View source for Petre Dumitrescu

{{refimprove|date=October 2023}}
{{short description|Romanian general (1882–1950)}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Petre Dumitrescu
| image         = Generaal Petre Dumitrescu.jpg
| caption       = Dumitrescu in 1944
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1882|02|18|df=yes}}
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1950|01|15|1882|02|18|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Dobridor]], [[Dolj County]], [[Kingdom of Romania]]
| death_place   = [[Bucharest]], [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romanian People’s Republic]]
| placeofburial = 
| birth_name    = 
| nickname      = 
| allegiance    = {{Flag|Kingdom of Romania}}
| branch        = [[Romanian Army|Army]]
| serviceyears  = 1903–1944
| rank          = [[General]]
| servicenumber = 
| unit          = 
| commands      = [[First Army (Romania)|First Army]]<br/>[[Third Army (Romania)|Third Army]]
| battles       = {{tree list}}
*[[World War I]]
*[[World War II]]
**[[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]
***[[Operation München]]
***[[Crimean Campaign]]
****[[Battle of the Kerch Peninsula]]
***[[Battle of the Sea of Azov]]
***[[Battle of Rostov (1941)|Battle of Rostov]]
***[[Battle of the Caucasus]]
***[[Operation Edelweiss]]
***[[Battle of Stalingrad]]
****[[Operation Uranus]]
***[[Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive]]
***[[First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive]]
***[[Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive]]
{{tree list/end}}
| battles_label = 
| awards        = [[Order of Michael the Brave]], 3rd Class<br/>[[Order of Michael the Brave]], 2nd Class<br/>[[Order of the Star of Romania]], 1st Class<br>[[Order of the Crown (Romania)]]<br/>[[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
| relations     = 
| laterwork     = 
}}

'''Petre Dumitrescu''' ({{IPA|ro|ˈpetre dumiˈtresku}}; 18 February 1882 – 15 January 1950) was a [[Romania]]n [[general]] during [[World War II]] who led the [[Third Army (Romania)|Romanian Third Army]] on its campaign against the [[Red Army]] in the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]].

==Early life and military career==
{{unreferencedsect|date=October 2023}}
Dumitrescu was born in [[Dobridor]], [[Dolj County]]. He began his military training at the Artillery and Engineers Officers' School in 1901, graduating in 1903 with the rank of [[second lieutenant]]. He was promoted to [[lieutenant]] in 1906 and, five years later, to [[Captain (land)|captain]]. That year, he was admitted into the Military Academy at [[Bucharest]], graduating in 1913.

When [[World War I]] started, Dumitrescu was a [[Major (rank)|major]]. Following the war, he climbed higher and higher in the military hierarchy, becoming a [[lieutenant colonel]] in 1920, a [[brigadier general]] in 1930, and a [[major general]] in 1937. Between 1937 and the beginning of World War II, Dumitrescu served as a [[military attaché]] in both [[Paris]] and [[Brussels]]. After returning to Romania from these postings, he was given command of the [[First Army (Romania)|First Army]].
[[File:Petre Dumitrescu.JPG|Dumitrescu in 1937|thumb|237x237px]]

==Initial successes==
{{singlesource|section|date=October 2023}}
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 the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] forces in northern [[Bukovina]] and took Cernăuți ([[Chernivtsi]]), reclaiming territory [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|occupied by Soviet troops]] since June 28, 1940. He then crossed the [[Prut]] to recover northern [[Bessarabia]]. The [[11th Army (Wehrmacht)|German Eleventh Army]] covered Dumitrescu's right flank while he advanced towards the [[Dniester]]. At that point his army and the German 11th army switched places, with Italians continuing advancement over the Dniester towards the [[Southern 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.

After [[Adolf Hitler]] convinced [[Ion Antonescu]] to continue the war beyond Romania's pre-1940 borders, Dumitrescu then led the Third Army to the [[Crimea]], taking part in the [[Battle 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 15,565 [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]], 149 [[tank]]s, 128 [[artillery]] pieces, and more than 700 [[machine gun]]s, while suffering 10,541 [[Casualty (person)|casualties]] (2,555 dead, 6,201 wounded, and 1,785 [[missing in action]]).<ref name="General de armata Petre Dumitrescu">[http://www.worldwar2.ro/arr/?language=ro&article=98 General de armata Petre Dumitrescu]</ref>

For his effort in this campaign, Dumitrescu was awarded the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]], the second Romanian to receive the award after [[Ion Antonescu]]. Later on he was even given the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross|Oak Leaves]]. In October, he was awarded the [[Order 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 the [[Taman Peninsula]], between the [[Sea of Azov]] and the [[Black Sea]], creating a vital bridge between [[Axis Powers|Axis]] forces in Europe and those deeper inside the Soviet Union.

==Retreat==
{{singlesource|section|date=October 2023}}
The [[Nazi Germany|German]] forces in [[Volgograd|Stalingrad]] 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 Soviet [[bridgehead]] at [[Kletskaya]].

In November 1942 the [[Red Army]] launched a devastating attack in the southwest, breaking through the Romanian line and forcing Dumitrescu into [[withdrawal (military)|retreat]]. For a brief period, the Third Army dug in near the [[Chir (river)|Chir 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 the [[6th Army (Wehrmacht)|German 6th Army]], under command of [[Maximilian de Angelis]] and later [[Maximilian Fretter-Pico]], and his own [[Third Army (Romania)|Romanian 3rd Army]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=XDXt3pB-55cC&dq=army+group+dumitrescu&pg=PA20 Army Groups]</ref>

After the [[Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive]], Dumitrescu's plan was to reach [[Bucharest]] and avoid any engagements with the Red Army along the way. However, Red Army troops [[ambush]]ed 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 retook [[Northern Transylvania]] and advanced into [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]].

==After the war==
{{unreferencedsect|date=October 2023}}
In 1946, Dumitrescu was put under house arrest and put on trial for [[war crime]]s by the new [[Communist Romania|communist government]], but was eventually acquitted because of a lack of evidence. He died of natural causes at his Bucharest home in 1950.

==Promotions==
* Sublocotenent ([[2nd Lieutenant]]) - 1903
* Locotenent ([[Lieutenant]]) - 1906
* Căpitan ([[Captain]]) - 1911
* Maior ([[Major (rank)|Major]]) - 1916
* Locotenent-colonel ([[Lieutenant Colonel]]) - 1917
* Colonel ([[Colonel]]) - 1920
* General de brigadă ([[Brigadier General]]) - 1930
* General de divizie ([[Major General]]) - 1937
* General de corp de armată ([[Lieutenant General]]) - 1941
* General de armată ([[General]]) - 1942

== Awards and decorations ==
* [[Iron Cross]] 2nd Class (28 July 1941) & 1st Class (12 August 1941)<ref name="Thomas p135">{{harvnb|Thomas|1997|p=135}}</ref>
* [[Order of Michael the Brave]] 3rd Class (17 October 1941) & 2nd Class (19 February 1944)<ref name="General de armata Petre Dumitrescu"/>
* [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] (1 September 1942)<ref name="General de armata Petre Dumitrescu"/>
* [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] with Oak Leaves (4 April 1944)<ref>Walther-Peer Fellgiebel, Helion & Company Limited, 2003, ''Elite of the Third Reich: The Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, 1939-45'', p. 94</ref><ref name="General de armata Petre Dumitrescu"/>

== References ==

===Citations===
{{Reflist|25em}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Fellgiebel
  |first=Walther-Peer
  |year=2000
  |orig-year=1986
  |title=Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile
  |trans-title=The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches
  |language=de
  |location=Friedberg, Germany
  |publisher=Podzun-Pallas
  |isbn=978-3-7909-0284-6
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Scherzer
  |first=Veit 
  |year=2007
  |title=Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives
  |trans-title=The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives
  |language=de
  |location=Jena, Germany
  |publisher=Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag
  |isbn=978-3-938845-17-2
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Thomas
  |first=Franz
  |year=1997
  |title=Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 1: A–K
  |trans-title=The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 1: A–K
  |language=de
  |location=Osnabrück, Germany
  |publisher=Biblio-Verlag
  |isbn=978-3-7648-2299-6
}}
{{refend}}

{{Battle of Stalingrad |People}}
{{Subject bar
| portal1=Biography
| portal2=Romania
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumitrescu, Petre}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Dolj County]]
[[Category:Romanian Land Forces generals]]
[[Category:Romanian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Romanian military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Michael the Brave, 2nd class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
[[Category:Carol I National Defence University alumni]]
[[Category:People acquitted of war crimes]]
[[Category:People acquitted of international crimes]]