Strange Photo of a Group of Soldiers, Dated 31 Aug. 1940

Enclosed is a strange photo I found on a Hungarian forum (Roncskutatás).



Apparently, the photo shows a group of soldiers in Rumanian mountain uniform. What is strange is the writing on the board, which is in Hungarian, and it reads: "Emlék. Szervusztok fiúk. Lespezi, 1940. 08. 31." ("Souvenir. Hello guys. Lespezi, 31 Aug. 1940").

Can anyone tell us further details of these soldiers' unit, etc.?

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on February 25, 2008 12:14 pm

Lespezi is in Moldavia.

According to Mapquest, there are eight Lespezi in today's Rumania. Only one is located in Transylvania. I bet the message is referring to this one.

Gen. Dénes

Besides the Lespezi commune in Iasi county (to which I was referring in the earlier post) I found 5 Lespezi villages:

- village part of Hartiesti commune, Arges county
- village part of Garleni commune, Bacau county
- village part of Dobromir commune, Constanta county
- village part of Ramnicu Valcea, Valcea county
- village part of Homocea commune, Vrancea county

I used GIS software and databases I have at work and I tend to trust them more than mapquest.

Furthermore the Lespezi that mapquest locates in Alba county, north of the Arieseni valley, is in the middle of the mountains. The background of that photo looks pretty flat.

[QUOTE]Besides the Lespezi commune in Iasi county (to which I was referring in the earlier post) I found 5 Lespezi villages:

- village part of Hartiesti commune, Arges county
- village part of Garleni commune, Bacau county
- village part of Dobromir commune, Constanta county
- village part of Ramnicu Valcea, Valcea county
- village part of Homocea commune,Vrancea county HI! In the village Lespezi in Bacau county lives a majority of "ceangai" people who speak a dialect of hungarian language.I think this is the place where the pictures is made.

What if it was a propaganda photo, a "set up" in other words?

In that moment my grandfather was in a Romanian mountain unit (his was in Zalau), and I can say that the mood of these soldiers was far from offering souvenir photos in Hungarian language.
Moreover, before the Vienna treaty there were some defensive local fights alongside border, and sometimes the Romanian mountain units were carrying them, on behalf of Romania.
Also, consider the date mentioned on the photo. That moment was the summit of the Romanian-Hungarian tensions, in all period preceding August 1944.
I also point the bitterness of both sides to use their own language, in any occasion - in those days. Why a group of Romanian soldiers would offer a "souvenir" in Hungarian language, and exactly on August 31, 1940?

This post has been edited by Florin on July 09, 2008 02:28 am

I see no "set-up" here at all.
One possible explanation is that these are ethnic Hungarians, drafted into the Rumanian Army, happy to go home, to Northern Transylvania, after the Vienna Resolution had been proclaimed the day before.
This could be a simple souvenir shot to remember the times spent in the army.

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on July 09, 2008 05:37 am

I think is the same group of men:




It seems to be a mountain unit reservists platoon of about 1939-1940. The men are not very young and carry new uniforms and equipment. As reserve troops they were supplied only with infantry boots and puttees instead of the regulation mountain boots and white socks (as the officer in the middle). They are equipped with M.95 Mannlicher carbines and the platoon automatic weapon, an M.1930 “ZB” light machinegun.

It was a village Lespezea, today Scarisoara, in the north west of Alba county, near Abrud and Campeni. Until 1940, in that area was located the 3rd Mixed Mountain Brigade. This unit was not very much affected by the treaty of Vienna, as its recruiting territory was not occupied by Hungary. However many of the soldiers belonging to the occupied territories were released from the army to go back home, to take care of their families.

Maybe in this case it is a group of ethnic Hungarians who shortly after the occupation of Northern Transylvania were demobilized and released to go back home.

I see no "set-up" here at all.
One possible explanation is that these are ethnic Hungarians, drafted into the Rumanian Army, happy to go home, to Northern Transylvania, after the Vienna Resolution had been proclaimed the day before.
This could be a simple souvenir shot to remember the times spent in the army.

Gen. Dénes

You have a logical explanation.
However, it was standard policy (continued in the days of the Communist regime) to don't have too many members of an ethnic minority in the same unit. I am surprised to see so many ethnic Hungarians being in military service in the same unit, or in the same area.
What I wrote happened also in the Hungarian Army, regarding the Romanians drafted into combat for the Eastern Front.

This post has been edited by Florin on July 09, 2008 05:58 pm

I zoomed the lower right corner of the photo, to see the text of the round stamp, but I could not identify any single letter - because of the low resolution and low contrast of the photo, I assume.

That's the logo of the Hungarian forum (Roncskutatás), where the photo was originally posted.

Gen. Dénes