Ștefan Balaban (20 April 1890 – 31 May 1962) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After becoming an officer in the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

, he advanced to lieutenant colonel in 1930 and colonel in 1938. Balaban was awarded the

Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five r ...

, Officer class in June 1940.Decretul Regal nr. 1.905 din 8 iunie 1940 pentru numiri de membri ai ordinului „Steaua României”, publicat în ''

Monitorul Oficial ''Monitorul Oficial al României'' is the official gazette of Romania, in which all the promulgated bills, presidential decrees, governmental A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, general ...

'', anul CVIII, nr. 131 din 8 iunie 1940, partea I-a, p. 2.783. He served as Chief of Staff 6th Corps Area in 1941 and Commanding Officer Infantry 1st Fortress Division in 1942. In March 1943 he was promoted to brigadier general, and then served as Commanding Officer of the 6th Infantry Brigade from May 1943 to September 1944. For a month after that, Balaban was the General Officer Commanding 6th Infantry Division, and he went into reserve in 1947. After the Communist regime came to power he had to suffer, but after a while he regained his pension and could provide for his large family (he had 10 children).

References

1890 births 1962 deaths Romanian Land Forces generals Romanian military personnel of World War II Officers of the Order of the Star of Romania {{Romania-mil-bio-stub