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Romania Border Guards
In 1989 the Border Guards were a separate, smaller
armed
service equal in standing to the other three services and
also
subordinate to the Ministry of National Defense. With a
force of
20,000 soldiers, the Border Guards had the mission of
defending
Romania's nearly 3,200-kilometer border with Bulgaria,
Hungary,
Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union and preventing Romanians
from
leaving the country illegally.
The Border Guards were organized into twelve brigades
and were
equipped essentially in the same way as the motorized
infantry
troops. These brigades were responsible for
thirty-two-kilometer-
wide border sectors of varying lengths depending on the
difficulty
of the terrain in their area of operation. They staffed
watch
towers, patrolled fences and well-lit border strips, and
maintained
electronic sensors and surveillance systems along the
border.
Approximately 600 Romanian Navy sailors functioned as the
maritime
component of the Border Guards. They operated several
Shanghai IIclass fast attack craft (gun) as riverine patrol boats on
the
Danube borders with Bulgaria and Yugoslavia.
In the 1980s, the Border Guards reportedly used lethal
force to
prevent illegal emigration to Romania's more liberal
neighbors,
Hungary and Yugoslavia. Consequently, the borders with
Yugoslavia
and Hungary were more heavily guarded than were those with
Bulgaria
and the Soviet Union. The latter were ordinarily guarded
only at
major highway and railroad-crossing points. The Border
Guards also
helped to enforce customs and export laws by controlling
the flow
of goods across Romania's borders.
The Border Guards were the first line of Romania's
defense in
wartime. They had the mission of preventing an invader's
special
forces units from infiltrating to sabotage, disrupt, or
disorganize
military mobilization. In the event of an invasion or
attack, the
Border Guards would offer initial resistance, use delaying
tactics,
and try to impede the enemy's advance until the ground
forces and
Patriotic Guards units could mobilize and reinforce them.
Data as of July 1989
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