80 years ago, on June 28, 1940, the Bessarabian operation of the Red Army began. Stalin returned Bessarabia to Russia-USSR.
Russian outskirts
The historical region in southeastern Europe between the Black Sea and the Danube, Prut and Dniester rivers has been part of Russia since ancient times. At first it was under the control of the Scythians - the direct ancestors of the Rus-Rus. Then the Slavic tribes of Ulitsy and Tivertsy lived here. Among their cities was Belgorod (now Belgorod-Dnestrovsky). These tribal unions were part of Kievan Rus. Further, these lands were part of Galician Rus. The city of Galati is the Old Russian Small Galich.
After a series of nomadic invasions and the "Mongol" invasion, the region was devastated. In the middle of the XIV century, Bessarabia became part of the Moldavian principality and was inhabited by Moldovans (in whose ethnogenesis the Slav-Rusyns took an active part). At the beginning of the 16th century, Turkey conquered Bessarabia and built a number of fortresses here. In the course of a number of Russian-Turkish troops, Russia gradually regained control of the Northern Black Sea region. After the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812. according to the Bucharest Peace of 1812, Bessarabia was annexed to the Russian Empire.
According to the Adrianople Peace Treaty of 1829, which ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, the Danube Delta was annexed to Russia. The Crimean War led to the loss of part of Bessarabia. According to the Paris Peace of 1856, part of Russian Bessarabia was annexed to Moldavia (Ottoman vassal), and the Danube Delta to Turkey. It took a new war with Turkey (1877-1878) to regain their land. Under the Berlin Treaty of 1878, the southern part of Bessarabia was ceded to Russia. However, Northern Dobrudzha and the Danube Delta were received by Romania (then Russia's ally against Turkey).
Taking advantage of the collapse of the Russian Empire, which was Romania's ally in the war with the German bloc, in December 1917 - January 1918, the Romanian army occupied Bessarabia. In December 1919, the Romanian parliament legalized the annexation of Bukovina and Bessarabia. In October 1920, the Entente countries adopted the Paris Protocol, which justified the annexation of Bessarabia and recognized Romania's sovereignty over the region.
Bucharest actively pursued a policy of Romanization of the occupied Russian outskirts. The share of the Romanian population increased artificially. In the agrarian sphere, a policy of colonization was pursued - the number of Romanian landowners increased.
The Russian language (including its Little Russian variety) was expelled from the official sphere. Russian and Russian-speaking from government agencies, education and culture. Thousands of people were dismissed for lack of knowledge of the state language or for political reasons. The old press was liquidated, censorship was introduced. Old political and social organizations were liquidated (for example, the communists). The population was tightly controlled by the military administration, gendarmerie and secret police. As a result, by the end of the 1930s, only Romanian was allowed to speak.
It is clear that this Bucharest policy has led to strong resistance. The Romanians suppressed the resistance of the local population by force. The Romanian army brutally crushed a series of uprisings. In particular, the Tatarbunar Uprising of 1924 - the uprising of peasants led by local communists against the Romanian authorities. Thousands of rebels were killed and arrested. Repressions, terror and the anti-popular policy of the Romanian authorities (in particular, the agrarian policy that infringed upon the interests of the peasantry) led to a mass exodus of the population of Bessarabia. In just ten years, about 300 thousand people (12% of the region's population) fled to America, Western Europe and Russia.
Bessarabian question
Moscow did not acknowledge the rejection of its region. In a note dated November 1, 1920, Soviet Russia expressed its strong protest against the annexation and the Paris Protocol. At the Vienna Conference of 1924, Moscow proposed holding a plebiscite in Bessarabia, which could approve the annexation or reject it. But Romania rejected the Soviet Union's proposal. In response to this, on April 6, 1924, the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR made the following statement in the Pravda newspaper:
"Until the plebiscite, we will consider Bessarabia an integral part of Ukraine and the Soviet Union."
Thus, the historical right was on the side of Russia. Bessarabia was a Russian outskirts, inhabited from ancient times by the Rus-Slavs. The region was part of the Russian land. In the course of a series of invasions, including Turkish, Bessarabia was torn away from Russia. After a series of difficult wars in which thousands of Russian soldiers died, Russia returned Bessarabia. Troubles of 1917-1918 led to the fact that the region was occupied by Romania (an ally that had betrayed Russia). Moscow has never recognized the annexation of Bessarabia.
In the late 1930s, Moscow got the opportunity to return the land occupied by the Romanians. Germany, when signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939, agreed that Bessarabia was included in the USSR's sphere of influence. Romania was an ally of France. However, in May - June 1940, German divisions crushed France. The time has come.
Romania was larger and stronger than the Baltic states. However, it was weakened by internal contradictions. The country was torn apart by political intrigue, predation and theft of the top. For a long time, the nationalists from the "Iron Guard" did not have the support of the country's financial and economic circles, so they could not win in parliament. However, in the 1930s, their positions were strengthened. Nationalists staked not on destructive, but on constructive programs. They created labor and agricultural communities, trade cooperatives. As a result, they attracted new supporters, strengthened their financial situation. In addition, the chief of the General Staff, and then the Minister of Defense of Romania, Yon Antonescu, became interested in the nationalists. He was closely associated with the country's financial elite. In the financial and industrial circles at this time, many realized that the country was at an impasse and were looking for a way out of the crisis. The Reich example seemed attractive.
Antonescu was not averse to becoming the Romanian Fuhrer. But he did not have his own party. Then he began to provide material assistance to the "iron guards". King Carol II of Romania, who feared the ambitious Minister of Defense for some reason, ordered the arrest of Antonescu and the top of the Iron Guard in the spring of 1938. But the general was too popular a person, he had to be released. He was only demoted to the rank of corps commander. And the head of the "Iron Guard" Corneliu Codreanu and his associates were killed allegedly while trying to escape. In response, the nationalists unleashed terror against their opponents (several interior ministers were killed).
Meanwhile, Antonescu acquired the image of a "fighter for the people." Criticized the government for a failed domestic policy. In foreign policy, he demanded to give up looking at Paris and go into the channel of the Reich. In the summer of 1940, his advice seemed prophetic. German troops entered Paris. Romania had no more patron. And near the Romanian border, the Red Army was preparing for a campaign.
Liberation
Troops on the Romanian direction at the beginning of June 1940 were led by the hero of Khalkhin-Gola G. K. Zhukov. On June 9, 1940, the troops of the Kiev and Odessa districts began preparations for the liberation campaign. In mid-June, the USSR led its troops to the Baltics ("The Myth of the Soviet Occupation of the Baltics"). After that, it was time to return Bessarabia. On June 20, 1940, the commander of the Kiev Military District, General Georgy Zhukov, received a directive from the People's Commissar of Defense and the General Staff to begin preparations for the Bessarabian operation in order to defeat the Romanian army and liberate Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia. From the troops of the Kiev and Odessa military districts, the Southern Front was created: the 12th, 5th and 9th armies. Three armies consisted of 10 rifle and 3 cavalry corps, separate rifle divisions, 11 tank brigades, etc. In total, more than 460 thousand people, up to 12 thousand guns and mortars, more than 2,400 tanks, over 2,100 aircraft. Plus the support of the Black Sea Fleet, naval aviation - 380 aircraft. The formation of the Danube military flotilla began.
Moscow informed Berlin that it was going to return Bessarabia and, at the same time, Northern Bukovina (the majority of the population there were Little Russians-Ukrainians). Berlin expressed surprise and argued a little only about Bukovina. She was never formally part of Russia, and in the 1939 pact there was no talk of her. However, the Germans did not quarrel over such a trifle and agreed. On June 26, 1940, Molotov presented the Romanian ambassador with a demand to transfer Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the USSR. Moscow emphasized that Romania took advantage of Russia's temporary weakness and forcibly seized its lands.
Mobilization was announced in Romania. Romania deployed a large grouping of troops on the Soviet border - the 1st Army Group (3rd and 4th Armies). A total of 6 army and 1 mountain infantry corps, about 450 thousand people. Bucharest fielded up to 60% of its forces. However, the Romanian elite was openly afraid to fight against the USSR. There were no powerful defensive lines like the Mannerheim or Maginot line on the Romanian border. In the pre-war period, the Romanians were mired in frivolity, theft and strife; they did not pay special attention to the defense of the eastern borders. They hoped for the "roof" of France and England. Now there were no patrons. If the Russians launch an offensive, they cannot be stopped. The fighting efficiency of the army, despite its size, was low.
Bucharest began to beg for help from Germany. But Berlin did not want a big war in the Balkans yet. What if the Russians will not just crush the Romanians, but move on? They will take over the oil fields that the Reich needs, they will put their ruler in Romania. Maybe they will go further, to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. Germany will get a big problem in Southeast Europe. Therefore, Berlin wanted to settle the conflict without war. German diplomacy began to put pressure on Bucharest, insisting that it yield. At the same time, other neighbors of Romania began to bustle, from whom it also took a number of territories. The Hungarians remembered that after the First World War the Romanians stole Transylvania from her, the Bulgarians remembered South Dobrudja. If the Russians launch an offensive, Hungary and Bulgaria can also fight for their lands. The Germans played their game in these disputes. In trying to persuade Bucharest to yield to Moscow, they lied that they would take Romania under their protection, put the Hungarians and Bulgarians in their place.
The Romanian elite knew itself that the country was not ready for war. On June 28, 1940, Romania accepted the ultimatum. Zhukov's armies entered Bessarabia peacefully. Romanian troops went beyond the river without a fight. Rod. There were only a few minor skirmishes and gunfights. By July 3, 1940, the Bessarabian operation as a whole was completed. Our troops established full control over the territories of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and Hertz, and a new border was established between Russia and Romania.
Local residents, especially Russians and Ukrainians-Little Russians, who suffered greatly from the policy of Romanization, greeted the Red Army with enthusiasm. Red flags were hung on the houses: "Ours have come!" National festivities unfolded in the streets. The Bessarabians, who lived and worked in Romania, tried to return to their homeland to live under Soviet rule. On August 2, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decided to unite the Moldavian Autonomous Republic with Bessarabia, the Moldavian SSR was created with the capital in Chisinau. Northern Bukovina became part of the Ukrainian SSR.
The population of Bessarabia, like the Baltics, only benefited from reunification with Russia. Some citizens chose to go abroad, someone fell under repression and deportation. Politicians, officials, and representatives of the ruling class (manufacturers, bankers, landowners) who are hostile to Russia have suffered. But there were an insignificant number: in Bessarabia - 8 thousand people. At the same time, they were not shot, not driven to hard labor, but only evicted further away (to Turkestan or Siberia). In Germany, France, Romania and other countries, major military-political changes were accompanied by much larger repressions and purges. The bulk of the people in Moldova only won. The development of the economy, culture, science and education of the republic began.
Thus, Stalin returned to Russia its historical lands without a war. The military, economic and demographic potential of the Soviet Union was strengthened. Access to the largest navigable river in Western Europe, the Danube, was of great military and economic importance. The Danube Flotilla was created on the Danube. Stalin's creative policy brought Russia a colossal gain. Without losses and serious efforts, the USSR annexed the vast northwestern, western and southwestern territories. The country has regained its previously lost fringes. The collapse of the Versailles system, the Anglo-French coalition brought Russia to the rank of great powers, for the first time since 1917!
