Romanian Armoured Cars?

Raevski,

The only reference I have seen to AB41 in Russia is the one in the Pignato book I quoted. I don't have many books on Italian armour or the Italians on the Russian front. N. Pignato books are usually a good sources though.

I might post a question on the 'Italianisti' yahoo group, as there are many contributors there who have wide knowledge of Italian armour, and someone might be able to say if the assigned armoured cars ever arrived in Russia.

Do you have some reference that says which units had the L3 tanks in Russia? I have some sources that do not mention these vehicles as being present, and which say that the only tanks in the ARM.I.R. were L6 and L6 semoventi.

Victor,

Is it possible that the AB41 were not part of the armoured division, but belonged to another formation? I think it says in the book 'Third Axis...' that they were used mainly for HQ liason/to carry orders around and so on, not for reconnaissance.

The L3's were in the Celere Divison in 1941

The R-1's were part of the Cavalry Divisions.

They were in the Recce battalion.

The numbers in each division numbered between 4-7 normally

Thanks Raevski, was this unit (if it had 7 tanks) split into 3 x two tanks sections with 1 x tank as a HQ vehicle or two 3 x Tank sections with 1 x tanks as a HQ vehicle.

i am pretty sure they are 1 section including command tank. Most had 5 per division.
so the organisation is 1 command 4 tanks. They seem to have co-operasted with the motorcycle recce Squadron and a small AT company usually of 37mm or captured 45mm.

You are spot on my friend, I have found this,

Recce Company Romanian Cavalry Division 1941

1 x Tank Platoon (6 x R-1s)
1 x Anti-Tank Platoon (2 x 37mm Guns)
2 x Motorcycle Platoons (6 x LMGs Each)

Regards Yan.

Yan, In 1941 there were no Cavalry Divisions in the Romanian Army, they were Brigades. The figures you have are correct however.

Thanks Alan, its a shame I dont have any totals of the amount of men this Company had.

Not all the cavalry brigades had mechanized reconnaissance squadrons. Only the so-called "motorized" cavalry brigades (i. e. the brigades which had one motorized cavalry regiment). Theoretically this squadron consisted of 2 R-1 light tank platoons of 3 tanks each, one motorized cavalry platoon, one motorcycle platoon.

For example, the 7th Cavalry Brigade never had such a squadron. The 1st and 9th, are still a mystery to me if they had or not. Didn't have the time to research it well, so on the site it is still the "classical" version with the 5th, 6th and 8th Cavalry Brigades as motorized, although I have found sources indicating that the 1st Brigade had R-1s as well.

An interesting photo showing an armoured car somewhere in Rumania.


Gen. Dénes

Very nice car D, what is the type of car ?

Al

It is a czech car I think!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rep...vz._30_pic1.JPG

This post has been edited by horia on November 19, 2014 01:43 pm

Yes, it looks very much like it.

Gen. Dénes

AWSOME FIND, Denes! Many thanks for sharing it. Purelly awsome!

It is indeed a Tatra OA vz. 30, in original Czech cammo, and apparenly in a very good shape. When could the photo have been taken? Contextually (summer clothing, armoured cars on the street of Bucharest) I'd say in August 1944, but the condition of the car seems to be way too good (impecable) for that year... Any other oppinions?

EDIT: Concurrent possible contexts:
- Around the national day(s) parade, (Monarchy day, Restoration day), 1939-onward?
- The protests for king’s Carol abdication, September 1940?
- Iron’s Guard rebellion (unlikely)?


This post has been edited by Agarici on November 19, 2014 04:13 pm

I found it on eBay.
Here is a close-up photo:



Is the licence plate Rumanian?

Gen. Dénes

If you are interested in detailed description of the car, use this book: