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This beautiful private footage shows Romanian soldiers in the Spring of 1944. Later in the video we’ll see more of the footage containing anti-tank training including the use of Panzerfaust, Panzerschreck and also magnetic charges.

During March of that year the Soviet’s were putting a tremendous amount of pressure on Army Group South in the Ukraine. The Panzergrenadier Division GD found itself fighting a number of defensive battles around the city of Kirowograd. Although generally successful the division had been worn down badly and so was transferred West to Romania to act as a reinforcement to the front and for refitting and recuperation.

The camera man who took the private footage of GD for this video was in Galati, an important border town between Romania and Moldova, which was now officially under Romanian jurisdiction.

If you haven’t seen the first video on GD I suggest that you go back and take a look.

The Romanian population was aware that the war was not going well but the spiraling waves of increasing violence that was going on in the East had not yet arrived to Romanian territory. With the spring thaw there was even the innocent sense of reawakening.

Here we see members of Grossdeutschland cleaning their vehicles in the Prut river. Notice the unit insignia.

This photograph shows an SdKfz 252 armored munitions transporter from the division and a captured T34 that has been put back into service by the Germans.

Although GD had been badly mauled in the fighting around Kirowograd, they still remained a potent military asset. Their repositioning West had been well organized. It wasn’t the desperate retreat forced by an overwhelming enemy that many German units were experiencing during this period.

Through March of 44 the Russian surge into Western Ukraine had begun and the German defenses couldn’t hold. German losses were catastrophic. Often units that did manage to escape West were only able to do so by abandoning their heavy equipment.

Here we see a Romanian general arriving to inspect the training of troops in the use anti-tank weapons. This Romanian footage has a total run time of 11:36 Min. If you are a Patreon Channel Member you will receive direct link to watch the entire film reel. If you are not yet a member, please consider becoming one. It’s worth it, I promise.

As the shortage of regular soldiers became more acute, police units began seeing more action on the front. This 1944 article t covers a police school that specializes in the training of using anti-tank weapons.

The caption to this photo states that after just a few seconds, a smoke grenade attached to the front wheel of an armored car will force it to stop. At that point it can be easily taken out.

This says that it takes courage to approach a tank in this manner. the Haftholladung or magnetic charge can be placed here on a track where the vehicle is vulnerable.

Here it shows where explosives should be placed on a tank canon to do the most damage.

That security forces were being taught this kind of skill must have been pretty ominous.

The Romanian soldiers is demonstrating how a Panzerfaust is made ready and fired. They’re using a Sherman tank for firing practice.

There is a detailed training film on the use of the Panzerfaust in my video collection. At the end of this video you can see the second clip from a 1944 German training film for Panzergrenadier.

This is an older version of the Panzerfaust that had a much shorter range and destructive capability than the newer versions.

The most effective hand held anti-tank weapon produced by the Germans was the Panzerschreck. Similar to the American Bazooka this shoulder launched rocket based system was reusable.

Here we see different types of Molotov Cocktail being thrown. The first is a typical flammable liquid like gasoline or alcohol. The next seems to be filled with a flammable white powder but I’m not sure what it is. You you know please post it in the comment section.

Here we see the Division crossing the Prut river and so crossing over into Maldovian territory which which officially was under administrative control of the Romanians.

Embedded with elements of GD, our camera man moves east crossing the Prut River to rejoin the bulk of the division which was positioned at Chisinau in Moldova until late March. In the next video in this series we’ll see a much more chaotic scene on this location discovered by Soviets on captured footage. To make sure you don’t miss that go ahead and subscribe and hit the bell icon to receive notifications.

With the arrival of the Soviets to the Moldovan border things began heating up again for Grossdeutschland. And they would only get hotter. And now here is the second clip from the bonus training film.

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