Petre Dumitrescu (; 18 February 1882 – 15 January 1950) was a Romanian general during World War II who led the Romanian Third Army on its campaign against the Red Army in the Eastern Front. Early life and military career 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. That year, he was admitted into the Military Academy at Bucharest, graduating in 1913. When World War I started, Dumitrescu was a 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. Initial successes 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 forces in northern Bukovina and took Cernăuți (Chernivtsi), reclaiming territory occupied by Soviet troops since June 28, 1940. He then crossed the Prut to recover northern Bessarabia. The 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 prisoners of war, 149 tanks, 128 artillery pieces, and more than 700 machine guns, while suffering 10,541 casualties (2,555 dead, 6,201 wounded and 1,785 missing in action.) For his effort