WW1 Prospection | Romanian Military Archeology RMA

ROMANIAN MILITARY ARCHEOLOGY

WW1 Prospections

In this section you will find a selection of our discoveries related to WW1 Romanian battlefields. These relics were recovered between 2015 and 2021 from places such as the Carpathian Mountains, where events as the Battle for Predeal and The Battle for Brasov took place, or from other well-known contexts: Marasesti, Marasti or Oituz. In the Articles section, you will find more detailed materials for several of the artefacts presented in this main section.

MARASESTI 1917

Relics recovered by us from one of the most well-known Romanian WW1 battlefields, The Battle of Mărășești.

PREDEAL 1916

Our work in that area and those mountains, we are deeply connected to the area. Artefacts from the Battle of Predeal Pass.

MARASESTI 1917

Here you will find some of the relics recovered by us from one of the most well-known Romanian WW1 battlefields, The Battle of Mărășești (6 August 1917 – 3 September 1917) was the last major battle between the German Empire and the Kingdom of Romania on the Romanian front during World War I. Romania was mostly occupied by the Central Powers, but the Battle of Mărășești kept the northern region of the country free from occupation.

More information here.

PREDEAL 1916

The Predeal area was and still is one of our main prospections targets. We started our work in that area and those mountains, so we are deeply connected to the area. Most of our WW1 relics & artefact come from the Battle of Predeal Pass, was a military engagement during the Romanian Campaign of World War I. It consisted in an attempt by the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) to cross the mountains to the south of Brassó (Brașov). Although the Central Powers captured the town of Predeal itself, the Romanian defenses in the pass prevented any further advances.

Following the Battle of Brasso (Brasov) , General Alexandru Averescu arrived in the region to assume command of the Romanian 2nd Army, replacing General Grigore C. Crăiniceanu. Averescu had orders to defend a line which would stop the Germans from entering the passes that led into central Romania. However, Averescu pragmatically rejected this. Instead, he insisted on withdrawing within the passes themselves, where the German superiority in artillery could be greatly reduced

The Central Powers forces in the area consisted in the XXXIX Corps, under the command of General Hermann von Staabs. The Corps comprised the German 187th Division under General Edwin Sunkel, the 51st Honvéd Division and the 76th Reserve Division. The two main units of the Corps – the 187th Infantry Division and the 51st Honvéd Infantry Division – had just won the Battle of Brassó.

We managed to recover many artefacts related to both the Romanian army and the counterparts, mostly from the Prussian 187th Infantry Division.