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.
Political life
Ciupercă served as the Romanian Minister of Defense from 1938 to 1939 under the Second Cristea cabinet. He was a devout anti-communist and would be known for harsh purges of suspected communists within the Romanian Army. He would resign from the position after coming into conflict with King Carol II due to a proposal to decrease the budget of the Romanian military. He would later go on to claim this to be an action of corruption by Carol, as the king refused to explain to the general where the missing funds would go. Despite his claims, it was impossible to ratify the claim, and it was passed off as rumor.
Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina
On June 26, 1940, the Soviet Union demanded that the regions of northern Bukovina and Bessarabia be evacuated of all Romanian military personnel and civilian administration, and that the territories be ceded to the USSR. Due to overwhelming international pressure, the Romanian government was forced to accept the ultimatum, 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.