Acts of Bravery

[PogRomus]

What extraordinary actions occured during the war, for which low-rank soldiers or pilots recieved high decorations?

Were there any "super human" acts of courage or suicidal attempts that are worth noting there? Did any soldier destroy single handedly a number of Tanks or did any pilot ram his aircraft into an ennemy bomber?

Did any soldier threw himself over his commander, to protect him from a grenade? Or die anyone else comitt self sacrifice to save his comrades or his people? During this horrible 4 year war in which Romanian Troops fought, --- there must have been!

Known..and unknown. :cry:

[C-2]

Be a little pacient ,and you'll be able to read about a pilot who rammed a B24( Carol Anastasescu)and other pilot (Nicolae Traian) who shoot down a FW 190 with a Panzerfaust (anti tank roket).On the pilots page .

[Dénes]

It appears that '80 pilot Slt. av. Carol Anastasescu - despite what he is currently claiming - did not 'ram' an American Liberator bomber, but rather collided with it, or even better described as 'brushed' with it, the most. How else would you explain that the much smaller fighter plane survived the impact airworthy; moreover, the pilot could belly landed it in one piece, despite being wounded.
However, he most probably scored fatal hits on the B-24 with his plane's on-board guns and was credited with 3 victories accordingly.

Dénes

[Victor]

Yes, it is true that slt. av. Carol "Charley" Anastasescu did not ram the B-24 flown by Rowland Houston, as proven by the Gendarmerie report found by mr. Cicos. However, I do not know for sure that this was his idea or of the propaganda guys and then he had to go along with it.

Traian Nicolae did not shoot down that Fw-190 with a Panzerfaust! He was in the TV Division and they did not have Panzrfausts! When I said AT section I was referring to a 14.5 mm AT-rifle section.

There are many cases of brave actions; unfortunately many are unknown to us. I will try to find several that come to mind. Maybe others could do the same. Good topic.

[PogRomus]

I knew this would generate discussion. *The "Panzerfaust" story is not really an act of bravery, more like a terrible coincidence, with a great deal of luck. It must be very hard to down a moving fighterplane with a rocket propelled weapon, designed to fight tanks. Did this take place, sure?? Probably not :?

There are stories from Stalingrad of Romanian soldiers climbing on Russian tancs with Axes, that's right , an Axe because that is all they had to fight the armored beast. And that, in minus -35o celsius, on the frozen steppe. That requires more courage than pointing a panzerfaust and firing it!

What about that Romanian unit who defended the German airfield from Soviet attacks and beat them back? And the Royal Navy Commander who evacuated tousands of Axis troops from the Crimea...
What about the 2nd Battle for Odessa? Yes, when Odessa fell to the Russians again late in the war? I heard Romanian troops suffered 20 000 casualties in that battle? There must have been some acts of bravery there.

[Der Maresal]

My own grandfather, a pilot in the airforce evacuated top Airforce officials to Bern, Switzerland at the end of the war to escape being captured by the Russians. They told him to stay too, but he refused and in return they gave him a present, a brand new motocycle which he took back to romania, and which was later stolen...unfortunately.. :cry:

This was not an act of bravery during the war, but still I think he did an amazing job by flying these men to a neutral country, because otherwise who knows what fate awaited them in the post 23 August chaos.

*My Grandfather's uncle, René Ganescu was also a pilot , and he died in the war in 1942. I don't know enything else about him, only these 3 facts;..Pilot,...died in war...1942.
For all the brave aviators who performed above and beyound the call of duty a Monument now stands, ..for those who died, and for those who risked their lives to save others..

[Dénes]

Here's what I found about your grandfather's uncle, René Ganescu

QUOTE

1942 iulie 25   He 111H-3+   Gr. 5 bomb.   slt.pil. 1 Valeriu Demetrescu+       slt.pil. 2 René Ganescu+     smstr. Boris Friptu+       serg. Florea Mehedintu {ranit} Pipera aerodrom   accident zbor de noapte,  angajat   [Jurn. Op. Flot. 1 bomb.]

May I ask what was your grandfather's name? What type of airplane did he fly to Switzerland and when?

Dénes

[Der Maresal]

This is incredible!! I never tought I would ever find anything about this man! Wow, Denes, I thank you 1000 times, look like this forum has proven itself very usefull! I finally found out what happened this distant familly member of mine! I too tought he was a bomber pilot.
Thanks again, but the biggest suprise would be if I found something about my own grandfather whom I never met.

Mircea Vrânceanu is his name, Sublocotenent, (Lieutenant) Bomber pilot like his uncle. Bombed Odessa from what I heard. He recieved an Iron Cross I think, but that's just from what my grandmother tells me. He was young and he looked quite good. I have pictures of him and some of his planes, tough I'm not sure what plane he flew in battle.

If you find out anything about him, a big prize awaits you, - I'll share some of his unique airforce pictures with you. Thank's again Denes, we'll talk again. This has been very helpfull.

* PS:I don't know what he flew to switzerland with, I have however some documents too including a motocycle permit dated 1946, and also an aircraft flight certificate of some sort dated December 1939 and autorizing him to fly "all tourist aircraft".

+++You have some pretty serious research material..where did you get the info?

I'll give you more facts next time we talk. Great help, thanks' again, I'll go tell my familly what I found out :wink: :idea: !!!

[Dénes]

I am glad I could help with your relative.
At first attemp, I did not find any info on pilot Vrânceanu in my losses database (luckily for him, as it appears he wasn't involved in any combat loss or accident).
I have to check my piles of documents on ARR.
I'll be back when I'll find something noteworthy (to claim my prize ).

Dénes

P.S. Most of my information comes from the Rumanian Military Archives and interviews with veteran airmen.

[Victor]

QUOTE

*The \"Panzerfaust\" story is not really an act of bravery, more like a terrible coincidence, with a great deal of luck. It must be very hard to down a moving fighterplane with a rocket propelled weapon, designed to fight tanks. Did this take place, sure?? Probably not :?

It was not a panzerfaust, but a 14.5 mm AT rifle.

QUOTE

There are stories from Stalingrad of Romanian soldiers climbing on Russian tancs with Axes, that's right  :( , an Axe because that is all they had to fight the armored beast. And that, in minus -35o celsius, on the frozen steppe. That requires more courage than pointing a panzerfaust and firing it!

I heard about one story with a hammer, not an axe. A T-34 was advancing on an artillery battery. One of the officers jumped on the tank withalarge hammer and broke the machine-gun's barrel with it. Then he started hitting the tank furiously. The Soviets probably thought they wre taking fire from an AT gun and retreated.

[Csaba Becze]

Dénes,

The Rumanian loss report means, that the He 111 crashed in Pipera airport in a night accident?

Victor,

This story with a hammer sounds very interesting.

[Victor]

The story was told by a former Romanian artillery officer at a TV show, when he was promoting his book about his experiences in the war and then in the POW camp. Unfortunately I did not have the time then to look for the book and later I could not find it.

Cristian,
Renee Ganescu was part of the 5th Bomber Group and fought in it in the 1941 campaign. He and his crew also have one victory confirmed against a VVS fighter on 16 August 1941.

[Dénes]

QUOTE

Renee Ganescu was part of the 5th Bomber Group and fought in it in the 1941 campaign. He and his crew also have one victory confirmed against a VVS fighter on 16 August 1941.

AFAIK, airman Ganescu was a man, not a woman, therefore his name is René, rather than Renée
BTW, his name was mispelled 'Renée' in the 'Aviatia Româna...', Vol. 1.

Dénes

[Dénes]

QUOTE

Dénes, The Rumanian loss report means, that the He 111 crashed in Pipera airport in a night accident?

Apparently, the Heinkel crashed during a nighttime test flight nearby Bucharest-Pipera airport.

Dénes

[Geto-Dacul]

PogRomus wrote :

QUOTE

There are stories from Stalingrad of Romanian soldiers climbing on Russian tancs with Axes, that's right  , an Axe because that is all they had to fight the armored beast. And that, in minus -35o celsius, on the frozen steppe. That requires more courage than pointing a panzerfaust and firing it!

Victor wrote :

QUOTE

I heard about one story with a hammer, not an axe. A T-34 was advancing on an artillery battery. One of the officers jumped on the tank withalarge hammer and broke the machine-gun's barrel with it. Then he started hitting the tank furiously. The Soviets probably thought they wre taking fire from an AT gun and retreated.

The story with the Romanian soldiers trying to destroy Soviet tanks with axes was taken from Alexandru Teodorescu-Schei's book, "Invins si Invingator 1941-1949, Campania din est si prizonieratul". We could not say that it was an act of bravery... But of a last desperate fight to push back the tanks, when the Romanian soldiers and officers saw that their AT weapons and molotov cocktails were totally inefective against the iron beasts!