HOSTILITIES BEGIN
The first news of the actual fighting was given to the world through
an official Austrian communique, dated August 28, 1916, announcing
that, during the preceding night, the Rumanians had begun a determined
attack on the Austrian forces in the Red Tower Pass and the passes
leading to Brasso. On the following day another report added that the
attempted invasion had become general and that the Imperial troops
were resisting attacks in all the passes along the whole frontier.
But, added the report, everywhere the Rumanians had been successfully
repulsed, especially near Orsova, in the Red Tower Pass, and in the
passes south of Brasso. In spite of these successes, however, the
Austrians were compelled to retire their advanced detachments to a
position prepared in the rear, as planned long before, because
overwhelming forces of Rumanians were attempting a far-reaching
flanking movement. As a matter of fact, the Austrians, never very
determined fighters, and now especially demoralized by the recent
success of the Russian offensive under Brussilov, were giving way all
along the line before the Rumanians under General Averescu. On the
same day a Rumanian official report gave a long list of villages and
towns which the Rumanians had taken beyond the frontier, their Fourth
Army Corps also having taken 740 prisoners. Within two days Averescu
had advanced so rapidly that he was in possession of Petroseny, north
of the Vulkan Pass, and of Brasso, beyond Predeal Pass. His troops
were pouring through the Tolgyes and Bekas Passes up in the north in
steady streams, and were advancing on Maros Vasarhely, a military base
and one of the principal towns of central Transylvania. The Rumanians
advancing by way of Gyimes, after a sharp encounter with the
Austrians, had driven the latter back to the heights east of
Csikszereda, a point over twenty miles inside the Austrian frontier.
Finally, spirited fighting was taking place in the Varciorova Pass on
the Danube, and here too the Austrians made a very poor showing.
Then on the last day of the month came the announcement from Bucharest
that Russian forces had arrived on Rumanian soil and were already
crossing the Danube over into Dobrudja, their left wing on the Black
Sea coast being protected by ships of the Russian fleet. The commander
of this force was General Zaionchovsky, who, together with his staff,
had been welcomed in Bucharest by a throng of the enthusiastic
inhabitants, women and children hurling bouquets of flowers on the
Russians as they passed through the streets. Another peculiar feature
of this event was the organization of a brigade of Serbians, interned
soldiers who had escaped into Rumanian territory during the invasion
of their country the year previously. These now became a part of the
Russian contingent. Meanwhile in the north the Rumanians and the
Russians had also joined forces, and on August 29, 1916, Berlin
officially announced that the German-Austrian forces in that section
had been attacked by the Russo-Rumanians in the Carpathians.
On the Danube the Austrian river fleet showed some activity. A monitor
shelled Varciorova, Turnu Severin, and Giurgevo, situated on the
Rumanian bank, and some small craft were captured at Zimnita. On the
other hand, the Rumanians were reported to have begun a general
bombardment of Rustchuk, an important Bulgarian port on the river. And
on the night of the 28th the fact that the nation was at war was
brought home to the citizens of the capital by an aeroplane and a
Zeppelin, which sailed over the city dropping bombs, but doing very
little harm. During the following month such raids were to be almost
daily occurrences, and many were the women and children killed by the
bombs hurled down from above.
On the 1st of September, 1916, came the announcement of a really
striking victory for the Rumanians: Orsova, where heavy fighting had
been raging since the first hour of the war and in which the Austrians
were daily claiming success, was finally taken. Here the Austrians
held a strong position, against which the Rumanians had hurled one
assault after another, until they succeeded in taking two heights
overlooking the town, each over a thousand feet high and thus forced
the defeated enemy over the Cserna River, a northern branch of the
Danube. This success caused some sensation, for now it appeared that
the way was opening for an offensive across the southern portion of
Hungary which should sever the Teutons and the Magyars from their
Bulgarian and Turkish allies.
Badly beaten as they had been by Brussilov, the Hungarians and the
Austrians were now considerably shaken. Again, Germany was called on
to come to the rescue, as she had done before on the eastern front and
in Serbia. Nor could the Germans afford to overlook the call, for
there had been much agitation in Hungary for a separate peace. Indeed,
Germany had for some time been preparing to relieve the situation as
subsequent events conclusively proved. On the following day, September
2, 1916, her first blow was struck.