Early on the morning of 25 October 1916 General Dragalina left by car for the Jiu Valley, accompanied by two officers – Colonel Toma Dumitrescu and Major Constantin Militiade. He wanted personally to assess the situation on the front and reconnect with his military leaders, since phone lines were out of order. He reached the outposts of the first line of defense close to the Lainici Monastery. He stopped there to confess and take communion. While crossing the narrow Lainici bridge on his way back, the car was caught in machine gun cross fire. Speeding under a hail of bullets, his driver managed to cross the bridge, but the general was hit in his left upper arm and scapula.