Harrison, Richard W. The Iasi-Kishinev Operation

The Red Army's Summer Offensive into the Balkans

The book describes in detail the Soviet preparations and execution of the Red Army's massive offensive in Romania in the summer of 1944. As the seventh of ten strategic operations carried out by Soviet forces that year, the operation successfully accomplished the task of destroying German forces in northern Romania and removing Germany's Romanian satellite state from the war, and was the first step towards Stalin's consolidation of a Balkan empire. Unlike many others in this series, this study is based only in part on materials published by the historical department of the Soviet General Staff. Nevertheless, these and other materials were written and published with the aim of generalising the experience of the war in order to train commanders and staff in the preparation and conduct of offensive operations on multiple fronts. The study is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the operation as a whole. This includes the preparations of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts for the start of the operation. It also includes a general strategic assessment of the situation in the summer of 1944 and the Stavka's instructions for conducting an operation along the southern strategic direction. This is followed by a detailed examination of the plans of the two fronts for organising and exploiting a breakthrough of the enemy front, as well as the plans of the individual army commanders for their own sectors. The study focuses on standard operational indices such as the length of the attack front, the density of forces along the breakthrough front, the echelon of forces for the attack, and cooperation between the branches of the armed forces. While the first part provides an operational-strategic overview of the operation, the second part focuses entirely on the tactical-operational level. This study is actually a doctoral thesis on the 37th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, which played the leading role in the front's offensive across the Dniester, from where it then joined forces with the 2nd Ukrainian Front to encircle the German 6th Army. Many of the operational indicators highlighted in the first part are repeated here in even greater detail. The successful completion of Operation Iasi-Kishinev destroyed the German position in the Balkans and laid the foundation for the Red Army's subsequent advance into Hungary and Central Europe. As one of the army's more successful offensive operations, it is worth studying for both history buffs and professional officers.