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i9I6] BAD NEWS FROM RUMANIA 445
engaged near the Lower Danube. "You have two
divisions and a half there," he replied, "but another
one is to be sent." "What, not more than that?" I
exclaimed. " I know what you mean," interrupted the
General; "you are afraid it is not enough. Well, 1
can reassure you. Several generals at your G.H.Q.
had thought that you ought to send at least four
army corps to the Dobrudja, and Alexeieff himself was
inclined to that opinion. But on due deliberation they
came to the conclusion that an attack by all the best
Rumanian troops on the Austrians’ flank in
Transylvania would have such a disastrous effect for the latter
that it would only be necessary to concentrate the efforts
of the Russian armies in Galicia and the Bukowina to
bring complete disaster to the Austrian Army. Under
the circumstances one could not divide the Russian
forces, but on the contrary make the maximum effort on
the principal front." All the same this news was a
great blow to my hopes and to those of my colleagues,
and very soon events proved that our fears were
well-founded. On the Lower Danube the Rumanians had
only got territorials, who were quite unable to stand up
against seasoned troops of four years’ standing like the
Bulgarians, so that ferocious and unequal fighting soon
played havoc with our ten regiments, and one of the
most disastrous results was that the Bulgarians had the
illusion that they were stronger than their former
protectors and masters in military skill. Hundreds of
Russian prisoners were exhibited in Bulgarian centres.
It was Bulgaria anew and irrevocably linked to the
Central Empires.
Soon after news quite as bad arrived from the other
parts of the Rumanian front; the Rumanian and Russian
troops evacuated Transylvania, then bit by bit the whole
of Wallachia, and Mackensen made his triumphal entry
into Bukharest; the Sereth front was formed on which
Russians and Rumanians were henceforth to
concentrate all their efforts solely to hold the Germans
and their allies. The Rumanian campaign was lost.
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