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1st Infantry Division (Romania)

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1st Infantry Division
Divizia 1 Infanterie
File:A1 terit.jpg
Official emblem of the 1st Infantry Division
Active16 August 1916 - present
CountryRomania
BranchRomanian Land Forces
Size3 brigades, 2 regiments, 1 logistics base, 6 auxiliary battalions
Garrison/HQBucharest
Anniversaries18th August
EngagementsEastern Front (World War II)
Battle of Mărăşeşti
Battle of Mărăşti
Prague Offensive
Commanders
Current
commander		Major General Nicolaie Dohotariu
Notable
commanders		General Eremia Grigorescu
General Petre Dumitrescu

The 1st Infantry Division Dacica is one of the three major units of the Romanian Land Forces with its headquarters in Bucharest. Until June 15, 2008, it was designated as the 1st Territorial Army Corps "General Ioan Culcer" (Corpul 1 Armată Teritorial "General Ioan Culcer").

History

The First Army took part in the Romanian actions during the First World War (see Romania during World War I).

In August 1944, the Red Army entered Romania after driving back Army Group South from the region. On August 23, Marshal Ion Antonescu was dismissed by King Michael I, and Romania declared war on Germany and Hungary some days later. The Soviets took control of the oilfields in the Ploieşti area, and the Romanian Army was used to fight German forces on the Eastern Front.

The First Army became one of the Romanian armies fighting for the Red Army on the Eastern Front. In its campaign from August 1944 to May 1945, the Romanian Army lost some 64,000 men killed[citation needed]. The First Army took part in Soviet offensives, notably at Prague in May 1945, which happened to be the last offensive it took part in World War II.

In the Prague Offensive, the First Army, together with the Romanian Fourth Army, Polish Second Army, and Soviet First, Second, and Fourth Ukrainian Fronts. Marshal Ivan Koniev, the commander of the First Ukrainian Front, was the main Soviet commander in the area. Together with Marshal Georgy Zhukov's First Byelorussian Front, Koniev had launched the great attack on April 16 that resulted in the fall of Berlin and Soviet victory on the Eastern Front.

The offensive started on May 6, a few days before the end of the war. German resistance in the east was now limited to small pockets scattered across Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. The remnants of Army Group Center held the remaining German-controlled areas in the east. In the attack on Prague, German resistance was crushed in the city, and the Soviet, Romanian, and Polish forces entered the city on May 9. Czech partisans had been fighting the Germans there for a few days.

By May 11 and 12, all remaining German pockets of resistance in the east were crushed.

One 1989 reported order of battle was:[1]

1st RVA Army HQ - Bucharest, RU:

  • ?th RVA Tank Div (Cat A) - Bucharest, RU: see TO&E #5 with T-72, T-55, BMP-1, BTR-60, SA-6, D-30, D-20
  • 1st RVA Motorized Rifle Division (Cat A) - Bucharest, RU: see TO&E #4 with T-55, BTR-60, S-60, D-30, D-20
  • 1st RVA Mountain Brigade (Cat A) - North of Bucharest, RU: 2 regiments
  • 1st RVA Artillery Brigade - Bucharest, RU: 36 M-46, 36 D-20

The First Army was redesignated the 1st Territorial Army Corps in 2000 and the 1st Infantry Division (Romania) in 2008.

Current structure

See also

References

  1. ^ WARSAW PACT ORDER OF BATTLE JUNE - 1989, Andy Johnson, sabre21@gateway.net, Last update: 27 May 00
  2. ^ a b Military Press Archives
  3. ^ Military Press, June 2007
  4. ^ Military Press, 22nd August, 2004
  5. ^ Romanian Military Press
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