Maj. general Mihail Lascar
10 January 1941 – 10 February 1942: 1st Mountain Brigade
17 October 1941: Mihai Viteazul Order 3rd class
? ? 1941: Steaua Romaniei Order Grand Officer class
? ? 1941: Iron Cross 2nd class
? January 1942: Iron Cross 1st class
18 January 1942: Knight's Cross
11 March – 22 November 1942: 6th Infantry Division
25 October 1942: promoted to the rank of major general
22 November 1942: Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross
31 December 1942: Mihai Viteazul Order 2nd class
Maj. gen. Mihail Lascar was born on 8 November 1889, at Targu Jiu. He went to Infantry Officer School between 1908 and 1910, which he finished with the rank of 2nd lieutenant. During the Second Balkan War he was a lieutenant and in 1916, when Romania joined WWI, he had the rank of captain. Promoted during the hard year of 1917 to major, he had to wait another 10 years to accede to the rank of lt. colonel. He became colonel 1934 and in 1939 he received the rank of brigadier general.
On 10 January 1941 he was appointed commander of the 1st Mountain Brigades, one of elite Romanian military formations, which was subordinated to the 3rd Army. He participated in the initial attack on the USSR, when his unit operated in Northern Bukovina. After crossing the river Dniester the unit advanced towards the Bug and then to the Dnieper. It was then involved in the Battle of the Azov Sea („the great vanatori de munte battle”, as they called it), resisting in the first phase of the Soviet assault, with superior forces, fighting sometimes even encircled, until German forces became available and intervened. After that the 1st Mountain Brigade broke through into Crimea in the Salkovo Isthmus, after facing a very determined defense, and then in the pursuit of retreating Soviet forces. In four days his unit marched 180 km and took 2,447 prisoners, until it reached the seaside at Sudak. For a short while, it conducted anti-partisan operations in the Yaila Mountains, until it was moved to Sevastopol in November, where it took the Chapel Hill together with the German 170th Infantry Division. Lascar won the Mihai Viteazul Order 3rd class, the Ritterkreuz and the admiration of von Manstein, who mentions him in his memoirs, but during the second assault on Sevastopol, when Lascar in charge of the 6th Division.
His direct CO, maj. gen. Gheorghe Avramescu (commander of the Mountain Corps), wrote in his file: He is full of energy and commitment, with a lot of initiative. Firm character and personality, self-confident. It proved to be a high quality general with a powerful grasp on his troops.
On 10 February 1942 he was relieved of command and returned home. But this was only for a short while, because a month later he was assigned to the command of the 6th Infantry Division, one of the best of the Romanian army, which in 1941 received training from German instructors. He was also promoted to maj. general and went on to fight at Stalingrad, where the unit was surrounded during the Soviet counteroffensive. He took personal command of the units in the pocket (5th, 6th, 13th, 14th and 15th Infantry Divisions) and coordinated the defense. It is reported to have said to his subordinates: If one of you survives these battles, he must tell the story of our fights. I am a soldier and I remain at my post.
Without food, freezing, grossly outnumbered the troops under his command fought until they ran out of ammo or were killed. A report of 5 December 1942, of SSI (Special Intelligence Service) said that in the hardest moments of the battle, general Lascar showed a high sense of duty, by calmly coordinating the actions of the 6th ID and of the other units of whose command he had assumed. He was an example for the subordinates. When Golovsky was under attack, he was sitting in the Operation Bureau and when everything seemed lost he went together with his staff among the soldiers, even though he could have saved himself. He showed courage, dignity and patriotism.
According to some of his subordinates, during the night of 21/22 November, when the first Soviet delegates arrived to talk them into surrendering, he replied: We fight to the last man. We shall not surrender!
On 22 he decided that the 15th Infantry Division should try to brake through to the south west to friendly lines, towards Bol. Donchinka. In the same time the 6th Infantry Division was supposed to retreat towards Pasheany. He became more and more unsettled and told col. Cristea Stanescu that if the Russians come he would kill himself. His depressive state aggravated when the Soviets started to shell Golovsky at 1700 and at 2100 they attacked. At 1900 he reportedly went out to spot the Soviet artillery positions. Some say that he headed towards Isbusinsky, where the troops of brig. gen. Traian Stanescu were still holding out. He was captured by the Soviets. He had already received the Mihai Viteazul Order 2nd class and the Oak Leaves to his Ritterkreuz (the first non-German officer awarded), plus several citations, but in the evening of 22 November he was defeated.
He was taken to the Kranogor camp, then to Suzdal and Ivanov and finally to the special Camp no. 48, reserved for generals. On 12 April 1945 he was named commander of the second Soviet sponsored Romanian volunteer unit: Horia, Closca si Crisan Division, which he commanded until 12 September. He was then named commander of the 4th Army until 30 November 1946, when the new four-star general became the Minister of Defense. He fell in disgrace and, from December 1947, he was appointed Inspector of the Armed forces, until 12 January 1950, when he retired.
He acted clearly in the favor of the Communists between 45-47 when they were struggling to get the hold on all the instruments of power. However, he was not radical enough. In a report it was shown that he had shown too much sympathy for the Bourgeoisie and the King. Even though he openly supports the party, he secretly continues a campaign against our leaders. He mentions that the friendship with the SU is important, but so are the ties with the UN. He said to gen. Petrescu: What do the Russians want? To destroy the army? To destroy the schools? What do they want? Or In fact I am not the minister. Susaykov is. I just carry out his orders ".
General Mihail Lascar was under investigation for war crimes, but wasn’t found guilty. He died on 24 July 1959, at Bucharest.
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Brig. general Radu Korne
22 June 1941 – 4 November 1942: 6th Motorized Rosiori Regiment
12 February 1942: Mihai Viteazul Order 2nd class
26 September - 6 October 1942: 3rd Mountain Division
5 November 1942 - 4 April 1944: 8th Cavalry Division
18 December 1942: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
7 January 1943: promoted to the rank of brigadier general
6 January - 10 March 1944: Guard Division
4 April - 20 September 1944: 1st Armored Division
Radu Korne, "the pride of the cavalry", was born on 23 December 1895 in Bucharest, as part of a noble Romanian family. The name was pronounced "Cornea", but he was very fond of the spelling from the old chronicles: Korné.
He was admitted into the Targoviste Cavalry Officer School in 1913 and graduated in 1915, receiving the rank of 2nd lieutenant. He was assigned to the 9th Rosiori Regiment, but a year later he was moved to the 4th Rosiori Regiment Regina Maria, with which he took part in WWI. In 1917 he was promoted to 1st lieutenant. He distinguished himself during the second battle of Oituz, during the assault on 13 August 1917 on the Tarapan Hill, commanding a machine-gun section in the area of Hill 703. He was practically buried by the explosion of a 150 mm shell. He remained in the first line, being wounded eight days later. Lieutenant Radu Korne was awarded the Mihai Viteazul Order 3rd class, being among the few Romanian WWII generals that won this distinction in the first line during the previous war. He served in the 4th Rosiori also in the campaign against Hungary, as commander of the 2nd Squadron and then of the regiment’s machine-gun group.
In October 1919 he was promoted to the rank of captain and the following year Radu Korne was the aid of the 2nd Rosiori Brigade’s commander. In 1921 he was transferred in the staff of the 2nd Cavalry Division and, at the end of the year, he began the classes at the Military Academy, which he graduated in 1923. He continued his studies in the Cavalry School in Saumur, France, between 1925 - 1926. After his return to Romania, he was named cavalry instructor and tactics professor in the Special Cavalry School in Sibiu and in 1927 he was promoted to the rank of major and a few months after became the school’s director of studies. In 1929, Radu Korne was moved the staff of the 2nd Cavalry Division, from where he was detached for a period that year to the General Inspectorate of the Cavalry. In 1931 he was transferred to the Inspectorate as chief of the 4th Services Bureau and then to the Organization and Mobilization Bureau. IN 1934 he was promoted to the rank of lt. Colonel and assigned to command the 1st Battalion/9th Calarasi Regiment. In 1936 he was the chief of staff of the 12th Division and at the end of 1938 and beginning of 1939 he was the chief if staff if the General Inspectorate of the Cavalry, a very important position within the Romanian cavalry. He was then promoted to the rank of colonel and given the command of the 8th Rosiori Regiment.
The war's outbreak found him at the command of the 6th Motorized Rosiori Regiment from the 5th Cavalry Brigade, which was stationed in Northern Moldavia. Unlike the majority of the Romanian troops, which first saw action from on 3 July, the 6th Motorized Rosiori Regiment started the war on 22 June, when the 3rd Squadron overran the pillboxes on Bobeica Hill. Colonel Korne was quickly remarked by general Neuling, the CO of the German 239th Division, who asked general Ion Antonescu on 30 June to delay his retirement, as he was a very capable officer.
On 4 July the 5th Cavalry Brigade crossed the Prut River and advanced with a detachment commanded by colonel Korne towards Lipnic, reaching the Dniester River on 7 July. The river was forced on 17 July, in the Liasevti sector. The Romanian cavalrymen had to brake through the Stalin Fortified Line, situated on the left bank. The 6th Motorized Rosiori Regiment had some difficulties initially, succeeding in creating a beachhead in the afternoon and taking 12 pillboxes. From 20 July onwards started the advance to the Bug River, his regiment reaching Obodovka that day. On 29 July the Col. Radu Korne Detachment was created from the 6th Motorized Rosiori Regiment, 3 motorized cavalry squadrons and a mountain artillery section. It had the mission to quickly advance to Mikhailovka and Savran. At the beginning of August it reached the Bug and by the end of the month it was on the Dnieper River.
On the Dnieper, the Cavlry Corps, of which colonel Korne's regiment was part of, repulsed several Soviet attempts to cross the river and on 19 September continued the advance north of the Azov Sea. There, from 25 September, it faced the powerful Soviet offensive carried out by the 9th and 18th Armies. The 5th Cavalry Brigade was attacked by a much superior force in the Akymovka area. The 6th Motorized Rosiori Regiment stood its ground, even though the rest of the brigade was pushed back. The offensive ran out of steam after several days and the German-Romanian counterattack led to the encirclement and destruction of the two armies. For his deeds during the battle, colonel Radu Korne was awarded the Mihai Viteazul Order 2nd class.
However, the 11th German Army remained, following this operation, without its only motorized unit: the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Waffen SS Division, which was reassigned. Because General von Manstein, the army's CO, needed troops that would make a quick advance after the brake through into the Crimean Peninsula, the Colonel Korne Mechanized Detachment was organized with the 6th and 10th Motorized Rosiori Regiments, an AT battalion, the 54th Motorized Heavy Artillery Battalion and a motorcycle company. The detachment was engaged in the follow-up operation after the front in the Perekop Isthmus was breached on 28 October 1941. Colonel Korne distinguished himself again, this kind of actions probably suiting him very well. His detachment infiltrated to southwest of Simferopol on 31 October, where, isolated, it cut the retreat roads towards Yevpatoria and carried out heavy fights with the Soviet troops heading to Sevastopol.
It was then subordinated to the German 54th Corps and took part in the first siege of Sevastopol. It advanced 5 km along the coastline between 17 and 23 December, reaching the Kachea Valley, which it cleared up until 25 December, advancing another 5 km towards the city.
The Soviets made several landings at Kerch on 26 December. The detachment was immediately sent on the other side of the peninsula, being reinforced with the 3rd Motorized Calarasi Regiment and subordinated to the German 42nd Corps. The Soviet landing at Feodosiya on 30 December forced the detachment, already on its way to Kerch, to turn back and create a new front in the threatened sector. Thus in January 1942 it repulsed, together with the rest of the 42nd Corps' forces, all the attempts of the Soviet troops in the Kerch Peninsula to come to the aid of those at Feodosiya, which were under attack by the German 30th Corps. In February it was moved in the Genichesk area, receiving the mission to guard the coastline.
After the elimination of the Feodosiya beachhead, the Soviet command reinforced constantly the troops in the Kerch Peninsula, thus in May 1942 the 44th, 47th and 51st Armies were found there. For their destruction, general von Manstein, 11th Army's CO, conceived the Operation Trappenjagd. On 5 May 1942, the Korne Detachment received the order to move to Feodosiya, where it was supposed to subordinate to the Groddek Brigade. This was a German ad-hoc unit, which reunited the motorized units of the 11th Army. Beside the Romanian cavalry detachment, which constituted its main force, the brigade had the 22nd Recon Group, the 6th Company of the Brandenburg Regiment and the 560th Mixed AT Company.
The attack started on 8 May. On 9 May, the Groddek Brigade infiltrated through the breach made by the German 30th Corps and advanced on the coast up to Kipcheak, where it arrived in the evening, bypassing the Soviet troops. Colonel Korne, with the bulk of his detachment, secured the brigade's rear and flanks. On 11 May it had to continue the advance towards Saraymin. It arrived there with difficulty, because the Soviet troops in retreat towards Kerch were trying to make their way through the brigade's positions. In the evening, in front of Saraymin, the assault failed and colonel Korne was lightly wounded at the left arm. But the Romanian and German troops, although practically surrounded, controlled the Saraymin-Kerch road. During 12 and in the morning of 13 May, the Soviets desperately attacked to open the retreat route, but were repulsed every time. In the afternoon, with a part of the forces, colonel Groddek and colonel Korne mover to Ortaeli in the attempt to cross the Tabechikoe Lake and to advance to Kamish Burun, which was situated just south of Kerch. On 14 May, colonel Groddek was seriously wounded and left the command of the brigade to colonel Korne. He took Ortaeli and then entered Kamish Burun in the same time with the forward elements of the German 132nd Infantry Division.
The action of the Groddek Brigade, implying obviously also that of the Korne Detachment, which represented the majority of its forces, was decisive, as general Erich von Manstein recognized in his memoirs, because it prevented the creation of a new Soviet front behind the one already breached. The Red Army lost 162,282 men, as well as large quantities of equipment.
After the battle, on 16 May, the detachment was assigned with the defense of the coastline south of Kerch. It returned to the Cavalry Corps, which in August was involved in the offensive in the Caucasus. Colonel Korne was again named at the command of a detachment organized from the motorized elements of the 5th and 9th Cavalry Divisions. It preceded the quick advance of the other Romanian units and on 31 August 1942 it reached Anapa, taking two 152 mm batteries on Nasuruvo Heights, with which it bombarded the city and the port, facilitating its capture. It then continued the advance towards Novorosyisk, which fell to German and Romanian troops at the beginning of September.
Because of the dangerous situation created at the 3rd Mountain Division following the failure of its offensive, on 26 September, colonel Korne was temporarily named at its command, managing in a short time span to reorganize it.
On 7 October, the 5th Cavalry Division started its trip towards Stalingrad, but colonel Radu Korne received a new assignment: the 8th Cavalry Division, which was subordinated to the 4th Army, situated south of the city. After the start of the Soviet offensive, on 20 November, it received the mission to create the link between the 6th and 7th Corps in Aksay sector. He decided to create a strong point at Kraniy Geroy with the mounted elements and to concentrate the motorized elements (the 3rd Motorized Calarasi Regiment) at Korobkin, from where he could quickly intervene in the threatened area. But Krasniy Geroy had to be abandoned on 23 November, colonel Korne retreating his men to Korobkin and then to Kotelnikovo, destroying on the way a Soviet motorized column in cooperation with the German Panwitz Detachment. He created a new defense line in the Dorganof and Sarnutovsky area, which he held until 4 December, when the division pulled back towards Pimen Cherny. It took part in the Wintergewitter Operation, being subordinated to the General Popescu Group. It managed to retake Dorganof on 14 December, after very heavy fights. But the attempt to reach the encircled 6th Army failed and, on 26 December, the general retreat started, the Romanian cavalrymen being permanently harassed by Soviet tanks. On 7 January it crossed the Don Riverand continued its trip to Romania, where it arrived on 4 April 1943. For the way he commanded the 8th Cavalry Division in the hard moments in November-December 1942, as well as for the actions in the spring and summer of the same year, Radu Korne was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
A year away from fighting followed. During 1943, the 8th Cavalry Division was transformed into a motorized division, the general supervising its reorganization. For two months between January and March 1944, he also held the command of the Guard Division.
From April 1944 he was named at the command of the most powerful Romanian unit: the 1st Armored Division Romania Mare. On 15 July 1944 it was sent to the front in Moldavia and put in the reserve of Army Group Wöhler (4th Romanian Army and 6th German Army). After the start of the Soviet offensive on 20 August 1944, the 1st Armored Division entered in combat south of Bahlui River, counterattacking the Soviet tanks that had broken the Romanian-German front. During the 20/21 August night, the 1st Tank Regiment and the motorized vanatori regiments were separated. The division lost 34 tanks and self-propelled guns, destroying 60 Soviet tanks. The attempts to restore the front on the Bahlui River and then on the Traian Fortified Line failed, the division's elements covering, as much as it was possible, the retreat. On 23 August it created a defensive position north of Roman, between the Siret and Moldova Rivers, where the armistice with the allies found him.
After the offensive against the German and Hungarian troops in Transylvania began, general Korne requested a command on the front, but he was turned down and put at disposal of the Ministry of War on 20 September and on 21 October 1944 he was arrested at the request of the Soviet Commission for the Armistice. He was locked down in the Capital's Military Command, until February 1945 when he was released, only to be put under house arrest. Between 1945-46 he was investigated by the "People's Court", but was found innocent. He was arrested again on 24 March 1948 for "conspiring against the State's security" and imprisoned at Jilava. On 18 April 1849, his health deteriorated and was taken to the Vacaresti Central Hospital No. 1, where he passed away on 28 April 1949, at 1300 hours.
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Maj. general Leonard Mociulschi
17 October 1941: Mihai Viteazul Order 3rd class
? ? 1941: Iron Cross 2nd class
6 October 1942 – 8 April 1945: 3rd Mountain Division
? ? 1942: Iron Cross 1st class
25 October 1942: German Cross in Gold
18 December 1943: Knight's Cross
19 February 1944: Mihai Viteazul Order 2nd class
11 May 1944: promoted to maj. gen.
23 March 1945: Mihai Viteazul Order with swords 3rd class
8 April – 20 May 1945: Mountain Corps
Leonard Mociulschi was born on 27 March 1889 in the village Simincea, Botosani county (in northern Moldavia). He was one of the "pure breed" mountain troops divisional commanders of WWII and also one of the most successful. He started his military career in 1910, when he was admitted in the Infantry Officer School. He graduated in 1912 and received the rank of 2nd lieutenant. During WWI he was lieutenant and then a captain (in 1917). He was promoted major in 1920. In 1932 he was assigned the command of the mountain battalion in Sighetul Marmatiei and received the rank of lt. colonel. He held this position until 1937, when he was promoted to the rank of colonel.
On 10 February 1941 he was named deputy commander of the 1st Mountain Brigade, which was under the leadership of brig. gen. Mihail Lascar. This unit was part of the 3rd Romanian Army and saw action initially in Northern Bukovina. It liberated together with the 4th Mountain Brigade the region's capital, Cernauti, where he commanded a group that made the direct attack on the city. Then advanced to the Dniester River, the pre-1940 border with the Soviet Union. On the eastern bank of the river was the fortified Stalin Line the Romanian mountain troops managed to breach in several places on 17 and 18 July, after some very heavy fighting. This is where colonel Mociulschi first distinguished himself, personally directing the crossing under enemy fire. He was awarded the Mihai Viteazul Order 3rd class for this action.
The 1st Mountain Brigade advanced along with the rest of the 3rd Army all the way to the Nogayisk Steppe. There, from 24 to 29 September, it took part in the so-called Battle of the Azov Sea , which resulted in the destruction of the 9th and 18th Soviet Armies. Being the mountain brigade with the fewest losses until then and thus the most battle-worthy, it was selected to participate in the general von Manstein's assault on Crimea. After they had penetrated the defenses in the Salkovo Isthmus, the Romanian mountain troops started a followed closely the retreating Soviet forces. Colonel Mociulschi commanded one of the three detachments organized by the 1st Mountain Division for the operation. It took 1,360 prisoners, including an entire Soviet cavalry regiment.
The "next stop" for the mountain troops was Sevastopol. The German 11th Army started the first siege of the fortress in the winter of 1941. Colonel Leonard Mociulschi was named commander of the Attack Group of the brigade (four battalions), which initially did not have all the forces at its disposal, two battalions being deployed on coastline. By 23 December 1941, the 1st Mountain Brigade managed to take the Chapel Hill and the Chorgun and Karlovka villages.
His conduct during the first year of the war earned him the promotion to the rank of brigadier general. In April 1942 he was reassigned to the 4th Mountain Division again as deputy commander. This unit, commanded by maj. general Gheorghe Manoliu was also in Crimea since 1941. In June and July it took part in the second assault on Sevastopol, where it played a key role in the offensive of the 54th Corps and entered the city together with the German troops. He was awarded the German Cross in Gold for his deeds in this battle.
After the failure of the 3rd Mountain Division's offensive in the Caucasus, its commander, brigadier general Radu Falfanescu was sacked and replaced with brigadier general Leonard Mociulschi. The Soviet winter counter-offensive found the 3rd Mountain Division on defensive positions in the Krimskaya-Abinskaya region. It was subordinated to the German 9th Infantry Division. Mociulschi had under his direct command the 3rd Mountain Group and the German 57th Infantry Regiment. In January 1943 the mountain troops faced the Soviet assaults, which lasted from 12 to 14 and then from 26 January to 18 February. It was repulsed with heavy casualties for the attackers.
After this, the 3rd Mountain Division was moved to Moldovanskoe and subordinated to the 9th, 97th and 101st German Divisions. Thus general Mociulschi did not have a sector under his direct command, as his battalions were assigned to different German units. However, during the third Soviet assault on the Kuban bridgehead, in May 1943, his mountain troops again supported the brunt of the offensive and gave a very good account of themselves.
The 3rd Mountain Division was pulled out of the first line in June and sent to Crimea in August, for rest and refitting. In September 1943, the Kuban was evacuated and during the night of 31 October/1 November the Soviets landed near Kerch and at Eltigen. The bridgeheads were contained and, in December, the 6th Cavalry Division, reinforced with two battalions from the 3rd Mountain Division and German assault guns, eliminated the forces at Eltigen. About 800 Soviet soldiers under the leadership of the CO of the 318th Rifle Division, managed to escape from Eltigen during the night of 6/7 December and occupy the Mithridates Hill, south of Kerch. They entrenched their positions there and received reinforcements from over the straits. Brigadier general Mociulschi received the task to take out the strongpoint and he did so by 11 December. 1,100 Soviet soldiers were killed and 820 taken prisoner. Large quantities of weapons were also captured: 720 submachine-guns, 60 heavy machine-guns and 17 AT rifles. He was awarded Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for this action.
Between 29 December 1943 and 4 January 1944, he commanded a grouping of mountain troops that, together with the grouping of maj. general Ion Dumitrache, took out over 3,700 partisans in the Yaila Mountains in Crimea. Following his latest victories, Leonard Mociulschi received Mihai Viteazul Order 2nd class. He was also promoted to the rank of major general.
After the Soviet breakthrough into Crimea in April 1944, the 3rd Mountain Division pulled back to Sevastopol, where it was situated on the right wing of the defensive perimeter. General Mociulschi assumed command of the entire German 5th Corps (to which his division belonged), while general Allmedinger was away in Germany. He repulsed several Soviet attacks, the one on 23 April being the most powerful (it was supported by approximately 100 tanks). By 30 April, the division had only two battalions and the mounted squadron in the first line, the rest being either evacuated or kept in reserve. After the Red Army broke the front around Seavstopol, the 17th Army retreated to the Kherson Cape, from the boarding on ships had to take place. During the night of 9/10 May, the 3rd Mountain Division (in fact only the 5th, 12th and 21st Battalions) formed the outposts of the Kherson position. They were evacuated within the following days.
Major general Mociulschi and his division were assigned to the 1st Romanian Army and were deployed on the border with Hungary in southwestern Transylvania. He used the period away from the front to start reorganizing the battalions, which had suffered many casualties in the last year. This process wasn't complete on 23 August, when marshal Antonescu was toppled and King Mihai I announced the armistice.
After several border clashes, the Hungarian Army started its offensive in southwestern Transylvania. General Mociulschi was in command of the Crisuri Group, made up of the 3rd Mountain Division (minus two mountain battalions), 2 regional fixed battalions and one frontier-guard battalion. He faced the 12th and 9th Hungarian Infantry Divisions, which attacked on the Crisul Negru Valley towards Beius on 12 September. The 3rd Mountain Division managed to fight a delaying action on several successive lines. By 17 September it was at the outskirts of the city. The Hungarian troops attacked supported by 30 tanks and breached the defense in several places. General Mociulschi had at his disposal only one AT gun, because the 39th AT Company was also temporarily away. With the intervention of the two battalions, which had arrived in the meanwhile, he managed to save the division from encirclement and to pull back, abandoning Beius. However, in six days of fighting he had delayed the Hungarian offensive long enough for the Romanian and Soviet reinforcements to arrive and caused over 1,200 casualties (including 10 tanks destroyed) to the attackers.
The 3rd Mountain Division was assigned to the Soviet 33rd Corps which supplied an AT regiment and a Katyusha battalion were in order to strengthen it. On 22 September the Soviet and Romanian troops started the offensive. Beius was retaken and the division pushed on towards west, following the retreating Axis forces. It had captured 2,000 prisoners by the time it had reached positions south of Oradea. The Germans launched the Operation Zigeunerbaron and attacked towards Salont. They pushed back the Soviet divisions on its flanks and the mountain troops were in danger of being surrounded. Maj. general Mociulschi managed to retreat his men out of the bulge and save the division. The Soviet command brought 2 tank brigades in the area and attacked. The 3rd Mountain Division advanced west of Oradea, threatening to encircle the Axis troops inside the city and forcing them to pull out.
After this, general Mociulschi and his men passed into pre-1940 Hungary and were engaged in the battle for Debrecen. They cleared the western side of the city of German troops, after some heavy street-by-street fights. Some 274 prisoners were taken and two tanks were captured. The offensive continued until the division reached Miskolc in mid November.
By that date it has received reinforcements from Romania and was completely equipped and manned. It returned under Romanian command and was subordinated to the 4th Corps (from the 1st Army). The new theatre of operations were the Bükk Mountains where general Mociulschi faced the German 18th Gebirgsjäger Division. The fighting was very hard because of the difficult weather, but gradually the Germans were pushed back. During the night of 15/16 December most of the division infiltrated around Axis positions on mountain trails, through blizzard. The Germans were forced to retreat quickly to avoid being encircled.
The 1st Romanian Army crossed into Slovakia, where it was engaged in the Lucenec area. On 14 and 15 January the 3rd Mountain Division crossed the wooded hills west of the city and forced the Axis troops opposing the Soviet 35th Corps in the area to retreat. In February it was engaged in the Javorina Mountains, facing the 8th Gebirgsjäger Division. By the end of the month it had managed to take all the major peaks. He was awarded the Mihai Viteazul Order with swords 3rd class. Only three Romanian generals received the model 1941 3rd and 2nd classes and the model 1944 3rd class of the order, Mociulschi being one of them. Incidentally all were mountain troops commanders.
On 8 April, when maj. general Mociulschi was replaced from command, the 3rd Mountain Division had reached the river Hron. Thus ended almost four continuous years of service on the front. He was named commander of the Mountain Corps in Romania.
In 1947 he was retired and on 12 August 1948 was arrested and imprisoned without a trial. He was released on 10 October 1955 from the Jilava penitentiary, but he was forced to live at Blaj at I. I. Micu Clain Street, no. 33. He had a poor health condition after his detention and no pension, not even proper clothes. In October 1955 he requested that his pension be restored in order to sustain himself. He got a job as a railway worker and from August 1956 he also received a small pension. But it wasn't enough and his wife got a job as a worker a timber warehouse and then at a flower glasshouse. His pension was gradually increased from 1959 onwards. In August 1960 he moved to the village of Purcareni, Brasov county, and in December 1964 in Brasov, where he resided until his death. In 1967 he published his memoirs from the anti-Axis campaign. He passed away on 15 April 1979. His body was incinerated at his request and the ashes were scattered in a clearing in the Postavarul Mountains, where he used to climb.
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Lt. general Corneliu Dragalina
11 November 1916: Mihai Viteazul Order 3rd class
1 January 1940 - 20 March 1943: 6th Corps
9 August 1942: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
1 September 1942: Mihai Viteazul Order 2nd class
? ? 1942: Coroana Romaniei Order Grand Officer class
? ? 1942: promoted to the rank of lieutenant general
Corneliu Dragalina was born on 8 February 1887 in Caransebes. In 1905 he was admitted in the Artillery and Engineer Officer School, from where he graduated in 1907 and received the rank of 2nd lieutenant. In 1910 he was 1st lieutenant and in 1915 captain in the 4th Artillery Regiment, with which he participated in the 1916 campaign, commanding one of the few heavy artillery batteries of the Romanian Army. His regiment was part of the 19th Infantry Division, which fough hard on the front in Dobruja in the autumn of that year.
On 10 October 1916, while his battery was located behind the 51st Infantry Regiment, a powerful Bulgarian attack broke the front of the 3rd Battalion, causing the soldiers to flee. They started retreating in disarray, passing by his battery. Seeing this, Corneliu Dragalina got on the first horse he found, drew his sword and ordered the trumpets to sound the attack, while he rode in the direction of the enemy. This action made the Romanian infantry stop and then follow him. The Bulgarian attack was repulsed and the front line was restored, but Corneliu Dragalina was wounded by a bullet that passed close to his heart and didn't get out. A barge took him and the other wounded on the Danube to Galati, where, his brother Virgiliu, who was the aid of the Navy's commander, took him directly to the hospital. He was operated and the bullet was taken out. For this feat, he was later awarded the prestigious Mihai Viteazul Order 3rd class. In only a couple of days, the two brothers were in Bucharest, by the side of their dieing father, general Ioan Dragalina, commander of the 1st Army, who had been mortally wounded in the fighting on the Olt Valley.
In 1917 he was again promoted (like most of the active Romanian officers at that time). Between 1919-1921 major Dragalina attended the Military Academy. He then rose up in the military hierarchy: lieutenant colonel in 1920, colonel in 1928, brigadier general in 1935 and major general in 1940.
On the 1st of January 1940 he was named commander of the 6th Corps, based in Cluj, a position which he would hold for the next three years. He received one of the first great responsibilities in this high position in August the same year, when he was part of the Romanian delegation that took part in the Turnu Severin Conference with Hungary. The talks aimed at settling the Transylvanian issue between the two countries. Following the Second Vienna Award, general Dragalina had the very unpleasant assignment of head of the Romanian commission in charge of the evacuation of the Northwestern part of Transylvania ceded to Hungary.
The 6th Corps left Cluj and pulled back to the Brasov area. During the legionnaire rebellion in January 1941, general Dragalina with his troops restored order inside the city and occupied the radio broadcast station at Bod. From there he dismissed the news circulated by the legionnaires that he was marching towards Bucharest in front of the 6th Corps in order to help them gain power. This myth, however, still lives on in legionnaire "folklore"
The 6th was moved to the Banat, where, in April, it received the mission to intervene in the invasion of Tugoslavia and occupy the Serbian part of the Banat, should Hungarian troops also attempted it. The Romanian government informed the Reich of its intentions and eventually the Serbian Banat was occupied by German troops and the conflict was avoided.
After the war had started in June 1941, the 6th Corps was kept in reserve inside Romania and was sent to the front only in October 1941. Thus it took part in the final phase of the battle of Odessa, fighting in the northern sector and then entering the city. It was then sent to Crimea for a short while, and then, in the spring of 1942, the 6th Corps moved on the front south of Izyum. It took under its command 4 Romanian infantry divisions (1st, 2nd, 4th and 20th) that had arrived in the area during the Soviet winter counteroffensive. In total there were 64,120 men - a small army.
In May 1942, general Corneliu Dragalina led his troops very well during the second battle for Kharkov. The Romanian troops took no less than 26,432 POWs, as well as a large number of T-60 light tanks, but also the first T-34 and KV-1 tanks captured intact by the Romanian Army. The 6th Corps lost 2,983 men during these operations.
For the German summer offensive, general Dragalina was subordinated to the 1st Panzer Army. The 6th Corps had to keep up with the advance of the German motorized units. On 22 June it forced the river Donetsk and continued the offensive towards the Don. It marched and fought over 450 km in 20 days, a real performance for an infantry unit. From 19 July on, the 6th Corps was subordinated to the 4th Panzer Army, which it helped to force the river Don. At the beginning of September, general Dragalina and his troops were in positions south of Stalingrad.
He received the Ritterkreuz and the Mihai Viteazul Order 2nd class for his corps' actions. He was also promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.
However, the 6th Corps was exhausted. Its divisions had been continuously on the front from the beginning of 1942. On 20 November, when they were assigned to the 4th Romanian Army, general Dragalina's troops received the brunt of the Soviet offensive South of Stalingrad. One of its divisions was surrounded and another two suffered heavy casualties. They pulled back and managed to establish a new defensive line with the help of the German 29th Motorized Infantry Division. The Soviet 51st Army attacked these positions on 25 November, but it was repulsed. The 6th Corps took part in the Wintergewitter Operation advancing towards the Mishkova Valley until 16 December. In the early months of 1943 the remains of the corps returned to Romania.
General Dragalina was replaced at the command of the 6th Corps on 20 March 1943 and named military commander of Bukovina. He abolished the obligatory wear of David's star by the Jews in Bukovina and later obtained from marshal Antonescu the permission to evacuate the remaining Jews in the Cernauti ghetto, before those could be deported or executed by the Germans during the retreat from Bukovina. It is estimated he saved in this manner the lives of 14,750 people.
On 24 March 1944, after the red Army occupied Bukovina, he was put at the disposal of the Ministry of Defense, being sidelined. After 23 August 1944 and the fall of Antonescu's regime, he returned to active duty as General Inspector of the Mechanized Troops from 15 November 1944. On 24 March 1945 he was definitively retired, along with many other senior Romanian commanders. He later lost his house and was harassed by the Communists, but wasn't arrested. He passed away on 11 July 1949 in Bucharest, escaping a tormenting end in the Communist prisons.
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Lt. general Mihail Racovita
10 January 1941 – 1 January 1943: Cavalry Corps
17 October 1941: Mihai Viteazul Order 3rd class
? ? 1941: Iron Cross 2nd and 1st classes
18 July 1942: promoted to the rank of lt. general
20 March – 1 November 1943: Bucharest Military Command
? ? 1943: Steaua Romaniei Order 1st class
1 November 1943 – 23 January 1944: Mechanized Corps
25 January – 23 August 1944: 4th Army
7 July 1944: Knight’s Cross
24 August – 5 November 1944: Minister of Defense
Mihail Racovita was born on 7 March 1889 in Bucharest. In 1906 he was admitted in the Cavalry Officer School. After one year he was sent in Germany, to the Military School in Hanover, where he remained for two years, graduating in 1909. 2nd lieutenant Racovita returned to Germany the following year, in 1910, to the Riding School in Pandeborn, which he finished in 1911. The same year he was promoted to the rank of 1st lieutenant and in 1916 to captain. In 1917 he was again promoted, like in fact the majority of the Romanian active officers.
After the war, major Mihail Racovita was admitted into the Military Academy, which he graduated in 1921. In 1923 he became lieutenant colonel and in 1928 colonel. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1936. Four years later he became major general.
In 1941 he was appointed commander of the Cavalry Corps, position which he held during the first 2 years of war, in which his corps advanced from Romania to the eastern coast of the Black Sea, in the Caucasus. Initially his corps was subordinated to the 11th German Army, participated in the reoccupation of Chisinau, the capital of Bessarabia. After that it was subordinated to the 3rd Romanian Army. It broke through the fortified Stalin line and advanced to the river Bug and then to the Dnepr, on the left flank of the 11th Army. In September it crossed the river and took up position north of Crimea. At the end of the month was engaged in the great battle north of the Azov Sea, which resulted in the destruction of the 9th and 18th Soviet Armies. He received the Mihai Viteazul Order 3rd class on 17 October 1941 for the way he forced the river Dniester and followed the retreating Soviet forces, taking 12,783 prisoners and capturing 450 vehicles and 70 tanks.
In 1942 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general (on 18 July) and led the Romanian Cavalry Corps in the summer offensive in the Caucasus, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, where it advanced to the Taman Peninsula and it took part in the capture of Anapa and Norovosiysk. On 1st January 1943 he was replaced. General Racovita then became the commander of the Bucharest garrison, until 1st November, when he was reassigned to the Mechanized Corps. He took over the 4th Army on 25 January 1944 and led it in the defensive battles in Moldavia in spring and summer of 1944, repulsing several Soviet attacks. He was the last Romanian officer who received the Ritterkreuz.
There is a theory about a supposed conspiracy to open the front line for the Soviet troops on 20 August, involving him and several other Romanian generals. He is considered to be the mastermind of the operation. However, this hasn’t actually been proved.
During the Operation Jassy-Kishinev he was away on leave in Bucharest. Thus on 24 August 1944, he was appointed Minister of Defense. He remained in this position until 5 November, when he was named General Inspector of the Cavalry. Then, between 20 May 1945 and 20 May 1946 he was the commander of the General Army Inspectorate No. 3. He was promoted to the rank of general and given the command of the 1st Army until 30 June 1947. On 1 September that year he was retired. In June 1950 he was arrested and imprisoned at Sighet, where he died on 28 June 1954.
