Source: File: Red
Tower at the entrance of the Pass. See an original
image at: <http://www.kaiserscross.com/69501/495801.html>
[Accessed
4 October 2016]
From the Balkan
area, Romanian campaign
Targeted the
union of central powers, alongside
Russian forces on
side of the triple entent -
Partly by force, partly in having set eyes upon
Provinces of
Transylvania and Bukowina.
Hours prior to Italy's declaration, Roumania
Made her intent
open on Austria-Hungary -
Embarking on a
high rocky frontline, far
Different to the
western front - to initially
Encounter little
resistance at Siebenbürgen.
Colonel General Arz von Straussenburg
Of Austro-Hungary
army was reassigned
To the Roumania
campaign, to set about
Building defences
of a line of border guards;
Known as Grenzschutz and Landsturm forces.
Reinforcements
came in form of Alpenkorps,
Specialized in
mountain fighting - yet transport
In the area
played against them, from lack
Of mules - a
human version arrived in shape
Of General Von Falkenhayn,
sent from Verdun.
Falkenhayn, 'Blood Miller' of Verdun, sought
To prove his
strategies and set out to attack
Romanians - with
him orders were not sufficient
To beat but
rather destroy this enemy - but this
Would not prove
so easy on mountain ranges.
Alpen Korps were to climb to the Cibin Mountain
Where their
target was the Roten Turm Pass -
News passed in October's
start, via Switzerland
And Vienna, of
events between Carpathian
Mountains - to be known as the Red Tower Pass.
Historically the route had always held strategic
Values, having
once involved Ottoman armies
And Hungarian
revolution - here the river Olt
Flowed as a
Romanian river - Monday 2 October
News told of
Austro-Hungarian and German forces.
Belief of four or
five German divisions bulked
Up the presence - possibly 15,000 soldiers
Combined from
other fronts - resistance held
By Roumanians
south of Transylvania commune,
Hermannstadt,
where their forces remained.
Hermannstadt lying on a tributary of the river Olt,
Where the Cibin heights
experienced destruction
Before, during an
invasion of Mongols way back
In the Middle
Ages - then a village, had grown
Into a fortified
walled city, to resist any invasion.
By 1916 in the
midst of a wider war, the city
Hermannstadt had
already seen the Austrians
Evacuation, to be
opened up for Roumanians;
Yet no invading
force entered, as they held
Surrounding
higher ground in their strategy.
While Hermannstadt stood open, apparently
Willing to hand
over to Roumanians, their
Enemy gathered further forces from Maros
Valley - this
then could have been a trap,
From which the
Roumanains failed to take.
Numbers from the
Maros valley through
The veins of
Hatzeger Mountains, sought
To entrap
Roumanians about the rear - from
Sources of
Austrian press, told of a fierce
Battle that had
begun 27 September 1916.
The fight had opened in the morning along
The Hatzegers
northern ridge - between
Hermannstadt and
Petroseny and centering
On Tulisini
mountain, where at 2000 metres
The Roumanians
gave heroic resistance.
While no final
outcome had yet been made,
The Roumanian
army had set out diversions
About
Schnellenberg, Szekely and Udvarhely
Areas in defence
of Tulisini's high ground; the
Army dug in with new positions and held on.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Desperate
Battle. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 3 October 1916. P.7. Col.36. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213366/Daily-Telegraph-October-3-1916.html>
[Accessed: 4 October 2016].
Source: File: The
Soldier's Burden - Red Tower Pass. Available at: <http://www.kaiserscross.com/69501/495801.html>
[Accessed 4 October 2016]
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 4 October 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Romania
