Mihail Lascăr (; November 8, 1889 – July 24, 1959) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n general during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and Romania's Minister of Defense from 1946 to 1947. He was born in

Târgu Jiu Târgu Jiu (, is the capital city, capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathian Mountains, Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu (river), Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the ...

Gorj County Gorj County () is a county () of Romania, in Oltenia, with its capital city at Târgu Jiu. ''Gorj'' comes from the Slavic ''Gornji'' Jiu (“upper Jiu”), in contrast with Dolnji (“lower Jiu”). Demographics At the 2011 census, the count ...

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

, and graduated from the Infantry Officer School in 1910 with the rank of 2nd lieutenant. Lascăr fought in the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia and Kingdom of Greece, Greece, on 1 ...

, being promoted to lieutenant in 1913. After Romania entered

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in August 1916, he fought in the Romanian Campaign and was promoted to captain in November 1916. He distinguished himself in the battles of the 1917 Campaign and was promoted to major in September 1917. He then attended the Higher War School from 1919 to 1921 and advanced in rank to lieutenant colonel (1927), colonel (1934), and brigadier general (1939). On January 10, 1941, he was appointed commanding officer of the 1st Mountain Brigade, an elite military unit of the Third Army. On June 22, 1941,

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

(the invasion of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and its allies) commenced, with the Mountain Brigade entering

Northern Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...

. From there, Lascăr and his unit swung East, crossing the rivers

Dniester The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

, Bug, and

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

. He fought in the Battle of the Sea of Azov, and then in the Battle of Crimea, remaining in charge of the Mountain Brigade until February 10, 1942. On March 11, 1942, he took charge of the 6th Division of the Romanian Third Army, being promoted to major general on October 25, 1942. The next month, he fought at the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...

. After the Romanian front was broken at the Battle of Stalingrad, General Lascăr took command of the remains of the Romanian Third Army and kept fighting for 4 days. The only unit under his command that managed to escape encirclement was the battalion led by major Gheorghe Răscănescu. Lascăr was taken prisoner on November 22, 1942, but was promoted to Lieutenant-General in February 1943, dated back to the day he was captured. He spent the years 1943–1945 in captivity in the Soviet Union. On April 12, 1945, Lascăr became commander of the Horia, Cloșca și Crișan Division; the political commissar attached to this Soviet-organized unit was the Communist activist Valter Roman. On September 12, 1945, Lascăr was named commander of the Fourth Army. He was a leader of the Electoral Commission of the Army, in advance of the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

of November 19, 1946. After a coalition led by the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...

won the election (through widespread intimidation tactics and electoral fraud), he was appointed Minister of Defense, holding this ministerial portfolio from November 29, 1946 until December 27, 1947, when he was replaced by

Emil Bodnăraș Emil Bodnăraș (10 February 1904 – 24 January 1976) was a Romanian Romanian Communist Party, communist politician, an army officer (armed forces), officer, and a Soviet Union, Soviet Espionage, agent, who had considerable influence in the So ...

. He was promoted to General on September 23, 1947. On June 7, 1947, he signed the decree establishing the football club ''Asociația Sportivă a Armatei București'', now CSA Steaua București. In 1949 he served as commander of the Military Academy in Bucharest. He was then Inspector-General of the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

until January 12, 1950, when he was discharged from active duty. He died in Bucharest in 1959.

Awards

*German

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

(1939) 2nd Class & 1st Class (7 January 1942)(24 September 1941) *

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. While it was lower in precedence than the Grand C ...

(the first foreign recipient of this decoration) *

Order of Michael the Brave The Order of Michael the Brave () is Romania's highest military decoration, instituted by King of Romania, King Ferdinand I of Romania, Ferdinand I during the early stages of the Romanian Campaign (World War I), Romanian Campaign of the World War I ...

, 2nd class (31 December 1942)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lascar, Mihail 1889 births 1959 deaths People from Târgu Jiu Romanian Land Forces generals Romanian military personnel of the Second Balkan War Romanian military personnel of World War I Romanian military personnel of World War II Romanian prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by the Soviet Union Horea, Cloșca și Crișan Division personnel Academic staff of Carol I National Defence University Ministers of defence of Romania Recipients of the Order of Michael the Brave, 2nd class Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves