Romanian military intervention in Bessarabia

Romanian military intervention in Bessarabia
Part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
Romanian General Ernest Broșteanu in Bessarabia during 1918
Date 19 January – 8 March 1918 Location Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire (present day Moldova and Ukraine) Result Romanian occupation of Bessarabia, removal of the Bolsheviks and restoration of the Moldavian DR state bodies Moldavian Assembly declares independence and two months later proclaims union with Romania
Belligerents
Kingdom of Romania Volunteer Corps of Transylvanians-Bukovinans anti-Bolshevik factions of the Moldavian DR Russian Republic Ukrainian People's Republic Nominal support: The French and British representatives of the Entente	Rumcherod (19–30 January) pro-Bolshevik factions of the Moldavian DR (19 Jan.–early Feb.) Odessa SR (30 January–8 March) Romanian Revolutionary Military Committee (Feb.)
Commanders and leaders
Ernest Broșteanu Dmitry Shcherbachev	Evgeny Venediktov Filipp Levenzon Grigory Kotovsky Anatol Popa Grigore Borisov Anatoli Zhelezniakov Mikhail Muravyov Petr Lazarev
Strength
800-1,000 Transylvanian volunteers 2 cavalry divisions 2 infantry divisions Danube Flotilla	ca. 6,000 in Chișinău over 1,000 in Bălți ca. 1,000 in Vâlcov ca. 2,000 in Akkerman 3 infantry regiments 1 infantry battalion 2 hussar regiments 2 cavalry regiments 2 cavalry squadrons 1 railroad battalion 1 artillery brigade 1 machine-gun company 1 automobile company several Red Guards detachments 500 Romanian volunteers several military vessels
Casualties and losses
9 killed ca. 2,100 captured 2 floating batteries captured	>1,500-2,000 killed

The Romanian military intervention in Bessarabia took place between 19 January and 8 March (Old Style [O.S.] 5 January – 23 February) 1918, as part of the broader Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The Romanian Army, subsequently supported by a number of local assemblies, emerged victorious and the former Russian imperial region of Bessarabia – in the meantime having declared its independence as the Moldavian Democratic Republic – was declared united with Romania later that year.

Background

In 1812, as a result of the Treaty of Bucharest that followed the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812, and in spite of all protests, Moldavia lost to the Russian Empire its eastern part, between Prut and Dniester rivers. Becoming known as Bessarabia, the territory annexed by Russia then gradually underwent a process of colonization and Russification. The education in the Romanian language was forbidden, the use of Romanian in the administration was also banned, while the Orthodox church in Bessarabia, detached from the Metropolitan Church of Moldavia and passed under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, also became an instrument of the Russification policy.

Following the union of Moldavia with Wallachia in 1859, and the establishment of the independent Kingdom of Romania in 1881, Romanian foreign policy became strongly influenced by the ideas of the Romanian National Awakening, aiming at creating a Greater Romania which would incorporate all Romanian speakers, including the inhabitants of Bessarabia. Some of the Romanian interests in the Bessarabia Governorate were represented by the National Moldavian Party, which was founded in March 1917 and actively promoted a union with Romania. However, with only 2.3 percent of the vote, it failed to gain popularity among the Bessarabians who voted in November 1917, in the Bessarabia electoral district, for the Russian Constituent Assembly elections.

During World War I, in 1916-1917, Romania and Russia fought as allies. The overthrow of the Russian Provisional Government in Petrograd in October 1917 (also known as the October Revolution) and the seizure of power in Russia by the Bolsheviks led to an anarchy that encompassed vast territories, including Bessarabia. Soviet Russia decided to leave the war and concluded an armistice with the Central Powers. Dmitry Shcherbachev, the head of the Russian troops on the Romanian Front, refused to comply with the orders of the Soviet Government. Despite Romanian military support, Shcherbachev failed to subdue the local Bolshevik committee and ultimately agreed to sign an armistice with the Germans. In this context, the Russian troops on the Romanian front began to disintegrate, abandoning the front and retreating to Russia, through Bessarabia.

In August 1917, the Moldavians created their own military units, initially called Cohorts, then mobile detachments. The main mission of the Cohorts was to protect the population and properties from Russian soldiers resorting to maraudery as they crossed the territory of Bessarabia, but they were not able to ensure complete order and security in the province. At the same time, the internal situation in Russia also led Russian active duty soldiers and deserters, to form Bolshevik groups, both under centralized command and independent. The Bolshevik influence came to manifest itself even among certain Moldavian detachments, prompting Ștefan Ciobanu to later declare that "it is precisely those few Moldavian units that were at the disposal of Sfatul Țării that were infected with Bolshevism".

Following the Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia, on 15 December [O.S. 2 December] 1917, Bessarabia proclaimed its autonomy within the Russian Republic, as the Moldavian Democratic Republic. The leaders of the newly created state were Ion Inculeț, the president of Sfatul Țării, the Moldavian legislative council, and Pantelimon Erhan, the chief of the Moldavian government (called the Council of General Directors). The local leaders argued that Bessarabia should remain firmly within the new Russia, but with its status "like that of Finland in the tsarist empire or one of the cantons of Switzerland". Due to violence and the chaotic situation in the region, as well as the prevalence of illiteracy among the Bessarabian peasant masses, no general election took place and the seats in Sfatul Țării were distributed to various social groups, minorities, professional organizations, and interest groups. The assembly and the Council of Directors were expected to administer the province until the Bessarabian Constituent Assembly could meet to decide the future of the province.

In the meantime, various soviets had emerged around Bessarabia, many of them controlled by Mensheviks, Esers, and Bundists, and initially without Bolshevik influences. The soviets and Sfatul Țării recognized each other, and the Esers and Peasant's Soviet had received seats in the assembly. Both the Petrograd Soviet and the Council of People's Commissars recognized the new Moldavian Republic, its Assembly and government. Conversely, several of local soviets also recognized Vladimir Lenin's government, and until mid-December the local soviets became "Bolshevized".

Prelude

The first Romanian forays in Bessarabia began on 6 December 1917, when a small detachment took over the village of Leova under the pretext of protecting grain stores. This caused indignation among locals, which believed the troops came "to take away the gains of the revolution". Following a rally organized by the local soviet, the Romanian troops were repulsed, losing one officer and two soldiers. The Romanians sent a two-regiment strong retaliatory expedition the following day, occupied Leova, and, under treat of shooting every tenth local, demanded that the leaders of the local Soviet be surrendered. All four members of the soviet's executive committee, headed by I. Nestrat, were consequently shot by the Romanians. Further forays took place throughout December: on the 20th Romanian troops surrounded Pogănești, Sărata-Răzeși and Voinescu and began shooting the locals, prompting Chițan, president of the Mingir committee, to telegraph Chișinău to ask for urgent military assistance; similar Romanian actions took place two days later in Cărpineni and surrounding villages. On 23 December 1917, Britain and France signed a secret agreement delineating their spheres of influences within the Russian Empire. Bessarabia and other Russian territories north of the Black Sea coast fell within the French ambit. Determined to combat the Central Powers and Russian forces hostile to its interests the head of the French military mission in Iași, General Henri Mathias Berthelot began pressuring Romania to occupy Bessarabia.

The state of insecurity in Bessarabia, determined by robberies and riots committed by retreating Russian troops and Bolshevik elements, determined some of the Moldavian leaders to ask for help from the Romanian state. Thus, on 27-28 December [O.S. 14-15 December] 1917, Vladimir Cristi and Ion Pelivan, members of the Moldavian legislative council Sfatul Țării and of the government, paid a visit to Iași, to present the situation from Bessarabia to the Romanian government. Following the discussions, on 4 January 1918 [O.S. 22 December 1917], Sfatul Țării decided to grant powers to the Moldavian government, respectively to request military aid from the Allied Powers. On the same day, Erhan, Pelivan, and Cristi sent a secret telegram to the Romanian Minister of War requesting the urgent sending to Chișinău of a Transylvanian regiment (made up of former Austro-Hungarian prisoners of Romanian ethnicity - see Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia) located in Kiev. Another request came from the Moldavian Committee in Kiev, which, following information received from the representative of Sfatul Țării on the critical situation in Bessarabia, also requested the Romanian government in Iași to send Romanian troops to Bessarabia, immediately.

The socialist bloc and the block of national minorities in Sfatul Țării were categorically against the arrival of the Romanian troops, indicating that this could be the first step to the military occupation of the region, posing a threat to all the political and social gains of the revolution. In response to the rumors of a Romanian intervention, several organizations across Bessarabia issued protests, including the Briceni soviet of workers' and soldiers' deputies, the fourth Congress of peasants' deputies in Hotin district, the second Congress of peasants' deputies in Bălți district, the meeting of the Bessarabian delegates to the second Congress of the Rumcherod, Central Military Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the soldiers of the 1st Moldavian Regiment, the 129th Moldovan air battery and the detachment of Bessarabian sailors in Sevastopol. Already in December 1917 a limited number of Romanian troops had crossed the Prut and attacked Bolshevik troops, prompting a strong protest by the Soviet Government. Romania's failure to reply to the protests ultimately led Lenin to arrest the Romanian representative in Petrograd and confiscate the Romanian Treasure on 13 January 1918.

By the end of December, Bolsheviks took the upper hand in most local soviets and on December 24, in preparation for repelling an impending intervention, they created an unified command in Chișinău, the Revolutionary Military Committee for Bessarabia, using both troops from the reserve regiments and units retreating from the Romanian front. Even before this move, the Chișinău city soviet began criticizing the activity of Sfatul Țării, and several days later, the Executive Committee of the Bessarabian peasants' soviets, the Chișinău city soviet and the Central Committee of the Moldavian Officers and Soldiers called on a meeting in order to provide a better, democratic composition of the Bessarabian assembly. This was ultimately canceled after the Bessarabian Bolshevik delegates to the second congress of the Rumcherod, taking place in Odessa between 23 December 1917 and 4 January 1918, adopted a strong condemnation of the Sfatul Țării and decided to send to Chișinău the Rumcherod's Front Section (Frontotdel) to take over the region. According to Vasile Vasilos, the ultimate goal of the Bolsheviks was to establish the Soviet power in Bessarabia and maintain it as part of Russia.

The Frontotdel arrived in Chișinău on 10 January 1918 and convinced the local Soviet of the necessity to wrestle power away from the Sfatul Țării. On 13 January 1918 [O.S. 31 December 1917], the strategic points and buildings in Chișinău were captured by the Bolsheviks, and the Frontotdel proclaimed itself the supreme power in Bessarabia. On 16 January 1918 [O.S. 3 January 1918], the pro-Russian socialist deputies withdrew from Sfatul Țării and issued a statement calling for the union with the Russian Bolshevik revolution and against the arrival of the Romanian army in Bessarabia, claiming that "there were too many Moldovans and bourgeois elements in Sfatul Țării". On 18 January [O.S. 5 January], the Frontotdel along with the local Bolshevik organization began the removal of other Moldavian state structures. The Bolsheviks abolished Sfatul Țării and replaced it with a self-proclaimed Moldavian Soviet (even though Marcel Mitrasca claims there were no ethnic Moldovans in its composition). van Meurs claims that a significant part of the Bessarabian public opinion strongly resented Romanian intervention and feared that the promised reforms would be overturned. Bolshevik propaganda played on such fears, claiming the Moldavian Bloc in Sfatul Țării had sold Bessarabia to Romania and was planning to renounce the agrarian reform. Gherman Pântea, the director responsible for the military in Sfatul Țării's government, reported that "the Moldavian population, and especially the Moldavian soldiers, were excited and angry that the Romanians would come to take from them land obtained as a result of the revolution, and the freedoms won after a century of suffering".

In these conditions, Cristi, Pelivan and Erhan went to Iași to request once again the entry of the Romanian army in Bessarabia to fight the Bolshevik challenges to the power of Sfatul Țării. As a result of the critical situation in which Sfatul Țării and the Moldavian government were, on the pretext of securing supply lines against raids by Bolsheviks and armed bandits, the Romanian government agreed to send the army to Bessarabia, the measure being supported by the representatives of the Entente (French and British missions in Iași), but also by the Russian general Shcherbachev, the nominal commander of the Russian army on the Romanian front.

Operations

Initial attacks

Map of the Moldavian Democratic Republic

On 19 January, the Romanian government, in agreement with the Ukrainian authorities, sent the Transylvanian troops from Kiev to Chișinău, in coordination with an attack on the border town of Ungheni, which had a Bolshevik garrison. Upon their arrival in Chișinău railway station around 1 AM, the 800 to 1,000 Transylvanians were met by 1st Moldavian Infantry Regiment, the 5th Zaamursky Cavalry Regiment and a Red Guards detachment raised by the Frontotdel. After the Transylvanians refused to disarm, a skirmish broke out and they were ultimately disarmed and arrested, losing six killed and many wounded, and afterwards sent back to Kiev. Attempts by Erhan and Inculeț to convince the Moldavian troops to release the Transylvanians, claiming they were only in transit, failed after the captured soldiers declared they had been sent to take over Romanian depots and liquidate the Bolsheviks.

The attack on Ungheni began at dawn on 18 January involved, besides Romanian troops, Russian troops still loyal to Shcherbachev and Ukrainian nationalist units. The combined troops were able to defeat the Soviets and capture the town, executing the twelve members of the local soviet of soldiers' deputy. By the evening of the following day Romanian troops had reached Strășeni and attempted to make their way to Chișinău through Ghidighici, however they were met by strong Soviet fire at Ghidighici and Cojușna. By the night of the 20th, the interventionist retreated in disarray towards Strășeni, abandoning their weapons and surrendering in small groups. Met by hostility by local villagers, a detachment of over one thousand Romanians was surrounded and surrendered at Strășeni. The Romanian troops and Russian detachments led by general Nekrasov retreated toward Ungheni and attempted to regroup at Cornești during 20 January, only to be surrounded by a revolutionary railway battalion. Some of the invading troops surrender, while the rest managed to break out and retreat to Romania; general Nekrasov barely escaped lynching by his soldiers and was ultimately killed by locals.

Around the same time, the Romanian army along with Russian troops loyal to Shcherbachev attempted to create a bridgehead in the south of Bessarabia, occupying Cahul, Vadul lui Isac and Manta. Attempting to enter Bolhrad, they were met by the troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the 6th Army along with Moldavian detachments. The defenders managed on January 22 to disarm them after a short battle and proceeded to clear the Romanian troops in Bolhrad, Cahul, Leova and Vulcănești. The garrison and locals in Reni also managed to repulse an attack from across the border, while Russian generals Kotzebue, Dedyushin and Ivanov were arrested as collaborators of the invaders.

Soviet takeover in Chișinău

In the meantime, the Bolsheviks attacked the headquarters of the Inter-Allied Commission, arresting the military and officials of the Entente states on mission, and also arrested several deputies of Sfatul Țării. Ion Giurcă states that Erhan and Inculeț were among the arrested, while Vladimir Polivțev notes the two Moldavian leaders were actually invited to an emergency joint meeting of the Bessarabian Provincial and Chișinău City Executive Committees of the Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, the Peasant Provincial Executive Committee and the Moldavian Central Military Executive Committee, which had assembled on the day to declare state of war. Erhan and Inculeț declared during the meeting they did not know anything about the entry of Romanian troops and would dismiss any directors that may have had anything to do with it. Depending on the account, they were either forced to write and send to the Romanian government a telegram protesting against the entry of the Romanian armies and demanding an end to its sending to Bessarabia, or voluntary did it to disperse suspicions against them. It is unclear whether the Frontotdel takeover was precipitated by the Romanian attack or was a result of it having gained the allegiance of most local soviets in Bessarabia the previous day. Erhan and Inculeț were also forced to order the Moldavian regiments to oppose the advance of Romanian troops; Pan Halippa claimed that Gherman Pântea had actually signed the order, which Inculeț and Erhan knew about, but the order did not reach the Moldavian troops, being used only as a "justification" to the Bolshevik leaders, who were in control of Chișinău. Wim van Meurs further notes that it is unclear whether Erhan and Inculeț were forced by the Bolsheviks to order resistance to the Romanian advance or they genuinely loathed the arrival of the Romanian "liberators". The Moldavian leaders did not have a unitary perspective on the future of Bessarabia: while Halippa and Pelivan were seeking an union with Romania, Erhan and Inculeț were left-wing politicians who sought a Moldavian Republic, either independent or as part of a Russian Federation. Inculeț in particular, as president of the Sfatul Țării, did not take part in any of the mission to the Romanian government and was later prevented from participating in the negotiations in Brest-Litovsk, as the Romanian feared he would support the incorporation of Bessarabia into the Russian Federation. By the 20th of January, the Sfatul Țării and the Council of Directors had lost any power they had over Bessarabia, with the Soviets gaining the upper hand.

Main thrust and capture of Chișinău

The Romanian forces which carried out the intervention into Bessarabia amounted to two infantry and two cavalry divisions, which formed the 6th Corps under General Ioan Istrate. In the morning of 23 January [O.S. 10 January], the 11th Romanian division of general Ernest Broșteanu crossed the Prut. The 11th Infantry Division was supposed to capture Chișinău and advance towards Tighina, the 1st Cavalry Division to attack Bălți and Soroca, the 13th Infantry Division to occupy southern Bessarabia, while the 2nd Cavalry Division was meant to link the two infantry divisions in the area of Cimișlia. On the defending side, the Frontotdel controlled around 6,000 troops in Chișinău, including the 1st Moldavian Infantry Regiment, 1st Bessarabian Hussar Regiment, 1st Moldavian Hussar Regiment, the 3rd and 5th Zaamursky Cavalry Regiments, the 14th artillery brigade, and several volunteer Red Guards squads, which were tasked with "retaining the city until reinforcements arrived, and with their arrival go on the offensive and expel the Romanians from the Moldavian Republic". The defenders included among their rank Filipp Levenzon, Grigory Kotovsky and Iona Yakir. Two days later, Inculeţ and the representatives of the Moldovan military committees met in Călărași with general Broșteanu. Both sides agree that the Romanians "will not interfere in the internal affairs of Bessarabia"; however, when informed by the Moldovan delegates that the death penalty had been abolished in Bessarabia, Broșteanu replied he would be the ultimate judge and would hand any punishment he deemed fit. Romanian prime-minister Take Ionescu would later declare "the whole world knew that the troops were sent to Bessarabia in order to complete, when possible, the final act of union with Bessarabia". After three days of battle, the Romanian troops advancing from Hîncești and Strășeni captured Chișinău on the evening of 26 January 1918 [O.S. 13 January], being greeted by Erhan and Pântea, accompanied by several Moldavian squadrons. According to some reports, several Moldavian units fought "shoulder to shoulder" along Russian revolutionaries against the Romanian Army; reports of the Sfatul Țării indicated that 86% of the Moldavian troops fought on the side of the Frontotdel and "soldiers were determined to kill the officers suspected of betrayal". The Soviet troops withdrew to Tighina without opposing the Romanian troops in the city itself. According to Vladimir Polivțev, factors that led to failure of the Chișinău defense included the general inferiority of the troops, mismanagement of the existing units, inter-party frictions among the various Soviet organizations and the success of supporters of the Sfatul Țării among the officers to neutralize part of the Moldavian regiments. Thus, some officers managed to send Moldavian troops away from the city in a passive sector of defense, while supporters of Shcherbachev still active among the troops in southern Bessarabia were also able to prevent the Russian units of the 47th Corps and other units of the 4th Army from coming to assist of the defenders.

Vladimir Polivțev claims that following the Romanian capture of Chișinău a wave of repression ensued: Staff Captain N.V. Durasov, assistant chief of the Revolutionary Headquarters was executed, the 1st Moldavian Infantry Regiment was disarmed and 17 of its soldiers were shot after refusing to swear allegiance to the Romanian King. The other Moldavian units were either dissolved or merged with the Romanian units. Executions were not limited to supporters of the Soviets, as several anti-Bolshevik socialists were shot, including the Menshevik member of Sfatul Țării Nadezhda Grinfield and the popular socialist Nikolai Kovsan, editor of Svobodnaya Bessarabiya. Director of Military Affairs Gherman Pântea had to admit on 2 February that "frequent executions" were taking place in Chișinău, while Ivan Krivorukov, at the time secretary of the Central Bureau of the Trade Union, testified that executions were carried of without trial, some of the victims being buried half-dead in the landfill in Rîșcani. Chișinău was put under a state of siege and a curfew was imposed concurrent with extensive searches of private properties. Most revolutionary organizations, including the Central Moldovan Military Executive Committee, were dissolved, along with the trade union and mutual-aid funds.

On 28 January [O.S. 15 January], during an extraordinary joint meeting of Sfatul Țării and the government, Inculeț welcomed and argued the Romanian military presence in Bessarabia, speaking about the guarantees of the Romanians, while Erhan assured general Broșteanu that the government in Chișinău will take all measures to support the action of the Romanian army.

Third Peasants Congress

Opposition to the Romanian intervention continued elsewhere in Bessarabia, with Erhan noting in his 26 January speech in Sfatul Țării that the influence of Bolsheviks and distrust of Sfatul Țării was especially high in the districts of Akkerman, Ismail, Khotin and Soroca. On 31 January began in Chișinău the Third Bessarabian Provincial Congress of Soviets of Peasant Deputies, which had been postponed since the fall of 1917. Due to ongoing military operations, few delegates from the Akkerman, Ismail and Khotin could assist, with most delegates coming from the central, Moldavian-majority parts of Bessarabia. The majority rejected Erhan's candidacy for president and instead elected the Moldavian Vasile Rudiev, who had earlier been designated commissioner for Bălți by the Sfatul Țării and, as head of the Bălți district Congress of Peasants, had protested against the Romanian intervention and called for the recognition of the Petrograd government on 27 January. The following day, the Bessarabian Provincial Peasants' Congress unanimously voted a resolution that "all power should belong to the Soviets of workers, soldiers and peasants' deputies" and chose a commission to draw up a declaration of protest against the occupation of Bessarabia. Rudiev personally called for guarantees for freedom of speech, assembly, and the inviolability of the members of the congress, demanded the restoration of a sovereign Moldavian Republic, with the Romanians expelled from the country within 24 hours. His discourse was met with prolonged applause. Half an hour after Rudiev's speech, Romanian troops cordoned of the building where the Congress was taking place, four machine guns where brough within the hall and a military team demanded the extradition of the speakers who "had insulted the Romanian government". Rudiev and another member of the presidium, Valentin Prahnițkii, went off to negotiate with Broșteanu, and later three more members of the Congress were arrested (Teofil Cotoros, Ion Panţiru and Procop Ciumacenco). The five delegates, four Moldavians and one Ukrainian, were subsequently executed by the Romanians. As the five were also members of Sfatul Țării and were legally inviolable, the Council of Directors inquired into the fate of the delegates, however Broșteanu replied he did not consider the arrests "interference in the internal affairs of the republic" and that "no one can interfere with him" in the fight against the "Bolsheviks". Vladimir Polivțev notes that ultimately 45 of the 116 delegates that participated in the Congress were shot.

Battle of Bender

With the help of Moldavia's detachments, the Romanians continued their advance towards Hotin, Ismail, Bender/Tighina and Cetatea Albă. Especially fierce resistance was met at Bender, a strategic railroad junction and the site of a major fortress, where the Frontotdel had retreated. The decision to resist was taken on 24 January at a rally of the soldiers of the local garrison and local workers, when the Bender Defense Headquarters was created comprising the Frontotdel, members of the Chișinău Soviet and commanders of revolutionary detachments who had evaded the Romanian troops, as well as local supporters of the Soviet power (Bolsheviks and other socialists alike). Opposing the Romanian 11th Infantry Division were the 5th and 6th Cavalry Regiments, hastily created Red Guards detachments recruited from the railways workshops and residents of the city, as well as the soldiers of the 4th Moldavian Regiment in Bender. The Romanians advanced in late January from Chișinău and Căinari, however the latter column was intercepted by a pre-emptive strike organized by the Bender Red Guards using a makeshift armored train which resulted in the capture and disarmament of 800 Romanians. As the Defense Headquarters decided to send regular troops across the Dniester for reorganization and replenishment, the Red Guards also bore the brunt of the Romanian attack on the city, which begun on 29 January. In spite of intense artillery support, the Romanians were unable to enter the city for two days, and defenders were able to capture several trophies. After the city's artillery munition depots blew up, either due to a direct hit or to sabotage, and large sections of the city were engulfed in flames, the Red Guards decided to retreat across the Dniester on the morning of 2 February. A wave of repression against social activists, surviving defenders and the trade unions began after the entry of Romanian troops. On February 5, a battle over the control of the bridge over the Dniester unexpectedly turned into a Soviet counter-attack, and most of the city was retaken as Romanian troops retreated in disorder. The main Soviet counter-attack began the following day, when the troops of the Frontotdel, reinforced by volunteer soldiers from the 8th Army, Red Guard detachments from Odessa and Nikolaev, as well as around 500 Romanian pro-Soviet volunteers organized by the Romanian Revolutionary Military Committee, succeeded in taking over the fortress and clearing the whole city of Romanian regular troops. The Soviet offensive drove back the Romanian 22nd Infantry Brigade 10–15 kilometres (6.2–9.3 mi) towards Bulboaca and Căușeni and captured significant personnel and trophies. Reinforced Romanian troops attacked the city again of 7 February from Bulboaca and Calfa and the Soviet troops ultimately retreated across the Dniester due to heavy losses. A wave of brutal reprisal began against the local population, with the Romanians putting around 5,000 residents under armed guard near the railway station. Around 150 railway workers, as well as other locals, were executed in front of the crowd.

Battle of Bălți and northern campaign

News of a Romanian intervention also alerted the various committees in Bălți, which on 21 January organized the Revolutionary Headquarters for the Protection of Bessarabia, led by the Moldavian Andrei Paladi, chairman of the Bălți district peasants' soviet, Grigore Galagan, chairman of the local land committee and Vasile Rudiev, the local government commissioner. The following day, Paladi urged the locals to organize defense squads, while the local soviet issued a manifesto declaring "Death is better than new slavery under the yoke of the bloodsucker, the Romanian king". Later that day, a rally was held that was attended by 3,000 workers, soldiers of the garrison and representatives of nearby villages, expressing protest against the entry of the occupation forces into Bessarabia and subsequently weapons from the military depots were distributed to the population. The main organizer of the defense forces was Staff Captain Anatol Popa, veteran of World War I, former member of the Chișinău Central Military Commissariat involved in the creation of the 1st Moldavian Regiment, who earlier in January had been appointed by the Sfatul Țării as military commissioner for the Bălți district. Popa was the one to actually conduct the defense, as Paladi had been sent by the Bălți Peasants' Congress to the north to request assistance from the 8th Army and Council of People's Commissars, while Rudiev left for Chișinău to participate in the Third Bessarabian Peasants Congress. By the 2nd of February, Popa managed to muster an infantry battalion, two cavalry squadrons, a separate machine-gun company, an automobile company and an incomplete artillery battery, further reinforced by armed groups of peasants from nearby Cubolta and Hăsnășenii Mici. Thus the total force included, besides the soldiers of the city garrison, up to one thousand volunteers organized in Red Guards. Trenches were dug around the city and guns and machine guns were installed at the main entry points. On 3 February 1918, the 1st Romanian cavalry division crossed the Prut at Sculeni and advanced towards Fălești, where it was met by fire by the Red Guards, however the town was ultimately captured after two successive attacks. The following day, Romanian General Mihail Schina was captured by a peasant self-defense force in Obreja, but, after barely escaping lynching, he was freed by an attack of the Romanian cavalry. Romanian attempts to break into Bălți from the south on the 4th of February were repulsed by machine gun and artillery fire, and the attacking troops were forced to retreat by the heavy losses. Another attack near the railway station was also blocked by the resistance of revolutionary soldiers and local volunteers. Having numeric superiority, Romanian troops eventually occupied the city around 3 PM on 5 February after a fierce battle, though shooting continued within the city until dark. The Aslanduz Infantry Regiment and the Ocnița Red Guards only approached the city after Romanian occupation, and were thus unable to render support to the defense forces. During the following days and until late February, together with a part of the Bălți defenders and peasant armed groups, they continued fighting the Romanian advance along the Bălți-Ocnița railway (at Sofia, Drochia, Tîrnova and Dondușeni) and afterwards, under the leadership of Paladi, fought off the Romanians in the Rîbnița-Șoldănești area. Meanwhile, between 5 and 6 February about 1,000 people were arrested and 20 shot in Bălți by the Romanian Army as reprisals. Anatol Popa was court-martialed and sentenced to death, but pardoned due to his popularity and invited to join the Romanian Army. He decided instead to flee and would later lead several Soviet units in the Russian Civil War. The Romanian Siguranța reported on 8 February that unrest among peasants in the Bălți district against the Romanian presence was still vigorous.

Southern campaign

In the southern part of the province, the Romanian intervention was carried out by the 13th Infantry Division, the 2nd Cavalry Division, the 5th Călărași brigade and other smaller units. The Romanians advance met various degree of resistance and skirmishes took place in various places. Already on 23 January, a Congress of Budjak peasants' and workers' self-determination held in Akkerman rejected the authority of Sfatul Țării and decided to fight against the invaders. The same day, after an artillery bombardment, the Romanians captured Cahul and started reprisals against the defenders. On 24 January the defenders of Bolhrad dispersed the attacking units using machine guns, however the main forces of the 2nd Cavalry Division defeated their resistance the following day. Several days later, the Bulgarian peasants in Taraclia constituted a 250-strong detachment armed with rifles, scythes and pitchforks, but the town surrendered after the Romanian artillery opened fire. Skirmishes and intense fights also erupted between Romanian troops and hastily-organized volunteers at Comrat and the railway stations in Ceadîr-Lunga and Basarabeasca. The city of Izmail was taken after intense fights that lasted from 3 to 6 February, as political confusion prevailed in the city; as reprisals, 1,500 locals were arrested, 14 sailors were executed, and the members of the soviet of sailor deputies were hanged. The defenders of Kiliya managed to resist ten days, but the town was also captured on the 7th of February after a short battle. Fights around Vâlcov erupted on 8 February and lasted until the 28th. Fighting against the Romanian Danube Flotilla, the defenders, led by the anarchist Anatoli Zhelezniakov, were supported by several military vessels sent from Odessa and Sevastopol and up to 1,000 revolutionary soldiers and Red Guards. Two ex-Russian floating batteries, K-2 and K-7, were captured by the Romanians in the Danube estuary during February. These vessels, part of the numerous Russud class, each displaced 255 long tons (259 t) and measured 54.7 metres (179 ft 6 in) in length, with a beam of 7.1 metres (23 ft 4 in) and with a draught of 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in). They had a top speed of 5.5 knots (10.2 km/h; 6.3 mph) generated by two-shaft diesel engines and were each armed with two 152-millimetre (6 in) guns.

After the capture of Vâlcov, resistance continued with a two-day defense in Tatarbunary and the village of Kubey. In the meantime, Ukrainian troops of the Central Rada took over the Eser-controlled city of Akkerman on January 28, but two days later, after a rally of the local soldiers, the Bolsheviks gained control over the city. Romanian troops reached the outskirts of the city in early March; following a general mobilization in the county, the 1st Bessarabian Regiment was established and was assigned a defensive position 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the city. The 2,000-strong garrison managed to hold its ground until the 9th of March.

Final battles and failed armistice

Fighting continued in Bessarabia throughout the month of February, as Romanian attempt to restore law and order were resisted by the peasants and various revolutionary units. Andrei Brezianu and Vlad Spânu claim that the last detachments of Communist revolutionaries were driven over the Dniester and out of the country on 20 February [O.S. 7 February], however Polivțev notes that Soviet power was maintained in the district of Khotin, the northern part of the district of Soroca and most of the district of Akkerman until the signing of a Romanian-Soviet armistice on March 5.

Before 6 February [O.S. 24 January] the Romanian Army was operating in what was nominally Russian territory. It was only on 6 February that the Moldavian Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence. The Bolsheviks captured Odessa on 29 – 30 January, resulting in Rumcherod being succeeded by the Odessa Soviet Republic on 30 January [O.S. 17 January] 1918.

On 14 February, Lenin appointed Mikhail Muravyov as the commander of the Bessarabia and Transnistria Front, tasked with halting the Romanian offensive and recapturing Bessarabia. Within a day Muravyov managed to transfer 3,000 of his troops from Kiev to Dniester, where they united with the 3rd Army under Eser Petr Lazarev. The latter numbered some 4,000 to 5,000 undisciplined militiamen from Odessa and small numbers of former regular army soldiers. Upon assuming command of the Front on 18 February, Muravyov sent the following telegram:

“The situation is extremely serious. The troops of the former front are disorganized, in reality there is no front, only headquarters remain, the location of which is unknown. The hope is only for reinforcements from outside. The Odessa proletariat is disorganized and politically illiterate. Ignoring the fact that the enemy is approaching Odessa, they do not think to worry. The attitude to the matter is very cold - typical of the Odessites."

On 20 February Muravyov's troops launched an offensive against the Romanian troops which attempted to establish bridgeheads across the Dniester in the area of Bender. The Romanians were successfully repulsed and lost three guns. Soviet troops, primarily the 8th Army, went on the counter-offensive and, after six days of fighting, defeated the Romanians again on 2 March in the area of Slobozia and Rîbnița, capturing 15 guns, a large number of small arms and 500 prisoners. Faced with severe military setbacks, the Romanian Army proposed a truce and sought Entente support in negotiating it. Ultimately, Romanian prime-minister Alexandru Averescu and Soviet representative Christian Rakovsky signed a "Protocol for the Elimination of the Russian-Romanian conflict" which provided complete withdrawal of Romanian troops from Bessarabia within two months. While Soviet troops ceased hostilities on 8 March, the Romanians broke the treaty the following day at the urging of the Central Powers, which had invaded Russia in the meantime. Consequently, on the same day Romanian troops captured Akkerman and Shabo, the last Soviet controlled positions in Bessarabia.

Aftermath

The exact number of casualties suffered by the Soviet and other revolutionary forces in the Bessarabian campaign is very difficult to estimate. Victor A. Savchenko claims that approximately 1,500 to 2,000 were killed in the battles that took place in Transnistria and Budjak.

Charles King claims that, although it occurred at the requests of members of Sfatul Țării and other Moldavian organizations, the occupation of Bessarabia by the Romanians was not welcomed by all. Thus, according to Ciobanu, in an appeal to the citizens of Chișinău, members of the Bessarabian government denied that the Romanian troops had ever been invited to occupy the republic, stating that their only purpose was to take control of the railways from the Bolsheviks. Marcel Mitrasca claims that the benefits brought by the restoration of public order and the assurances of the Romanians that they will not interfere in the Bessarabia's political life determined many people to change their attitude.

Vladimir Polivțev claims that though the Romanian Army and some members of the Sfatul Țării claimed the Romanian intervention was directed against the Bolsheviks, opposition to the Romanian occupation also came from Socialist Revolutionaries such as Cotoros and Ciumacenco, or Mensheviks such as Borisov and Krivorukov. Some of them would eventually join the Bolsheviks only after the suppression of the Moldavian autonomy (Krivorukov, Levenson and Borisov later in 1918, Kotovsky in 1920, Paladi in 1930). Many of the prominent fighters against the Romanians were not affiliated with leftist politics, their main objective being the resolution of the agrarian, labor or national issues.

On 6 February [O.S. 24 January] 1918, Sfatul Țării unanimously voted on the Declaration on the Independence of the Moldavian Democratic Republic, renouncing all ties with Russia. Economically isolated and alarmed by the claims of both the Ukrainian and Soviet governments on Bessarabia, the Moldavian Democratic Republic united with Romania on 9 April [O.S. 27 March] 1918.

This move was condemned by the Soviet government as a flagrant violation of previous agreements and devoid of legal power. While the Ukrainian People's Republic severed diplomatic relations with Romania and issued financial sanctions against Bessarabia. According to Denis Maltsev, Romania initiated a campaign of Romanianization in Bessarabia, banning the printing of posters in languages other than Romanian and later forcefully incorporating Orthodox churches into the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Between April and May 1919, when the Bolsheviks had already firmly established their rule over the Ukrainian Black Sea coast, the Red Army developed a plan to reconquer Bessarabia and come to the aid of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Those plans were frustrated by the outbreak of Grigoriev's Uprising and AFSR's breach of the front at Donbass.

The first draft of treaty on Bessarabia's status was submitted at the Paris Peace Conference on 14 April 1920. Although initially they were not against the Union, on 10 August, the United States withdrew from the negotiation process stating that it will respect Russia's territorial integrity. On 28 October 1920, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan signed the Treaty of Paris recognizing Romanian sovereignty over Bessarabia, nevertheless Japan did not ratify the document and the treaty failed to come into force. Soviet-Romanian Conferences in Warsaw (1921) and Vienna (1924), likewise failed to officially settle Bessarabia's legal status. The relations between Romania and the Soviet Union were resumed only in December 1934. while the Romanian gold reserve and most of the treasure confiscated by Russia have never been returned to Romania.