I'm about to write this article in the memory of my grand father who fought against the russians in 1944. He was sergeant in the first Craiova light infantry regiment, wich was a part unit of the Romanian Fourth Army. In May 1944 my grand father and his brother(second liutenat) were mobilised in Craiova(a romanian city in south Romania). the First Craiova Light Infantry Regiment was formed in that early summer of 1944. Different units wich suffered losses on the eastern front along with new recruited units formed this newly regiment. At the end of May the First Craiova regiment entered the tranches in Bassarabia(the present Moldavia Rep.).For almost 2 munths the regiment was under constant fire from the russian artillery units wich were part of the Malinovski russian army corps. In 24 August 1944 the Fourth Romanian Army was encircled. many units (including First Craiova Regiment) managed to escape the encirclement. Lots of soldiers were running away for their lifes, hundreds of bodies were laying on the field. It was a real nightmare. The russina tanks approched romanian border and then occupied Iasi(a city in north-east Romania). The remainings of the Rirst Craiova Regiment were again encircled by the russian tanks. My grandfather was taken prisoner and was sent in a concentration camp in nowadays Ukraine. My grandfather's brother managed to escape again but died only few mounths later in the Czech Rep.western front. After more than 2 years in russian prissons my grandfather came back home. For his entire life he remained psychologically bruised by the blood rain of the secon war. He died in 2004 at the age of 83.
