Colonel Ioan Pacurariu, His wars...

Klemen,
He did wrote about his bouth WW exp....
In the back of the photo "Back from the Italian front" there may be the name of the unit written.
If not I'll have the memor. next week.

Captain of an infantry regiment (other than ex- line infantry or ex-dorobantzes regiments) wearing M.1930 ceremonial uniform. This dress was abolished in April 1941.

This post has been edited by Kepi on July 26, 2006 05:02 pm

Maybe Col. Pacurariu chose not to wear his Austrian awards.

I do not think that it was explicitly forbidden to wear Austrian medals (any info would be most welcome). Take a look at the photo below of Colonel Precup (from Political assassination attempts in Romania) who wears a decoration with a triangular-shaped ribbon, characteristic to the Austrian awards. Since he had served in the Austro-Hungarian air force in WWI it is quite plausible that he was actually wearing an Austrian award while in Romanian uniform.

Most likely the medal should be a Yugoslav one, as Romania had a very good relation ship with Yugoslavia (former Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenians). Many Romanian officers received Yugoslav orders and medals.

Unfortunately, the relations with Hungary were not so good during the inter wars period, and Austro-Hungarian orders and medals were not supposed to be carried anymore.

Same questions....
Uniform,medals,can anyone read the text?

This post has been edited by C-2 on July 26, 2006 10:30 am

Thanks for shedding some light into the matter. It is however sad that the officers were not allowed to wear their Austrian awards.

The text reads: "Locotenentului Pacurariu Ion/dragoste camaraderească/Lt Colonel .../5 VII 1923".

The question about the awards in this image must have been a joke.

Why?
Guys like Cipi,can make miracles !

Hi C-2,

I am . I wonder do you know when Mr. Ioan came from Vienna to the frontline in Italy? was this before or after October 1917? This would be nice to know.

Yes, it says Feldpost 617. Feldpost was the field post number of the 35th k.u.k. Infantry Division from August 1917 to October 1918. Which four regiments were in the 35th k.u.k. Infantry Division we have also already said.

Looking forward!

Another photo "Back from te Italian front".
CAn someone read the back?
Like Denes said It's much better then the front part....

It reads "Souvenir din ziua de plecare cu 26 lea mars Konigs(?) - 6 I 1917 - I Pecuraru" (Souvenir from the day of departure with the 26th March Konigs(?) - 6 January 1917 - I Pecuraru).

I'd say the last word is Komp. (short of Kompanie)

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on July 27, 2006 02:52 pm

It could be. Thanks Dénes.

To update Carol I.'s translation with the missing part:

"Souvenir from the day of the departure with the 26th Marsch-Kompagnie - 6th January 1917"

This means a couple of things:
1.) Our Ioan has probably come to the Italian Front somewhere in late January 1917. Being attached to one of the regiments of the 35th k.u.k. Infantry Division that means he had seen the fighting during the 10th, 11th and 12th Isonzo Battles [URL: http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/isonzo.htm]. The 10th and particularly the 11th Isonzo Battle were the most bloody battles on the Isonzo Front. Italians were never closer (apart during the 6th Isonzo Battle) to break the Austro-Hungarian defence on the Isonzo as during the 11th Isonzo Battle. The Austrians knew that they won't be able to repulse the new such heavy Italian attack, so they asked the germans to help, what resulted in the 12th Isonzo Battle (The Breakthrough at Karfreit/Caporetto/Kobarid"). During the first two battles the 35th k.u.k. Infantrxy Division was in the heart of the action on the Bainsizza plateau, north of Gorizia and south of Tolmein. During the 12th Isonzo Battle the whole Isonzo Armee (including 35th ID) played a limited role as the main poush was north of Bainsizza plateau, where the Germans and Austrian elite mountain units were stationed (mostly Bosnians and Austrians, but also a few mixed units, including from Transilyania, like IV/37 from Oradea or I/33 from Arad).

2.) It proves that Ioan Pecurare went to the Italian Front as a frontline officer and not as staff officer. Being attached to a Marsch-Kompagnie he was most probably an officer in a battalion of his regiment - probably a company or platoon officers, it depends on what rank did he have at that time.

3.) Marsch-Kompagnie = Supplement Company. Every month (or sometime even sooner, it all depended on the ratio of casualties) the regimental supplement battalion (called Ersatz-Batallion) send a supplement company (or some cases even the whole battalion - again it depended how badly annihilated was the regiment) from the home recruiting area to supplemt the regiment's losses and bring it back to full strength.

4.) From what you have told us Ioan was born in the town of Miceşti in the Alba County. I have checked the map of regimental areas of Austro-Hungary in 1914. The map is too general, but from what I could determine I am pretty positive that Ioan Pecuraru served from January 1917 to October 1918 in the 64th k.u.k. Infantry Regiment from Szászváros (Oraştie). I am pretty positive that Miceşti was in the regimental recruiting area of IR64 from Oraştie. The regimental (recruiting) border between IR 64 and IR 31 was going just below Miceşti.

The other two possibilities are IR 31 from Sibiu and IR 50 (Alba Iulia), but none of these two regiments was in the 35th ID, so they are out.

But we will know the definitive answer (I hope) form his memoires.

This post has been edited by Klemen on July 27, 2006 03:07 pm

It reads "Souvenir din ziua de plecare cu 26 lea mars Konigs(?) - 6 I 1917 - I Pecuraru" (Souvenir from the day of departure with the 26th March Konigs(?) - 6 January 1917 - I Pecuraru).

During WW1 every A-H infantry regiment put into the field a so-called march battalion "Marschbataillon", composed of several march companies “Marschkompanien”, to replace the unit losses. At the beginning these march battalions were combined in consecutively numbered march regiments and used as field units. Because they suffered heavy casualities because of lack of training and field experience the AH army HQ decided to use march battalions only as reinforcement for the line units. March battalions and companies were numbered with roman ciphers, but they also bore the number of their parent unit: e.g. the VIII-th march battalion of the 61st infantry regiment.
By wars end, some regiments had forwarded to the front up to 43 march battalions, which however were usually just 2 to 3 companies strong. Not all march battalions were sent to their parent regiment but ended up being divided among other regiments.

The photo caption mentions the 26th (XXVI) march company (“marschkompanie”). I think this is the unit in which Ioan Pacurariu was sent to the front.