Dates 2 Jul 1941 – 24 Jul 1941 | Result Axis victory | |
 | ||
Total 17,893
8,519 killed/missing, 9,374 wounded
255 aircraft
7 armored patrol boats sunk
3+ submarines sunk (2 after the Operation) Total 21,738
4,112 killed, 12,120 wounded, 5,506 missing
58 aircraft
1 auxiliary minelayer sunk Combatants Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Kingdom of Romania Similar World War II, Eastern Front, Battle of Uman, Operation Doppelkopf, Battle of Raseiniai | ||
Operation München (Operaţiunea München) was the Romanian codename of a joint German-Romanian offensive during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II, with the primary objective of recapturing Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, ceded by Romania to the Soviet Union a year before (Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina). The Operation concluded successfully after 24 days of fighting. Axis formations involved included the Third Romanian Army, the Fourth Romanian Army, and the Wehrmacht Eleventh Army. The invasion was followed by a genocide against the Jewish population of Bessarabia.
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The offensive started on 2 July, with Romanian forces striking North. On 5 July, Chernivtsi, the capital of Northern Bukovina, was seized by the 3rd and 23rd Vânători de Munte battalions. On 16 July, Chișinău, the Bessarabian capital, was seized after heavy fighting by Romanian forces spearheaded by the 1st Romanian Armored Division (Divizia 1 Blindată), equipped mainly with 126 R-2 light tanks. By 26 July, the entire region was under Romanian-German control. On 17 August, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were formally re-integrated into the Romanian State.
Danube
On 3 July, Romanian gunboat V6 and torpedo boat V2 attacked the Soviet observation point at Musura. On 8 July, Romanian monitor Basarabia and torpedo boat V2 shelled Soviet artillery positions at Giurgiulești, the main port of the Moldavian SSR. On 14 July, Romanian monitor Bucovina and torpedo boat V2 shelled a Soviet battery near Giurgiulești. Seven Soviet armored patrol boats were also lost to Romanian riverine artillery during the Operation: four were sunk at Cahul on 8 July, one was sunk at Vâlcov on 11 July and two more were sunk at Periprava on 19 July.
Black Sea
On 9 July, near the Romanian Black Sea port of Mangalia, the Romanian gunboat Stihi informed the Romanian 250t-class torpedo boat Năluca and motor torpedo boats Viscolul and Vijelia that the periscope of an enemy submarine was sighted near Mangalia. In the ensuing battle, the Soviet Shchuka-class submarine Shch-206 was attacked by Năluca, at first with 20 mm rounds and then with depth charges, eventually being sunk with all hands (Shchuka-class submarines had a crew of 38). According to Romanian sources, a second submarine was also sunk by the two motor torpedo boats.
On 15 July, the Romanian auxiliary minelayer Aurora was sunk by Soviet aircraft at Sulina.
After the Operation, two more Soviet submarines were sunk near the Bessarabian coast by Romanian warships: M-59 was depth-charged by the Romanian destroyer Regele Ferdinand on 17 December 1941 while M-118 was depth-charged by the Romanian gunboats Stihi Eugen and Sublocotenent Ghiculescu on 1 October 1942.