Corneliu Dragalina

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Corneliu Dragalina
Lieutenant General
Commands held6th Army Corps
Battles/warsWorld War I
World War II
AwardsOrder of Michael the Brave
Iron Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Alma materHigher War School
RelationsIon Dragalina (father)
Prefect of Timiș-Torontal County
In office
April 1920 – February 1921
Prime MinisterAlexandru Averescu
Preceded byAurel Cosma
Succeeded byNicolae Imbroane
Governor-General of Bukovina Governorate
In office
21 March 1943 – 23 March 1944
Prime MinisterIon Antonescu
Preceded byCorneliu Calotescu
Succeeded byPosition abolished

Corneliu Dragalina (5 February 1887 – 11 July 1949) was a Romanian lieutenant general during World War II.

Biography

Early life and World War I

He was born in the city of Karánsebes, Austria-Hungary, in what is now Caransebeș, Caraș-Severin County, Romania. His father, Ion Dragalina, was a general in World War I.

After attending the Artillery Military School in Bucharest (1905–1907), Corneliu Dragalina graduated with the rank of second lieutenant; he was promoted to lieutenant in 1910 and to captain in 1915. When Romania entered World War I in August 1916 on the side of the Allied powers, Dragalina fought with the Dobruja Army under the command of Russian General Andrei Zayonchkovski, and saw action against the Bulgarian forces. Wounded in battle, he was taken by barge on the Danube to a hospital in Galați, where he was operated upon. Shortly after that he went back to Bucharest to take leave of his father, who, at the command of the 1st Romanian Army, had been mortally wounded at the First Battle of the Jiu Valley. For his valor, Dragalina was decorated in November 1916 with the Order of Michael the Brave, 3rd class.[1] In 1917 he was promoted to major.

The interwar period

After the war, he pursued his military studies at the Higher War School (1919–1921). During that time (April 1920–February 1921), he also served (via a delegate) as prefect of Timiș-Torontal County.[2] Dragalina was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1920, colonel in 1928, and brigadier general in 1935. On 1 January 1940 he was named commander of the 6th Army Corps, stationed in Cluj, while on 6 June 1940 he was promoted to major general. In the aftermath of the Second Vienna Award (signed on 30 August 1940), Dragalina took a leading role in the evacuation of the Romanian troops from Northern Transylvania, and moved his headquarters to Brașov. During the Legionnaires' rebellion of January 1941, Dragalina with his troops restored order inside the city and secured the radio broadcast station at Bod. As a prelude to the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers in the spring of 1941, the 6th Army Corps was relocated to the Banat, but eventually the Serbian Banat was occupied by German troops.

World War II

General Dragalina was still in command of the 6th Army Corps when Romania joined

Don River, advancing 450 km in 20 days. On 18 July Dragalina was promoted to lieutenant general, after which he was subordinated to the 4th Panzer Army
, helping it advance across the Don River.

At the beginning of September, the 6th Corps (consisting by then of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 18th Infantry Divisions) was assigned to the

51st Armies, with the main blow in the sector of the 20th, 2nd, 18th and 1st Infantry Divisions. Overpowered and poorly equipped, Dragalina's 6th Corps troops received the brunt of the Soviet offensive (Operation Uranus) south of Stalingrad. On 23 November, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Fourth Army demanded and received from the Romanian General Headquarters the authorization to make decisions independently from the 4th Panzer Army. Subsequently, the 6th Corps fell back to the Aksay River, but to no avail, as the Soviets were already in control of the communication center of Aksay. On 27 November, the Soviets managed to break through the line of the 6th Corps at the 18th Infantry Division, thus forcing it to retreat 25–30 km south of the river. The remnants of the 6th Corps tried to defend a line of villages backed up by Radu Korne's detachment, but the Soviets had an almost free hand as the Romanian forces disintegrated.[3]
The losses of the 6th Corps in this operation were catastrophic, with up to 80% in personnel at the 1st, 2nd, and 18th divisions.

On 16 December 1942, Dragalina was recalled from the Eastern Front by

Uman–Botoșani Offensive. He was then put at the disposal of the Ministry of Defense. He returned as General Inspector of the Mechanized Troops between November 1944 and March 1945, when he was definitively retired by order of the Petru Groza government
.

After the war

Dragalina later lost his house in Timișoara[5] and was harassed by the Securitate, but, unlike many other military commanders who had fought on the Eastern Front, he was not arrested. He died from natural causes on 11 July 1949 in Bucharest, escaping persecution by the new Communist regime. He is buried at Bellu Military Cemetery in Bucharest.

Awards

Legacy

The National Military Museum in Bucharest houses a permanent exhibition that displays personal objects which belonged to top Romanian military leaders, including memorabilia of Corneliu Dragalina.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ministerul de Răsboiu (1930), Anuarul ofițerilor și drapelelor Armatei Române cărora li s-au conferit ordinul "Mihai Viteazul" (in Romanian), București: Atelierele grafice "Socec & Co", p. 68
  2. ^ "Prefecții de-a lungul timpului". prefecturatimis.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  3. ^
    OCLC 857109471
    .
  4. ^ Charles D. Pettibone, Trafford Publishing, 2012, The Organization and Order or Battle of Militaries in World War II: Volume VII: Germany's and Imperial Japan's Allies & Puppet States, p. 31
  5. ^ Bălan, Titus (April 1, 2018). "Grănicerul bănățean care a fost condus pe ultimul drum, cu funeralii naționale, de însuși regele Ferdinand". Banatul Azi (in Romanian). Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  6. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6
    .
  7. ^ "Contemporary History Exhibit". www.muzeulmilitar.ro. King Ferdinand I National Military Museum . Retrieved August 2, 2021.

External links

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