Nicolae Ciupercă

Nicolae Ciupercă (20 April 1882 – 25 May 1950) was a Romanian general, born in Râmnicu Sărat. He served during World War I and World War II under the command of Alexandru Averescu and then Ion Antonescu, but would retire from a military life in 1941 over strategy disagreements with Antonescu. He also served as Minister of National Defense in 1938–1939.

Early life Ciupercă was born in April 1882 in Râmnicu Sărat, Buzău County, located in the northeastern part of the historical region of Muntenia. After graduating in 1900 from the local high school, he attended the Infantry and Cavalry Officer School in Bucharest and graduated in 1902 first in his class, with the rank of second lieutenant. After being promoted to lieutenant (1907) and captain (1911), he graduated in 1913 from the École militaire in Paris. That year, Ciupercă participated in the Second Balkan War as commanding officer of a company.

After Romania entered World War I on the side of the Allies in 1916, Ciupercă was promoted to the rank of major and served with the Romanian Second Army, under the command of General Alexandru Averescu. In May 1917 he was awarded the Order of the Crown of Romania, Officer class. For his role in the Battle of Mărăști later that year, he was awarded the Order of the Star of Romania, Knight rank and the Croix de Guerre and he rose in rank to lieutenant colonel.

For his actions during the Hungarian–Romanian War he was promoted to colonel in 1920. In October 1930 he was promoted to brigadier general and in October 1937 he advanced to major general. He held multiple commands during this time; notably, from 1937 to 1938 he was commanding officer of the 3rd Army Corps and from 1939 to 1940 commanding officer of the 2nd Army. In June 1940 he was promoted to lieutenant general and was put in command of the Romanian Fourth Army. and the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina commenced on June 28.

The Fourth Army under General Ciupercă was stationed along the Soviet border with Romania, and thus he was placed in charge of the evacuation of military and civilian assets in the region. Despite the withdrawal of Romanian troops, there were a number of skirmishes in the region which the general tried to avoid at all costs. Due to this choice, not all military assets could be evacuated in time and the Soviet troops seized large numbers of weapons from the Romanian Military. The Soviet troops also seized the Hertsa region, which had not been agreed to by the Romanian government. A number of clashes broke out in the region between the Soviet and Romanian troops, however General Ciupercă was able to evacuate all military assets from the area with little loss of life.

Operation München General Ciupercă was still under command of the 4th Army when Romania joined Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941 in order to reclaim the lost territories of Bessarabia and Bukovina. Operation München was the codename used for a joint Romanian-German invasion of the Soviet Union through Romanian territory. General Ciupercă had under his command 127,625 military, of which 4,321 were officers and 3,371 non-commissioned officers. From there, he was transferred to Văcărești Prison in the southern outskirts of Bucharest. Due to failing health, Ciupercă was admitted to the medical wing of the prison, where he died on 25 May 1950, being ill with cerebral atherosclerosis, Parkinson's disease, myocarditis, and azotemia.

Awards Order of the Star of Romania, Knight rank – I.D. 437/13.05.1917. Order of the Crown of Romania, Officer class – I.D. 846/9.08.1917. Croix de Guerre – brevet 834/13.02.1918. Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class – brevet 11360/29.08.1917. Order of Polonia Restituta, Commander class – brevet 66928/19.12.1924. Order of the Star of Romania, Commander rank – I.D. 20/1335/9.05.1934. Order of the Crown of Romania, Grand Cross class – 8 June 1940. Order of Michael the Brave, 3rd Class – 17 October 1941. Order of the Crown of Romania, Grand Cross class – I.D. 2168/29.07.1942.