The sort of book about the Romanian Army...

I was just thinking, it would be great if, instead of having to give books about Romanian history titles involving the word Hitler in order to get attention, a book about the Romanian Army in WWII came out in the UK that would stand on it's own merits. I am imagining a title which would be a history of the Romanian Army during World War Two, the battles and operations, with plenty of personal testimony within the narrative, but which would also include sections on weapons, equipment etc. and some really good colour plates.

With well chosen photos and some maps as well, I am sure that such a title would find it's way into highstreet bookshops here and sell on it's own merit... It's the kind of book I would love to see! Price would be about 35 Eu or £20-25.

I am at work today, it is hot and sunny outside, spring is becoming summer, I hate being stuck in here...

Nice ideea would be nice if people from this forum would get involved in such a project - not for personal glory, but so foreigners may finally start to find out about romanian actions during ww2 from romanian sources and not from defeated german generals.

The task to write such a comprehensive book would be huge. It would take about 10 years to complete it, even if more than one author would be part of the team. And the price for such a 400-page book would not be 35 Euros, but close to 100.

I know this first hand, as I am currently (still) working on a similar topic (unrelated to the Rumanian Army) and it's truly a never-ending job. I would probably never get involved again in such a monstre project.

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on May 05, 2006 02:00 pm

Sadly that's why it's my fantasy book...

But perhaps you could compromise on comprehensiveness, especially if it was aimed at an English speaking audience, in favour of a kind of introduction to stimulate interest in the topic.
I also often wonder about playing around with the size of books, size of type etc; I tend to be attracted to books that are in a small format, like old 18th C. books. (about 10cm by 17 cm for example). The ideal thing would be to have lots of money to be able to subsidise production of this kind of book so that selling them wasn't that important and central.
But these are idle fantasies, and I have no experience of publishing other than owning masses of books...

The best solution IMO would probably be to reprint Third Axis, Fourth Ally. Maybe a revised version of it.

There is one such book. The title is "Romania in WW2". Date of apparition: 1989.

3 Volumes, hardcover, 1789 pages in total. Plenty of maps, testimonies, weapon section, etc etc. The only drawback is that it puts a very strong emphasis on the Western Front Period of the Romania's involvement in WW2.

Hope this info is useful.

All the best,

Alex

This post has been edited by Alexei2102 on May 14, 2006 07:28 pm

Alex, can you give us more details about that book (authors, publisher, etc.)?
Isn't it part of a series of books dedicated to W.W. 2?

Gen. Dénes

I agree, but it would definitely have to be a revised/updated version.

The original edition glosses over some important events a bit too summarily in my opinion.

Also, some new historical information and documents have come to light since the book was written.

I still enjoy tremendously my copy of the original edition and use it as reference material, but I would buy the updated version in a second!

Oke, here are the details:

1. Publisher: Military Printhouse "Editura Militara"
2. Authors: The Romanian Commitee of Military History from the Center of Studies and Research of History and Military Theory.

Author Team: Ion Alexandrescu, Ion Ardeleanu, Constantin Botoran, Ion Calafeteanu, Ion Chiper, Nicolae Ciobanu, Florin Constantiniu, Alesandru Dutu, Mihail Ionescu, Dumitru Matei, Vasile Mocanu, Viorica Moisuc, Mircea Musat, Stefan Pascu, Adrian Pandea, Stefan Paslaru, Mihai Retegan, Ioan Saizu, Gheorghe Sanda, Ilie Schipor, Ioan Scurtu, Ioan Talpes, Constantin Toderascu, Dumitru Tutu, Gheorghe ZAharia, Vladimir Zodian.

3. It is not part of a series, it is a book of its own. At 1789 pages, it is full of very useful data, I highly recommend it to any historian interested in Romanian WW2 history.

This is the book I both want and need!
What is it's original title in Romanian?
Is it still in print/ available to buy?

Thanks a lot,

I was thinking of a book in English though when I put the post up, something I could buy in UK bookshops, and would encourage people who only knew English to get to know this topic. I quite like the Romanian language and have been enjoying teaching myself to read it, but I don't think many other English people would do this.