Little Entente

— Romanian soldiers marching in Odessa.

📖🇷🇴🇩🇪⚔🇷🇺— THE BATTLE FOR ODESSA: HISTORIC VISITATION - PART 3 During the night of 21/22 September, at 00:45 AM, after a 30 minute artillery preparation from several Soviet warships, 2,000 men of the 3rd Marine Brigade land at Grigorievka and Chebanka and advanced on the Staraya Dofinivka - Buldinka alignment. Another landing was attempted on the east, but failed. The Romanian 13th Infantry Division held a 10 km front with only 4 battalions, with the Soviet maneuver diverting further troops. The 22nd Infantry Regiment of Romania loses it's COs, inducing panic, and bringing about the collapse of the entire disposition of the 5th Corps, which was forced to retreat. With the help of the Romanian aviation, 32 tons of bombs are dropped on the Soviet forces, somehow managing to stop their attack despite naval support from the Soviet Black Sea fleet and heavy anti air guns. In the past 10 days, the 4th Romanian Army had taken 4,946 POWs (which would eventually come back to bite them) and made meager territorial gains. The offensive was stopped due to a lack of ammunition for heavy artillery and more importantly, because of the exhaustion of the troops, some of which had been there since the beginning of July. On October 12th, Lieutenant General Iacobici issues the orders for the next offensive. The 5th Corps begins an attack towards Blagodatnoe, capturing the Solanoe Priysky and Kryzhanovka Heights and then the Uznovka valley. The Romanian army officially enters Odessa from the North East. The 6th Corps which had just arrived at Odessa, had to attack between the Hadjibey and Kzhalnitzky Banks and take the Poselok heights. Finally, the 3rd Corps supports it's flanks with the attack of the 1st and 11 Corps to take Dalnik. October 14th, when Soviet ships begin shelling the positions of the 5th Corps, the Romanian General Staff noticed the intensification of enemy naval activity. During the night, the Romanians ordered powerful reconnaisance raids to be executed and, in case the Soviets retreated, to be followed closely and aggressively. Romanian patrols are met with heavy fire, so the pursuit was hurried. On 16 October, 10:30 AM, forward patrols of the 7th Infantry Division enter Odessa. At 16:00 PM, the Eftimiu Deatchment captures the port. The 4th Romanian Army engaged 340,223 men during the operations from 8 august to 16 October, of which it had lost 92,545. 17,729 were dead, 63,345 wounded, and 11,471 missing. In addition to these were lost 19 tanks, 90 artillery pieces, 115 mortars. The Soviet side reported 41,268 casualties (16,578 dead and missing, and 24,690 wounded). The Soviets had managed to evacuate 350,000 soldiers and civilians from the city.

📖🇷🇴🇩🇪⚔🇷🇺— THE BATTLE FOR ODESSA: HISTORIC VISITATION - PART 2 Field Marshal Ion Antonescu ignores the pleas from Lieutenant General Nicolae Ciuperca, saying that an attack on a single direction, as suggested, would allow Soviet forces to concentrate their forces and allow the staple Soviet tactic of human wave tactic to reign victorious against the Romanian army. Ion Antonescu issues a new directive, calling for an assault of the 11th Corps between Dalnik and Tatarka, while the 3rd Corps attacked between Dalnik and Gniliavko. The battalions were concentrated at the 11th Corps. Brigadier General Ioanitiu (Romanian chief of the General Staff) forwarded a note to General Hauffe, the chief of the German Military Mission in Romania, asking for assistance with fighters and Stukas to prevent Soviets from bringing reinforcements by the sea. The Romanian aviation lacked the necessary aircraft o partake in anti-shipping raids, but even then, the Romanian aviation was able to see some success. Ioanitiu asks for 4 to 5 assault pioneer battalions. Marshal Ion Antonescu postpones the offensive of the 4th Army for 10 September, in order to allow for reinforcement units to arrive. Romanian forces numbered about 200,000 men in 12 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry and 2 fortification brigades. A German detachment under the command or Lieutenant General Rene von Courbier arrives on the front. The Soviets received reinforcements numbering to 15,350 men and ammunition. Lieutenant General Nicolae Ciuperca, commander of the 4th Army, is replaced by Lieutenant General Iosif Iacobici on September 9th for asking to postpone the offensive. The first thing Iosif Iacobici does is also ask for the postponement of the offensive just one or two days later, on September 11 or September 12. The 4th Army resumes it's offensive after 10 minutes of artillery preparation. The Romanian command expected this to be final offensive on the Soviet fortress, with Field Marshal Antonescu and Brigadier General Alexander Ioanitiu come to the front on September 17th to oversee the offensive personally. Just as they arrived at Baden, at the 4th Army's command post, Ioanitiu is killed in a freak accident. The situation starts deteriorating on the frontline. Major General Niscolae Dascalescu's 21st Infantry Division attacks towards Dalnik at 09:00 AM, having on it's left flank a German infantry regiment. At 12:00 the German infantry regiment takes heavy fire from their uncovered left flank and, suffering heavy casualties, begins to retreat. The Soviets counterattack the right flank of the 3rd Corps and the left flank of the 11th Corps, managing to push the Frontier-guard Division roughly 3km back. The 1st Corps takes the hill 1.5km Southwest of Dalnik. The following days, the corps resumes the attack but is unable to make any significant advance.

📖🇷🇴🇩🇪⚔🇷🇺— THE BATTLE FOR ODESSA: HISTORIC VISITATION - PART 1 July 27th, 1941: General Ion Antonescu (a month prior to being promoted to a Field Marshal) receives a letter from Adolf Hitler, asking for Romanian support beyond the Dniester and the installation of Romanian administration of Ukrainian territories. Antonescu accepts on July 31st, despite the fact that the 3rd Romanian Army had already crossed the river on July 17th. Lieutenant general Nicolae Ciuperca begins the advance over the river on August 3rd, with the 5th Corps forcing the crossing between Tighina and Dubosari. The Romanian General Staff institute Directive No. 31, forcing the 4th army to defeat the Soviet enemy between the Dniester River and Tiligulskiy Bank to occupy Odessa. Odessa was one of the most heavy fortified cities of the Soviet Union on the Eastern front. The Soviet Black Sea Fleet allowed for continous shelling and forced an impossible total encircling of the city. Pillboxes and anti tank ditches had already been built long before the arrival of Romania's soldiers. Under Ion Antonescu's masterful planning, the offensive did not mount massive casualties, mainly because German support was awaited. Only on August 15th, two weeks about the offensive had been launched on Odessa, the final push had been organized. The 4th Army's Generals launched their offensive, while the 3rd Corps fought between the Svinaya Valley and Kuzhalnik Bank. The Romanians fought fiercely against Soviets, many of which were Ukrainian, who did anything to protect their own homeland from the invaders. Unfortunately, this push saw massive casualties. August 18th, the 3rd Dorobanti Regiment launches their own organized offensive devoid of any artillery preparation as to achieve surprise. Fierce fights at the Karpova railway station take place, as at 06:30 AM a tank battalion of the 1st Armored Regiment joins the battle. Poor cooperation leads to 32 tanks being taken out of the fight and 3 officers being killed. At 07:00 AM, Soviet resistance had collapsed. The 7th Infantry Division penetrates 1.5kms into the Soviet lines, while their peers are caught in the crossfire. In a rare moment, the Romanian Navy brings out it's few torpedo boats. With the use of NMS "Viscolul" (Blizzard) and NMS "Vijelia" (Squall), attacking a Soviet destroyer and it's escort south of Odessa, damaging it. On September 3rd, Lt. General Nicolae Ciuperca, mainly in charge of certain regiments fighting in Odessa, submits a memoir to marshal Antonescu, reminding him of the poor condition of the divisions in the first line and pressing supply issues. He pleads for waiting, and states that his troops are exhausted after a month of continuous offensive.

🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- Air alerts in Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh, Bryansk, Oryol, Lipetsk and Volgograd regions of Russia.

🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- Massive Ukrainian UAV strikes on Russia, some Russian sources say the biggest Ukrainian attack so far. Over 100 recorded launches so far.

⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦 Multiple breakthroughs are being reported in the Kupyansk direction and DRG actions along the Southern Zaporozhye front in the ongoing Russian SMO / Russo-Ukrainian War as Ukrainian lines continue to fail in a multitude of fronts. @MedManNews

🇬🇧🚩 Keir Starmer calls on leftist and progressive parties in Europe to form an antifascist front! British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed concern at the growing threat from far-right groups in the United Kingdom and called on progressive political parties across Europe to work together to deal with the shared challenge. Britain was hit by anti-immigrant riots earlier this month after a deadly knife attack on a children's dance class was followed by false claims, amplified by people on the far right, that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker. Speaking on Wednesday on a visit to Germany, where the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany has reported a surge in membership, Starmer said populism would be defeated by making people feel better off and promised that life in Britain would improve before the end of his first term in power. "We should be alive in the UK to the challenge of the far right and populism and nationalism," he told reporters. "There are a number of reasons for my concern, partly what's happening in the UK, partly what you can see happening in other European countries, including in France and in Germany." Starmer pledged to tackle the far-right and the "snake oil of populism and nationalism," saying he would be honest about the country's problems and how to solve them. But that task has been made more difficult as it comes against a backdrop of a cost of living crisis and deteriorating public services. 🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-starmer-calls-european-cooperation-tackle-far-right-2024-08-28/