mountain artillery, 70 mm guns of the M99 type. These could be disassembled and carried on soldiers' backs. The Alpine Corps division totaled 9 infantry battalions. During this battle, both sides - numerically speaking - were more or less equal, although the Central Powers disposed of vast superiority in artillery. The Romanians disposed of 3 reconnaissance aircraft, but only one was operational, and it failed to spot all the German forces that were assembling. The Central Powers force that von Falkenhayn managed to assemble was not quite as large as he intended. Following his victory against the Romanians at the First Battle of Petrozsény (18-22 September), Falkenhayn pulled out most of the German forces from that sector of the front - 4 battalions out of 6 - leaving only two, along with two batteries. Although he wanted to move these two battalions to Nagyszeben as well, Sunkel told him that this was out of the question. The two battalions along with the 144th Austro-Hungarian Infantry Brigade were defeated by the successful Romanian counterattack launched on 25 September (Second Battle of Petrozsény). In response, von Falkenhayn had to send away further officers, including a general. These comprised the newly formed 301st Division, a headquarters staff without troops whose role was to provide an additional control element. This unit was led by General Johannes von Busse. Battle Northern front (26-27 September) The attack of the German 9th army began at dawn on the 26th. Von Staabs had his divisions deployed with the 187th to the West, the 51st Honvéd in the center and the 76th Reserve Division to the east. In clear weather, the XXXIX Corps got off to a slow start, meeting determined resistance. The Romanians, by then aware of their critical position, had commenced a general retreat to the southeast. Strong rearguards were covering this movement. The 187th Division ran almost immediately into strongly held positions. The villages of Szecsel, Orlát, Popláka and Guraró (Gura Râului/Auendorf) had to be captured one by one, swaying battles being fought in their streets. Guraró and Popláka in particular were noted by Falkenhayn for their resistance. Although the villages were captured during the evening, the Romanians remained in their strong positions on the Cioara, Valare and Obreju heights. The 51st Honvéd Division did not advance as it was expecting the 187th Division to prepare the way. The 76th Reserve Division did not actually make