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Petre Dumitrescu | |
|---|---|
 Dumitrescu in 1944 | |
| Born | (1882-02-18)18 February 1882 Dobridor,Dolj County,Kingdom of Romania |
| Died | 15 January 1950(1950-01-15) (aged 67) Bucharest,Romanian People’s Republic |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Romania |
| Service | Army |
| Years of service | 1903–1944 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands | First Army Third Army |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | Order of Michael the Brave, 3rd Class Order of Michael the Brave, 2nd Class Order of the Star of Romania, 1st Class Order of the Crown (Romania) Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves |
Petre Dumitrescu (Romanian pronunciation:[ˈpetredumiˈtresku]; 18 February 1882 – 15 January 1950) was aRomaniangeneral duringWorld War II who led theRomanian Third Army on its campaign against theRed Army in theEastern Front.
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Dumitrescu was born inDobridor,Dolj County. He began his military training at the Artillery and Engineers Officers' School in 1901, graduating in 1903 with the rank ofsecond lieutenant. He was promoted tolieutenant in 1906 and, five years later, tocaptain. That year, he was admitted into the Military Academy atBucharest, graduating in 1913.
WhenWorld War I started, Dumitrescu was amajor. Following the war, he climbed higher and higher in the military hierarchy, becoming alieutenant colonel in 1920, abrigadier general in 1930, and amajor general in 1937. Between 1937 and the beginning of World War II, Dumitrescu served as amilitary attaché in bothParis andBrussels. After returning to Romania from these postings, he was given command of theFirst Army.
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On March 25, 1941, Dumitrescu was made commander of the Third Army, a post which he would hold for the duration of the war. On July 5, 1941, he attacked theSoviet forces in northernBukovina and took Cernăuți (Chernivtsi), reclaiming territoryoccupied by Soviet troops since June 28, 1940. He then crossed thePrut to recover northernBessarabia. TheGerman Eleventh Army covered Dumitrescu's right flank while he advanced towards theDniester. At that point his army and the German 11th army switched places, with Italians continuing advancement over the Dniester towards theSouthern Bug river, and Dumitrescu remaining on recovered Romanian territory. In September of that year, Dumitrescu repulsed a Soviet attempt to cross the Dniester in the east, behind the Eleventh Army.
AfterAdolf Hitler convincedIon Antonescu to continue the war beyond Romania's pre-1940 borders, Dumitrescu then led the Third Army to theCrimea, taking part in theBattle of the Sea of Azov. By October 10, the Third Army had marched 1,700 kilometres from Romania, fought four major battles and 42 minor engagements.
By this time, Dumitrescu's Third Army had inflicted casualties of over 20,000 killed and 40,000 wounded and also captured 15,565prisoners of war, 149tanks, 128artillery pieces, and more than 700machine guns, while suffering 10,541casualties (2,555 dead, 6,201 wounded, and 1,785missing in action.)[1]
For his effort in this campaign, Dumitrescu was awarded theKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the second Romanian to receive the award afterIon Antonescu. Later on he was even given theOak Leaves. In October, he was awarded theOrder of Michael the Brave, 3rd class.
On July 18, 1942 he was made a general, thus becoming Antonescu's second-in-command. Shortly after his promotion, Dumitrescu advanced towards theTaman Peninsula, between theSea of Azov and theBlack Sea, creating a vital bridge betweenAxis forces in Europe and those deeper inside the Soviet Union.
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TheGerman forces inStalingrad were in dire need of assistance, and the German High Command transferred many of its troops to the besieged city, which meant the Third Army now had fewer troops to defend an increasingly large front. This was ameliorated, to a certain degree, by the High Command's decision to incorporate all Romanian forces in the southwest of the Soviet Union into the Third Army. The High Command, however, chose to ignore Dumitrescu's reports about a Soviet troop buildup in the southwest, as they did with his repeated suggestions to attack the Sovietbridgehead atKletskaya.
In November 1942 theRed Army launched a devastating attack in the southwest, breaking through the Romanian line and forcing Dumitrescu intoretreat. For a brief period, the Third Army dug in near theChir River, but Soviet troops pushed them back. In December 1942, the decision was made to strategically retreat westwards.
Between 26 March and 24 August 1944, he commanded"Army Group Dumitrescu" which was composed of theGerman 6th Army, under command ofMaximilian de Angelis and laterMaximilian Fretter-Pico, and his ownRomanian 3rd Army.[2]
After theSecond Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, Dumitrescu's plan was to reachBucharest and avoid any engagements with the Red Army along the way. However, Red Army troopsambushed Dumitrescu. When what remained of the Third Army arrived in Bucharest, the Soviets had captured more than 130,000 Romanian soldiers.
By this time, however, as with the rest of Romania, Dumitrescu turned against Nazi Germany and captured more than 6,000 German prisoners of war. He retired in early September, 1944, as the Romanian Army and the Red Army retookNorthern Transylvania and advanced intoHungary.
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In 1946, Dumitrescu was put under house arrest and put on trial forwar crimes by the newcommunist government, but was eventually acquitted because of a lack of evidence. He died of natural causes at his Bucharest home in 1950.
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