”COHORTA” nr.1/2025 Luptele pentru Tighina (ianuarie 1918)

The Battle for Tighina (January 1918)/ Luptele pentru Tighina (ianuarie 1918)

Vitalie Ciobanu

CZU:94(478-21)’’1918’’

https://doi.org/10.65870/cohorta.2025.1.04

Published in  COHORTA nr. 1 din 2025
KEYWORDS: Tighina; 1918; 11th Infantry Division; First World War; Bessarabia.

ABSTRACT:
In January 1918, Romanian troops, deployed in Bessarabia at the request of the authorities of the Moldavian Democratic Republic, carried out a series of operations aimed at restoring public order and securing communications between Chișinău and the Dniester River. After the liberation of the capital, attention turned to Tighina (Bender), where Bolshevik groups retreating from the city had regrouped around the railway station and the bridge over the river. The 11th Infantry Division took command of the operations, which involved street fighting, temporary withdrawals, and coordinated counterattacks that led to the recapture of the city on 21 January. In the following days, Romanian forces repelled new attacks from Parcani and Tiraspol and strengthened the defense of the right bank of the Dniester. The operations in the Tighina area played a decisive role in stabilizing central Bessarabia and securing military control over the main lines of communication.

REZUMAT:
În ianuarie 1918, trupele române, aflate în Basarabia la solicitarea autorităților Republicii Democratice Moldovenești, au desfășurat o serie de operațiuni pentru restabilirea ordinii și securizarea comunicațiilor între Chișinău și Nistru. După eliberarea capitalei, atenția s-a îndreptat spre Tighina, unde grupări bolșevice retrase din oraș se reorganizaseră în jurul gării și al podului de peste Nistru. Divizia 11 Infanterie a preluat conducerea acțiunilor, care au implicat lupte de stradă, retrageri temporare și contraatacuri coordonate, soldate la 21 ianuarie cu recucerirea orașului. În zilele următoare, trupele române au respins atacurile dinspre Parcani și Tiraspol și au consolidat apărarea malului drept al Nistrului. Operațiunile din zona Tighinei au avut un rol decisiv în stabilizarea centrului Basarabiei și în asigurarea controlului militar asupra principalelor linii de comunicație.

Vitalie Ciobanu, PhD in History and reserve colonel, is the Director of the Agency for Military Science and Memory. He is the author of the project for the establishment of the Military Museum of the Ministry of Defense and has initiated and overseen the publication of the military history journal  Cohorta as well as the Yearbook of Security and Defense Studies. Over time, he has served on the editorial boards of seven scholarly journals. In 2009, he was a research fellow at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Dr. Ciobanu is a member of the scientific councils of the History Institute of Moldova State University, the “Alexandru cel Bun” Military Academy, and the Agency for Military Science and Memory.

He is the author of more than 30 studies and documentary collections, along with over 100 scholarly and popular science articles. Throughout his career, he has worked in various structures of the Ministry of Defense and subdivisions within the Armed Forces. From 2000 to 2020, he served as President of the Military History Association of the Republic of Moldova.

He has been awarded the Order of Honor and the “Military Merit” Medal by decrees of the President of the Republic of Moldova, alongside several other honors, including the Cross of Merit of the Ministry of Defense of Hungary, the Cross of Honor of the Romanian National Military Archives, the Silver Jubilee Medal of the Institute of History and the Military Museum in Budapest, the Cross of Merit of the National Army, the Cross for “Impeccable Service”, the “Strengthening the Brotherhood of Arms” Medal, as well as 16 other medals.

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