The Battle of Marasesti is a battle of the First World War , which took place in eastern Romania between the German and Russian-Romanian forces in August 1917.
| Battle of Marasesti | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Conflict: World War I | |||
 | |||
| date of | August 6 - September 8, 1917 | ||
| A place | Vrancia , Romania | ||
| Total | Romanian victory | ||
| Opponents | |||
| |||
| Commanders | |||
| |||
| Forces of the parties | |||
| |||
| Losses | |||
| |||
Romania entered the war on the side of the Entente in August 1916 and, due to the extremely low combat efficiency of its army and its unfavorable geographical position, was occupied by the forces of the Central Powers for several months. The remnants of the Romanian army retreated to the east of the country, where they joined with the Russian troops. To help the ally and prevent the German army from invading Ukraine , Russia formed a new, Romanian front , incorporating four Russian and two Romanian armies.
Battle Progress
In June 1917, the Provisional Government of Russia, with the aim of raising the morale of the troops and fulfilling obligations to the allies, planned an offensive along the entire front, which went down in history as the June one or the Kerensky offensive. The Romanian front launched an offensive on July 20. Against 240 thousand Austro-Hungarian and German troops, about 400 thousand Russian-Romanian troops were involved. At first it was successful: the Russian-Romanian troops, which were opposed by the Austro-Hungarian army, advanced up to twenty kilometers in depth on a thirty-kilometer section of the front in the direction of Fokshany . However, already on July 12 (25), due to the general unfavorable situation on the fronts, caused by the growing decomposition of the Russian army, Kerensky gave the order to stop the advance.
On August 6, Austro-German troops under the command of General Mackensen went on the counterattack. The retreating allies took up defense in the area of Marasesti . Command passed to General Grigorescu . Fierce fighting, which took place with varying success, ended on September 8 with stabilization of the front.
Losses
The losses of the Allies were more severe than the German troops. Romanian units lost about 27,000 people, Russian units about 26,000, Germans - about 47,000. In the battle of Meraesti in the 4th Russian army, out of 70,000 people, 7,083 were killed, 10,400 wounded, and 8167 more were captivity.
Summary
The battle of Marasesti was the last major battle on the Romanian front. After the October Revolution, Russia emerged from the war, and Romania, surrounded on all sides, it remains only to ask for peace, which was concluded on May 7, 1918 ( Bucharest Peace Treaty ).