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WorldWar2.ro Forum > Romanian Army at War > Motorised artillery of Romanian Army


Posted by: Delwin October 13, 2012 08:53 pm
I am looking for some details on the level of motorisation of Romanian artillery at the beginning of Barbarossa. As far as I understand there was a significant number of the motorised units (492 heavy guns motorised?) - could you please share some details what was the exact number of the motorised guns at this moment in time as well as some details on the artillery battalions structure? How many horse drawn units were still in use?

Posted by: Florin October 14, 2012 04:51 am
Please make a search through this Forum - sub-forums "Romanian Army" and "Eastern Front". You'll find many interesting things about this. You'll find also photos with trucks used by the Romanian Army (more than 2000 being produced in Romania during the war years).
However, the previous posts up to date may not answer to "the exact number of the motorised guns" "at the beginning of Barbarossa".

Posted by: Victor October 14, 2012 01:04 pm
For details regarding the motorization of the artillery, please go first through the article on the website: http://worldwar2.ro/organizare/?article=36

Posted by: Delwin October 14, 2012 09:37 pm
I did it prior to starting this thread. I have some problems in grasping the structure the artillery e.g.

QUOTE
The corps (7 corps, Mountain and Cavalry Corps) artillery was formed from a motorized heavy artillery regiment, which had one battalion equipped with 12 105mm Schneider model 1936 and another one with 12 150mm Skoda model 1934. There were 8 such regiments (1st-8th).


8 regiments are mentioned but 9 corps - 7+1 +1. Additionally:

QUOTE
Each corps also had an independent motorized heavy artillery battalion.


So 8 or 9 battalions? What type of guns?

Posted by: Victor October 16, 2012 07:19 am
QUOTE (Delwin @ October 14, 2012 11:37 pm)
I did it prior to starting this thread. I have some problems in grasping the structure the artillery e.g.

QUOTE
The corps (7 corps, Mountain and Cavalry Corps) artillery was formed from a motorized heavy artillery regiment, which had one battalion equipped with 12 105mm Schneider model 1936 and another one with 12 150mm Skoda model 1934. There were 8 such regiments (1st-8th).


8 regiments are mentioned but 9 corps - 7+1 +1. Additionally:

QUOTE
Each corps also had an independent motorized heavy artillery battalion.


So 8 or 9 battalions? What type of guns?


Yes, there seems to be a mistake in the text (the article needs some fine tuning here and there). There were 10 corps (1-7, 11, Cavalry and Mountain). The motorized artillery regiments were not strictly allocated to one corps, but they generally tended to follow the infantry corps. For example, my grandfather served in the 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiment in 1941, mostly within the 2nd Corps. However, the regiments could be reassigned or regrouped according to the operational needs.

There were only 6 motorized independent heavy artillery battalions according to one source, but it is possible more of the 19 independent artillery battalions were motorized. The motorized battalions were equipped with 150 mm Skoda howitzers.

Posted by: Delwin October 16, 2012 09:05 pm
Thanks - so (for certain) we have 8 regiments (2 battalions each -24 guns) + 6 independent ones - collectively 22 battalions (264 guns)

Below the article provides:

QUOTE
There were 18 motorized independent heavy artillery battalions equipped with 105mm Schneider and 150mm Skoda howitzers. These were assigned to different formations in case of necessity.


Are those 18 battalions extra? Having in mind your explanations it seems that there was 22 motorised (certain information) +19 horse-drawn (however some of them could be motorised) so collectively 41 batttalions (which matches 492 guns). Was there also some motorised light artillery? I found in the article the 36 guns in the 1st Armored but was it all?

BTW: what it the difference when you use the term light and regimental gun? Place in the structure or the actual size of the gun?

Posted by: Victor October 17, 2012 08:04 am
Yes, the 1st Armored Division had the 1st Motorized Artillery Regiment, which had two 100 mm Skoda howitzer battalions and one 105 mm Schneider battalion, in total 36 guns.

The motorized "light guns" were mostly 47 mm Schneider AT guns at divisional level, but also some 37 mm or 25 mm AT guns for the cavalry and armored division.

Regarding the independent battalions, only 6 were motorized and not all were equipped with the modern 150 mm and 105 mm guns. From memory, there were 7 battalions with 150 mm Skoda howitzers and 3 with 105 mm Schneider guns. The rest used older artillery pieces. Like I said, the article needs some tuning.

Posted by: Florin November 02, 2015 02:55 am
Interesting link about an automobile fully designed and built from 1945 to 1947 by Romanian engineers (meaning it was not a license) :
http://www.auto-bild.ro/stiri/ai-idee-care-a-fost-prima-masina-100-romaneasca-iata-povestea-acesteia-83901.html

In the link, make sure to read the last 2 lines at the bottom of the text.

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