Romanian famous commando units/commanders, actions on eastern and western front

I wonder if during WW2 Romania had special commando-type units, acting on eastern and western fronts. For instance, Germans had the very famous Otto Skorzeny (Mussolini's extraction, Horthy's capture, and after WW2 cooperation with CIA, as a convicted war criminal, to train Egyptian army !).

This post has been edited by mateias on December 11, 2007 07:58 pm

Yes, Romania had such comando units and partisanjaeger (anti-partisan) units on Russia. One of it saw action on Iaila Mountains.
Details can be found on the book "Zodia capului de mort", the memoires of Ion Toba-Hatmanu, the comanding oficer of this romanian partisan-jaeger unit.
Short description of the book here: http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?showtopic=3927

see also"Drumul Crucii" by Aurel State,one of the most decorated young officers of Mountin Corps.Ed. " Litera " 1992.
By the way, Skorzeny was a para.

Slightly offtopic:

Skorzeny was no para. Although he participated in the rescue of Mussolini (operation Eiche), he was no trained para. Elements of FJ Lehr Btl, alongside SS Friedenthal commandos, aboard gliders, made the daring release of Mussolini a reality.

All period pics of Skorzeny had no para insignia (Para badge) present.

So, Skorzeny was indeed a great Special Forces leader, but no paratrooper.

On-topic -> Partisan hunter units comprising of Romanian nationals existed in the SS too. Prinz Eugen and Karstajaeger, being the most famous units.

Also, Brandenburg Rgt had a company of Romanian speaking soldiers. Many of them were present in Romania in the 1940-1941 timeframe, guarding the oil fields at Ploesti from British saboteurs. Also, after 23.08.2944, the Romanian company (now included in SS Jagdverbande Sud-Ost) was used to carry small scale raids against and intelligence gathering sorties against the advancing Romanian armies.

Unfortunately, no documents about the Romanian Brandenburgers survived (or at least that I may have knowledge of). Curious thing, since Romanian Waffen SS TK documents are abundant, the Brandenburger/SS Jagdverbande/Jaeger branch is poorly present in terms of period documents.

Enjoy your hobby.
Cheers,

Al

This post has been edited by Alexei2102 on December 12, 2007 09:44 pm

Actually, almost all german units cited by Alexei were build up from romanian citisens of german ethnicity.
This is not the same as romanian units raised only from romanian citisens of romanian ethnicity.

The one I cited was 100% romanian citisen/ethnicity.

Correct 100 %. I had no intention of hijacking the thread. I too am curious of seeing proof of some Romanian special forces type of units, but besides the partisan hunter units, I can find no others.

Perhaps some member with a greater depth of knowledge in Romanian Army in WW2 can shed a clue.

Also, just to be a bit offtopic, not all Romanians in the German units were German ethnics.

Check this Soldbuch, the name sounds 100 % Romanian, and IMO it's a genuine example.

Source of the pics - private collection, posted for appraisal on WAF forums by the owner.

Very nice, and rare find, Alex! Too bad it's not in your collection.

Can you make out at least the soldier's religion? If it's Orthodox, then 99.9% he was ethnic Rumanian, as very few ethnic minorities from Rumania are Orthodox.

Gen. Dénes

It is written in the soldbuch that he is ortodox, also that he was born in Vlasca, Romania.

Several forumists wrote about commanders of Romanian partisan hunter units. I am not sure at all the Romanian army used commando-type units in WW2 (Germans had such units since WW1 !).

When speaking about partisan hunter units, one should not forget Alpine Corp 2nd Division led by gen. Dumitrache and his chief of operations, major Arsenescu (the future leader of the anticommunist group named "Outlaws from Muscel County" (southern Carpathian Mts.).

Below are two links with excerpts on both of them.


1. http://www.worldwar2.ro/generali/?language=ro&article=256

……….

Intors la DIVIZIA 2 MUNTE, generalul Dumitrache a comandat o grupare de vanatori de munte, care, intre 29 decembrie 1943 si 4 ianuarie 1944, impreuna cu o grupare condusa de generalul de brigada Leonard Mociulschi, A ELIMINAT PESTE 3.700 DE PARTIZANI IN MUNTII IAILA.


2. http://revista.memoria.ro/?location=view_article&id=717

.........
Declanşarea celui de al doilea război mondial l-a găsit pe GH. ARSENESCU ŞEF AL BIROULUI DE OPERAŢII AL DIVIZIEI 20 A VÂNĂTORILOR DE MUNTE SUB COMANDA GENERALULUI EROU DUMITRACHE, participând la campania din Răsărit pentru redobândirea provinciilor furate. A fost rănit în Crimeea. Refăcut, s-a întors pe front, iar în august 1944 a fost avansat maior.


On Ion Toba-Hatmeanu there is a reference in one of Cicerone Ionitoiu books regarding trial of communism. He is considered a traitor, being captured by the Securitate and used as a wittness in the trial of MISCAREA DE REZISTENTA NATIONALA !

1. Cpt. Dabija has the merit of being THE FIRST ROMANIAN OFFICER who set up commando units against the Russians.

2. Cpt. Nicolae Dabija (future leader of an important anti-communist group fighting in the Apuseni Mts., based on his war experience with commando units), commander of 5th Company (38th Infantry Regiment) took the brunt when Russian troops landed in the night of 3/4 Feb. 1943 in Novorossiisk area, sector Ozereica. He resisted there 3 days and 4 nights, against superior enemy forces, being practically encircled. Finally, he destroys the enemy forces who lost there 800 dead, wounded or prisoners, 31 AMERICAN tanks destroyed, 1 fuel barge destroyed, 40 BRITISH landing crafts captured. For his exploits in Southern Caucasus, he was awarded "Michael the Brave" order, Class III. Later, for exploits in Crimeea, Marshall Antonescu took from his own chest the order "Crown of Romania", 1st. class, and personally hooked it on the chest of the recently promoted Major Dabija.


Source: Adrian Brisca, Puica Buhoci - "Resistenta armata din Muntii Apuseni. Gruparea maiorului Nicolae Dabija. 1948-1949" (2007) - page 23

3. Quite interesting to see that a Russian "small-size" amphibious landing was considered good enough for an American popular video game.


QUOTE
Black Sea Black Death is a small unit action covering the attempted Soviet naval landing behind the Axis lines just south of Novorossisk. Each unit is a platoon or company and each hex represents 600 meters, as I recall.

The game does include Romanian units (I'll post the exact ones after I look at the game again), which were on coast-watching duties. As such, they bore the brunt of the initial Soviet landings, which were supported by gunfire from 3 Soviet cruisers and 4 destroyers, as well as Soviet shore batteries on the other side of the bay. The Soviet assault was also supported by a few tank companies, which were equiped with U.S.-built M-3 Stewarts, although few of these got to shore.

This post has been edited by mateias on February 05, 2008 12:29 pm