research: tracing military units

Hello,

Is there any source to trace the way of military units (companies, battalions, etc.) during WW2?

For instance,
- I have a date and I would like to know where the unit was on that date

or:
-I have a place and would like to find out which units were stationed on that place

or:
-I know the unit and I would like to have the information about time and place where this unit was stationed then

What possibilities do I have for this research?
Could you recommend me some books, websites, libraries etc.?

Greetings

Some time ago I have seen such information gathered on the site Armata Regală Română.

Thank you for this page, Carol I.

I already knew this site and it is the best one I´ve found. What I am especially looking for is some kind of searching machine that includes

places,
time
and military unit.

Or some kind of a scheme/organigram, so that you can overview all the activities.

Greetings

Armata Regală Română?
Doeas the web site owner have at least a couple official documents to prove he's right?

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on November 15, 2005 06:32 pm

Gen Denes,

what do you want to express by this? Is the site wrong? What kind of mistakes does it have?

In my opinion it is sometimes a little bit confusing, because you cannot always follow a unit from the beginning to the end. But I thought that the explanation lies in the enormous losses of the different battalions and in the reorganizations.

Are there official informations which a normal person can reach?

Could you recommend me better resources?

Greetings

All units kept a journal of operations, that can be found at the Military Archives in Pitesti. All the info about the unit is in the journal.

I was only jokingly referring to the controversy stirred around using the Royal appelation in a Rumanian military branch's name. It has nothing to do with the site itself.

Gen. Dénes

I would argue about this.

Based on my experience, operational/combat diaries of military units vary greatly in detail and precision.

If one intends to seriously and thoroughly research a certain military unit, he/she has to do way more detective work than simply checking out the said unit's diary.

Gen. Dénes

True, but it is still the starting point for any serious research. Perhaps the diary doesn't answer all the questions, but at least some of them.

Agree.

Gen. Dénes

@ Dénes, @ Dragos03

Tanks for your informations and comentaries.

Now I have got some problems and questions:

1. How do I get informations of the "military Archives in Pitesti"?

2. For my research I have got:
- the names of different war-places,
- the name of a battalion on a photo, another name of a complete different battalion which nobody knows (I posted it already),
- the vague mention of certain events (year, dates..)
- the rememberance of stories and an "deja heard" experience, when I read some names of that time

But it´s like a huge puzzle, the parts don´t fit.

What do you suggest?

Greetings

In Bucharest:
http://www.mapn.ro/arhivele_militare/

For Pitesti (UM 02405) it seems that your request must be sent in Bucharest:
http://www.mapn.ro/sen/formularemapn.php?NumeDomeniu=Arhiva

The adress of the Pitesti archives is:
str. Aleea Poarta Eroilor, nr. 14, Pitesti, jud. Arges, Romania

@Dani @Victor

thanks for your answer,

if I write to the military archives in Pitesti and in Bucharest,

may I write in English?

And do they send me the copies of the searched documents or do I have to go personally there?

How long does it take to get the permission?

Greetings

The bulk of the files were moved to Pitesti.

You have to go personally. The permission is granted quickly but you must ask for the dossiers, wait one day until they find them, and then browse them to find the information you need.