Spoof on the Eastern Front

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

In the early hours of September 20, 1941, 20 Soviet tanks, with their headlights and sirens on, launched a sudden attack on the Romanian troops' positions on the outskirts of Odessa. The stunned enemy infantry retreated in panic, not realizing that what had put them to flight were in fact just armoured tractors with fake guns.

After the 20 improvised tanks terrified the Romanian infantry during a night attack on September 20, they were given a new name: the ‘NI-1’, which stood for the Russian “Na ispug”, meaning “for a fright”.

At first, the plan was to use 37 mm guns from T-26 tanks which were beyond repair, but that turned out to be technically impossible. In the end, it was decided to use two 7.62 mm machine-guns instead, and to install dummy guns to make the improvised tanks more formidable and intimidating

Regardless of the armament supplied the bluff held and the Russians won the battle……..

[Chantry]

Everything I've strongly suggests that the Romanian Army did not want to be there and were usually assigned secondary assignments because the Germans had no faith in their ability to handle a major attack.