Corps. These troops might be temporarily pushed back at one point or another, but the road over the pass now lay contin- uously under German fire, which inflicted heavy losses on the Rumanian columns still attempting to break through. The Alpine Corps, however, did not succeed in reaching the E. bank of the Alt, and sections of the Rumanians were thus able to escape the threatened encirclement, and to cross the western spurs of the Fogaras Mountains.
The three divs. of the XXXIX. Res. Corps made a concentric attack between Orlat-Hermannstadt and the heights to the E. of it. It was only with difficulty that they at first gained ground, and not till Sept. 28 did they succeed in breaking the Rumanian resistance; but then, in consequence of the heroic endurance of the Alpine Corps, which made both escape and the bringing up of reenforcements from the S. impossible, the Rumanian defeat became a complete collapse. This collapse was precipitated when on Sept. 27 the 3rd Cav. Div. had succeeded, with two regts. of light horse, in crossing the Alt and narrowing S.W. of Porumbacu the circle of fire round the Rumanians, while the i8th Hussar Regt. of the 3rd Cav. Div. at Chertisjora secured the front towards the E., whence there had been since Sept. 27 increasing indications of an advance by the Rumanian II. Army.
As the bringing up of reenforcements through the Roter Turm Pass from the S. failed, the Rumanian Command were compelled to set the II. Army on the march towards Hermannstadt to relieve the seriously threatened group under Gen. Popovici. The II. Rumanian Army executed their movements slowly and with difficulty, and since an advance on the shortest line in the Alt valley from the N. over Fogaras from the Agnetheln- Henndorf district might easily have been threatened on the flank, the Rumanian Army Command thought themselves first compelled to secure freedom of movement N. of the Alt river. The sections of the 7ist Inf. Div. in the forward positions were therefore first pressed back, and then the 6th Cav. Bde. of the ist Cav. Div. standing N. of Klein Schenk were thrown back westwards. Meanwhile, the Austro-Hungarian I. Army Command had sent from Schassburg to Henndorf the greater part of the 8gth Inf. Div., one infantry regt. and one light field- howitzer detachment going off by rail as army reserve to Salzburg (N. of Hermannstadt). Pushing between the 7ist Inf. Div. and the Cav. Corps, they made on Sept. 28 a successful attack in a. southerly direction, and so put the brake on the advance of the Rumanian troops N. of the Alt. The I. Army of Gen. Arz had to withdraw steadily westwards under the superior weight of the IV. Rumanian Army, and as the seriously weak- ened igth Landsturm Mountain Bde. especially had great diffi- culty in withstanding the continued Rumanian attacks in the direction of Schassburg, the I. Army Command considered it necessary to withdraw the 7 ist Inf. Div. to the Little Kukiillo (Kokel). Gen. Falkenhayn urgently dissuaded them from this move, as it would expose his eastern flank to an unbearable threat. He also expressed his doubt as to the ability of the I. Army, when once it had been pressed back behind the line of the Maros and the Little Kukiillo, to maintain that position perma- nently with its present forces. Thereupon the withdrawal of the southern wing of the I. Army was delayed.
On the afternoon of Sept. 28 the Rumanians again attacked the ist Cav. Div. N. of the Alt,, and pressed them back to the heights E. of the Haarbach; the reserve, not required at Her- mannstadt, was hastily sent with heavy motor wagons through the Haarbach valley to the aid of the heavily engaged Schmettow Cavalry Corps. Meanwhile, however, the fate of the Rumanians in the Roter Turm Pass was sealed, the attacking troops of the XXXIX. Res. Corps ceasing to meet with serious resistance in the early morning of Sept. 29. Those who were not able to escape through the forests over the mountains fell a sacrifice to the inexorable onslaught. The bulk of the Rumanian I. Army was destroyed. Three thousand prisoners a relatively small number were taken, but the whole of the artillery and the whole train fell into the hands of the victors.
It was now necessary rapidly to take new decisions for fighting the II. Rumanian Army, the threat of whose approach was im-
minent. In accordance with the instructions received, the IX. Army was to gather all its strength, and to deliver an enveloping attack from the S. against the southern wing of Rumanian main forces pushed forward W. of Fogaras. Falkenhayn intended to relieve the Alpine Corps for this purpose by the 5 ist Honved Inf. Div., to assemble the ;6th and i87th Inf. Divs. on the heights of Scorei on both sides of the Alt, and then to push forward in an easterly direction, an enveloping attacking movement in the Fogaras mountains being assigned to the Alpine Corps. But the rapid and violent push of the Rumanians in the space between the Haarbach and the Alt on Sept. 29 entailed changes in the plan of operations. The relief of the Alpine Corps had to be given up, as involving too much time; instead, the 5ist Honved Inf. Div. and the 76th Res. Div. were to reach as rap- idly as possible the Alt valley S. and N. of Avrigu and the i87th Inf. Div. Cornatielu in the Haarbach valley. The seriously weakened Cavalry Corps was to attach itself for the forward movement to the N. wing of the iSyth Inf. Div. Of the I. Army, the Sgth Inf. Div. and the strongest possible sections of the 7 ist Inf. Div., under the command of Lt.-Gen. von Morgen, were asked to attack in the direction of Bekokten. The beginning of the attack was proposed for Oct. i.
To the surprise of their enemy the Rumanians did not continue the attack N. of the Alt on Sept. 30, but withdrew a little from the Cavalry Corps. With this object they attacked S. of the Alt and drove back the i8th Hussar Regt. westwards of Chertisiora. The weariness of the troops and the almost impassable state of the roads, owing to the rain which had set in, delayed the for- ward movements, and it was agreed to begin the attack on Oct. 2. The Rumanians did not take advantage of the loss of time this entailed on the German-Austrian side, but entrenched them- selves in the positions they had reached.
The unification of the command in Transylvania was estab- lished by placing the Austro-Hungarian I. Army from Oct. i under the operative control of Falkenhayn.
On Oct. 2 began the advance of the XXXIX. Res. Corps, the Schmettow Cav. Corps and the I. Res. Corps. South of the Alt the Rumanians offered no resistance, but retreated accord- ing to plan before the German advanced troops. North of the Alt, after strong forces had been brought up by way of Gross Schenk in a westerly direction, the advance also began. The Sgth Inf. Div. attacked in the direction of Bekokten, and at first obtained a great success, but was thrown back to its point of departure by a Rumanian counter-attack. The 7 ist Inf. Div. had not been able to join in this attack because its artillery was not yet in position on account of the softness of the chalky roads after rain. Lt.-Gen. von Morgen thought the situation of these two divs. so endangered that he intended to withdraw them as far as the sector Henndorf-Jakobsdorf. On Oct. 3, however, this idea was abandoned, as the enemy themselves had with- drawn eastwards. Owing to this movement touch with the Rumanians became extremely loose, which made it exceedingly difficult for the Austro-German Command to discover betimes the measures taken by them.
On their side the Rumanians had obviously abandoned as early as Oct. 2 the idea of continuing the offensive. Impressed by the annihilating defeat at Hermannstadt and recognizing the impossibility of attacking in a tactically unfavourable situation the IX. Army, rapidly advanced eastwards, they had decided to withdraw betimes in order to defend the frontier passes. In order to secure the time necessary for the threading of the march- ing columns into the passes of the Geisterwald, the Hargitta and the Gorgeny mountains, the Rumanians undertook a series of forward pushes: on Oct. i S. of the Alt, and on Oct. 2 against the Sgth Inf. Div. Against the I. Army these attacks continued until Oct. 5, and during them the Rumanians, especially on Oct. 3, obtained a fresh success against the igth Landsturm Mountain Bde. and the Landsturm Hussars.
Though the IX. Army Command could not yet fully discern the intentions of the enemy, the puzzling behaviour of their opponents seemed no reason for delay, and the advance was therefore pushed forward with the utmost speed. The 3 divs. of
