The anti-fascist volunteer movement in Romania and the recruitment of the Tudor Vladimirescu division (October 1943 -March 1944)

The article examines the change in attitude towards the war against the USSR in the Romanian royal army, as well as the factors that influenced this change. At the initial stage, the war against the USSR in alliance with Nazi Germany was perceived by the Romanian population and especially by the army as “liberating” and “sacred” aimed to liberate “the original Romanian lands from the Bolshevik yoke.” After the occupation of Bessarabia, under German pressure the Romanian army continued its offensive to the east, which led to the beginning of a change in attitude to the war. The war began to be perceived not as “liberating”, but as “aggressive”, in which Romania was forced to act not in its national interests, but in the interests of Germany. An important role in changing attitudes towards the war was played by anti-German moods, which were preserved and maintained in the Romanian army, on the one hand, by the recollection of the defeat in the 1916 military campaign during the First World War, on the other hand, as well as by military-political cooperation with democratic France. By the end of 1942 there was a significant increase in mutual distrust between the Wehrmacht and the Romanian army, which led to a series of conflicts between the servicemen of the two armies. The logical result was, firstly, a decrease in the combat capability of the Romanian troops and, secondly, the large-scale surrender of Romanian soldiers and officers. As a result, in the autumn of 1943, a volunteer movement arose among Romanians who were in Soviet captivity, whose leaders took the initiative to recruit Romanian military formations as part of the Red Army for the war with Germany. The Soviet military and political leadership supported this volunteer movement, and the formation of the 1st Romanian Volunteer Infantry Division “Tudor Vladimirescu” was started.