The Second Battle of Petrozsény was a World War I military engagement between Romanian forces on one side and Central Powers forces (Austria-Hungary and Germany) on the other side. It was part of the wider Battle of Transylvania and resulted in a Romanian victory.
Background Romania declared war on the Central Powers on 27 August 1916, and proceeded to invade the region of Transylvania. On 29 August, the Romanian I Corps of the 1st Army (General Ioan Culcer) defeated the Hungarian coal miner battalions defending the vital Transylvanian coal mining center at Petrozsény (Petroșani), inflicting heavy losses, and occupied the town.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, Oct 23, 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 21-22Erich Ludendorff, Harper & brothers, 1919, Ludendorff's own story, Volume 1, p. 293John Buchan, T. Nelson, 1922, A History of the Great War: From the battle of Verdun to the third battle of Ypres, p. 227 Given that this was a region of valuable coal mines which were vital for the Hungarian railways, this was the area where the first Central Powers counterattack against the Romanian invasion of Transylvania was launched. Taking place on 8 September, it was also the first military engagement during the Battle of Transylvania to involve German forces, three days after the first German unit to arrive in Transylvania unloaded at Marosillye (Ilia) on 5 September. Despite German support, the Austro-Hungarian commander of the 144th Infantry Brigade, Colonel Ludwig Berger, "inexplicably" ordered a retreat. Thus, the Romanians had little difficulty repulsing the first Central Powers counterattack against their invasion of Transylvania.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, Oct 23, 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 98 and 387Prit Buttar, Bloomsbury Publishing, Sep 22, 2016, Russia's Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916–17, p. 322
German General Hermann von Staabs, the commander of the XXXIX Corps which had assumed responsibility on 8 September for operations in the southern region of Transylvania, reacted quickly to the Austrian withdrawal. Aside from the Austro-Hungarian 144th Infantry Brigade and the German 187th Regiment of the German 187th Infantry Division (the first German unit to enter Transylvania), von Staabs also sent to Puj the 189th Regiment, the artillery belonging to the 187th Division, as well as the Bavarian light infantry regiment of the Alpenkorps (the first unit of the Alpenkorps to arrive in Transylvania). This force, commanded by Major General Edwin Sunkel (the commander of the German 187th Infantry Division), began its advance on 14 September. Meantime the Romanian forces in the area were severely reduced. At the beginning of September, the Romanian units in the area comprised the bulk of General Culcer's 1st Army: the 2nd, 11th and 12th Divisions. However, following the Romanian defeat in the Dobruja, the 2nd and 12th divisions were transferred to the south. The transfer of Culcer's two divisions started before 9 September. On the 9th, Major Radu R. Rosetti from the Romanian headquarters stated to General Andrei Zayonchkovski - the Russian commander in Dobruja - that the 2nd and 12th Divisions "were coming from Transylvania". The remaining 11th Division in the Petrozsény sector was commanded by General Ioan Muică. Culcer also involved himself more directly in local operations by sending the command of the I Corps - the group of Romanian 1st Army divisions operating in Transylvania - to Nagytalmács (Tălmaciu/Talmesch), to direct the operations of the two divisions located there. Initially, the I Corps directed operations in both the area around Petrozsény (Jiu Valley) and the area around Nagytalmács (Olt Valley). General Ioan Popovici, commander of the I Corps, arrived in Nagytalmács along with his staff on 16 September.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, Oct 23, 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 52, 89, 98-99 and 103-104
The three divisions of the German 9th Army concentrating at Szászsebes (Sebeș/Mühlbach) could be enveloped by the Romanians from the region of the two mountain passes, and - according to German planning - this was the possibility to be dealt with first.Erich Ludendorff, Harper & brothers, 1919, Ludendorff's own story, Volume 1, p. 335 The German-led Central Powers force disposed of an exceedingly strong concentration of howitzers and mountain guns, amounting to an overwhelming superiority in artillery.The Times, 1917, The Times History and Encyclopaedia of the War, Volume 11, p. 225 The task of throwing back the Romanian forces in the area over the frontier was accomplished between 14 and 22 September (Battle of Nagybár and First Battle of Petrozsény).Encyclopædia britannica Company, Limited, 1922, The Encyclopædia Britannica: The New Volumes, Constituting, in Combination with the Twenty-nine Volumes of the Eleventh Edition, the Twelfth Edition of that Work, and Also Supplying a New, Distinctive, and Independent Library of Reference Dealing with Events and Developments of the Period 1910 to 1921 Inclusive. The First-third of the New Volumes, Volume 30, p. 915 On 21 September, a Berlin dispatch announced that the Vulcan Pass was taken by German forces. However, on the following day, the Romanians were still fighting at this point.Leonard Wood, Austin Melvin Knight, Frederick Palmer, Frank Herbert Simonds, Arthur Brown Ruhl, P. F. Collier & sons, 1917, The story of the great war: with complete historical record of events to date, Volume 11, p. 3283 (note: the volumes in this series have a single continuous page count, starting with the first page of the first volume and ending with the last page of the last volume) On 22 September, the two German battalions remaining in the area stormed the Vulcan Pass. The remainder of the German forces were shifted to another sector of the Transylvanian front.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, Oct 23, 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, p. 113 This shifting of forces began during the night of 22-23 September, as the Germans appeared to have imagined that they had finished off their opponents.The Times, 1917, The Times History and Encyclopaedia of the War, Volume 11, p. 225 The Central Powers force left behind to mask the Vulcan and Szurdok passes thus remained mostly Austro-Hungarian, consisting of the 144th Brigade reinforced by two German battalions and two batteries.Encyclopædia britannica Company, Limited, 1922, The Encyclopædia Britannica: The New Volumes, Constituting, in Combination with the Twenty-nine Volumes of the Eleventh Edition, the Twelfth Edition of that Work, and Also Supplying a New, Distinctive, and Independent Library of Reference Dealing with Events and Developments of the Period 1910 to 1921 Inclusive. The First-third of the New Volumes, Volume 30, p. 916 However, sympathetic ethnic-Romanians living in the region immediately made General Culcer's headquarters aware that the bulk of the Germans had pulled out of the area. The Romanian general promptly took advantage of this development, launching his counterattack on 25 September. Culcer personally directed operations.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, Oct 23, 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, p. 113
On 19 September, Erich von Falkenhayn assumed command of the German 9th Army. Based on General Edwin Sunkel's reports, von Falkenhayn decided that Nagyszeben (Sibiu/Hermannstadt) was the only location suitable for a decisive victory. Consequently, he swiftly began moving his forces into position for the attack on Nagyszeben. Falkenhayn could not deploy all of the German units for this assault, however. On 22 September, two battalions of Bavarian Jägers conquered the Vulkan Pass. After taking the Vulkan Pass, Falkenhayn wanted to move these two battalions to Nagyszeben as well, however this was out of the question. Along with these two battalions, von Falkenhayn left Colonel Berger's 144th Austro-Hungarian Infantry Brigade in command at Petrozsény.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, Oct 23, 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 99-102, 113 and 336
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