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The Year 1916 - August
The Romanian 1st Army pushed back Austro-Hungarian troops, occupied Orshova and the Cerna Valley, Petroshani, Shelimberg, the heights above Hatzeg, and the plain of Olt between the mountains and Sibiu.
The Romanian 2nd Army seized Fagarash, and enveloped Segesvar (Sigishoara) with its right wing. Their North Army moved down the Murash and Tarnava Valleys, occupying an area north of Olt.
On the Romanian Front, German General von Mackensen commanded all German, Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian and Turkish troops, as they opened their offensive in the south on the Danube and Dobrudja Fronts.
On the Romanian Front, General A.M. Zaionchkovskiy's Russian troops began crossing the Danube, moving into the Dobrudja. Elements of the Black Sea Fleet entered the port at Constanza.
In Bulgaria, German seaplanes at Varna were ordered to attack Romanian ports. The Bulgarian 3rd Army, headed by General S. Toshev, with the 1st Division on the front from Kamanlar-Sarvu-Hursova, and the 4th Division on the front Balbunar-Karakazlar-Kamanlar, with two Turkish units, prepared to attack. Part of the 6th Division moved forward on the road from Razgrad-Shumla, while the Cavalry Division, southwest of Dobrich (Bazarjik), moved on a line Karaja-At-Hambarlak.
In the Black Sea, the Russian Fleet organized a “Mine Artillery Division,” with 1,250 men, eight heavy mortars, 12 coastal guns and 25 torpedo tubes, along with battleship Rostislav, three gunboats, two submarines and four minesweepers, to protect the waters of the Danube delta. Two enemy submarines based at Varna now patrolled the Bulgarian coast.
Italy declared war on Germany.
In France, French and British leaders held a conference to discuss the current and future strength of their armies, which have already suffered heavy losses in men and material.
On 28 August, von Hindenburg and Ludendorf were summoned to Berlin for a meeting with the Kaiser, who removed von Falkenhayn as Chief of the German General Staff, replacing him with Field Marshall von Hindenburg. Ludendorff was appointed as First Quartermaster General. German Field Marshall von Mackensen received orders to take over command of Central Powers forces on the Danube and Dobrudja frontiers, while von Falkenhayn was appointed to command the 9th Army on the Romanian Front.
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Bavarian Prince Leopold assumed command of Oberost, with General Max Hoffmann as his Chief of Staff.
On 29 August, on the Southwest Front, Shcherbachev's Russian 7th Army attacked Bothmer's Südarmee at Brzezany. In heavy fighting Russians seized Potutory. The Südarmee fell back on Halicz. Heavy fighting continued until the end of September. The Russians scored only local successes at great cost. The Russians captured Mount Pantyr, northwest of Jablonica Pass in the Carpathian Mountains.
On the Romanian Front, Romanian troops advanced in the Transylvania mountains, taking Kronstadt, Petrozsany, and Kezdi-Vasarhely. The Romanians were opposed by von Falkenhayn's German 9th Army. Romanian artillery damaged an Austro-Hungarian armored train (Panzerzug) during these actions. German forces soon received five armored car units, each with two cars, which were largely responsible for the breakthrough and recapture of Kronstadt. They were returned to Germany in December. Germany declared war on Romania. German aircraft bombed Bucharest.
On 30 August, on the Romanian Front, General von Mackensen's well equipped forces, consisting of the 217th German Division, the 1st, 4th, 6th and 12th Bulgarian Divisions, one Bulgarian Cavalry Division, and one German-Bulgarian Division, a total of 120,000 troops, moved from Rustchuk in preparation for an attack towards Turtucaia.
Turkey declared war on Romania.
On 30/31 August, in the Baltic Sea, the Russians laid 821 mines in the Aaland Straits, which seriously effected German merchant traffic along the Swedish coast.
On 31 August, on the Southwest Front, there was very heavy fighting at Halicz and east of Lemberg.
At Stavka, General Alekseev appointed General Zaionchovskiy as Commander of the Special Russian/Serbian Dobrudja Detachment, consisting of two infantry divisions (including the 1st Serbian Volunteer Division) and one cavalry division. The force was being immediately dispatched to the Dobrudja. It was later to be known as the Army of the Danube, and was eventually rechristened as the 6th Army.
During late summer, London Times correspondent Robert Wilton wrote, as part of a series of reports, that the whole of Russia “seems to be engaged in a whirl of plunder. Every man is trying to rob his neighbor to the utmost of his capacity… never was there a time when money could be earned so easily by nefarious methods.” He also wrote about hearing rumors involving the Empress and Rasputin and his circle.
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