Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1916-11-30
HOW RUMAN|A'S DREAM
WAS R||D|':''%s'' s''','''' &C.. s,'a'''''.:...'rTEFRFD
One Of the Battles Of the Present War Which Future Gen.
erations Will Study Is the One Causing the Retreat
Of the Rumanian Forces in Transylvania.

Oct. Correspondence OF the AS
sociated Press .)-One of the battles
of the present war which future gen.
erations will study is the one which
led to the complete rout and disor-
ganization of the First Rumanian
army southeast of this city. For sew
eral reasons the battle in question is
by far the most interesting Of the
European war. 1t caused the retreat
of the Rumanian forces which had
invaded Pennsylvania, and called for
flank maneuver whose success was
possible only with an enemy who
took too much tor granted.
When General Falkenhayn's forces
reached the country north of Her.
mannstadt, the general military stu
alton was not favorable for the cen
trail powers troops. The invading
A.ulnanlan 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 val.
ley of the Alt was in the hands of the
kumanians, and the Germans and Aus
trO-Hungarian troops depended for
transportation upon few single
tracked railroads OF little strategic
value.
Gradually contact was established
with the enemy by advancing the
central forces right wing. The Vul.
can pass was taken. This done, the
Teutonic army pressed slowly for
ward along the Transylvanian Alps,
.,riving the Rumanians before them
The intention of the Rumanian gener-
al staff to push as far west as the
Thesis river was wrecked.
mel mannstadt had not been occu-
pied by the Rumanians, 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. drhe Ruman-
ians lay south OF the city in half
circle, refrained from offensive ma
neuvers. and SO gave Falkenhayn the
very opportunity he needed to set his
great drive in motion. Slowly the
imperial troops were advanced to-
wards 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 September
23.
The Rumanians had the Red Tower
pass in their rear. and q frontal at
tack might do no more than throw
them upon this. 1t was necessary to
close the pass. This could be done
only by sending troops through the
mountains west of the pass, a very
difficult maneuver, since the noun
tains have no roads OF any sort. Ar.
tillery and supply trains 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 alpine" sol
diers being in reality natives Of Neck
lenburg, men who in all their lives
had never climbed q mountain.
Three battalions set out. The men
carried food for four days and their
regular issue of ammunition. Re-
serve supplies were carried on hasti-
ly organized pack train. Through the
foothills of the mountains q road
could be used, then paths were fol-
lowed. and finally the crests near the
Rumanian border had to be gained
through dense forests and across
boulder fields.
An odd feature of the maneuver
was that the contact established with
the Rumanian border guards did not
result in the commander of the first
Rumanian army taking some precau'
tionary measure for the protection OF
his flank. The German flankers had
daily skirmishes with the Rumanian
border troops, but never met serious
opposition.
The thanking force was to reach the
Red Tower pass on Sept. 26. on which
day a frontal attack was to be made
from the direction of Hermannstadt
Despite great hardships and the aban
donment at the village of Dus of the
pack train, the Germans succeeded In
reaching the heights above the All
defile on the morning of the twenty
sixth. Some engineers descended into
the gorge and blew up the road al
two points where revetments made
this feasible. Even then the Ruman
ians seem to have felt absolutely Sc
cure. The fact that in their rear an
enemy was destroying their one di
rect line OF communication does no,
seem to have troubled them much
Probably the thought that the road
through the Alt valley and to Kron
stadt was open may be responsible
for this.
The original program had called fol
q general attack at o'clock In tht
morning of the twenty-sixth. Tht
thanking troops were in telephone
connection with headquarters. and 81
learned that the attack from Hermann
stadt had been postponed. The sit
uation of the Alpine troops was fa
from reassuring. A movement on thei
own flank might be undertaken by tn
Rumanians at any hour. The twenty
sixth passed. The thanking body ha'
been divided into three columns, a
the pass was approached. The on
advancing close to the Rumanian bol
der reached the pass close to Riu
Vatului, the Rumanian border point
The central column neared the gorg
three miles above. while the thir'
body squeezed itself through between
the Rumanians at Herannstadt an
the central range.