Nicolae I. Dăscălescu (29 June 1884 – 28 September 1969) was a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

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 ...

Biography

He was born in a poor peasant family in Căciulești,

Neamț County Neamț County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historic region of Moldavia, with the county seat at Piatra Neamț. The county takes its name from the Neamț River. Demographics Population In 2011, it had a population of 470,76 ...

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...

. After completing elementary school in nearby Gura Văii village, he attended Petru Rareș High School in

Piatra Neamț Piatra Neamț (; german: Kreuzburg an der Bistrița (Siret), Bistritz; hu, Karácsonkő) is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its privileged location in the Easter ...

, and in 1906 went to study at the Military School in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, graduating in 1908 with the rank of second lieutenant. After being promoted to lieutenant in 1911, Dăscălescu served with an artillery regiment in the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 16 ( O.S.) / 29 (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies r ...

in 1913, and then advanced to the rank of captain in the spring of 1916. He fought in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the

Hungarian–Romanian War The Hungarian–Romanian War was fought between Hungary and Romania from 13 November 1918 to 3 August 1919. The conflict had a complex background, with often contradictory motivations for the parties involved. The Allies of World War I intended ...

and reached the rank of Major. In 1921 he was admitted to the Higher War School and by 1940 he had reached the rank of Major-General. He commanded the 25th Division (August 1939) and the 20th Division (June 1940), and 8 days after the start of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

, he took over the command of the 21st Division. With his Division, he fought bloody battles against the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

, including the Battle of

Țiganca Țiganca is a commune in Cantemir District, Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, ...

Bessarabia Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...

and the

Siege of Odessa (1941) The siege of Odessa, known to the Soviets as the defence of Odessa, lasted from 8 August until 16 October 1941, during the early phase of Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. Odessa was a port on the ...

. Dăscălescu had distinguished himself and was promoted to lead the 2nd Romanian Corps, which was part of in the Third Army. His Corps was present at the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

and was overrun by numerical superior forces during

Operation Uranus Operation Uranus (russian: Опера́ция «Ура́н», Operatsiya "Uran") was the codename of the Soviet Red Army's 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation on the Eastern Front of World War II which led to the encirclement of Axis ...

. The remnants of the Corps were withdrawn to Romania to be rebuilt and to protect the northern border. After

King Michael's Coup King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

on 23 August 1944, the 2nd Corps turned against its former German allies, took 10,500 prisoners, and participated in the advance in

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

as part of the Fourth Army under command of general

Gheorghe Avramescu Gheorghe Avramescu (26 January 1884 – 3 March 1945) was a Romanian Lieutenant General during World War II. In 1945, he was arrested by the NKVD on the Slovakian front and died in custody the next day. Early life Avramescu was born Botoșani ...

. He temporarily replaced Avramescu at the head of the Army, when he was dismissed in January–February 1945. He became the new commander of the Fourth Army on 3 March, when Avramescu was eliminated by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

. With the Fourth Army, under the command of Soviet general

Rodion Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky (russian: Родио́н Я́ковлевич Малино́вский, ukr, Родіо́н Я́кович Малино́вський ; – 31 March 1967) was a Soviet military commander. He was Marshal of the Sovi ...

, he fought in the Bratislava–Brno Offensive and the

Prague Offensive The Prague offensive (russian: Пражская стратегическая наступательная операция, Prazhskaya strategicheskaya nastupatel'naya operatsiya, lit=Prague strategic offensive) was the last major military ...

. He was gravely wounded on 25 March in the battle for

Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mo ...

, but he did not quit, and stayed on with his troops. At the end of the war, in June 1945, Dăscălescu was relieved of command and retired. In 1946, he was put on trial as a war criminal, but the court dismissed the accusations and cleared his name. Not a friend of the new Communist regime, he was further harassed until 1951, when he was thrown in the

Jilava prison Jilava is a commune in Ilfov county, Muntenia, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava. The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin (Bulgarian жилав ''žilav'' (tough), which passed into Romanian as ''j ...

for "agricultural sabotage". He was released in October 1955, and moved to

. He lived the rest of his years away from public life, despite being promoted to lieutenant general. He died in 1969 in Piatra Neamț, and is buried in the city's Heroes Cemetery. A boulevard in Piatra Neamț now bears his name, and so does a street in

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

. A bust of Dăscălescu (commissioned by the

Romanian Fourth Army The Fourth Army (Armata a 4-a Română) was a field army (a military formation) of the Romanian Land Forces active from the 19th century to the 1990s. History World War I The Fourth Army fought under the name of "Northern Army" or "Army of ...

) has been erected in Ștefan cel Mare Plaza, Cluj-Napoca.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dăscălescu, Nicolae 1884 births 1969 deaths People from Neamț County Carol I National Defence University alumni Romanian military personnel of the Second Balkan War Romanian military personnel of World War I Romanian people of the Hungarian–Romanian War Romanian military personnel of World War II Romanian Land Forces generals Prisoners and detainees of Romania Romanian prisoners and detainees Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Romania) Grand Officers of the Order of the Star of Romania Recipients of the Order of Michael the Brave Recipients of the Czechoslovak War Cross Recipients of the Order of St. Anna