General Leonard Mociulschi

More and more websites are created with a mind on presenting the Romanian military history to the world. In this matter, I recently discovered a website dedicated to General Mociulschi. The website offers detailed information about the general, his life before the Second World War and his work during as well as other personal information.

Leonard Mociulschi participated in three of the 20th century wars (2nd Balkan War, World War I and World War II), being decorated with more than 25 high awards. In the First World War he had received the French “Cross of War “ (Croix de Guerre) from the general Henri Mathias Berthelot, the commander-in-chief of the French Military Delegation in Romania, according to Brevet No. 834 from the 13th of November 1918. He also received the Order of the “Romanian Crown” (Coroana Romaniei) with swords in the rank of knight, for his “bravery and skills proven in the fights of 1916” (according to the Royal Decree No.1416 from the 13th of June 1917) as well as the Order of the “Star of Romania” in the rank of knight (Steaua Romaniei), received on the 6th of August 1919 (H.D. No.3323). The major Leonard Mociulschi that time was awarded with the “Honor Sign” (Semnul Onorific) by the High Royal Decree No.2292 from the 4th of July 1932, occasioned by his 25th anniversary in the service of the nation. Later on, in June 1945, he received the same distinction for his many decades of active service in the Romanian Army, too.

Visit www.general.mociulschi.ro for more information.

On 27 July 1941, Hitler sent a letter to general Antonescu (he was promoted marshal a month later), in which he asked for the further cooperation of the Romanian troops beyond the Dniester River and the Romanian administration of the territory between the Dniester and the Bug rivers. Antonescu accepted on 31 July. In fact the 3rd Army had already crossed the river on 17 July.

Lt. general Nicolae Ciuperca’s 4th Army commenced the advance over the river on 3 August. The 5th Corps (15th Infantry Division and 1st Cavalry Brigade) forced the crossing between Tighina and Dubosari. During the night of 5/6 August, the 1st Armored Division joined the 5th Corps.

On 8 August, the Romanian General Staff issued the Operative Directive No. 31 stipulating that the 4th Army has to defeat the enemy between the Dniester River and the Tiligulskiy Bank and to occupy Odessa from the move. It was thought that

However, Odessa was a heavily fortified position, which, thanks to the superiority of the ChF (Soviet Black Sea Fleet), could not actually be completely surrounded. The defense was organized on three lines with trenches, AT ditches, pillboxes etc, etc. The first line was 80 km long and situated some 25-30 km from the city. The second and main line of defense was situated 6-8 km from the city and was about 30 km long. The third and last line of defense was organized inside the city itself. The forces that initially manned the fortifications were made up of the 25th and 95th Rifle Divisions, the 9th Cavalry Division, the 421st Marine Division, the 54th Rifle Regiment and an NKVD Regiment. In total some 34,500 men and 240 artillery pieces. Air support was provided by the 69 IAP, two seaplane squadrons and one bomber squadron. Later, other fighters joined the defenders, as did an Il-2 squadron (42 OShAE). Bombers from Crimea and Nikolaev also participated in the battle.

Read the full article on WorldWar2.ro

The involvement of Romania in WW2 is hardly known internationally. Major works often ignore or give just a brief account of the Romanian politics, army and campaigns during the Second World War. Nevertheless there are a few websites that focus on this subject. Among the most popular is WorldWar2.ro – there you can find exhaustive information on the Romanian commanders, tactics, weaponry, campaigns and even memoirs of those who served in the front line. They also have a forum dedicated to all aspects of WW2, not just the Romanian involvement.

 Romanian military history as a whole is scarcely known and this mainly because of the Communist regime that influenced the nation’s history for almost half a century. In this period, historians tried to glorify every step taken by the army and minimize its defeats and lack of equipment.  Anyway, the website gives plenty of information on the Eastern campaign and as well as on the campaign against the Germans with no political influence.

www.worldwar2.ro

You may know about the heroic stand of the small Finnish army against the infinite numbers of the Soviet Union. If you thought that Russia was defensive in the first part of WW2, then you are mistaken. The communist military might (at that time pretty much expressed through sheer numbers than to military tech and able command) treated to conquer Finland.

However, their way was blocked by a small force of Finnish soldiers. They have firstly resisted any Russian attack and even counter-attacked in some cases. Using the strategic advantages offered by their land and mobility, they’ve managed to stop “the Old Bear” (as Churchill would later refer to Stalin) from transforming all of Finland in Russian territory.

This movie is simply great. Of course, you never have heard of any of these actors, yet they did a great job. ‘Talvisota” is probably one of the best movies there is about WW2. 

Perhaps I’ll write a post on the Winter War in the near future.

This relatively new game for me is probably a masterpiece, if not it is surely a good improvement to the first Blitzkrieg game. The first one was quite simple, if you had artillery and the enemy didn’t, you could artillery zeroing the entire bloody map.

Well, I did that in my first approaches to the game. Anyway, if you do not have artillery but do have tanks you should definitely use them. In the first Blitzkrieg, they are practically invincible in easy mode, however if you play in suicide mode the story is quite similar, but you will lose a few.

The second Blitzkrieg game, superbly dubbed “Fall of the Reich” is another story. Now you will have to focus on all aspects of the battlefield, including supplying the army and doing the necessary reparations to vehicles and armor. If you do not focus on these vital details, you will definitely lose. The tanks are not indestructible, even in easy mode they will be blown away by enemy AT artillery. Thus, strategy and tactics are important now, you know.

Blitzkrieg 2 comes with some interesting graphical improvements. The matrices in which the graphics were done remind of the first game but the player can easily sense the innovation. One interesting aspect is the fact that you can zoom in to get a better look at your troops.

Overall, I think this game is one of the best I’ve ever played.

As a huge fan of the first two Commandos (especially C2), I finally embarked in a daring adventure to check out Commandos 3. I say daring because I was  expencting disappointment, but naturally I tried to avoid it by self-suggestion – with no particulary success. 

The 3rd Commandos game is more than it should be. The game is already very complicated even on easy mode, yet the creators made the game even harder with all that various video aspects. So, there I sit with the knowledges gained with the first two games trying to make the first mission. Eventually, I did. It was hard, damn hard, but more it was frustrating and totally unenjoyable. 

Graphics and stuff are pretty cool, but that’s about it. This game was a huge disappintment for me, and I will keep playing the first two Commandos games.