Chilia County (Romanian: Județul Chilia or Județul Chilia Nouă) was a county (județ) of Romania part of the Bessarabia Governorate.
[1] Having lost Bessarabia in 1940 following an ultimatum by the Soviet Union (USSR),[2] Romania recovered the region in 1941 following the Axis invasion of the USSR during World War II.
[3] Chilia County was the only Romanian county in Bessarabia that had not been created earlier in the administrative reform of 1930.
[4] Chilia County was divided into three plăși ("districts"), Plasa Chilia (capital Chilia or Chilia Nouă, now Kiliia; composed of 17 communes with a total of 26 villages), Plasa Tarutino (capital Tarutino or Ancecrac, now Bessarabske; composed of 12 communes with a total of 20 villages) and Plasa Tătărești (capital Tătărești, composed of 16 communes with a total of 25 villages).
[5] In 1944, Romania abandoned the Axis and joined the Allies, having to agree to giving up Bessarabia again.