Armata Română în al Doilea Război Mondial

In June 1941, Romania entered the Second World War on the side of the Axis and against the USSR, hoping to regain the lost territories. On June 22, 1941, the German and Romanian armies began the campaign against the Soviet Union through "Operation Munich", the Romanian army being motivated by the desire to take back Bessarabia and Bucovina from the USSR. On August 1, 1943, the Allies bombed the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti (Operation Tidal Wave). After the Battle of Stalingrad from August 23, 1942 to February 2, 1943, the Soviet army began to advance and, in March 1944, reached the territory of Romania. Romanian troops participated in the war alongside the Axis in the German Army Group under the name "Southern Ukraine". Marshal Antonescu, convinced of the impossibility of stopping the Soviet assault, on the night of August 21 asked Ambassador Manfred von Killinger to commit all German reserves to support the front, and the next day, on August 22, he informed the Romanian government of his intention to continue fighting alongside Nazi Germany.