Ioan Dragalina (16 December 1860 – 9 November 1916) was a Romanian general who died during World War I in the First Battle of the Jiu Valley.

However, Marta Lazaroni, his mother, wanted to give birth in her ancestral home and thus the family returned to Karansebesch, where in 1860 Ion, the first of their four sons, was born.

Dragalina refused the instructions of the local civil authorities: to allow only the voters supporting the Hungarian candidate to pass.

In 1916, prior to Romania entering the First World War on the side of the Allied Forces, Dragalina was named commander of the First Infantry Division, stationed at Turnu Severin.

His troops patrolled a very large area on the western border, extending from the sources of the Argeș River to the city of Calafat.

The Romanian 1st Division—part of General Ioan Culcer's 1st Army—took the Austro-Hungarian town of Orsova (Orșova) in the Banat region on 4 September.

The monitor had left Orsova at dawn, shelling harbor facilities, the rail yards, a cavalry barracks and some shipyards at Turnu Severin, where Dragalina's division had its headquarters.

Returning upstream to Orsova, Álmos couldn't overcome the current until her crew threw 25 tons of coal overboard.

Dragalina recognized the Alion Height, towering above the city on the east side of the Cerna's mouth, as the key to the Austrian position.

The Romanians launched a full-scale assault on 1 September, their numbers enabling them to take the Alion Height by the end of the day.

The Austro-Hungarians conducted a rear-guard action, but lost Orsova along with the west bank of the Cerna on 4 September, retreating north of Mehádia.

[2]: 20–21 In late October, a massive German and Austro-Hungarian offensive was launched in the Jiu Valley under the command of General Paul von Kneußl [de].

Early on the morning of 25 October 1916 General Dragalina left by car for the Jiu Valley, accompanied by two officers – Colonel Toma Dumitrescu and Major Constantin Militiade.

Speeding under a hail of bullets, his driver managed to cross the bridge, but the general was hit in his left upper arm and scapula.

[5] In 2017, Poșta Română issued a 3.50 lei stamp in his honor, part of the "Eternal Glory to the First World War Heroes" series, which also includes Generals David Praporgescu and Radu R.