Chapter IX
October 2nd 1939
Two days after the Romanian Democratic Army, the army used by the Romanian Democratic Republic began getting involved in the Romanian Civil War, Germany issues a statement that any direct Soviet intervention in Romania will be considered an act of war against all the Munich Pact. Germany having received evidence about the Romanian Democratic Army being not what it seems to be hopes that this declaration is enough to keep the Soviet presence limited to the Romanian Democratic Army.
October 5th 1939
Nobody new who fired the first shot, but everybody knew it was only a matter of time before the German forces operating in Romania and the Romanian Democratic Army would make contact, the first shot that was fire escalated and by the end of the day both the Germans and the Romanian Democratic Army where engaging each other in full combat.
October 8th 1939
Romanian National Council forces backed by German forces entered the capitol Bucharest. King Carol II of Romania and prime minster Gheorghe Argeşanu are arrested by Romanian National Council forces. Seeing no other solution the Chief of the Romanian General Staff, general Gheorghe Mihail surrenders all loyalist forces to the Major-General Dumitru Coroamă, commander of Romanian National Council forces.
October 9th 1939
Ion Antonescu, backed by the Germans is made Prime Minister of Romania.
October 10th 1939
For the second time in his life Michael ascended the throne of Romania, he also issued a royal decree declaring Antonescu Conducător (leader) of the state. King Michael I father, the former Carol II is under house arrest somewhere in Romania.
October 15th 1939
At 09:00, the Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front), totaling three Armies (5th Army, 6th Army and the 12th Army) begins a large scale invasion of Romania, the Romanian Democratic Army which was already fighting in Romania is merged into the Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front).
At 12:15, the Soviet ambassadors to Berlin Alexey Shkvartsev delivers the Soviet declaration of war to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.
At 13:00, Romania declares war against the Soviet Union.
By the end of the day, Italy also had declared war with Bulgaria and Hungary not having decided yet, the Eurasia War had begun.
October 16th 1939
In less than a year and for the second time, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier issue a joint statement condemning the Soviet invasion of Romina and urge all sides to prevent the war from escalating.
October 16th 1939
The Luftwaffe which still building up its strength and operating from Hungarian airfields is out gunned by the massive numbers of Soviet fighters over the skies of Romania, the Royal Romanian Air Force which already suffered during the Romanian Civil War is almost destroyed on the ground ore in the air.
October 17th 1939
16 Petlyakov Pe-8 heavy bombers and fighter escorts belonging to the Soviet Air Force bomb Bucharest, Romania for the first time.
October 18th 1939
Prime Minister of Italy Benito Mussolini orders the creation of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Romania (Italian: (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Romania, or CSIR) in responds to the Soviet invasion of Romania.
October 19th 1939
Deutschland-class heavy cruisers KMS Deutschland-class heavy cruiser and KMS Graf Spee depart Wilhelmshaven Naval Base, Germany to conduct raiding missions against Soviet shipping.
United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims the neutrality of the United States in the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.
October 20th 1939
The French Republic begins to partially mobilize its military to bolster its border defenses.
October 22nd 1939
The British and the French delegation in the Soviet Union request but are denied a meeting with Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Litvinov.
October 24th 1939
In less than nine days the Royal Romanian Army (
made up of former loyalist and Romanian National Council forces) and German units despite tough resistance have been pushed back to almost 10 kilometers of the Romanian capital. German Luftwaffe fighters are taking a heavy toll on Soviet bombers but by sheer numbers the Soviet bombers are wreaking havoc and the Soviet Airforce still maintains air superiority despite increased Luftwaffe activity.
October 25th 1939
Somewhere in the Norwegian Sea, both Deutschland-class heavy cruisers KMS Deutschland-class heavy cruiser and KMS Graf Spee who are conducting raiding missions against Soviet shipping are refuel by a German tanker while at the same time being shadowed by the Royal Navy.
October 27th 1939
The Soviet Air Force begins hitting Hungarian airfields from which German Luftwaffe squadrons are operating from. The Royal Hungarian Air Force and the Luftwaffe mange to shoot down large number of Soviet bombers and their escorts. The same day, the Kingdom of Hungary in responds to these attacks declares war on the Soviet Union.
October 28th 1939
Adolf Hitler summons the three leading representatives of the German armed forces, Walther von Brauchitsch, Hermann Göring, and Erich Raeder together with senior Army commanders to his mountain villa at Obersalzberg in southern Germany, where he announced that the invasion of the Soviet Union will begin as soon as the Romanian Front has been stabilized.
October 29th 1939
On the outskirts of the city Bucharest, the first clashes between Romanian and Germans on one side and Soviets troops on the other side erupts.
November 1st 1939
Heinkel demonstrated the first jet aircraft He 178 to the German Air Ministry, but the German officials are not impressed.
November 4th 1939
The Neutrality Act of 1939, which repeals the arms embargo of 1937, becomes a law in the United States. The Neutrality Act of 1939 means that a general embargo on trading in arms and war materials with all parties in a war (Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union) is imposed, the Act of 1939 also barres American citizens and ships from entering war zones designated by the President.
November 5th 1939
Soviet forces capture the Polesti oil fields, however German and Romanian forces hours before they were forced to retreat mange destroy most of oil field and the refineries.
November 6th 1939
German Luftwaffe bombers operating from Hungary and Romania still under Romanian-German control begin to hit rail lines and supply lines located inside the Soviet Union.
November 7th 1939
The elite 25,000 strong Royal Hungarian Army Carpathian Group (Hungarian: Kárpát Csoport) under the command of Major General Béla Miklós arrives in Romania.
November 8th 1939
While there is heavy fighting in Romania, the German-Polish border and the borders the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) share with the Soviet Union sins October 15th when the war broke out see except some artillery duels, small raids, and light bombing by both sides no major fighting.
November 9th 1939
The Soviet Army seizes control of city Bucharest. Most of the Romanian government including Conducător (leader) of the state Ion Antonescu and King Michael I have managed to flee the Romanian capitol and relocated to Hungary where they are setting up a government in exile.
November 12th 1939
With the front largely stalled in southern Romania the Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front) opens up a new front, attacking northwest in order to cut off German supply routes through the northwestern part of Romania.
November 13th 1939
The first elements belonging to the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Romania (CSIR) arrive in the Romanian Arad County, a province located at the border with the Kingdom of Hungary and a province which is still under Romanian-German control. The CSIR for short will when all units have arrived be made up of 3 division totaling 3,000 officers and 59,000 men.
December 3rd 1939
With eastern Romania (
only Arad County and Bihor County remains under Romanian-German control) under the control of the Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front), the Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front) begins a renewed southern drive to push the Royal Romanian Army and German forces into Bulgaria which, while being a member of Munich Pact, has not yet declared war on the Soviet Union but has made it clear that it will allow Romanian and German forces to enter the country if they are being pushed back.
December 10th 1940
The Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front) advance in southern Romania reaches the Bulgarian border. Surviving German and Romanian forces flee into Bulgaria. The Soviets establish defensive lines and begin to consolidate their gains. In the west the Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front) is approaching the Hungarian border. While the Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front) is digging in, they are unaware that a massive German, Italian, Hungarian and Romanian buildup is occurring in Hungary and the remaining Romanian territory still under their control.
December 13th 1939
The Kingdom of Bulgaria declares war onto the Soviet Union becoming the last of the Munich Pact members to do so.
November 17th 1939
Deutschland-class heavy cruiser KMS Deutschland arrives back to Wilhelmshaven Naval Base, Germany after having conducting raiding mission against Soviet shipping, here sistership and KMS Graf Spee is together with a tanker still operating in the Norwegian Sea where she will remain until relieved by other German naval ships.
November 18th 1939
The Munich Pact launches their operation to liberate Romania. German, Italian, Hungarian and Romanian totaling more than 600,000 troops move from their position in Arad County and Bihor County.
November 19th 1939
The Heinkel He 177 Greif ("griffin"), German Luftwaffe's newest long-range heavy bomber takes its first flight.
November 21st 1939
Three days after their operation to liberate Romania from Soviet occupation, German, Italian, Hungarian and Romanian troops have cut deep into Soviet lines.
November 22nd 1939
The German battleships KMS Scharnhorst and KMS Gneisenau sail into the Norwegian Sea on their first wartime sortie accompanied by the light cruisers LMS Köln and KMS Leipzig (
this is more a propaganda stunt than an actual raiding mission as no Soviet ships has been spotted in the Norwegian Sea sins the outbreak of the war on October 15th).
November 24th 1940
The German 10th Army and the 14th Army link up somewhere in central Romania, behind them more than 250,000 Soviet troops belonging to the Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front) have been trapped and their escape cut off. Luftwaffe, Royal Romanian Air Force, Royal Hungarian Airforce and even the Royal Italian Airforce which is supporting the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Romania pound Soviet troop columns who are trying to flee back to the Soviet Union.
November 28th 1939
Joseph Stalin orders the Soviet troops in Finland to hold position due to a surprisingly resilient Finnish defenses and due the fact that with the German offensive in Romina, the Soviet Army is being redeployed.
November 29th 1939
While German, Italian, Hungarian and Romanian forces are pounding the Soviet central pocket in Romania. The first elements belonging to the German 14th Army reach the Romanian-Soviet border.
December 1st 1939
The Democratic Republic of Finland, a Soviet Union sponsored puppet government is established at Terijoki in occupied Finland with Otto Kuusinen as its leader.
December 5th 1939
With the German 14th Army having halted at the Romanian-Soviet border unwilling as of yet to invade the soviet Union itself, the Soviet pocket totaling more than 200,000 surrenders to the Munich Pact forces that surrounded them, ending a eleven day encirclement which began on November 24th.
December 14th 1939
Munich Pact forces begin to pound into the Soviet defensive lines in eastern Romania but are repulsed by the remaining forces belonging to the Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front) who have dug them self in.
December 21st 1939
What began with many success sins the Munich Pact started their offensive to liberate Romina on November 18th has turned into a bloody stalemate with the Munich Pact having retaken all of western Romania, southern Romania, and the Polesti oil fields but are unable to dislodge the Soviet Army (Ukrainian Front) who are still dug in the Romanian Cetatea Albă County, Cahul County and Tighina County.
December 24th 1939
Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
December 25th 1939
Adolf Hitler orders the transfer of the 10th Army (11 infantry divisions and 2 panzer divisions) which is now in Romania back to Germany leaving the German 14th Army (9 infantry divisions and 2 panzer divisions) to hold the line there.
December 30th 1939
Adolf Hitler set the launch date of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on January 22nd 1940.