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Map of the the Balkan Front — Germany's Southeast Front — with the mountain passes between Austria-Hungary and Romania. From the Reichsarchiv history of the wars in Serbia and Romania, Herbstschlacht in Macedonien; Cernabogen 1916.The capitals of Belgrade (Serbia), Bucharest (Romania), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Constantinople (Turkey) are prominent, as is Salonica, Greece, the Allied entry port into the country.
Map showing the territorial gains (darker shades) of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece, primarily at the expense of Turkey, agreed in the Treaty of Bucharest following the Second Balkan War. Despite its gains, Bulgaria also lost territory to both Romania and Turkey.
1917 original pen and ink drawing of a sentry in the dunes of the Belgian coast viewing a ship on the horizon. Possibly by W Wenber, Leading Seaman.
German postcard map of the Romanian theater of war, with map labels in Bulgarian added in red. From north to south the labels are Russia, the Austro-Hungarian regions of Galicia and Bukovina, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and, along the Black Sea, the Romania region of Dobruja. Romania's primary war aim was the annexation of the Austro-Hungarian region of Transylvania, with its large ethnic Romanian population.
Photograph from overhead of bomber, likely an Italian Caproni Ca.1, a two-engined biplane.
"It was a dull morning. We packed our belongings, wrote letters and mended some of our torn clothing. Our head doctor arrived, and told us that plans had been altered and that our flying detachment was to go south into Roumania. We were delighted! Roumania was our ally and Russian troops had already joined forces with the Roumanian Army and were carrying on a slow but successful campaign. So once again, we were buoyed up with high hopes, knowing that a new period of work was about to begin for us. But we did not overlook the stern fact that the Germans had driven the Russian Armies out of Galicia and beaten them back over the Russian frontier. It was the truth — a terrible tragic truth, and had to be faced. All day long we heard distant firing, despite the fact that the Russian retreat had reached an end." ((1), more)
"Two days after the German 9th Army attacked at Mărăşeşti, the left wing of Group Gerok launched its Oituz offensive eastward toward the Trotuş valley. The immediate objective was to outflank and pinch off Averescu's intrusion into the Soveja basin. The Austro-Hungarian command also hoped Gerok's forces could continue across the Trotuş river. Then, under pressure from the 9th Army and the Austrian 7th Army attacking out of Bukovina, the Romanian army would be crushed and all Moldavia occupied. Otherwise, Archduke Josef argued, 'Romania will revive and cause us much trouble.'" ((2), more)
"August 9th.—The camp, flooded by thunder plumps, has been a comical sight. Everything that could float floated. The men turned out barelegged, or more, swearing and mirthful. One party worked for two hours on a drainage scheme for their tent-floor before realizing that water won't flow to a higher level. One of the Drums, in his shirt only, squatted on an island hummock playing, 'The end of a perfect day.'—This evening, with good visibility at last, the Mont des Cats and other heights and the tower of St. Omer Cathedral could be seen from a dune." ((3), more)
"Three assaults were made under a glowing August sun. The Germans answered each with counterattacks of their own. The battle of Doaga ended in a bloody stalemate. French Major Caput, reporting to Berthelot, summed up the fighting of 10 August [1917]: ' The combat has been very severe, 5000 have been killed and wounded, a true battle.' Postwar calculations have established that Romanian casualties alone on 10 August were 4,795, including 1,200 prisoners. Virtually all these losses were suffered by the 5th ID and the 9th ID. The latter's 9th Rifle Regiment was reduced to seven officers and 400 men in the line. For the Romanians, 10 August stands out as one of the bloodiest days of the Battle of Mărăşeşti." ((4), more)
"Throughout July the Austro-Hungarians were aware that the Italians were preparing for another offensive. Towards the end of July and into August increasing numbers of Italian deserters, desperate to escape the coming carnage, brought detailed intelligence of the Italian dispositions. During the same period the bomber squadrons of the Italian air force became much more active and aggressive in attacking rear areas, particularly on the Bainsizza Front. One spectacular raid on 11 August destroyed the main ammunition dump for the plateau front at Grapa. This would weaken the Austrian artillery support to their embattled army in the coming weeks." ((5), more)
(1) Entry for August 7 (July 25, Old Style) from the diary of Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross. On July 31, her unit had at first unwittingly crossed from Austria-Hungary into Russia in the retreat following the collapse of Russia's Kerensky Offensive. A week earlier, on July 24, the Romanians, with Russian support, had launched their Mărăşti offensive in Moldavia, the only part of the country not occupied by Central Power forces. The German counter-attack, the Battle of Mărăşeşti, began on August 6, 1917. Galicia was the northeastern region of Austria-Hungary.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, page 297, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(2) Romania's Mărăşti offensive, supported by Russian troops, began on July 24, 1917 with an attack in Moldavia, the only part of the country not occupied by Central Power forces. The Romanians suspended the battle on August 1. German commander August von Mackensen responded with a German-Austro-Hungarian campaign, the Battle of Mărăşeşti, began on August 6. The attack described above, the Battle of Oituz, began on August 8 north of the fighting at Mărăşeşti. General Alexandru Averescu commanded the Romanian 2nd Army in the battle, Archduke Josef the Austro-Hungarian troops.
The Romanian Battlefront in World War I by Glenn E. Torrey, page 237, copyright © 2011 by the University Press of Kansas, publisher: University Press of Kansas, publication date: 2011
(3) Entry for August 9, 1917 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and fellow soldiers who served with him. Dunn was in Bray-Dunes, France, on the English Channel coast and the Belgian border, roughly 40 km. from Ypres where the Third Battle of Ypres had started on July 31. 'Thunder plump' is a Scottish and northern Irish expression for a violent rain storm accompanied by lightning and thunder. St. Omer is nearly 50 km. from Bray-Dunes.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 373, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(4) 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. The village of Doaga, south of Mărăşeşti, was taken the next day. General Henri Berthelot led the French Military Mission to Romania which trained, re-armed, and supplied the Romanian army after its defeat in 1916.
The Romanian Battlefront in World War I by Glenn E. Torrey, pp. 218–219, copyright © 2011 by the University Press of Kansas, publisher: University Press of Kansas, publication date: 2011
(5) Italian commander in chief Luigi Cadorna launched four offensives on the Isonzo River along Italy's northeastern border in 1915 and five in 1916. His Tenth Battle of the Isonzo raged from May 12 through June 8, 1917. At the beginning of August he prepared for the next Battle of the Isonzo, the Eleventh.
Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign: The Italian Front 1915–1918 by John MacDonald with Željko Cimprić, page 137, copyright © John MacDonald, 2011, 2015, publisher: Pen and Sword Books, publication date: 2011
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