Hat 8118 WWII Romanian Infantry

At the outbreak of World War II, Romania officially declared neutrality, and with the consent of the Polish government, it was also exempted from implementing allied agreements with our country. However, the changes taking place in Europe in 1939-1940, and in particular the USSR's taking away Romania of Bessarabia through diplomatic channels, led to a coup d'état and the introduction of Ion Antonescu's dictatorship in Bucharest in 1940. This regime officially joined the Axis powers in November 1940, and the first major WWII operation in which the Romanian armed forces took part was Operation Barbarossa in summer 1941. At the beginning of this operation, the Romanian infantry was composed of 19 divisions. The structure of these divisions was modeled on the German one - a single division consisted of three infantry regiments, reconnaissance units (partially mechanized in 1941), an anti-tank weapon company, two artillery regiments and a battalion of engineers' troops. In total, the Romanian infantry division numbered approximately 17,500 people. Already in the course of the war with the Soviet Union, the number of Romanian infantry increased by six divisions, i.e. by about 100,000 people. The single Romanian infantry division was well equipped with small arms and light and heavy machine guns and mortars. The problem was too weak support artillery and relatively weak transport. In terms of firepower, it was inferior to its German counterpart and was at best comparable to the Soviet rifle division. It is worth adding that the Romanian contribution to the war against the USSR was proportionally the greatest among all the allies of the Third Reich, and the Romanian army played a significant role in the fighting in Bessarabia and Ukraine in 1941 and at Stalingrad in 1942-1943.