 However, this did not happen, as Romanian defenses could not be defeated in any of the five areas that Falkenhayn's spread-out army tried to force.Following the Battle of Transylvania, German General Erich von Falkenhayn, commander of the 9th Army, devised a plan to break through the Romanian defenses in the Southern Carpathians.Falkenhayn planned to apply pressure at several different points across the mountains and then exploit a success wherever it was achieved.