THE CONTRIBUTION OF MAJOR GENERAL IOAN CULCER, COMMANDER OF THE FIRST ARMY, TO ROMANIA'S WAR EFFORT DURING THE 1916 CAMPAIGN
THE CONTRIBUTION OF MAJOR GENERAL IOAN CULCER, COMMANDER OF THE FIRST ARMY, TO ROMANIA'S WAR EFFORT DURING THE 1916 CAMPAIGN

Summary/Abstract: Commander of the 1st Army, during the 1916 campaign, Ioan Culcer was one of the Romanian generals who pleaded for neutrality and did not agree with the idea of engaging the army in war, on two fronts, as its general condition was precarious from the point of view of the effectives, equipment and endowment of the troops. However, he devotedly fulfilled his mission, so under his command, the actions taken by subordinate troops were successful at the beginning of the campaign of this so-called War for National Integrity. Later, due to not having sufficient forces to cover the entire area of responsibility and no close reserves at his disposal, in the face of the offensive responses of an increasingly numerous and well-equipped enemy with weapons and combat techniques, General Ioan Culcer submitted to the General Headquarters a detailed plan that suggested retreating the troops of the First Army, the reorganization of the operative device and the defense on a strongly fortified alignment on the left bank of the Olt. Considering that the retreating would be the equivalent of a defeat, on October 11, 1916, General Ion Culcer was relieved of command, but the unfavorable evolution of the subsequent military actions in Oltenia, Muntenia and Dobrogea, resulting in the general retreating of the army and all political-administrative institutions in Moldova at the end of 1916, confirmed the correctness of the strategic vision of this important general.

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