The Danube Delta Campaign was a series of naval engagements between the Soviet Danube Flotilla and its Romanian counterpart in late June 1941, during the first days of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

Background

After annexing Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania in the summer of 1940, the Soviet Union gained a border on the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. The Soviets created a new

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same cla ...

on the Danube, which was formed of ships transferred from the

Dnieper Flotilla The Dnieper Flotilla (, ) is the name given to the various naval flotillas on the Dnieper River. These were particularly active in four conflicts: the Russo-Turkish wars of Russo–Turkish War (1735–1739), 1735–39 and Russo-Turkish War (1787– ...

. The new Danube Flotilla consisted of five

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

s (armed with 102 mm and 130 mm guns), twenty-two armored boats, and five transports, supported by an anti-aircraft battalion, fighter and

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

squadrons, a rifle

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

, a machine gun company, a

naval infantry Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...

company, and eight

shore batteries In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facil ...

(two 152 mm, one 130 mm, one 122 mm, one 76 mm, and three 45 mm gun batteries). Romania joined Operation Barbarossa and declared war on the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

on 22 June 1941, launching attacks against Soviet airfields in Bessarabia and destroying numerous aircraft on the ground.Jonathan Trigg,
Death on the Don: The Destruction of Germany's Allies on the Eastern Front
'. The History Press, 2013, pp. 81–83, The Romanian Danube Flotilla consisted of four ''Brătianu''-class monitors (''Ion C. Brătianu'', ''Lascăr Catargiu'', and ''Alexandru Lahovari''), three ex-

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

monitors (, and ) and various other ships. The Romanian Flotilla was supported by aircraft of the

Royal Romanian Air Force The Air Force branch of the Royal Romanian forces in World War II was officially named the (ARR, ), though it is more commonly referred to in English histories as the (Royal Romanian Air Force, FARR), or simply (Romanian Air Force). It provided ...

artillery spotting An artillery observer, artillery spotter, or forward observer (FO) is a soldier responsible for directing artillery and mortar fire support onto a target. An artillery observer usually accompanies a tank or infantry unit. Spotters ensure that ...

The engagements

The first Soviet-Romanian naval engagement occurred on 22 June 1941, the first day of Operation Barbarossa, when one Soviet monitor and one

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

attacked the port-city of

Tulcea Tulcea (; also known by #Names, alternative names) is a city in Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea County, and had a population of 65,624 . One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city. It is one ...

. The Romanian

river monitor River monitors are military craft designed to patrol rivers. They are normally the largest of all riverine warships in river flotillas, and mount the heaviest weapons. The name originated from the US Navy's , which made her first appearance in ...

s ''

Basarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

'' and the ''Brătianu''-class repulsed the attack, sinking the patrol boat.Nicolae Koslinski, Raymond Stănescu, ''Marina română in al doilea război mondial: 1941-1942'', Făt-Frumos, 1997 (in Romanian) The main naval engagement on the Danube occurred on the following day, when the Romanian Tulcea Tactical Group (''Basarabia'', ''Mihail Kogălniceanu'' and four patrol boats) repelled another attack of the Soviet Danube Flotilla, damaging two monitors and two patrol boats and one tug. The Romanian monitors then counterattacked at Reni, sinking one patrol boat and one barge and damaging another Soviet monitor. The last naval engagement on the Danube occurred on 26 June, when two Romanian

torpedo gunboat In the late 19th century, torpedo gunboats were a form of gunboat armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. By the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were superseded by their more successful contemporaries, ...

s, ''V1'' and ''V3'', engaged three Soviet patrol boats, setting one of them on fire and forcing all three to retreat.Cristian Crăciunoiu, ''Romanian navy torpedo boats'', Modelism, 2003, pp. 39–40

Aftermath

Despite these defeats, the Soviet Danube Flotilla continued to support ground forces in bridgeheads and landing operations, and also fought numerous artillery duels with the

Romanian Land Forces The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Force ...

during and in the days prior to

Operation München Operation München () was the Romania, Romanian codename of a joint Nazi Germany, German-Romanian offensive during the Operation Barbarossa, German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II, with the primary objective of recapturing Bessa ...

. Artillery duels with the Romanian Flotilla also continued until 9/10 July when the Soviet ships retreated to

Izmail Izmail (, ; ; , or ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izmail Raion, one of seven distr ...

. The Soviets retreated completely from the

Chilia branch The Chilia branch (; ) is one of three main distributary channels of the river Danube that contribute to forming the Danube Delta. Lying at the northernmost area of the delta, the distributary creates a natural border between Romania and Ukra ...

of the Danube on 20 July. The Romanian monitors also fought against the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

troops, shelling Soviet artillery positions in the Reni-Giurgiulești sector, with the positions near

Giurgiulești Giurgiulești () is a commune in the Cahul District of Moldova. It is also a border crossing point to Romania, located from Galați. Geography The locality is in the southernmost point of Moldova, at the confluence of the river Prut with th ...

shelled on 8 and 14 July.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

The static war (22 June - 3 July 1941)
Romania in World War II Soviet Union in World War II Naval battles and operations of World War II Naval battles involving Romania Operation Barbarossa

Background

The engagements

Aftermath

See also

References

External links