The Battle of Nagyszeben was a World War I military engagement fought between the forces of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) on one side and the forces of Romania on the other side. It was the decisive engagement during the Battle of Transylvania, and also the largest, involving four armies out of the five fighting in the region: two Romanian, one German, and one Austro-Hungarian. German General Erich von Falkenhayn planned to surround and annihilate the entire I Corps of General Ioan Culcer's Romanian 1st Army. Although this failed - the bulk of the Romanian force including almost its entire artillery managing to escape - the battle was still decisive in that it compelled the Romanian abandonment of Transylvania. Midway into the battle, the Romanian 2nd Army tried to relieve the besieged I Corps, attacking both the flank of the German 9th Army and the western flank of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army. Thus, in the second half of the battle, two more armies joined the fray. Background At the onset of the Romanian Campaign, starting on 27 August 1916 with the Battle of Transylvania, the Romanian 1st Army, under the command of General Ioan Culcer, consisted of six divisions, of which four comprised the I Corps, under the command of General Ioan Popovici. In the middle of September, General Culcer moved the I Corps headquarters to Nagytalmács (Tălmaciu/Talmesch). General Popovici arrived in Nagytalmács along with his staff on 16 September. Popovici had two divisions under his command at Nagyszeben (Sibiu/Hermannstadt): the 13th and the 23rd. While concentrating their forces northwest of Nagyszeben in preparation for the impending battle for that city, the Germans kept the Romanians under artillery fire in order to keep them from sending out patrols that could have discovered the German build-up. Romanian frustration with having to endure this bombardment boiled over, and on 22 September General Popovici ordered his 13th Division to take the heights at Veresmart (Roșia/Rothberg), east of Nagyszeben. Although this action was against Culcer's orders, it was still Culcer himself who decided to appoint Popovici as commander of the two Romanian divisions headquartered at Nagytalmács. Although Popovici's attack failed in its immediate aim, it succeeded in worsening the strategic situation of the Central Powers, driving a wedge between the two divisions of a German-led Cavalry Corps. If exploited, this wedge could ruin the German plans to secure Nagyszeben (Sibiu/Hermannstadt). On the following