Romanian Anti-communist Resistance Movement - Resistance Groups

Resistance Groups

Ion Gavrilă-Ogoranu, a member of the fascist and anti-Semitic Iron Guard who led a resistance group in the Făgăraş Mountains from 1948 to 1956, and remained undetected until 1976, worked out a set of defining traits of the typical Romanian resistance group. According to this author, such a group was rather small, but could number up to 200 men. A resistance group was located in a mountainous/forested area which comprised some communities. It was supported by a significant number of inhabitants (up to several thousands), who provided shelter, food and information.

In the Apuseni region of Transylvania, the most active group was led by former Iron Guard member Leon Susman. The group mainly hid in the woods and acquired part of its armament from a Romanian Iron Guard band that the Germans parachuted in the area in 1944-45. To eliminate the band, the Romanian security forces used informers against them and intercepted the correspondence of family members. An armed group called "The National Defense Front-The Haduc Corps" was headed by a former officer of the Royal Army who participated in the war against the Russia on the Eastern Front, Major Nicolae Dabija. Rebels from this group robbed the Tax Office in Teiuș, armed with a rifle and handguns. The Romanian authorities learned about the location of this band after an arrested rebel revealed their location on Muntele Mare and about their strength. An operation conducted by the Romanian security forces decided to attack the rebels on the morning of March 4, 1949. Security forces led by Colonel Mihai Patriciu charged the peak where the rebels were located, with a gunfight and later hand-to-hand combat occurring. The Security forces suffered three deaths and three others wounded. Dabija was arrested on March 22, 1949 after a local villager, whose barn he was sleeping in, notified the authorities of his presence. On October 28, 1949, seven members of the group, including Major Nicolae Dabija, were executed in Sibiu.

Resistance groups were the target of systematic and enduring military actions from fully armed regular troops of the Securitate. The strength of the Securitate troops could vary from platoon to battalion up to regiment, including armoured vehicles, artillery and occasionally even aviation. The insurgent groups sustained losses consisting of dead and wounded captured by the Securitate. They also fell victim to treason from supporters or infiltrated persons, which led to losses and captures. Gavrilă-Ogoranu claims that some of the arrested rebels and their supporters were killed during interrogation, while other members of resistance groups were indicted in public or secret trials, and sentenced to death or prison. He estimates that several thousands of convictions were imposed. Death penalties were carried out either secretly, with bodies thrown into unknown common graves, or publicly in order to intimidate the local population. A significant number of detained rebels, who had not been sentenced to death, were killed outside prisons, under unexplained circumstances. In areas where the rebels were active, the population underwent systematic intimidation and terror from the authorities.