This the first of many blog posts going over unique squads and models for Romania players in Warlord Games Bolt Action!
A brief history on Romanian Paratroopers in the Second World War.
The 4th Paratrooper Battalion was created by the Romanian Royal Air Forces on 10 June 1941, and by 1943 they consisted of two Paratrooper companies, a heavy weapons company, and were attached to 3 battalions of anti aircraft balloons. It would later expand but due to the high turn over rate and vigorous training for this volunteer battalion, it never held high numbers of jump qualified men.
In 1944, the 4th Paratrooper Battalion (Companies 1-7), which was raised by the Air Force and wore uniforms of the same color blue and rank as the Air Force, was expanded with several more companies from the Army. It was comprised of the 8th and 9th Infantry Companies, 10th Support Weapons Company, 11th HQ Company and a Depot Company.
The Battalion was activated in August of 1944 and deployed to Bucharest ahead of Romania's withdrawal from the Axis. On August 24th the 4th Paratrooper Battalion engaged German forces, Waffen SS Paratroopers of the Brandenburg Division, at several airfields in their bid to regain control of Romania. With assistance from the Romanian Royal Air Force, USAAF, and other security forces they were able to stop and surround the German elements by August 28th. Soon afterwards they were disbanded due to the Soviet Unions request, and it's troops were sent to different units.
Romanian Paratrooper Uniform and Equipment
The combat uniform of Romanian Paratroopers has two options, both of which I have done, khaki and blue. Most sources say they were issued blue uniforms as seen in western sources, and other sources that match Luftwaffe and Fallschrigmjager uniforms as well as the Romanian Royal Air Force which they came from. While others, mainly Romanian sources say their uniforms were a khaki color, as seen with reenactment groups in Romania as well.
They had a very high proportion of MP-40s and other German arms along with ZB 7.9mm carbines.
German helmets were issued and used along with black/blue berets and caps. A Romanian bread bag, Romanian/German mess tin, and a Romanian/German/Soviet canteen were also issued along with 4 dial wrist watches.
The German Fallschrigmjager box is an excellent way to build out Romanian Late War Infantry squads, based on the 4th Paratrooper Battalion that are accurate and stand out on the table. You could even make your own 4th Parachute Battalion using other Fallschrigmjager support sets!
When I play Allied Romanian, these squads usually are my free 4th Late War Infantry squad and unique vetran Late War Infantry squads when playing Axis aligned Romania.
Painting
Here you can see how I made both a khaki uniformed squad using Vallejo Dessert yellow to give a cleaner look to them, and a blue uniformed squad using Vallejo Grey Blue with a dry brush of Vallejo Pastel Blue. The trousers on both sets of troops were done with English Uniform, when they weren't in full jumpsuits.
Weebing and pouches I went with a leather color, for MP-40 pouches I used AKs Canvas Tone (AK11436), and for mess kits, canteen, and the German bread bag I used AKs Olive Grey. Helmets and caps were done in either Dark Olive green or a dark navy blue with pastel blue depending on the uniforms color. And to end it all off a watered down dark wash, Nuln Oil, for the khaki uniforms and a Green Tone wash from Army Painter for the blue uniforms.
I have one squad of men based with rubble because they were involved in clearing out the city and airfields, and another in a darker green autumn looking base as other sources say they later engage other German elements in the areas around Bucharest after they'd been pushed out of the city.
Sources
Osprey - Men at Arms 246 - The Romanian Army of WW2
ROMANIAN MILITARY PARATROOPERS - 80 YEARS OF HISTORY FOR ROMANIA (PERIOD 1941-1945)
Mircea TĂNASE, Alexandru Mihail TĂNASE
https://www.worldwar2.ro/organizare/?article=26
http://traditia-militara.ro/en/4th-paratroopers-battalion/