Ferdinand I and General Grigorescu reviewing volunteer troops from
Transylvania in summer 1917 When Romania entered the war (27 August 1916), brigadier general Grigorescu was in command of the 15th Infantry Division, in Dobrogea. The unit received the baptism of fire at
Tutucaia where it suffered heavy losses; later in Dobrogea, this great unit stood out in the battles fought in the Arabagi-Mulciova area, restoring for 30 days the front that seemed to have been overtaken. Archive documents (diary of combat actions, orders given, plans drawn up, etc.) prove by their content, the clarity of the commander's vision of the situation and the fair way in which he made decisions. For fulfilling the mission in Dobrogea, he was the first general decorated with the
Order of Michael the Brave 3rd class. Here was the meeting with General
Constantin Prezan, commander of the Northern Army, on which occasion, after receiving the mission, the commander of the 15th Infantry Division bluntly stated: "I know the situation, general. The enemy will not pass through here!" Next year, during the
Romanian Campaign of 1917 of
World War I, Grigorescu was the commander of the Romanian 6th Army Corps at the outbreak of the
Battle of Mărășești. On July 29–30/August 11–12, 1916, he accepted the decision of the head of the Grand Headquarters, General
Constantin Prezan, and assumed command of the 1st Romanian Army, taking over from General
Constantin Cristescu. In this position, General Eremia Grigorescu distinguished himself by refusing to execute a retreat that could be catastrophic, ordered by the Russian commander of the allied armies in Mărășești - General
Alexander Ragoza. The offensive of the German army in the
battle of Mărășești began in the morning of July 24/August 6, with a violent artillery bombardment. After 14 days of heavy fighting, the
Romanian First Army, initially in cooperation with several divisions of the
Russian Fourth Army, rejected the strong offensive of the German army. The battle, by its duration, proportions and intensity, was the largest on the Romanian front throughout the war. The Romanian First Army led by General Constantin Cristescu (until July 30/August 12), and then by General Eremia Grigorescu, carried out one of the most brilliant successes of the war of national integration. It was there that he achieved his greatest success, managing to defeat
Imperial German troops led by General
August von Mackensen. After the battle, Grigorescu was nicknamed the "hero of Mărășești". His victory was praised in
Entente countries, and earned the general a sword sent to him by
Yoshihito, the
Emperor of Japan, bearing the inscription "You are the ones who write the history of the Country". He was also a recipient of the
Order of Michael the Brave (the highest military decoration of Romania), 3rd Class in October 1916, and 2nd Class in February 1918, as well as the French
Legion of Honour, Grand Officer Class. Grigorescu died in Bucharest in July 1919 of the
Spanish flu. He was initially buried at the Mărășești military cemetery; his remains were later moved, as he wished, among the soldiers with whom he fought, in the
Mausoleum of Mărășești, built on the land donated by his father-in-law, the landowner George Ulise Negropontes. The inscription on his
sarcophagus reads: "With the guards at the Gates of Moldavia, who put a stop to the enemy standing as rocks next to me, I wrote in blood on the ridges of
Slănic,
Oituz, and
Cașin: "You cannot pass through here." ==Legacy==