@Entity
public class RootOfManyToMany
{
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue( generator = "hibseq" )
    @GenericGenerator( name = "hibseq", strategy = "hilo" )
    public Long                            id;

    @ManyToMany( fetch = FetchType.EAGER, cascade = javax.persistence.CascadeType.ALL )
    @JoinTable(
         name = "MAPPING_TABLE",
         joinColumns = {@JoinColumn(name = "ROOT_ID")},
         inverseJoinColumns = {@JoinColumn(name = "VALUE_ID")}
    )
    public List< ValueOfManyToMany > values;
}

@Entity
public class ValueOfManyToMany
{
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue( generator="hibseq" )
    @GenericGenerator( name="hibseq", strategy="hilo" )
    public Long id;
}

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE beans PUBLIC "-//SPRING//DTD BEAN 2.0//EN"
        "http://www.springframework.org/dtd/spring-beans-2.0.dtd">
<beans>

   <!-- HSQL for local tests -->
   <bean id="dataSource" class="org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource" destroy-method="close">
         <property name="driverClassName">        <value>org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver</value> </property>
          <property name="username">               <value>sa</value>                    </property>
         <property name="password">               <value></value>                      </property>
         <property name="maxActive">              <value>2</value>                     </property>
         <property name="poolPreparedStatements"> <value>false</value>                 </property>                  
         <property name="url" value="jdbc:hsqldb:mem:test"/>
     </bean>
   
   <bean id="sessionFactory" class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.annotation.AnnotationSessionFactoryBean">
     <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>

     <property name="hibernateProperties">
       <props>
         <prop key="hibernate.dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect</prop>
        <prop key="hibernate.show.sql">true</prop>
        <prop key="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto">update</prop>
       </props>
     </property>
    
     <property name="annotatedClasses">
        <list>
          <value>RootOfManyToMany</value>
          <value>ValueOfManyToMany</value>
        </list>
     </property>
   </bean>

   <bean id="hibernateTemplate" class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTemplate">
     <constructor-arg ref="sessionFactory"/>
   </bean>
   
</beans>

    public void test_manyToManyRelationship() throws Exception
    {
        RootOfManyToMany rootOfManyToMany = new RootOfManyToMany();
        rootOfManyToMany.values = new ArrayList<ValueOfManyToMany>();
        rootOfManyToMany.values.add( new ValueOfManyToMany() );
       
        assertEquals( 0, hibernateTemplate.find( "from RootOfManyToMany" ).size() );
       
        Long id = (Long)hibernateTemplate.save( rootOfManyToMany );
        hibernateTemplate.flush();
       
        assertEquals( 1, hibernateTemplate.find( "from RootOfManyToMany" ).size() );
       
        RootOfManyToMany root = (RootOfManyToMany)hibernateTemplate.get( RootOfManyToMany.class, id );
        ValueOfManyToMany value = root.values.get( 0 );
       
        hibernateTemplate.delete( root );
        hibernateTemplate.flush();
       
        hibernateTemplate.delete( value ); //Exception thrown here
    }

select rootofmany0_.id as id4_ from ROOT_OF_MANY_TO_MANY rootofmany0_

<returns empty list>

insert into ROOT_OF_MANY_TO_MANY (id) values (?)
binding '1' to parameter: 1

insert into VALUE_OF_MANY_TO_MANY (id) values (?)
binding '32768' to parameter: 1

insert into MAPPING_TABLE (ROOT_ID, VALUE_ID) values (?, ?)
binding '1' to parameter: 1
binding '32768' to parameter: 2

listing entities:
RootOfManyToMany{values=[ValueOfManyToMany#32768], id=1}
ValueOfManyToMany{id=32768}

<returns id=1>

select rootofmany0_.id as id4_ from ROOT_OF_MANY_TO_MANY rootofmany0_
result set row: 0
returning '1' as column: id4_

select values0_.ROOT_ID as ROOT1_1_, values0_.VALUE_ID as VALUE2_1_, valueofman1_.id as id5_0_ from MAPPING_TABLE values0_ left outer join VALUE_OF_MANY_TO_MANY valueofman1_ on values0_.VALUE_ID=valueofman1_.id where values0_.ROOT_ID=?
returning '1' as column: ROOT1_1_
returning '32768' as column: VALUE2_1_
done processing result set (1 rows)

<returns singleton list>

select rootofmany0_.id as id4_1_, values1_.ROOT_ID as ROOT1_3_, valueofman2_.id as VALUE2_3_, valueofman2_.id as id5_0_ from ROOT_OF_MANY_TO_MANY rootofmany0_ left outer join MAPPING_TABLE values1_ on rootofmany0_.id=values1_.ROOT_ID left outer join VALUE_OF_MANY_TO_MANY valueofman2_ on values1_.VALUE_ID=valueofman2_.id where rootofmany0_.id=?
binding '1' to parameter: 1
returning '1' as column: ROOT1_3_
returning '32768' as column: VALUE2_3_
done processing result set (1 rows)

<returns previously persisted root>

delete from MAPPING_TABLE where ROOT_ID=?
binding '1' to parameter: 1

delete from VALUE_OF_MANY_TO_MANY where id=?
binding '32768' to parameter: 1

delete from ROOT_OF_MANY_TO_MANY where id=?
binding '1' to parameter: 1

listing entities:
ValueOfManyToMany{id=32768}

<deletes all DB content including ValueOfManyToMany instance>

delete from VALUE_OF_MANY_TO_MANY where id=?
binding '32768' to parameter: 1

<throws exception>

DEBUG: Flushed: 0 insertions, 0 updates, 1 deletions to 1 objects
DEBUG: Flushed: 0 (re)creations, 0 updates, 0 removals to 0 collections
DEBUG: listing entities:
DEBUG: ValueOfManyToMany{id=32768}
DEBUG: executing flush
DEBUG: registering flush begin
DEBUG: Deleting entity: [ValueOfManyToMany#32768]
DEBUG: about to open PreparedStatement (open PreparedStatements: 0, globally: 0)
DEBUG: opening JDBC connection
DEBUG: delete from ValueOfManyToMany where id=?
DEBUG: preparing statement
DEBUG: binding '32768' to parameter: 1
DEBUG: Adding to batch
DEBUG: Executing batch size: 1
ERROR: Exception executing batch:
org.hibernate.StaleStateException: Batch update returned unexpected row count from update: 0 actual row count: 0 expected: 1
   at org.hibernate.jdbc.BatchingBatcher.checkRowCount(BatchingBatcher.java:93)
   at org.hibernate.jdbc.BatchingBatcher.checkRowCounts(BatchingBatcher.java:79)
   at org.hibernate.jdbc.BatchingBatcher.doExecuteBatch(BatchingBatcher.java:58)
   at org.hibernate.jdbc.AbstractBatcher.executeBatch(AbstractBatcher.java:242)
   at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.executeActions(ActionQueue.java:235)
   at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.executeActions(ActionQueue.java:144)
   at org.hibernate.event.def.AbstractFlushingEventListener.performExecutions(AbstractFlushingEventListener.java:297)
   at org.hibernate.event.def.DefaultFlushEventListener.onFlush(DefaultFlushEventListener.java:27)
   at org.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.flush(SessionImpl.java:993)
   at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateAccessor.flushIfNecessary(HibernateAccessor.java:388)
   at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTemplate.execute(HibernateTemplate.java:363)
   at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTemplate.delete(HibernateTemplate.java:774)
   at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTemplate.delete(HibernateTemplate.java:770)
   at RootOfManyToManyTest.test_manyToManyRelationship(RootOfManyToManyTest.java:40)
   at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
   at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at junit.framework.TestCase.runTest(TestCase.java:154)
   at junit.framework.TestCase.runBare(TestCase.java:127)
   at junit.framework.TestResult$1.protect(TestResult.java:106)
   at junit.framework.TestResult.runProtected(TestResult.java:124)
   at junit.framework.TestResult.run(TestResult.java:109)
   at junit.framework.TestCase.run(TestCase.java:118)
   at junit.framework.TestSuite.runTest(TestSuite.java:208)
   at junit.framework.TestSuite.run(TestSuite.java:203)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.junit3.JUnit3TestReference.run(JUnit3TestReference.java:128)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:460)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:673)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:386)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:196)
DEBUG: about to close PreparedStatement (open PreparedStatements: 1, globally: 1)
DEBUG: closing statement
ERROR: Could not synchronize database state with session
org.hibernate.StaleStateException: Batch update returned unexpected row count from update: 0 actual row count: 0 expected: 1
   at org.hibernate.jdbc.BatchingBatcher.checkRowCount(BatchingBatcher.java:93)
   at org.hibernate.jdbc.BatchingBatcher.checkRowCounts(BatchingBatcher.java:79)
   at org.hibernate.jdbc.BatchingBatcher.doExecuteBatch(BatchingBatcher.java:58)
   at org.hibernate.jdbc.AbstractBatcher.executeBatch(AbstractBatcher.java:242)
   at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.executeActions(ActionQueue.java:235)
   at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.executeActions(ActionQueue.java:144)
   at org.hibernate.event.def.AbstractFlushingEventListener.performExecutions(AbstractFlushingEventListener.java:297)
   at org.hibernate.event.def.DefaultFlushEventListener.onFlush(DefaultFlushEventListener.java:27)
   at org.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.flush(SessionImpl.java:993)
   at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateAccessor.flushIfNecessary(HibernateAccessor.java:388)
   at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTemplate.execute(HibernateTemplate.java:363)
   at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTemplate.delete(HibernateTemplate.java:774)
   at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTemplate.delete(HibernateTemplate.java:770)
   at RootOfManyToManyTest.test_manyToManyRelationship(RootOfManyToManyTest.java:40)
   at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
   at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at junit.framework.TestCase.runTest(TestCase.java:154)
   at junit.framework.TestCase.runBare(TestCase.java:127)
   at junit.framework.TestResult$1.protect(TestResult.java:106)
   at junit.framework.TestResult.runProtected(TestResult.java:124)
   at junit.framework.TestResult.run(TestResult.java:109)
   at junit.framework.TestCase.run(TestCase.java:118)
   at junit.framework.TestSuite.runTest(TestSuite.java:208)
   at junit.framework.TestSuite.run(TestSuite.java:203)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.junit3.JUnit3TestReference.run(JUnit3TestReference.java:128)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:460)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:673)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:386)
   at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:196)
DEBUG: registering flush end
DEBUG: closing session
DEBUG: performing cleanup
DEBUG: releasing JDBC connection [ (open PreparedStatements: 0, globally: 0) (open ResultSets: 0, globally: 0)]
DEBUG: after transaction completion
DEBUG: transaction completed on session with on_close connection release mode; be sure to close the session to release JDBC resources!
DEBUG: after transaction completion