Nicolae Dăscălescu


Nicolae Dăscălescu was a Romanian general during World War II.

Biography

Born in a poor peasant family, he fought in World War I and the Hungarian–Romanian War and reached the rank of Major. In 1921 he was admitted to the Military Academy and by 1940 he had reached the rank of Major-General.
He commanded the 25th and 20th Division, and 8 days after the start of Operation Barbarossa, he took over the command of the 21st Division.
With his Division, he fought bloody battles against the Soviets, including the Battle of Tiganca and the Siege of Odessa. Dascalescu 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 and was overrun by numerical superior forces during Operation Uranus. The remnants of the Corps were withdrawn to Romania to be rebuilt and to protect the northern border.
After King Michael's Coup on 23 August 1944, the 2nd Corps turned against its former German allies, took 10,500 prisoners and participated in the advance in Transylvania as part of the Fourth Army under command of Gheorghe Avramescu. 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.
With the Fourth Army, he fought in the Bratislava–Brno Offensive and the Prague Offensive.
At the end of the War, he 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 for "agricultural sabotage". He was released in October 1955 and lived the rest of his year away from public life, despite being promoted to general.