 King Michael of Romania, his mother Helen, and Mihai Antonescu joined the opening ceremony of the monumental Liberation Tower in Ghidighici, on November 1, 1942.On July 27, 1941, despite disagreements from all political parties, Romania's military dictator Ion Antonescu ordered the Romanian Army to continue the war eastward into Soviet territory proper to fight at Odessa, Crimea, Kharkov, Stalingrad and the Caucasus.Between late 1941 and early 1944, Romania occupied and administered the region between the Dniester and Southern Bug rivers, known as Transnistria, and sent expeditionary troops to several different areas to support the German advance further into the USSR.