Army

Romanian People’s Army (RPA)

The Romanian Army is organized along Soviet lines but was long isolated from the Soviet Army by Nicolae Ceausescu’s hard line economic policies. Prohibited from importing equipment or even spare parts for existing equipment, Romanian industry created copies of Soviet equipment – almost uniformly of a very inferior design. The dissolution of Yugoslavia into separate states and drawing NATO forces nearly adjacent to the Romanian border was a major factor in the renewed interest of the Soviet high command in bolstering the RPA. With the change in Soviet government in 1991, an agreement was reached where former East German (DDR) equipment, which had been temporarily held under Soviet protection, was gifted to Romania in a show of support and comradeship. Many believe it was the support given to Ceausescu by Soviet agencies in routing out dissident groups which convinced him to change his policy.

The long-standing plan for the RPA was to maintain four Combined Arms Armies (CAA), each roughly Corps strength by NATO standards. Romania would not field a ‘Front’ HQ but dispatch its CAAs to support other areas. One CAA (probably 1^st) would be deployed to Bulgaria and reinforce the Balkan Front while the other three would follow the Czech and Hungarian forces into Germany as part of the Western Group of Forces. It is very possible however that this overall deployment plan has changed, and it is probable that Romania will now form a FRONT HQ – perhaps called the Serbian Front. The new organization reinforced by Soviet and conceivably Hungarian forces would move to prevent NATO interference in the former Yugoslavia.