As many as 54,618 Bessarabians called up in the autumn of 1944 had been killed over only three months of war, in February-May 1945. The figure was made public by Doctor of History Veaceslav Stavila, who is a member of the commission for assessing the consequences of the totalitarian Communist regime in Moldova, in a news conference, Info-Prim Neo reports. Veaceslav Stavila said the exact number of Bessarbians who died in battles was not known until present. After carrying out thorough archive studies, he ascertained that 32% of the Bessarabian soldiers who died in the war were reported missing. "The Bessarbians were sent to fight in the front line and used as cannon meat. Many of them drowned while crossing the rivers when heading for Berlin,” Veaceslav Stavila said. “Using a calculation methodology that I fully trust, I determined that 173,648 Bessarabians died from starvation. A number of 300,817 persons became victims of the Soviet occupation after deported, sent to war or left to starve,” the historian said. Veaceslav Stavila said the data he presented at the news conference were collected during almost 20 years of research. He added that after he submitted a self-lustration statement, declaring he did not cooperate with security bodies, he ascertained his phone was being tapped.