Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-11-13

pushed back. The German troops who
had already crossed the Mellow were
cut off. The situation was certainly
very critical. The enemy's enyelop-
ing movement was only stopped by a
Turkish division which was marching
In the second line.
The Rumanian attack was not
pressed home; the right wing Of the
9Th army was brought up with all
possible speed to meet it. on Deem
Der the cavalry of the 9th army was
in position on the action front of the
Danube army. On the Bird we had
infantry as well within reach, and
so the crisis was overcome. On the
4th we started a counter-attack,
which was skillfully evaded by the
Rumanians
In the meantime General KuhneS
left wing had effected a junction with
General Krafft's group, and forced
back the Rumanian list army east
ward across the Argos. Hencefor-
ward the Danube army and the 9Th
army fought side by side. The sue
cess Of the operation was assured.
1t had not been easy to bring the
two armies into close tactical CO.
operation at the last moment, on De-
cember /. The attempt had almost
miscarried, Even in war accidents Of
all kinds have to be rackoned with.
Load Taken Off His Mind.
No sooner had this crisis been sur
mounted than we found ourselves
faced with another. Would Bucha-
rest be defended as a fortress or not?
Such a defense would have been very
awkward for us, for it would have
the campaign in Rumania
considerably The season was already
far advanced. We had to make prep
arations for the following year. All
kinds of material necessary for at
tack had been placed in readiness and
everything possible had been done 10
hasten the fall of the fortress.
A great load was taken off my
mind when, on the 9Th the report was
received that our cavalry divisions
had in the night of December SO
found the northern works of the
fortress unoccupied and blown up. On
the 9Th we were in possession Of
Ploesti and Campina The
under English orders and
had effected a very thor
ough destruction of the oil fields.
So far the Russians had not taken
any serious part in the fighting. A
Russian thrust on December south
east of Bucharest was of no import
ance.
1t is not easy to understand why
they let the Rumanians be beaten
before they came in; they could very
easily have sent forces to Wallachia.
1t was only because the Russians were
not there that we were successful.
CThe Rumanians have charged that
German influences at the Petrograd
court kept reinforcements from COM
ing to them until they had been de-
feated.)
Fear Moves the Russians.
From this time onward the Rus
slams brought up reinforcements.
They now seemed to fear for their
own flank They reduced their
forces in the Dobrudia in order to be
stronger in Wallachia
For the rest of the campaign the
object in view was to strike an even
more crushing blow at the Ruman-
ians defeat the Russians, whose ar
rival was now a certainty, while they
were assembling, and bring the opera
tons to conclusion by reaching the
mouth of the Danube Sereth- Trotusk
line. This was the shortest line we
could take up. Our military economic
made it imperative that we
should secure it.
The battles east of the Bucharest
Pioesti line now assumed a different
character from their predecessors.
Our troops were tired and could only
attack the enemy frontally. The pos
sihility of outflanking the enemy was
only slight, as he was increasing his
forces, especially in the mountains
The Russians were soon in great
strength; they fought better than the
Rumanians.
The supply of ammunition, which
was now needed in larger quantities,
was a slow business, as communica-
tons had become much worse. Heavy
rain set in and was followed towards
the new year by an unusually severe
frost
Break Through Strong Lines.
On December 10 the Danube army
and the 9Th army, on the Jalomnitsa
and at Misil, southeast Of Buzau, were
facing the Rumanian and Russian
troops in prepared positions. Yet
they succeeded in quickly breaking
down their resistance, crossing the
Jalomnitsa on the 18th and taking
Buzau after hard fighting on the 18th.
On the 18th this army group was
already in the plain before another
strong position between the Danube
and the mountains to the southwest
of Rimnicu Sarat
Field Marshal Won Mackensen had
ordered the Bulgarian Srd
army also to take up a position on
the right bank of the Danube With
out meeting any serious resistance, It
pushed on as far as the mouth of
this river, which was actually reach
ed on December "a. 1t then wheeled
in the direction of the Braila right
bank bridgehead.,
In the plain west of the Danube the
army group could not attack until
ammunition had been brought up.
After a very violent struggle the 9th
army broke through the Russian and
Rumanian positions at Christmas and
forced the enemy TO withdraw his
whole front towards the upper Sereth
more particularly in the direction OF
Braila and Focsani.
Men in Sore Need of Rest.
South of the Sereth. however, the
enemy's resistance was in no way
broken and fighting in Wallachia
went on we'll into January. Our men