Ioan Culcer (29 July 1853 – September 1928) was a Wallachian-born Romanian military leader and politician. Culcer served as a lieutenant during the Romanian War of Independence (1877–1878) and as a general during the Second Balkan War and World War I. In early 1918, he served as Minister for Public Works in the First Averescu cabinet. He commanded the Romanian 1st Army during the 1916 Battle of Transylvania.
Early life and career Culcer was born in Târgu Jiu, Wallachia, on 29 July 1853, his family originating from Transylvania. He entered the Military School and graduated with the rank of second lieutenant. He participated in the Romanian War of Independence (1877–1878), in which he was wounded and promoted to lieutenant.
During the Siege of Plevna, 90% of the officers and 50% of the troops from the battalions of the first Romanian assault wave were killed. From the battalion commanded by Captain Valter Mărăcineanu, Culcer was the only officer who survived. At that time, he was a First Lieutenant.
After the war he attended the École Polytechnique in Paris, and subsequently the École d'application militaire in Fontainebleau. He specialized as chief engineer and became teacher at the Military School in Romania.
In 1882, under the direction of Belgian military architect Henri Alexis Brialmont, he supervised the building of a Romanian system of defensive fortifications on the line Galați–Nămoloasa–Iași, and around the capital Bucharest.
During this time, Culcer advanced in rank to captain (1880), major (1887), lieutenant colonel (1891), colonel (1895), and brigadier general (1904). He was secretary general of the Ministry of Defence (1904–1907) and then became Inspector General of the Romanian Army. In this function, he helped mobilize the Romanian Army for the Second Balkan War. In 1911 he was promoted to divisional general.
Second Balkan War Romania declared war on Bulgaria on 10 July 1913. That same day, 80,000 soldiers of Culcer's Romanian 5th Corps crossed the border into Southern Dobruja and occupied the line from Tutrakan to Balchik. The cavalry attached to this corps briefly occupied the Black Sea port of Varna, but retreated back into Dobruja when the lack of Bulgarian resistance became apparent.Richard C. Hall, Routledge, Jan 4, 2002, The Balkan Wars 1912–1913: Prelude to the First World War, p. 117 The Treaty of Bucharest, signed on 10 August, assigned to Romania the Tutrakan – Balchik line.
For his efforts, King Carol I appointed Culcer Governor of Southern Dobruja, the province annexed by Romania after the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest.
World War I Culcer commanded the Romanian 1st Army from August to October, 1916.T.G. Otte, Routledge, Apr 15, 2016, An Historian in Peace and War: The Diaries of Harold Temperley, p. 52 The Battle of Transylvania comprised the bulk of his service as commander of the 1st Army.
Culcer and his forces prior to Romania's entry into World War I At the start of 1916, Culcer was still in command of the 5th Army Corps, before receiving the command of the Romanian 1st Army that August. Before Romania joined the war, he also served as army inspector. Culcer held the official rank of Divisional general (General de Divizie). All of his colleagues – including the future Marshals Alexandru Averescu and Constantin Prezan – held the same rank, despite commanding field armies. Before the start of the First World War, Romania did not have multiple field armies. The 1914 establishment of nearly 100,000 men was organized into five army corps, each corps having two divisions. After the war started, five more divisions were formed (11–15), followed by five more in 1916, before Romania joined the war (16–20). Three more divisions were created in the first ten days of the Romanian Campaign, bringing the total to 23. Thirteen of these divisions had no howitzers at all, the twenty-five batteries of 120 mm howitzers being scattered among ten lucky divisions. The original 10 divisions averaged thirty machine-guns each, while the 13 wartime divisions had only half that many. Artillery batteries ranged from a low of 8 in the newer divisions to an average of 16 in the original ten divisions. In regards to experience, the Romanian Army had last taken the field in 1913, during the Second Balkan War. However, the Romanian advance into Bulgaria was uncontested, comprising little more than an advanced training exercise. Romania's latest proper combat foray consisted in its involvement in the 1877 – 1878 Russo-Turkish War, fighting closer in technology and spirit to Waterloo than to Somme or Verdun.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, 23 oct. 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 15–17
Culcer thus had as much combat experience as a full-time Romanian commander could have, having served as an officer in both of these wars: as a First Lieutenant in the 1877 – 1878 campaign, and as a General in the 1913 invasion of Bulgaria.Richard C. Hall, Routledge, Jan 4, 2002, The Balkan Wars 1912–1913: Prelude to the First World War, p. 117 Culcer's 1st Army was the weakest of the three Romanian armies invading Transylvania. The 1st Division could not be deployed to Transylvania, being diverted for the protection of the western frontier of Wallachia, near Orșova. At the onset of the Romanian Campaign, his 1st Army consisted of six divisions: the 1st, the 12th and the four divisions of the I Corps (the 2nd, the 11th, the 13th and the 23rd). Of these 6 divisions, only the 1st and the 2nd were first-line units. Of these two first-line divisions, the 1st was unavailable for operations in Transylvania, leaving four second-line divisions and a single first-line division for operations in the region.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, 23 oct. 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, p. 103Cornélis De Witt Willcox, Edwin Roy Stuart, Cumulative Digest Corporation, 1918, International Military Digest Annual for 1917, p. 253Nigel Thomas, Dusan Babac, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, Armies in the Balkans 1914–18, p. 35 According to some sources, Culcer's 1st Army consisted of 5 divisions.Army War College (U.S.), U.S. Infantry Association, 1923, Campaigns of the World War, p. 101 When the campaign began, this was indeed the case. However, several days into the campaign, the 23rd Division was formed. The 23rd Division was Culcer's creation: he formed it by combining the Olt and Lotru Groups.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, 23 oct. 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, p. 52 All in all, his 1st Army had 135,000 men at the start of the campaign. Culcer's army also employed the use of aircraft. The I Corps (part of his 1st Army) – commanded by General Ioan Popovici – possessed 3 reconnaissance aircraft, although by late September only one of these was operational.Prit Buttar, Bloomsbury Publishing, Sep 22, 2016, Russia's Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916–17, p. 341 The 1st Army also possessed a degree of motorization: over 70 automobiles (cars and trucks).Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, 23 oct. 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, p. 113 The 1st Army's front extended across 120 miles, from Orșova to east of the Red Tower Pass. Half a dozen divisions could obviously not operate continuously on such a front. As such, the advance fell into three main groups, each separated from the next by over 50 miles of mountain range. The westernmost group – a single division – operated against Orșova, in the Banat region. The remaining two groups operated in Transylvania, one through the Vulcan Pass against Hațeg and the other through the Red Tower Pass against Sibiu.The Times, 1917, The Times History and Encyclopaedia of the War, Volume 11, p. 209John Buchan, T. Nelson, 1922, A History of the Great War: From the battle of Verdun to the third battle of Ypres, p. 226
Against Arthur Arz von Straußenburg The Romanian offensive into Transylvania was opposed by the 1st Austro-Hungarian Army, under General Arthur Arz von Straußenburg. This army was constituted that August, just before Romania launched its invasion. Its front extended across all of Transylvania.Encyclopædia britannica Company, Limited, 1922, The Encyclopædia Britannica: The New Volumes, Constituting, in Combination with the Twenty-nine Volumes of the Eleventh Edition, the Twelfth Edition of that Work, and Also Supplying a New, Distinctive, and Independent Library of Reference Dealing with Events and Developments of the Period 1910 to 1921 Inclusive. The First-third of the New Volumes, Volume 30, p. 914Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, 23 oct. 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 3–4 All in all, Arz's 1st Army rallied 34,000 soldiers against the Romanian armies invading Transylvania, which totaled 369,000 soldiers.Holger H. Herwig, A&C Black, Apr 24, 2014, The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914–1918, p. 211