Roumania (2)

The French and English had wished the Roumanians to declare war first
on Bulgaria and, attacking that country from the north while General
Sarrail attacked it from the south, crush it before help could arrive
from Germany, much in the fashion in which poor Serbia had been caught
between Austria and Bulgaria a year previously. The Roumanians,
however, were eager to "liberate" their brothers in Transylvania, and
so, urged on by bad advice from Russia, they rushed across the
mountains to the northwest instead of taking the easier road which led
them south to the conquest of Bulgaria.

Germania, Turkey, and Bulgaria at once declared war on Roumania. The
battle-field in France, owing to continued rains and wet weather, had
become one great sea of slimy mud, through which it was impossible to
drag the cannon. General Brusiloff in Galicia had pushed back the
Austrians for many miles but a lack of ammunition and the arrival of
strong German re-inforcements had prevented his re-capturing Lemberg.
The Russian generals on the north, under the influence of the
pro-German prime minister, were doing nothing. The Italians and
Austrians had come to a deadlock. The country where they were fighting
was so mountainous that neither side could advance. North from
Salonika came the slow advance of General Sarrail. His great problem
was to get sufficient shells for his guns and food for his men. All
the time, too, he had to keep a watchful eye on King Constantine, lest
the latter launch the Greek army in a treacherous attack on his rear.
For the time being, then, the central powers were free to give their
whole attention to Roumania.

Profiting by the mud along the western front and trusting to the
Russians to do nothing, they drew off several hundred thousand men
from France and Poland and hurled them all together upon the
Roumanians. At the same time, another force composed of Turks,
Bulgarians, and some Germans marched north through the Dobrudja to
attack Roumania from the south. Thus, the very trick that the French
wished Roumania to work upon Bulgaria was now worked upon her by the
central powers. France and England were helpless. They sent one of the
best of the French generals to teach the Roumanians the latest science
of war, but men and guns they could not send. Look at the map and see
how Roumania was shut off from all help except what came from Russia.
Here Sturmer was doing his part to help Germany. Ammunition and troops
which were intended to rescue Roumania, never reached her. The Germans
had spies in the Roumanian army and before each battle, knew exactly
where the Roumanian troops would be and what they were going to do.

The German gun factories had sold to Roumania her cannon. On each gun
was a delicate sight with a spirit level--a little glass tube supposed
to be filled with a liquid which would not freeze. Slyly the Germans
had filled these tubes with water, intending, in case Roumania entered
the war on their side, to warn them about the "mistake." When the guns
were hauled up into the mountains and freezing weather came, these
sights burst, making the guns almost useless. Overwhelmed from both
the northwest and the south, the Roumanian army, fighting gallantly,
was beaten back mile after mile. Great stores of grain were either
destroyed or captured by the Germans. The western part of Roumania
where the great oil wells are, fell into the hands of the invaders, as
did Bukharest, the capital.

Sturmer had done his work well. Germany, instead of being almost
beaten, now took on fresh courage. Thanks to Roumanian wheat,
Roumanian oil, and above all, the glory of the victories, the central
powers were now in better shape to fight than if Roumania had kept out
of the war. The German comic papers were full of pictures which
declared that as England and France had always wanted to see a
defeated Hohenzollern they might now take a long look at King
Ferdinand of Roumania.