The
Rifles of Romania 1878-1948
By Dan Reynolds
Romania, in the main,
is formed from two former principalities, Moldavia and Wallachia, which
were vassal states of the Ottoman Empire until Russia defeated Turkey in
1878 and the Kingdom of Romania was proclaimed in March 1881. Contained
within the borders were many ethnic minorities, Hungarians a notable group.
Ethnic Romanians in other lands, sometimes called "Vlachs," amounted to
large numbers in Bessarabia, Transylvania, and Macedonia .
As a vassal state of
the Ottoman Empire, the first breech loader was a Snider conversion, the
Turk M1867. These were followed by the .45 Turk Peabody and the later.45
Peabody-Martini which was the standard of the Ottoman Empire at the time.
After the war of 1878, when Romania sided with Russia and gained independence,
she adopted a slight modification of the Turk M1874 Martini as the M1879.
It was made under contract at Steyr and was purchased in numbers exceeding
100,000. A carbine version existed but was not widely issued.
Cavalry tactics in use called for saber, lance and revolver to be the major
weapons at this period.
The advent of a magazine
smokeless powder rifles in 1886 caused Romania to seek a new rifle in this
class. After considering the new Russian Mosin and several others,
it elected to buy a trial batch of turn bolt Mannlichers evolved from the
German M88 Commission Rifle. This was the Model 1892 6.5x53mmR made
by Steyr. Several minor modifications were made and the resulting rifle,
the M1893, was purchased in large numbers, deliveries exceeding 100,000
by the middle of the next decade. Some carbines were purchased, but
as late as 1910 only about half of the cavalry had them, the rest were
still armed with lance, saber and revolver, although it was now recognized
that this was archaic and required change.
During the course of
WW1 in which Romanian allied itself with the Allies, she was heavily pounded
and lost many weapons. Reinforced with rifles from herco-belligerents,
she issued Mosin Nagants, French M07/15 Berthiers, as well as captured
Mannlicher M95 8x50mmR straight pull rifles and carbines of Austro-Hungarian
and Bulgarian original issue. At the end of the war she was on the
winning side and accrued the following rifles: German Gew.98 and Kar.98AZ,
Russian M1891 Mosin Nagants, Mannlicher M1895,M1888/90, as well as more
French equipment including M07 and M05/15 rifles and carbines. As
a reward for her participation in the war, she was awarded Bukovina, the
Banat, southern Dobruja, and Bessarabia. In the inter-war years following,
she seemed to deploy French rifles and machine guns in active service.
She was an ally of France and a member of the "Little Entente"along with
Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Perhaps ammunition supplies favored
this deployment. In this period senior French officers advised the Romanian
Army and France provided credits for equipment. The Army followed
the French pattern.
Generally speaking,
the Army was second class in equipment, uniforms, and organization as the
1930's ended. There was a recognition of the need to improve things.
The Czechoslovak VZ24 Mauser rifle
was selected as the new standard rifle along with the ZB-30 and ZB-37 light
and heavy machine guns in 7.92x57mm. These rifles can found with
one of two crests on them, that of Carol, or his son Mihai. They
are also found with no crest, but the makers address, and with markings
that were later removed during the Communist era. The Dutch style
helmet supplemented the French Adrian style helmet from about 1937 and
attempts were made to modernize in other ways.
In November 1940, the
Germans took over as the "Big Brother" of the Romanian Armed Forces.
This was a major change, the reasons for it being beyond the scope of this
article. The Germans set up schools and provided advisers and instructors
to retrain and reorganize the forces along more modern lines. Romanian
oil-funded purchase of equipment from stocks captured by Germany from France
and Czechoslovakia. Production of the Mauser rifle and ZB-30 at Cugir
in Romania was expedited.
In June of 1941 Romania
joined Germany in attacking Soviet Russia. The Romanians wanted to recover
Bessarabia and northern Bukovina which Stalin had taken from them in 1940.
As of 1 June 1941, 445,000 Czech-made VZ24's were in issue to the
infantry and cavalry units along with 16,000 ZB30 LMGs'. Some reserve
units retained the French M07/15 or M1893 6.5mm Mannlichers along with
the appropriate caliber machine guns at this time, but production of the
Mauser and ZB30 were underway in Cugir. In the early stages of the
war the Romanians did well, but lacked the necessary armor and antitank
weapons to fight a modern war. The mountain troops were said to be
the best units in the order of battle so far as equipment and morale are
concerned. The Germans could never supply enough material that was
necessary for the proper functioning of the Roumanian units fighting with
them, and the were chewed up and rolled back as the Germans retreated after
Stalingrad. The Romanians always held back strong forces in the border
areas facing Hungary for they were wary of an attack by their supposed
allies. As 1944 began, Germany increased supplies of arms in payment
for Romanian oil, but couldn't deliver what was desperately needed to keep
her in the war on Germany's side: a halt to the advance of the Red Army.
The Romanians switched
sides as German Army Group South continued to retreat before the unstoppable
Soviet advance. The Romanians happily attacked Hungary in the hope
that they would be allowed to reclaim Transylvania which they had lost
in the Arbitration of Vienna in 1940. They were used under Red Army
command and control and suffered very heavy casualties as the Germans were
pushed west. The Reds supplied them with captured German weapons
and ammunition and they captured much more as they fought westward with
the "Red Tide" through Hungary and into Czechoslovakia. At the end
of the war, the Romanian Army down sized and in 1947 was reorganized along
Communist lines. The King , Mihai , was forced to abdicate.
The number of rifles on hand in 1948 exceeded a million. Most of the equipment
on hand was of German origin. The VZ24 was the most common rifle
in service. Other rifles in inventory were the G33/40 and Kar.98k,
the Walter G43/K43, G98/40, 43M,35M as well as other rifles mentioned earlier
and Soviet M91/30, M38, and SVT40. Some MP43's and Stg44's were also
held.
Handguns
Country
|
Manufacturer
|
Model
|
Caliber
|
Italy
|
Beretta
|
1934
|
9mm
Scurt
|
Belgium
|
Browning
|
1910/22
|
9mm
Short
|
Germany
|
DWM
|
P-08
Luger
|
9mm
|
Germany
|
Walther
|
P-38
|
9mm
|
Russia
|
Nagant
|
1895
|
7.62mm
|
Austro-Hungaria
|
Steyr
|
1912
|
9mm
long
|
U.S.S.R.
|
Tokarev
|
TT-33
|
7.62mm
|
Germany
|
Walther
|
PPK
1931
|
7.65mm
|
Germany
|
Walther
|
PP
1927
|
7.65mm
|