Nicolae Dabija (soldier)

Nicolae Dabija was born in April 1907 in Galați, in the historical region of Moldavia, eastern Romania. (Some sources claim he was a cousin of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej.)[3] His father, a carpenter, died when he was 9 years old, and he was raised in poverty. After starting his studies at Vasile Alecsandri High School, he dropped out at age 15 and became employed at a local bank. In 1926 he voluntarily enlisted into the Romanian Army, at the Regimentul 13 Dorobanti in Iași. Encouraged by his superiors, he enrolled in the local Military High School for a year, after which he went to the Military School for Infantry Officers in Sibiu, graduating in 1929.[2]

In May 1941 he was awarded the Order of the Crown, Knight rank.[4] Soon after, on June 22, Romania joined Operation Barbarossa in order to reclaim the lost territories of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which had been annexed by the Soviet Union in June 1940. Dabija served as an officer in the Romanian Army, participating in the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union.[2] On October 15, 1941, Captain Dabija was sent to the Eastern Front in command of the 5th Company/38th Infantry Regiment from the 10th Infantry Division. In February 1942 he took part in the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula; for his actions in this battle he was awarded the Order of Michael the Brave, 3rd class with spades, and the German Cross in Gold.[5][6] He further distinguished himself at the Battle of the Caucasus and during the Crimean offensive in 1943–44. Promoted to Major, he was wounded twice, and finally evacuated back to Romania.[2] In October 1944 he was awarded the Order of the Star of Romania, Officer rank for feats of arms on the battlefield.[7][6]

At the end of the war, in June 1945, Dabija was awarded by royal decree for a second time the Order of Michael the Brave, 3rd class. In July 1946 he retired from the army. In view of the royal awards he had earned, Dabija was given 5 hectares of land near Aradul Nou, where he settled together with his wife. According to Dorin Dobrincu, he went into hiding fearing arrest as the Soviets occupying Romania allegedly deemed him a war criminal for his participation in the war against the Soviet Union.[2] Liviu Pleșa however notes his decision to join the anti-communist movement was prompted by the arrest of his brother and his denunciation by local communists after a dispute.[6]

In February 1948, Dabija met the brothers Traian, Alexandru, Viorel, and Nicolae Macavei, the nephews of Ștefan Cicio Pop.[3] The Macaveis were wanted for gold smuggling, having killed two gendarmes and wounded four others.[6] Together with them, he formed and armed group called the "National Defense Front", sometimes also known as the "Haiduc Corps". He issued a proclamation against the “Jewish-Communist clique”, calling for freedom, independence, and respect for human rights.[1] Convinced that a new world war would soon break out between the Americans and the Soviets (Vin americanii!), Dabija reached out in May 1948 to the United States authorities through several intermediaries, offering help with military actions to liberate Romania, only to be rebuffed.[3] He developed a plan aiming at an armed insurrection in 1949, when the US–Soviet war was expected to begin.[8]

The National Defense Front started recruiting sympathizers in the Apuseni Mountains, in the Roșia Montană–Zlatna gold-mining area.[3] On December 22, 1948, resistants from this group, armed with a rifle and handguns, robbed the Tax Office in Teiuș of some 300,000 leis, from which they later procured more arms and a typewriter.[2][3][6]

The Romanian authorities learned about the location of Dabija after arresting a partisan fighter, Traian Ihuț, who revealed the location of his group on Muntele Mare and their strength.[9] Immediately after, on March 4, 1949, a detachment of 80 Securitate troops from Cluj led by Colonel Mihai Patriciu charged the peak where the fighters were located, with a gunfight and later hand-to-hand combat occurring. Eleven anticommunist fighters were killed, but Dabija and two others managed to escape; the Securitate forces suffered three deaths and three others wounded.[9][10] His wife, Flavia, was reportedly killed during the firefight.[11]

Dabija was arrested on March 22, 1949 in Gârde, after a local villager, whose barn he was sleeping in, notified the communist authorities of his presence.[12] All partisans and their aides were captured.[13] They were subject to interrogation in Turda, Bucharest, and Sibiu.[13] Later they were tried and convicted through sentence no. 816 / October 4th, 1949 of the Military Tribunal of Sibiu.[13] In the early hours October 28, 1949, seven members of the group (Titus Onea, Ioan Scridon, Gheorghe Oprița, Traian Mihălțan, Augustin Rațiu, Silvestru Bolfea, and Nicolae Dabija) were executed in Sibiu by firing squad.[13] Just before being shot, Dabija exclaimed, "Long Live Romania!" The bodies of the executed were thrown in a common grave in Dumbrava Sibiului.[11]