Three years after the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, German officers had developed a healthy disdain for their Romanian allies' fighting abilities. For their part, the Romanians pointed to a steady string of German defeats over the previous 18 months and a series of broken promises. Given the mutual dislike and distrust, German planners made every effort to keep German forces spearheading any attack, and Romanian units as far away from any heavy fighting as possible. Even so, the lack of German troops meant that Romanian units had to deploy in newly-won German positions to keep the spearhead moving. And sometimes, the German Eighth Army ordered the Romanians to attack.

The attacking Romanians failed in their effort to seize Hill 164, but pushed the defenders back from the town of Vulturi. The 24th Panzer Division attacking on their flank achieved similar results with armor support, calling German claims of Romanian inferiority into question.