Re: Forgotten of the Eastern Front
The Romanian Airborne Paratroopers
4th Parachute Battalion, Aeronautica Regala Romana
1941-1944
Birth
The first company of Romanian airborne soldiers in the second world war was incorporated into the Aeronautica Regala Romana (ARR/Romanian Airforce) in mid-june, 1941, shortly after Romania's entry into the war. Another company, 9 Company, was also created a year later, and again a year later these two companies were supported by a Heavy Weapons Company, forming the 4th Parachute Battalion in 1943. The soldiers that made up the Battalion differed from other units of the Romanian army (the Mountain, Guards, Infantry and Cavalry units were all equally diverse in both organisation, equipment and uniform), none more so than in the uniform, wearing the dark blue uniform of the rank and file of the ARR, it being officially a unit within the Royal Romanian Air Force. Weapons would also inevitably differ from those of the standard infantry regiments, being equipped with German Mp40 sub machineguns.
The soldiers who entered the Parachute Battalion were also diverse and different to those of the Romanian Army. The marked contrast was the fact that all those who participated in the rigorous training of the Romanian Parachute Battalion were all volunteers. Also volunteers had to have a high degree of physical fitness and intelligence. All had to read and write. The aim was to make the Battalion ready to fight the Red Army and to aid the Romanian forces fighting on the Eastern Front (Romania would make the second largest contribution to the Eastern Front, second behind Germany itself).
Organisation
The make-up of the 4th Parachute Battalion was based closely on the infantry model of the Romanian Army during the early stages of the war, though it differed slightly. Each company had 3 platoons each with 3 rifle teams/sections (each 10-12 men each), a machinegun platoon, a light mortar platoon and a pioneer platoon, the latter armed with flamethrowers. Supporting these troops was a recon platoon which was unique among the Paratroopers. In addition to this, in time of operational duty and when the time came for an operational combat drop, each company would have a squadron of transport planes.
Equipment
The standard rifle of the Romanian forces was the ZB 1924 model bolt action, used in the Paratroopers. A Mauser 1932(?) model of submachine-gun, a 1930 light machinegun and ZB1937 heavy machineguns were also widely used. 81mm and 60mm mortars were also distributed among the mortar platoons and the Heavy Weapons Company, who also used anti-tank guns. Pignone Flamethrowers were used by the pioneers.
In contrast to regular units, the Parachute Battalion had a vast compliment of small arms, in contrast to the army who, while equipped with modern fighting weapons, had a shortage and struggled to equip all its soldiers. Also, sometime in 1942-1943 the ARR took to equipping the Romanian Paratroopers with German made weapons and uniform. These included Fallschirmjaeger battledress, helmets (unlike the 'Dutch' helmets used in the infantry and Guard divisions) and the MP40 submachine-gun, which became the weapon of choice for the airborne soldiers.
The Parachute Regiment, Aeronautica Regala Romana
After two years of training the 4th Battalion had only some 250-300 soldiers fully equipped and trained, thanks to a high turnover rate and the rigorous demands met out through training. An order, by the Romanian leader Ion Antonescu, ordered the creation of a parachute regiment, with the aim of expanding it to over 2,000 - 3,000 men. The formations formed were the 1st, 2nd and third Parachute Battalions, excluding the officers and men of the 4th Battalion who, by mid 1944 had an enough soldiers to complement what was considered Battalion strength. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions had the equivalent of a company of troopers each. In mid-August, 1944, the 4th Battalion was loaded onto trucks and taken to Bucharest.
Romania at War
By the time the 4th Battalion entered the war in 1944, its course had changed dramatically since June 1941.
Romania, under the government of Ion Antonescu, had joined the Axis and declared war on the allies in 1941. In the same year Romania took part in Operation Barbarossa. What began as the recovery of the lands that Romania had ceded to the Soviets in 1940 thanks to an ultimatum (these lands were Bessarabia and Bukovina I think) would eventually see Romanian soldiers fight in the Ukraine, the Caucusus and predominantly in the Crimea, side by side with Germany. When the tide of war changed the exhausted and depleted soldiers of the Romanian army would find themselves at their border fighting against the Red Army with German soldiers. This was in May, 1944.
After the 'Royal Coup' led by the figurehead King Michael, Romania sided with the Allies in September. Reportedly, even after the signing of this pact, Russian soldiers still raped, robbed and looted Romanian towns and villages. Despite this what was left of the Romanian army fought with the Red Army against Germany on their soil. Even after this Romanian soldiers would continue to fight up to wars end, ending the war in Prague.
Combat
The 4th Battalion was the first Battalion to be made operational in August, 1944, and its combat history is far from accurate and definitive. What is definate is that it never made a combat drop, and never fought against the Red Army. By late 1944 Romania was now siding against the Axis. The Battalion was deployed in and around Bucharest, mainly in the Baneasa forest. During this period it was (apparently) involved in a firefight with a unit of the elite Brandenburg Division, who did parachute into the area at the time to relieve the Otopeni airfield during the 'Relief of Bucharest', resulting in most of these soldiers being killed or taken prisoner, reportedly after an engagement with Romanian Parachutists. Though official accounts (from a Romanian perspective) of this action I have not been able to find, The 4th Battalion did fight in and around Bucharest, and have found that they were at least engaged in 'mopping up' operations in and around the capital. The airborne forces of the Brandenburg Division that dropped into Otopeni were wiped out by forces only described as 'a large force' of Russian and Romanian infantry. The airborne soldiers of the 4th Battalion ARR were in the vicinity at the time though. There was also an incident where members of the 4th Battalion were killed by Allied bombers in a friendly fire incident.
Disbanded
The 4th Battalion was stood down at the end of 1944 and was disbanded at the request of the Soviets, who were eager to be rid of the elite formations of the Romanian army. The disbanding of the Romanian Paratroopers coincided with the breakup of the Mountain, Guards and Cavalry Divisions (all seen as elitist troops in the Romanian army) soon after.
Though it was seen as an elite formation, the 4th Battalion never made a large impact on the Romanian army, despite its potential and endeavour. Most of its members were drafted back into the Romanian infantry and fought the remaining months of the war with the Red Army, many of these surely died in the ensuing fighting, after being disbanded, and the relatively short operational career of the 4th Parachute Battalion unit came to an end.
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