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Romanian campaign (1916)
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Romanian campaign (1916)
After a series of quick tactical victories over the numerically overpowered Austro-Hungarian forces in Transylvania, in the autumn of 1916, the Romanian Army suffered a series of devastating defeats. These defeats forced the Romanian military and administration to withdraw to Western Moldavia, allowing the Central Powers to occupy two thirds of the national territory, including the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
The main causes of the Romanian Army’s defeat by the numerically inferior German and Austro-Hungarian forces in the campaign of 1916 were the major political interferences in the act of military supervision, the incompetence, the imposture and the cowardice of a significant part of the military echelon of conduct, as well as the lack of an adequate training and troops’ equipment for that specific type of war.[citation needed]
On the night of 27 August 1916, three Romanian armies started the attack by crossing the Southern Carpathians and entering Transylvania. The first attacks were paved with success, forcing the Austro-Hungarians to retreat. While the Romanian army was advancing in Transylvania at 9 p.m., the Romanian ambassador in Vienna, count Edgar Mavrocordat, presented Romania’s declaration of war at the secretariat of the Austria-Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During that day, many Romanians with Austria-Hungarian citizenship were arrested in Bucharest. Among these were Ioan Slavici and Ioan Bălan.
By mid-September the Germans transferred four divisions on the front of Transylvania and stopped the Romanian advance. The Russians moved three divisions in order to help Romanians, but these troops were not equipped properly.
General Esposito affirmed that the Romanian army leaders made some strategic and operational mistakes:
From a military point of view, the Romanian strategy had been the worst. By choosing Transylvania as a primary objective, the Romanian army totally ignored the Bulgarian army behind it. When the offensive through the mountains failed, the High Romanian Commandment refused to save the forces on the front in order to allow the creation of a moving supply, with which the later threat of Falkenhayn would rejected. Romanians never amassed its forces appropriate in order to obtain the concentration of the fight power.
The first counterattack of the Central Powers was organized by General August von Mackensen, who coordinated a multinational army consisting of mostly Bulgarian with some German and later Ottoman troops. The northward attack was initiated by Bulgaria on 1 September. The attack was directed from the positions on the Danube to Constanța. Bulgarian troops, including the German-Bulgarian Detachment, surrounded and stormed the fortress of Turtucaia. The Battle of Turtucaia ended with the capitulation of the Romanian garrison on 6 September. Simultaneously with the assault, the Bulgarian Third Army defeated a Romanian-Russian force including the First Serbian Volunteer Division at the Battle of Bazargic, despite the almost double superiority of the Entente.
On 15 September, the Romanian Council of War decided to suspend the offensive in Transylvania and to concentrate instead on the destruction of the Mackensen groups of armies. The plan, known as Flămânda Offensive, consisted in an attack on the Central Powers forces through a flank and back shot, after the crossing of Danube at Flămânda, while, on the main front line, the Romanian-Russian troops had to launch an offensive from Cobadin towards Kurtbunar. On 1 October, two Romanian divisions forced the course of the Danube at Flămânda and created a large bridgehead of 14 kilometers and 4 kilometers in depth. On the same day, the Romanian-Russian division initiated an offensive on the frontline of Dobruja which recorded limited success. The failed attempt to break the German-Bulgarian front in Dobruja, combined with the violent storm during the night of 1-2 October, which damaged the pontoon bridge over Danube, determined Averescu to cancel the whole operation. The consequences of this failure were big for the rest of the campaign.[citation needed]
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Romanian campaign (1916)
After a series of quick tactical victories over the numerically overpowered Austro-Hungarian forces in Transylvania, in the autumn of 1916, the Romanian Army suffered a series of devastating defeats. These defeats forced the Romanian military and administration to withdraw to Western Moldavia, allowing the Central Powers to occupy two thirds of the national territory, including the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
The main causes of the Romanian Army’s defeat by the numerically inferior German and Austro-Hungarian forces in the campaign of 1916 were the major political interferences in the act of military supervision, the incompetence, the imposture and the cowardice of a significant part of the military echelon of conduct, as well as the lack of an adequate training and troops’ equipment for that specific type of war.[citation needed]
On the night of 27 August 1916, three Romanian armies started the attack by crossing the Southern Carpathians and entering Transylvania. The first attacks were paved with success, forcing the Austro-Hungarians to retreat. While the Romanian army was advancing in Transylvania at 9 p.m., the Romanian ambassador in Vienna, count Edgar Mavrocordat, presented Romania’s declaration of war at the secretariat of the Austria-Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During that day, many Romanians with Austria-Hungarian citizenship were arrested in Bucharest. Among these were Ioan Slavici and Ioan Bălan.
By mid-September the Germans transferred four divisions on the front of Transylvania and stopped the Romanian advance. The Russians moved three divisions in order to help Romanians, but these troops were not equipped properly.
General Esposito affirmed that the Romanian army leaders made some strategic and operational mistakes:
From a military point of view, the Romanian strategy had been the worst. By choosing Transylvania as a primary objective, the Romanian army totally ignored the Bulgarian army behind it. When the offensive through the mountains failed, the High Romanian Commandment refused to save the forces on the front in order to allow the creation of a moving supply, with which the later threat of Falkenhayn would rejected. Romanians never amassed its forces appropriate in order to obtain the concentration of the fight power.
The first counterattack of the Central Powers was organized by General August von Mackensen, who coordinated a multinational army consisting of mostly Bulgarian with some German and later Ottoman troops. The northward attack was initiated by Bulgaria on 1 September. The attack was directed from the positions on the Danube to Constanța. Bulgarian troops, including the German-Bulgarian Detachment, surrounded and stormed the fortress of Turtucaia. The Battle of Turtucaia ended with the capitulation of the Romanian garrison on 6 September. Simultaneously with the assault, the Bulgarian Third Army defeated a Romanian-Russian force including the First Serbian Volunteer Division at the Battle of Bazargic, despite the almost double superiority of the Entente.
On 15 September, the Romanian Council of War decided to suspend the offensive in Transylvania and to concentrate instead on the destruction of the Mackensen groups of armies. The plan, known as Flămânda Offensive, consisted in an attack on the Central Powers forces through a flank and back shot, after the crossing of Danube at Flămânda, while, on the main front line, the Romanian-Russian troops had to launch an offensive from Cobadin towards Kurtbunar. On 1 October, two Romanian divisions forced the course of the Danube at Flămânda and created a large bridgehead of 14 kilometers and 4 kilometers in depth. On the same day, the Romanian-Russian division initiated an offensive on the frontline of Dobruja which recorded limited success. The failed attempt to break the German-Bulgarian front in Dobruja, combined with the violent storm during the night of 1-2 October, which damaged the pontoon bridge over Danube, determined Averescu to cancel the whole operation. The consequences of this failure were big for the rest of the campaign.[citation needed]
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