Rum.Schn.Rgt.Korne (Crimea May 1942), Total troop strength?

Hi All,

Doing some research on th Rum.Schn.Rgt.Korne that fought in the Crimea under the Groddeck Brigade in May of 1942.

Does anybody know what the total line/troop strength of the regiment was? I can't seem to find it in the German records for 11.Armee and XXX.A.K.

Thanks,

Marty

I'm also interested...

Brad

The Korne Detachment was made up of:

- 6th Rosiori Regiment (mot.) of 5th Cavalry Division
- 10th Rosiori Regiment (mot.) of 6th Cavalry Division
- 5th Mechanized Squadron of 8th Cavalry Division

A motorized Rosiori Regiment was made of 3 cavalry squadrons and one heavy weapons squadron.

The mechanized squadron had 6 R-1 light tanks, one motorized cavalry platoon and one motorcycle platoon.

Dragos,
The mechanized squadron did not use light tanks T-26 captured from the Soviets? Or it was only a intention? I remember I read that somewhere...

They only used R-1 tanks.

The only documented use of captured Soviet tanks was with the 1st Armored Division in the 1942 campaign, when they used two tanks. From memory, they did not really see action as they were kept nearby the repair shops and eventually were recaptured by the Soviets during the retreat.

The captured tanks were unserviceable due to lack of spare parts for the engines and were transported in country. The only tank that could be used was the T-60, that had Ford engine (GAZ), and this served as platform for TACAM T-60 tank destroyer.

Occasionally, a tank captured in fully working condition may have seen limited use until it broke down.

Thank you, Victor, thank you, Dragos,
I remember I read about the use of captured soviet tanks, tractors and artillery by our troops, including here T-26 light tanks, T-20 Komsomolets armored tractors and 122-mm M1910/30 howitzers (by the romanian troops in Crimeea and southern Russia). Probably it was about those two T-26 used by the 1st Armored Division...

Hey all, thanks for the details.

Let me clarify the ask. How big (i.e. actually number of troops) was it? 1000 men? 2000 men?

By this point of the campaign, Rgt. Korne had been fighting for nearly a year so it was not at full strength. However, I don't know what full strength would be as I am not familar with the OOB structure of a Romanian regiment.

Any ideas what it looks like full strength?

Any ideas what it looked like in May of 1942 relative to its TO (table of organization)?

Marty

The Komsomolets tractors were used because they also had GAZ engines compatible with the Ford engines used by Romanians.

As for the two captured tanks reportedly used by 1st Armored Division, it is mentioned that one was a 7-tonne and one a 12-tonne.

First of all is not a regiment, but two regiments.

The 6th Cavalry Brigade started the war with 6,000 men in 3 cavalry regiments and one horse-artillery regiment plus supporting units. This would make the cavalry regiment at around 1,000 - 1,300 men. I do not have the figures also for the 5th Cavalry Brigade, but it was probably similar, if not larger.

Thus the overall strength of Korne's Detachment would be around 2,000 men, as it did not suffer considerable casualties during the 1941 campaign until Crimea. It was used, mostly as a pursuit and encirclement unit. Whenever the cavalry ran into stronger opposition in the Ukraine, it would make way for the mountain troops to brake it. The only notable exception is probably the assault on the Stalin Line.

Very helpful. Thanks.

Rum. Schutzen Regiment Korne (mot.inf.rgt.) (Crimea May 1942) was not at full strength.
Half Rtg.10 + Half Rtg.6.
That was 5 batal.(each of 200) + 2 heawy weapons comps.
All, some 1,500.

This post has been edited by Petre on January 21, 2020 11:21 am