mihai viteazul order

hello, I am new to this forum so I salute everybody.

my first post goes like this:
my grandfather was an cavalry officer during WWII. He served both on the eastern and the western theatre of operation. I dindn't know him personally because he died before I was born.
All I know is that he was a major in the 13th Calarasi Regt. His name was maj. Axente Popovici and I also know he was awarded the Mihai Viteazu Knight's order. My question is : can anybody tell me where I can find some informations ( websites, archives etc )about how and why he was awarded this decoration ?

thanks.

He received it on 9 March 1944. Unfortunately at that time, the comuniquees were not very detailed.

thank you for the information.
the sad thing is that after the war he was arrested by the communist regime and my grandmother had to divorce him. After he was released from prison he moved to another city ( Arad).
All we have left from him is a photo in parade uniform.

A very sad life for such a brave man.

Cpt. Axinte Popovici of the 61st Reconnaissance Group: "For outstanding bravery, valour and spirit of sacrifice proven on the battlefield".

Like I said, not very detailed.

Mg42,

If you are really interested, you can obtain your grandfather's personal military file (dosar) from the Mapn archives at Pitesti. The file contains yearly evaluations written by his superiors, all awards he received, all military schooling he attended, including the grades he obtained, all units he served in, where he fought, and, if you're lucky, some notes (note de carnet) which describe some of his particular achievements during battle as described by a colleague or a superior.

Hope this info. helps you a bit.

Take care.

The official communiqués were generally brief, not only in the spring of 1944. The most complete description was in the award certificates.

As an example, the award certificate of Capt. Gheorghe Frumuşanu states: "As the Commander of 8th Machine-gun Company he thus organised the place of his company [that in the period] 27 February - 14 March 1942 he caused considerable losses to the enemy and all the [attacking] Bolshevik waves could not budge him a single step. Gallant and brave, through his personal example he encouraged his machine-gunners and even though they were attacked from all sides, nobody [budged] from his place.
In the afternoon of 14 March 1942, he was badly wounded and being evacuated to the hospital, had both his legs amputated.". The Royal Decree on the other hand states only: "For bravery and gallantry shown on the battlefield".

Another example is the extensive description in the award certificate of 2nd Lt. Teodor Breharu in contrast to the concise statement in the Royal Decree: ""For outstanding bravery and spirit of sacrifice proven on the battlefield". And so on.

I wonder whether copies of the award certificates exist in the archive of the old Chancellery of the Orders.

I have no idea.
What I did see, was an album published in the interwar period with all the decrees for all the recepients of WWI. I don't know though if a similar thing was done after WWII.