Independence War 1877-1878, Military campaign

The name is Valter Mărăcineanu.

The name is Gheorghe Şonţu.

Do you have photos as well? Below are the ones mentioned on the site of the Military Historical Museums in Plevna.

Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the monuments.
I must mention, that Inovo is the new name of the well know village Smardan. The last monument of the Romanian soldiers there, was built before 8 years. So, it seems, that this is the fourth Romanian monument there.

Thanks anyhow for the list. And if you come across some images, please post them here.

You are welcome. And just one question: Who is the first to enter in the Grivita redut №1 , during the third attack of Pleven on 30th august 1877- captain Mărăcineanu or major Candiano-Popescu with the Russian major Kvitko ? I have contradictory information about this.

Armata română în Războiul de Independenţă 1877-1878 by Scafeş et al states that Valter Mărăcineanu had fallen on the same day during the attack on Griviţa 2 ("Baş tabia"), so probably he did not enter Griviţa 1. On the other hand, Alexandru Candiano-Popescu is indeed mentioned as one of the first officers to have entered Griviţa 1 ("Griviçe tabia") following the fourth attack (when both Romanian and Russian troops had entered the redoubt). Nothing is said however on whether he was indeed the very first one.

Thank you for the explanation.
Yes, I know that Mărăcineanu died in the same day, but I do not had any information, during the attack of Grivita redut №1, or №2 was this. So, Mărăcineanu realy surved in the 3rd Romanian division! I have info that, he was a comander of 3rd line battalion of 10th line regiment. But as I know 10th regiment is dorobanz, not line and so the battalion could not be a line too. Because of this mistake in the same Bulgarian source, I was not sure, that Mărăcineanu surved part of 3rd division. Well, did he realy comand this dorobanz battalion as a part of 10th dorobanz regiment ?
When I said " fist to enter " I thought first to step on the breastwork of the redut. Is it true, that Valter Mărăcineanu stept first on the wall of Grivita redut №2 with the flag in the hand and then he was killed ? Btw, could any one post here good photo of the captain. I have only very small one.
In the bulgarian books, there is not so many info about the particiation pf the Romanian army in the Russian-turkish war 1877-1878. And this is for me one of the most interesting episodes of this war. So I use Romanian sources too. Actualy I have never learned Romanian, but this is not a big problem for me to understand a part of the text. Yes, not a small part, but there are always riddles for me

P.S: Does the mentioned book have a parallel English text ? I heard before too, that it is very good source.

This post has been edited by Sturmpionier on July 21, 2006 08:13 am

The above-mentioned source states that Capt. Nicolae Valter-Mărăcineanu was the commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Line Regiment.

It is mentioned that he fell while the Romanians entered the moat of the redoubt, indeed carrying a battalion flag.

It has only a summary in English (30 pages).

Capt. Nicolae Valter-Mărăcineanu in 1876

Source: Armata română în Războiul de Independenţă 1877-1878

Thank you for the photo and the corrections.
Can you tell me please the birthday of Nicolae Valter-Mărăcineanuq to complete the research about him ?

This is photo of the dioram "Grivita 1877" from the site of the National military museum in Bucharest. Is the Romanian "officer" with the flag Candiano-Popescu ?


P.S: 30 pages in English is not bad. Actualy how many pages is the book ?

This post has been edited by Sturmpionier on July 21, 2006 07:50 pm

According some sources Captain Nicolae Valter Maracineanu was born on 30th of May 1840.

The Military Museum diorama depicting the final assault over a Turkish redoubt of Plevna on 30th of August 1877 is only a symbolic presentation of that important battle. When it was conceived, at the middle of 1980s, nobody cared about an accurate reconstruction of that moment. So, the officer carrying the regimental flag is a line infantry Lieutenant and he is fallowed by some line infantrymen, dorobantzes and rifles (vanatori). He might portrays the moment when Maracineanu was killed in action during the final assault over Grivita redoubt nr. 2 , but Maracineanu was Captain not Lieutenant, he carried a battalion flag not the regimental colour, and among his fallowers were only line infantrymen and dorobantzes, not “vanatori”.

Alexandru Candiano Popescu led the attacks against the Grivita redoubt nr. 1, during the same time. He was a Major in the cavalry militia, so he was wearing a cavalry hussar style uniform. But on the eve of the attack he was appointed commander of the 2nd Rifles (“Vanatori”) Battalion.

Thanks.

I must make an addition, that the uniform of the turkish "soldier" is very, very incorrect. There are good colour plates and description of the Ottoman uniforms during the war in Osprey MAA277 "The Russo- Turkish war 1877-1878" by
Ian Drury. Here are some drawings of turkish infantry uniforms from the Russian magazine "Sergeant", volume 21:

5- Private from the line infantry
6-NCO from the line infantry
7-Private from the line infantry with not statute elements of his uniform and weapons.
If there is interest, I could post more plates and discriptions of the Turkish uniforms.

When you say "cavalry militia" , you mind the calarasi or the horse jandarms ?

http://www.el-soft.com/panorama/en/index.html

His uniform is realy rather calarasi style, but his cap is rather line infantry style.

This post has been edited by Sturmpionier on July 22, 2006 01:36 pm

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Well, I know Ian Drury’s book about the armies of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 and I must say that it is far to be a correct study of Russian/Romanian/Turkish uniforms (I think the Bulgarian volunteers too). In the plates made by Raffaele Ruggeri Turkish uniforms look light-blue, because they are discoloured and covered by dust. As Ian Drury wrote Turkish uniforms should be dark blue but because the troops “had not received new uniforms for several years, jackets and trousers that were supposed to be blue ranged from dark blue to greenish grey, with every shade between”. The greatest part of Turkish uniforms worn in 1877-78 should be of Zouave style, with the same ornaments on the jackets and trousers.


(Ian Drury and Raffaele Ruggeri, "The Russo- Turkish war 1877-1878", Osprey MAA277 )

I also know the magazine “Sergeant” and its study about Turkish army and uniforms. Unfortunately the author, Lt-colonel S.V. Prishtepa and the artist Y.A Ogarkov, used Ian Drury’s book as one of the main sources.

I think the best source for the Turkish uniforms of 19th Century is General Mahmut Sevket Pasha book: “L’organisation et les uniformes de l’armee ottomane” published in 1908, in Constantinople. A three volumes version was reprinted during the 1980s by the Military Museum of Istanbul. According these plates, the line infantry (Nizam) uniforms should be dark blue with red edgings and braids on the jacket and trousers. The uniforms in the Military Museum of Bucharest were made after this book.

Cavalry militia were of kind of “Calarashi” (territorial cavalry). During the war there were 4 squadrons of "Calarashi- Militia" ("Calarasi militiani"). They wore “Calarashi” hussar style uniforms: dark blue or black tunics and white breeches. The braids were black instead of red.

In the photo Candiano-Popescu wears a Cavalry Militia uniform, he also carried during the attack of Grivita redoubt nr.1. The kepi was worn by all officers in the Romanian army for walking-out dress. Indeed, some troops such as the line infantry, artillery, engineers, train, etc. units had only kepis. As a cavalry officer, Major Candiano-Popescu wore in full dress or campaign uniform a black sheepskin busby with a red left side flap.