Victor Popescu (1886–1970) was an officer in the Romanian army and a guerrilla warrior during the World

War I occupation of Romania.[1][2][3][4]

Early life[edit]
He was born in Valea cu Apă - Fărcășești, Gorj, the son of school teacher Dumitru Popescu. He attended the
Normal School in Bucharest to become a teacher himself. After completing his studies he performed military
service in the 18th Infantry Regiment Gorj, then returned to Valea cu Apă where he took his father's position.

Participation in World War I[edit]

At the beginning of 1916 he was concentrated in the army and followed a training course at the 21st
Dorobanti Regiment in Bucharest. At the day Romania entered World War I on August 15, 1916, he was
enlisted in the 18th Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Constantine Jipa. He commanded, at
the rank of second lieutenant, platoon 3, of the third company of battalion I of this regiment. With his unit he
participated in the Transylvanian campaign in 1916, fighting in the Jiu Gorge.

He was wounded while fighting North of the city of Lupeni. After recovering, he returns to the command of
his platoon.

On 5 November 1916, near Țicleni, most of the 18th Infantry Regiment, together with other Romanian
regiments, was surrounded by the enemy and forced to surrender. Not wanting to fall prisoner, Popescu flees
in the forests, trying to reach the Romanian tropes he was separated from. He urges his soldiers to do the
same in order to avoid capture and internment in prison camps.

Together with his company commander, Captain Gheorghe Gutuleanu and with sergeant Costea Aristica, he
wandered for three days through the forests between Rășina and Brătuia, to Vlăduleni village, where the
three separated. Victor Popescu tried to reach a Romanian detachment that he knew he was withdrawing to
Turnu-Severin, but failed to find it, so he returned to his native village.

Formation of the guerrilla group[edit]

Wanted poster of Victor Popescu

Ionel Popescu, WW I Romanian partisan (middle) with two friends while in Budapest in 1918.

When he arrived home, he found out that the Germans plundered his home and tortured his father. On
December 4, 1916 he killed the two responsible German soldiers, then killed the German sentinel at the
headquarters of the German patrol, taking his gun and ammunition. From this point on, Popescu decides to
becomes a guerrilla warrior to oppose the German occupant.

From the people in the village, he learned that his former company commander, captain Gutuleanu, was
captured by the Germans and sent to the Sopronnyék prison camp in Austro-Hungary. He also learned that a
local blacksmith named Hans, and villager Gheorghe Schism, were betraying him to the Germans. In
response, Victor Popescu begins to assemble a partisan group to fight the Germans, within the areas of Gorj
and Mehedinți. His comrades were brothers Dumitru and Ilie Cârciumaru, Iorgu Crăciun, Vasile Velican, M.
Cărămidaru, all from Negomir, Nicolae Popescu, Tudor Popescu from Valea cu Apă, Gheorghe Ioana from
Racovița, sergeant gendarme, Gheorghe Spătaru, from Negomir village, Ionel Popescu normalist and scout
student,[5] Ionel Prunescu, a student at the military school in Craiova, as well as escaped prisoners of war from
the prisoners' camp in Turnu-Severin, Italians Alfredo Pellegrini and Dominico Prade, and some Russian
escaped POWs.

The number of those who joined him in the first phase of the guerrilla battle was between forty and one
hundred and twenty combatants.

The number of members of the group varied over time, increasing in the case of attacks, and declining when
the enemy started to follow the partisans. The combatants were dressed in Romanian military or civilian
uniforms, while the former Russian and Italian prisoners wear the uniforms as where they were captured by
the Germans. As weapons they had rifles and machine guns leftover by the Romanian army during the retreat
or, capture weapons taken from the Central Powers troops.

The actions of the guerrilla group[edit]

In the incursions made in the villages of the counties of Gorj and Mehedinti, Victor Popescu's group of
partisans left, for misleading the enemy, leaflets addressed to the occupation forces, with the following
content:

"Today I passed through your village, I saw the miseries that you do to our brethren, we will soon pay you
miserable what you are." Tickets were signed with the names of senior Romanian officers, including General
Alexandru Averescu, to suggest to the Germans that they are confronted with a large and well-organized
Romanian force.

The actions of the guerrilla group were diverse, ranging from assault with firearms to spreading
manifestations that would mislead the opponents or intimidate them. On several occasions, in the villages of
Corcova and Meris, Victor Popescu, disguised as a monk, spoke to the German patrols, drunk them, and took
their weapons and ammunition while they were unconscious of too much drink.

Besides, the Romanian sub-lieutenant walked through disguised villages in various forms: priest, carriage,
pot-seller and others.

In May 1917, Victor Popescu launched a Proclamation addressed to Romanians, village mayors and Romanian
soldiers remaining behind the enemy front, urging them to fight with their gun and warning the Romanian
traitors that they would be punished if they would enemy information.

The Central Powers' occupation forces organized guerrilla arrests, mostly based on information provided by
Romanian traitors. A reward was placed on Victor Popescu's head, amounting to 5,000 to 30,000 lei,
depending on the value of the information that will lead to its capture. The enemy's injuries were mostly with
no results, he suffered losses as a result of clashes with Romanian partisans. In some of these raids, the
German patrols were able to capture two former Italian prisoners who fought alongside Victor Popescu,
Alfredo Pellegrini and Dominico Prade. In others, they succeeded in killing some Romanian fighters, such as
Ionel Prunescu and Gheorghe Ioana. Victor Popescu himself will be hurt in one of these struggles, but he will
be able to save himself without being captured.

Plaque with the names of WW I hostages executed by Germans at Turnu-Severin prison on July 10, 1917.

Among those who betrayed the group of Romanian partisans were Gheorghe Schinteie, Mayor of Dragotesti
commune, Gheorghe Roşoga, priest in the village of Peşteana de Jos and Aftanghel Toma, monk. Gheorghe
Schinteie will be shot dead by Victor Popescu as he led a Hungarian patrol to catch him.

Aftanghel Toma betrayed Ionel Popescu, a member of the group of partisans, who was captured by the
Austro-Hungarian troops and closed to the Raci village. Victor Popescu attacked the command and freed
Ionel. A commando made up of partisans abducted the monk on the night of May 30/31, 1917 and after an
interrogation he was executed by shooting, leaving a note near his dead body with the text: "so will all who
betray their brethren and stand in the service of the enemy."

Other actions of the partisans include attacking enemy ammunition depots, blowing up a train of ammunition
loaded with ammunition, and attacks on the Central Powers' troops, including those stationed the city of
Târgu Jiu.

Because they have not been able to catch them even by betrayal, the military authorities of the occupation
forces have resorted to reprisals on the families of guerrilla warriors. Victor Popescu's father, wife, sister and
father-in-law were arrested, sentenced to death, and some of them executed by the enemy. Victor Popescu's
house, in the village of Valea cu Apă, was spoiled and burnt on 24 June 1917, on the order of General von
Knalzer. The house of Victor Popescu's father-in-law, N.D. Pleşan from the village of Crânguieşti, Mehedinţi
County, was also robbed and burnt.

From the villages of Valea cu Apă, Negomir, Grozeşti, Covrigi, Pestera de Sus, Bolboşi, Slivileşti, Stejerei,
Rovinari, Horăşti, Samarineşti, Trestioara and others, hundreds of people were suspected of helping the
partisans. They were locked at Turnu-Severin, and ten of them sentenced to death. Learning about the death
sentence the people who helped him, Victor Popescu decides to attack the prison in Turnu-Severin to release
the detainees who supported him. The partisan group attacked the prison on the night of July 6/7, 1917 and
managed to break into its walls, whereby some of the prisoners manage to flee. Those sentenced to death,
however, did not escape, and the attack on the prison hastened their execution by the Germans. On July 10,
1917, ten supporters of Victor Popescu were executed by firing squad after being forced to dig their own
graves. These were Nicolae Marcu from Dragotesti, Nicolae Popescu, teacher from Covrigi, brother of Victor
and father of Ionel Popescu, Constantin Cojocaru, notary in Negomir commune, Ion Norocea, Bolboşi, Petre
Vâlceanu and Ion Brăiescu, mayor and notar of Bolboşi commune, Stancu Croitoru, Tudor Ungureanu, Ilie
Giumanca, all from Grozeşti and Mihai Cernăianu from Horăşti.

Another eight men, both men and women, were sentenced to imprisonment, with penalties ranging from
one to fifteen years. Several other dozens of people were imprisoned at the Tismana monastery, and ten
were deported to Bulgaria. Either in prison or shortly after being released from detention, some died due to
ill-treatment. Among them are the father of Victor Popescu, Dumitru, and the sister-in-law, Domnica, the
wife of Nicolae Popescu, executed by the Germans on July 10, 1917.

In August 1917, the group of partisans dissolved, most of whom returned to their homes. Victor Popescu
passed to the counties of Olt and Vâlcea, gathered a new group of five or six people, who went to Moldova in
February when Victor Popescu arrived in Moldova at his regiment.

After World War I[edit]

At the end of 1918, after the end of the war, he returned to his native village where he resumed his teaching
career.

In 1941 he was decorated with the "Reward of Labor" medal for outstanding merits as a teacher, reviewer
and school inspector. He retired in 1943.

In 1948 Victor Popescu was fined for "propaganda against the regime" by the newly established communist
authorities in the country. The one who denounced him to the authorities was the same priest Gheorghe
Roşoga, who in 1917 sold him to the Germans.

In 1952 he was arrested by Communists and detained for one year at the Ghencea camp in Bucharest. The
same authorities annulled their pension entitlement for the period 1948-1956, on the ground that they had
been punished under Decree 102 of 1948. It was reinstated in 1956.

Victor Popescu dies in 1970 at the age of 84, being buried in the native village cemetery.

In 1986, historical film "Batalia din Umbra" based on Victor Popescu's guerrilla actions during the First World
War was cast.

In 1996, the school in Valea cu Apa receives the name "Victor Popescu".

Vic