Battles & Campaigns · 1917
Battle of Mărășești
Mărășești, Vrancea County, Romania
What happened
Romanian armies under General Eremia Grigorescu, with Russian troops, fought German and Austro-Hungarian forces under Field Marshal August von Mackensen. The Romanian and Russian troops held their lines through weeks of attacks, and the Germans advanced only a few kilometres.
Why it matters
Why it matters: It is called the most important battle ever fought by the Romanian army. It stopped the invasion of Moldavia and kept northern Romania free.
What came next
Mackensen halted the offensive on 3 September and sent troops to Italy. A mausoleum at Mărășești now holds the remains of over 5,000 Romanian soldiers.
Did you know?
The German chemist Eduard Buchner, a Nobel Prize winner, was wounded here and died at a field hospital in Focșani.
Timeline
- 6 August 1917The German offensive begins.
- 19 August 1917A major German assault is held.
- 28 August 1917Mackensen's last attack is stopped.
- 3 September 1917Mackensen halts the offensive.
- March 1918Russia leaves the war, leaving Romania surrounded.