AUGUST 1944 THE LAST BATTLE OF THE CONDUACTOR Y. ANTONESKU

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the heroic pages of the Great Patriotic War - the preparation and conduct of Iasi-Chisinau operation. Author introduces the Romanian documents which are stored in the trophy Fund of the Central archive of the Ministry of defense of Russian Federation into scientific circulation for the first time. They allow us to see the relationship between Romanian and German commanders in August 1944, to understand the meaning of the betrayal of commander of the 4th Romanian army General M. Rakovice. These documents show that the defeat of Wehrmacht troops on the Eastern front in 1944 contributed to the mutual alienation of Germans and Romanians. The fighting spirit of Romanian soldiers steadily fell as the front approached the Soviet-Romanian border. This singularity went unnoticed by Romanian command, due to the fact that part of the generals led by the king planned to overthrow the regime of I. Antonescu. I. Antonescu understood that the Soviet troops were preparing an offensive, and demanded that the German high command return to the front the units which had been transferred to other groups of armies. But he is not heard. Even on August 20, 1944, the day of the beginning of Iasi-Chisinau operation, commander of Luftwaffe in Romania General Gerstenberg reported that there was no serious danger in Moldova. As a result, in the conditions of fast and powerful offensive of Soviet fronts, Romanian staffs were confused in the orders of the higher command and could not restrain the panic retreat of their troops. Thus, the deterioration of relations with Germans, the defeat at the front, the distrust of king and generals led to the fall of dictatorship I. Antonescu.

Keywords

• iasi-chisinau offensive
• army group "south army"
• group of veler
• i. antonescu
• m. rakovice
• august 1944