The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1916-12-15
Roumanians Avoided Trap.

man1anS from the city Oh BUCHAREST
and the surrounding region was made
imperative by the advance of the Ger
manic troops on three sides Of the
capital. To avoid thanking operations
that would have eaten into their
armies King Ferdinand's commanders
slipped out of the enemy's trap with
their forces apparently almost intact.
Recent advices stated that the mill
tary authorities had decided to make
no stand in the capital. which was re-
ported to have been stripped of the
defenses that once made it one Of the
most powerfully fortified positions in
the world.
The capture of Bucharest marks the
elimination of an operation accounted
by military commentators one of the
most soundly conceived and brilliantly
executed strategical feats Of the great
war.
From the hour when Field Marshal
Won Mackensen forced a crossing OF
the Danube and, on November "a, set
foot on Roumanian soil, effecting a
junction shortly afterward with Cen
eral Won Falkenhayn's armies, driving
through Wallachia from the west,
there seemed little doubt Of the ulti-,
mate fate of the Roumanian capital.
The relentless pressure of the Teu-
tonic invading armies, with their pre-
ponderance of heavy artillery, proved
too much for King Ferdinand's forces
once the Roumanian front was broken
in western Wallachia and the Danube
crossed behind the line Of the north
ern Teutonic irruption.
Continuously outfanked on the
south by Won Mackensen's advance
and on the north by further Austro-
German irruptions through the noun
tain passes, the Roumanians had no
choice but to fall back upon the line
of their capital and now have been
forced to yield even that.
Hold $4,000 Square Miles.
The taking of Bucharest virtually
completes the conquest by the Teu-
tonic forces of the southern section of
the Roumanian kingdom, embracing
territory of more than $4,000 square
miles.
The beginning of the Teutonic cam
paign against Roumanian dates back
to the Roumanian entrance into the
war on August 81 Perhaps taken by
surprise by the speed with which the
Roumanians threw their troops across
the Pennsylvania Alps into Hungary
and took possession of Kronstadt, Her
mannstadt and a wide sweep of Hun
garian territory, the Austro-German
military authorities were awake to the
opportunities in Dobrudia, on the Rou-
manian southeastern front. Within
few days the Bulgarians were found
to be winning signal successes along
the Danube, capturing Turtukai on
September 7 and Silistria on the 10th.
There remained then the operation Of
clearing the remainder of Dobrudja up
to the important railway line running
from the Black Sea port of Constanza
into interior Roumania. over the
bridge at Tchernavoda.
This Won Mackensen accomplished
something more than a month later.
and capturing the railway. thus shut
ting of Bucharest from direct rail
communication with the Black Sea
and cutting the most convenient line
for sending Russian reinforcements
and supplies into Roumania.
Crushed AS In Nutcracker.
This accomplished there began the
process of crushing Roumania in the
nutcracker fashion made familiar by
the Caravans in this war. First, the
Roumanians were pushed back to their
frontier on the north. This was
easily accomplished, as the invaders
of Hungary were apparently ill-eQuip-
ped to hold their ground. Gen. Won
Falkenhayn, in charge of this opera
ton, then began hammering at the
passes through the Transylvanian
Alps, which 1t was necessary to carry
to reach the Roumanian plain. The
Roumanians, assisted in some cases
by the Russians, tenaciously defended
these passes and their approaches, but
all along the line the Teutonic attack
progressed and finally ON November is
came the vital break in the Rouman-
ian line. This occurred in the Upper
jul Valley, when Won Falkenhayn won
the great battle Of Tirgu-Jui and
opened the way to the plains OF Little
Wallachia.
FaIkenhayn's Advance Rapid.
Driving southwark Won Falkenhayn
quickly captured Craiova, cutting off
the Roumanian forces in the Orsova
region, in extreme Western Rou
mania, and by November % had vir
.ualy completed the conquest of Little
Wallachia. The Eoumanians' retreat
eastward was in full swing by this