By dragos
The Reserve Infantry NCOs School of Radna, commanded by Colonel Alexandru Petrescu, was ordered to organize a defense along Paulis - Ghioroc - Cuvin and to block the Hungarians' advance on the Mures riverbed. The "Paulis" Detachment was made of three battalions of cadets, one platoon of 93rd Infantry Regiment, one battery of the 38th Artillery Regiment (without guns), the 1st Battalion from the 96th Infantry Regiment and the 61st Heavy Artillery Battalion.
Advancing on the northern bank of the Mures River, on the direction Simbateni - Minis, concomitently with a enveloping maneuver of the righ flank of the Romanian troops, the Hungarian 1st Armored and 6th Reserve Infantry Divisions made contact with the "Paulis" Detachment west of the village of Paulis, on 14 September.
The first assault of the Hungarian troops, carried out with two infantry battalions supported by tanks, was repulsed by the 2nd and 6th Companies of cadets, with heavy losses for the Hungarians. Five more attacks were carried out subsequently against the Romanian positions, but by nightfall the Romanian units were holding their positions firmly. The four anti-tank guns of the "Paulis" Detachment scored 18 tanks and 3 armored vehicles destroyed.
The following day the Hungarians concentrated the attack on the 1st Battalion from the 96th Infantry Regiment, at Hill 471. After a strong artillery preparation the Hungarians forced the Romanian troops to fall back on successive lines of defence, being stopped on Cladova's Valley only after they seized the villages of Cuvin and Ghioroc. In the morning of 16 September, a Romanian counter-attack by surprise, without artillery preparation, carried out by the 5th Company of cadets, managed to destroy a large part of the Hungarian forces which broke through the defense perimeter the previous day.
The climax of battle was reached on 17 September, when the Hungarian command commited all the available forces in the attack. After a 45 minutes artillery preparation, the Hungarians managed to breach south-east of Minis, where they clashed with the 3rd Company of cadets, on defense at Hill 365. The attempt of driving away the Romanian unit failed. By the afternoon a Soviet battalion from the 32nd Motorized Infantry Regiment (53rd Soviet Army) arrived in the area. The counter-attack carried out by the Soviet battalion together with the 1st Battalion from the 96th Infantry Regiment and one company of cadets, north of Ghioroc, forced the Hungarian troops to retreat towards Cuvin. The following day the entire "Paulis" Detachment launched the attack, and by the evening of 19 September the initial disposition was restored.
In the fights at Paulis Hungarians lost 1,287 men (387 POW), 23 Turan and Toldi tanks, and left behind large quantities of equipment. The "Paulis" Detachment lost 377 men (65 KIA).
