Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1942
As a result from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Hitler and Stalin, Soviet troops crossed the Dniester river and occupied Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertza region and on 2 August 1940 the Soviet Union established the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian SSR), consisting of Bessarabia, joined to the westernmost part of the Moldovan ASSR. In 1942 a new flag was introduced: red with in yellow the hammer and sickle emblem with in Cyrillic lettering, “RSSM”, the abbreviation in Moldovan, of Moldavian SSR.