Operation Munchen

Operation München
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Romanian cavalryman escorting Soviet prisoners
Date July 2 to July 26, 1941 Location Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina Result Axis victory
Belligerents
Soviet Union	Romania Germany
Commanders and leaders
Ivan Tyulenev P. G. Ponedelin Yakov Cherevichenko Filipp Oktyabrskiy	Ion Antonescu Nicolae Ciupercă Petre Dumitrescu Horia Macellariu Eugen Ritter von Schobert
Units involved
Odessa Military District: 9th Army 12th Army 18th Army	Army Group Antonescu: 3rd Army 4th Army 11th Army
Strength
364,700 troops 700 tanks 1,750 aircraft	325,685 troops 201 tanks 672 aircraft 5 divisions, 420 aircraft
Casualties and losses
Total: 17,893 8,519 killed/missing, 9,374 wounded 255 aircraft 7 armored patrol boats sunk 3+ submarines sunk (2 after the Operation)	Total: 21,738 4,112 killed, 12,120 wounded, 5,506 missing 58 aircraft 1 auxiliary minelayer sunk

Operation München (Operaţiunea München) was the Romanian codename of a joint German-Romanian offensive during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II, with the primary objective of recapturing Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, ceded by Romania to the Soviet Union a year before (Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina). The Operation concluded successfully after 24 days of fighting. Axis formations involved included the Third Romanian Army, the Fourth Romanian Army, and the Wehrmacht Eleventh Army. The invasion was followed by a genocide against the Jewish population of Bessarabia.

The offensive started on 2 July, with Romanian forces striking North. On 5 July, Chernivtsi, the capital of Northern Bukovina, was seized by the 3rd and 23rd Vânători de Munte battalions. On 16 July, Chișinău, the Bessarabian capital, was seized after heavy fighting by Romanian forces spearheaded by the 1st Romanian Armored Division (Divizia 1 Blindată), equipped mainly with 126 R-2 light tanks. By 26 July, the entire region was under Romanian-German control. On 17 August, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were formally re-integrated into the Romanian State.

On 3 July, Romanian gunboat V6 and torpedo boat V2 attacked the Soviet observation point at Musura. On 8 July, Romanian monitor Basarabia and torpedo boat V2 shelled Soviet artillery positions at Giurgiulești, the main port of the Moldavian SSR. On 14 July, Romanian monitor Bucovina and torpedo boat V2 shelled a Soviet battery near Giurgiulești. Seven Soviet armored patrol boats were also lost to Romanian riverine artillery during the Operation: four were sunk at Cahul on 8 July, one was sunk at Vâlcov on 11 July and two more were sunk at Periprava on 19 July.

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