My War Memories, 1914-1918
Rumanian patrols were soon seen in Hermannstadt. Orsova was taken by the enemy. If the Rumanians1 advance were not stopped, not only would Archduke Charles's Army Group be enveloped, but the way into the heart of Hungary and to our lines of communication with the Balkan Peninsula would be open. That would mean our defeat.
We were now faced with the difficult problem of holding both the Western and Eastern Fronts against all hostile attacks, supporting Archduke Charles's Group, and effecting a concentration against Rumania, which would be not merely a guarantee of defence but enable us to pass to the offensive. The execution of this task was made all the more difficult by the appeals of the Archduke Charles's Group for reinforcements which ought really to have been sent to Transylvania.
G.H.Q. found itself compelled to withdraw more and more divisions from other fronts. The concentration against Rumania was deferred. Not a single man more could be spared from the Western Front. The Commander-in-Chief in the East received instructions to withdraw units from various points of his already thinly-held front, and to form new divisions. Everything was staked on our decision to make the most of our superior mobility in comparison to the Entente and deal with Rumania in one great strategic manoeuvre; but how and when this could be accomplished could not be seen at the beginning of September.
The first step to be taken in the execution of our plans was to bring our whole front to a standstill on both sides of the Carpathians, from the left to the right wing. The front had to be extended into Transylvania, approximately along the river Maros above and below Maros Vasarhely, whilst we attacked the Rumanians from Bulgaria, although we were not in strength there, in accordance with the plan of the former Chief, of the General Staff.
After the campaign against Serbia had been brought to an end, Field-Marshal von Mackensen handed over the command of the Bulgarian-Macedonian Front to the Bulgarian General Staff, although he himself remained in the Balkans. When relations with Rumania became increasingly acute he had made
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