Mihail Lascăr

Mihail Lascăr (born November 8, 1889 in Târgu Jiu, Romania; died July 24, 1959 in Bucharest, Romania) was a Romanian General during World War II and Romania's Minister of Defense from 1946 to 1947.

After graduating from the Infantry Officer School in 1910 with the rank of 2nd lieutenant, he fought in the Second Balkan War and in World War I, being promoted to major. He became colonel in 1934, and brigadier general in 1939.

On January 10, 1941, he was appointed commanding officer of the First Mountain Brigade, an elite military unit of the Third Army. On June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and its allies) commenced, with the Mountain Brigade entering Northern Bukovina. From there, Lascăr and his unit swung East, crossing the rivers Dniester, Bug, and Dnieper. He fought in the Battle of the Azov Sea, 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, and fought at the Battle of Stalingrad. He was taken prisoner on November 22, 1942, spending the years 1943-1945 in captivity in the Soviet Union.

On April 12, 1945, Lascăr became commander of the Horia, Cloşca şi Crişan 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 of November 19, 1946. After a coalition led by the Romanian Communist Party 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 Bodnăraş. He was then Inspector of the Armed Forces until January 12, 1950, when he was discharged from active duty.

On June 7, 1947, he signed the decree establishing the football club Asociaţia Sportivă a Armatei Bucureşti, now FC Steaua Bucureşti.

Awards
In January 1942, he received the German Iron Cross, 1st class and the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves (the first foreign recipient of this decoration). On 27 November 1942 he was also mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht. On December 31, 1942, he was decorated with the Order of Michael the Brave, 2nd class.