Tudor Vladimirescu Division The Tudor Vladimirescu Division ( full name : " Romanian 1st Volunteer Infantry Division ' Tudor Vladimirescu - Debrecen ' " ) was a Soviet - organized division of Romanians that fought against Germany and Hungary during the final year of World War II . Creation . Named for the leader of an uprising in Wallachia in 1821 , the division was formed from Romanian prisoners of war in October 1943 , under the command of Brigadier General Nicolae Cambrea . Although termed ' volunteers ' , the bulk of the men likely volunteered in order to escape a desperate existence in Soviet POW camps . The Tudor Vladimirescu Division was organized and equipped like a Soviet rifle ( infantry ) division . Wartime service . The division marched into Bucharest on August 29 , 1944 , ostensibly as liberators , but the city had in fact already been liberated by units of the Romanian Army when Romania left the Axis Powers and attacked German troops stationed in the country . The division , still under Soviet control , saw real combat during the final months of the war in Transylvania , Hungary , and Czechoslovakia , playing a key role in the Soviet seizure of Debrecen , Hungary , in October 1944 . Combat losses were heavy ; by March 1945 the strength of the division had sunk to 4 , 436 men . In March 1945 the division was pulled out of the front lines , but remained under the operational control of the 2nd Ukrainian Front until August 15 , 1945 . Postwar political role . Relentlessly politicized by their communist leaders , the Tudor Vladimirescu Division became a politically reliable military formation of the Romanian communists . Along with another Romanian communist unit , the Horia , Cloşca şi Crişan Division , and backed by tens of thousands of Red Army troops , the Tudor Vladimirescu Division played a key role in imposing communist rule in Romania after the war . The two communist divisions were integrated into the Romanian Army on August 22 , 1945 . The Tudor Vladimirescu Division was converted into an armored division by 1947 while the regular Romanian army was reduced to four divisions with no tanks , thus providing the Romanian communists the trump cards of mobility and firepower had a conflict with anti - communist elements in the Romanian Army taken place . The Division was converted into the 1st Armored Division in 1947 , then 5 Tank Corps , after 47 Tank Corps , and finally take the name of 37 Mechanised Division , which became in 1957 a Mechanised Division with three mechanized regiments : Tudor Vladimirescu Staff Division , a mechanized was concerned Divisional Razoare the street . Among the division commanders , and Colonel John Hortopan was reached after general and commander of the Infantry and Tank Commander . After the 1970 revisions . For example , a regiment withdrew the military base and training ground Antieriană street behind Steaua stadium . All blocks were built there , the regiment barracks and later to command the 2nd Army . In the 1950s Soviet officers were employed as advisors . Order subunits ( battalions , companies ) was matched by political officers . After 1956 - 1957 the youth division officers were assigned to three years in military school or other schools in Sibiu .