WW2: General Von Manstein: Romanians were Germany’s most loyal Allies: Romanians and Slavs are scared of Russians

(005875.811-:E-000062.43:N-AC:R-SU:C-30:V)   

I was doing some more reading from Von Manstein. At a point when he was promoted by Hitler and put in charge of the 11th Army, he also had a whole Romanian army under his control. He could not give them orders directly. He had to go through their leaders. This was the arrangement.

Manstein said that the Romanians were the best of the allies that the Germans had in the Soviet Union. He said they did their utmost and were reliable. He said that they were not as well educated as the Germans and did not perform at the same level as the Germans. He also cited differences between the training and doctrine of the German army which gave them an edge. But otherwise he had great respect for them and had no complaints about them.

Manstein went on to make another interesting point. He said that Romanians, Bulgarians and other slavs from Eastern Europe all had a fear of the Russians. They were very intimidated by the Russians. I suspect this is from centuries of interactions with the Russians and because the Russians are more numerous and powerful, that it has had an effect on these smaller White nations in Eastern Europe.