In my search for info on the Romanian Airborne forces I found this on the
Romanian "Mountain Hunters" . Very interesting. Seems a little biased and hostile towards the Soviets LOL.
Vanatori de Munte - History
In the 3rd of November, 1916, the 1st Mountain Corps was established, opening a very important chapter in the history of this elite branch.
This event was remembered in the 3rd of november 2001, when the Mountain Hunters celebrated 85 years of existence.
The elite branch of the infantry existed in the past as well, however it was in 1916 when they started to be called "Vanatori de Munte" (Mountain Hunters) and when their main purpose was set to be fighting in mountainous regions.
The Mountain Hunters represent perhaps the toughest and the most experienced of the branches, their instruction being tough, their lives being rough, and their mission complex.
During World War II, the 4th Mountain Corps, commanded by general Paul Dumitrescu, was at the spearhead of the German-led invasion of the Soviet Union, and took part in all the major operations there. The Germans have always used the Romanians as cannon-meat, putting them in front of their armies, to sustain the toughest battles, while it was always the Germans who then occupied the conquered cities or signed the surrender documents, making it look as it was them who had obtained those victories.
The 4th Mountain Corps had an astonishing 'adventure' in the Soviet Union, which started with the liberation of Basarabia and Bucovina, two Romanian provinces in the North and East of Romania, that were anexed by the Soviet Union in 1939. The Romanian military and also Marshall Ion Antonescu then told the Germans that this is as far as the Romanian Army will go. However Hitler needed the Romanians badly, and general von Manstein, the commander of Army Group South, convinced general Paul Dumitrescu of the Romanian 4th Mt Corps to participate with his mountain hunters in the siege of Ukraine. The 4th Mt Corps was therefore present in the battle of Odessa.
After Odessa and the conquest of the Ukraine, the German Wehrmacht started to be over-stretched over its newly conquered land, and could no longer be an effective fighting machine. As such, general Dumitrescu's Mountain Hunters were put in the frontline of a war that was not theirs, and got as far as Stalingrad and Moscow. In fact, when in october 2003, German historians digged up mass graves near Stalingrad, looking for dead German soldiers in WWII, all they found were Romanians. About 3,500 of them. However there were tens of thousands of Romanians who died in the Soviet Union.
Later on in the war, when Romania switched sides to fight among the Allies, the Soviet Army, a bunch of barbaric peasants, treated Romania and its territory as a test-ground for atrocities. Robbery, murder and rape were their speciality. Romania, as now an ally of Stalin's Soviet Union, wanted to fight until the defeat of Germany and thus the end of World War Two.
It therefore comes at no surprize that it was the Mountain Hunters again, that lead the way. The Soviets treated the Romanians exactly the same way as the Germans did, as cannon-meat.
Romanian soldiers (Vanatori de Munte) entering Northern Transylvania after they have defeated the German-Hungarian armies It was the Romanian soldiers who, one by one, had liberated Transylvania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria and got as far West as Berlin itself.
In one of history's most disgusting lies and propaganda war, the Soviets took credit for each and every one of these victories. In the summer of 2003, several World War II veterans, some of them from the Mountain Hunters formations, visited Hungary for a ceremonial together with the Hungarian Army (HDF). Throughout their bus-drive from Oradea (in western Romania) to Budapest, in the North-East of Hungary, they passed thru village after village that were liberated by them, more than 60 years ago. The horrible "surprize" that was waiting for them was that at the entry in each village, a big display panel at the side of the highway stated "village liberated by the Soviet Army".
Propaganda, deception and lying are a diplomat's special toolkit, I guess...
Not even today, the Russians, the Germans nor pretty much anyone else admits the fact that it was Romanian soldiers who lead the way in the liberation of Europe. All the foreign "specialists", "historians" and so-called "experts" do not even know their own trade, when they write elaborate speeches about the Soviet army and then read them in Moscow, in order to make political impression.
The end of the Cold War did not meant by any chance the end of hipocrisy and lies, things that are deeply rooted into a foreign diplomat's smile.
Romanian soldiers (Vanatori de Munte) giving hot meals to the local population.
Budapest, Hungary, 1945 
Romanian gunners from Vanatori de Munte in the mountains of Czechoslovakia, 1945 After World War II, Romania was given away by its western "allies" to the Soviet Union. Out of all the countries in Eastern Europe, Romania had the highest Soviet influence. 90% Eastern, and 10% Western. Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill have traded Romania as if it was their own pocket watches or pocket-money.
The first things the Soviets did were to disband the Mountain Hunters that have crippled their primitive army and to also disband the Paratroopers that have raged fear among its manipulated recruits.
In April 1946, the 2nd Mountain Hunters Brigade, the last sizeable Mt Hunter unit remaining after the end of World War II, was disbanded.
The two Romanian provinces, where Romanians have lived since the start of recorded history (mentioned by Herodot in 800 BC), and where even in the late 40's the population was 93% Romanians, were again, anexed by the Soviet Union. Without Basarabia and Bucovina, Romania became smaller and more helpless than ever before. Betrayed by its allies, with a third of its territory stripped away, Romania was forced to pay a huge ammount of hard-currency (US$) as "war payment" to the same, Soviet Union. Soviet troops stayed in Romania until 1953, which was also the year when Stalin, the most evil man in history who killed more than 30 million people, finally died. A small aviation unit however remained in Romania on Otopeni international airport until 1964.
In that same year the 2nd Mountain Hunters Brigade is re-established, this time with the headquarters at Baia Mare (N-W of the country). Soon after, in the 12th of november 1964, Brigada 2 Vanatori de Munte (2nd Mountain Hunters Brigade) is established as an independent unit with the headquarters this time in Brasov (central Romania).
Romanian soldiers from a tank regiment that have liberated Vienna, 1945In 1974, the "Sarmizegetusa" indicative was given to the 2nd VM(Mountain Hunters) Brigade. Sarmizegetusa was the regional capital of the part of Dacia, the ancient state of Eastern Europe, that was conquered by the Romans after four bloody wars in 101, 102, 105 and 106 AD.
The 2nd VM brigade saw action for the first time after world war two during the 1989 Romanian Revolution, when they fought unidentified terrorist elements in the central counties of Harghita and Covasna.
Several VM (Mountain Hunters) died in those operations.
There is no recognition of any kind and usually even no mention of the Mountain Hunters when talking about Odessa, Stalingrad, Moscow, Transylvania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Germany in all the documentaries, books, films, manuals and materials about World War II available in the West.
The only mentioning of the "Romanian Mountain Corps" in the entire World War II was a single line in a Discovery Channel documentary about the battle of Odessa. There, in a one-hour long film, a single line ever remembers them: "The Romanians were pushed back by Soviet tanks whom their anti-tank weapons could not penetrate".
A single line, tens of thousands of deaths. Perhaps you should remember the Romanian Mountain Hunters next time you thank your God for the freedom you enjoy.
Romanian Special Forces - Vanatorii de Munte