Ioan (Ion, Jon) Dumitrake (also found in Dumitrache ) ( rum. Ioan Dumitrache ; August 25, 1889 , Chorasti, Rimniku -Sarat County - March 6, 1977 , Brasov ) - Romanian general , commander of mountain shooter formations in World War II on the Eastern Front [1] [2] .
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Biography
Beginning of a military career
Ion Dumitrake was the only child in the peasant family of George and Ioana Dumitrake. He attended a gymnasium in the city of Ramnicu Sarat and a secondary school named after Alexander Ioan Kuza in the city of Focsani . In 1909 he was admitted to the Military School of Infantry Officers in Bucharest , which he graduated on June 15, 1911, with good results, receiving the rank of junior lieutenant [3] .
He began his military career on July 1, 1911 in the 38th Infantry Regiment Negay-Basarab stationed in the city of Brail .
Dumitrake participated in the Second Balkan War (1913), was evaluated by the command as a smart, disciplined, stubborn and persistent officer.
World War I
Received the rank of lieutenant in 1916. He took part in a maneuver on the Flamande, operations in the Danube region. Ion Dumitrake was wounded in the battles of 1916 and 1917 and awarded, received the rank of captain in 1917.
Ion Dumitrake was admitted to the Higher Military School in 1919 (by that time 30 years of the creation of this prestigious educational institution in the Romanian army had passed), which he graduated in 1921. After graduating from the Higher Military School, Major Ion Dumitrake was appointed an officer in the headquarters of the 1st Mountain Riflemen Division [4] , which was stationed in the city of Arad .
Major Ion Dumitrake was transferred in 1924 to the command of the 1st Sinaia Mountain Division. For excellent service, he received the rank of lieutenant colonel and in 1927 became deputy commander of the 1st Mountain Rifle Division. Two years later, he was appointed commander of the 2nd battalion of mountain shooters. He was promoted to the rank of colonel on October 16, 1935 [3] . Ion Dumitrake commanded the 4th Battalion of Mountain Hunters, which was stationed in the Bistrita Nesaud County .
In 1938-1939, he also served as the prefect of the Bistrita-Nesaud [5] .
In the fall of 1939, Colonel Ion Dumitrake was appointed commander of the 2nd Mountain Brigade, and on May 10, 1941 he was promoted to brigadier general [3] .
World War II
Beginning of Operation Barbarossa
Since June 20, 1941, the Romanian Mountain Corps was operatively subordinated to the 11th German Army . Moreover, the Germans sometimes intervened in command very unceremoniously. E. von Manstein writes in his memoirs, diplomatically smoothing corners [6] :
“And if we still managed to establish cooperation with the Romanian command and troops, despite these difficulties, without any particular complications, this is explained to a greater extent by the loyalty of the commander of the 3rd Romanian army , General (later Colonel General) Dumitrescu . The German communication groups, which were available at all headquarters up to and including the division and brigade, also tactfully, and where necessary, energetically facilitated cooperation. ”
On July 4, 1941, the city of Chernivtsi was taken (the official Romanian position is to not recognize the accession of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the USSR , therefore Romanian sources still use the term released ). The 2nd Mountain Rifle Brigade under the command of General Ion Dumitrake was the main fighting force of this operation. Together with the 8th Cavalry Brigade, she crossed the Prut River near the town of Novoselitsa .
On October 17, 1941 he was awarded the Order of Mihai the Brave III class (the highest Romanian military award):
- "For the courage and dedication shown during the attack on the city of Khotyn , where he was always in the most dangerous places to set an example to his troops." Royal Decree No. 2886 dated October 17, 1941 [7]
When attacking the Crimea, E. von Manstein stated [6] :
Specifically, the recall of my advisers regarding the 3rd Romanian army subordinate to us boiled down to the following: after relatively large losses, it is completely incapable of conducting an offensive, and it will be capable of defense only if German "backups" are adapted to it.
At the same time, it was the German rifle units that were valued by the Germans higher than the infantry.
North Caucasus
On March 15, 1942, the Romanian mountain rifle brigades were transformed into mountain rifle divisions. On July 6, 1942, the 2nd Romanian Mountain Division was operatively subordinated to the German armies operating in the Caucasus . The 2nd Mountain Rifle Division acted decisively in the battles for the city of Vladikavkaz , when it released German tank units that fell into the operational environment. During the capture of Nalchik captured up to 3,000 Soviet troops [1] . General Ion Dumitrake was awarded the German command of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . Further advancement of German-Romanian troops was stopped. During the fighting in the North Caucasus from July 13, 1942 to April 15, 1943, the 2nd Division lost more than 11,000 people and was assigned to replenish and rest in the Crimea, where it was deployed in the Alma River valley , against the 3rd and 4th partisan regions of Crimea .
That part of the Romanian army, 16 of the 18 divisions that were used at the front against Stalingrad, was completely destroyed during the Uranus operation , the total losses of the Romanian troops during the battle amounted to 159 thousand people killed, wounded and missing. This affected the morale of the Romanian soldiers who refused to fight. However, on June 5 and 6, 1943, when the 2nd Division was inspected by Marshal Jon Antonescu (at that time the actual head of state), he stated:
“The 2nd Mountain Rifle Division is covered in glory in the Caucasus and deserves recognition and admiration of the country. Thanks to all the personnel, led with honor and dignity by General Ion Dumitrake. "
In the period from July to October 1943, the 2nd Mountain Division fought in the Crimea with partisan detachments . The southern coast of Crimea from Feodosia to Sevastopol from the possible Soviet landings was covered by the 1st Romanian mountain rifle corps (1st and 2nd mountain rifle divisions), the headquarters of the corps was located in Simferopol .
In April 1944, the Crimean offensive operation began . The troops of the 2nd Mountain Division who survived after the attacks of the Red Army and the collapse of the defense of Crimea were evacuated from Crimea by sea on May 8, 1944, and most of them fell into Soviet captivity or surrendered on their own. At the end of May, the General Staff transformed the mountain rifle divisions into operational commands. The command of the 2nd Division was transformed into the 102nd Mountain Command, stationed at the end of August 1944 in the garrison of the city of Virgo .
The coup in Romania and the transition to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition
As a distinguished division general, Ion Dumitrake was appointed commander of the Mountain Corps on the front in the Carpathians on August 1, 1944 [1] . During the coup on August 24, 1944 he took the side of King Mihai I. He blocked German troops in the Brasov area. On October 24, 1944, General Ion Dumitrake arrived in Brasov, placing himself at the disposal of the General Staff. The mountain corps and the 1st mountain division were reorganized on the basis of measures taken by the Allied Control Commission in Romania under the leadership of Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky .
November 22, 1944 Ion Dumitrake was awarded the Order of Mihai the Brave III class with swords:
- “For the difference in heavy battles from August 24 to October 12, 1944 in Brasov , Sfintu Georg , Tirgu Mures , Gerla , as well as for the liberation of Transylvania . Continuing in the field among the troops, he proved, in addition to his commanding abilities, personal courage and perseverance of character, worthy of all praise ”
- Royal Decree No. 2254 of November 22, 1944 [8]
Communist period
War crimes charges and acquittals
General Ion Dumitrake was accused by the Soviet military command of committing war crimes. He was arrested on February 22, 1945.
Moscow radio broadcast an informational message on March 7, 1945, at 21:30 in which Ion Dumitrake was accused of ordering the execution of 600 prisoners, partisans, women and children in Nalchik by units of the 2nd Mountain Division on October 28, 1942. These allegations were refuted by the testimony of 127 people involved in the trial.
According to Romanian sources, the reasons for the arrest of General Dumitrake are the military successes of the 2nd division in the Caucasus, nicknamed the "flint division", his refusal to continue military operations in Hungary and criticism of some military orders issued by Soviet commanders to whom the Romanian troops were subordinated since the summer of 1944 . On August 15, 1946, he was rehabilitated on war crimes charges and transferred to the command of the Mountain Corps.
Retired Life
On September 1, 1947, he was promoted to corps general and transferred to the reserve with the right to resign. In the fall of 1948, Romanian security authorities resumed the persecution and General Dumitrake was summoned for interrogation. The culmination of these actions was February 3, 1949, when he was detained at the Securitate Security Service in Bucharest , where the investigation was conducted during 1949-1950. He was imprisoned in Ayud and in Zhilav . He was released on October 6, 1950 due to the lack of real evidence.
By the Decree of the State Council of the Romanian People's Republic No. 500/1964 he was awarded the Order of August 23, 2nd class “for special merits in the construction of socialism dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the liberation of the motherland” [9] .
He settled in the city of Brasov, living in retirement, forgotten and devoid of material means, writing memoirs. Their printed text was donated to the Brasov Historical and Archaeological Museum and is now stored in the archive of modern history [10] .
Under the tacit surveillance of state security, which conducted periodic searches of him, forgotten, he died on March 6, 1977 and was buried in the Grovery cemetery in Brasov.
Rewards
- Order of the Crown of Romania with the rank of commander (June 8, 1940) [11] .
- Military Order of Mihai the Brave III class (October 17, 1941) [7] .
- The order of Mihai the Brave II class (DR 353 of February 15, 1943, division general, commander of the 2nd mountain rifle division).
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross - (November 21, 1942.
- The order of Mihai the Brave with swords, class III (November 22, 1944) [8] .
- Order "Defense of the Fatherland", III class.
- Order of August 23 (1964).
- other Romanian and foreign orders and medals [12] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Zalessky K. A. Jon Dumitrache // Who was who in the Second World War. Allies of Germany. In 2 volumes. - SPb. : Astrel, 2004 .-- 384 p. - ISBN 978-5-17-021314-6 .
- ↑ WorldWar2.ro - General de divizie Ioan Dumitrache . www.worldwar2.ro .
- ↑ 1 2 3 Decretul Conducătorului Statului Român nr. 1.358 din 9 mai 1941 pentru înălțări în grad, publicat în Monitorul Oficial , anul CIX, nr. 109 din 10 mai 1941, partea Ia, p. 2.529.
- ↑ Despite the literal naming “division” in structure, these Romanian units were closer to the brigade.
- ↑ Povestea generalului Ion Dumitrache, fiul de plugari care a eliberat Brașovul de naziști - (26 noiembrie 2016).
- ↑ 1 2 Erich von Manstein . Chapter 9. Crimean campaign // Lost victories. - M .: AST, 1999 .-- S. 218. - 896 p. - ISBN 5-237-01547-6 .
- ↑ 1 2 Decretul Regal nr. 2.886 din 17 octombrie 1941 pentru conferiri de ordine, publicat în Monitorul Oficial , anul CIX, nr. 248 din 18 octombrie 1941, partea Ia, p. 6.394.
- ↑ 1 2 Decretul regal nr. 2.254 din 22 noiembrie 1944 pentru conferire de Ordin Militar, publicat în Monitorul Oficial , anul CXII, nr. 273 din 24 noiembrie 1944, partea Ia, p. 7.595.
- ↑ Decretul nr. 500/1964 pentru conferirea unor ordine și medalii , publicat în Buletinul Oficial al Republicii Populare Romîne nr. 18 din 9 decembrie 1964.
- ↑ Ioan Dumitrache - Divizia de cremene - Memorii din campania 1941-45 (Muzeul Județean de Istorie, Brașov, 1997)
- ↑ Decretul Regal nr. 1.906 din 8 iunie 1940 pentru numiri de membri ai ordinului "Coroana României", publicat în Monitorul Oficial , anul CVIII, nr. 131 din 8 iunie 1940, partea Ia, p. 2.790.
- ↑ Secretele militare păstrate în jurnalul generalului Ion Dumitrache, fiul de plugari care a eliberat Brașovul de naziști .
Literature
- Zalessky K. A. John Dumitrache // Who was who in the Second World War. Allies of Germany. In 2 volumes. - SPb. : Astrel, 2004 .-- 384 p. - ISBN 978-5-17-021314-6 .
- Erich von Manstein . Chapter 9. Crimean campaign // Lost victories. - M .: AST, 1999 .-- 896 p. - ISBN 5-237-01547-6 .
- Ioan Dumitrache - Divizia de cremene - Memorii din campania 1941-45 (Muzeul Județean de Istorie, Brașov, 1997)
- A. Duțu, F. Dobre, L. Loghin - Armata Română în al doilea război mondial (1941-1945) - Dicționar Enciclopedic (Ed. Enciclopedică, București, 1999)
- J. Rotaru, V. Zodian, L. Moise, T. Oroian - Antonescu-Hitler, Caucazul și Crimeea (Ed. Paideia, București, 1998)
- Drama generalilor români , Alesandru Duțu și Florica Dobre (1997). Editura Enciclopedică
Links
- (rum.) General Ion Dumitrake
- (Eng.) Major General John Dumitrake