The Second Army was a field army of the

Romanian Land Forces The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

, created on 18 August 1916.History section of the official site of the 2nd Infantry Division
/ref>

History

World War I

The Second Army was part of the Romanian offensive in Transylvania during the autumn of 1916.The offensive of the 2nd Romanian Army in Transylvania
/ref> Following the failure of the offensive and due to the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

counterattack, which led to the occupation of most of the country's territory, the Second Army, along with the remnants of other

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n military units, were forced to retreat into the region of

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

, the only Romanian territory unoccupied by enemy forces. The Second Army, among other units, underwent a process of reorganization and modernization in the winter of 1916 - 1917 as part of French

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Henri Berthelot Henri Mathias Berthelot (7 December 1861 – 29 January 1931) was a French general during World War I. He held an important staff position under Joseph Joffre, the French commander-in-chief, at the First Battle of the Marne, before later command ...

's mission to revitalize the exhausted and decimated Romanian military. The Central Powers advance towards Moldavia was hampered by bad weather and poor infrastructure and as a result hostilities were only resumed in the summer of 1917. A plan to break through the lines of Field Marshal

August von Mackensen Anton Ludwig Friedrich August von Mackensen (born Mackensen; 6 December 1849 – 8 November 1945), ennobled as "von Mackensen" in 1899, was a German field marshal. He commanded successfully during World War I of 1914–1918 and became one of t ...

's German forces was elaborated, requiring a dual offensive from the First Army in the Nămoloasa sector and the Second Army in the Mărăști sector. Although the Nămoloasa offensive was canceled, the Second Army's attack led to the

Battle of Mărăști The Battle of Mărăști ( ro, Bătălia de la Mărăști) was one of the main battles to take place on Romanian soil in World War I. It was fought between 22 July and 1 August 1917, and was an offensive operation of the Romanian and Russian arm ...

, which ended with the Romanians' victory after creating a breach wide and deep in the front, after nine days of fighting, between 22 July and 1 August.The Battle of Marasti (July 1917)
/ref> Field Marshal von Mackensen launched a

counterattack A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objectives typically seek ...

on 6 August 1917, which led to the

Battle of Mărășești 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 t ...

; the Romanians managed to resist against repeated German attacks until 8 September, when both sides ran out of fresh units. Victory came at a great cost, with the Romanians losing over 27,000 men, including 610 officers; the Germans lost 47,000 men. The motto of the Romanian Army during the battle was "Pe aicea nu se trece" (English: " You shall not pass").Battle of Marasesti (August-September 1917)
/ref> At the same time, German and Austro-Hungarian forces launched an attack in the

Oituz Oituz (formerly ''Grozești''; hu, Gorzafalva) is a commune in Bacău County, Western Moldavia, Romania. It is composed of six villages: Călcâi (''Zöldlonka''), Ferestrău-Oituz (''Fűrészfalva''), Hârja (''Herzsa''), Marginea, Oituz and Poi ...

valley against forces of the Second Army. The Battle of Oituz lasted from 8 August to 22 August 1917 and ended with a Romanian strategic victory, as the Austro-Hungarian forces failed to break through into the

Trotuș The Trotuș ( hu, Tatros) is a river in eastern Romania, a right tributary of the river Siret. It emerges from the Ciuc Mountains in the Eastern Carpathians and joins the Siret in Domnești-Sat near Adjud after passing through Comănești and O ...

Valley.Third battle of Oituz (August 1917)
/ref> On 1 June 1918, the Second Army was disbanded after Romania was forced to conclude the Treaty of Bucharest with the Central Powers.

World War I commanders

*Divisional general

Alexandru Averescu Alexandru Averescu (; 9 March 1859 – 2 October 1938) was a Romanian marshal, diplomat and populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as Prime Minister of three separate cabinets (as well as being ''inter ...

: 15 August 1916 - 25 August 1916 *Divisional general Grigore C. Crăiniceanu : 25 August 1916 - 25 September 1916 *Divisional general

: 25 September 1916 - 1 June 1918

World War II

The Second Army was briefly reactivated between 20 June and 1 November 1940 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, although it saw limited action. Its commander in those 4 months was

Nicolae Ciupercă Nicolae Ciupercă (20 April 1882 – 25 May 1950) was a Romanian general, born in Râmnicu Sărat. He served during World War I and World War II under the command of Alexandru Averescu and then Ion Antonescu, but would retire from a military lif ...

.Romanian Army Groups
/ref>

Cold War - present

In June 1947, the Second Army was once again disbanded and units formerly under its command were transferred to the newly formed 2nd Military Region, headquartered at

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. A similar process of conversion to "Military Regions" was applied to all Romanian Armies after the war. On 5 April 1960, the 2nd Military Region is disbanded and reformed as the 2nd Army Command. In 1980, its headquarters are relocated to

Buzău The city of Buzău (formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu''; ) is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carp ...

. In 1989, the 2nd Army was under command of general Ion Dândăreanu, and included the 9th "Mărășești" Constanța, 10th "Ștefan cel Mare" Iași and 67th "Siret" Brăila Mechanised Divisions, 32nd Tactical Missile Brigade

Tecuci Tecuci () is a municipiu, city in Galați County, Romania, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. It is situated among wooded hills, on the right bank of the Bârlad River, and at the junction of railways from Galați, Bârlad, and Mără ...

, 2nd Mountain Brigade

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...

and other smaller units. In 2000, the 2nd Army Command is restructured, becoming the Joint Operational Command, and later simply the Operational Command in 2001. In 2003, it became the 2nd Joint Operational Command Marshal

, an army

Corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

-level unit. In 2008, it is relegated to a

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

-level unit. In 2010, the Joint Operational Command Marshal

became the 2nd Infantry Division "Getica". This new formation is composed of units formerly under the command of the 1st and 4th Infantry Divisions and is the heraldic successor of the Second Army.

References