The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-07
MACKENSEN GOES FORWARD

stored the position here. too.
MACKENSEN GOES FORWARD
| At the end of October and the begin
ming of November. while the fighting
on all fronts was still at its zenith.
and the end was not yet in sight our
| second concentration against Rumania
was In full swing. 1t was no simple
| task. 1t took a long time, during which
we had ample opportunity to reflect
over the wisdom of our decision. 1t
would be justified by success But If
it had failed what would then have
been the verdict passed on the cam
paign against Rumania?
| After endless supply difficulties had
been surmounted, Field Marshal Won
Mackensens preparations in the Do
brudja were complete by the middle of
| October.
| The attack began on October 10
| Once more German blood had to flow
| because our allies were not equal to
| the demands made by this war. The
enemy had been considerably rein
| forced, and, at the beginning of Octo
Der, attempted to strike at the Ger
| man Bulgarian Turkish army in the
Dobrudja. However, his attacks were
not co-ordinated nor pressed with suf-
| ficient determination. He let slip the
opportunity of which he might have
made good use.
| Field Marshal Won Mackensen's at
| tack resulted, after three days of heavy
| fighting. in a brilliant break through.
The hostile army was thrown back in
disorder northward over the Constanza
Cernavoda railway. The pursuit was
| relentlessly taken up. BY the 2Srd,
Constanza, with its rich stores of oil,
was in our possession, and soon after
ward Cernavoda also fell. The pursuit
was not relaxed until we were as miles
north of the railway.
| (Mackensen by this stroke had cap
| tured the Cernavoda -Constanza rail-
| road thus cutting Rumanias principal
route to the Black Sea and blockading
supplies and reinforcements from Rus
| sia)
| or course the question was raised
whether the army should not exploit
! its victory further and press on north
ward right to the Danube cas- miles
further on). l vetoed this, as the check
Transylvanian mountains had. mean
to the Archduke Charles attack in the
while, become an irrefutable fact
Even If the Srd Bulgarian army with
it's inadequate communications had
pressed forward to the Danube, it would
only have been isolated there. 1t
could not have been brought in to CO.
operate with the 9Th army in it's in
vasion of western Wallachia. Yet that
cooperation constituted a condition
precedent to the success of the whole
operation.
Much though G. H. Q. regretted 1t, or
ders were issued for Field Marshal Won
Mackensen to cease his advance, pre-
pare to cross the Danube south of
Bucharest, and effect the crossing in
the greatest possible strength in the
latter half of November.
The field marshal, on his own re-
sponsibilty, left only particularly
weak force in the Northern Dobrudja.
1t entrenched a line here and of course
its position continued to be very pre-
carious.
The bulk of Mackensen's army was
transferred to Rustchuk (35 miles
south of Bucharest), partly by forced
marches, and partly by the very made
quate Dobrudja railway, which was
gradually getting into working order
again. Field Marshal Won Mackensen
chose Sistova for his crossing place.
For us, in Pless, this westerly point
was convenient, as the Danube army
was thus brought nearer to the parts
of the 9th army which were forcing
their way into west Wallachia.
The region of Orsova cat the west
ern end of Rumania on the Danube),
the Vulcan and Szurdok passes Cat the
northwest corner of Wallachia). or the
Red Tower pass (south of Hermann
stadD, presented themselves as gate
ways into Wallachia from west and
north
Just south of the Red Tower pass
General Kraft Won Dellmensinger.
with his Alpine corps. reinforced by two
Austrian mountain brigades. had, after
the battle of Hermannstadt met with
a very stubborn resistance in covering
the flanks of the 9th army when it
was pressing forward toward Kron-
stadt In order to attract the enemy
to his front, and SO relieve the burden
of this army, he had adopted offence as
the best means of defence.
In spite of violent fighting, in which
the Rumanians often counter-attacked,
the Alpine corps was able to gain but
little ground south of the pass by the
end of October. 1t was a case of true
mountain warfare in winter in all Its
characteristic FORMS with all its stu
pendous difficulties. The troops. includ-
ing the Austrian mountain brigades,
fought admirably. but it was a terribly
slow business.
Rumania would not follow the advice
of the allied experts, who tried to get
her to give up part OF her extended
frontier and concentrate her armies to
better advantage. She was overex-
tended and the Germans were conse-
quently able to find weak places and
advantage of this condition to crush
Rumania is told by Ludendorff in the
next instalment.
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