From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battle of Turtucaia
Part of Romanian Campaign (World War I)
Date September 2, 1916 - September 6, 1916 Location Turtucaia, Romania (now Tutrakan, Bulgaria) Result Bulgarian victory
Combatants
Kingdom of Romania	Kingdom of Bulgaria German Empire
Commanders
General Constantin Teodorescu	General Panteley Kiselov
Strength
19 battalions (initially) 31 battalions (end phase)	28 battalions
Casualties
6,160 dead or wounded; taken POW: 22,000[1] 480 commissioned officers, 25,000 soldiers[2] 480 commissioned officers, 28,000 soldiers[3]	7,972 dead or wounded

The Battle of Turtucaia or Battle of Tutrakan, also referred to as the Tutrakan Epopee in Bulgaria, was a battle during which an overwhelmingly Bulgarian Central Powers force captured the fortress of Tutrakan (Turtucaia in Romanian) from its Romanian defenders.

The Romanian fortress of Tutrakan was built with the aid of French military engineers after 1913, when the town and the whole of Southern Dobruja was annexed by Romania. It featured 151 cannons and 15 strong points and was commanded by General Constantin Teodorescu. The fortification was regarded as "the second Verdun" because of its alleged impregnability. However, the Romanian troops defending the fortress were almost untrained second-rate conscripts and only 3 battalions were part of the active army. They used obsolete weapons and their artillery was compared to a "museum" by witnesses.

The Bulgarian forces under General Panteley Kiselov, aided by a column of German troops led by Major Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord (whose role was limited to capturing the strong point 2), stormed the fortress in the morning of 5 September, with the Bulgarian artillery opening fire at 6:30 AM and the troops attacking at 8:20 AM. Five strong points were gradually taken during the day, while the Romanians were reinforced by 15 infantry battalions and three batteries from Bucharest.

The attack was renewed on 6 September and the Bulgarian forces entered Tutrakan at around 4:00 PM, completely seizing the town a half an hour later and capturing two flags, 450 officers, more than 22,000 soldiers, 151 cannons and all of the infantry's weapons. However, during the offensive the Bulgarians lost several thousands of soldiers, including many officers, due to General Kiselov's decision to put the commanding officers in front of the subordinate soldiers.

• Stefanov, Stefan. "'Impregnable' fortress falls after 33 hours", Dneven Trud, 5 September 2006, p. 18. Retrieved on September 5, 2006. (in Bulgarian)
• Constantin Kiriţescu, "Istoria războiului pentru întregirea României: 1916-1919", 1922