Battle of Mărășești

Battle of Mărășești
Part of Romanian Campaign (World War I)
Romanian troops at Mărășești in 1917
Date August 6 – September 8, 1917 Location Mărășești, Vrancea, Eastern Romania Result Romanian and Russian defensive success
Belligerents
Romania Russian Republic	German Empire  Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Alexandru Averescu Eremia Grigorescu Dmitry Shcherbachev Ioan Rășcanu Constantin Christescu	August von Mackensen Karl von Wenninger ()  †
Strength
218,000 troops 280 field guns 36 heavy guns	245,000 troops 2 armoured cars 1,135 machine guns 356 mortars 223 field guns 122 heavy guns and howitzers
Casualties and losses
27,410 (5,125 killed, 9,818 missing, 12,467 wounded) 25,650 (7,083 killed, 8,167 missing, 10,400 wounded) Total: 53,060 (12,208 killed, 17,985 missing, 22,867 wounded)	60,000-65,000 (killed, missing, wounded) Unknown

The Battle of Mărășești (August 6, 1917 – September 8, 1917) was the last major battle between the German Empire and the Kingdom of Romania on the Romanian front during World War I. Romania was mostly occupied by the Central Powers, but the Battle of Mărășești kept the northeastern region of the country free from occupation.

On July 22, 1917, the Romanians launched a joint offensive with Russia against the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army, around Mărăști and the lower part of the Siret river, which resulted in the Battle of Mărăști. Although there was some initial success, a counter-offensive by the Central Powers in Galicia stopped the Romanian-Russian offensive.

The offensive of the German Ninth Army, from the Army Group Mackensen, started on August 6, 1917, when the units of the Russian Fourth Army on the Siret River were expected to leave their positions to reinforce the front in the north of Moldavia and be replaced by the divisions of the Romanian First Army (commanded by General Constantin Cristescu until August 12, then by General Eremia Grigorescu).

For 29 days, until September 3, this sector was the scene of the most important battle delivered by the Romanian army during the 1917 campaign. The Battle of Mărășești had three distinct stages. During the first stage (August 6–12), successively committed to battle, the troops of the Romanian First Army, together with Russian forces, managed to arrest the enemy advance and forced the Germans, through their resistance, to gradually change the direction of their attack north-westward. In the second stage (August 13–19), the Romanian Command completely took over the command of the battle from the Russians and the confrontation reached its climax on August 19, ending in a complete thwarting of the enemy's attempts to advance. The third stage (August 20 – September 3) saw the last German attempt at least to improve their positions in view of a new offensive, this one too baffled by the Romanian response.

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Wikipedia