Romanian Legion in Siberia, Legiunea de tragatori

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I believe you have been looking for some info about 1st Yugoslav Volunteer Division in Dobrudzha 1916, haven't you? There is a good and long article about the rebellion of Croatian and Slovenian soldiers in that division in 1916.

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I'll send you the address via PM right away... It is an article in several parts....

Will it be possible to post the article on this forum?

Zivjo Carol!

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Will it be possible to post the article on this forum?

But of course, Carol! But the article is I am afraid only in Serbo-Croatian language, so.... :| :wink: Apparently the Serbs and Russians had great difficulties to raise the Yugoslav volunteer units in Odesa, Russia in 1916 and there were some open mutinies against Serbian officers and even some executions. The author mention 13 Croatian soldiers being executed in Odesa and numerous ases of desertions.

I didn't post the article here as it is too long, but I have provide direct links for all five parts of the article. Here they are:

http://www.hdpz.htnet.hr/broj140/matkovic.htm (Part I)
http://www.hdpz.htnet.hr/broj141/matkovic.htm (Part II)
http://www.hdpz.htnet.hr/broj142/matkovic.htm (Part III)
http://www.hdpz.htnet.hr/broj143/matkovic.htm (Part IV)
http://www.hdpz.htnet.hr/broj144/matkovic.htm (Part V)

BTW: Carol, any chance we could see any continueation of your translation about Romanian military chaplains on the Italian Front 1915-18? I am still looking for any Romanian personal testimonials from Italian (Isonzo) Front 1915-1918. Romanians are the last nation I haven't found a title. The other night I have been informed about memoires of a Slovakian soldier from HIR 15 from Trencsen and yesterday I have received titles from Serbia about several titles of Serbian soldiers in the k.u.k. Army in WW1, thus leaving Romanians as the only nation I haven't found anything yet. :cry:

Enjoy the article. :keep:

lp,

Klemen

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But the article is I am afraid only in Serbo-Croatian language, so....  :|  :wink:

Thanks Klemen for the links. Your summary indicates some interesting facts, but unfortunately the language of the original article is indeed a problem for me.

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BTW: Carol, any chance we could see any continueation of your translation about Romanian military chaplains on the Italian Front 1915-18?

I'm sorry for the long silence but I got the impression that it was not exactly what you were interested in. I will start again with the translation and post it on fragments as soon as they will be ready.

Zivjo Carol!

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Thanks Klemen for the links.

You are welcome any time.

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Your summary indicates some interesting facts, but unfortunately the language of the original article is indeed a problem for me.

I thought the language will be the problem for you. Yes the article is quite interested it is more like a report about what was going one with Croatian and Slovenian POWs who were sometimes forcibly recruited by Serbs for their army in Russia and salonika Front and how many of them refused to serve under Serbian command and how then Serbian officers punished them with executions and hars jail punishments. This is not what the official history has told the people in Kingdom of Yugoslavia after the Great War, when everyone was believed that thousands of Slovenes, Croats, Serbs and Bosnians from Austro-Hungarian Army have volunteered to serve with the Serbs. In reality this number was relatively small and most of them were forced. Interesting reading… I have recently also obtained a very interesting book about Yugoslav POWs in Italy 1915-1918 and there are some interesting stories and numbers about this. There are also some mention about Romanian POWs. There is also statistic how many Romanian POWs were kept in this or that Italian POW camp.

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I'm sorry for the long silence but I got the impression that it was not exactly what you were interested in. I will start again with the translation and post it on fragments as soon as they will be ready.

No, no, no.. my dear Carol…. I was only waiting for you to translate that parts of the article that I was most looking for, i.e. the ones dealing with Romanian soldiers on the Isonzo Front.

lp,

Klemen

Here is a brief summary of the article by Traian Serendan: Mărturii despre legiunea voluntară română din Siberia [Documents on the Romanian Volunteers' Legion of Siberia] - Filatelia No. 7-8 (543-544), Jul.-Aug. 2001, pp. 14-15.

Any useful references from this paper.

1. Romanian Military Archives, The General Headquarters Fund, Decorations Office, File no. 864
2. Monitorul Oficial no. 86/1918
3. Royal High Decree no. 3870/27.10.1939 in Monitorul Oficial no. 16/15.11.1939
4. V. Manea and C. Tucă 2000 Siberia, ultima escală Buletinul Arhivelor Militare Române 4

Does anyone have information about the Romanian Legion in Siberia??? I believe it was established on 28 November 1918 (n.s.) but don't know location. I am very much interested in commanders, strength, units and dates and locations of operations, as well as what was the fate of the Legion, date of disbandment and return of men to Romania. Thanks very much for any help. Regards, agblume

Take a look in the original thread on this topic: Rumunian Legion - Legiune de tragatori Transilvania-Bucovina.

Hello Carol I, Many thanks for letting me know about the previous thread. The information about the Romanian Legion is very useful for me. Most grateful. Best regards, August

I wonder if there are any pictures taken on the Siberian journey of the Romanian Legion, as I found about the Czech Legion on this site. Amazing pictures, including those from Vladivostok. One of them shows American troopers (see their hats !) led by major gen. Graves, Czechs' saviour. I also wonder if Czechs and Romanians were transported back home - at least for part of the journey - by the same ships.


http://www.drfaltin.org/archive.htm


http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/wgraves.htm

This post has been edited by mateias on January 06, 2008 01:35 pm

For agblume,

This is the link to an interesting article on this topic about Elie Bufnea, a former Legionnaire who wrote many books. He was later arrested by the communist regime (6 years jail).

According to Bufnea, the Legion included around 5,000 volunteers (1,735 fromTransilvania, 597 from Banat, 160 from Bucovina, 24 from the Kingdom of Romania, 7 from Bessarabia). Banatul, a rather small historical province, provided the largest ratio of volunteers per surface.

Romanians were in the rearguard of the Czech Legions, attacked viciously by the Bolscheviks and repulsing them valliantly. Russians called them Dikaia Divisia/The Savage Division.

http://www.revista.memoria.ro/?location=view_article&id=389

This post has been edited by mateias on January 11, 2008 04:38 pm

Hello mateias, Many thanks for the details and the link. Best regards, agblume

I was lucky enough to get this for Christmas as a present:-



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CORPUL VOLUNTARILOR ROMANI DIN SIBERIA (1918-1920)

Album.

Corp of Romanian Volunteers in Siberia (1918-1920),

Album.

Authors:-

IOANA RUSTOIU

CUTEAN SMARANDA,

GABRIEL RUSTOIU.

Editura Marist, Baia Mare 2010.

Approx 167 pages, 15 pages of pictures of original hand-drawn maps,

178 B&W pictures of officers, men, in locations, armoured trains, locals etc.. etc..

39 pages x approximately 67 names per page of the men involved by company, name, where from, age, occupation etc.. etc..

I will add more detail as I digest the contents, so far I have seen the names of over 167 men from Hunedoara County where I live listed, including at least 5 from my wife's home town of Cugir, which interestingly enough fell inside the county borders of Hunedoara until the border lines were redefined in the 1980's (?).

Kevin in Deva

The book presented above by NCR might be bought at Muzeul Unirii, Alba Iulia.

It is a must have for those interested about the history of this less known military unit raised from romanians from Transilvania and Bukowina (Legiunea de trăgători transilvăneni-bucovineni, aka Legiunea de trăgători siberieni, aka Corpul 2 voluntari) in late years of ww1 and who fought together with Czech Legion (often better then czechs) against red army in Siberia. They returned home in 1921 if I remember well, via Japan, Singapore, Suez Channel, Constanţa.