Romanian Uniforms of World War 1 I The Great War Special

We've done several specials about the uniforms of the various warring nations, and we've covered several of the major ones. Today, though, I'd like to look at the uniform of a nation that fought in the war, whose participation is often overlooked or forgotten today- Romania. I'm Indy Neidell, welcome to a Great War special episode about Romanian uniforms in the First World War. Romania joined the Entente in the war at the end of August 1916. The standard uniform of the Romanian army when the war itself began in 1914 was the Model 1912, made of green-gray woolen cloth, with a high collar, piping, and collar tabs in the color of the branch of the army or the regiment of the cavalry. The 12 cavalry regiments each had a different color. The collar tabs on the Romanian uniform are called petite sageata, literally arrow tabs. They are unique to the Romanian army. Cloth regimental numbers in either branch or cavalry regiment colors were on the cap and the shoulder boards. During the winter, the soldiers wore a woolen greatcoat, and in the summer wore a lighter cotton twill tunic instead of the woolen one. These had four pockets, but they were inside pockets with buttonless flaps in the winter coats and outside pockets with buttons in the summer uniform. Underneath, the soldiers wore a white cotton collarless shirt and a green-gray cravat, similar to the French. The color of the uniform itself was the same for all branches of the army, except the pants, which were black for cavalry, artillery, or general staff, but still with the piping in the color of the branch or cavalry regiment. Soldiers wore leather leggings, but as Romania's entry into the war drew near, these were changed for patees. Officers, cavalrymen, and artillerymen wore tall black leather boots, while regular infantry wore brown hobnailed ankle boots. Unlike most other armies, the patees were worn inside the boot and not on top of the boot. In 1883, Romania had signed a secret treaty that linked her with the Triple Alliance of Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the German Empire. Because of this, the uniforms closely resembled those of the Austro-Hungarian army, but what the soldiers wore on their heads changed depending on the public mood swings between Francophile and Germanophile and back again. From 1888 on, the standard head covering was the capella, a cloth cap that combined the tall, double-pointed crown of the French calot with the lower, visored part of the German backmütze, which was also used by Austria-Hungary. The officers wore French-style kepis, while some branches of the army, like the border guards, even wore the German spiked pickelhaube, but with King Carol's emblem instead of the Prussian eagle. These were phased out in 1915, but they would reappear in the 1920s. The Romanian army did not have steel helmets until 1917, when they adopted the French Adrian helmet. An interesting side note on headgear here, troops from Dobrogea, which had a sizable Turkish minority, were allowed to wear a fez instead of a capella. Now, just before Romania's entry into the war, the 1916 model uniform was adopted. It was a bit simpler than the 1912 and the color was changed to a medium gray. This was out of necessity, because Austria-Hungary was just about to become an enemy. The soldiers' equipment was pretty standard for a European army before the war. They had a leather belt with a spade and a bayonet on the left hip and two cartridge pouches in the front. These were pretty large and were rectangular, and could carry 10 five-round clips each. Extra ammunition, rations, eating utensils, and a steel enameled canteen with a cork stopper and chain were carried in an undyed canvas bread bag worn on the left hip behind the spade. The bread bag sometimes had an external pocket for the canteen, but not always. The rest of the soldiers' personal kit was carried in his backpack, but first this was the model 1872, which was black canvas stretched over a wooden frame, very similar to the French petit valise, but this was replaced by the model 1916, which was patterned after the Austro-Hungarian canvas backpack. Tied to the backpack with leather straps was the rolled up greatcoat, a tent, a two-piece tent pole, and tent pegs. Oh, the soldiers' mess tins were made out of tinned steel and were identical to the Austro-Hungarian model 1899 mess tins. As for the weapons they carried, the infantry was equipped with the Mannlicher M93 bolt action rifle. Thing is, these were produced for Romania in Austria-Hungary, and though Romania could produce ammunition in Bucharest, they had to rely entirely on their existing stock of these when they first joined the war, since once again Austria-Hungary was now an enemy. By then they had around 330,000 modern rifles total, which was not enough, so second line infantry and territorial battalions had to use the 1879 Puska Martini Henry, a single shot black powder weapon that was 35 years out of date. They did have 50,000 1912 Steyr semi-automatic pistols that were at first for officers, cavalry, and artillerymen, though after 1913 some of them found their way into the ranks. Cavalry used either the Mannlicher or Martini Henry carbines, so they could fight dismounted. They also had lances and the Model 1863 cavalry sword, which was similar to the French light cavalry 1822 pattern. If you're wondering about machine guns, Romania had only 180 during the Balkan War in 1913. These were made at the Austrian Steyr factory and were a standard Maxim design, the 6.5mm 1909 model Maxim machine gun. More were ordered from Austria and the final consignment came in August 1914, bringing the total to 413. Still not very many. And that's about it. The basic uniform and equipment of the Romanian soldiers as they went off to war on two fronts against Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Bulgarians, and Ottomans, led by legendary German generals Erich von Falkenhayn and August von Mackensen. If you think that sounds like a tough war to fight, you are not alone. It would be a very tough war to fight. Okay, special end card just for today. Right now over on Twitch, we're going to be playing the game Verdun with the developers of Verdun and talking to them about the war and war stuff. You can go over there and check it out, follow the link below.