"breaking the resistance of the Rumanian i8th Inf. Div. and the ist and 2nd CaV. Divs. sent against them, the heads of the columns had already on Dec. i reached the Arges.u, S.W. of Bucharest. But in this hurried forward movement the Danube Army, after establishing only slight contact by means of cavalry at Ros.i de Vede, again lost touch with the main body of the IX. Army, held up on the Alt sector; their left flank lay open.
Battle of the Arge^u. The Rumanians recognized the op- portunity offered them of falling on the rashly advanced Danube Army. They endeavoured, with their I. Army, to keep the Ktihne and Krafft groups as far to the W. as possible, and also made violent frontal attacks across the Argesu on the isolated Danube Army, and on Dec. 2 from the N.W., completely en- circling the left wing of the Danube Army, with the Rumanian ist Cav. Div., then parts of the 2nd, 5th, oth and igth Inf. Divs. The Danube Army was thus placed in an extremely critical position. Rapidly brought-up Landsturm battalions, a few pioneer companies and the 26th Turkish Inf. Div., advancing in the second line, compelled a pause in the Rumanian enveloping movements. This Rumanian manceuvre, which only failed of success because it was not executed with sufficient energy, was coincident with violent pushes carried out by the Russians on the Carpathian front, from the Tartar Pass south- wards to the Ojtoz Pass and on the Dobruja front, and also with attacks by Gen. Sarrail's Army on the Salonika front, by which it was hoped to relieve the hard-pressed Rumanian Army and to snatch from the Central Powers the advantage developing in this area. Yet all efforts were in vain.
The right wing of the IX. Army, which had been placed from Nov. 30 under the army group command of Field-Marshal von Mackensen, was brought up with the utmost haste. The logth Inf. Div., advancing northward on Nov. 27 and 28 on the E. bank of the Alt, had at last succeeded in compelling the Rumanian I. Army to abandon the Alt sector. The 4ist and 3oist Inf. Divs. could then cross the river at Slatina. The pursuit towards the E. was conducted in the following groups: along the projected Craiova-Bucharest railway the nth Bavarian Inf. Div.; behind that the nsth Inf. Div.; N. of the Bavarians the logth, 4ist and 30131 Inf. Divs. The Schmettow Cav. Corps had ridden in advance of the right wing. Thus the IX. Army approached the seriously threatened left wing of the Danube Army. On Dec. 2 parts of the Cav. Corps, and on Dec. 3 the nth Bavarian and logth Inf. Divs., swerving south- wards, were able to participate in the battle. The Rumanians, now themselves enveloped, turned back with heavy losses to Bucharest. For the Danube Army the crisis was over.
While on Dec. 2 and 3 the main body of the Schmettow Cav. Corps and the tooth Inf. Div. covered the road to Bucharest, Lt.-Gen. von Krafft at the same time, with the 21 6th, 73rd and 3oist Inf. Divs., struck the remnant of the Rumanian I. Army on the middle course of the Arges.u, and pushed forward with the Alpine Corps and the 2nd Mountain Bde. towards Tirgovis.te, which, after the capture of Campolung, the I. Res. Corps was also approaching.
Attacks by the just arrived Russian 4oth Inf. Div. and the 8th Cav. Div. on Dec. 4 and 5 against the Bulgarians on the S. wing of the Danube Army gave no results. The violent attacks delivered by the Russians against the Austro-Hungarian Army and against the Bulgar-Turkish Dobruja front in the beginning of Dec. were also continuously repulsed.
The Capture of Bucharest. On the evening of Dec. 5, after successful engagements, the Danube Army stood. E. of the Argeu and S.W. of Bucharest, and the IX. Army in close touch N. of the town as far as the Prahova valley. Since it was doubtful whether Bucharest would be defended as a fortress, heavy artillery and all the means of attack were placed ready to hasten its capture. In the night of Dec. 5-6 cavalry of the Schmettow Corps rode up towards the N.W. front, and found the works blown up and ungarrisoned. The Rumanians evacuated their capital almost without fighting. On the night of Dec. 6 the troops of the Danube Army and parts of the S. wing of the IX. Army entered Bucharest, while on the same day
Falkenhayn's N. wing captured Ploesci, and with it the im- portant petroleum area, where English hands had previously rendered the boring apparatus useless for a considerable length of time. Two days later, as the result of rapid enveloping movements carried out by Lt.-Gen. Morgen's group, the 4th Rumanian Div., left stranded in the mountains, were sur- rounded in the district N. of Ploesci, and were taken prisoners. The road to the S. now also lay open to Lt.-Gen. Staabs' group. The 5 ist Honved Inf. Div. was able to occupy Sinaia.
Pursuit to the Danube-Sereth Line. Field-Marshal von Mack- ensen now received the order to push forward with his army group (III. Bulgarian Army, Danube Army and IX. German Army) to the shortest line of communication between the sea and the Carpathian front, that is the Danube mouth-Galatz- Sereth to Ajudumiu-Trotus river. The IX. Army was to advance between the mountain river and the projected railway line Bucharest-Urziceni-Foreivechii-Tecuciu; the Danube Army be- tween this line and the Danube; the Bulgarian III. Army to advance in the Dobruja.
On Dec. 12 the IX. Army threw the Rumanian I. and II. Armies, reenforced by the Russian IV. Inf. and VI. Cav. Corps, out of a fortified position on both sides of Mizil, and on Dec. 15 took Buzeu. There the 8gth Inf. Div., which had advanced south-eastward from the Bodza Pass into the Buzeu valley, joined Falkenhayn's army. The Danube Army on Dec. 14 won the way through the Jalomitsa sector against the Russian VIII. Inf. Corps and III. Cav. Corps. On Dec. 17 the two armies faced a Russo-Rumanian position running along the line from the lower course of the Calmatuciu by Foreivechii along the heights W. of Rimnicu-Sarat.
Meanwhile the Bulgarian III. Army had begun to clear the Dobruja and, meeting with little resistance, had soon reached the Danube estuary; turning towards the eastern bridge-head from Braila at Macin it transferred the Turkish VI. Corps to the Danube Army.
At Christmas the IX. and the Danube Armies broke through the enemy positions, and threw the Russians and Rumanians back northwards. On Jan. 4 1917 the Danube Army captured Braila, and pressed forward as far as the Sereth; on Jan. 8 the IX. Army took Focs.ani and the country N. of it as far as the Putna. On the S. wing of the army front the Archduke Joseph launched to the attack against the Russians in the last days of Dec. the Gerok group with the 2i8th Inf. Div., the ist Cav. Div., the 7ist Inf. Div. and the iSyth Inf. Div. The S. wing fought their way through the extensive wooded moun- tain district, and effected a junction with the IX. Ar.my. South of the Ojtoz road the attack came upon the Russians who were relieving the Rumanians. The Rumanian i$th Inf. Div. was again thrown into the action. The attack of the Gerok group only succeeded in winning a little more ground here. Fall of snow and sharp frost made further operations impossible.
The actual line won was fairly near the sector it had been intended to reach. On the side of the Central Powers it was decided to go into permanent positions here. There was reason to be satisfied with the success of the campaign. Transylvania was liberated; a country rich in resources, Wallachia, had been conquered; the Rumanian Army had been thoroughly beaten, and had for the most part ceased to be a factor in the fighting for a long time to come. The Russian Army, instead of giving the hoped-for support, had had in addition to take over another 400 km. of front. The Russians, too, were glad after a year too full of fighting to be able to rest. Besides the IX. Army (i6th Inf. Div. and 2nd Cav. Div.), extending from the Bukovina to the Casinu valley south-eastward of Ocna, the Russian new IV. Army stood here from Racos.a on the Susita to Suraia E. of Focani (6th Inf. Div.) ; from there eastwards to the Black Sea the VI. Army (g\ inf. divs. and 3 cav. divs.). Of the Ruma- nians only from 5 to 6 divs., reenforced by Russian troops, remained on the front as the Rumanian II. Army, between the Russian IX. and IV. Armies. The remnant of the Rumanian Army, saved with difficulty, was transferred to the district be- tween Jassy and Targu Frumos to recuperate. A French mil-
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