Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia

Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia
Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia
	The Volunteer Corps colors, or "Darnița Flag", inscribed with the text TRĂIASCĂ ROMÂNIA MARE ("Long live Greater Romania")
Active	March 8, 1917 – 1919
Country	Romania
Allegiance	Romanian Land Forces
Size	Division (three regiments in 1918)
Part of	11th Division (attached to 2nd, 3rd Olt, 5th Chasseurs, 19th Caracal and 26th Rovine Regiments); Volunteer Corps' Command
Garrison/HQ	Kiev (Darnytsia, Podil); Iași; Hârlău
Engagements	World War I Battle of Mărăști; Battle of Oituz; Battle of Mărășești;
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Constantin Coandă; Marcel Olteanu

The Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia (Romanian: Corpul Voluntarilor români din Rusia), or Volunteer Corps of Transylvanians-Bukovinians (Corpul Voluntarilor ardeleni-bucovineni, Corpul Voluntarilor transilvăneni și bucovineni), was a military formation of World War I, created from ethnic Romanian prisoners of war held by Russia. Officially established in February 1917, it comprised abjurers of the Austro-Hungarian Army, mainly contingents from Transylvania and Bukovina. These had been obliged to fight against Romania, and, once in Russian custody, volunteered for service against the Central Powers. As campaigners for self-determination and union with Romania, they passed political resolutions which, in both tone and scope, announced those adopted on Union Day 1918.

The Corps was effectively an active military reserve of the Romanian Land Forces, and regularly dispatched new units to the Romanian front after June 1917. It helped defend the last stretches of Romania against the Central Powers' unified offensive, and met success in the Battle of Mărășești, but it still lacked a unitary command structure. When the October Revolution in Russia and the Romanian armistice took Romania out of the Entente camp, the Corps was left without backing and purpose. However, it inspired the creation of similar units in Entente countries, most successfully the Romanian Volunteer Legion of Italy [ro].

Mobilized volunteers or prisoners symbolically tied to the Corps were left behind in Russia after the Russian Civil War was ignited. Various such individuals formed the Romanian Legion of Siberia, which resisted the Bolsheviks in cooperation with the Czechoslovak Legions and the White movement. These units were ultimately repatriated to Greater Romania in 1920.