Thread by @GHarward

With all the 80th anniversary of the battle of Kursk & invasion of Sicily tweets, I thought I'd do a 🧵 about the fighting in the Kuban bridgehead at this time to highlight Romanian soldiers on the eastern front. 1/10 #Romania #WW2 #SWW #OTD

Just mentioning that Romanian troops were still fighting in the frontline is important.

After #Stalingrad, Italy withdrew all its forces from the USSR & Hungary only had 2 divisions in the rear.

In contrast, Romania had 6 divisions on the front & 3 divisions in the rear. 2/10

Hitler demanded maintaining a bridgehead in the N Caucasus for a future counteroffensive. German & Romanian, under German 17th Army, troops withdrew into a perimeter in mid-February 1943, which soon shrunk but only after the construction of 6 successive lines of defense. 3/10

Morale among the Romanians had been low & a battalion refused to return to the line in late February. The Germans used this as an excuse to break up 4 Romanian divisions & amalgamate their battalions into German divisions. Yet Romanian spirit improved after spring arrived. 4/10

This was a tertiary front at best. Stavka committed the bare minimum as it built up Soviet defenses around Kursk. Yet the Soviets launched major attacks from 14 April-11 May & 20 May-6 June to attrite & try to destroy the Axis forces. 5/10

Romanian mountain divisions in Crimea rotated spots with those in the Kuban bridgehead in March & June, so for a time, Romanian troops made up 40% of the Axis troops holding the line. 6/10

The Romanian 2nd Mountain Division was not broken up but reinforced with German battalions & held the northern flank while the 9th Cavalry Division, also in one piece, guarded the southern coast from Soviet amphibious landings. 7/10

German Army Group A had responsibility for holding the Mius line in S Ukraine, occupying Crimea, & maintaining the Kuban bridgehead. It supplied the Axis forces across the narrow Kerch Strait. Some Romanian units became increasingly equipped with German kit. 8/10

On 16 July 1943, the Soviets began another major push to break through & destroy the Axis forces in the Kuban bridgehead, which culminated at the end of the month. (Although it was restarted a week later.) 9/10

The Axis line bent but didn't break in the Kuban bridgehead. In Ukraine, however, Axis forces had to retreat under Soviet blows. Thus, most of 110,000 Romanian troops still in the USSR realized that the tide had turned for good against Nazi Germany & its allies. 10/10

An #OTD 1943 🧵 on Romanian troops in the Kuban bridgehead.
👀 @WW2TV @DrBenWheatley @BenHShepherd @James1940 @JeffCRutherford @WW2girl1944
@almurray @Mother_of_Tanks @thehistoryguy @OTDCanMilHis @SWWResearchNA @WW2Today

For more about the Romanian Army on the eastern front, check out my book from @CornellPress. Soon appearing in a Romanian translation from @EdCorint.
cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/978150175…

An #OTD 1943 🧵 on Romanian troops in the Kuban bridgehead.
👀 @DVM_Vet @ITM_archives @comando_supremo @WWIImuseum @WW2_Podcast

@AdrianStefanes @DVM_Vet @ITM_archives @comando_supremo @WWIImuseum @WW2_Podcast I havent come across much angst about Romanians fighting alongside Germans. The Romanian Army was in awe of the German Army & committed to trying to destroy the Red Army. The conflict between Romanians & Hungarians on the front is greatly exaggerated.

@AdrianStefanes @DVM_Vet @ITM_archives @comando_supremo @WWIImuseum @WW2_Podcast The Romanian Army wasn't angrily waiting for over 3 years to turn on the German Army. Of course, the initial enthusiasm of 1941 had ebbed away by 1944, but one shouldn't read history backwards but forwards.

@AdrianStefanes @DVM_Vet @ITM_archives @comando_supremo @WWIImuseum @WW2_Podcast An alliance based on a similar ideological worldviews between Nazi Germany & Romania (nationalism, antisemitism, anticommunism), both having dictatorships, & shared contempt for liberal democracy.

@AdrianStefanes @DVM_Vet @ITM_archives @comando_supremo @WWIImuseum @WW2_Podcast Also, "took notice of the rise of [Nazi] Germany" is quite the euphemism.