The Cemetery of the Fallen Heroes of the First World War

In this cemetery the remains of 316 Romanian, 94 German, 73 Austrian of which 246 are unknown soldiers can be found that fell in the battle for Lerești. This was part of the bigger battle of the Rucăr -Bran pass and the plan of the German/Austro-Hungarian Army to break through into the Wallachian plain to conquer Bucharest.

On the cemetery the crosses are made from stone and whitewashed in white (picture 1). In the middle of cemetery is a circle made within the middle a wooden crucifix as per the local traditions (picture 2). In the circle there are also some stones with the text (picture 3):

IN MEMORY OF THE UNKNOWN HERO

At the end of the cemetery there is a cross (picture 4 and 5) and on the cross it states:

RAISED IN MEMORY OF THE UNKNOWN HERO DIED IN THE WAR 1916-1918

Background on the Battle:

The Battle took place in October and November 1916 and was between the Nămăești Group led by General Dumitru Cotescu with 2 divisions (12th division and the 22th division) and on the German side we had the First Reserve corps under the leadership of Curt von Morgen with the 76th Infantry Division and the 8th Austro-Hungarian Mountain Brigade.

After the battle of Transylvania the Romanian Army was pushed back through the passes in the Carpathian Mountains and after conquering the pass on the 12th of October and then Rucăr on the 14th of October by the Central Powers, they were not able to break through the Romanians.

On the 26th of October the central Powers attacked near Dragoslavele, but were repulsed by the Romanians, while at the same time trying to outflank by attacking via the Mountains into Lerești which they briefly captured but it was re-captured by the Romanians on the 28th of October.

It would take them until the 29th of November before Câmpulung was taken and Central Powers could break out into Wallachia.

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Source

• Text: Gio Theunissen
• Photos: Gio Theunissen
• BARRETT, MICHAEL B., Prelude to Blitzkrieg:, Indiana University Press, 2013.
• TORREY, GLENN E., The Romanian Battlefront in World War I, United States, 2011.