Battle of Mărăşti

Battle of Mărăști
Part of the Romanian Campaign (World War I)
Romanian Model 1912 105 mm howitzers firing during the Battle of Mărăști
Date July 22 to August 1, 1917 Location Mărăști, Eastern Romania Result Tactical Romanian victory
Belligerents
Romania Russian Republic	German Empire  Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Alexandru Averescu	Franz Rohr von Denta
Strength
56 infantry battalions 14 cavalry squadrons 228 guns	28 infantry battalions 36 cavalry squadrons 142 guns
Casualties and losses
4,879 casualties (1,460 killed; 3,419 wounded or missing)	9,600 casualties (2,200 killed; 4,700 wounded or missing; 2,700 captured)

The Battle of Mărăști was one of the main battles to take place on Romanian soil in World War I. It was fought between July 22 and August 1, 1917, and was an offensive operation of the Romanian and Russian Armies intended to encircle and destroy the German 9th Army. The operation was planned to occur in tandem with the Nămoloasa offensive; however, this operation was abandoned before it began.

At the beginning of July, based on the campaign plan drawn up in May by the High Command, final instructions were given to the 1st and 2nd Romanian Armies. The 1st Army was to carry out the principal attack around Nămoloasa and then, on terrain prepared by the latter, the 2nd Army, commanded by General Alexandru Averescu, was to carry out a second-order attack toward Mărăşti. The objective of the operation – the retaking of enemy positions from the Poiana Încărcătoarea–Răcoasa sector — was contained in Operations Order Nr. 1638.

Altogether the opposing sides were rather evenly matched, although the Romanian High Command had massed additional forces along the direction of the attacks planned for the 2nd Army, thus creating a more advantageous force equilibrium for Romania.

The combat units were as follows:

The 2nd Romanian Army had the following battle formations:

The Gerok Group contained:

The ratio of forces was as follows:

In the summer of 1917, one of the largest concentrations of forces in the First World War was located in Romania: 9 armies, 80 infantry and 19 cavalry divisions, totalling 974 battalions, 550 squadrons and 923 artillery batteries. 800,000 combatants and 1,000,000 reservists were present.

When the operation began the situation on the Mărăşti-Nămoloasa front was as follows: the 2nd Romanian Army was positioned between Arşiţa Mocanului hill and the commune of Răcoasa. The 9th Russian Army was on its right flank and the 7th Russian Army on its left flank. Each of the three divisions from the first-order vanguard of the 2nd Army covered some 12 km of the front. Facing the Romanians was the right flank of the First Austro-Hungarian Army; more specifically, these were elements of the Gerok Group. The main Austro-Hungarian forces were placed between Momâia hill and Arșița Mocanului hill. Again, each division covered 12 km of the front.

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Wikipedia