This is him in locotenent uniform in September 1940.
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| WorldWar2.ro Forum > Romanian Army at War > Grandpa's stories about his fights ... |
| Posted by: Paulus September 06, 2003 08:16 pm |
| Does anyone has some stories to tell us about where his father/grandfather fought or was involed in any battle of some action of the Romanian army ? (especially on the ground)
It should be interesting for sure. Paulus |
| Posted by: C-2 September 06, 2003 09:33 pm |
| There are endless stories to tell.
In case you are interested in stories about air combat in ww2 you can read about at www.arr.go.ro at the interv.pg. |
| Posted by: Paulus September 07, 2003 08:36 am |
| It's interesting, besides I'm primarily looking for men who were serving in the ground divisions. |
| Posted by: Victor September 08, 2003 03:14 pm |
| My grandfather graduated first at the artillery officer school in Timisoara in 1932 and was sent to the Artillery School at Fontainbleau (France, in case you don't know) from which he graduated among the first in 1935. When he returned home he was assigned to the 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiment. In 1941, he had the rank of lieutenant and was an artillery battalion FOO. From what I read in his evaluation reports (by superior officers) he distinguished himself in the fights around Freudenthal and Dalnik (near Odessa). After the end of the 1941 campaign, he was sent to the War School (military academy). After graduating in 1942 he was assigned to the General Headquarters, Section 3 Operations and promoted to captain. This is where he remained until February 1945, when he was again sent to the front, this time as a staff officer of the 2nd Corps (4th Army). He again was very active, being almost every day in the front line and coordinated several attacks. At the end of the war he was promoted to the rank of major. In 1947 he was fired (like many royal army officers) and until 1948 he worked in a farm. He was recalled in the army to teach in the Military Academy. In 1956 he retired and went to work in the civilian sector (he already obtained an economist decree and an electrical engineer decree). He passed away in 1983.
This is him in locotenent uniform in September 1940. |
| Posted by: Florin September 20, 2003 04:03 am |
| Hi Paulus,
Well, there are many things to say. However, what may sound interesting for some people, can be boring for others. Generally speaking, as child I was very eager in such stories. Even my grandfather was surprised about my interest for everything related to WWII, because it was a sad experience for the people involved in it. If I wouldn't show so much interest, I think he would keep a lot of things for himself. He told me how some Russian officers, prisoners of war, told them about the Russian plan to invade Germany in 1943 - if Germany wouldn't attack USSR in 1941. When he told me this the whole Communist propaganda presented Nazi Germany as an 100% agressor, and Soviet Union as an 100% victim. It was allowed to discuss about the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact during the Communism only in the last years of the Ceausescu regime, when between Romania and USSR was a rift. When the Communist Romanian official historiography turn to be a little bit more realistic about WWII, my grandfather was already dead for several years. When I had this story confirmed, I was already in the United States. The second one... He told me how the Germans used a huge canon when in 1942 the entrance in Crimea was forced through the isthmus. He described how every shot of the canon was felt as an earthquake, kilometers away. Well, in a documentary about canons on History Channel I saw that thing in action. It was mentioned it was used to force the entrance in Crimea in 1942. Oh, yes, by the way... It was the biggest canon ever built in history! (I had previously the confirmation about the canon, but a movie worth a thousand words.) While they were on the slopes of the Elbrus, in the Caucasian Mountains, they surrounded their camping sites with wires. At some distances they hanged empty cans, and in each can they dropped a pebble. If somebody would try to crawl toward them, at the touch of the wires the pebbles started to ring in the cans. Funny I should say that, the most unbelievable story seem to be true. So, I am starting with the introduction. My grandfather was in the German convoy who left Crimea on April 25th, 1944, carrying Germans (2347 fit for service, 56 wounded) and Romanians (10453 fit for service, 17 wounded), and also 2540 volunteers, 354 POW's and 49 civilians. Only Leo (made in Germany) was sunk. Mr. Nitu answered to one of my posts here, mentioning that Leo carried 800 Romanian soldiers and 200 POW's. My grandfather was between the survivers who floated one night on the surface of the Black Sea, before being rescued. A friend gave him a lifebelt just before the aerial raid, and that floating device proved essential for his survival. The convoy was atacked first by Russian airplanes. They flew at very low altitude. Not only they were unsuccessful, but all these Russian airplanes from the first wave were shut down. The second wave of bombers came at very high altitude, about 9 km (more than 27,000 feet). These were supposedly American bombers. The AA of the convoy didn't opened fire toward these airplanes, because they were too high. On the other hand, because of their altitude, these planes missed the targets - with the exception of the boat carrying my grandfather. I asked my grandfather: "How did you know the second wave was American?". According to him, the telecommunications operators from the convoy intercepted radio messages in which the Russians asked for American help. The Russian radio messages occured after their planes from the first low altitude wave were lost. Well, this is not the interesting thing. Maybe the high altitude airplanes were Russians. The Americans had 3 secret airfields in Ukraine, but it seems their activity did not start before early May. (Well, the airports were not so secrets, afterall. The Germans started their bombing with a raid over Poltava, on June 22nd, 1944. Eventually the American pilots left Russia.) The introduction is ending now, and the interesting thing is very short. After floating over night on the sea, the survivers were rescued in the morning. My grandfather said he saw at least one helicopter involved in all that "help and search for survivors" activity. The helicopter prototype made by Igor Sikorsky in the United States some years after the WWII was over was publicized as the very first helicopter, and most of the people know about the first helicopter this way. Well, I knew about some previous prototypes, including one made by a Romanian-American, George de Bothezat, in the 20's. But because I had doubts about the WWII helicopters (myself hypnotized by the Sikorsky mith), I forwarded the matter about helicopters in one of the German forums (www.feldgrau.net). First a folk named Dan recommended a book by Steve Coates, "Helicopters of the Third Reich". I read only a preview. There were several designs in use by the German Army during WWII. Many were only as prototypes. The creator of the best helicopter surrendered to the Americans with the know-how. However, all these units seemed to be in West - Germany or the Atlantic Ocean. But as I said, I read just a short preview. Later on that forum I got the following information from somebody named Lustmolch: "The helicopter seen over the Black Sea could well have been a Flettner Fl282 "Kolibri" (Hummingbird), which was operated from ships, presumably as a recce machine. The only other helicopter in service was the Focke-Achgelis Fa233 "Drache" (kite) a twin rotor machine vaguely resembling some of the machines later produced by Mikhail Mil. These helicopters were used mainly in the transport role in mountainous regions where conventional aircraft were unable to land." Well, at the end of the story, I cannot confirm there was a helicopter over Black Sea in the morning of April 26th, 1944, but equally I am not sure about their absence. Well, of course there are many other stories... Like the American pilot shut down in Russia in September 1941, 3 months before Pearl Harbour. Was he the only American pilot around? I really don't know. Well, I don't want to become boring, so it is time to say "Good Bye" and to go to bed. Regards, Florin |
| Posted by: Dr_V September 20, 2003 09:02 pm |
| My grandfather was only 16 y. o. in '45, so he wasn't in the army, but I have a good old friend that was an infantry seargent (started as a solider in '42) in WW2. His name is Manole Zamfir and I'll tell his story here in a few days (I have to translate it in English and there are a few pages to translate). He faught on both fronts, was wounded twice and has quite a story.
Very interesting is that he reacalls horrific events, never told in books or other places. Prisonners shot (executed) by german orders (Est front), wounded left behind or shot, a hospital ship sunk by russian bombers near Sevastopol harbour..... I'll try to translate the whole thing as soon as I can. |
| Posted by: dragos September 22, 2003 11:24 am |
| [quote]He told me how the Germans used a huge canon when in 1942 the entrance in Crimea was forced through the isthmus. He described how every shot of the canon was felt as an earthquake, kilometers away.
Well, in a documentary about canons on History Channel I saw that thing in action. It was mentioned it was used to force the entrance in Crimea in 1942. Oh, yes, by the way... It was the biggest canon ever built in history! [/quote] The German entrance in Crimea took place in 1941. You surely reffer to the 800 mm railroad-gun (Dora/Gustav), and of the second battle of Sevastopol, june 1942.  |
| Posted by: inahurry September 22, 2003 07:47 pm |
Is that the biggest gun ever ? 
Nice pic/drawing, btw. |
| Posted by: Defender of Aiur September 22, 2003 07:51 pm |
| Females must love it given its very long barrel.. |
| Posted by: C-2 September 22, 2003 08:54 pm | ||
No ! as far as I know the biggest gun ever built was WW1 Big Bertta. He used to bomb Paris from 100km.After every shoot the barrel used to suffer some expansion and the next projectil was a little bigger than the previous. Intresting is that after the German capitulation the gun was never found. 13 years ago a Canadian??? scientist tried to make a super gun for Sadam Hussein,but he was found shoot in the back of his head with a .22. Some say it was the Mosad,others CIA ,KGB,MI5 etc... |
| Posted by: Victor September 23, 2003 08:14 am |
| Please get back on topic.
Since my grandfather died when I was only a squirt, I only know the stories from what he told my grandmother. There are 3 of them: 1. During the siege of Odessa he was in a forward observation point directing the artillery fire, with two soldiers, as bodyguards. As they were returning to the battalion, they stumbled upon a Soviet sniper, who had remained hidden inside Romanian lines after the retreat. They took him prisoner. The Russian was nervous, as he had been told that the Romanians executed the Soviets they captured. Of course this did not happen and he was taken to HQ for questioning. 2. After Odessa was captured, my grandfather had some assignments in the Romanian HQ in the city. After he finished he walked out. A couple of minutes later, the building blew up, killing almost everybody inside. 3. During 1945 he was in Czechoslovakia. The end of the war was near. He remembered seeing an episode that he disliked very much. The hungry Romanian soldiers (the Soviets had monopolized the Romanian transportation system for their own needs) were trying to obtain some food from the locals, which started to bargain in order to obtain as much more as possible. More than it was actually worth. This while Romanians were fighting to push the Germans out of their country or the Soviets were simply taking what they wanted. He had a very bad opinion about Czechoslovakia all his life afterwards. |
| Posted by: dead-cat September 25, 2003 12:03 pm | ||
no way. the "Big Bertha" was a 42cm gun used to crack the fortresses of Liege, Maubeuge etc. 2 "Big Berthas" (out of 5 ever build) mounted on railroad carrages were used at Verdun. The "Big Bertha had a range of less than 20 km. shell weight around 1600kg. the gun used to fire at paris (3 build) is the "Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz" or better known as "Paris Gun". this was a 23cm gun statically mounted on concrete. also not a railway gun. range 120km, shell weight around 200kg. it was the gun with the biggest range, but by no means the biggest gun in shell weight. the gun in the picture is the "Dora Geschütz" (2 build) with a shell weight of around 8t and a range of 30+ km. it IS the largest gun ever build. my grandfather was Standartenjunker in the 7th SS, spend most of the war in Yugoslavia. he died in Bavaria 1974. never met him. |
| Posted by: dead-cat September 25, 2003 04:53 pm |
| "Paris Gun" update
(came home from work, checked) Name: Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz Manufacturer: Krupp Number built: 3 Caliber: 21cm/23,2cm Barell mass: 91t Total mass: 481t (concrete embedding included) Shell mass: 104-106kg (21cm)/124-126kg(23.2cm) min/max range: 91km/128km shots fired: 303 hits in target area(90sqkm): 183 lifetime of the barrel: 60-70 shots casualties inflicted: 256 dead/650 wounded (civilians) Dora Gun Manufacturer: Krupp Number build: 2 Caliber: 80cm Barell mass: 400t Total mass: 1350t Shell mass: 4800kg(HE)/7100kg(anti concrete) max range: 48km/38km [source: Franz Kosar, "Welt" Serie: Die schweren Geschütze, 2002; Eisenbahngeschütze, 1999, Motorbuch Verlag] |
| Posted by: Paulus September 25, 2003 05:36 pm |
| All posts are interesting but keep talking about stories of romanian soldiers.
Guns can be evocated in another post :wink: Paulus |
| Posted by: mabadesc November 04, 2003 08:49 pm |
| Let's hear some more personal stories from the war. They're fascinating, so if you have a war family story, please share it with us.... |
| Posted by: Der Maresal November 05, 2003 01:08 am |
| My Grandmother who is still alive and in good health (God bless her) tells me some fascinating stories of her youth.
At first she tells me how the war begun on the 22nd and how she saw aerial battles in the sky. She is from moldavia, from Iasi and she told me that the Germans were singing "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles"..as they marched through the town and going to the front.. (She learn to sing that too a bit..she still remebers the words) Also she remebers "Lili Marelene" the most Popular song of World War II which was playing on the radio all the time in those days ..(It was translated into something like 42 Languages and I think Romanian as well!!_) :shock: 
Anyways, for her 22 June 1941 was a big day, but the most important year for her was 1944 when the front was nearing and they had to evacuate. I think in March 1944 they left Moldavia as refugees, ...by train. A beautyfull Dog they had, a Sheapher very obedient and very intelligent was left behind. When the Russians came they shot him. She had three brothers, all of them died. One died in 1944 of tuberculosis, the others I'm not sure about. One was member of the Iron Guard, a Legionaire named Mihai Balanici, he was more of a student admirer who put on the green shirt, he was not a very high official. She too sympathized alot with this movement at the beginning. (Iasi was the birthplace of this movement). Anyway - about the end of the war she can tell me that she saw with her own eyes how Our own Police and Geandarms as well as the Soviets chased German Sodiers that were trapped in Romania after August 23, and pursued them (and the Germans were running for their lives, terrified and hiding wherever people would offer them shelter) One such german with last name Weissmann remained in hiding because a generous familly helped him. He married the woman that gave him refuge and eventually learned the language and changed his name. Grandmother tells me that she got into trouble after the war for wearing a green uniform that looked it was from the Iron Guard. She almost got arrested! *One thing she can't stand and you cannot convince her in any way are: Russians. She dissilikes everything about them, language, customs,alcohol, behaviour, looks...everything..
(When we watch Figure Skating on TV, she "prays" that the Russian team will fall"  !!! .."fall you damn russians, fall"! :idea:
* she is the wife of the man on the right in my Avatar :wink: - who unfortunately, did not have a chance to meet and hear his war stories. :cry: |
| Posted by: johnny_bi November 05, 2003 03:42 am |
| I have already told something about my grandfather :
http://worldwar2.ro/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3796#3796 As a resume : he was a tanker within the 1st Armored Division. During the events of the '42-'43 winter at Don River's Bend he got deaf (almost). He doesn't want to talk about what happened during the war... My grandmother told me once one of his stories: Once, my grandfather (she didn't remember the location) the troop took its lunch... near a forest... The soldiers sat on the table (they were near a barrack)... While eating, suddenly, the soldier from my grandfather's right side got a bullet between his eyes. A sniper aimed the guy using the forest as cover... It was just a matter of choice for the sniper... he could chose my grandfather as well. |
| Posted by: PanzerKing November 05, 2003 04:33 am |
| My Great Uncle Henry fought in North Africa against Rommel's Afrika Korps. I'm not sure what he did, but he managed to aquire a German 9mm pistol!
My other Uncle was in the US Navy and served aboard a minesweeper...he saw a lot of action from what he has told me. I remember him saying that the Pacific Islanders loved trading their necklaces for Hersey's chocolate. He also said the big Battleship guns were so loud that even from far away your ears could sometimes bleed. He is the most willing to talk, but I haven't seem him for a while. My grandfather was in the Korean War as a US Sniper. The only thing he has ever said is that he used to snipe N. Koreans trying to sneek into base with bombs & such. He hates to talk about it. I don't blame him. The only other family member I know of that fought was my Great Grandfather that fought in WWI! He got a Purple Heart for an injury and came home, that's all I know. Oh yeah sorry this isn't about the Eastern Front. |
| Posted by: Victor November 05, 2003 01:06 pm |
| Yeah, unfortunately, not many veterans are eager to talk about their experiences. From my first English teacher I had to simply "pull" them out by force.
He was the officer commanding the 20 mm AA guns on the Dacia minelayer. He remembered with much regret how he personally fired once into a Soviet torpedo bomber, which eventually fell down. He was sorry for the poor bastards onboard (this was during the famous raid on Constanta harbor carried out by five Soviet DB-3Fs in late 1943, which attempted to surprise the defense and sink the ships in port; all five were shot down by the AAA) Another short story was about the evacuation at Cape Kherson in 1944, which he described as a living hell. PS: my grandmother also has a bad opinion on Russians, being influenced bythe fact that she and her sister barely excaped rape in1940 in Bessarabia. |
| Posted by: Chandernagore November 05, 2003 07:57 pm | ||
I had to stop here and think for a while. My father told me the same thing. Once he downed 5 Russians with a single hand grenade. Was he proud ?? God, no... He felt sorry for the mothers of those poor 5 guys who didn't ask to be there. When he told me that he had tears in his eyes I will never forget that moment. I think that he never swallowed it, but he had no choice. War is a real piece of shit. The human dimension rarely makes it into history books as a factor in day by day operations. It's strange how we can express deep interest in military history and hate the whole shebang at the same time :roll: |
| Posted by: mabadesc November 05, 2003 09:07 pm |
| I heard this story from a friend of mine. One of his uncles was quite young when he was recruited for WWII, and he was a sensitive guy, an intellectual (he was a French teacher).
Anyway, so they send him to the front line as a soldier. First, he gets lightly wounded and he wakes up in the infirmery - the screams of others woke him up. They were amputating someone else's leg. The anesthesia was simple: they rolled a piece of wire around the patient's leg, then with a pair of pliers they kept twisting the wire, tighter and tighter until it cut off your circulation and your leg went numb. Then they just cut it off, while you were awake... 
Regardless, this guy gets well (it was a light wound) and gets sent back to the front. There, during an assault, his platoon commander was leading the charge, when a piece from a mortar decapitates him. The odd thing was that the headless guy kept running for a few more steps (inertia, I suppose). The whole platoon just stopped and stared at him. So after this incident, my friend's uncle just couldn't handle it mentally anymore. They sent him home, and for the next 40 years, until he died, he couldn't sleep, he didn't want to speak to anyone, he didn't teach again......he just sat in his room all day and chain-smoked by himself. |
| Posted by: Victor November 06, 2003 12:01 pm | ||
Some things in this world are beyond explanation and probably this is one of them. Another interesting story is the one of my best friend's maternal grandfather, who was a painter. He was also drafted (infantry I think) and was taken POW by the Soviets. He spent 7 years in Siberia at hard labor and came home when everybody thought he was dead. He used to keep a very high temperature in his workroom, even during the summer. The extreme cold marked him for life. My friend's paternal grandfather was a friend of my English teacher and also served in the Navy (I think on NMS Marasesti). He used to tell a story of a submarine attack, when the torpedo passed underneath them. |
| Posted by: C-2 November 08, 2003 07:00 pm |
| My grandfather fought bouth in ww1 and ww2,unfortunatly he died age 92 when I was only 7 and I have very few info.
I had a English teacher named Oswald Stadler who was from Bucovina. He served in the Rom army between the wars,and after the ocupation of Bassarabia he was recruted to the Soviet army.There they found that he was in the Rom .army and sent with a one way tichet to Siberia .There after a while he was sent to fight at Kiev,and was one of the few survivers of his batalion. The Russians stormed the city where the Germans were very well fortified. The Russians suffered heavy losses and almost took no prisoners.He was a very educated man(spoked 8 lang. and had a degree in Economy)He didn't liked the war at all... He was never wonded but suffered till he died in 93 of frost bites at his legs. |
| Posted by: Der Maresal November 09, 2003 12:37 am | ||
I heard a similar story from an old man who was just a kid during world war 2. "When the Russian Bombers were bombing Constanta, peoples were running for shelter, - there were two young women probably sisters, - one of them stopped and a large shrapnel piece from a bomb that exploded nearby ripped her head from her body- it was instantaneous. - she fell :? The old guy was probably triyng to frighten me, but it did not work brecause I have read much more horrific events that took place on the battlefield or at home.. He said he will not tell me more - from what he saw or experienced - "So as not to 'frighten me' - ...right.. :roll: |
| Posted by: Indrid November 15, 2003 06:26 pm |
| My grandfather ( who is still alive and kicking at 82) was very much involved on the eastern front and i have a million stories to tell. one, when he was stationed in Odessa , he went to the Odessa theater and watched the show along with other officers from the romanian and german army. of course, the romanians got the seats in the back ! i remember he told me it was some sort of an amusement show because at one time a clown appearer and squirted water on one of the german officers from a toy pistol as a prank. the german officer took out his gun and shot him in the head directly on the stage, then left the theater with no emotion. and nobody said a word. |
| Posted by: Indrid November 15, 2003 06:36 pm |
| oh, i just remembered another one. my grandpa told me a story about a mass burial site he along with his company found near Banca Bistrica . running in line with a forest, there was this enormous trench, 4 metres wide and 3 metres deep, about 300 metres long, filled with bodies of prisoners, villagers, gypsies, etc... the germans were retreating in a hurry...the most gruesome part was when he himself discovered the bodies of a family: husband and wife. she was eviscerated (later he found that she was actually pregnant and the featus was nearby) and he was decapitated. the most hannibal lecter part was that whoever did it stuck the man`s head inside the woman`s abdomen. ...he told me that after 3 years of war he could still not forget that single event. gruesome. |
| Posted by: Alexandru H. November 16, 2003 12:07 am |
| Yes, I have heard these stories myself...Got to belive you, Indrid:) |
| Posted by: Geto-Dacul November 16, 2003 02:33 am |
| Why did the Germans lost their time and bullets slaughtering people...? Looks more like a propaganda story...
Sorry not believe it... Getu' |
| Posted by: Alexandru H. November 16, 2003 02:56 am |
| My grandfather took care of the army deposits and made sure he stole from them as much as he could, without being forced to leave for the frontline...Back home, after the war, he became administrator of a factory and used to also steal, but also to denounce fellow workers to the Securitate. He even got the "Hero of Socialist Labour" title.... |
| Posted by: Indrid November 16, 2003 09:01 am |
| Well, all i can say it`s that this is the exact version of the story my grandfather told me. i do not think that a lived experience can be counted as a propaganda story. propaganda for what? to what purpose would my grandfather try to make me believe something about the germans that other stories could have easily done, like the Holocaust?
of course there is always the possibility that he lied to me, but yet again , to what purpose? P.S. and Alexandru H. you heard the story because i have told it to you personally, if you do not remember. :wink: |
| Posted by: Indrid November 16, 2003 09:11 am |
| ok, here's another "propaganda " story. the romanian army was getting ready to enter a city in Czekoslovakia and just as they made their way to the outskirts, they received a message from the russian side to hold positions and make way for the russian troops who were supposed to clease the city of remaining germans. what actually happened was that the city was a major producer of alcohool derivates and the russians just wanted to get to the booze first. and that's just what happened, only that the germans poisoned the huge canisters of alcohool and more than 500 russians died. my grandpa told me that he would have done the same thing, get drunk and all, but he was lucky. for once the russians saved romanian soldiers from death. |
| Posted by: Alexandru H. November 17, 2003 12:10 am |
| Actually Indrid's stories are exact 100%.... :wink: |
| Posted by: mabadesc November 17, 2003 04:00 am |
| Actually, Indrid, we have no reason not to believe Indrid's stories.
We are just sharing memories heard from family members/veterans. By the way, there are tons of true stories about Russian soldiers entering a town and drinking everything in sight from perfume to gasoline. Indrid, I have a similar story. When the Russian soldiers arrived in Bistrita, for instance, in the fall of '44, they looted the high school and in the zoology lab they found the jars with specimens (small animals, insects, etc) filled in formaldehyde (formol). Well, they thought it was close enough to alcohol and drank it all. A bunch of them died, of course. The funny thing is, there is now a monument in Bistrita dedicated to the "fallen Russian heroes who died while liberating Bistrita." Alexandru, just wondering, what happened to your grandfather. And, more importantly, what is your opinion of him and what he did? Just curious to see what you think.... |
| Posted by: Indrid November 17, 2003 07:03 am |
| well, finally! thank you! anyway, i think those russian soldiers who died in Bistrita did not die because of the alcohool in the jars, maybe they choked with the frogs in those jars.
and talking about the quality of the russian soldier, he had to shoot two of them that were so drunk that they started to rape a 84 year old grandma somewhere in hungary. he told me that he had to do it because talking to tthem only made it worse, they were reaching for the guns and so... he was in a lot of trouble because you all know how the russians regarded romanians. oh, and thank you Alexandru, glad you confirm my stories |
| Posted by: johnny_bi November 17, 2003 12:37 pm | ||
mabadesc said:
I do confirm the story. It was a German high-school... today "Colegiul Liviu Rebreau". Some of the Russian soldiers died because of the formol. But I have to say that the part with the monument is NOT TRUE. There is no monument in Bistrita dedicated to the Russian soldiers (as i have previously said to mabadesc in a private message). I live in Bistrita since 1980 and I've never seen or heard about it. As the longest bouleverd in Bistrita is about 1 km long, I think that it is impossible for this kind of monument to remain unseen. |
| Posted by: johnny_bi November 17, 2003 12:39 pm |
| There are no WWII monuments in Bistrita (the city) ... by the way. |
| Posted by: Geto-Dacul November 17, 2003 01:49 pm | ||
Alexandru H. wrote :
And that was in time of war? Let's be serious! Stolling weapons! On foreign territory, you said? As for the "back-home" episode, again, hard to believe since martial law in the RPR was very severe, and I doubt that your grandfather was payed with "factory stuff", by the "Security guys" for his service... Getu' |
| Posted by: Geto-Dacul November 17, 2003 01:53 pm | ||
Alexandru H. wrote :
Yes, exact 100%!
And on the post of November 16 at 12:07 am you said that you weren't sure of how much truth there was in his stories... But after a little time, you just made an "edit" to your post, and said the opposite! Very interesting, indeed, no? 8) Getu' |
| Posted by: Alexandru H. November 17, 2003 07:19 pm | ||
| Well, it seems that disbelief runs rampart through this thread 8)
First of all, I believe Indrid. Not because I know him (and his grandfather btw), but because these stories are told by an ex-war hero...You may not know this, because you've never been to war, but I do not believe that his granpa is lying... War is always a crazy time and we shouldn't compare it with our own (sometimes distorted) opinions.... And he said nothing out of the usual for the eastern front, which was perhaps one of the bloodiest and absurde display of force and violence in the history... Second of all, my own story is about a grandfather who never cared much about anyone but himself. He is dead now but I don't think he would care much about it either... Yes, he was everything but a war hero, I never invented stories, just to look cool ("hey, I have a hero in my family), so this anti-story seems reliable since I don't praise him or my kind. But, of course, I don't want to be judged either by only one man, who seems to have taken the mod status all too serious :cry:
Aah...this even sounds wrong. Yes, they did take time and they did most of those things on more occasions than once. Only ardent or ignorant nationalists (like Iliescu, Vadim or Pavel Corut) could claim that everything was just darn nice about the ways of the german army.... And if we see that the americans or the british did some things that would place them in the war criminals section (strategic bombing, placing american citizens of japanese origin in camps), I don't see how the germans or the russians (who were fighting on a criminal front) could have been nice with each other... |
| Posted by: Indrid November 17, 2003 07:45 pm |
| You know, it's sad to join a club of people who claim to have an interest in history and when you tell the little stories that the history books do not care about because they are insignificant pieces of insignificant lives , all you get back is disbelief and mockery.
what is a person that criticises all and accepts nothing? sad or ignorant? my grandfather faught in that stupid war without believing in it. he fought because if not he would have been emprisoned or shot by a authority he did not elect. so , why would he tell lies? flaw of character? need for worship? fear? why , then would he tell the truth? because it was ugly, stupid, illogical? because i would learn nothing about human nature except what i can see daily in a different form? if i`m going too fast, i`ll slow down for you. i thought this was a forum where we could discover the hidden facts, unknown stories, the puny truths. if he wanted to tell lies, he would have told me that he crashed 20 panzers with one hand and while being drunk. or that he saved 1000 jews from the hands of himmler himself. but he didn't. he told me how he killed two drunken bastards and how he haw a mass burrial site. oh, and he told me a lot of other things too: the germans had huge metal machines that flew in the air, that the americans threw one bomb over a city in japan and killed hundred of thousands, that germany was ruled by a guy named hitler and we were under monarchical rule. cross my heart and hope to die. but i guess he was lying to me. no? |
| Posted by: Victor November 17, 2003 08:06 pm |
| Ever considered of writing down his stories? Dr_V (another member) did this for a family friend (see http://www.worldwar2.ro/memorii/?article=4&language=ro) |
| Posted by: Alexandru H. November 17, 2003 08:09 pm |
| This would be very nice and because I write better, I should be the third party *the one that translates what Indrid heard from his grandfather into nice words*
..no, I am not kidding  |
| Posted by: Indrid November 17, 2003 09:45 pm |
| i would love to but he is in galati, i am in bucharest, we meet quite rarely.
i hope he will be ok until the next summer to get him to talk. he has a fantastic memory. re remembers all the names of his commarades and superiors and where they came from. he is quite forgetfull about more recent events though . |
| Posted by: johnny_bi November 18, 2003 12:53 pm | ||
Victor said:
I have to admit that this article is very impressive. I think that reading the article you have to admit that "the reality exceeded the imagination". We need more stories like this one. |
| Posted by: Victor November 19, 2003 02:30 pm | ||
Well, would it be too much to ask him to write you a letter, describing his memories? |
| Posted by: The_Burning_Zero November 28, 2003 01:48 am |
| My mom tells me my grandfather was a Romanian WWII pilot. She says he was an officer. I am also told he was shot down twice. Once by the Russians early in the war, and hen Romania became allied in 1944 he became a bomber pilot an was shot down by the Germans. That is all I know about him, his name was a along one Teodor Lucien State Tudor. If you know anything about him email me at theodoresterescu@hotmail.com. I think a model of my grandfathers plane would look nice in my colection |
| Posted by: Dénes November 28, 2003 02:52 am |
| I did not find in my extensive, but incomplete, ARR loss list the name you mentioned.
However, I have the following incident that might be connected to your grandfather: 30-May-44 JRS-79B Gr. 1 bomb. slt. pil. Lucian Teodorescu, serg. mec. Pomana {ranit}, serg.maj. mitr. Munteanu {ranit} Tecuci aer. AF ciuruit de gloante de avioane inamice, avariat 30% [JurnOp CAR] |
| Posted by: The_Burning_Zero November 28, 2003 10:16 pm |
| Thanks for your help about my grandfather. I should have said he did not die during the war. He suvived the crash, and in 1997 he died of lung cancer at 92 years of age. I should have menchened that before sorry. Thanks again for the info. |
| Posted by: Dénes November 28, 2003 11:59 pm |
| Apparently, no-one died in the above mentioned incident, so theoretically the Savoia bomber pilot could still be your garndfather. Does the name match? |
| Posted by: The_Burning_Zero November 29, 2003 02:31 pm |
| I am pritty shure the name is corect. Thank you for your help. |
| Posted by: The_Burning_Zero December 01, 2003 08:53 pm |
| Hi thanks for the info, I was wondering if you could contact me about more info on this event, and the people involved.Thanks an have a nice day. |
| Posted by: dragos December 02, 2003 09:43 am |
| My grandfather, 2nd lieutenant cadet Serpescu Gheorghe, of the independent unit of Military School for Reserve Officers No.2 Bacau, was sent to front on 22 August 1944. He was commander of a mortar platoon, which had four 81.4 mm mortars and two 120 mm mortars. He took part in the operation of Arad-Toplita-Prunisor line, being involved in the battle of Prunisor, in which his unit lost two company commaders, captain Eugen Dobrila, commader of 4th Company, and captain Andrei, commander of 3rd Company. Their bodies were recovered several days after the battle, by a committee in which my grandfather was present, and were burried in the churchyard of Gurahont. My grandfather is currently 79 years old and he is living in Buzau. |
| Posted by: mabadesc December 03, 2003 05:36 am |
| Dragos,
Could you tell us about his impressions of the fighting in those chaotic August days (and after)? What was the atmosphere like? Were there rumors among soldiers that an alliance reversal would occur? How was the morale in his company just before 23 August? And what did he think of the way the Soviet allies were behaving afterwards? Sorry for the many questions, I'm just very curious because he was actually there when it all happened. |
| Posted by: dragos December 03, 2003 08:47 am |
| I will relate a detailed story when I meet him next time, probably after the Christmas, because I live in Bucharest and I'm busy with my job. |
| Posted by: Indrid January 05, 2004 03:00 pm |
| i have spent this holiday a few days with my grandfather and he told me in detail his actions in the ww2. i am thinking of publishing them under the memoirs section of this site. it will be quite big, almost 20 pages so it will be a while.... i hope it will live up to the challenge...
:keep: |
| Posted by: mabadesc January 05, 2004 03:15 pm |
| You can do it, Indrid. If you need help with some of the translation, feel free to ask me. |
| Posted by: Indrid January 05, 2004 03:49 pm |
| thanks but i am quite fluent in english. the problem is the amount of info i will have to type because i have about 20 pages of written stuff that i will have to arrange and type. thanks for the intention though! :keep: |
| Posted by: Alexandru H. January 06, 2004 06:17 pm |
| So, are you going to publish that masterpiece? I would be more than happy to take care of it.... |
| Posted by: Indrid January 06, 2004 06:40 pm |
| i will give that privilege to a man with a faculty diploma. :nope: |
| Posted by: dragos January 13, 2004 12:19 am |
| Unfortunatelly I could not visit my grandfather during this winter holliday, but I will tell you another story in return. I have been told this story several years ago, so I may not remember all details exactly. Also, I found this story extraordinary but I believe it as the man was clear to the mind for his age. It is the story of one of my grandfather's friends, and we paid him a visit particularly to hear his story.
He was commander of a cavalry company (escadron), and he was operating at the Don's River bend in November 1942. Its company was subordinated directly to an Army Corps, as special reconnaissance and intervention unit. Before telling the story, he said that after the war he never played at lottery or any other game of luck, because he considered that his luck to survive the war was enough for a lifetime. As captain and working directly with German echelons, he said that he had good relations with German officers, they invited him in their shelters and offered him drinks. He showed me a blured picture of him walking toward the camera in a field, and behind him it was something looking like a white spring of water. He explained that he was returning from examining an abandoned russian tank, and a shell exploded right between him and the tank, as he was returning, so the explosion covered completely the image of the tank. The drama started when his unit was called for in a sector where russians broke through. He recalled that it was a thick fog. After leaving their horses, they started the offensive operation towards russians. Finding the russian positions by the sounds of their firearms, he send several of his men in the far flank, to fire at his signal. This way, they appeared to attack russians from different directions. However, due to the fog, there was the risk to fire at each other! But the plan worked, and soon they found themselves pursuing the russians. The landscape was scarred by numerous natural deep ravines, like wide trenches, so they had to jump all the time. As they were running and firing, he felt a shock in the leg, like someone hit him with a stone. He disregarded this and kept on runing. When he jumped in a ravine, his leg broke like a stick. He has been shot, and the jump fractured his already fissured bone. He was evacuated, and transported to a warehouse full of wounded men. He spent many hours laing on a stretcher, in the dark, listening to what others were talking. He learned that the Russians launched a big offensive. At some moment, two men with lanterns entered the building and stopped next to him. He recognized a medic, which was from the same town (Buzau). The medic assured him he will take care of him and he examined his wound, concluding he had an open fracture. He said that they would take him with an ambulance and transport him to a hospital, but there were russians everywhere as they had broke their lines. They put him in an ambulance and start driving. There was a large column of vehicles and soldiers (I realized later that this was the column of Gen. Lascar group). At some point, a great stir occured in the column, as Russians were approaching. They managed to cross a ravine, just when behind them the russians cut their lines. As the column scattered, they were driving alone, hoping they were heading the right direction. They saw a tank approaching, and realized it was a Soviet tank. The tank stopped as a deep gully were separating them. The driver and the medic jumped out of the vehicle and hid in the bushes, as the tank opened fire at them. Fortunately, it was a light tank, and it was firing with piercing shells. After several shots, the captain heard galloping sounds approaching. They were speaking russian and he realized they were cossacks. He pulled the blanket over his head. They turned round the truck several times and shot with their SMGs in it. The bullets passed over him. Seing the door hanging loose, they thought the truck was abandoned and left. The tank, seeing the cossacks have arrived, also left. The driver and the medic returned from their hide-out and they continued driving. After some time, they saw another tank, this time it was a big tank, and they stopped. As they could not know whether it was German or Russian, and the captain had field glasses, they turned the ambulance, so that the captain could look through the glasses. He saw it was a German tank, what relief! The joy did not last long. Even if the Germans greeted them, they were told they were at Bol Donscinka, and they were still in the encirclement. They were told that the next day they were planing to evacuate the village, and break the encirclement. As he spend the night in the ambulance, he could see on the window how the Russians were storming the city with tanks, but the German 88-mm guns were turning them back. In the morning the German column got on the move, with tanks and men with automatic rifles in the lead. They got to their lines, and it was transported to a field hospital were he was examined by German medics. They said they were about to evacuate the hospital, and they would send him by plane to another hospital. Once he landed, the German medics examined his wound, which was already looking bad, and told him they cannot operate it, and they recommend sending him to Viena, where they guaranteed full recovery, or they could send him to Romania. He preferred Romania. In the following day he entered Romania by train. Their parents were transmitted he was dead! His father refused to believe he is dead (he did not tell this to his wife), and checked continuously the hospitals, and found about him. Even if the train was en route to Timisoara, his father arranged that it would stop for a short moment in Buzau. He was operated in Buzau, and he remained with a handicap (one leg shorter than the other), but he was most happy he returned to his town. |
| Posted by: mabadesc January 13, 2004 03:01 am |
| Hi Dragos,
Too bad you didn't have a chance to ask your grandfather about his war stories. When you get a chance, please do. Anyway, the story you posted was very interesting. I'll share a much shorter and less spectacular family story with you: Sometime during the war (long before August 23, but I don't know exactly when and where), some Romanian troops caught a guy trying to escape through the front lines to the Soviet side. He was supposed to be executed, but somehow he ended up in front of my great-grandfather, who was the CO of the troops in the area. I don't know if my great-grandfather was in a good mood that day, or whether he took pity on him, but he thought the guy was just a poor nobody and he set him free. In any case, the guy turned out to be Emil Bodnaras. In 1956, my great-grandmother returned from a Siberian concentration camp, and she and my family had no place to live in (they were all living in a small appartment). She remembered about this incident and she called Bodnaras's office and gave her name and address. One hour later, a black Mercedes limo pulled up to her door and drove her to an audience with Bodnaras. He was very polite, respectful, and he asked how he can help her. Within a couple of days, our family was allocated a much larger place to live in and my great-grandmother's military vet/widow pension was reinstated. Just a coincidence, but it goes to show how small the world is. |
| Posted by: C-2 January 13, 2004 08:30 pm |
| Yesterday at Tv I saw a old guy, from Iasi ,Who was the co of Nicolae Ceausescu .He used to kick him in the ass all time ,but also was not to hard with him.
You can imagine that the whole family lived in fear till 89.... 8) |
| Posted by: mabadesc January 14, 2004 01:24 am |
| [quote]Yesterday at Tv I saw a old guy, from Iasi ,Who was the co of Nicolae Ceausescu .He used to kick him in the ass all time [/quote]
That's hilarious. He literally used to kick him in the ass?
In any case, he was really lucky Ceausescu didn't remember him or couldn't find him. Or maybe he was just too embarrassed to face him again.... |
| Posted by: Victor January 14, 2004 02:41 pm |
| [quote]Yesterday at Tv I saw a old guy, from Iasi ,Who was the co of Nicolae Ceausescu .He used to kick him in the ass all time ,but also was not to hard with him.
You can imagine that the whole family lived in fear till 89.... 8)[/quote] Nicolae Ceausescu was in prison during the war IIRC. |
| Posted by: dead-cat January 16, 2004 06:58 pm |
| yeah i saw his cell in Doftana.
they should've kept him there. |
| Posted by: C-2 January 16, 2004 10:18 pm |
| Where did I wrote that he served in the war???????????????
I said CO that ment during his military service. The old guy showed pictures with a handful of soldiers ,on a canon,Ceausescu between them. :loool: |
| Posted by: dragos January 25, 2004 08:34 pm |
 2nd Lieutenant Cadet Serpescu Gheorghe In August 1944, when the Russian troops started to break in Moldavia, the Officer Military School of Bacau moved to Arad by train. On 22 August there were already rumors about ending war against Russians. The German instructors left the unit by train. In the evening of 22, it was anounced the ending of the war against Soviet Unions, and start of the war against Hungarians and Germans. The mood in the unit was not too high, because they knew they were to be involved in battled, due to their position near Hungarian border. Even if they wanted to pay it back to Hungarians, they were not too happy to be allied with Russians. On 23 August, they moved on the route Arad - Toplita - Prunisor, where they started to dig in. The frontline went along a hill on the river Crisul Alb valley, with the river behind the hill. The school had four companies, my grandfather being second in command of the 4th Mortar Company, commanded by Lt. Dobrila. The companies were deployed in front and on top of the hill, and my grandfather remained with half of company (2 x 81.4 mm and 2 x 120 mm mortars) behind the hill. Soon, a cannonade started between both sides, Romanians firing with mortars, while Germans and Hungarians were firing with more precise infantry guns. My grandfather was coordinating the fire of the mortars on top of the hill, by looking through the telemeter and adjusting the fire by 50 meters. Hungarians assaulted several times, but were repulsed every time. My grandfather remebers that they often fired 80-100 rounds, and the barrels of the mortars turned red, and their base entered the ground 30-40 cm. It happened to fire at their own troops. There was a Romanian infantry column retreating, and they fired at it until they approached about 200-300 meters, and they saw them making desperate signs to cease fire. They saw columns of Romanian refugees, saying that Hungarians are burning their villages, and begging for help, but he felt sorrow they could not leave their positions. At some point, the company commander was hit, and yelled at my grandfather to come in his aid. When he arrived, my grandfather saw that the innards were pouring through the belly of Lt. Dobrila, being hit by a shrapnel. The man told my grandfather to take care of his horse, and to arrange to be returned to his mother, because it was his property. He was taken to a field hospital, where he died. They held the positions until October, when Russians relieved them. They left their postions under the enemy fire, as he could see Hungarians light of the firearms 300 meters away, and the branches of the trees falling over them. When they were moving to their garrisons, they met the Russian columns. From time to time, there was a Russian trooper, often riding a horse, asking them where to Berlin. They make joke of them, pointing left or right. My grandfather was awarded with "Barbatie si Credinta cu spade clasa a 3-a"  |
| Posted by: Paulus February 08, 2004 05:52 pm |
| Amazing stories.
It would be pretty cool if some of you could make some articles for the website. I'm interested in that, and with your permission I would eventually (if i've got enough informations around it) make a Combat Mission scenario recreating one of the fights :ro: Thanks, :beer: Paulus :beer: PS : If you don't know what is 'Combat Mission' (a wargame), I'm gonna post a topic about it on the forum. |
| Posted by: DevanG February 09, 2004 06:40 am |
| the dora/gustav cannon was viewed by the germans as a unit in itself .. :
it was commanded by a general and had a staff of around 1000 ( i think .. ) ... |
| Posted by: Brotherhoodofthecross May 01, 2004 01:13 pm |
| I have heard an interesting story from one of my friend's grandfather. He was a machinegunner and fought both fronts. He used to say that the Russian mg were crap compared to the German ones. Anyway, he told once how he and his group (platoon?) came across some weird Soviet transport which they seized. The Soviets had in their trucks a load of cans which resembled the "Nivea" handcream boxes and which contained something that looked like a thick brownish paste. The prisoners reported that the transport was intended to get to some Russian unit and that the cream is supposed to be mixed with water and drunk just before the attack. They also said that the soldiers wouldn't feel fear or pain after having that mixture and the "cream" was highly addictive :shock: I am not sure what that could have been but I suspect it was some sort of amphetamine formulation. Maybe they got the idea from the Americans because they used to manufacture huge quantities of amphetamines for the Army use during the WW2. |
| Posted by: mabadesc May 01, 2004 10:06 pm |
| [quote]They also said that the soldiers wouldn't feel fear or pain after having that mixture and the "cream" was highly addictive[/quote]
Quite possible, although I thought the Soviets' drug of choice for their soldiers was alcohol. Still, many countries used psychotropic substances for their armies (to some extent). Finnish soldiers were issued large quantities of amphetamines, as well as combinations of cocaine/morphine. The amphetamines or cocaine were stimulants and provided energy and aggressiveness, while morphine put them into a state of euphoria or "well-being". Some german units were also provided similar stimulents, although to a lesser extent. Does anyone know if Romanian soldiers were given anything before attacks? Like alcohol, or pills, etc... |
| Posted by: dragos May 01, 2004 11:47 pm | ||
Nothing was officially distributed except food and cigarettes. |
| Posted by: Barbosu February 24, 2005 04:28 pm |
| Hi everyone! I start with the story of my grand-uncle Major Moisescu Ioan - a Mihai Viteazu recipient for bravery on western front - as depicted in some very interesting documents I found, belonging to him, military report orders (Ordin la raport) he received as commander of the 1-st Batalion,94-th Infantry Regiment, 19-th Infantry Division. Then something on my grandfather (Lt. Chifulescu Mircea), and one of his brothers, who fought in a tank unit (Chifulescu Ioan). Another of his brothers was a pilot and has a topic in the ARR forum (Chifulescu Virgil Florea). (I hope the following days I will scan some photos and the documents) I have two such Report Orders (Ordin la raport), and other documents I will entirely translate and post in this topic. Please do the same because in such an order, as you probably know already, you can find copies after more Day Orders, about more units and operations and maybe one of us could find something about his relative in others documents/stories. So... names, more names, please! Here is the first part of one of the documents I found: .............................................................................................. "94th Infantry Regiment Military Postal Office no 631. No. 1819 1944, November, 17 To 1st Batalion REPORT ORDER I. The officers below received medals as follows: Day Order (Ordin de zi) no. 97/16.XI.1944 "Romanian Star 5th class with spades and Military Virtue ribbon and oak leaves: - Maj. Isaia P. Mircea - Capt. Bacila V. Vasile - Capt. BAsturea P. Mihail - Capt. Prescurea N. Ioan - Capt. Stan I. Florea - Lt. Tudor C. Ioan - Slt. active Paunescu N. Teodor - Slt. rez Surcel M. Petre II. Below you will find a copy of the order no. 8021/12.XI.1944 of 19th Inf. Div. for you to learn its contents and to report if necessary to the Personnel Office (Biroul Mobilizare) until 20.XI.1944, attaching the list of names. (The order referred to a 10 days leave for some categories of graduates of some special high schools of arts and crafts (de meserii, industriale si profesionale - as in Romanian language) because they had to participate to a selection/exam in Bucharest. III. All such workers who are orderlies for the officers are to be changed of their duties immediately. IV. Below you will find a copy of the letter of thanks from Gen. col. Sumilov, the commander of the 7th Soviet Guard Army addressed to Gen commander of the 7th army corp for the fights of his units and the rejection of all enemy attacks. COPY: To Army Corp General, commander of the 7th army corp: Please transmit to generals, officers, NCO's and soldiers, my thanks for the fights of these last days, for the rejection of the attacks of german-hungarian occupants. I am sure that the army corp led by you will continue the fight even better, for our common interests, the victory on german-hungarian occupants. Signed Commander. 7th Sov. Guard Army Gen. col. Sumilov V. Below you will find a copy of Day Order no. 21./10 Nov 1944, of the 19-th Infantry Division to be known by all. Day Order 21 10.Nov. 1944 Copy In the heavy fights over Tisa river, culminating with the victories from Minszent, Kistelek, Alpar and Cegled the following men and units especially distinguished themselves: - General Mosteoru Grigorie, commander of the 19-th Infantry Brigade, who ordered the first line with energy and skill, staying day and night in the middle of the troops, giving them in time the right impulse. -Colonel Iliescu Ilie, commander of the artillery of the 7-th Army Corp, who helped all the time the infantry by the massive and adequate fire. - The 7-th Heavy Artillery Regiment, under the full of energy and wise command of Colonel Danacu Vasile, helped in time and in perfect comradeship, our infantry - The 94-th Infantry Regiment, under the command of Colonel Ionescu N. Ioan fought with bravery at the Minsdszent bridgehead, especially the 1st Batalion, under the command of Major Moisescu Ioan. With great impetus, even after long and hard marches from Kistelek to Sarvasi and then from Sarvasi to Szentes, they attack the enemy at Alpar, pushing him to the North and successfully made a breakthrough to the ally units, encircled in that town. They reject all enemy attacks and firmly keep the advanced position of Nor Alpar (T.N. - probably North of Alpar). With the same energy they continue the attacks and occupy one by one the ordered targets, pushing the enemy to the North East of Cegled. On 8-th of November 1944 they resist with energy to a powerful enemy counter-attack made with 17 tanks and backed by 2nd German Infantry Regiment." |
| Posted by: dragos July 13, 2005 09:16 pm | ||
I have found the following information regarding the operations of the 2nd Bacau reserve officer school: On 17 September 1944, the fights grew in intensity, the enemy sending more troops north of Crisul Alb managed to encircle the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion, in the village of Cardand. The company escaped over night without any losses, using diversion tactics and with the help of villagers. Heavy fights took place at Prunisor. The 2nd Company (my grandfather's 4th company was supporting with mortar fire) stopped cold three consecutive assaults of an enemy three times superior, thus denying the access towards Sebes. Source: Istoria infanteriei romane II, Bucuresti, 1985 |
| Posted by: dragos July 13, 2005 09:39 pm |
| My gradfather also recalled that when they had to leave their positions, one of the soldiers of his company returned because they forgot in place a piece of a dismantled mortar. He was caught by some Hungarian soldiers, which, after beating him, put him to dig his own grave with the bayonet. Fortunatelly for him, a German soldier arrived at the scene, saving him from a certain death. Neverheles, he was taken POW but was recovered after some time in a liberated town in Transylvania. He was badly beaten but alive. |
| Posted by: Mareşal Boboescu July 21, 2005 07:30 pm |
| My great-grandfather saw the lights of WW2 as a soldier in the 2nd Bombing Flottila Guard Company. He had the pleasure of visiting very intersting places like Stalingrad and the Don's Turn. Few of his war stories reached me unfortunatelly but what I can tell you is that the only thing that he ust to talk about was the coldness of the russian winters, the partisan attacks and their miraculous escape from Stalingrad. But as my great-grandfather had it easy, what I am about to say beats the understanding of warfare.  Another relative of mine, whas a school teacher in those days and entered the war as a subleutenant of administration (intendenta ). He goes for a walk to Russia were fatality he is captured by the Russians. Being a relative of mine he escaped and was decorated with Coroana Romaniei in rank of Knight with the Virtutea militara ribbon and a german decoration which did not arrive to me. after 23 aug. 1944 he falls prisoner to the germans and remains the to the end of the war. after the instalation of the communists he is decorated with the RPR Star 5th Class, Eliberarea de sub jugul fascist medall and 2 Soviet medalls.COOOOOOOOOOOL  HONOR ET PATRIA Ml. B. |
| Posted by: Kosmo December 14, 2005 03:30 pm |
| Hi all! Nice site here! Sadly I don't have much to tell. My grandfather from my father was a veteran of the Second Balkan War (!) and of the great war. In the second world war he was drafted, but did not take active part. He died sometime before I was born so the only war story I know comes thru my father: He was a cavalry men in the Second Balkan War and they had a very tough officer that made the lives of the soldiers a nightmare. In the only fight they had while on road to Sofia they charged with lances some bulgarians and after the officer spiked a men he got a mental breakdown and became insane. My other grandfather died when I was a child and despite the fact he used to tell me his war stories I don't remember much. He was a machine gunner and he told me that the russians were hungry and drunk when attacking and the romanians fired their machinguns killing many of them until they needed to change the barrels because of overheating. |
| Posted by: underman December 23, 2005 07:02 pm |
| is it possible to somehow find out more details about your relative who fight in the ww2 ? ... i whant to post few words about my grandfather and i wish i can say more about him, some kind of romanian war archive ? ... if not i will post what i remember about him. |
| Posted by: dragos December 25, 2005 02:55 pm | ||
See this: http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?showtopic=2480 |
| Posted by: mabadesc December 26, 2005 05:47 pm | ||
Those were the classic russian "human wave" attacks. According to many german veterans, like Sajer, the russians also used human wave infantry attacks for "de-mining" purposes, so that their armor, which followed behind, did not have to worry about field mines. It's really incredible that some russian commanders had such complete disregard for their soldiers. |
| Posted by: C-2 December 26, 2005 07:10 pm |
| That's not so correct... An anti personal mine,doesnot do any damage to a tank. And anti tank mines ,are not exploding when a soldier who is about 70-80 kg,but on more then 300 kg. Of course that after a few years ,an anti tanbk mine can became instable,and explode almost at any weight. |
| Posted by: Victor December 26, 2005 09:26 pm |
| mabadesc, it is not certain if Sajer was actually a German soldier during WWII and if his Forgotten soldier is fiction or not. Personally I doubt that such a practice existed. For trying to understand the way the Red Army fought the war, recent works, published in the 90s, are a better choice ober books published during the cold war. |
| Posted by: mabadesc December 27, 2005 03:40 pm | ||
Hi Victor, Hi C-2. I'm aware of the controversy around Sajer's book. Regarding the existence of Soviet human wave attacks in WW2, I don't think either one of you can contradict me. They are well documented, as I'm sure you know. Regarding the "peculiar" de-mining technique, it's definitely a more questionable issue. However, it was recently used by the Iranians in the Iran-Iraq war, according to a publication by the US Marine Corps. Whether the Soviets also used it in WW2 - I don't have any proof, so I'll retract my statement. Iran-Iraq war: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/war/docs/3203/ I also thought I had read other accounts by WW2 veterans which describe this, but I can't think of any others besides Sajer off-hand. If I do, I'll make sure to let you know. Thanks. |
| Posted by: Jeff_S December 27, 2005 06:37 pm | ||
I disagree. The larger AP mines can blow off a track. Even if the crew can replace it quickly, they still need to get out of the vehicle to do it. |
| Posted by: C-2 December 27, 2005 08:17 pm |
| The antipersonal mine,is one that blows the foot of a soldier that wears an usual army boot.Generaly separate the foot from the ancle. Not enought strainght to blow a tank track. |
| Posted by: dragos03 December 29, 2005 01:09 am |
| Here is the story of my grandfather, Captain (at the end of WW2) Virgiliu Baldescu. He died yesterday. He was born in 1917. His father was a priest from Seaca, Olt County, and a Senator in the Romanian Parliament in the inter-war period. One of the brothers of his father was Gen. Radu Baldescu, who commanded the 18th Infantry Division in the Crimea and the Kalmuk Steppe. My grandfather graduated the War Academy in 1939 as an engineer officer. Soon after he graduated he was sent somewhere close to the Western border. The war was coming and King Carol II made desperate efforts to build fortifications and infrastructure on that border (the so-called Carol line). According to my grandfather, the Carol line was a joke, it existed mostly on paper. My grandfater had the task to build an airfield in a village (i forgot the name but it started with B..). Before the airfield was completed, he was suddenly sent to the Eastern border. When he reported to his new commander, he found out that Basarabia had to be evacuated quickly because of the Soviet ultimatum. His task was go with a truck and retreive transmission equipment from the Bassarabian airfields before the Soviets seized them. He went and saved most of the equipment but, somewhere on the way back, some Jewish civilians with communist flags opened fire on his truck. He was not hurt but, after he returned to his unit, he discovered a bullet hole in one of his sleeves. He went back to the commander and told him that he wants to quit the army. In my granfather's opinion it was a shame to abandon a Romanian province without a fight and to allow civilians to fire at the army without being allowed to retaliate. The commander convinced him to stay and assured him that the army will have a chance to liberate Basarabia soon. When Romania entered WW2, my grandfather was attached to the 3rd Army Headquarters and his task was to set up forward transmission positions. He entrered the main city of Bucovina, Cernauti, with one of the first units. He recalls that the airfield in Cernauti was filled with Soviet airplanes destroyed on the ground (he told me that most of the airplanes were I-16 Rata and another aircraft type that looked similar to the Fiesler Storch). During the 3rd Army's advance into Russia in 1941, he was sent one day to set up a transmission point in a village close to the front line, with a truck and his platoon. While driving to the village they encountered the forward positions of the Romanian infantry and the soldiers told them that the village is not occupied and may still be in enemy hands. The soldiers adviced him to abort his mission but my grandfater wanted to try. The village proved to be free of enemy soldiers and his platoon set up the forward transmission point. After a couple of hours, they noticed an enemy infantry company that was coming to occupy the village. Since they were unarmed (only one soldier had a rifle and my grandfather had his officer pistol), his soldiers wanted to flee. My grandfather convinced them to stay. They let the Soviets enter the village and then started to scream and fire their only two weapons. The Soviets thought they were ambushed by a superior enemy and they surrendered. Some of them were Romanian ethnics from Basarabia. After a while the Soviets relalized that their company was captured or destroyed and they started to bombard the village with artillery. After a night of bombardment the Romanian infantry came and relieved them. (Earlier in this thread i posted a different version of this story. That was only an innacurate version that i remembered from my grandfater's stories, i deleted it.) After the death of FM Schorner, the commander of the German 11th Army (he landed with his airplane in a mined field), the Romanian Army set up a special de-mining unit especially tasked to de-mine airfields and possible landing spots. My grandfather was the commander of this unit. This way he met some important commanders, like Antonescu, Petre Dumitrescu or von Manstein. He told me that the Soviet mines were very primitive, simple wooden boxes filled with explosives, but very hard to detect with metal detectors. After demining, they used the explosives to fish in the nearby rivers. During this time he also slept in many Russian villages. According to him, the Russian civilians were friendly and happy to be occupied by Romanians instead of German troops. He slept in village houses with his pistol on the table, without any fear that the Russians will kill him in its sleep. In 1942 he was assigned to "Regimentul de transmisiuni aero" (Aero-transmissions Regiment) and sent back to Romania, to train new officers. He continued his training duties until the end of the war. After the war he was kicked out of the army. Together with his father and one of his brothers, he was arrested and sent to the Danube-Black Sea Canal. His father died there but my grandfather was released after a while. He worked as a railway engineer until he was pensioned. He always hated the communists and he was very happy to live the Revolution in 1989. He was also a supporter of ex-king Mihai, but only until Mihai sided with the PSD (ex-communists) party. My grandfater's awards: - Carol I Centennial Medal (1939) - Order of the Crown, Knight, with "Militay Virtue" ribbon (1941) - Crusade against communism medal (1942) - WW2 Commemorative Cross |
| Posted by: Victor December 29, 2005 07:30 am |
| Sorry to hear about your grandfather Dragos. Dumnezeu sa-l ierte. The airfield in Transylvania you mentioned earlier was probably Balomir. |
| Posted by: C-2 December 29, 2005 12:45 pm |
| R.I.P |
| Posted by: Carol I December 29, 2005 04:22 pm |
| Dumnezeu să-l ierte! |
| Posted by: Dani December 29, 2005 07:32 pm |
| Dumnezeu sa-l odihneasca in pace! |
| Posted by: mabadesc December 29, 2005 08:31 pm | ||
| My sincere condoleances, Dragos03. Regarding the previous discussion on mines, C-2 stated that:
C-2, this is not generally the case. The most extensively used german anti-tank mines - Tellermine 35, Tellermine 41, Tellermine 42, and the Wooden-box mine all have detonation pressure points varying between 150 - 300 pounds (70 - 130 kg). If you consider an average soldier loaded with equipment and stepping on the mine while running - i.e. applying his weight along with downward vertical momentum on one foot - the detonation weight can easily be reached. |
| Posted by: dragos03 December 29, 2005 08:51 pm |
| Thank you all for your kind words. |
| Posted by: jivana January 06, 2006 05:40 pm |
| Dragos, I would also liko to express to you my deepest sympathy at your Grandfather´s passing away. May he have now - after a long and heavy war during his lifetime - his inner peace which everybody is longing for. What you wrote about his life was very touching. Maybe someday you can write more about him and his activities. I think, you can be proud of him. One of my relatives who died about a year ago was also born 1917 and also started a similar military career, maybe their ways crossed each other. Greetings |
| Posted by: dragos03 January 07, 2006 09:55 pm |
| Thank you Jivana, maybe i'll post some more about him. Sorry to hear about the death of your relative, maybe you can share his story with us. |
| Posted by: dragos03 January 08, 2006 10:17 pm |
| Some more information and pictures of my grandfather. http://imageshack.us A photo taken just before the war http://imageshack.us The 1939 promotion of engineer officers Military activity - 1939-1942 - 2nd Lieutenant, Regimentul de geniu aeronautic (Air Engineer Regiment) - 1942-1945 - Lieutenant, Regimentul Transmisiuni Aeronautice (Air Transmissions Regiment) - 1945-1947 - Captain, detached to the Technical University in Bucharest - 1947 - in reserve He actually built more than one airfield. The one that i thought it started with "B" was in fact the Periam airfield in Timis county. My grandfather was sent there just after graduating. He was amazed when he arrived, since he was the only officer there, in charge of many men and vehicles. The situation must have been really desperate if they sent a young officer with no practical experience to build an airfield. He also built airfields in Lunca Steiului (Bihor county), Faget (near Lugoj), Husi and Barlad. |
| Posted by: jivana January 09, 2006 09:01 pm |
| Thank you, dragos03, and thank you also for sharing those wonderful photos you posted here. They show the human aspect of military life. As soon as I find out more about my relative I´m going to share my experiences, too. Greetings |
| Posted by: Avvoltoio September 29, 2008 08:58 am |
| my grandfather was a news technician("in hungarian Híradó technikus, i dont know the good English word for it"), from 1939-1946, he was only 17 when he became a soldier, his elder sister offered him to the Honvédség, cause their father, and mother died in 1936, and 1937, and she couldn't look after for him. My other great-grand father(Jankovics György), and mother(Prokle Mária), and my graandmother(Jankovics Eleonóra) lived in Vojvodina, My great-grandfather was a shoemaker who prepared boots for the partisans, but the end of the war my great-grandmother, my grandmother was raped(they got TBC from them, and my grandmother was only 16 years old), and they wanted to be shot my great grandfather into the river from a bridge, the Russian soldiers saved him from the Serb partisans cause they said "how the good workforce would be wasted", so he was taken onto some years into Siberia into a labour camp. Maybee reason was this why they wanted to kill my great-grandfather: my great-grandmother liked hitler, and my grandmother had a Hitler-Jugend certificate with swastika, from the primary school ... but there was also a mas. So after they migrated to Hungary, they lost their house, land, paints(György was a painter too) My other Greaat-grandfather Csernus János fighted in the ww1 in Battle of Doberdo(Isonzo front). A bullet hit him that passed through his shoulder and his chin, when he healed he figthed again. But all of them survived the war fortunately |
| Posted by: maiortitulescu October 11, 2008 06:22 am |
| Emil Ștefănescu, one of my grandmother's brothers who fought in ww2.(1942) http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=emilstefanescurl0.jpghttp://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php He was a POW for 6 years (in Rusia) and when he camed back from there he was very sick, he died at short time after that. picture from my collection |
| Posted by: maiortitulescu October 11, 2008 06:39 pm |
| another brother of my grandmother - Aurel Ștefănescu http://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=aurelstefanescugz6.jpghttp://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php |
| Posted by: cmc October 12, 2008 06:33 am |
| Hey, one of my grandfathers was a sargent with the romanian mountain hunters. I remember telling me about one day after the fell of Odessa when they were pulled back from the front line and sent for a short break in Odessa. While in Odessa they were very disturbed to see romanian "jandarmi" stealing from public and private properties. They have been so much disturbed to see this that the mountain hunters beat up a few of those "jandarmi". Anyway... I don't have more info about that... but I remember how indignated my grandfather was about this. Later on (Nov. 41), my grandfather (the truck he was in) was ambushed by partisans and was severly injured. He escaped with hes life only because a german unit came to their help. He died at the age of 90, in 2005. |
| Posted by: Victor October 12, 2008 08:21 am |
| No mountain troops served in the 4th during the siege of Odessa. Most likely your grandfather was with another unit at the time. |
| Posted by: cmc October 12, 2008 10:58 am |
| I did not say he was in Odessa during the siege. I said after the fall of Odessa they were sent back from the front lines. |
| Posted by: feic7346 October 28, 2008 02:02 pm |
| My grandmothers brother (he died about 10 yrs. ago) fought on the Eastern front. I was quite young when I left Romania and I remember some of the stories he tols of the war. He was a gunner in an anti tank unit. He was Odessa and on the Don Bend. Hew swam accross the Don solo to escape encirclement. He was not wounded but he left for the front in 1941 and our family did not see him until 1944. My grandmother said his coat was full of bulletholes when he came back. Some of the things I remember he said. He said Russian human wave attacks were ridiculous and you always feared them because there was a better chance you would run out of ammo before they ran out soldiers. Those charges didnt really succeed but if you couldnt resupply the front positions with enough ammo and quicky, the charges would then succeed. |
| Posted by: 21 inf December 12, 2008 06:11 pm |
| My father-in-law is from Chiesd village, Salaj county, Romania, age 14 when romanian troops took back Transylvania in 1944. In his village were fightings between hungarian-german troops and romanian army and the village was under both sides artilery fire. When my father-in-law was in the army in 1951 as border-guard, his CO asked them from were the soldiers are and when was answered that my father-in-law is from Chiesd, Salaj he remembered that he fought in that village. The CO (major in 1951) remembered that he was in patrol mission toward a hill where was the heavilly defended manor of the local landlord ("grof"). He was advancing together with a soldier, thru forest, having in the line of sight the manor. At a certain moment they where halted by the shout "Alj meg!" or "Halt!" in hungarian language. The soldier droped his rifle, there were two hungarian soldiers poiting their rifles to the romanian patrol. The CO had two pistols in his longcoat pockets, he fake as he wanted to raise arms, but in that very moment he actually took the pistols and shoot deadly the two unaware enemies. Very short time after the shooting enemy mortar fire started and only luck made the romanian patrol not to be hurt. They ran back to romanian positions and gave the coordinates of local manor where was the mortar section and other armed forces and romanian artillery shelling started. The manor took fire and probably very few enemy troops escaped from the building and surounding. My father-in-law testify that he saw with his own eyes the enemy casualties at the manor those days. |
| Posted by: Alexandru C. February 22, 2014 04:59 pm |
| I recently discovered this topic and I would like to say a few words about my uncle, war, destiny and so on. I don’t know if it’s the proper topic. My father's brother, Slt. Oprea Crețeanu, was born in 1915, he graduated the faculty of law. He was part of the 15th Artillery Regiment and he fought on the front for Basarabia. During the battle for Odessa he was injured losing his sight. He was hit by a sniper in the head at the eye level, the bullet crossed through the head behind the eyes... There were very difficult times after that, for the whole family. However, after a while, with a strong will and an extraordinary memory he continued to practice as a lawyer. A person assisted him for reading and note. He died in 1989. He has been awarded with: Virtutea militara de razboi cls a II -a Medalia pentru Barbatie si Credinta cls a III-a Medalia “ Cruciada impotriva comunismului” cu bareta “Odessa argintata” |