My fellow Romanians!Now,in the hardest hour...

[TANASE]

As many of you guys have already guessed,this posting regards the 23rd of August 1944,and all that came with it.

What happened with the Luftwaffe Jagd & Stuka Geschwaders and smaller units throughout Romania?I am talking here only the german units located in the south of Romania,because the actions of teh units stationed elsewhere(Moldova especially),scattered among the territory still under Friesner's command are pretty easy to imagine.How was perceived by German Luftwaffe personnel this act of treason?I know that the friendship between germans and romanians(at least between pilots)was pretty good,and I have problems to imagine how the romanians acted when it came to place under arrest their yesterday's mates...then again,perhaps the friendship was not so good after all...

Allegedly,the document of turning the tide against our german allies(actually the declaration of war against Germany)was signed a day before the august hostilities started.I was just thinking:could it be possible that the not very bright idea of Gen Gerstenberg to dive-bomb Bucharest eased the moral decision of romanian military to act more forcefully against their german former partners?What happened on the airfields manned by both Luftwaffe and ARR?Did any romanian a/c took off to intercept the Luftwaffe during those days?

I know the first Stuka bombing raid on the 24 of Aug was not predictable,so I guess romanians didn't had a chance to try and check this first wave(probably not more than a few Stuka Ju 87)...but how about the other raids(at least another 2)?

So many questions about this act of treason against our allies...good or bad,63 years after,say that probably we will never be able to properly fathom the real happening of the day between Luftwaffe and ARR.I guess the Luftwaffe was pretty pi**ed off by their allies treason,although probably at the time,romanians didn't looked at it this way,more as a rightful act.Who knows?That is why I am trying to find out more about german and romanian pilots friendship and actions in those days!

Anyhow,for what is worth,my personal view of all this is that with our history well seasoned with treachery towards alliances,Germans should have seen this coming:-))

Thank you for bearing with me on this one,much appreciated!

Kind regards,

JT,aka"RIEDEL"
JG 51,II

[cipiamon]

Read "Jurnalul Locotenentului Dobran" or "Pumnul tarii", jurnals of the ARR pilots. It described their frindship with the Luftwaffe pilots. The 23 august '44 kind of shocked everyone, they describe how the germans and romanians embrce before going different dirrections. The ostilities were absent at the beggining.

[TANASE]

Cipiamon,thank you for your kind input.I thought as much about the friendship among both sides pilots,probably forged too by a few years of combat shoulder by shoulder.This came as a pretty nasty surprise to the Germans,methinks...

I would very much like to read and peruse the books you mentioned...alas,none are available to me.Perhaps if you would be so kind as to let me know where from can I get these?Sounds very interesting!Especially Mr.Dobran's combat log!

Kind regards,

JT

[cipiamon]

I recomand the movie "Oglinda" by Sergiu Nicolaescu, one of the few cultural prducts trying to depict the truth about that day.

This post has been edited by cipiamon on August 27, 2007 12:26 pm