On October 25 Von Falkenhayn’s army stormed the Vulcan Pass and pushed nearer the railroad at Kimpolong, seventy-five miles from Bucharest.  These successes were not gained, however, without hard fighting, the Roumanians making a desperate stand to prevent the Teuton invasion which threatened their capital.  They were aided by a French commander, General Bertholet, and struck back hard at Von Falkenhayn, gaining some signal successes in the last days of October and early in November and capturing several thousand prisoners and much war material.  These successes, however, proved insufficient to do more than check the Teuton advance toward Bucharest.

In the Dobrudja, after the capture of Cernavoda by Von Mackensen, there were strenuous efforts by the Roumanians, aided by Russians, to regain their lost territory.  In their early retreat they destroyed the great eleven-mile bridge over the Danube at Cernavoda and so cut off for the time being Von Mackesen’s threatened drive to Bucharest from the south.  The Roumanians that had been opposing him fell back northward to the Danube forts.  They were hotly pursued by Bulgarians, who on October 29 were reported to be at Astrovo, fifty miles north of the Constanza-Cernavoda railway line.  The possession of the latter was an immense advantage to Von Macksensen.

General von Falkenhayn continued his advance into Roumania during November and at the beginning of December the battle for Bucharest was ranging on three sides of the capital, with the Roumanians successful at some points, the invaders at others.  West of Bucharest the defenders had been pressed back to the Argesu River, while to the northwest the Germanic forces had smashed through the Roumanian lines and were rapidly moving down the Argesu Valley from Pitesci and down the Dombovitza from the Kompelung region.

To the south of the capital, King Ferdinand’s troops delivered a powerful counter-attack on December 2 that forced the Teutons back from the Argesu line and reclaimed two villages.

The Russians meanwhile were making a determined effort to relieve the situation at Bucharest by a counter-demonstration in the Carpathians, where on December 3 a great battle was developing in their favor.  They had gained a foothold in Kirlibaba, the key to the Rodna Pass and the plains of Hungary, and were attacking successfully at other points on the 250-mile front.  The Russians also had seized the western end of the Cernavoda bridge over the Danube, thus putting a check on any movement of General von Mackensen’s troops across the river from Dobrudja.  General Sakharoff’s forces continued furious, attacks along the entire line in the Dobrudja.

ITALIAN CAMPAIGN IN THE TRENTINO.