New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-13
The Rumanian Disaster

So much in the Balkan SITUATION io
mains obscure that it is difficult 10 get
any exact idea of what has happened since
Rnmania entered the war. Yet 1t is per-
fectly patent that the Rumanian armies
have suffered severe defeats, the hu-
manian invasion of Pennsylvania has been
flung hack and an Austro-German force
is on the point of entering Wallachla, as
a Teuto-Turk- Bulgar army has already
penetrated the DobrudJa.
What have been the causes Of this sue
cess of the Central Powers, the most con-
siderable success in nearly year? Again
we are hampered by a lack Of exact knowi-
edge. but certain things are beginning 10
be established by the fragmentary testi-
mony of the cable.
First of all, there is general agreement
on the part of the Allied critics that the
Rumanians made a profound error IN at
tempting the invasion of Pennsylvania be-
fore Bulgaria was disposed Of. We are
told that political considerations at home
the desire of Rumanians to seize the
Transylvanian prize, led them to embark
on a sudden rush into undefended Austro-
Hungarian territory. But the. results
were Immediately fatal, so fatal that AL
lied newspapers now do not hesitate TO
censure Rumania for refusing to follow
the advice of her new allies.
Apparently, the whole Rumanian army,
save for division or two at Turtukan and
Silistria, was sent across the Transyl-
yanian Alps. Again, there seems to have
been some haste in the last hours Of Ru-
manian action, and the Russian armies
which were to cooperate with the Ruma-
mans were not yet in the DobrudJa when
the Rumanians finally entered the war.
Accordingly, the forces in Bulgaria, com
manded by Mackensen and including
Turks, Germans and Bulgarians, but main
" Bulgarians, five or six divisions still
fened by much German heavy artillery
pushed north into the Rumanian DobrudJa,
captured one Rumanian division at Tur-
tukan and drove the second out Of Sllis-
tria. These troops Of Mackensen we're
now less than forty miles from Bucharest,
separated from it by the wide Danube, but
too near to leave the Bucharest public
calm. 1t now became a question whether
they would attempt to force the crossing
of the Danube or push north TO cut the
railroad connecting Bucharest with Con-
stanza, on the Black Sea, and take the
bridge of Cernavoda, by which this rail-
road crosses the Danube, the only bridge
between Belgrade and the mouth of the
Danube.
But whether the army Of Mackensen
aimed for Bucharest or the bridge, it was
now necessary for the Rumanians to re-
call the armies that they had sent into
Pennsylvania. After a few prosperous
GAYS this invasion came to an abrupt halt,
the Rumanian armies flowed back TO the
Dobrudja, Russian troops were hurried
down from the north and Mackensen was
halted south Of the railroad from Bucha-
rest to Constanza, and even driven back a
few miles by the counter attacks.
Unfortunately for the Rumanians, this
did not prove 10 help them materially, be-
cause a new danger now revealed itself.
At first the Austrians had retired in
Pennsylvania, abandoning a wide area Of
territory. This retirement continued even
after the mass Of the Rumanians had been
drawn of TO meet Mackensen. But pres
emily new German army began to show
itself in Pennsylvania, or rather a new
group Of armies commanded by Falken-
hayn, the former chief Of the Great Gen
eral Staff in Berlin.
This army or army group fell upon the
Rumanians, now wholly inferior in num-
bers, and drove them after heavy defeats
back upon the Rumanan frontier, retak-
ing Hermannstadt and later Kronstadt,
and at points pushing up into the noun
tains and across the Rumanian boundary.
Some days ago the invasion Of Transyl-
vania came 20 an abrupt halt and the in
vasion of Rumania became clear proba-
bility. In a word, the Rumanian cam
paign in Pennsylvania collapsed as the
French rush into Alsace-Lorraine col
lapsed in the early days Of the present
war.
Such briefly is the story Of the Ru-
rnanian failure. We have first the precipi-
tate invasion Of Pennsylvania with the in
cidental neglect Of the Dobrudja. The
rapidly Of the decision for war in the last
hours brought on the conflict before the
Russians were on the field, and there was
left in front Of the seven divisions of
Nackensen, mainly Bulgar, only two Ru-
manian divisions. Mackensen accordingly
pushed up from the Rustchuk-Varna rail-
road, destroyed one Rumanian division and
defeated the other, approached the Bucha-
rest Constanza railroad and was only
stopped when the Rumanians abandoned
the invasion Of Transylyania and hurried
their troops back 10 the Dobrudja. This
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