Portraits of Romanian Soldiers

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Could someone help me identify the insignia he is wearing?

Lieutenant Colonel. Conducator's Bodyguard Cavalry Guard Regiment. Shoulder boards have the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, cavalry button and have the cypher of Marshal Ion Antonescu. Aguilette and collar patches are for Guard Calvary Regiment. The officer wears the General Staff badge and directly below it wears the 1941 Slovakian Campaign badge against the Soviet Union. Badges found awarded to Romanians I have seen had the officers name engraved on the back of the badge. I do not know the circumstances why this regiment was awarded this badge. The officer also wears the 3rd class 1941 Michael the Brave order. So very researchable to ID this officer.



This post has been edited by REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR on October 31, 2010 04:30 pm

I appreciate very much the help. He has the ribbon of the iron cross 2nd class in the button hole, am I right?

Yes. I see that. Iron Cross Ribbon

While the regiment itself did not see action on the front until the aftermath of 23 August, the regiment's staff could have served in front units throughout the war. In a similar situation were the men of the Horse Guards Regiment.

Romanian troops entered present-day Slovakia on 23 November 1944. These were the 4th Army and the 4th Corps of the 1st Army (the 7th Corps was engaged at Budapest in December - January 1945). The 1st Corps was brought to the front in Slovakia in January 1945.

The 1st Army:
- 4th Corps: 2nd and 3rd Mountain Divisions
- 7th Corps: 2nd, 10th and 19th Infantry Divisions
- reserve: 8th and 9th Cavalry Divisions

This Cavalry Lieutenant Colonel looks like he was with the 8th or 9th Cavalry Division and was awarded the Slovakian Anti-Communist badge for taking part in the fight.

Slovakian Eastern Front Award
The Badge of Honor for service in the Eastern Front

The Slovakian Eastern Front award shown below was issued in two classes: bronze and silver. This honor badge was also rendered to German Nationals and Romanians.

The Slovakians who participated on the Eastern Front were awarded with a bronze or silver campaign badge, which was instituted on 22 April 1942.
The bronze badge pictured above shows a Slovakian Helmet with the date inscribed "22 VI 1941" indicating the date the Slovakian Army participated in the Eastern Front. On the background is a sword crushing the communist symbolic star and the hammer and sickle. The reverse is solid and concave shape. It contains a small pin and catch.

The criteria for these awards were the following classes:
The silver class was awarded for combatants.
The bronze and silver was awarded for support units. This badge has a silver wreath and sword with the remainder in bronze.
The bronze for rear echelon personnel.

I guess there must be a mistake. First, the Romanians who fought (alongside with the Soviets) for the liberation of Slovakia in 1944-45 couldn’t have been awarded Slovak anti-communist medals. This must had been an earlier event, and the medal given to the Romanian officer for some reason by the pro-Axis Slovak state during its anti-Soviet campaign. Secondly, I think is was very unlikely for a Romanian officer to continue to wear an anti-communist medal, the Conducator Bodyguard Regiment badge and the Iron Cross ribbon anytime after 23 august 1944.

It appears that the Slovak Anti-Communist badge worn by this officer is in silver for combat. I have seen other badges in collections with Romanian officer names engraved on the back side of the badge also in silver. So what combat operations had taken place between 1941-1944 with combined Slovak and Romanian Troops ?

In this order of Battle, It mentions that the Romanian 9th Cavalry Division fought with the Slovakian 1st Infantry Division. This could be the reason for this award to a Romanian cavalry officer.

German 17. Armee was formed 20 Dec 1940. The staff was also known as Armeegruppe Ruoff while commanding the Romanian 3rd Army and, at times, the Italian 8a Armata or Armata Italiana in Russia (A.R.M.I.R.) between July 1942 and Sep 1942. The 17. Armee was largely destroyed in the Crimea in May 1944 and reformed shortly thereafter.


Order of battle (26 Dec 1943)
Gruppe General Konrad (XXXXIX. Gebirgs-Armeekorps)
Romanian 10th Infantry Division (most) + Romanian 9th Cavalry Division (part)
Gruppe General Weber (subordinated to Gruppe General Konrad)
Romanian 19th Infantry Division
Romanian 9th Cavalry Division (part)
5. Feld-Division (L) (part)
336. Infanterie-Division (part)
Gruppe Generalleutnant Sixt (subordinated to Gruppe General Konrad)
50. Infanterie-Division (most) + 336. Infanterie-Division (part) + 153. Feldausbildungs-Division (part) + Slovak 1st Infantry Division (part)
336. Infanterie-Division
Romanian Cavalry Corps
Romanian 9th Cavalry Division (part)
Romanian Mountain Corps
Romanian 1st Mountain Division + Romanian 10th Infantry Division (part)
Romanian 2nd Mountain Division
V. Armeekorps
Roamanian 6th Cavalry Division
98. Infanterie-Division + 50. Infanterie-Division (part)
Romanian 3rd Mountain Division
Gruppe Oberst Krieger

Source: http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=2086

This post has been edited by REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR on October 31, 2010 11:49 pm

I think the answer could be in the OOB presented by you above.

According to Klaus Schonherr (Luptele Wermachtului in România. 1944), the OOB of South-Ucraine Army Group in the Spring-Summer of 1944 included the Slovak Technical Division, but there are no data about any joint operations with the Romanians (and in particular with Romanian cavalry unit). So, I don’t know how relevant this info could be from our medal’s perspective.

That "technical division" were in fact the roughly 700 Slovaks evacuated by the Romanian Navy from Crimea, who were used as a construction unit by the Germans.

The Slovak Fast Division operated also under the command of Army Group South in 1941-42, so it is probably during that time that the collaboration probably occurred. Maybe also during 1943 in the Kuban, but by then the Slovaks had grown weary of war.

and were at least disarmed

Here is an interesting Slovakian website that has a connection with the Romanian Royal Guard Cavalry Regiment. This connection is from 1938 and could be linked to why the Royal Guard officer is wearing a 1941 Slovak badge.

http://www.ondrejkovics-sandor.com/?lg=2&s=78