The first Romanian armored units were formed in 1916, using armored cars captured from the enemy, but it was not until the early 1920s that armored units were established. Economic difficulties, the country's poor industrialization, and the need to purchase tanks abroad meant that it was not until the mid-1930s that a significant program of rearmament and reorganization of Romanian armored units was launched. The entry into the war in 1941 against the USSR highlighted the shortcomings of the means at their disposal, but at the same time demonstrated the courage and determination of the Romanian tankers, proven after the armistice of August 1944 by fighting against the former Allies until the end of the war.