The area of the county was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and became part of the Moldavian SSR.

The area returned to Romanian administration as the Bessarabia Governorate following the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in July 1941.

A military administration was established and the region's Jewish population was either executed on the spot or deported to Transnistria, where further numbers were killed.

[5][6] The area of the county, along with the rest of the Moldavian SSR, became part of the independent country of Moldova.

According to the census data of 1941, the county's population was 310.220, of which 84.57% were ethnic Romanians, 12.40% Ukrainians, 2.10% Russians, 0.41% Jews, 0.19% Poles, as well as other minorities.