The First Army was a

field army A field army (also known as numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps. It may be subordinate to an army group. Air army, Air armies are the equivalent formations in air forces, and ...

of the

Romanian Land Forces The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Force ...

, active from 1916 to 2000. The successor of the First Army was the 1st Infantry Division.

World War I

The First Army took part in the Romanian Campaign of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Its commanders during that time were : *

Divisional General Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

Ioan Culcer Ioan Culcer (29 July 1853 – September 1928) was a Wallachian-born Romanian military leader and politician. Culcer served as a lieutenant during the Romanian War of Independence (1877–1878) and as a general during the Second Balkan War and W ...

: 15 August 1916 – 11 October 1916 * Brigadier General Ioan Dragalina: 11 October 1916 – 12 October 1916 * Brigadier General Nicolae Petala: 13 October 1916 – 21 October 1916 * Brigadier General Paraschiv Vasilescu: 21 October 1916 – 12 November 1916 * Brigadier General

Dumitru Stratilescu Dumitru Stratilescu, sometimes spelled as Dumitru Strătilescu, (28 August 1864 – 1927) was a Romanian general and military commander. During World War I, he commanded the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth corps of the First Army of Romania. Al ...

: 13 November 1916 – 19 December 1916 * Divisional General Constantin Christescu: 11 June 1917 – 30 July 1917 * Divisional General

Eremia Grigorescu Eremia Teofil Grigorescu (28 November 1863 – 21 July 1919) was a Romanian general who served as the commander of the 1st Romanian Army during the First World War. He also served as Minister of War in the Constantin Coandă cabinet. Early ...

: 30 July 1917 – 1 July 1918

World War II

During

Operation München Operation München () was the Romania, Romanian codename of a joint Nazi Germany, German-Romanian offensive during the Operation Barbarossa, German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II, with the primary objective of recapturing Bessa ...

, when

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

entered

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

on the side of the

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

in June–July 1941, the First Army was in the interior of Romania while the

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and Fourth Armies formed the main Romanian assault force. The First Army comprised at the time the 1st Army Corps (

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

, 11th, 30th, 31st IDs), 6th Army Corps, and 7th Army Corps. (Romanian Artillery p. 117) In August 1944, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

entered Romania after driving back

Army Group South Army Group South () was the name of one of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland, Army Group South was led by Ge ...

from the region. On August 23,

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and Mareșal (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''Conduc� ...

was dismissed by

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Michael I Michael I may refer to: * Pope Michael I of Alexandria, Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark in 743–767 * Michael I Rangabe, Byzantine Emperor (died in 844) * Michael I Cerularius, Patriarch Michael I of Constantinop ...

, and Romania declared war on

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

some days later. The

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

took control of the oilfields in the

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Ble ...

area, and the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

was used to fight German forces on the Eastern Front. The First Army became one of the Romanian armies fighting for the

on the Eastern Front. In its campaign from August 1944 to May 1945, the Romanian Army lost some 64,000 men killed. At the

Battle of Debrecen The Battle of Debrecen, called by the Red Army the ''Debrecen Offensive Operation'', was a battle taking place from 6 to 29 October 1944 on the Eastern Front in Hungary during World War II. The offensive was conducted by the 2nd Ukrainia ...

in October 1944, where Romanian units played a key part in the overall Soviet offensive, the First Army consisted of the 4th Army Corps with the 2nd Infantry Division and the 4th Infantry Division, and the 7th Army Corps with the 9th Infantry Division and 19th Infantry Division. The 7th Army Corps, with the 2nd and 19th Infantry Divisions and what was reported as the 9th Cavalry Division, then took part in the

Siege of Budapest The siege of Budapest or battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budapes ...

as part of the Red Army's

3rd Ukrainian Front The 3rd Ukrainian Front () was a Front of the Soviet Red Army during World War II. It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southwestern Front. It included 1st Guards Army, 8th Gua ...

. The last offensive of World War II in which the First Army took part in was the Prague Offensive in May 1945. During this offensive, the First Army operated together with the Romanian Fourth Army as part of the Soviet

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943, the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. In mid-May 1944 Malinovsky took over the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During t ...

. The offensive started on May 6, a few days before the end of the war. German resistance in the east was now limited to small pockets scattered across

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. By May 11 and 12, all remaining German pockets of resistance in the east were crushed.

WW II Commanders

(23 March 1939 – 2 June 1940) *

Army Corps General An army corps general or corps general is a rank held by a general officer who commands an army corps. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. Normally, the rank is above the divisional gene ...

(2 June 1940 – 9 September 1940) * Divisional General (acting) (9 September 1940 – 25 March 1941) * Divisional General (25 March 1941 – 9 November 1941) * Army Corps General Nicolae Macici (9 November 1941 – 12 February 1945) *

Army General Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

Vasile Atanasiu (13 February 1945 – 30 April 1946)

After World War II

General

Ioan Mihail Racoviță Ioan Mihail Racoviță (7 March 1889, Bucharest – 28 June 1954, Sighet Prison) was a Romanian general during World War II, and Minister of Defense in the aftermath of King Michael's Coup of August 1944. Biography In 1906 he was admitted to ...

commanded the 1st Army from 20 May 1946 to 30 June 1947. Like the other armies, the First Army was transformed into a "Military Region" in 1947. In 1960, the Military Regions were disbanded and reformed into the 2nd and 3rd Armies. From 1980, the two armies were once again reorganized into four armies. In 1989, the order of battle of the First Army was as follows:{{cite web, url=https://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?showtopic=530&st=30, title=Romanian Army in the Second World War *1st Mechanised Division (Cat A) –

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

: T-55A, TR-77, and

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet Union, Soviet main battle tanks that entered production in 1973. The T-72 was a development based on the T-64 using thought and design of the previous Object 167M. About 25,000 T-72 tanks have been built, and refu ...

tanks, SU-100 SP ATG, TAB-71/-71M APCs, MLI-84 IFVs, S-60 57mm and Md.1980 30mm AA Guns, M-30 122mm and Md.1981 152mm howitzers, APR-40 40x122mm MRLs. *57th Tank Division (Cat A) – Bucharest: T-55A and

TR-85 The TR-85 is a main battle tank designed for the Romanian Army, armed forces of Romania. Based on the T-54/T-55 operators and variants#Romania, TR-77-580, the TR-85 tank was developed from 1978 to 1985 and produced from 1986 until 1990. A moder ...

tanks, TAB-71/-71M APCs, Md.1980 30mm AA Guns, M-30 122mm and Md.1981 152mm howitzers, APR-40 40x122mm MRLs. *4th Mountain Brigade (Cat A) –

Curtea de Argeș Curtea de Argeș () is a municipiu, city in Romania on the left bank of the river Argeș (river), Argeș, where it flows through a valley of the Southern Carpathians (the Făgăraș Mountains), on the railway from Pitești to the Turnu Roșu Pass ...

. The First Army was redesignated the 1st Territorial Army Corps in 2000 and the 1st Infantry Division in 2008.

References

1st First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

Military units and formations established in 1916 Military units and formations of Romania in World War II Military units and formations disestablished in 2000