The two Romanian Divisions at Stalingrad: OoB's

I am looking for the correct Order of Battle of the two Romanian Divisions at Stalingrad, the 1st Cavalry Division and the 20th Infantry Division. However, the sources I know are giving different information.

1st Cavalry Division

20th Infantry Division

So, can someone tell me, which one is correct? And what do 'Calarasi' and 'Rosiori' mean? Thank you very much.

"calarasi" and "rosiori" are cavalry units

Yes, I figured that out allready

But what is the exact translation and the difference between the two?

The stalingrad.net OoBs are dubious.

There are two versions for 1st Cavalry Division, dependeing on the source. One source gives the Guard Cavalry Regiment, while another one gives the 11th Motorized Calarasi Regiment.

For second question, see here: http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?showtopic=100

For the 20th Infantry Division, both worldwar2.ro and axishistory websites are correct.
It was made of 82, 83 and 91 Infantry Regiments and 39, 40 Artillery Regiments. All the non-regimental sub-units had the number of the division (20th in this case).

For the 1st Cavalry, the information is contradictory for that period. The source used by worldwar2.ro in this case is "Armata Romana 1941-1945", RAI Publishing House, Bucharest 1996.
However, the book "De la Stalingrad la batalia Moldovei, August 1942-August 1944", edited by ANVR, Bucharest 1997, gives the following OoB for the 1st Cavalry division (according to the Order of day on army nr.4, of 3 June 1943):
1st Rosiori Regiment
2nd Rosiori Regiment
12th Rosiori Regiment
1st Artillery Regiment
1st Signal Company
1st Mechanized Company
1st AA and AT Company
1st Machinegun Company
1st Engineer Company
1st 120mm mortar Company

Thank you very much Dragos and Victor!

And it only gets worse. Armata Romana in al doilea razboi mondial (1941-1945) - Dictionar enciclopedic gives the following OoB:
-1st Rosiori Regiment
-2nd Rosiori Regiment
-11th Motorized Calarasi Regiment
-1st Horse Artillery Regiment
(basicly the same OoB for 1941, when the unit was a brigade).

Hi Guys,

Further confusion arises because not all of either division was actually trapped inside Stalingrad. If I remember rightly only about half the manpower of either formation reached the perimeter and it is possible that some regiments were virtually unrepresented. For example, there is a map in "Paulus and Stalingrad" that shows only one of 20th Infantry Division's infantry regiments on the southern perimeter of the encirclement

Cheers,

Sid.

For the 1st Cavalry Division, most of the sources agree on the 1st and the 2nd Rosiori Regiments, the issue being the third organic cavalry regiment.

The book published by ANVR, De la Stalingrad la batalia Moldovei, "Vasile Carlova" Publishing House, Bucharest 1997, gives detailed accounts of the 12th Rosiori Regiment fighting on 19 November 1942 in the area of operations of the 1st Cavalry Division.

As related by Petre Stoiculescu, at that date captain at the headquarters of the Cavalry Corps:

"On 19 November 1942, when the Soviet counteroffensive started, the 1st Cavalry Division received a strong blow at the junction with the Kletskaya Detachment (Colonel Voicu), carried out by cavalry troops supported by tanks. Having the mission of holding out "without retreat", even if the available troops could only achieve a weak cover, after 4-5 hours of fierce fights the situation of the unit became one of the worst. (...) At the left wing of the front, the avalanche of tanks and cavalry, continuously replenished by the enemy, shattered the forward position and broke through the second line in two places, heading towards Hill 186.7, the orographical node of the entire position. (...) At the 12th Rosiori Regiment, the enemy broke through in two areas; the brave commander, Colonel Dumitru Luca, with his last reserve, attacked in one area, for the second area having only his own command group to try a delay of the enemy's turning maneuver. (...) At 12 hours [20 November], Colonel Luca reported that the 12th Rosiori Regiment was attacked by enemy with reinforced strength, that his artillery support had run out of ammunition, and that he sent to the first line the entire personnel of the trains, command groups and services. This brave commander, together with Lieutenent-Colonel Ditescu, died defending the position with the weapon in hands."

Considering the title of the topic: "The two Romanian Divisions at Stalingrad", my question is: Just 2 Romanians divisions at Stalingrad?
I was ready to bet there were more.

These are the two divisions trapped in the pocket of Stalingrad with the 6th Army.

That's right. To the south of Stalingrad there was the 4th Romanian Army and to the nort-west the 3rd Romanian Army, but only the 20th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division were surrounded during operation Uranus.

One mostly overseen Romanian unit trapped in the Stalingrad pocket is:

Col. Voicu Detachment
http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?showtopic=2122&hl=
http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?showtopic=353&hl=


Although this Romanian unit is not of divisional size we should not oversee if we discuss even only Romanian Divisions in Stalingrad.


MfG Michi

Also the AA batteries 2nd Vickers and 102nd Rheinmetall remained in the circle of Stalingrad. They were part of the 4th AA Artillery Regiment, 4th AA Battalion, and were deployed on Tuzov and Karpovka airfields.

from:
http://membres.lycos.fr/dgrecu/Lftpost.html

MfG Michi

This post has been edited by Michi on August 07, 2005 03:48 pm