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WarChron - Romanian Operations - Murmansk Railroad |
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The Year 1916
On 1 December, on the Southwest Front, the Russians were being driven off Rukida and Kirilbaba Heights in the Carpathians.
On the Romanian Front, the Romanians ordered the retreat of their 2nd Army left wing, which caused pressure on the 1st Army further west. The Austro-Germans were being concentrated on Orshova and the sources of the Argesh River. Romanian forces attacked von Mackensen's forces southwest of Bucharest.
The Russian Danube Army and 9th Army were now in close tactical co-operation. The Romanians were retiring southeast from Kimpolung. There was heavy fighting south of Pitesti. The Romanian Government was now established at Jasi.
On 2 December, on the Southwest Front, Russian forces continued their advance in the Carpathians.
On the Romanian Front, brigades of the Romanian 9th and 19th Divisions surprised units of Kosch's forces. In heavy hand to hand fighting, the Romanians captured 5,000 enemy troops. von Falkenhayn dispatched the 11th Bavarian Division, part of the 109th German Division, and most of von Schmetow's cavalry from the Kühne Army to move south and hit the Romanians. In very heavy fighting, German reinforcements managed to extricate Kosch, forcing the Romanians back toward Bucharest. The Romanian 1st Army was in heavy rear guard engagements with the Germans at Piteshti, Gaeshti and Titu.
On the Romanian Front, the Romanian 2nd Army fell back from Campulung. The Romanian General Staff ordered troops evacuated from Bucharest and withdrawal to the Sereth River in Moldavia. King Carol left the capital. German aircraft and airships carried out daily bombing and strafing raids on retreating troops. Romanian casualties to date had reached 150,000 killed, 150,000 wounded and sick in hospitals, and 100,000 troops taken prisoner.
At Petrograd, the new Chairman of the Council of Ministers, A.F. Trepov, appealed to the Duma for cooperation, affirming the government's determination to continue the war.
On 3 December, on the Romanian Front, the Romanians were defeated at Argechu and fled eastward toward Moldavia. The Romanians, under the orders and direction of British Colonel Sir John Norton Griffiths, effectively crippled the oil field facilities around Ploesti. Most of the wells were operating on British funds and managed by British engineers. The Bulgarians repulsed Russian attacks in the Dobrudja. There was heavy fighting in the Carpathian and Moldavian valleys. Elements of the Russian 4th Army were at Comana, 32 km south of Bucharest. Two Russians divisions detrained east of Bucharest.
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On 4 December, at Stavka, Chief of Staff General Alekseev left Mogilev for rest in the Crimea. During December, General Coanda, the Romanian Military Attache at Mogilev, requested additional Russian troops to support them. During the month, a Russian Reserve Corps, under General A.I. Denikin, was sent to the Romanian front.
On the Southwest Front, there was heavy fighting at Stanislau and Tarnopol in Galicia.
At Petrograd, Prince Feliks Yusupov met secretly with Duma member V.M. Purishkevich, concocting a plot to murder Rasputin. They soon brought Doctor S.S. Lazavert, Grand Duke Dmitriy Pavlovich, and Poruchik Ivan Sukhotin into the scheme.
On 5 December, on the Southwest Front, the Austro-Germans counter-attacked in the Carpathians.
On the Romanian Front, the Russian III Cavalry Corps, attempting to steady the line southeast of Bucharest, failed as Austro-German forces overran the oil fields at Ploesti and moved on Bucharest and Campina. Austro-Hungarian monitors patrolled the Danube River.
In London, British Prime Minister H.H. Asquith resigned. He was succeeded by David Lloyd George, with A.J. Balfour as Foreign Affairs Secretary. A Coalition government took over and formed the War Cabinet which replaced the cumbersome War Committee. Lord Curzon was Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords. These changes would have a bearing on the conduct of the war and relations with Russia.
On 6 December, in the Baltic Sea, a new Russian minesweeper was lost in Soleo Sound on mines previously laid by German submarine UC.25.
On the Southwest Front, there was heavy fighting west of Lutsk in Volhynia. Also very heavy fighting further south at Stanislau and Tarnopol in Galicia.
On the Romanian Front, the Romanian Orsova rearguard on the Aluta River capitulated, as 8,000 Romanians became prisoners. The Germans captured Bucharest. German General Von Mackensen's troops entered the city.
Protopopov returned to Petrograd from his visit to Stavka. Newspapers reported that he was quite ill, and probably a syphilitic. He was known to be treated by Badmaev in an elegant clinic that catered to the wealthy.
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On 7 December, on the Southwest Front, the Russians continued their attacks in southeast Galicia.
On the Romanian Front, there was bloody fighting in the Oitoz and Trotus Valleys. The Romanians were retreating east on all fronts. Wallachia was now completely in enemy hands. Large numbers of Romanian troops surrendered at Orsova. The Romanian GHQ was set up at Birlad, in Moldavia.
In the Black Sea, German submarine UB.46 was sunk on mines northwest of the Bosporus. The entire crew was lost. Germans now had only four submarines in the area, all bottled up in ports by Russian minefields.
On 8 December, on the Southwest Front, heavy fighting continued in Galicia, in the south of Bukowina, and on the Moldavian frontier. General V.V. Sakharov was appointed the commander of all Russian forces in Romania.
In North Russia, formal opening of the Murmansk - Petrozavodsk railway, which still had a quite limited carrying capacity. Tons of desperately needed Allied munitions and military supplies had been stockpiled at the port for months awaiting transport south to the fronts.
The Tsar and his son left Stavka at Mogliev for Tsarskoe Selo. He appointed Grand Duke Nicholai Nikolaevich to act as temporary commander in chief in his absence.
On 9 December, on the Southwest Front, there was continued heavy fighting on all southern sectors of front.
On the Romanian Front, the Germans claimed taking over 70,000 Romanian prisoners since 1 December. On 10 December, on the Southwest Front, there was stubborn fighting in the Carpathians, the southern part of Bukowina.
On the Romanian Front, heavy fighting continued north of Ploeshti.
At Petrograd, French Ambassador Paleologue received reports from agents convincing him that the Empress and her camarilla were being manipulated by I.G. Shcheglovitov, leader of the Extreme Right in the Council of the Empire, along with Pitirim, the Metropolitan of Petrograd, the ex-director of police Bielitskiy, and pro-German banker Manus, who kept in regular touch with Berlin and secretly distributed German subsidies.
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© WARCHRON 2007
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