Battlefield 1 DLC Idea: "Pawns of War" (Romania, Bulgaria, War Heroine Campaign)
I know that Battlefield 1 is already out of production, but in the event that the developers decide to do one more surprise DLC, I have a suggestion for something great.
Pawns of War -> Why "Pawns of War"? Because it shows the perspective of the minor nations of Romania and Bulgaria in a global conflict. Your country is the little man. Romania fought for the Entente while Bulgaria fought for the Central Powers.
The DLC will add:
New Entente Faction: Romania
New Central Powers Faction: Bulgaria
New Campaign: (Ecaterina Teodoroiu) Katherine, the Heroine of Jiu (real life event).
- 4 New Multiplayer Maps.
- New Campaign: The Traitor, Emil Rebreanu (real life event; pick which campaign you like best).
Romania's Story in World War I:
In 1914 Romania was a nation of 8 million people. And another 8 million Romanians living outside Romania in Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia.
This caused Romania to join the Great War on the Entente's side in 1916.
The battleplan called "Plan Z" was to defend in the south against Bulgaria while attacking in Trasnylvania against Austria-Hungary.
The initial push was succesful and Romania occupied 1/3s of Transylvania.
But then German Empire was called in support, led by Generals Mackensen, Ludendorff and a young Erwin Rommel, they managed to push Romania back.
German and Bulgarian forces also started pushing in the south, first in Dobruja and later in Vlasca/nowdays Giurgiu, near Bucharest.
The push of three Central Powers from three different directions was too much for Romania and by Winter 1916 Bucharest has fallen.
Only the region of Moldavia was left standing.
This caused the French Military Mission in Romania, where the French sent military equipment, trained officers and a general who already fought in the Great War for 2 years.
General Henri Berthelot, who would soon be fondly nicknamed by Romanians "General Burtica" meaning "General Fatty" in Romanian, managed to turn the Romanian army into a fighting force to be reckon with.
And when a new Central Powers began in 1917 to knock Romania out of the war, the Romanians defeated them repeatedly at Oituz, Marasti, Marasesti and took back 500km^2 of land.
Eventually, the Central Powers troops would be transfered to Italy and those left in Romania would only take a defensive position.
"After fighting with the Rumanians in 1916, I thought the Rumanian army had disappeared, that it did not exist in 1917 when I had to make a new effort to conquer the rest of Rumania. But when the battles started in Mărăşeşti, Mărăşti, Oituz, I was told that in front of me was the Rumanian army that I was convinced had disappeared. But the Rumanian army has risen from its ashes like the Phoenix bird. The attacks on the bayonet scared everyone, and they were running, the Germans, who didn't usually run, this time they were running" - General August von Mackensen
But the victory was short-lived as the Russian Civil War began and Romania was left alone on the Eastern Front.
This eventually resulted in an armistice where Romania gave up Dobrjua to Bulgaria, all the Carpathian passes to Austria-Hungary and its oil to Germany for 99 years, but its union with Bessarabia who previously declared independence from the Russian Empire was recognized.
Before leaving General Henri Berthelot said "France will not abbandon Romania!".
In spite of the harsh treaty, if it wasn't for those victories at Oituz, Marasti and Marasesti and the armistice that followed, Austria-Hungary had plans to incorporate all of Romania under Austria-Hungary, basically whipping it from existence.
Despite being defeated, Romania began to secretly rearm, and re-declared war on the Central Powers on 10th of November 1918, a day before the Central Powers would surrender.
In the aftermath of the Great War, all regions of Austria-Hungary were given self-determination by the Entente based on US president Wilson's 14 points.
The predominantly Romanian regions from Austria-Hungary voted for union with Romania in national assemblies with representatives elected by the population.
This event came to be known as "The Great Union" where the Romanian provinces of: Bessarabia, Bukovina, Banat and Transylvania united with Romania in the same year.
Uniting all Romanian provinces under a single banner was the national dream known as "the great ideal" for centuries since Romanians were always occupied by different nations.
The era of Romanians living in different countries was over.
After the war, General Henri Berthelot said "I used to have one motherland, but now I have two, France and Romania" as he grew fond of the people and the place, he would frequently visit Romania until his death in 1931.
Katherine, the Heroine of Jiu's Story in World War I:
She was born in a large family in rural Romania, having 5 brothers and 2 sisters. After she graduated school in 1909 she went to Bucharest to become a teacher. But when Romania joined the Great War in 1916 she became a nurse on the frontline.
Eventually, four of her brothers were killed in action and her father was taken prisoner. It was then that she went to the commander of the division and requested to be transfered to a combat unit.
Her last remaining brother, Nicolae, would teach her how to use a weapon. However, they would fight very little together, as he would be killed in action shortly after this.
When she found her brother's body, she kissed him on the cheek and said “I will avenge you brother” and took his rifle. She would use his rifle for the rest of the war.
It was an unusual decision for a woman of that epoch, she was sent to the front rather reluctantly after a lot of insistace from her and her brother.
However, she quickly proved her worthiness as a soldier, in her first major battle.
1. 10th of October 1916, the first battle of Targu Jiu took place (vs Germany & Austria-Hungary; defending a city mission and push the enemy over the bridge) -> The 1st Romanian army under the command of general Ion Dragalina defeated a powerful Central Powers offensive and soldier Ecaterina Teodoroiu was in the first line where she distinguished herself with her bravery.
During the battle, the Central Powers captured a key bridge in Targu Jiu taking the Romanian forces by surprise. Katherine with a few soldiers rushed to the bridge shouting "At the brige! at the bridge! Don't let the Germans enter the city!", they all shouted in every direction out of desperation, civillians and a police commissar with a company of 150 cops joined them.
When the Germans crossed the bridge, they were met with fire from all sides, eventually the "bridge brigade" managed to defeat and push the Germans back to the other side of the bridge until reinforcements arrived. After that battle she got the nickname "Eroina de la Jiu" (The she-hero of Jiu).
2. 18th of October 1916, Escape at Carbunesti (vs Germany; escape from prison mission) -> Following the defeat in the second battle of Targu Jiu, during the retreat a German encirclement took Katherine and her platoon prisoners and sent them to Carbunesti. At Carbunesti, she managed to shoot the German that guarded her and her platoon's commander using a hidden revolver and escape with other Romanian prisoners, being shoot in the leg while she was running.
3. 6th of November 1916, Battle of Filiasi (vs Germany and Austria-Hungary; recovered from wounds during escape, came back to fight, wounded again, came back to fight again, wounded again, went to hospital) -> After her escape and recovery, she returned to her unit and continued fighting around the city of Filiasi. During the Battle of Filiasi, she was wounded again the the right leg by 2 enemy bullets. After 9 days of recovery, she returns to the battlefield, only to be wounded again more severely in the left leg, this time more severly. While the Romanian army was retreating to Moldova, she was sent to hospitals in Craiova, Bucharest and eventually Iasi.
At one point during the Battle of Filiasi, when her squad was encircled she would raise a white flag and shout "we surrender" in German (she knew German), when the Germans let their defensive positions to take them prisoner, the Romanians began to shoot back.
At the hospital, hearing her story, on how she defended Targu Jiu with a group of civilians and policemen, how she was caputred and escaped, how she came back to the frontline after she recovered, only to be wounded again and then come back again, only to be sent to a hospital when she literally couldn't walk, Queen Maria of Romania personally visited her and offered her the Military Virtue medal and gave her the rank of Sublieutenant.
During her hospitalization, she never departed from her rifle, which was the rifle of her brother Nicolae before his death, keeping her next to her bed. In a press interview, she said that her motivations are purely personal not patriotic, she wanted to avenge her family's death.
She was described as more of a vengeful spirit than a patriot. She was not described as physically strong or woman with imposing presence. Instead, she was described as rather frail even for a woman, emanating energy, enthusiasm and youth. Which ran in a stark contrast with her vengeful desires.
4. 20th of August 1917, Battle of Marasesti (vs Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria; the largest battle on the Romanian theatre during the Great War, with up to 1.000.000 troops present on both sides) -> After she got out of hospital in the summer of 1917, she returned to the front on 20th of August, right in the middle of the Battle of Marasesti, the largest battle Romania had during World War I. This time, leading her own plutoon.
On 22th of August, during a counter-attack of the 40th Reserve German Regiment that was pushed back by the Romanian army, Katherine dies heroically, being shoot in the heart while being in the front of her plutoon that she was leading as Sublieutenant. Her last words were "Forward boys! don't give up! you are with me!".
General Henri Berthelot called Katherine "the Joan of Arc of Romania".
Multiplayer Maps:
Battle of Brasov (1916) -> Romania vs Austria-Hungary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brass%C3%B3_(1916)
Battle of Turtucaia (1916, in Dobruja) -> Romania vs Bulgaria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Turtucaia
Battle of Oituz (1917) -> Romania vs Germany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Oituz
Battle of Marasesti (1917) -> Romania vs Germany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_M%C4%83r%C4%83%C8%99ti
"By attracting and engaging additional enemy troops in the summer of 1917, the Romanians helped their allies fighting on the Western and the Italian Front. The Romanian Front was one of the few favourable episodes of all the military operations of the Entente of that year. […] A victory of the enemy would have forced the government and the Romanian Army to capitulate or to withdraw into revolutionary Russia. The political and military consequences of such an action would have been disastrous. […] The admirable behaviour of the Romanian Army played a crucial role in convincing the Entente to respect the promises made by the 1916 treaty. Proving its weakness in 1916, the Allies were thinking seriously not to support Romania’s war goals. Another defeat could have settled the matter. As it turned out, the victories and heroism displayed on the 1917 battlefield helped Romania in regaining the respect and credibility of the Entente. […] The renown gained by its army was decisive for the important role it was given by the Allies in the institution of the sanitary cordon against Bolshevism and the French alliance system in Eastern Europe." - historian Glenn Tory
The Traitor's Story in World War 1:
The Austro-Hungarian soldiers of Romanian origin from Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, and Crisana were not few: it is estimated that in the period 1914-1918 that between 400,000 and 600,000 soldiers of Romanian origin fought on different fronts of Austria-Hungary, which represented a significant percentage of the Romanian ethnics who lived in those times in the Empire.
According to studies made by the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the dedication of the Romanian military to the interest of Austria-Hungary was reduced, only ethnic Italians of the same empire can compete with them for the last place in a ranking according to devotion to the state, per 100 soldiers. Also, in the first 3 years of fighting, out of about 300,000 Austro-Hungarian deserters, 150,000 were ethnic Romanians.
Desertion and the transition of the Romanians to the enemy increased significantly in frequency on the Western Front in the last 2 years of the war, significantly affecting Austro-Hungarian military units in their structure and firepower. This has sometimes resulted in failures of entire front sectors.
It is worth mentioning that the Romanian ethnics were informed by the Allied aviation by launching leaflets on the Austro-Hungarian positions, on the creation and existence of the Romanian Volunteer Crops in Russia and on the content of the Darnița Declaration.
Although the first Romanian Transylvanian prisoners in Italy were documented as early as June 1915, it was not until 1916 that the percentage of Romanian prisoners of war from Austro-Hungarian troops became significant, and they were mainly concentrated in northern Italy. Along with prisoners of other nationalities of Austria-Hungary, scattered throughout Italy, they contributed to a better understanding of the ethnic situation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Particularly in the province of L'Aquila, where a strong earthquake destroyed the roads and civil structures on January 13 1915, the need for manpower led to the establishment in Avezzano of a camp with 15,000 prisoners. Over time, the component represented by prisoners of Romanian origin has increased significantly, who have developed a good reputation and a good image among the civilian Italian population. The ease with which Italian citizens were able to communicate with the Romanians in relation to Germans and Hungarians, as well as their spirit of sacrifice associated with the demonstration of being good workers, led to the respect of the Italian civilians towards Romanians. This went to the point where Italian civil solidarity and assistance committees were spontaneously created, reserved for Romanian citizens and their families left in the homeland.
Out of a total of 60,000 prisoners of war of Romanian origin, 36,712 soldiers and 525 officers requested to join the Romanian Legion in Italy. Of the officers, one was a colonel, 5 were majors, 32 captains, 97 lieutenants, 294 sublieutenants, and 96 applicants.
The education given to the volunteers enrolled in the new units, emphasized the development of the Romanian national consciousness and the love for their country, which was to be Romania, a country that many knew only through the hostile propaganda of Austria-Hungary. Also, this education aimed to eliminate the distrust in the new Italian ally, as well as the difficulties of communication with other soldiers from the other Romanian historical regions. The only language used in military service was Romanian. Officers of Romanian origin had a complex training program, which included, among other things, the study of the Italian language.
The ranks of the Austro-Hungarian soldiers enlisted in the Romanian Legion were equivalated to those corresponding of the Italian Royal Army. The sedentary part of the Romanian Legion, under the command of Colonel Camillo Ferraioli, was established at Albano Laziale, and the base camp in the Avezzano camp.
Emil Rebreanu was born into a Greek-Catholic family in Major, Beszterce-Naszód County, now Maieru, Bistrița-Năsăud County, the fifth of fourteen children. He graduated from high school in 1913 and entered the Law faculty of Franz Joseph University in Cluj (Kolozsvár), but was forced to interrupt his studies upon the war's outbreak.
Within a year of joining combat, he was made a second lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He fought in Russia and Galicia, sustaining multiple injuries. Rebreanu also distinguished himself on the Italian Front and was given the Gold Medal for Bravery, the highest award granted by the Austrian command to a Romanian.
However, once he arrived on the Romanian Front, Rebreanu decided that rather than fight against his fellow Romanians, he would join them.
Constantin Kirițescu wrote: "Approaching Romanian soil, Rebreanu heard the secret call of his brothers' souls, whispering from beyond the trenches. Between his unnatural soldierly duty and his holy duty as a Romanian, Rebreanu heeded the latter." Thus, on the night of May 10–11, 1917, having escaped from the infirmary where he was sequestered, he tried to cross the front to the Romanian side, bringing with him the plans for dividing and positioning Austro-Hungarian troops in the area. He was found and arrested by a patrol of imperial officers. Tried by a military court of the 16th Honvéd brigade, on May 12–13, on a charge of desertion and espionage, he was stripped of his rank and sentenced to death. As an added humiliation, the method was specified as hanging. According to eyewitnesses, before being executed at 10 p.m. on May 14, he pushed aside the executioner and before the multitude of soldiers, many of whom were Romanians brought there as a warning, shouted "Long live Greater Romania!".
