Romanian Campaign 1916-18

This booklet is a reprint by the Naval and Military Press of Major-General Kirke's 1924 article in the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. They are discounting WW1 books by 25% this weekend. You would rarely get away with writing such a long article in a journal today! Somewhat embarrassingly, when I started to read it, it seemed familiar. No, I wasn't around in 1924, but I do have a 1997 reprint by Pallas Armata. This imprint was a labour of love by Gareth Simon who brought many of these fascinating articles back into circulation.

This booklet is valuable because very little has been written about these campaigns. Michael Barrett wrote a decent book on the 1916 campaign, and even Kirke's article ends before the final battles of the war, including the Romanian defensive victory at Mărăști.

Romania remained neutral until 1916, when it joined the war on the side of the Entente. They launched an offensive into Transylvania which was initially successful until Germany counterattacked under Field Marshal August von Mackensen and General Erich von Falkenhayn, halting the Romanian advance. Mackensen then led a joint German-Bulgarian-Ottoman army from the south in September 1916, invading Dobruja (southeastern Romania). Meanwhile, Falkenhayn’s forces attacked from Transylvania into Wallachia. The Romanian army, poorly equipped and lacking coordination, suffered heavy defeats. Bucharest fell on December 6, 1916.

This is where the article ends, but it includes a detailed description of the tough fighting the Carpathian Mountains, with decent maps. He also gives a balanced analysis of both sides and the challenges they faced. The Romanians had not learned the lessons from the early stages of the war and were short of modern equipment and crucially ammunition. Attacking Transylvania made sense politically, but strategically it stretched the Romanian army too far. The Russians continually advised them to shorten their lines.

In 1917, with Russian help, Romania rebuilt its army and fought heroically in the battles of Mărăști (July & August 1917) and Oituz (August 1917). These victories stopped the Central Powers’ advance and restored morale. The Russian revolution left Romania without Russian support and they were forced to sign an armistice. They rejoined the war in November 1918.

I visited the fine memorial and museum at Mărăști earlier this year.

I have German, Austrian and Russian figures for these campaigns. However, I don't know anyone who does Romanians, with their distinctive cap. You could probably get away with French troops in smaller scales as they also used the Adrian helmet. There are Romanian WW2 figures with a cap, which are not far out. This needs a bit more research.

Russian 28mm figures from my collection.