[Alt-WWII] 25-29 July 1940- Retreat from Târgu Frumos

As the Romanians began falling back from northern Moldavia, the 2nd Army consolidated their forces around the town of Târgu Frumos, less than 50km west of Iași. As the Soviets moved closer, it was decided that the 1st Tank Destroyer Battalion and the remainder of V Corps’ cavalry would be sent south to the crossroads at Săbăoani to secure their escape route. Shortly after giving the order to evacuate the wounded, elements of the Soviet 12th Army had begun probing attacks against the Romanian western flank.

 

The Stavka had ordered the 12th and 9th Armies to complete the encirclement of the Romanian force by linking up just south of Târgu Frumos. However, coordination and communication between the two armies was poor. 12th Army’s 17th Rifle Corps briefly succeeded in taking the road leading south from the town early on the 26th, but were forced back before they were able to dig in. 9th Army, which was only just finishing up the siege of Iași, wouldn’t join the attack until the next day. These scattered, uncoordinated attacks meant that the Romanians could focus their full strength on these attacks one at a time, and were able to calmly organize their evacuation.

 

After realizing that coordinating the two armies was proving to be nearly impossible, the Soviets decided to turn their attention towards inflicting casualties on the retreating forces before they got away completely unscathed. The Romanians anticipated this, and did their best to organize defensive strongholds along the route. Any available high ground was occupied by artillery batteries, and any wooded area along the road concealed a machine gun nest. Unfortunately, more than half of the 80km road from Târgu Frumos to Bacău was on flat, open terrain, which would only be loosely screened by the few remaining cavalry units. Despite the cavalry’s best efforts, Soviet forces frequently broke through this screen, wreaking havoc on the Romanian columns. One of these attacks routed most of the 10th Infantry Division, who then abandoned most of their heavy equipment and retreated due west to Piatra Neamț. However, all of these attacks would eventually outrun their supply lines and be pushed back by the next Romanian unit that came upon them, keeping the road open.

 

Still unsatisfied, the Stavka ordered one last assault on Târgu Frumos itself, where an estimated one-third of 2nd Army’s forces were still located, on the 28th. By that point, the Romanian rearguard was significantly weaker, and it did not take much for the Soviets to break through and enter the town itself, engaging the defenders in bitter street fighting. By the end of the day, Târgu Frumos had been almost completely surrounded, but a breakout spearheaded by the remnants of 2nd Tank Division led the surviving Romanians to safety.

 

Aside from the occasional strafing run or failed attack on Săbăoani, the march to Bacău from there on was fairly uneventful for the Romanians. By the end of the 29th, the last units had successfully reached the foothills of the Carpathians, from which the 2nd Army would make their last stand.

 

Over the course of the Prut-Siret Operations, 2nd Army had suffered 6,000 killed or captured (although they gained about 3,000 men who broke out from Iași), with another 3,600 wounded who were safely evacuated, while inflicting similar losses on the Soviets. The Royal War Council would later look back in highsight and debate whether or not the situation would have played out more favorably if 2nd Army had tried to hold out longer before retreating or even attempt to counterattack, as the Soviets were vulnerable from overextending their supply lines. While 2nd Army’s command was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, it was clear that their habit of putting up token resistance before retreating en masse, regardless of how well it preserved Romania’s precious manpower, was having a demoralizing effect on the troops. Shortly after 2nd Army began digging in around Bacău, its Chief of Staff remarked, “Hopefully, the men will prove they can fight as well as they can run.”

 

-Side Note-

Has anyone noticed that I've used the same dark tan layered plate set up for the past 5 scenes?

Done