| Battle of Mărăşeşti | |||||||
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| Part of Romanian Campaign (World War I) | |||||||
Romanian troops at Mărăşeşti in 1917 |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Romania | German Empire Austria-Hungary |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Alexandru Averescu Eremia Grigorescu |
August von Mackensen Kurt von Wenniger † |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 218,000 | 245,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 27,410 of all causes | 47,000 of all causes | ||||||
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The Battle of Mărăşeşti, Vrancea County, eastern Romania (August 6 to September 8, 1917) was a major battle fought during World War I between Germany and Romania.
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The Romanians participated in a joint Russian-Romanian offensive on July 22 against the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army in the Mărăşti area and on the lower part of the Siret river (the Battle of Mărăşti). After some initial success (a 30 km-wide and 20 km-deep salient in the front of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army), the attack had to be stopped due to the successful Central Powers counter-offensive in Galicia (see the Kerensky Offensive).
Before launching the attack, the battle was thought to be taken at Nămoloasa, both sides were counting at that moment about 1 million soldiers. Field Marshal August von Mackensen launched a counter-attack on August 6. Mackensen, displaying his usual skill, forced the Russians to retreat. It must be admitted that the Russian army was nearly useless by this point in the war. For the next month, the Germans, together with some Austrian units, fought a see-saw battle with the Romanian army. The fighting lasted until September 8, when both sides ran out of fresh units. The German attempt to crush the last Romanian army had failed, but the Romanians had not expanded their territory either.[1] The motto of the Romanian Army during the battle was "Pe aici nu se trece" (English: "You shall not pass"), probably inspired from the famous slogan of General Nivelle during the Battle of Verdun.
Romania lost over 27,000 men, including 610 officers, while Germany lost over 47,000. Notably, the Romanian heroine Ecaterina Teodoroiu was killed at the end of this battle, on September 6, by machine-gun fire; two days later, Major General Kurt von Wenniger was killed by artillery near the village of Muncelul.
This was the last major battle on the Romanian front. In May 1918, after the German advance in Ukraine and Russia signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Romania, surrounded by the Central Powers forces, had no other choice but to sue for peace (see Treaty of Bucharest, 1918).