Romanian Reserve Divisions, 1939-41?

I have been trying to sort out how many reserve divisions Romania mobilised during the various scares of 1939-41.

At the outbreak of war on 22 June 1941 Romania could apparently mobilise 25th, 27th, 30th, 31st, 32nd and 35th Reserve Divisions, of which only the last briefly saw any combat.

However, other sources give more reserve divisions in previous years:

In RIM 5(57) 1999, p.8, an article by Petre Ortu has a map for November 1939 showing 25th, 27th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th and 35th Reserve Divisions.

In "Anul 1940", p.179, a chart shows 3rd Army containing 25th, 26th, 33rd, 34th and 35th Reserve Divisions in June 1940.

In "Eliberarea Basarabiei si a Nordului Bucoviniei" by Dutu and Retegan, p.53, a map dated June 1940 shows 25th, 27th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th and 37th Reserve Divisions.

In total, between these sources eleven reserve divisions are mentioned: 25th, 26th, 27th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th and 37th.

The only reserve divisions in the sequence not mentioned are the 28th and 26th.

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Can anyone answer the following questions, please:

Are all these reserve divisions real, or is there a possibility of misprints in the sources?

Did 28th and 36th Reserve Divisions ever exist?

How were these reserve divisions created and when?

Where was the equipment found and of what what did it consist?

Where were their depots?

What were their orders of battle by infantry and artillery regimental number?

Many thanks,

Sid.

Reserve Divisions not had a full "standard" arsenal like the ones who were operationals. Mostly old weapons, some of them rechambered for new type of munition; sure thing, not so much artillery... maybe just for training purposes; and for sure this examples can be followed by all category of equipment.

Iama

Hi Iama,

Is there anything specific on them?

Cheers,

Sid.

According to Istoria infanteriei romane:

- on 10 February 1938 there were 21 infantry divisions: 1-10, 12-21, guard division

- in 1940 new divisions were mobilised, so as on 15 June 1940 there 35 infantry divisions

- on 6 September 1940, the infantry had 29 divisions (18 organic + 11 mobilized). Of these are mentioned: 4th Army with 3rd Corps (guard, 23(!), 15) and 11th Corps (2, 30, 32), 5th Corps in case of war (5, 31). 1st Army with 1st Corps (2, 3, 11), 6th Corps (18, 19, 27).

- on 27 October 1940, the organization was: 1st Army with 6th Corps (20, moto brigade and HQ of 16), 7th Corps (1, 18, 19 and HQ of 27), 3rd Army with 1st Corps (2, 11 and HQ of 17, 26, 31, 30) and 2nd Corps (4, 9, 10 and HQ of 32), 4th Army with 3rd Corps (15, 21, Guard and HQ of 33), 4th Corps (7, 8, 14 and HQ of 34), 5th Corps (5, 6, 13 and HQ of 12, 25 and 35), the Bucharest Command had the 3rd Infantry Division.

Also note on p.65: the following units were disbanded: 25, 27, 30, 31, 32, 35 ...

In conclusion, it is very likely that all of these division existed "on paper", only with their HQ with the potential of mobilization. Some of them were mobilized, and after that disbanded.

Hi Dragos,

As I understand it, originally each infantry corps area was to form one reserve division, giving seven reserve divisions. I presume that these had some substance. However in 1939-40 several more were aparently well enough formed to appear on situation maps. I guess that these latter ones may have been as much on paper as real.

I guess that there is need for a new edition of "Istoria Infanteriei Romane" in order to clarify these issues.

Cheers,

Sid.

Actually there are 12 divisons with only their mobilization core in the organization of 27 October 1940. They are: 16, 27, 17, 26, 31, 30, 32, 33, 34, 12, 25 and 35.

Hi Dragos,

Aren't 12, 16 and 17 divisions special cases because they were active divisions that had had to release so much of their manpower to go home to Northern Transilvania and southern Basarabia that they had to be disbanded?

Cheers,

Sid.

Yes, they were among the units severely affected by the territorial losses and disbanded in September 1940.

Regarding the so called "reserve divisions", it appears that they were established in September 1939, when it was intended to increase the number of infantry divisions from 21 to 35 (hence the name of the divisions in question), but only to be mobilized in case of war. Some (if not all) of these units were mobilized during the year 1940, only to be disbanded again after the territorial losses, and left only with their mobilization core.

Some data about their capability? How many batallions, artilery, etc?

Iama