[Alt-WWII] 4-5 July, 1940: Hill 187

At first, the northern Soviet bridgeheads were able to be contained by lightly equipped Romanian infantry fighting from the tops of the Dniester Hills. But by 3 July, the Soviet 12th Army's 16th Mechanized Corps had been fully moved into the bridgehead, and quickly broke through the thin Romanian defenses and pushed onto the Bălți Steppe. To counter this, the 1st Tank Destroyer Battalion was ordered to take up positions on Hill 187 near Baroncea. By the end of the day, they had dug in and camouflaged their positions, and by 4 July Soviet forces were within firing range. Forward elements of the 39th Tank Division were driving through the valley north of the hill en route to attack Drochia when they started taking flanking fire. 17 BT-7s were destroyed before the unit withdrew, but a few hours later the division attacked in full.

 

At first, the Romanians maintained the upper hand. The long range and accuracy of the VT-38's 57mm gun allowed it to pick off enemies from almost 3,000 meters away, all while their entrenched positions revealed very little of their vehicles for their attackers to shoot at. 62 Soviet tanks were destroyed before the attack was called off, and in turn only one VT-38 was disabled after a shrapnel round detonated in its fighting compartment, killing the gunnery crew but not damaging the vehicle or harming the driver. The next day, the Soviets forwent their previous strategy of a frontal attack with overwhelming numbers, and returned with a combined arms assault, opening with an artillery barrage that, although mostly firing blindly, disabled 9 more tank destroyers. This time, Soviet troops were told to take the hill no matter the cost, leading to another 56 destroyed Soviet tanks, all but destroying the division. However, this time, Soviet forces did succeed in reaching the foot of the hill, and Soviet infantry only faced resistance in the form of the battalion's machine gun platoon during their climb. By the time Romanian artillery drove back the attackers a third time, the 36-vehicle battalion had been reduced to just 14, and received permission to fall back to Bălți.

 

While the carnage reaped by 1st Tank Destroyer Battalion was considered exemplary, the story of standing tall against, then being mauled by, overwhelming Soviet attacks was typical of the Romanian tank destroyer battalions. Despite being considered elite, indispensable units, Romanian tactics for how to field them often left them vulnerable, using them as the sole defenders of positions without any supporting units. By the time Romanian forces had withdrawn from Bessarabia, what was left of the five battalions had been condensed into two, and the other three wouldn't be brought back to full strength until September. Nevertheless, their rapid deployment and expertise on positioning and concealment played a crucial role in tuning the tide against the numerical superiority of Soviet tank forces.

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