Portraits of Romanian Soldiers

So is he preparing to sneak the enemy from behind at night and give him a heart-attack?

In ww1 from the romanian side this might have been a good idea, as they were not very well equiped. Do you know the device romanian troopers improvised to sound like a machinegun fire? It was a wooden box whith some mecanism inside and when enemy atacked, romanians started to work on this device, trying to fool the enemy that they pouring machinegun fire

Also, in one case, I readed some many years ago about a romanian pilot who spoted a enemy cannon batery, went back to his lines and asked for bombs or grenades to destroy the enemy batery. He got the answer that there are no bombs or grenades available, so he filled his airplane with so many bricks as he could. He then droped this bricks on enemy artilerymen, who, at least for the moment, took shelter.

It was a real thing, presented in an article from “Magazin istoric”. The story was told by the main actor involved, in his recollections. “Bombardamentul cu cărămizi” (the bombardment with bricks) took place during the fightings from Turtucaia, in the Summer/Autumn of 1916. A young Romanian aviator and his observer, with an observation unarmed plane (a Maurice Farman of an earlier model, if I recall correctly) spotted some German or Bulgarian heavy artillery batteries which were bombarding the Romanian positions. In absence of any other means, he landed near a brick factory yard, filled the cockpit with bricks and released them over the cannons. He repeated the action a couple of times, and the artillery had to abandon the position. Apparently the enemy artillerymen thought that the Romanian used a “secret weapon” on them. And secret it was, indeed…

As for the equipment of the Romanian army in WW 1, while in the beginning (1916) it was inferior to virtually that of all/any the opponents, by mid-1917 - as it is clearly and in detail explained by Kiriţescu in his book (and illustrated in many comparative tables) - the situation had changed radically, and it was roughly equivalent to that of the German army, and even slightly superior in some respects (in the endowement with light MGs per number of soldiers, for example). The consequence was obvious and clearly seen in the battles from the 1917 campaign.

ON-TOPIC: I think that device could be a gas-mask of some sort.

This post has been edited by Agarici on February 17, 2011 12:25 am

It is a gas mask, ww1.

Who's that guy supposed to be?!

I bought this today in Brasov and there were photos too with this man (I suppose). However I didn't buy a single photo and I couldn't find a name either on them.

I bought this today in Brasov and there were photos too with this man (I suppose). However I didn't buy a single photo and I couldn't find a name either on them.

it's this officer here




i bought only this picture. no other info

my favorites from my collection

died in 1944 , west from Iasi...possible Targu-Frumos

in Russia




mountain trooper

2 mountain troopers, pics from same album

The Slovaks were also in Caucasus Mountains in 1942. I saw them in German propaganda "news".

Gone in ALexei's archive!


This post has been edited by seeker on December 05, 2012 04:57 pm

Nice portrait. See PM.

One of mine:



This post has been edited by Alexei2102 on December 06, 2012 02:03 pm

Both wear M1934 tunics with M1941 epaulettes, the one to the right is a ”General de brigadă” and the one to the left is a ”Sublocotenent”, medals are, from left to right: Virtutea Militară; Bărbăție și Credință; Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse; Medaille Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/1942; Cruciada împotriva Comunismului; on the left shoulder he wears a „Furajeră” of one of the following orders his unit was awarded with: Mihai Viteazul, Steaua României, Virtutea Militară and Virtutea Aeronautică.

I guess they are father and son, I read somewhere about a son of a general that fought at Stalingrad as a „sublocotenent” in a artillery unit and he won the Iron Cross, maybe is the one in your photo.