Participarea aeronauticii române la bătălia de la Stalingrad în anul 1942
The Participation of the Romanian Air Force in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942

Summary/Abstract: Against the backdrop of Ion Antonescu’s decision to participate with large expeditionary troops in the campaign of the summer of 1942, the mobilisation of the Romanian air force was also required. To this end, on September 6, 1942, the Air Staff established the Air Combat Group (referred to as GAL), commanded by aviator general Ermil Gheorghiu. It was a structure similar to that of the 1941 campaign. At the same time, a logistic structure was also established after German model – the Forward Air Region. On October 1, 1942, the means of the Romanian Air Force in the region of military operations at Stalingrad and at the great bend of the Don included 26 aviation squadrons (out of which 6 fighters, 2 fighter-bombers, 7 bombers, 6 surveillance, 2 reconnaissance, 2 transport, 1 medical). The Soviet counter-offensive (on November 19-25, 1942) represented, for many reasons, a difficult test for the Romanian Air Force, also taking place in unfavourable weather conditions for flying. However, GAL flew 64 aircrafts (3 reconnaissance ones, 24 fighters, and 37 bombers) on missions that operated in the Bolshoi-Kletskaya area, attacking (with the bombers) troops, vehicles and tanks, while fighter aircrafts ensured freedom of action of the bombing formations. 2 AA batteries of the enemy were destroyed, along with 10 tanks and 15 cars. According to the documents found in the military archives, between September 16 and December 20, 1942, on the Stalingrad front, the Romanian combat aviation carried out 2,728 aircraft missions (1,430 – fighter aircrafts, 1,299 – bomber aircrafts), with a total of 4,324 hours of flight (1,763 – fighter aircrafts, 2,561 – bomber aircrafts). Bomber and fighter-bomber aircrafts launched 1,479,279 tons of bombs of various calibres on the enemy, mainly in the Stalingrad area. During this period, in the air battles and through the action of the AA artillery, 76 enemy planes were shot down, out of which 58 were clear victories (30 in air battles). The loss in personnel (dead, missing, wounded) suffered by the Romanian Air Force on the Stalingrad and Don-bend front was of 653 military men, out of which 57 were officers, 55 non-commissioned officers, 11 warrant officers, 530 troops.

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