We know especially our Romanian fans were counting on us to cover the battle of Mărășești but we couldn´t find a reliable account of it in time. We´re very sorry if we disappointed you. There are already some helpful suggestions in the comments so we might be able to cover that battle in detail in the near future.

"being allied to the austrians is like being shackled to a corpse." is my favorite putdown of the austrian empire during the war and so, so true.

Im from Romania and writing about the battle of Marasesti will take a lot but I tried to make a summary. Its a pity that the romanian front is not well kown in USA or Western Europe. The begining of 1917 was used by the Romanian government to improve the situation of the army. Also the long awaited Allied supplies finnaly reached Romania. Romania got 1.500.000 rifles, 2000 machineguns, 1.300.000 grenades, 355 artillery and some planes. The Battle of Marasesti took place in three stages, from July 24 / August 6 to August 21 / September 3, 1917 (the two sets of months are for iulian and gregorian calendar), on a front of about 35 km in length and was the most important military confrontation on the Romanian front in the summer of 1917. The forces that opposed during the battles were significant: on the one hand, the Russian IV Army - 84 battalions, 32 squadrons, 79 batteries - and the 1st Romanian Army - composed of six divisions, one of them cavalry, three brigades, Heavy Artillery Group, Aeronautical Group II, and on the other hand were the Central Powers with German IX Army (General Johannes von Eben) - consisting of 174 battalions, 16 squadrons, 150 batteries, three squadrons, a bike company and others. First phase. Central Powers are gaining ground The fights began on the morning of July 24 / August 6, when at 7.30 am, the German-led group. Kurt von Morgen attacked the 34th Russian Infantry Division, managing to break the front on a 3km deep and 10km long. At the request of the Russians, gen. Constantin Cristescu, Commander of the First Romanian Army, ordered the intervention of the 5th Infantry Division west of the Siret, managing to stop the Germans from taking over the crossings. The following morning, Field Marshal August von Mackensen redirected the attack northward, forcing the Romanian-Russian troops to withdraw 2 km and abandon the village of Doaga. The Russian 71st Infantry Division, together with the romanian 9th and 14th Infantry Divisions entered the battlefield to cover the void left by the 34th Russian Division, that was almost decimated by the Germans. The following two days were marked by violent attacks by the Germans and by the losses of the Romanian-Russian army. On July 28 / August 10, there was a counter-offensive of the Entente's troops to recover the enemy entry between Focsani-Mărăşeşti and Siret communications, involving the Romanian 5th and 9th Infantry Divisions and 13 and 71 Russian infantry. However, the confrontation was violent, and the Romanian-Russian troops could not recover the Doaga village. Because of this failure there are misunderstandings between romanian General C. Cristescu and russian Gen. Aleksandr Ragoza on the next day's operations. The Romanian commander, supporter of the option of an offensive action, is replaced by general Eremia Grigorescu, and a unique Romanian-Russian command is created under the command of the Russian General. The second stage. The great victory of the Romanians The second stage, initiated on 31 July / 13 August, was opened with a German offensive in the Panciu area, which led to the withdrawal of Russian troops by 6 km. General Ragoza ordered the alignment of the Romanian troops to the line of the new front, which meant that the village of Mărăşeşti was to be abandoned. Romanian General Grigorescu refused and a new crisis at the command line is created, which this time has been resolved by the dismissal of Ragoza and the Romanian general taking over command. On August 1/14, von Mackensen attacked Romanian-Russian troops forcefully, advancing a few kilometers in the Chicera area. There is danger of penetrating the defense line. However, the counterattack of the Romanian troops, helped to avoid a dangerous situation. At the same time, gen. von Morgen leads a group of German soldiers attacking the Romanian positions that ensured the protection of the Cosmeşti bridge, forcing them to withdraw but not before the romanians dynamited the bridge. After a period of relative calm, on August 6/19, 1917, the general attack of the Central Powers troops took place, marking the peak of the fighting in Marasesti. The German Attack Group General von Morgen (made up of 5 infantry divisions) attacks the front between Panciu and Mărăşeşti defended by the Romanians. The most intense battle was in the Razor forest for the Hill 100, which dominated the area and controlled the last terrace to river Siret. Here was the Commander Grigore Ignat machine-gun company, which, resisting heroically until the last man, delayed the advance of the enemy, while the big Romanian units managed to withstand all the german attacks. During the third stage - 7/20 August - 21st August / September 3th - there was a weakening of the intensity of the confrontations, with the Germans making a last effort to attack in the Varniţa-Muncelu area. At the end of the war, General Kurt von Morgen noted in his memoirs: "The resistance of the enemy, especially of the Romanians, was unusually strong and manifested through 61 counterattacks during the 14 days of battle, attacks made especially with the bayonet. " In the Romanian panteon, the battle remains a milestone in the history of the heroism shown by the Romanian soldiers, with heroes like Captain Grigore Ignat and General Eremia Grigorescu, as well as the heroine of Marasesti, Ecaterina Teodoroiu. The Battle of Marasesti lasted 28 days, of which 15 were fighting and 13 relative calm. During the confrontations, the Romanian Army lost 27,410 soldiers - namely 16% of the Romanian troops at the beginning of the battles - of which 5,255 were dead, 9,818 missing and 12,467 injured. The Russian Army IV also suffered significant human losses, approximately 25,650 people - 7,083 deaths, 10,400 injured and 8,167 missing. In the German camp, the Army IX totalized a number of 60,000-65,000 dead, wounded and missing soldiers.

Despair everywhere? Not in Conrad von Hotzendorf's house!

Oh neat, I'm the patreon supporter of the week.

Russian Officer: "Get back to the lines!" Russian Soldier "What are you going to do, shoot me?" ...

"You win or you die!" - Indy Neidell, 2017.

This battle is one of the most important in Romanian history. Thank you for mentioning it.

Indy , The Romanian Battlefront in WW1 by Glenn E Torrey should give you enough details about the Battle of Marasesti . On a different note , i can tell you what my grand-grand father told my uncle about one event at Marasesti : A German attack caught many from his sector while they were taking a bath in the river so they had to scramble out in a hurry and counter-attack, he was convinced that the counter-attack was successful that day because many men were half naked and that must have scared the Germans :)

Totally understandable with the lack of info regarding the Battle of Marasesti. I'm a Romanian as well and I know that the battles in Romania at that time, weren't that much documented with photos and memoirs. For someone that have not lived here or is not a Romanian, at first sight, you can't find something detailed written about the Romanian battles, but if you dig deep, you will find plenty of info. I really wish to see a video about these battle from a neutral point of view, from a person that has no affiliation to Romania, because I'm always skeptical about our history books, actually, most of the history book written in the communist era. Back then, the false propaganda was flowing in the air. Thanks for the amazing work, Indy.

Here is a piece of information about the battle of Oituz... The romanian soldiers would often shout: "Pe aici nu se trece". That means:"You shall not pass"

I would become a history professor or teacher just to replay these videos to my students they are so entertaining yet informative with strong material and presentation. Great job to "The GREAT WAR" team.

My Great Grandfather (Spencer De Vere) died here (Messines Ridge) 8th August 1917 Australian.

Here's an Out Of The Trenches for you guys! One of the first stories about the war I was told as a kid was about the wooden platforms used to cross the muddy fields. If a soldier fell from the platform, other soldiers were not allowed to help, since stopping on the narrow bridge would halt the whole army. The fallen soldier would be left to drown in mud like quicksand, in full view of the army, his pleas ignored. It always really disturbed me. Any truth in that ever happening? Love the show!

Thank-you for not losing sight of the human side of this war.

Hi Indy, great show. If you require more info about the battles of Marasti, Marasesti and Oituz just tell what exact info you need and I can get that for you in one week. There are a lot of information written in romanian and also I have some books about the Romanian influence in WW1 from where I can get all the information you need. Cheers!

I had no idea that British deaths in WW1 exceeded those of WW2...that's truly mind boggling to me. Thank you again for all of the videos, TGW team!

Knowing very little about Romania's history (and absolutely nothing about Romanian language), I recently watched some news about the Mausoleum of Marasesti. Very impressive construction (like other WW1 monuments: Vimy, Redipuglia...)

As always a great episode. Man this channel is getting better and better with each episode!

I may have missed something during some of the weekly episodes but I've started to notice that not much is happening on the border between the Ottoman Empire and Russia for a while

Love the fact that you guys cover battles that aren't so well known when they should be. And I hope someone could give you guys more details on the Battle of Mărășești.

I believe the guy at 3:50 seems amicable and one day will promote universal peace

Keeping the logistics up in those conditions ist such a great achievement. My utmost respect to anyone involved in that mess.

Did steps have to be taken to prevent the German concrete bunkers from sinking in the wet ground, and, if so, what were they? Thanks for everything!

The sheer scale of battles and men deployed always blows my mind about WW1. Half a million soldiers, in ONE battle, for only ONE month. We probably went into Afghanistan with that many for years

Omg they wrote Mărăşeşti correctly Im in love

Despair everywhere. That tends to happen when a war goes on long enough and is bloody enough. How terrible. Great job.

Man this channel is really awesome. Just bought battlefield one because of it

"DESPAIR EVERYWHERE" story of my life.

It is incredible this account of The Great War - done week by week - 100 years later. Incredible.

Despair Everywhere...Yep, it describes my the day of my birth aptly.

Read he Romanian Battlefront in WW1 by Glenn E Torrey. Covers all the 3 major battles that broke the germans on the eastern front and the battles of 1918 in great detail. It's dirt cheap on amazon

Thank you for making this series. I finally have a much better understanding of the entire war and not just the western front which seems to be all that is ever covered in north america

And the great words : Here nobody shall pass .

Indy mentioned the Chinese workers who moved supplies up to the front. I don't know if Chou en-lai, future foreign minister of China, was there, but he was in the labor battalion.

The map looks great :D Thanks to everyone supporting the show

Ieper / Wipers .... So strange that i live my daily life where so many soldiers died, and even fallen are possible still under our feet... RIP Heroes Last post, remember the fallen and never forget how pointless war actually is.

Who knew that executing your troops would make them hate being in the military and the war even more?

300k is really close to the modern population of iceland

Hello I love how u do weekly updates

You guys should do a special on the development of aircraft carriers and naval aviation during the war

You have videos of leaders like mussolini and adolf hitler during ww1 and i was wondering if you guys will ever do a video on Harry Truman since he was a colonel during the war

Do we know why, at this time in Russia, the Tzar did not leave Russia?

Great video Indy

"Stupid Flanders . . . " -General Homer SImpson

i like the new maps

Last time I was this early Franz was still alive

The difference in casualties between WW1 and WW2 at least mean that they have learned to be more careful about the life of their soldiers. Except the Russians...

Also fallen within these last days: Blackadder, Baldrick, George, and Darling.

Awesome episode guys... Keep it coming!

Forță bossule

The title pretty much sums up the whole Great War

Loving the animations

No one is passing here!

Are you planning a "Who did what in WW1" for Von Mackensen in the near future?

I'm loving this series glad to be caught up :)

This series is just perfect idea.. Good job

03:09 "dismissed the Western Allies," or realized that Russia was on the verge of collapse, and desiring to take them out of the fight before the American presence became an enormous problem. I tend to believe the latter.

I'd love a special about Max Hoffman.

What happened to all the bodies, weapons, barbed wire, etc.. after the battle was won, for instance what happened to many of the dead soldiers after the battle of the somme

Hi indy. I greatly appreciate the effort made by you and team in making this show, as well as your desire to present the events of the WWI, as close as possible to the truth. Unfortunately, with regard to the information required for the documentation on the battle of Mărăști, Mărășești si Oituz, you have to understand first the history of Romania between 1875 and Second War, and what happened right after the WW2 (the period when communist came to power in Romania), a fairly complicated history with many betrayals from the side of ouer western allies (hence the lack of information from France, England and the USA part), which I do not want to discuss at this moment, because it would take a very long time and would cause a lot of quite unpleasant discussions, so let's leave this issue with historians. Regarding the information required for your documentary, I can suggest the following sources of information, other than the Romanian ones: Glenn Torrey- Romania and World War 1 Glenn Torrey- The Revolutionary Russian Army and Romania,1917 Glenn Torrey- Henri Mathias Berthelot: Soldier of France, Defender of Romania Glenn Torrey- The Romanian Battlefront in World War I General Henri Berthelot and Romania: Mémoires Et Correspondance, 1916-1919 Jean-Noël Grandhomme, Michel Roucaud, Thierry Sarmant - La Roumanie dans la grande guerre et l'effondrement de l'arm 1916-1918 For more detailed information about the battles of Marasesti, Marasti si Oituz, you can check the following Romanian sources: 1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/topic/118232-battle-of-marasti22nd-of-july-1st-of-august-1917-in-romania/ - Battle of Marasesti 22nd of July-1st of August 1917; 1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/topic/117786-the-battle-of-oituz-in-romania-8-28-august-1917/ - The Battle of Oituz in Romania 8-28 August 1917; 1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/topic/116534-the-battle-of-marasesti-in-romania-6-19-august-1917/ - The Battle of Marasesti in Romania 6-19 August 1917 Indy, I want to draw your attention to the events that will follow, namely December 1917 and January-February 1918, as well as the Romanian military campain in Bucovina in 1918. Unfortunately, this period has been completely erased from the history books by Russians after the Second World War, the information from safe sources is very few, some of the documents of the Romanian Army were, after my knowledge, confiscated and destroyed by NKVD to Stalin's direct order. Currently, due to the political and military tensions in the area (the annexation of the Caucasus by Russia), all these issues are not discussed, being considered too delicate at these time. (LOL) Romanian Army Campaign in January - February 1918: Battle of Galati - 12-13 January 1918 ( the firs join action in history of the word, with the coordination between the naval, infantry, artilary and air, forces against enemy forces. The force ratio was 1/24 against the Romanian army, and we won); The Fightings for Socola - Iasi; The Fightings for Pașcani; The Fightings for Fălticeni; The Fightings for Mihăileni; The Fightings for Timișești; I hope, this info will help you. Keep up the good work.

I am from Romania and I have waited so long for this videos, an now .... :( I'll try to help you find information in English about the battles on the Romanian front ..

И английский термин "casaulties" означает не "убитые", а "потери", которые помимо убитых включают и раненых, и пленных, и пропавших без вести.

With all this despair on all fronts in 1917, it's hard to imagine that the war will still drag on and on for more than 15 months.

05:15 War was so unfair for those young soldiers. No words can describe with justice. I sense it from your videos.

At 7:58 Is it just me, or did Robertson send that exact message to Haig during the Somme last year? It seems like the exact wording to something Indy read last year. :)

I was sad when i thought the 1916 irish easter rising wasnt on this and i just so it was and i was like omg fam , this channel gives alot of detail!

Wow, new maps look great!

That quote really points out how either out of touch, or just plain callous the higher ups were to the common solider. It's a little disturbing to hear it when you know that this goal of theirs wasn't some instant victory plan. It's just to take that hill, take that kilometer, and maybe, maybe the other side will quit.

Will you ever talk about the amazing effort of royal mail during WW1 to maintain positive moral within the British army?

Am I the only one kind of shocked that it's taken us three years to find a prominent German with a monocle?

Amazing new map!

Hi Indy and team, I have a question for out of the trenches, who was the painter J.M. who served during the war. Keep up the great work, I am really enjoying watching this channel.

3:58 It's interesting to think how Russia would have changed if the Tsar came to power again. anyway can you do an episode about Tsar Nicholas II ?

Where Aircraft carriers used during ww1?

Sooo..... special about Max Hoffmann soon?

The show is phenomenal. Keep up the great work. Perhaps you could select different music for the intro sequence.

Woukd the great war team ever consider editing these when the series ends into a tv series similar to 'the world at war'?:)

LG

There was there major battles Mărăști , Mărășești, Oituz. The Romanians have nowere to widraw. It was the most brutal bloody battles.

Indy, are you going to make an episode about the FFL or the Alpine Hunters (chasseurs alpins) ?

Oh a new map!

After soldiers reach their peak performance, a while later their performance begins to decline. They’ve had enough. They’ve already proven themselves and no longer care about trying to prove their bravery. They’re just burnt out. They’re over it. For many, this begins after two years of continuous combat.

For out of the trenches:what did the french to do to replace the chauchat lmg if it was in that bad of a state (I have been watching for a few weeks)

I wonder if our common fear of quicksand is folklore that came back to us from muddy Great War battlefields.

Great new map ! What is the bulge north of the french line in alsace-lorraine ?

Why dont you guys get the video to 10 min+. I would happily support you guys on that!

Ah I love history .....

Do one about the tallest austrian soldier Grgo Kusić

I miss the big map on the wall

Great work Great War team! The German pronouncement that 3rd Ypres was a failure seems harsh at this point... Hadn't the Allies already taken more ground than they had during the Somme? Not that that was enough to justify the costs per se, or was a spectacular success, but it does seem to show a certain progress toward the eventual breakthroughs of 1918.

I know its 3 years later , but do you have a video where you speak more about the Mărășești battle ?

Hi Indy and team, I've got a question for OotT: How many (if any) were there POWs' attempts to escape and return to they home country? Or escape to some neutral country, like Spain? And (although I realize it's a very broad question) what were the POWs conditions of living in each warring country? Thank for making the greatest show in KZfaq!

Can you talk about motorcycle divisions?

Oh my god that map is so beautifullllllll

Who placed those boards on the frontlines? Were they placed by sappers?

It is a bit dissapointing that you couldn't find information about battle of Marasesti. It is look like everything resumes to the Western Front. There you can find every little detail. Nothing about Eastern or secondary fronts. And the same story about other WW1 documentaries. We, the Romanians, are always forgotten and nobody cares about our contribution to thr fate of the war. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your effort in trying to find the sources necessary for every epidode and I love the series, but is sad there were not the sources to describe battle of Marasesti like sny other battle.

How was Haig still in charge at this point? I think it's one of the more incredible facts of the War that he wasn't fired after the first day of the Somme.

I just got the whole sock pun. They will all know de feet.

Sees upload sees Romanian word. YEEEEEEEEEEEEET