Page 457 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

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with the United Nations. Romania accepted the armistice offered by the Soviet Union,
Great Britain and the United States of America. From this moment, the fighting or any
act of hostility against the Soviet Union comes to an end, as well as the state of war with
Great Britain and the United States. Receive the soldiers of these armies with trust. The
United Nations guaranteed the independence of our country and the non-interference in
our internal affairs. They also recognized the injustice of the Vienna Diktat, by which
Transylvania was taken away from us”.
King Michael went further, stating that “Those who might oppose our decision, taken
freely and not infringing anyone’s rights, are the enemies of our people. I order the army
and I call the people to fight with any means and at any cost against them. All the citizens
should gather around the throne and government to save our fatherland” .
7
The next day, the declaration of the new government was published, which announced
that the first foreign policy measure adopted was to accept the armistice with the United
Nations. “Our exit from the war waged alongside the powers of the Tripartite Act and the
cessation of hostilities against Soviet Union are decisions meant to avoid a certain and
unavoidable national catastrophe. From now on, Romania considers the United Nations
as friendly nations” . The declaration of the government reiterated the firm decision to
8
fight against those who would try to keep the country at war with the United Nations, thus
prolonging its suffering . In conclusion, both documents established the new political
9
orientation of the Romanian state, the cessation of hostilities against the Soviet army, of
the state of war with the United States and Great Britain, as well as the commitment to
fight with all its forces to annul the Vienna Diktat and to liberate Romania’s north-west.
In the newly created situation, the Romanian army was given the decisive role, as
it represented the instrument meant to materialize the political decision. However, its
problems and missions were highly complex, given that the switch in alliance was a
unilateral move by the Romanian state, which was not preceded by an armistice with
the United Nations and especially with the Soviet Union, whose troops operated in
Romania . Therefore, the Romanian army found itself in an unique situation, almost
10
unprecedented in the history of warfare, being in conflict with both the former and the
new ally, the latter officially recognizing the cessation of the state of war only after the
signing of the Armistice Convention in the night of September 12/13, 1944.

The concept of the operation
In accordance with the political decision, the Romanian army had to accomplish
extremely difficult missions in order to achieve an efficient change of fronts. Thus, it

7 23 August 1944.Documente 1944, vol. II, Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, Bucureşti, 1984, p.415-416.
8 Ibidem, p. 417.
9 Ibidem.
10 During the preparations for the switch in alliance, the decision was taken to send a general on the front, in
the person of Victor Dombrovschi, later on replaced by Aurel Aldea, in order to inform the Soviets about the
decision to replace Antonescu’s regime and to negotiate a potential ceasefire. The mission of General Aldea
was provisioned to begin on August 17, 1944, before the start of the Soviet offensive. Details in Traian Udrea,
23 August 1944.Controverse istorico-politice.Studiu istoriografic, Editura Alex Alex, Bucureşti, 2004, p.273-
278.