War crimes commited against the Romanians

[inahurry]

The difference is that the Hungarian army - regular units and military/security police troops committed crimes - documented - as part of a terror programe. Every army in the world had and has common criminals but that's entirely a different story.

[Dénes]

Anyone interested in attrocities committed against Hungarians in Transylvania, in the Autumn of 1944, can check out the following book, available in English on the 'net:
http://www.hungary.com/corvinus/lib/feher/feher.pdf

There you can find names, dates, places, documents, as well as - most importantly - the sources.

Dénes

[Csaba Becze]

You have right, Victor. Do you have any info about missing Rumanian aircrews (means killed by Soviet troops after baled out/force landed)?

Pokrishkin wrote in his memoirs, that he killed the parachuted crew of a Rumanian Ju 88 bomber(!)

[Dénes]

Caporal Becze, could you let us know the date and location? Maybe we can identify the unfortunate ARR crew.

Dénes

[Csaba Becze]

You should know this, plutonier Dénes ... I'll check it, but if I remember correctly, Pokrishkin didn't mention the exact date/place.

[Victor]

The only similar incident I know of is that of He-111H-6 no. 48 from the 78th Bomber Squadron (4th Bomber Group) on 7 May 1944 (period when Pokhryshkin and his regiment where in Romania). The bomber was attacked by aggressive Soviet fighters as it was returning from a mission. Near Roman the aircraft was hit and caught fire. The crew, which was one of the finest bomber crews in ARR, jumped out, the pilot (lt. av. Sorin Tulea-the man responsible for all the color photos of ARR we have now) being the last. The air current directed him into the tail stabilizers and he broke both his legs. As if that wasn't enough, after he hit the ground he was attacked by peasants who thought he was a Soviet pilot. They hit him with clubs and almost killed him. Fortunately a German patrol appeared in the area and took him to a hospital, where he will spend the next two years of his life.

Lt. av. Mihai Oncioiu (the observer) was killed by the Soviet fighters while he was hanging in his harness. He was a knight of the Mihai Viteazul Order. The rest of the crew was made up of: serg. Gheorghe Ionescu (RO), serg. Dumitru Afronie and serg. Ion Ciobanu (machine-gunners).

[johnny_bi]

http://www.hungary.com/corvinus - there are many articles on this site ...

There is any information about a large group of Romanian soldiers executed by the Soviets? (large means bigger than 20)?

[mars]

QUOTE

You have right, Victor. Do you have any info about missing Rumanian aircrews (means killed by Soviet troops after baled out/force landed)? Pokrishkin wrote in his memoirs, that he killed the parachuted crew of a Rumanian Ju 88 bomber(!)

if my memory serve me correct, thoese Pokrishkin shot were the parachuted crew of a German Ju-87 "Stuka", few days before this incident, Pokrishkin's 4 P-39s took off for a free-chase flight, Pokrishin's wingman suffered some engine problem, so he was ordered back, this free-chase mission turned to be uneventful, however when Pokrishkin went back, he was told his wingman was bounced by 2 German Bf-109 in his way home, his aircobra was set blazzing, and when he jumpped out his aircraft, the Germans made a second pass, machine gunned him to death.
In the normal situation, although the battle at East Front was extremly brutal, but shooting the parachuted aircrew was rare, so this incident greatly enraged Pokrishkin, at the funeral, Pokrishkin sweared that he would shoot the German aircrew parachuted from the aircraft he shot down next time

[mars]

Victor, I believed Pokrishkin was no longer flying combat mission in Aug 1944.

[Victor]

QUOTE

Victor, I believed Pokrishkin was no longer flying combat mission in Aug 1944.

The episode with the He-111 happened on 7 May 1944, not in August

[mars]

I read Pokrishkin long time ago, so maybe my memory could not serve me well. I remember Pokrishkin's last "kill" was in Cremea, he shot down a German Ju-52 (Or Do-217? not sure), anyway, he opened fire at such short distance that himself was almost down by the wreck from the German aircraft ! However, this incident went to ear of VVS high command, the result was he was forbidanded to fly combat mission anymore.

[Dénes]

Ppol. Pokryshkin shot down at least one Ju 88 on July 14, 1944. Could this had been the mentioned event? However, there was no ARR Ju 88 loss on that particular day.

If we talk about 1943, I could identify Pokryshkin as probably one of the victors over 3 ARR Ju 88A-4s (out of 5) of Grupul 5 bombardament, shot down by Airacobras over Bolshoy Tokmak, on Sept. 21, 1943 (for details, see my book on the ARR, p. 56, right column).

Dénes

[Csaba Becze]

I read Pokrishkin very long time also. If I remember correctly, he attacked a Ju 88's crew (the Ju 88 had zellow cross - evidently Rumanian). The other half of the story is the same in my memory also (it was a "revenge", after his wingman was killed by Mesers on parachute)

BTW I know only one exact story, (with a lot of independent witnesses) when Soviet pilots killed a Hungarian pilot after the Hungarian baled out. Maybe was some other incidents in Eastern Front, but the Americans killed and tried to kill many Hungarian pilots in this situation. A lot of Hungarian crewmembers were tortured and killed on the ground by Soviet infantry.
I guess, the situation was the same with ARR crews.

[Victor]

QUOTE

A lot of Hungarian crewmembers were tortured and killed on the ground by Soviet infantry.   I guess, the situation was the same with ARR crews.

Look here for example: http://www.elknet.pl/acestory/darian/darian.htm

[Dénes]

For those of you, who can read and understand Russian, here is a link to Pokryshkin's on-line memoirs: http://www.aviation.ru/contrib/Andrey_Plat.../Pokryshkin.htm

If someone browses it, can he/she let us know if the date and location of the mentioned gunning down of Axis airmen descending on their parachutes is mentioned?

Dénes