Gheorghe Mihail

Gheorghe Mihail (March 13, 1887 – January 31, 1982) was a Romanian career army officer.

Born in Brăila, he completed primary school in 1902 and passed an examination to enter the school for soldiers' sons in Iași, taking years 7 and 8 there. He attended the military school for active-duty infantry officers between 1905 and 1907. Made a second lieutenant in 1907, he advanced to lieutenant in 1910. In 1911, he won a competition for a specialized training with the Austro-Hungarian Army, enrolling in the seventh infantry division at Graz for two years. During vacation time, he was able to undertake trips to Berlin, Breslau, Venice, Paris and Rome, attend maneuvers in Belgium and Switzerland, and spend a month in Egypt during the winter of 1910–1911. After returning home in the summer of 1913, he was mobilized for the Second Balkan War. His infantry regiment did not cross the Danube into Bulgarian territory, but instead guarded the capital Bucharest from Tunari fort. After demobilization, he continued military service at Constanța. In the summer of 1914, he placed first for entering the Higher War School, but was unable due to attend when the school closed due to the outbreak of World War I. However, he was soon named commander of a new school for reserve officers in Constanța. He was promoted to captain in April 1915, and was made commander of another new school in Constanța, for active-duty officers.

In August 1916, immediately after Romania entered the war, he was sent in reserve to Cocioc outside Bucharest. The following month, his regiment was ordered to the Buzău Mountains. There, he distinguished himself in battle on a hillside; gravely wounded in his left foot, Mihail was transferred to a field hospital in Nehoiu. After five months of recuperation, he was dispatched to his regiment, then on leave near Vaslui. In April 1917, he was advanced to major and made battalion commander. In June, he was sent to the Nămoloasa area, remaining for over a month in the trenches, battle-ready. In mid-July, he received orders to proceed to the theatre of the impending Battle of Mărășești. Mihail's regiment suffered so many losses that it was reorganized as a single battalion under his command. On July 28, he was wounded in the left hip and evacuated to field hospitals in Tecuci, Vaslui and Iași. The following month, he was awarded the Order of Michael the Brave. Although still convalescing, in September he rejoined his comrades, who were on leave near Tecuci. Around Christmas, the battalion was sent to the front in Austrian Bukovina, remaining there until March 1918. In May, the troops were dispatched to the turbulent province of Bessarabia, occupying a stretch along the Dniester river, in the Rezina-Rîbnița area. In the summer of 1918, Mihail was called to Botoșani, where he was placed in command of a students' battalion from the local officers' school. He remained in this position until February 1919, after the end of the war. At that point, he was able to attend the Higher War School, completing its course in 1920, the same year he was made a lieutenant-colonel.

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