Buzdugan escaped Bessarabia following the first Soviet occupation of 1940, while former members of the Union of Reserve Officers, including Emanoil Catelli, were jailed or deported. Reconciling with Inculeț and Pântea, he joined their Bessarabian Circle, an advocacy group based in Bucharest. In 1942, at the height of World War II, his "Metanii de luceferi" ("Genuflections of the Evening Stars") came out. It was to be his final published work in poetry, although three others exist as manuscripts. During the Soviet push into Bessarabia at the start of 1944, Buzdugan was offered a temporary home in Brezoi, Vâlcea County (southwestern Romania). With the help of Alexandru Leca Morariu, his verse continued to see print in magazines like "Gazeta de Transilvania" and "Revista Bucovinei".