Romanian troops in Irak

The Romanian troops started to be deployed in the area in July 2003. The personnel was transported by air with RoAF C-130s and BAC1-11s, while the vehicles and other heavy equipment by sea.

The main element of Romanian mission is, as in Afghanistan, a mechanized infantry battalion of 405 men. It is deployed in the Nassiryah area, in the White Horse base, as part of the Italian Multinational Infantry Brigade, in the British Southeastern Division. In the same location was deployed a company of the 265th Military Police Battalion. 12 staff officers were assigned to the British and Italian commands to oversee these 505 men.

In the Polish Central South Division there is an Engineer Detachment (of 149 men) from the 96th Engineer Battalion (which was very appreciated during its long service in Bosnia), which is stationed at Al Hillah. At Babilon there is the Special Derachment (56 men), which operates Shadow 600 UAVs.

Seven staff officers have been detached to different international commands. In total there are in total 729 men, which are being rotated from 6 to 6 months.

The first battalion, that served in Irak from 17 July to December 2003, was 811th Infantry Battalion Dej, commanded by major Petru Pah, who later was promoted to the rank of lt. colonel.

The following notable events, as mentioned by official communiqués, occurred:

On 10 August 2003, a platoon of the 811th Battalion carried out the unit's first mission. The AFVs under the command of 2nd lt. Marius Pascan patrolled 100km along the Euphrates River.

During the night of 23/24 August 2003, at a roadblock manned two sections of military policemen under the command of 1st lt. Ivan Vicentiu, 10 Iraqis were detained and 7 AK-47s, one 7.62 mm MG and one AG-7, as well as munitions, were confiscated from them.

By the end of August 14 light cases of dehydration occurred. Following the experience of Afghanistan the previous year, when the infantry battalion was first sent there in winter clothing, the troops in Irak were equipped with model 2002 uniforms (similar to the British DPM), desert camo version, goggles, camle-back 3-liter canteens etc. Inside the AFVs climate control systems were installed.

In January 2004, the 26th Infantry Battalion Neagoe Basarab, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, replaced the 811th.

On 11 February, the 26th Infantry Battalion captured a stash of 300 rockets, of which 198 were 130 mm.

On 16 February, in the Al Hillah Camp, where the Engineer Detachment, under the command of major Adrian Iloiu was based, a crane capsized and corporal Florin Vuta was wounded.

On 26 March, a patrol of 11 soldiers was sent 60 km south-east of Suk-ash Suyiuk, where an Iraqi truck column had been attacked. Upon their arrival, the Romanians found 6-7 armed Iraqis who attacked them, but after being fired upon fled the scene. The trucks resumed their journey with the exception of 3 of them (one of teh drivers had been killed and another wounded). The patrol remained on the scene during the night to guard the supply trucks. The armed civilians returned in an four-by-four vehicle and again attacked the Romanian soldiers, who retaliated and damaged the car. The Iraqis abandoned it and fled once again. 6 TABs and two 4x4 ARO cars were sent as reinforcements from Nassiryah

On 4 April, two TAB C-79s with 10 MPs intervened to relieve Italian and Portuguese soldiers, who had been attacked some 45 km southeast of Nassiryah and had five wounded.

During the night of 14/15 May 2004, as the situation in Nassiryah worsened, 80 men and 10 Zimbru and TAB C-79 AFVs, under personal command of lt. colonel Nicolae Ciuca, the CO of the 26th Infantry Battalion, moved from the White Horse camp to block the road going into the city. At 2400 hours, the column was ambushed by Shia militias. Fortunately the RPGs hit the sandbags on the AFVs and did not cause too much damage. Only the tires on two vehicles were damaged. One TAB C-79 lost 3 out of the 4 tires. The Romanians replied with the 14.5 mm HMGs on the AFVs and the personal assault rifles. 6 AFVs continued the advance quickly, while 4 lagged behind at slow speed (the 2 damaged and another 2 left to protect them). They were attacked another time on road, but without losses and finally arrived at the designated position. The same day, 5 TAB C-79s from the military police company, under major Dumitru Florea, at 2200 hours, entered the city together with Italian and Portuguese units and had several clashes with the militias, but generally the 14.5 mm HMGs kept the attackers at bay.

In July 2004, the 812th Infantry Battalion, also a veteran of Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, replaced the 26th. It is commanded by lt. colonel Dorin Blaiu.

On 2 August, 15 km north of Suq ash Shuyuk, Romanian troops came under mortar fire, but no casualties occurred.

On 6 August, a column of the 812th Battalion, patrolling during the night on the road between Suq ash Shuyuk – Nassiryah was attacked with machine-gun fire and RPGs. They fired several flares and retaliated. There were no losses on the Romanian side.

On 16 August, on the same road, 20-30 insurgents opened fire with machine-guns and RPGs. One AFV had two damaged wheels, but otherwise the assault was repulsed without loss.

During the night of 7/8 October 2004, an unfortunate incident occurred between a patrol of the 812th battalion and a patrol of the Italian Friuli Brigade, 6 km south of Nassiryah. Two Italian lightly armored vehicles came under fire from a 14.5 mm HMG on a Romanian AFV and two soldiers were wounded by glass fragments and splinters.

Why did Romania troops open fire on Italian Troops, does any body know?

I suppose that it was a friendly fire.
Obviously it was a mistake.
As I know, military officials still investigate the incident.

According to the official report, the TABs were passing on a paralel course with teh Italian cars in the dark and mistook the blinking signal lights on them as muzzle flares and thought they were fired on.

On 20 October, elements of the 812th Infantry Battalion patrolled along the oil pipelines in their region and identified several weapons caches and sabotages to the pipeline.

Sunday, 31 October 2004, at 0825 hours, a platoon of engineers of the Engineer Detachment based at Al Hillah, under the escort of Salvadorian troops, was ambushed 10 km west of Al Mashru. A bomb exploded near the column and was followed by two mortar shells, which fell close to the Allied troops. The 25 engineers got out of the 3 trucks and assisted the Salvadorians in the following firefight with the attackers, which lasted 10 minutes. Then they continued the mission of inspecting several bridges in the area and returned to base without casualties or damages to their vehicles.

Between 2-6 November 2004, the 812th Infantry Battalion moved from the White Horse Camp to the Camp Mittica, 7 km south of Nassyriah, where the Military Police Company is based.

Saturday 13 November 2004, a column of the 812th Battalion was attacked with two RPGs near Karmat Bani Said, 35 km east of Nassyriah. No damages or injuries occurred and the soldiers did not return fire, because they were in a populated area.

Also on Saturday, 13 November, in the evening, at 2010 hours, the Camp Victory in Baghdad was attacked with mortars. Lt. col. Ion Voicu, the Romanian liaison officer to US command in the capital, was lightly wounded, but is presently out of danger.