BA.111 - THE LUFTWAFFE IN ROMANIA

EDITORIAL:

Dear readers,
First thing at the beginning of this year: Best wishes to all. Let's hope that this year 2025 will be less
chaotic for us French than 2024. Take care of yourselves.
You have in hand an issue dealing with a somewhat special subject since it concerns the German air presence
in Romania during the Second World War. Why this intrusion in Romania? Quite simply because
at the time, this country was one of the largest oil producers. To continue his wars, the
German dictator needed to secure the support of Romania, a country which had also just undergone a major
"reduction surgery" of its territory, in particular for the benefit of the USSR. The enemy was therefore the obvious choice and an
alliance with the fiery German neighbor seemed the right choice to regain the lost portion of the country.
The Romanian armed forces, including the Royal Air Force, were therefore going to benefit from the technical but also tactical contributions that the Germans could provide. Even if the equipment did not flow in abundance, because Romania paid for what it acquired, the supplies of aircraft, anti-aircraft guns, listening and communication devices allowed the modernization of the Romanian Royal Air Force. Its crews soon distinguished themselves in the campaign in the east, even if the losses were serious. However, a few years of campaigning wore down the Romanian armed forces against the Soviet steamroller; in mid-1944, the Romanian Air Force also had to face American air attacks. The end was hardly surprising, with the Soviets sweeping away any hint of Romanian resistance and even forcing the country to enter the war against its former German and Hungarian allies. This is how German equipment was used against the Luftwaffe and the Hungarian air force... As the
reader will realize when reading Jean-Louis Roba's excellent text, the Luftwaffe constantly lacked
the means to fulfill its mission of air defense of the Romanian sky, proof that this war exceeded the
capacities of the Reich whose leader had seen far too big.
Excellent reading!
Michel Ledet