om ten miles south of Constanza to Cernavoda, on
the Danube, and in this battle the Russo-Roumanians were successful,
compelling the Teutonic forces to retreat southward toward the border.
For a while Von Mackesen was on the defensive, but in a counter-attack
on September 23 he gained a marked victory over the Roumanians.
Gradually the latter were forced to retire, and although they made
a desperate resistance to the forces under Von Mackensen the latter
reached the coast by October 21, advancing on Constanza, Roumania's
chief port on the Black Sea, which was captured October 23. Cernavoda
fell on the 25th.

Meanwhile in Transylvania events of a similar character had been
happening. At first successful in their invasion of Austrian territory,
the Roumanians were unable to hold their advantage, and while the tide
of battle was for several weeks in doubt, the German and Austrian troops
under General von Falkenhayn at length drove the invaders back across
the mountains. By October 8 a Teutonic invasion of Roumania from the
northwest was imminent, and two days later the Roumanians were pursued
through the passes by Austrian troops. By the 17th Teuton forces were
five miles inside the frontier.

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 pos