Following the defeat of the Romanian 3rd Army at Turtucaia in early September 1916, the commanding general of this army was replaced with Alexandru Averescu on 7 September, whom historian John Buchan considered "the ablest of Rumanian generals". At the end of September, Romanian forces occupied the island of Cinghinarele. Averescu had deployed on the island an infantry company along with two artillery batteries of three guns each. Cinghinarele is a low-lying island in the Danube, a third of a mile wide and two and a half miles long. It is located at the eastern opening of the Belene Channel. Aside from the garrison, the Romanians had also laid mines near the island.