces purchased from Germany<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 30"/>
|-
| [[25 mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft gun|25 mm Hotchkiss]]
| {{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
| 72
| 300 ordered but only 72 delivered until the fall of France<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 29"/>
|-
| [[3.7 cm Flak 18/36/37/43|3.7 cm flak]]
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}<br />{{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}
| 360
| 360 produced under licence at the Astra Works beginning with 1938, with 102 delivered by May 1941 and a production rate of 6 pieces per month as of October 1942<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, pp. 30">Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', pp. 30, 75</ref>
|-
| [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm Bofors]]
| {{flagcountry|Sweden}}
| 54
| 54 purchased from Germany<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 30"/>
|-
| [[Vickers Model 1931|75 mm Vickers]]
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}<br />{{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}
| 200
| 200 built under licence by the Reșița Works, with 100 delivered by mid-1941 and the second batch of 100 started in July 1941, the production rate being of 5 pieces per month as of October 1942<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, pp. 30"/>
|-
! colspan="6" style="background:#f9f9f9;|Anti-tank guns
|-
| [[25 mm Hotchkiss anti-tank gun|25 mm Hotchkiss]]
| {{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
| Unknown
| Unknown quantity delivered<ref>American Military Institute, 1996, [[The Journal of Military History]], Volume 60, p. 720</ref>
|-
| [[Bofors 37 mm anti-tank gun|37 mm Bofors]]
| {{flagcountry|Sweden}}<br />{{flagcountry|Second Polish Republic}}
| 669
| 669 pieces (former Polish ones) purchased from Germany (most common Romanian anti-tank gun in 1941)<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 30"/>
|-
| [[45 mm anti-tank gun M1942 (M-42)|45 mm M1942]]
| {{flagcountry|Soviet Union}}
| Unknown
| Captured Soviet model, some Romanian anti-tank platoons had four pieces during the second half of World War II<ref name="Ronald L. Tarnstrom 1998, p. 407">Ronald L. Tarnstrom, Trogen Books, 1998, ''Balkan Battles'', p. 407</ref>
|-
| [[Cannone da 47/32|47 mm Böhler]]
| {{flagcountry|Federal State of Austria}}<br />{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}}
| 820
| 545 made in Austria and 275 made in Italy, all purchased from Germany<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 30"/>
|-
| [[Schneider M1936 47 mm|47 mm Schneider]]
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}<br />{{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
| 300+
| 160 purchased from France and well over 140 licence-produced at the [[Concordia Works]] in [[Ploiești]], with a production rate of 14 pieces per month as of October 1942<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, pp. 29-30"/><ref name="Great Britain 1944, p. 27"/>
|-
| [[Pak 38|50 mm Pak 38]]
| {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}
| 110
| Towed by captured and overhauled [[Komsomolets armored tractor]]s<ref name="Ronald L. Tarnstrom 1998, p. 407"/>
|-
| [[Pak 40|75 mm Pak 40]]
| {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}
| Unknown
| During the second half of World War II, some Romanian anti-tank platoons each had three Pak 40 guns, used interchangeably with Romania's own 75 mm Reșița Model 1943 anti-tank gun<ref name="Ronald L. Tarnstrom 1998, p. 407"/>
|-
| [[75 mm Reșița Model 1943|75 mm Reșița]]
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
| 375+
| Native design combining features from several foreign models, a total of 210 pieces were produced at the [[Reșița]] Works, 120 at the Astra Works in Brașov and 42 at the Concordia Works in Ploiești in addition to three prototypes<ref>Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', pp. 149, 235–237</ref>
|-
! colspan="6" style="background:#f9f9f9;|Field artillery
|-
| [[10 cm houfnice vz. 30 (howitzer)|100 mm Skoda]]
| {{flagcountry|Czechoslovakia}}<br />{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
| 500
| 248 purchased from Czechoslovakia in the mid-1930s and 252 from Germany in 1940–1941 (the Astra Works in Romania manufactured [[gun barrel|barrels]])<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 29"/>
|-
| [[Canon de 105 L mle 1936 Schneider|105 mm Schneider]]
| {{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
| 144
| 180 ordered but only 144 delivered until the fall of France<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 29"/> 
|-
| [[Skoda K series|150 mm Skoda]]
| {{flagcountry|Czechoslovakia}}<br />{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
| 180
| 180 purchased from Czechoslovakia between 1936 and 1939 (the Astra Works in Romania manufactured [[gun barrel|barrels]])<ref name="Mark Axworthy 1995, p. 29"/>
|}

===Tanks===
{{see also|Romanian armored fighting vehicle production during World War II}}
The list below comprises the models and numbers of Romanian Army tanks of all types in service as of 19 July 1944:<ref>Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', pp. 153, 219</ref>
[[File:TACAM_T-60.jpg|thumb|A Romanian [[TACAM T-60]] during the National Day parade, 10 May 1943.]]
[[File:Mareșal tank destroyer.jpg|thumb|The [[Mareșal (tank destroyer)|Mareșal tank destroyer]] (prototype M-05), the best-known Romanian-built armored vehicle of the war, was in service with the M Battalion of the 2nd Armored Regiment from May to October 1944<ref>Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', p. 232</ref>]]
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align: left;"|Name
! style="text-align: left;"|Type
! style="text-align: left;"|Country of Origin
! style="text-align: left;"|Quantity

|-
| [[Renault FT|FT-17]]
| Light tank
| {{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
| 62
|-
| [[R-1 tank|R-1]]
| Tankette
| {{flagcountry|First Czechoslovak Republic}}
| 14
|-
| [[Renault R35|R-35]]
| Light tank
| {{flagcountry|French Third Republic|name=France}}
| 30
|-
| [[Renault R35#Romania|R-35/45]]
| Tank destroyer
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
| 30
|-
| [[Panzer 35(t)#Romania|R-2]]
| Light tank
| {{flagcountry|First Czechoslovak Republic}}
| 44
|-
| [[Panzer 38(t)|T-38]]
| Light tank
| {{flag|Nazi Germany}}
| 19
|-
| [[Panzer III|T-3]]
| Medium tank
| {{flag|Nazi Germany}}
| 2
|-
| [[Panzer IV|T-4]]
| Medium tank
| {{Flag|Nazi Germany}}
| 81
|-
| [[TACAM T-60]]
| Tank destroyer
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
| 34
|-
| [[TACAM R-2]]
| Tank destroyer
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
| 20
|-
| [[Sturmgeschütz III|TAs]]
| Assault gun
| {{Flag|Nazi Germany}}
| 60
|-
| [[Mareșal (tank destroyer)|Mareșal]]
| Tank destroyer
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
| 7
|-
| [[Komsomolets armored tractor#Operators|STZ]]
| Tankette
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}}
| 34
|}

===Naval forces===
{{main|Romanian Navy during World War II}}

===Air force===
{{main|Romanian Air Force#World War II}}

==See also==
* [[German Military Mission in Romania]]
* [[Military history of Romania]]
* [[List of battles of the Romanian Navy]]
* [[Latin Axis (World War II)]]
* [[Croatian–Romanian–Slovak friendship proclamation]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{Country study|article=Romania : a country study |url=https://archive.org/details/romaniacountryst00bach_0}}

==Further reading==
{{Further|Ion Antonescu#References and further reading}}
*{{Cite journal|last=Bucur|first=Maria|date=April 1, 2002|title=Treznea: Trauma, nationalism and the memory of World War II in Romania| url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13642520110112100|journal=Rethinking History|language=en|volume=6|issue=1|pages=35–55| doi=10.1080/13642520110112100|s2cid=143005164}}
*{{cite book |last1=Harward |first1=Grant T. |title=Romania's Holy War: Soldiers, Motivation, and the Holocaust |date=2021 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, NY |isbn=9781501759963}} [https://www.miwsr.com/2022-066.aspx Review.] 
* Bucur, Maria. ''Heroes and victims: Remembering war in twentieth-century Romania'', [[Indiana University Press]], 2009.
* Butnaru, I. C. ''Silent Holocaust: Romania & Its Jews'' (HIA Book Collection, 1992) 225 pp.
* Case, Holly. Between states: the Transylvanian question and the European idea during World War II. [[Stanford University Press]], 2009.
* {{cite book|author1=Crăciunoiu, Cristian |author2=Mark W. A. Axworthy |author3=Cornel Scafeș |title=Third Axis Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945|publisher=Arms & Armour|location=London| year=1995|page=368|isbn=1-85409-267-7}}
* [[Dennis Deletant|Deletant, Dennis]]. "Romania" in ''The Oxford Companion to World War II'' edited by I. C. B. Dear and M. R. D. Foot (2001) pp 954–959.
* [[Dennis Deletant|Deletant, Dennis]]. ''Hitler's Forgotten Ally, Ion Antonescu and his Regime, Romania, 1940–44'' (London, 2006).
* {{cite book|author=Glantz, David M. |title=Red Storm over the Balkans: The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania, Spring 1944|publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]]|location=Lawrence|year=2007|pages=448|isbn=978-0-7006-1465-3|author-link=David Glantz}}
* Thomas, Martin. "To arm an ally: French arms sales to Romania, 1926–1940." ''Journal of Strategic Studies'' 19.2 (1996): 231–259.
* Michelson, Paul E. "Recent American historiography on Romania and the second world war" '' Romanian Civilization''. (1996) 5#2 pp 23–42.
* {{cite book |last1=Solonari |first1=Vladimir |title=A satellite empire: Romanian rule in southwestern Ukraine, 1941–1944. |year=2019 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]]|isbn=9781501743191}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Popa |first1=Ion |title=The 7th Roșiori (Cavalry) Regiment and the Holocaust in Romania and the Soviet Union |journal=Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust |date=2018 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=38–56 |doi=10.1080/23256249.2018.1432250|s2cid=159021449 }}
* Porter, Ivor. ''Operation Autonomous. With SOE in Wartime Romania'' (1989) 268 pp; The British intelligence operation.
* Saiu, Liliana. ''Great Powers & Rumania, 1944–1946: A Study of the Early Cold War Era'' (HIA Book Collection, 1992), 290 pp.
*{{cite book |last= Trigg| first= Jonathan  |title=  Death on the Don: The destruction of Germany’s Allies on the Eastern Front, 1941–44 |accessdate=  |edition= 2nd|origyear= 2013 |year= 2017 |publisher= The History Press |location= Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK |isbn= 978- 0-7509-7946-7  |oclc= |page= |pages=   }} 
* Weinbaum, Laurence. [http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-045-weinbaum.htm "The Banality of History and Memory: Romanian Society and the Holocaust", ''Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism'' No. 45 (June 2006)]
* Some passages in this article have been taken from the (public domain) U.S. Federal Research Division of the [[Library of Congress Country Studies|Library of Congress Country Study]] on Romania, sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Army, researched shortly before the 1989 fall of Romania's Communist regime and published shortly after. [http://countrystudies.us/romania/22.htm Romania – World War II], accessed July 19, 2005.
{{Country study}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Romania in World War II}}

=== Military and political history ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090711200043/http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=39 Axis History Factbook – Romania]
* [http://www.worldwar2.ro/?language=en worldwar2.ro: Romanian Armed Forces in the Second World War]
* Dan Reynolds. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070819060652/http://www.carbinesforcollectors.com/Rou.htm The Rifles of Romania 1878–1948]
* Paul Paustovanu. [http://atlas.usv.ro/www/codru_net/CC14/11_razboi.pdf The War in the East seen by the Romanian Veterans of Bukovina]
* Rebecca Ann Haynes. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110609155431/http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/12954/1/12954.pdf 'A New Greater Romania'? Romanian Claims to the Serbian Banat in 1941]
* Stefan Gheorge. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120309061524/http://www.euroeconomica-danubius.ro/arhiva/7.stefan-gheorghe.pdf Romania's economic arguments regarding the shortness of the Second World War]
* [http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/221.gif Map of Romania's territorial changes during World War II]
* [https://www.ww2incolor.com/Romanian+Forces/?g2_page=52 World War II archive images with the Romanian Forces]

=== Holocaust ===
* {{cite conference
| url = https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/romaniareport.html
| title = Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania
|date= November 2004
| publisher = International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania
| location = Bucharest, Romania
| pages = 89
| format = pdf
| access-date = 2012-05-17
}}
* [http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/about/04/romania.asp?WT.mc_id=wiki Murder of the Jews of Romania] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026160909/http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/about/04/romania.asp?WT.mc_id=wiki |date=2021-10-26 }} on the [[Yad Vashem]] website
* [http://isurvived.org/TOC-IV.html#Holocaust_Romania Holocaust in Romania] from Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project: "Forget You Not"
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7844797.stm Roma Holocaust victims speak out]

<div style="clear:both; text-align:center;"><br />
<hr noshade size="4" width="100%"/>
&lt; '''[[Greater Romania]] | [[History of Romania]] | [[Communist Romania]] ''' &gt;
<hr noshade size="4" width="100%"/>
</div>
{{Navboxes
|state=expanded
|list =
{{Collaboration with Axis Powers}}
{{World War II}}
{{WWII history by nation}}
{{WWIIRomanianAFVs}}
{{Romanian topics}}
}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romania During World War Ii}}
[[Category:Romania in World War II| ]]
[[Category:The Holocaust in Romania]]
[[Category:Eastern European theatre of World War II]]