As the I Corps remained almost under siege, the leaders of the Romanian Army were compelled to attempt its relief. The 2nd Army - 3 divisions strong at the time - attacked on 28 and 29 September, driving against the flank of the German 9th Army among skillfully retreating German and Austro-Hungarian forces.Marshall Cavendish, 1984, The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I, Volume 5, p. 1600 During the early morning of the 28th, von Schmettow reported that the Romanians had driven a wedge between his 6th Austro-Hungarian Cavalry Brigade and the 71st Austro-Hungarian Division of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army. A gap a dozen miles wide was opened and the entire 9th Army was exposed to a flank attack. The 89th Division - von Falkenhayn's last reserve - was coming south from Segesvár and began to march into the area between the two armies, but Falkenhayn feared that the Romanians would overwhelm it. Pressure on the extreme western flank of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army drove back a weak Hungarian cavalry detachment and the battered 71st Division. Falkenhayn was alarmed to receive a message from the usually aggressive Curt von Morgen - whose I Reserve Corps commanded this flank of Arz's 1st Army - that he viewed a further retreat as almost inevitable. The actions of the Romanian 2nd Army contributed to von Falkenhayn's troubled night's sleep that evening. On the 29th, as the battle came to a conclusion, the 2nd Army's 3rd Division drove the 2nd Honvéd Cavalry Division back north across the Hortobágy (Hârtibaciu/Haar) Creek. This drive threatened what had become the juncture of the two Central Powers armies.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, Oct 23, 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, pp. 111 and 115Prit Buttar, Bloomsbury Publishing, Sep 22, 2016, Russia's Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916–17, pp. 346-347 The 2nd Romanian Army executed its movements slowly and with difficulty. An advance along the shortest line in the Olt Valley might have been easily threatened, so the Romanians felt themselves compelled to ensure freedom of movement north of the Olt River. Therefore, the forward sections of the 71st Infantry Division were the first to be pressed back. Then, the 6th Cavalry Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division - standing north of Kissink (Cincșor/Kleinschenk) - was thrown back westwards. Pushing between the 71st Division and the Cavalry Corps, the 89th Division carried out on 28 September a successful attack to the south, temporarily halting the advance of the Romanian troops north of the Olt. However, the Romanians resumed their offensive during the afternoon of that same day, attacking the 1st Cavalry Division north of the Olt and pressing it back to the heights east of the Hortobágy. The German reserve, not required at Nagyszeben, was swiftly deployed with heavy motor wagons through the Hortobágy Valley to the aid of the heavily engaged Schmettow Cavalry Corps. On the 29th, the Romanians pushed rapidly and violently in the space between the Hortobágy and the Olt. To the surprise of the Central Powers, the Romanians did not continue the attack north of the Olt on 30 September.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. 917 During its advance on the 28th, the Romanian 2nd Army gained several settlements, most notably the village of Nagysink (Cincu/Großschenk), a district (járás) capital within the Nagy-Küküllő County.Edmund Glaise-Horstenau, Österreich-Ungarns letzter Krieg 1914 – 1918. Vol. 5: Das Kriegsjahr 1916 ; 2 ; Beil, Verl. der Militärwiss. Mitteilungen, Wien, 1932 Ultimately, the 2nd Army forced its way as far as Porumbák, but by that time the Romanian detachment - which had stood there on the extreme right wing of Popovici's Corps - had been forced to retreat to the east, and the German forces continued to separate the two armies.The Times, 1917, The Times History and Encyclopaedia of the War, Volume 11, p. 229John Buchan, T. Nelson, 1922, A History of the Great War: From the battle of Verdun to the third battle of Ypres, p. 233 The 4th Division of the 2nd Army advanced to within 7 miles of Popovici's right flank.Michael B. Barrett, Indiana University Press, Oct 23, 2013, Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania, p. 111
