Romania launched its invasion of Transylvania on 27 August 1916. However, despite not being an actual part of Transylvania, the west bank of the Cserna had logistical importance, being the location of the city of Orsova (today Orșova), which was the end of a railroad as well as a port on the Danube. The Cserna River streamed from the Transylvanian Alps, forming the border between Romania and the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary up to a point around north of Orsova, from where the border went south, overland, towards the Danube. The Romanian attack was carried out by the Romanian 1st Infantry Division, under General Ion Dragalina. The division was part of General Ioan Culcer's 1st Romanian Army. The 1st Division comprised seven infantry regiments, a force which reflected the importance of Dragalina's offensive. In reality, Orsova was rejected as a staging area by the Central Powers, due to its weak transportation links. Furthermore, the Romanians did not have to capture the town in order to deny its use to their enemy. It would have sufficed if the Romanians settled on capturing only the steep ridge east of Orsova, where their artillery could render the town uninhabitable. Opposed to the Romanian 1st Infantry Division was the Austro-Hungarian 145th Infantry Brigade, under Colonel Rudolf von Fiebich-Ripke. The brigade - part of General Arthur Arz von Straussenburg's 1st Army - had the equivalent strength of a regiment, consisting of three infantry battalions and one rear-area guard battalion, with three machine-gun sections, two batteries (31 artillery pieces) and the river monitor SMS "Álmos". Despite being heavily outnumbered, Orsova's defenders benefited from the advantage provided by the steep ridge which ran north to south, named the Alion Height. It was a formidable barrier, and Fiebich-Ripke was well aware of this, as he had his units deployed along the ridge. Also, the Romanian 1st Division was isolated from the rest of the 1st Army.