Map of Romania and the Allied and Central Power campaign plans for 1917. 'Romanian Territories under Foreign Rule' include Transylvania, Austria-Hungary, northwest of the Carpathian Mountains, and Bessarabia, Russia, to the east between the Prut and Nistru Rivers, regions with large ethnic Romanian populations. From Romania in World War I, a Synopsis of Military History by Colonel Dr. Vasile Alexandrescu.
The Romanian Army in the 1917 CampaignRomanian territories under foreign ruleThe Romanian territory invaded by troops of the Central Powers in the 1916 campaignThe Romanian-Russian campaign plan for the summer of 1917The German-Austro-Hungarian campaign plan for the summer of 1917Romanian troopsRussian troopsTroops of the Central Powers
"The human cost of the Battle of Mărăşeşti was high. The 9th German Army lost 16,000 dead and wounded. One of these was General Wenninger, killed by an enemy bullet on 8 September. The best available casualty figures for the Romanians place their dead and wounded at over 17,000, with almost 10,000 missing or prisoners. This is comparable to the German losses, with the exception that fewer than 1,000 Germans were taken prisoner. Russian losses were similar to the Romanian losses . . ."
The German Mărăşeşti offensive began on August 6, 1917 in hopes of destroying Romania's army and seizing Moldavia, the only part of the country not occupied by Central Power forces. After three weeks of fighting, German commander Erich Ludendorff ordered an end to the campaign in order to transfer the German Alpine Corps and the Austro-Hungarian 13th Infantry Division to the Italian Front to support the Austro-Hungarians then fighting the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo. Before suspending operations, on August 28, 1917, the Alpine Corps attacked two Russian divisions holding the Romanian-Russian front at the village of Muncelu, driving the Russians back as much as four kilometers. Allied troops counterattacked on August 29, September 1, and September 3, suffering heavy losses, while retaking only a quarter of the lost ground. With the Romanians and Russians exhausted and the Central Power forces diminished, the battle came to an end.
The Romanian Battlefront in World War I by Glenn E. Torrey, page 234, copyright © 2011 by the University Press of Kansas, publisher: University Press of Kansas, publication date: 2011
1917-09-02, 1917, September, Battle of Mărăşeşti, Mărăşeşti, Battle of Marasesti, Marasesti, Romania map, 1917 Romania campaign map
