Battle of Tutrakan

"The Battle of Tutrakan" by Dimitar Giudzhenov

Date	2 September 1916 – 6 September 1916
Location	Turtucaia, Romania (now Tutrakan, Bulgaria)
Result	Central Powers victory

Belligerents

Bulgaria

German Empire

Romania

Commanders and leaders

Panteley Kiselov

August von Mackensen

Constantin Teodorescu

Strength

31 battalions:
55,000

19 battalions (initially):
39,000
36 battalions (end phase)
3 river monitors

Casualties and losses

Dead or wounded:
9,205

Dead or wounded:
7,500
Taken POW:
480 officers and
22,000–28,000 soldiers

The Battle of Turtucaia (Romanian: Batalia de la Turtucaia Bulgarian: Битка при Тутракан, Bitka pri Tutrakan or Bulgarian: Тутраканска епопея, Tutrakanska epopeya ) in Bulgaria, was the opening battle of the first Central Powers offensive during the Romanian Campaign of World War I. The battle lasted for five days and ended with the capture of the fortress of Tutrakan (Turtucaia in Romanian) and the surrender of its Romanian defenders.

By August 1916 the Central Powers found themselves in an increasingly difficult military situation - in the West the German offensive at Verdun had turned into a costly battle of attrition, in the East the Brusilov Offensive was crippling the Austro-Hungarian Army, and in the South the Italian Army was increasing the pressure on the Austro-Hungarians, while General Sarrail's Allied expeditionary force in northern Greece seemed poised for a major offensive against the Bulgarian Army.

The Romanian government asserted that the moment was right for it to fulfill the country's national ambitions by aligning itself with the Entente, and declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 27 August 1916. Three Romanian armies invaded Transylvania through the Carpathians, pushing back the much smaller Austro-Hungarian First Army. In a short time the Romanians occupied Orșova, Petroșani, and Brașov, and reached Sibiu on their way to the river Mureș, the main objective of the offensive.

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