In the article by George Vujnovich I already commented that after the successful Allied invasion of Sicily, in the fall of 1943, the Allies occupied all of southern Italy and moved the 15th US Air Force from Tunisia to Foggia (Italy) to attack the oil fields and refineries of Ploesti (Romania) that for Hitler were the main source of fuel supply. But Romania's involvement with Germany had already started in 1940... when Ion Antonescu , Prime Minister and Chief of the General Staff, joined the Hitler madness. In 1941, and following in the footsteps of what was then the winning horse, he dared to invade Russia.
Ion Antonescu
Despite suffering heavy casualties, the Romanians seized Russian border territories and even reached Stalingrad in 1942. That battle would mark the end of the Russian adventure for the Germans…and for the battered Romanians who were forced to retreat. In 1944, and after the Normandy landings, the Allies undertook Operation Big Oil …the massive bombardment of Ploesti with hundreds of bombers, managing to cut off supplies and forcing the Germans to abandon the panzers without a drop of fuel in the Battle of the Bulge .
Even though Ion Antonescu acted as Conducator , since 1940 reigned Michael I of Romania , a 19-year-old whose sole function was to hold the crown and his power was limited to just beyond his chambers. While the Romanians suffered from the attacks of the Russians, Antonescu moved to Bucharest but the, until now, puppet king he had pulled the strings to change sides. Antonescu was arrested and, together with the group of opponents of the Conducator's dictatorship, he offered himself to the Americans and British so that, as part of the allies, the Russians would respect his territory. But the Germans were not going to allow that betrayal… overnight, Germans and Romanians went from sharing a table, tablecloth and barracks to killing each other. Thanks to the clumsiness and diplomatic inexperience of Miguel I, Romania found itself receiving by the Germans in their retreat to the west and by the Russians in their advance to the east.
Miguel I
The Russians occupied Romania and the Romanians sided with the allies declaring war on Germany. On September 12, 1944, the king signed the Moscow armistice and his battered army joined the Red Army as a shock force – bait – in the persecution of the Germans by Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
Sources:A Brief History of Military Incompetence – Ed Strosser and Michael Prince