In 1940, the Red Army occupied the area; the area around the city became known as Chernivtsi Oblast, and was allotted to the Ukrainian SSR by the Soviet Union. The city's large Romanian intelligentsia found refuge in Romania; while the Bukovina Germans were "repatriated" according to a Soviet-Nazi agreement. This prompted Romania to switch from an ally of France and Britain to one of Nazi Germany; in July 1941, the Romanian Army retook the city as part of the Axis attack on the Soviet Union during World War II.