Norwich bulletin., 1916-12-01
STORIES OF THE WAR
The Battle at Hermannstadt.

The Battle at Hernannstadt.
 One of the battles Of the present war which future generations will study is the one which led to the complete rout and Reorganization of the Firs. Rumanian army southeast of Hermannstadt. For several req sons the battle in question is by far the most interesting of the European war. It caused the retreat of the Ru- manian forces which had invaded Pennsylvania, and called for a flank manoeuvre whose success was possi- ble only with an enemy who tock too much for granted.
 When General Falkenhayn's forces reached the country north of Her mannstadt, the general military situ- ation was not favorable for the Gen. tral Powers troops. The invading Rumanian troops had occupied good positions and had the advantage of numerical superiority. Kronstadt and the country north of that city had been occupied. The entire valley of the Alt was in the hands of the Ru- manians, and the Germans and Aus Hungarian troops depended for transportation upon few single tracked railroads of little strategic value.
 Gradually contact was established with the enesny by advancing the
 
 can pass was taken. This done the Teutonic army pressed slowly forward along the Pennsylvania Alps, driving the Rumanians before them. The in tention of the Rumanian general staff to push as far west as the Theiss river was wrecked.
 Hermannstadt had not been occu- pied by the Rumanians, a failure due to lack of initiative. The city could have been taken without much fight ing, but already the Rumanians had been given several good examples of Falkenhayn's strategy. The Ruman- lans lay south of the city in a half circle. refrained from offensive man oeuvres, and so gave FaIkenllayn the very opportunity he needed to set his great drive in motion. Slowly the Im- per1al troops were advanced towards the hills north Of the Alt, while against the Ghost Forest in the east Central cavalry was thrown to protect the left flank.
 This was the situation on Septem- Der 23.
 The Rumanians had the Red Tower Pass in their rear, ard a frontal at tack might do no more than throw them upon this. It was necessary to close the paEs. This could be done only by sending troops through the mountains west of the pass, a very difficult manocuvre since the noun tains have no roads of any sort Ar tillery and supply train were out of the question.
 General Falkenhayn decided to at tempt the flank movement with some German alpine troops, of which Ba- Varian mountaineers were but a small contingent, many of the "alp1ne'' sol- diers being in reality natives of Mecklenburg, men who in all their lives had never climbed mountain.
 Three battalions set out. The men carried food for four days and their regular issue of ammunition. Re- serve supplies were carried on a hast fly organized pack train. Through the foothills of the mountains a road could be used, then paths were followed, and finally the crests near the Rumanian border had to be gained through dense forests and across boulder fields.
 An odd feature of the manoeuvre was that the contact established with the Rumanian border guards did not result in the comander of the First t1onary measure for the protection of his flank. The German fankers had daily skirmishes with the RUmanian border troops, but never met serious opposition.
 The f1anking force was to reach the Red Tower Pass on September 26, on which day a frontal attack was to be made from the direction of Hermann stadt. Despite great hardships and the abandonment at the village of Dus of the pack train, the Germans succeed. ed in reaching the heights above the Alt detile on the morning of the 18th. Some engineers descended into the gorge and blew up the road at two points where revetments made this feasible. Even then the Runianians seem to have felt absolutely secure The fact that in their rear an enemy was destroying their one direct line of communication does not seem to have troubled them much. Probably the thought that the road through the Alt valley and to Kronstadt was open may be responsible for this.
 The original program had called for a general attack at in the morning on the 26th. The hanking troops were in telephonic connection with head quarters. and so learned that the att tack from Hermannstadt had Eeen postponed. The situation Of the al- pine troops was far from reassuring. movement on their own flank might be undertaken by the Rumanians at any hour. The 26th passed The fanking body had been divided into three columns, as the pass was ap- preached. The one advancing close to the Rumanian border reached the pass close to Riul Vatului, the RumaniA8 border point. The central column neared the gorge three miles above, while the third body squeezed itself R Gh9H AwA~ 1~