Hello, I'm currently doing some research for a college paper about my family. My grand father comes from Romania and I've been asking several questions to family members about his involvement in the war but something isn't clear. I was told that he was part of the Romanian Army as a doctor and that at some point, his unit (or perhaps even more) was captured by Germans. He was then forced to march towards Germany and he was later liberated by the Americans and he stayed in Germany for 2-3 years after the war.

I've been searching online for details and I haven't found any evidence whatsoever of Romanians being forced to march towards Germany. In fact, it seems rather bizarre that his unit would of been captured. Can anyone possibly try to clarify all of this for me?

Thanks a lot for your help,

-Matt

Of course, you cannot supply more details...

I don't really have any more details but I discussed it with my mother last night and she said it's possible he was first captured by the Russians and then by the Germans but that doesn't really help me since I still can't find information on any Romanians being forced to march to Germany.

Maybe he was on general Platon Chirnoaga division, which was almost entirely captured by germans? The germans tried to draft from this prisoniers members for a SS romanian regiment. They couldnt try to draft romanians in later stages of war only if the POWs were on german teritory.

Just my 2 cent opinion

Romania fought against Germany for 8 months. Ofcourse there were Romanian prisoners in Germany. Why would you considered it as "bizarre"?

For instance, as 21inf already pointed out, large parts of 4th Infantry Division (commanded by general Platon Chirnoaga) was captured in a bridgehead over the Tisza River in late 1944.

Actually, AFAIK, many of the captured soldiers and officers of Chirnoaga's division re-allied themselves with the Germans and were treated as allied troops again. It is a real possibility, however...

A significant number of Rumanian soldiers were captured by Hungarians during the battle of Budapest in the winter of 1944/1945. I published such a photo in one of my books. I don't know their fate, however.

Gen. Dénes

To Denes: (off-topic)

Denes, you just pointed an info that i didnt was aware about, the romanian POWs taken in Budapest. Please, Denes, are you so kind to point how many were taken, at least aproximately? It is interesting to know how many POWs were taken from romanian ranks, because usualy the atacked suffer less loses due to prisonier taking than the defender. It is known to which units they belonged when they were taken POW? Can you also share the photo you mentioned, cos i never seen such an image and i am curios about it?

Thank you in advance, B.

Same goes for me. Please Denes, share the picture with us.

Thank you in advance,

Al

Right now I am in Germany, and have no access to my archive.
I will post the mentioned photo hopefully on the week-end.

Gen. Dénes

He would have been captured much earlier in the war than 44/45. I got another side of the story today and in fact he might not have been forced to march from Romania to Germany. It might have been my grand mother trying to romanticize his story. His niece told me that her grand mother had said he had been captured but put in prison for years.

I'm currently trying to get my hands on some of his old documents but thanks for your help guys.

Was he legionnaire?

Here is the requested photo (I didn't find the original, so I simply scanned the photo published in my book on the Hungarian Army):



Gen. Dénes

Thanks Denes!

Thank you very much Denes,

Alex