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Advanced troops of the 1st Army occupied Nagyszeben (Sibiu/Hermannstadt) - seat of Szeben County - on 2 September. On the following day, however, the town was evacuated.[40] When Transylvania came under the protection of the Habsburgs in the late 17th century, Nagyszeben became its seat. For most of the 18th century and a short period of the 19th, Nagyszeben was the residence of the governors of Transylvania.[41] The 1st Army also occupied district seats. Petrozsény, the seat of Petrozsény District within Hunyad County, was taken on 29 August, lost for the first time on 18 September, then reconquered on the 25th before being lost for good during fighting in the area between 30 September and 5 October.[42] The fighting for the town itself took place between 1 and 3 October.[43] Nagydisznód (Cisnădie/Heltau), seat of Nagydisznód District within Szeben County, was taken by the Romanian 1st Army on 30 August[44] before being lost on 27 September.[45] The 1st Army reached its peak advance into Transylvania in the first half of September. By 12 September, three-fourths of the distance between the vital junction of Hátszeg (Hațeg/Wallenthal) and the Romanian border had been covered.[46] Two days earlier, on 10 September, the 1st Army entered Sellenberk (Șelimbăr/Schellenberg).[47]
Aftermath[edit]
Austrian mortar battery at Turnu Roșu Pass, with a column of Romanian prisoners of war in the background
The Romanian invasion caused the sacking of Erich von Falkenhayn as the Chief of Staff of the Imperial German Army. He was replaced by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. Falkenhayn's dismissal made him "the first German casualty of the campaign". Stopping the Romanian advance into Transylvania became the top German priority, meaning that the offensive at Verdun had to be ended. The German 9th Army was created on 6 September specifically to deal with the situation in Transylvania, and it was commanded by Falkenhayn. Several of its units were moved to Transylvania from various fronts: two Reserve Corps headquarters from the Baltic Front, the 187th Infantry Division from Alsace, the 89th Infantry Division from Galicia, and the 3rd Cavalry Division from Russia.[48] Although commanders from all fronts begged Ludendorff for reinforcements, the latter made his priorities clear: "Hold on to all our positions along the Western, Eastern, Italian and Macedonian Fronts; [and] deploy any and all available forces for the decisive blow against the Romanians.". The Austrians moved mountain brigades from the Italian Front to Transylvania, while the Germans redeployed the Alpine Corps from Verdun and the 76th Reserve Division from Riga.[49]
Before the counter-offensive of the Central Powers, it was established that Germany would be in charge.[49] On 28 August, the Austrians - unable to muster resistance at any level - reluctantly agreed to a unified Central Powers command for the Eastern Front. This essentially meant handing control of all military operations to the Germans.[50] Due to the Austro-Hungarians being initially outnumbered more than 10 to 1, Romania could be defeated only through the joint effort of all four Central Powers, but this would have been possible only under a unified command. During September the Central Powers ratified agreements making the German emperor their supreme commander, a concession which gave Hindenburg and Ludendorff control over the Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian and Ottoman armies.[51] Politically, the new unified command under the German Kaiser was created on 7 September. It not only cemented German ascendancy in the Berlin-Vienna alliance, but also limited the Austro-Hungarian diplomatic initiative.[52] The Central Powers chain of command during the battle was clear: the Austro-Hungarian General Arz was the one taking orders from the German General Falkenhayn, not the other way around. An example of this can be found towards the end of the battle, when Falkenhayn ordered Arz to pursue the retreating enemy.[53]
The German 9th Army defeated and drove back across the Transylvanian border two Romanian armies, but failed to destroy them. The bulk of the Romanian 1st Army managed to escape through the Red Tower Pass, leaving behind only 3,000 prisoners.[54] The Romanian 2nd Army left behind even fewer prisoners during its retreat across the border, just 1,175. The German 89th Division failed to "stay glued to the retreating enemy", as Falkenhayn had ordered. Instead, its tired soldiers set up camp.[55] The amount of Romanian prisoners was small compared to comparable battles against the Russians. Falkenhayn attributed this to the ability of the Romanians to fade away into the mountains, but the speed of the Romanian withdrawal also played a part. Other factors for the "disappointing" number of prisoners include determined Romanian counterattacks which - combined with the ruggedness of the terrain - left the Germans too tired to conduct immediate pursuits, as well as determined rearguard actions which forced Falkenhayn's units to exercise caution. Nonetheless, the Germans did their absolute best, with Falkenhayn himself stating: "with the best will in the world it was not possible to increase our efforts".[56]
The Austro-Hungarian 1st Army performed much poorer than its German ally. Despite stubborn resistance, it continued to be pushed back by the Romanian North Army as late as October.[15] When the North Army was ordered to retreat in early October, the exhausted Austrians moved slowly and gave their enemies an uncontested run to the border.[21] The field performance of the opposing Romanian and Austro-Hungarian armies thus appears to confirm Ludendorff's statement: "The Romanians are bad soldiers; the Austrians even worse."[57]
Over 200,000 Hungarians and Saxons evacuated the border regions. Two thirds of the population of Nagyszeben (Sibiu) moved out, and an even greater proportion left Csíkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc).[58]
At the height of their offensive, the Romanians were in control of almost a third of Transylvania (7,000 square miles or 18,000 square km). This area comprised the entirety of four administrative departments (Brassó, Csík, Fogaras and Háromszék) and parts of five others. Up to this time, the Romanians had captured 7,000 prisoners.[59] During the Romanian offensive, the Austro-Hungarian Motorkanonwagen was destroyed by Romanian artillery. This was an armored self-propelled rail car, armed with a turreted 7 cm gun. It was the sole example made, and the most futuristic-looking piece of Austro-Hungarian rail armor.[60][61]
After the Romanian Army withdrew from Transylvania, in July 1917, the Hungarian Government created the "Hungarian Cultural Area", comprising the mainly Romanian inhabited Krassó-Szörény, Hunyad, Szeben, Fogaras and Brassó counties on the border with Romania. These counties welcomed the Romanian troops when they invaded, so they were united in this "cultural area" in order to prevent them from any exposure to "foreign influence".[62] By the end of the war, over 3,000 Romanian primary schools were closed.[63]
Although the battle was practically over by mid-October, major operations in the region ceasing, this was not the absolute end of the Romanian occupation. For instance, when the Central Powers launched the First Battle of the Jiu Valley on 23 October, the Eastern flank of the Central Powers troops was several miles behind the Transylvanian border, meaning that the Romanians had held onto that sliver of Transylvanian territory up until that point. Although the battle was a Romanian victory, it did amount to a complete withdrawal of the Romanian 1st Army from Transylvania.[64] A cause for confusion regarding the end date of the Battle of Transylvania lays in the fact that the region's borders had been altered since 1916. The town of Predeal, part of Romania at the start of the 1916 campaign, is today part of the Transylvanian county of Brașov. Thus, judging by the current borders of the region, the battle would have actually ended on 25 October, when the fighting for Predeal ceased and the town was seized by the Central Powers.[65] The end of the Battle of Transylvania did not necessarily mean the end of Romanian presence in the region, as small-scale offensives across the border continued for some time longer. For example, as late as 26 October, the Romanians captured Balánbánya (Bălan/Kupferbergwerk).[66]
Analysis[edit]
When the battle started on 27 August, 34,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers opposed 369,000 Romanians, amounting to a Romanian numerical superiority of over 10 to 1.[67] This situation was largely reversed by the middle of September. By 18 September, the armies of the Central Powers amounted to more than 200,000 men, outnumbering the 10 Romanian divisions left in Transylvania.[68]
The Romanian offensive was doomed from the start. Its plan of action was the brainchild of General Vasile Zottu, who was paid by the Central Powers. Zottu's name was found on a list of people, Lista lui Günther [ro], who were allegedly bought by the head of a major German oil company operating in Romania. Zottu was allowed the face-saving cover of taking sick leave.[69][70] Zottu's campaign plan provided advantages for the Central Powers. The plan envisioned 12 days of regrouping after the initial Romanian crossing of the Carpathians. The Romanians halted their offensive at the end of August and started to dig in, pleasantly surprising the Germans and Austrians, who could "scarcely believe their luck". However, Zottu's plan was overruled at a war council on 2 September, and the Romanian offensive resumed.[71] Zottu's plan also left the Romanian 3rd Army alone to defend the Southern border against Bulgaria. At Turtucaia, Romanian defenses consisted mainly of reservists with little or no military training and militias. This force also had only 72 working artillery pieces, and no bridge over the Danube.[72] Finally, when German forces crossed the Danube at Zimnicea in November, Zottu - with 60,000 troops under his command - did nothing but wait. After some discussions at a war council in Bucharest, Zottu confessed and was allowed to commit suicide.[73]
The main drawbacks of the Romanian Army were its technological backwardness and lack of experience. It preferred frontal attacks by masses of infantry, but its forces wilted before machine guns and heavy artillery. Thirteen of Romania's 23 divisions had no howitzers at all, relying on light field guns of 75 mm and 53 mm. The 25 batteries of 120 mm howitzers were scattered among 10 lucky divisions. The 10 divisions also had on average 30 machine guns each, while each of the remaining 13 had half as many. By contrast, a German division in 1916 had on average 54 machine guns, not counting the light machine guns of its light infantry.[74] The causes of military failure differed between the three Romanian armies. The 1st Army was simply overpowered. It successfully resisted the Germans at Nagyszeben (Sibiu) on 26 September, the first day of the battle, but began to fall back the following day, after the Germans had amassed their artillery. While it lost Petrozsény (Petroșani) on 18 September, it counterattacked a week later on the 25th and briefly recaptured the town, enabling its troops to destroy its strategically important coal mines, before being pushed back for good between 30 September and 5 October.[75] The 2nd Army had its commander replaced in early September and its forces halved, after three of its divisions were shifted to the Dobruja front. The new commander missed the opportunity to smash open the front in mid-September.[13] The new commander of the 2nd Army, General Grigore C. Crăiniceanu, was poorly regarded. An officer of the general staff found him unqualified, while Alexandru Marghiloman, the leader of the Conservative Party, had this to say about his appointment: "How is that possible?...Do not make such a mistake; he has been confused all his life, and he is absolutely worn out.".[76] Thus, while the Germans had defeated the halved and poorly-led 2nd Army by mid-October, it's not known if the outcome would have been the same if they had faced a full-sized 2nd Army under Averescu's command. Averescu, the 2nd Army's initial commander, would eventually be promoted to the rank of Marshal. The North Army, aside from a setback in the Kelemen Mountains,[77] was not actually defeated. It continued advancing as late as October, despite stubborn Austro-Hungarian resistance. The North Army wasn't pushed back by the enemy, rather, it was ordered to retreat because of the events unfolding in Dobruja. Ordered to pursue the Romanians, the exhausted Austrians moved slowly, giving their enemies an uncontested run to the border. There, the Romanians settled into the defensive positions they had prepared before the war.[78]