Hello everyone,
it’s been nearly a year, since I wrote the series on Romanian armor on the old For the Record – in case, you are interested, you can find them here:
Romanian Armor 1 – pre WW2
Romanian Armor 2 – Bucharest to Stalingrad
Romanian Armor 3 – Crimea to the end
Romanian Armor 4 – Bucharest museum photos
Player Yndy_ decided to add one more part ot the series, shortly describing the post-war fate of the Romanian armor. So here goes:
This article left the story about Romanian tanks at the end of Second World War.This is what happened next:
From February to May 1945, the second Tank regiment fought in Slovakia, Czech Republic and Austria. Besides the remaining obsolete R2s, R35s, TACAM R2s and even FT-17s (which were deemed unfit and retired to a Soviet warehouse), the main tanks were now captured Pz IVs and StuGs, which were constantly replenished from Soviet stocks. At the end of the war however, Romanians had to surrender the remaining tanks to the Soviets and the tank regiment was disbanded.
Back home, Romania re-established its tank units on 15th June 1945 using Romanians which used to be Soviet POWs. Decision was made to use captured German material provided by the Soviets and that’s how the brigade was fitted with Pz IV, Pz V Panther (Ausf A, Ausf D and Ausf G), StuG III Ausf G, JgPz IV/70 and even a Hummel as seen at the 1948 parade below.
The Pz IV Ausf J in the Romanian Military Museum is what is left of those tanks.
In 1950, the decision was made to replace all German materials with Russian equipment and from 1950 to 1954 all the above were retired and replaced with T-34-85, SU-100, SU-76, and ISU-152. The first two, already presented in the prior FTR article have received a fresh paint job in the last year.
Wait… why does the Panther at the front looks like the VK M? are early models like that? or am I just stupid?
The VK was a panther prototype…
You are stupid :D
Panther had many versions just like PzIV. and the one on the picture is probably an early models and that’s why you think its VK M, I’m not a hardcore fan of Panther so somebody else has to tell you the letter of this model.
Ok, I accept my outright stupidity, I’m only 12 can’t blame that :P
Actually if you look closely, the first panther doesn’t look like the panthers behind: it has no hull-mounted MG, and it has sloped side armor. Which looks exactly like the 3002M as you pointed out. To me it seems like we’re looking at the 3002M panther prototype right there.
It’s a Panther Ausf. D… google it.
As already mentioned it’s Ausf D. The other two behind are Ausf G. I saw a picture with the Ausf. A as well at a different parade, can’t find it again though.
Like Cimajes said : VK30.02M is the Panther prototype.
Ingame except the thickness of frontal armor it’s exactly like the stock Panther, which is the historical Panther we can see everywhere.
That’s why if you want to drive an historical Panther to it’s nearly full power (except frontal armor), the VK30.02M is better than the Panther itself.
[Edit] That was supposed to be a reply from Mark Regil post, my bad. [/Edit]
“The Pz IV Ausf J in the Romanian Military Museum is what is left of those tanks.”
Not really, it was a recovery vehicle used by the Russian Army based in Romania in the 50s. The turret was dug out from the ground a few years after the soviets left and it’s DIRECTLY welded onto the chassis (no turret rotation mechanism…).
Thanks for the correction, do you have any other interesting info on the other tanks in the Museum?
Yeah, some SU-76 vehicles were allegedly fitted with local engines. The Romanian Army still has in use a vehicle based of the SU-76 chassis: MLVM. There were plans to upgrade T-34-85s in the 80s with T-55AM upgrades. Nothing came of it, although a prototype was built. Do note that the Romanian army still uses T-55 vehicles as mbt’s… plus, the SU-100s are in “strategic” reserve! Also, the M4 Sherman at the museum was retrieved from Prut river… there is another tank in the Prut river buried in mud, you can see the top of the turret when severe drought hits. It’s in no man land (border) and nobody attempted to retrieve it. Probably a T-34 since the Museum showed no interest in retrieving it, in sharp contrast to the Sherman hull.
BTW, I’m disgusted by the museum’s/government’s/army’s etc. lack of interest in restoring or at least conserving the TACAM R-2 and R-2… they are just rusting away…. You should also post some pictures from Arsenal Park Orastie, nice collection.
Indeed, i was going to talk about the TACAM R-2. Any article about Romanian tanks during the war should contain at least few lines about it (and the Mareșal). About the MLVM, for the ones who doesnt know it: Mașina de Luptă a Vânătorilor de Munte, intended to be a troop carrier for the Mountain Troops.
Wouldn’t it be nice if a (War)gaming company making millions from Romanian players would partner with the museum to restore a tank which is the last one of its kind?
gipsy tonks!!!! j/k i would totally do Jacky…she hot
Oh sterotypes … World would be a better without you.
gipsy your mom
wow rude…not only rude but goddam stupid….y u no google what j/k means fuckwits….it’s really hilarious how most of romanian twitch.tv streamers actually jokes about the whole gipsy stereotype, but then you have two morons like these two whose sense of humor is lower than the number of their brain cells
fuck off , idiot , what kind of noob mind do you have ?
Please stop acting like a 12-year old . He is most likely a troll and he’s getting fed.
He’s not really funny though. Whenever I see his avatar, I know a lame ass racist joke is coming.
I hope he at least laugh about his own humor.
I just made a small comment about sterotypes ,and you god wild calling me a moron . How superior compared to us , you said you’re ?
I see you still didn’t googled what fucking j/k meaning is you dumb fucktards. I wonder how much butthurt would i cause if i was for real and not joking. Pls stop posting comments bcs you are looking even more dumber than you are only confirming some stereotypes in the process. And it’s always nice to see my avatar is causing so many butthurts. Then i know i’m doing something right. I mean: “fuck off , idiot , what kind of noob mind do you have ?” How can you not flame shitfart like this who not only can’t understand basics of English language, but is also too fucking dumb to comprehend a simple joke and then proceeds to insult you with most lamest childish insult.
Simple joke !? You don’t really know romanians , if you call a romanian gipsy you’re going to have a bad time and do everyone a favor and keep your shit jokes for yourself.
XOXO Butthurt Brit
said the supreme idiot of romanian army…sorry, truth always hurts, in this case…go and play with racists someother places.