Romanian Fourth Army
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Romanian_Fourth_Army".

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4th Infantry Division "Gemina"
Divizia 4 Infanterie "Gemina"

Official emblem of the 4th Infantry Division
Active 14/15 August 1916 - present
Country Romania
Branch Romanian Land Forces
Size 5 brigades, 1 regiment and 10 auxiliary battalions
Garrison/HQ Cluj-Napoca
Anniversaries 15th August
Engagements Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Odessa
Prague Offensive
Battle of Sevastopol
Commanders
Current
commander		 Major General Ioan Ciupei
Notable
commanders		 Marshal Constantin Prezan
General Mihail Lascăr
General Constantin Constantinescu

The 4th Infantry Division Gemina is one of the two major units of the Romanian Land Forces, with its headquarters in Cluj-Napoca. Until June 15, 2008 it was designated as the 4th Territorial Army Corps "Mareşal Constantin Prezan" (Corpul 4 Armată Territorial "Mareşal Constantin Prezan").

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History

The Fourth Army fought in the Romanian Campaign of World War I, under the command of General Prezan.

The Fourth Army fought on the Axis side as part of the German Army Group B and later it fought on the Allies's side as part of the Soviet Second Ukrainian Front during World War II.

From late 1942 to early 1943, the Fourth Army was almost entirely destroyed during the Battle for Stalingrad. The Romanian Third Army suffered a similar fate.

In August 1944, the Red Army entered Romania after driving back Army Group South from the region. On August 23, Marshal Ion Antonescu was dismissed by King Michael I, and Romania declared war on Germany and Hungary some days later. The Soviets took control of the oilfields in the Ploieşti area, and the Romanian Army was used to fight German forces on the Eastern Front.

The Fourth Army became one of the Romanian armies fighting for the Red Army on the Eastern Front. In its campaign from August 1944 to May 1945, the Romanian Army lost some 64,000 men killed. The Fourth Army took part in Soviet offensives, notably at Prague in May 1945, which happened to be the last offensive it took part in World War II.

In the Prague Offensive, the Fourth Army, together with the Romanian First Army, Polish Second Army, and Soviet Second, and Fourth Ukrainian Fronts. Marshal Ivan Koniev, the commander of the First Ukrainian Front, was the main Soviet commander in the area. Together with Marshal Georgy Zhukov's First Byelorussian Front, Koniev had launched the great attack on April 16 that resulted in the fall of Berlin and Soviet victory on the Eastern Front.

The offensive started on May 6, a few days before the end of the war. German resistance in the east was now limited to small pockets scattered across Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. The remnants of Army Group Center held the remaining German-controlled areas in the east. In the attack on Prague, German resistance was defeated in the city, and the Soviet, Romanian, and Polish forces entered the city on May 9. Czech partisans had been fighting the Germans there for a few days.

By May 11 and 12, all remaining German pockets of resistance in the east were defeated.

Current structure

References

  1. ^ Romanian Military Press, November 2005

External links

v • d • e
Romanian Land Forces

1st Infantry Division

4th Infantry Division
"Gemina"
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