Cooperare și divergențe în relațiile româno-germane
Cooperation and Disputes in Romanian-German Relations

Summary/Abstract: This study analyses the German-Romanian headquarters reports from before and during the Battle of Stalingrad. While the headquarters relations had a favourable evolution before this great confrontation, with the entry into battle the two allies started having different opinions. The Romanian commanders – particularly Generals Ilie Șteflea, the Chief of the Romanian General Staff, who was present in the area, Petre Dumitrescu, the commander of the 3rd Army, and Constantin Constantinescu Claps, the commander of the 4th Army – brought to the attention of the German headquarters the dangers that were looming over the two armies due to poor equipment, especially with heavy and antitank artillery, and the extensive defence lines under the responsibility of the big Romanian units. At the same time, the Romanian commanders promptly informed on what the Soviets were preparing, which clearly indicated that a large-scale counter-offensive would take place in the near future. The German headquarters ignored this information, as they had an optimistic view on the events and concentrated their efforts on conquering Stalingrad. Following the failure of the defence operation and the encirclement of the 6th Army led by General F. Von Paulus, the German side placed the responsibility of defeat onto the Romanian troops. As such, the relations between the two allies faced moments of great tensions, which were ultimately only partially settled by the efforts of the military and political Romanian leaders, including those of Ion Antonescu. Their common interests would lead, in the following period, to overcoming this trust crisis that had been provoked by the terrible defeats in the Don-bend and the Kalmuk Steppe, where both the Germans and Romanians were at fault.

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