Valor Friday

Regular readers will know that I mostly stick to American and Allied stories of valor. On occasion, I will highlight the actions of one of our enemies. Today is one such case. In the past, the bravery of enemy combatants has had a nexus with either selfless sacrifice for an American (Friedrich Lengfeld), later significant service to the US (Lauri Allen Torni), or sacrifice to directly save civilians (Karl-Heinz Rosch). My subject here is a bit different.

Emil Rebreanu was born in December 1891 in Major, Beszterce-Naszód County, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The area is now known as Maieru and is part of Romania. Rebreanu was of Greek Catholic descent and was the fifth of a whopping 14 children.

Graduating high school in 1913, he studied law at Franz Joseph University. When war broke out the following year, it interrupted his studies.

Most people will now (or at least heard) how the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir presumptive to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was the start of World War I. It’s more complicated than that, as the major powers of Europe had been spoiling for another war for some time. In particular, the country of Austria-Hungary was essentially a confederation of ethnically, linguistic, and religious peoples in a precarious alliance under a single monarch.

The fragile alliance fell apart as the World War progressed, and Austria-Hungary would cease to exist post-war. It would split largely in two, with Austria and Hungary becoming their own, independent countries once more, but would also lead to territorial cessions and successor states that cover a dozen countries on today’s European map. The Austro-Hungarian Empire spread from the eastern Swiss border to almost the Black Sea and included about 50 million people.

A large part of Austria-Hungary was in what is now Romania, but the World War I-era Romania was an independent country. Though the people of Rebreanu’s hometown of Major were Austo-Hungarian by governance, they identified more with the Romanians ethnically.

Within a year of his entering service in the Austro-Hungarian Army, Rebreanu was commissioned a second lieutenant of artillery. On the Eastern Front, he was wounded repeatedly in action in Russia and Galacia, from March to December 1915.

Rebreanu then saw service on the Italian Front (December 1915 to May 1916), where he earned the Gold Medal for Bravery. This was one of the highest honors the Austrians gave to Romanian soldiers. For commissioned officers it ranked just under the highest honor, a knighthood in the Military Order of Maria Theresa. He would then be sent to the Romanian Front in August 1916.

Romania during both World Wars had alternating allegiances. In the First World War, they were neutral from the start of the conflict in the summer of 1914 until August of 1917. They then joined the Entente (what we now think of as the Allies of Britain, France, Italy, and Russia). From December 1917 until 10 November 1918, they were in a state of armistice with the Central Powers of Imperial Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On 10 November, the day before the armistice that ended the war, Romania again entered on the side of the soon-to-be victorious Entente/Allies.

At the time when Rebreanu was sent to the Romanian Front, the Romanians were in a state of conflict with the Austro-Hungarians of the Central Powers. This meant that Rebreanu, born and raised in an ethnically Romanian part of the country, was sent to fight people he identified with.

While on the Romanian Front, Rebreanu decided instead of fighting his fellow Romanians, he would join them. As a Romanian poet would write, “Approaching Romanian soil, Rebreanu heard the secret call of his brothers’ souls, whispering from beyond the trenches. Between his unnatural soldierly duty and his holy duty as a Romanian, Rebreanu heeded the latter.”

On the night of 10 May into 11 May 1917, Rebreanu escaped from the infirmary he was in. He had key war plans in his possession and was attempting to cross lines to the Romanian side when an Imperial patrol spotted and arrested him.

Though advised by his comrades to say he’d merely gotten lost, Rebreanu refused to lie. He told the truth of his intentions.

A military trial was conducted the following day. He was found guilty of desertion and espionage, stripped of his rank, and sentenced to death. His method of execution was to be hanging, as befitting a spy, and not by firing squad as befit a soldier and officer.

On 14 May 1917, at about 2200 hours, Rebreanu pushed past his executioner and guards to address the crowd gathered to witness the event. He is reported to have said, “Long live Greater Romania!”

A year and a half later, and the war ended with the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (among many other sociopolitical changes for the region). The area in which Rebreanu grew up, was raised, fought, and died was part of a large chunk of the country that was ceded to the Kingdom of Romania. It’s now most of the north and west of Romania.

Rebreanu is today remembered not for betraying his allegiance to Austria-Hungary, which he undoubtedly did, but as a hero for refusing to take up arms against his fellow Romanians.

Rebreanu’s story would probably be all but forgotten today if not for his older brother Liviu. An established writer and war correspondent, he had already been thinking about writing a semi-fictionalized novel about the war based on his brother’s letters home. In 1919 when he learned the details of his brother’s execution, he focused his literary skills on that part of the story.

Forest of the Hanged (1922) by Liviu Rebreanu would fictionally tell the story of his brother Emil’s life and legacy. It was made into a movie in Romania in 1965. The film earned the Best Director Award at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival in France.

Since the fall of Communism in Romania, streets have been named for Emil Rebreanu and in 2012 a monument to him was erected near the place his hanging is believed to have taken place. Liviu was, in 1921, present for the reburial of Emil on Romanian soil, as was his final wish. The epithet at his tomb reads, “Sub-lieutenant Emil Rebreanu hanged by the Hungarians on May 14, 1917 because he wanted to defect to the Romanian Army in order to fight for the reunification of his people. His grateful Motherland did not forget him.”

Category: Army, Historical, Valor, We Remember