Romanian Infantry strenghts circa 1917

[Focsani camp]

Hello all,

Im currently working on a comented edition of a book about the German Alpenkorps, to be sure, my knowledge of Rumanian Military is sketchy at best, and the only thing I have been able to come across is the Osprey book on the WWI Balkan armies which, as usual, are not of much in deep use.

So far I have used the thumb rule of equaling Rumanian formations with French formations of 1914 strenght, but I think it's not really a good measurement. References to Rumanian forces keep appearing in the text, and I would like to provide the reader with reliable info on troop and weapons strenghts as footnotes so he can compare the forces involved.

Of course, seldom if ever do the outfits on the field have their complete strenghts, but as said, it's something more like an orientation than an exact headcount.

I would be particularly grateful if anybody here could provide me with the established troop strenght (number of men and officers) of:

Infantry Platoon
Infantry Company
MG Company (number of weapons over all)
Infantry Battalion (number of rifle companies and MG companies would be OK also)
Infantry Regiment

I have tried a quick browse of the forum and page without result, but if I have missed something, please excuse the question. Anyway many many thanks for any help you could provide.

Cheers!

[Victor]

Hi,

It would also help if you mentioned which part of 1917 you're interested in, because in early 1917 a reorganization took place.

[Focsani camp]

Thanks Victor, didn't know that either, which is very helpful indeed.

I guess that only makes the question split in two. The narrative I'm trying to support with this info starts around September 1916, a time when I surmise prewar strenghts would be used. The Alpenkorps remained until April 1917, and returned at the end of 1917 (August till September) again. Don't know how many reorganizations underwent the Rumanian Infantry in that time spam...

Again, thanks!

This post has been edited by Focsani camp on January 08, 2009 01:57 pm

[Focsani camp]

Well... looks like it was a tough one... Anyway, could please anybody here more fluent than me in Rumanian type the equivalent for:

WWI Rumanian Army Infantry Company
Infantry Platoon
Infantry Company
MG Company
Infantry Battalion

I'll try googleing those terms in Rumanian (as English doesn't work) and sell my soul to babelfish or similar...

Thanks again

[21 inf]

WWI Rumanian Army Infantry Company - companie de infanterie a armatei române în primul război mondial

Infantry Platoon - pluton de infanterie

Infantry Company - companie de infanterie

MG Company - companie de mitraliere

Infantry Battalion - batalion de infanterie

[Victor]

Unfortunately all I could find was the regiment's strength and I had to calculate it from the numbers given by general Radu Rosetti in his memoirs in which he presents the situation (missing troops and available troops) of one of the regiments he commanded in the reorganization period.

Infantry Regiment after reorganization, including the recruits reserve battalion:
- 70 officers
- 4190 NCOs and enlisted men

The battle strength (without the reserve battalion) was:
- officers: 56
- NCOs and enlisted men: 2960

The infantry regiment had three battalions after reorganization. Some sources state there were 4 battalions, but I suspect the 4th was the reserve battalion from which replacements were drawn to fill in the ranks.

I also managed to find a troops strength for one of the infantry regiments (excluding the reserve battalion) at the beginning of the 1916 campaign and this was:
- 51 officers
- 3301 NCOs and soldiers

Since this regiment was one of the "flagship" regiments it is very likely he was at nominal strength or at least pretty close to it.

The vanatori battalions remained at their 2 battalion organization though, which would put it at around the 1913 strength of:
- 34 officers
- 1771 NCOs and soldiers

[mabadesc]

Do you have any info on the number of Combat Troops per battalion, regiment or division? Both for WWI and WWII

I'm asking since these numbers can give a more accurate description. Only a certain percentage of soldiers were combat troops within each unit.

Thanks.