Ion I. Solcanu*
Abstract. At the beginning of April 1944, the Red Army crossed the Prut River and occupied the counties of Dorohoi, Botoșani, and Baia, as well as part of Iași county. In Baia county, Soviet troops were stationed in the communes of Hărmăneștii Noi, Ruginoasa, Costești, and Stolniceni – Ghițescu. In Iași county, the troops occupied the communes of Belcești, Băiceni, and Războieni, and Tg. Frumos town.
The memos of the General Police Directorate and the approximately 100 statements of the refugees from the above mentioned communes, given in the presence of an officer of the Army’s Special Intelligence Service, are written testimonies of the killings, crimes, and plunders perpetrated by the Soviet soldiers and officers, accompanied by civilians as well. The file researched also comprises two testimonies according to which some of the Russian troops behaved like a genuine, disciplined army, despite the fact that they were an actual army of occupation.
Keywords: Red Army, communes, Hărmăneștii Noi, Ruginoasa, Costești, Stolniceni – Ghițescu, Tg. Frumos town, killings, rapes, plunders/looting, displacement, Marshal Antonescu, King Carol II, King Michael
DOI 10.56082/annalsarscihist.2025.1.57
*Academy of Romanian Scientists
PUBLISHED in Annals of the Academy of Romanian Scientists Annals Series on History and Archaeology, Volume 17, No1