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wingsofwrath — Battle of the Jiu Bridge
#battle #brancusi #bridge #commemoration #jiu #poster #reenactment #romania #soldiers #ww1 #targu #world_war_1 #targu_jiu #ecaterina_teodoroiu #tg_jiu
Published: 2014-10-07 18:10:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 9110; Favourites: 101; Downloads: 66
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EDIT, 23.11.14: added a few more historical facts about the battle, and you can now see some pictures from the reenactment: www.facebook.com/media/set/?se…A poster for an upcoming reenactment event commemorating the WW1 "Battle of the Jiu Bridge", which took place in the small Romanian town of Tg. Jiu on October the 14th, 1916, when 2 companies belonging to General Falkenheyn's Alpen Korps, asupported by four machine guns, tried to force the crossing of the Jiu river to capture a strategic telephone exchange located in the city and were repulsed after several hours of fierce fighting by a force comprised of hastily armed (most with single-shot Martini-Henry Md.1879 black powder breech loaders) civilians from the town interspersed with about 40 soldiers from the 59th Infantry Regiment, about 50 policemen, and 5-6 Scouts.
The battle started at 11:30 local time and ended around 5PM with the arrival of Romanian reinforcements in the shape of a 53mm light artillery battery and another infantry company which then counter-attacked across the bridge and managed to drive the Germans off, capturing 18 prisoners in the process.
For the Image I drew inspiration from both period propaganda posters as well as interwar travel posters as well as trying to keep it as factual to the real even as I could.
The bridge itself is referenced from a period postcard and the pointing soldier is dressed in the typical early war grey-green Romanian uniform with cloth cap. Since, prewar, the uniform dyes were imported from Austria Hungary which was now an enemy, the uniform colour of the Romanian army would be later changed, first to a neutral grey and then to the French "Bleu Horizont", as shipments of French uniform fabric were brought in to replace production from the factories now located in Central Power occupied territory. At the same time, the Romanian army was equipped with French "Adrian" helmets.
The soldier also wears the early war knapsack, which had a rigid, wooden frame and is equipped with the Romanian Mannlicher Md.1893 in 6.5X52mmR, an Austrian made weapon also used by the Dutch Army until 1945 and very similar in both cartridge and base functionality to the mainstay of the Italian Army during WW1, the 6.5X52mm Mannlicher-Carcano M.1891. Interestingly, although both were produced by Steyr, this weapon had no relation to the 8mm M.95 Mannlicher straight-pull rifle which equipped the Austro-Hungarian army (and of which Romania would later capture large quantities), but was instead patterned after the German "Gewehr 88" and was thus fitted with a rotating bolt.
The main bulk of the defenders is made up of civilians of both sexes, policemen (in the model 1910 maroon uniforms) as well as Scouts. The Scout movement started in Romania in 1913, and Scouts took active part in WW1.
The second Scout from the right is meant to represent Ecaterina Teodoroiu , a national heroine of Romania who later joined the Romanian Army, was promoted to Second Lieutenant and was awarded the "Military Virtue Medal" 1st Class for bravery, before her life was tragically cut short by a German machinegun while she was leading her 25 man platoon in a counter-attack at the Battle of Marasesti, on September 3, 1917.
The border is based around traditional Romanian embroidery and the Sculptural Ensemble of Constantin Brancusi at Targu Jiu , one of the greatest works of 20th century outdoor sculpture, which was also dedicated to the fallen of WW1 and is also located at the site of the battle.
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Comments: 16
Did the Scouts earn their Defense Merit Badge? Sorry, had to ask. Was an adult leader with a local troop with my sons, but they rather work on their school work than merit badges.
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Umm... why are you offended?
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I'm joking about your alternate history making the Germans trash and the French Badasses xP
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Aaaaah!
Of course, you realise the Germans aren't trash in my alternate history - they're simply not in the story, because they chose not to get involved. Their priority is Russia, not France.
That, and convincing those bloody Bavarians to forget Austria, get with the program, and join the Norddeutscher Bund instead...
As for the French being badasses - as much as Americans like to lambaste them for being "cowards" with their kindergarten attitude ("oh, you don't want to join our useless war on the arse end of nowhere? Then you're chickens, bok bok b'gawk!"), there was never anything wrong with the French fighting spirit.
Ever.
Quite the contrary, the French have always been pretty damn bellicose and bloody-minded.
In fact, I find it really odd that someone from Germany would make fun of the French with that, considering how many Germans laid down their lives fighting the French in the last two wars. If your enemy is that bad and they run away at the first sign of trouble, why did you lose that many people in the first place? Isn't claiming cowardice on the part of the French actually a grave disservice to the German army?
I mean, even in 1940, the French did suffer almost 360,000 casualties in the span of a month, while inflicting 157,621 casualties in return. They were sorely outclassed, surely (the less said about the French tank doctrine and French high command, the better), but that's a far cry from simply "giving up". I mean the US casualties for the entire ETO theatre were 183,588 - and that's in three years of war, and nobody accused Germany of simply "giving up", quite the contrary!
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Not that I have anything against them, but The French were Downright Decimated in the Franco-Prussian War, After that they were diplomatically Isolated by Bismarck until he was ousted from Office by Kaiser Wilhelm, During WW1 had it not been for the rest of the Entente the French would have lost, as the Germans were continually Beating them. It was ultimately Blockades, food shortages, and other internal problems that brought the end of the German Empire, that and the sudden Rise of Communism.
During WW2 the German Army was almost unstoppable, Invaded Poland without problem save for some Militants, And the Invasion of France which lasted a month. 1 month and Germany took over all of France, Although large amounts of resistence were encountered.
I believe that the stereotype of French "Surrendering" is because They've been saved many times, although the Government surrendered in WW2 the people fought on, and During the Siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian war the people were patriotic beyond reasoning. And WW1 saw that when the British, Canadians, and other Entente arrived the German advance into France stopped. Germany has never been accused of Giving up because Germany lasted almost 8 years against the World's greatest powers, In 2 world wars and almost won the 2nd had it not been for an Austrian Lunatic and stupid tactical planning.
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HA HA! Oh my God, good one. "Come Hastings, we must defend za bridge!"
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Brilliant to see re-enactment becoming popular, here in Ireland they've built a recreated WW1 trench with re-enactors kitted out as members of the Irish Guards the main Irish regiment to take part on the Western front, also the Irish republican rebels were using the same rifle you've shown here
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When it comes to alphabets, Romania had it interesting - we used Greek letters until the Roman conquest of 106AD, then the Latin Alphabet until the 15th Century, when mounting influence from our Slavic neighbours and a mounting reaction against Catholicism led to the introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet. Unfortunately, this alphabet was ill suited to the Romanian language, who is a Romance language, so another alphabet was devised called "Romanian Cyrillic" or "Romanian Slavonic", which was used until 1862, when the Latin alphabet was reintroduced.
The typeface I used is somewhat based on the "Romanian Slavonic" , but, like most of the "Romanian Archaic" typefaces that can be found on the internet are digitalisations of typefaces made in the "Neo-Romanian" art and architecture style prevalent from the turn of the century until 1930, the equivalent, in Romania, of "Art Nouveau" and "Art Deco".
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Damn, those 1930s typefaces are seriously gorgeous 
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Wow this is a fascinating production of a battle. Great job, I ought to research this battle. 
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Fascinating. What kind of reenacting is going on in Europe for the WWI centennial? Many large-scale events? I wasn't sure whether it would be considered too somber a war to reenact at any large scale. Few people in the U.S. are commemorating it as yet, so I haven't heard much at all.
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There's a lot of reenactment going on in Europe this year, with plenty of large scale events, especially in France and the UK. For example, our group "The Military Tradition Association" was invited to Paris, for the French National Day, on July the 14th.
In Romania, however, we are a little more subdued, partly because reenactment is a pretty obscure pastime (besides us there are only three other groups, and we are by far the largest, at 30 members) and partly because, for us, WW1 started in 1916 (end ended in 1919, with the campaign against the Hungarian Soviet Republic of Béla Kun).
Another thing is that, unlike in the US or other countries in Europe, we have draconian firearm laws, which mean that the use of firearms, even modified to fire blanks, is strictly forbidden unless express permission can be secured from the Ministry of the Interior, usually months in advance and which sometimes gets rescinded at the last moment (last time the authorities got cold feet was because of the Washington Navy Yard shooting). This is why most of our events are mostly centred around the ceremonial aspect - either the laying of wreaths at a monument or parades with the participation of the modern military, events for which we can use non-firing replicas or de-milled weapons.
You can see more recent pictures on our FB, here: www.facebook.com/TraditiaMilit…
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Fascinating -- I'm very glad to hear that events of this type are going on. I'm a reenactor myself (American Civil War), and have a keen appreciation for how reenacting can educate the public, enrich memory of the past, and impart to reenactors a bit of the feel of living in bygone days. Helps keep the present engaged with its history, which I think is vital
Sorry to hear about the obstacles to reenacting in Romania, though it's fascinating to hear something about the Romanian history of the war (something other than the Western Front, for a change!). I have spoken to reenactors from other countries, and always come away with an appreciation for the way U.S. laws allow the hobby to operate here. It seems like your group strives to do the best it can under the circumstances -- and kudos to all of you for doing it!
Thanks for the link; there are some great pictures on your group's Facebook page. I am now following that page so I'll keep up to date in the future...I hope your group has many more events to look forward to in the years ahead.
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