Romanian Third Army
Encyclopedia
The 3rd Army was a field army
of the Romanian Land Forces
active from the 19th century to the 1990s. It that fought as part of the German
Army Group B
during World War II
, in Ukraine
, Crimea
, and the Caucasus
. General Petre Dumitrescu
commanded 3rd Army for a period.
On 22 June 1941, according to research by Leo Niehorster, the 3rd Army comprised the 4th Army Corps (6th and 7th Infantry Divisions), the Cavalry Corps (5th and 8th Cavalry Brigades), the Mountain Corps (1st, 2nd, and 4th Mountain Brigades), two separate artillery battalion, a target acquisition battery, and the Air Force's 3rd Army Cooperation Command.
For Operation Munchen
, in the north, the 3rd Army was reduced only to the Mountain Corps (the 1st, 2nd and 4th Mountain Brigades, 8th Cavalry Brigade and 7th Infantry Division), because the Cavalry Corps (5th and 6th Cavalry Brigades) had been subordinated directly to the German Eleventh Army. In fact the 3rd Army command did not have any operative attributes until 2 July 1941, when the ground offensive started also in the Romanian sector.
In 1942 in the Caucasus, the 3rd Army initially consisted of the Cavalry Corps (Romania) (5th, 6th and 9th Cavalry Divisions) and the 1st Army Corps (Romania) (2nd Mountain Division and German 298th Infantry Division). 3rd Army was subordinated to the German 17th Army
. It also had 3 observation squadrons assigned to it. However, after reorganization, on 7 August, only the Cavalry Corps remained with it.
, the Third Army bore the brunt of the Soviet Operation Uranus
, which saw the German Sixth Army
encircled and destroyed during the Battle of Stalingrad
.
The Romanian Third Army, commanded by General Petre Dumitrescu
, was transferred from the Caucasus
and replaced five Italian and two German divisions between Blij Perekopa and Bokovkaya, with the task of defending a front 138 km long, far beyond its capabilities. To make things worse, the Soviets had two bridgehead
s over the Don River
, at Serafimovich
and Kletskaya, which the German High Command ignored, despite repeated requests by General Dumitrescu for permission to eliminate them. At the start of the Soviet offensive in November 1942, the Third Army had a nominal strength of 152,492 Romanian troops and 11,211 German troops, being made up from 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Corps in a single echelon (1st Cavalry
, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th and 14th Infantry Divisions) from West to East, with 7th Cavalry and 15th Infantry Divisions in reserve. The Long Range Recon (DO-17M) and the 112th Liaison Squadrons (Fleet 10G) were also at its disposal. In November came the German XLVIII Panzer Corps, composed of the 22nd German Panzer
Division and the 1st Romanian Armored Division, which also was put in reserve. It also had the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 8th Motorized Heavy Artillery
Regiments and the 41st Independent Motorized Heavy Artillery Battalion. Opposite the 3rd Army was the Soviet Southwestern Front
(1st Guards Army
, 5th Tank Army and 21st Army (Soviet Union)
), with a staggering force of 5,888 artillery pieces, 728 tanks and 790 planes.
On 19 November at 0530, in the sector of the Third Romanian Army, violent artillery barrages battered the entire front line. The weather conditions were harsh: blizzards, snow, -20 degrees Celsius, which made close air support impossible. The Soviets assaulted the positions of the 14th Infantry Division with the 5th Tank Army and the junction between the 13th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division with the 21st Army, with a total of 338,631 men against three weak divisions. The 37mm and 47mm AT guns were useless against Soviet tanks, so the Romanian troops had to use grenades, anti-tank mines and Molotov cocktails. In the first hours, they managed to delay the advance and destroy some armor, but later they had to retreat or be encircled. The Soviets also attacked west of Sarisa Valley and at Raspopinskaya, but were repulsed. In response to the situation that developed south of Kletskaya, the 48th Armored Corps was ordered to move towards the Soviet main thrust and shortly afterwards, the 22nd Panzer Division was redirected to the northwest towards Bolsoy and, reaching Petshany, it engaged Soviet armor. By evening, the 1st Romanian Armored Division reached Sirkovsky, making preparations to attack Bolsoy the next day.
In the first day of the offensive, the Soviet forces succeeded in making two breaches in the defences of the Third Romanian Army: one in the center, 16–18 km wide and 15 km deep and one in the right wing, between the Third Romanian Army and the 6th German Army, 10–12 km wide and 35–40 km deep.
On 20 November, the Soviet armored and motorized forces advanced towards Kalach
, with the intention of encircling the 6th German Army fighting at Stalingrad. The 22nd Panzer Division, overwhelmed at Petshany by the large number of Soviet tanks, withdrew north to Bol. Donschynka. The 1st Romanian Armored Division, without any available radio contact, tried to advance to Petshany in order to make the junction with the 22nd Panzer Division, but was forced to stop a few kilometers west of Korotovsky by stiff Soviet resistance and numerous counterattacks by Soviet tanks, flowing between the German 22nd and the Romanian 1st, occupying the Varlamovsky and Peralasovsky villages and making the junction with forces coming from Gromsky, thus encircling the 5th Corps. In the 4th Corps' sector, 40 Soviet tanks attacked the 15th Infantry Division but were repulsed by evening with heavy loses. Meanwhile, the 7th Cavalry Division unsuccessfully tried to block the enemy's advance; the right wing of the division, which had fully received the blow, retreated south while the left wing was reassigned to the 9th Infantry Division. Also, the 1st Cavalry Division had to retreat towards Stalingrad and was subordinated to the 6th Army.
At the end of the day, the defence position of the Third Romanian Army had a 70 km wide gap in the centre. In this pocket were encircled the 1st Armored Division, three infantry divisions (5th, 6th and 15th) and remains of other two infantry divisions (13th and 14th). The former commander of the 6th Infantry Division, Major General Mihail Lascăr
, took command of the troops from the infantry divisions and formed the "General Lascăr" Group (40,000 men). At this point, the command point of the Third Army began moving to Morozovskaya.
On 21 November, the 22nd Panzer Division tried to advance towards Perelasovsky in order to make the junction with the 1st Armored Division and to relieve the "General Lascār" Group, but failed and was stopped the next day between Bol. Donschynka and Perelasovky. The 1st Romanian Armored Division advanced towards Bol. Donschynka, where it was hoping to find the German division, but the village was under Soviet control and then headed south and, after grim fighting, crossed the Chir river on the 25 November.
On 22 November, the encircled "General Lascār" Group, which had been ordered to resist at any cost, was attacked and transmitted its last message. They had run out of food and each gun had only 40 rounds left and after refusing the Soviet proposal to surrender they were entirely destroyed. Only the 1st Battalion of the 15 Infantry Regiment (6th infantry Division), commanded by Major Gheorghe Rasconescu, succeeded in getting to the river Chir with all its soldiers and equipment. His battalion had managed to prevent the Soviet 8th Cavalry Division from capturing the vital German airfield at Oblivkaya from 26 November to 3 December.
On 23 November, the Soviet troops of the South-Western Front and of the Stalingrad Front met at Kalach-na-Donu
, completing the encirclement of the German 6th Army, parts of the Fourth Army and six other Romanian infantry divisions and one cavalry division.
The reported 1989 order of battle was:
3rd RVA Army HQ - Craiova
:
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
of the Romanian Land Forces
Romanian Land Forces
The Romanian Land Forces is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the force.The Romanian Land Forces were founded on...
active from the 19th century to the 1990s. It that fought as part of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Army Group B
Army Group B
Army Group B was the name of three different German Army Groups that saw action during World War II.-Battle for France:The first was involved in the Western Campaign in 1940 in Belgium and the Netherlands which was to be aimed to conquer the Maas bridges after the German airborne actions in Rotterdam...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, and the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
. General Petre Dumitrescu
Petre Dumitrescu
Petre Dumitrescu was a Romanian general during World War II, who led the Romanian Third Army on its campaign against the Red Army in the eastern front.-Early life and military career:...
commanded 3rd Army for a period.
On 22 June 1941, according to research by Leo Niehorster, the 3rd Army comprised the 4th Army Corps (6th and 7th Infantry Divisions), the Cavalry Corps (5th and 8th Cavalry Brigades), the Mountain Corps (1st, 2nd, and 4th Mountain Brigades), two separate artillery battalion, a target acquisition battery, and the Air Force's 3rd Army Cooperation Command.
For Operation Munchen
Operation München
Operation München was the codename of a joint German-Romanian offensive in World War II, with the primary objective of re-capturing Bessarabia, ceded by Romania to the Soviet Union a year before. The operation concluded successfully after 24 days of fighting.Axis formations involved included the...
, in the north, the 3rd Army was reduced only to the Mountain Corps (the 1st, 2nd and 4th Mountain Brigades, 8th Cavalry Brigade and 7th Infantry Division), because the Cavalry Corps (5th and 6th Cavalry Brigades) had been subordinated directly to the German Eleventh Army. In fact the 3rd Army command did not have any operative attributes until 2 July 1941, when the ground offensive started also in the Romanian sector.
In 1942 in the Caucasus, the 3rd Army initially consisted of the Cavalry Corps (Romania) (5th, 6th and 9th Cavalry Divisions) and the 1st Army Corps (Romania) (2nd Mountain Division and German 298th Infantry Division). 3rd Army was subordinated to the German 17th Army
17th Army (Germany)
The German Seventeenth Army was a World War II field army.-Commanding officers:* General der Infanterie Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel * Generaloberst Hermann Hoth...
. It also had 3 observation squadrons assigned to it. However, after reorganization, on 7 August, only the Cavalry Corps remained with it.
Battle of Stalingrad
Along with the Romanian Fourth ArmyRomanian Fourth Army
The 4th Infantry Division Gemina is one of three major units of the Romanian Land Forces, with its headquarters in Cluj-Napoca. Until June 15, 2008 it was designated as the 4th Territorial Army Corps "Mareşal Constantin Prezan" .-Structure in April 2007 :This structure was in force when the...
, the Third Army bore the brunt of the Soviet Operation Uranus
Operation Uranus
Operation Uranus was the codename of the Soviet strategic operation in World War II which led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army. The operation formed part of the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad, and was...
, which saw the German Sixth Army
German Sixth Army
The 6th Army was a designation for German field armies which saw action in World War I and World War II. The 6th Army is best known for fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad, during which it became the first entire German field army to be completely destroyed...
encircled and destroyed during the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
.
The Romanian Third Army, commanded by General Petre Dumitrescu
Petre Dumitrescu
Petre Dumitrescu was a Romanian general during World War II, who led the Romanian Third Army on its campaign against the Red Army in the eastern front.-Early life and military career:...
, was transferred from the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
and replaced five Italian and two German divisions between Blij Perekopa and Bokovkaya, with the task of defending a front 138 km long, far beyond its capabilities. To make things worse, the Soviets had two bridgehead
Bridgehead
A bridgehead is a High Middle Ages military term, which antedating the invention of cannons was in the original meaning expressly a referent term to the military fortification that protects the end of a bridge...
s over the Don River
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
, at Serafimovich
Serafimovich
Serafimovich is a town and the administrative center of Serafimovichsky District of Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Don River, northwest of Volgograd. Population:...
and Kletskaya, which the German High Command ignored, despite repeated requests by General Dumitrescu for permission to eliminate them. At the start of the Soviet offensive in November 1942, the Third Army had a nominal strength of 152,492 Romanian troops and 11,211 German troops, being made up from 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Corps in a single echelon (1st Cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th and 14th Infantry Divisions) from West to East, with 7th Cavalry and 15th Infantry Divisions in reserve. The Long Range Recon (DO-17M) and the 112th Liaison Squadrons (Fleet 10G) were also at its disposal. In November came the German XLVIII Panzer Corps, composed of the 22nd German Panzer
Panzer
A Panzer is a German language word that, when used as a noun, means "tank". When it is used as an adjective, it means either tank or "armoured" .- Etymology :...
Division and the 1st Romanian Armored Division, which also was put in reserve. It also had the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 8th Motorized Heavy Artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
Regiments and the 41st Independent Motorized Heavy Artillery Battalion. Opposite the 3rd Army was the Soviet Southwestern Front
Soviet Southwestern Front
The Southwestern Front was a name given to a Front by the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War, by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic during the Russian Civil War, and by the Red Army during the Second World War.The Southwestern Front in this article describes several...
(1st Guards Army
1st Guards Army
1st Guards Army may refer to:*1st Guards Army *1st Guards Tank Army...
, 5th Tank Army and 21st Army (Soviet Union)
21st Army (Soviet Union)
-June to September 1941:21st Army was a part of the Second Operational Echelon of the RKKA. It was formed from the forces of the Volga Military District in May 1941 and was initially based on 63rd Rifle Corps and 66th Rifle Corps. The army was under the command of Lieutenant-General Vasilii...
), with a staggering force of 5,888 artillery pieces, 728 tanks and 790 planes.
On 19 November at 0530, in the sector of the Third Romanian Army, violent artillery barrages battered the entire front line. The weather conditions were harsh: blizzards, snow, -20 degrees Celsius, which made close air support impossible. The Soviets assaulted the positions of the 14th Infantry Division with the 5th Tank Army and the junction between the 13th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division with the 21st Army, with a total of 338,631 men against three weak divisions. The 37mm and 47mm AT guns were useless against Soviet tanks, so the Romanian troops had to use grenades, anti-tank mines and Molotov cocktails. In the first hours, they managed to delay the advance and destroy some armor, but later they had to retreat or be encircled. The Soviets also attacked west of Sarisa Valley and at Raspopinskaya, but were repulsed. In response to the situation that developed south of Kletskaya, the 48th Armored Corps was ordered to move towards the Soviet main thrust and shortly afterwards, the 22nd Panzer Division was redirected to the northwest towards Bolsoy and, reaching Petshany, it engaged Soviet armor. By evening, the 1st Romanian Armored Division reached Sirkovsky, making preparations to attack Bolsoy the next day.
In the first day of the offensive, the Soviet forces succeeded in making two breaches in the defences of the Third Romanian Army: one in the center, 16–18 km wide and 15 km deep and one in the right wing, between the Third Romanian Army and the 6th German Army, 10–12 km wide and 35–40 km deep.
Kalach-na-Donu
Kalach-na-Donu , or Kalach-on-the-Don, is a town and the administrative center of Kalachyovsky District of Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the Don River west of Volgograd. Population: It was founded in 1708 as a Cossack sloboda...
, with the intention of encircling the 6th German Army fighting at Stalingrad. The 22nd Panzer Division, overwhelmed at Petshany by the large number of Soviet tanks, withdrew north to Bol. Donschynka. The 1st Romanian Armored Division, without any available radio contact, tried to advance to Petshany in order to make the junction with the 22nd Panzer Division, but was forced to stop a few kilometers west of Korotovsky by stiff Soviet resistance and numerous counterattacks by Soviet tanks, flowing between the German 22nd and the Romanian 1st, occupying the Varlamovsky and Peralasovsky villages and making the junction with forces coming from Gromsky, thus encircling the 5th Corps. In the 4th Corps' sector, 40 Soviet tanks attacked the 15th Infantry Division but were repulsed by evening with heavy loses. Meanwhile, the 7th Cavalry Division unsuccessfully tried to block the enemy's advance; the right wing of the division, which had fully received the blow, retreated south while the left wing was reassigned to the 9th Infantry Division. Also, the 1st Cavalry Division had to retreat towards Stalingrad and was subordinated to the 6th Army.
At the end of the day, the defence position of the Third Romanian Army had a 70 km wide gap in the centre. In this pocket were encircled the 1st Armored Division, three infantry divisions (5th, 6th and 15th) and remains of other two infantry divisions (13th and 14th). The former commander of the 6th Infantry Division, Major General Mihail Lascăr
Mihail Lascar
Mihail Lascăr was a Romanian General during World War II, and Minister of Defense from 1946 to 1947.After graduating from the Infantry Officer School in 1910 with the rank of 2nd lieutenant, he fought in the Second Balkan War and in World War I, being promoted to major...
, took command of the troops from the infantry divisions and formed the "General Lascăr" Group (40,000 men). At this point, the command point of the Third Army began moving to Morozovskaya.
On 21 November, the 22nd Panzer Division tried to advance towards Perelasovsky in order to make the junction with the 1st Armored Division and to relieve the "General Lascār" Group, but failed and was stopped the next day between Bol. Donschynka and Perelasovky. The 1st Romanian Armored Division advanced towards Bol. Donschynka, where it was hoping to find the German division, but the village was under Soviet control and then headed south and, after grim fighting, crossed the Chir river on the 25 November.
On 22 November, the encircled "General Lascār" Group, which had been ordered to resist at any cost, was attacked and transmitted its last message. They had run out of food and each gun had only 40 rounds left and after refusing the Soviet proposal to surrender they were entirely destroyed. Only the 1st Battalion of the 15 Infantry Regiment (6th infantry Division), commanded by Major Gheorghe Rasconescu, succeeded in getting to the river Chir with all its soldiers and equipment. His battalion had managed to prevent the Soviet 8th Cavalry Division from capturing the vital German airfield at Oblivkaya from 26 November to 3 December.
On 23 November, the Soviet troops of the South-Western Front and of the Stalingrad Front met at Kalach-na-Donu
Kalach-na-Donu
Kalach-na-Donu , or Kalach-on-the-Don, is a town and the administrative center of Kalachyovsky District of Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the Don River west of Volgograd. Population: It was founded in 1708 as a Cossack sloboda...
, completing the encirclement of the German 6th Army, parts of the Fourth Army and six other Romanian infantry divisions and one cavalry division.
Later in the war and postwar
It later fought as part of a Soviet Front after Romania changed sides, and then existed during the Cold War, possibly up until 1989.The reported 1989 order of battle was:
3rd RVA Army HQ - Craiova
Craiova
Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...
:
- 2nd Mechanised Division2nd Infantry Division (Romania)The 2nd Infantry Division is an infantry division of the Romanian Land Forces.It was part of the 1st Army Corps during the mobilisation of 1877, during the Romanian War of Independence. It was at the Battle of Plevna in 1877 as part of the 2nd Operational Corps. During the Second World War it...
(Cat B) - CraiovaCraiovaCraiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...
: with T-55, BTR-60, S-60, D-30, D-20 - 18th Motorised Division (Cat B) - TimişoaraTimisoaraTimișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
- 4th Mountain Brigade
External links
- Third Army in Crimea - 1941
- http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/031_rumania/42-06/_army_03.html - 3rd Army 28 June 1942