THE INVASION BEGINS
As already stated, the first of Mackensen's huge shells began bursting
over the Serbian defenses across the river on September 20, 1915.
While the wheels of diplomacy continued turning during the following
weeks, the roar of the big guns grew louder and more persistent and
swept up and down the long line. Then came several attempts on the
part of the Austro-Germans to cross the rivers; all these the Serbians
successfully repulsed, though they may have been mere feints, as a
boxer jabs at his opponent's jaw while he really aims for his wind.
There were seven of these attempts. In one, near Semendria, the
Serbians reported that a whole battalion of an enemy was destroyed.
Meanwhile German aeroplanes whirred back and forth over the Serbian
lines, reconnoitering their positions and sometimes dropping bombs.
One of them flew south as far as Nish, then turned eastward and
disappeared over the mountain ridges toward Bulgaria. And all this
while the frontier guards reported that the Bulgarians were massing
their troops day by day.
As already noted, the Serbian frontier in Macedonia was left
practically unguarded. Possibly the Serbians still hoped the Greeks
would hold to their treaty and join them from that direction. And,
indeed, the Greek army was being mobilized, frankly to meet the
Bulgarians. More encouraging still, the news came that France and
England, at the request of Venizelos, had agreed to send to Saloniki
150,000 men to make up for an equal number which, by the terms of the
Serbo-Greek treaty for mutual defense against Bulgaria, Serbia would
have provided had she been able to do so.
This force began landing in Saloniki on October 5, 1915, but on the
same day Venizelos was again compelled to resign by King Constantine,
who was determined to keep the Greek nation out of the war. This was a
sad blow to the hopes of the Serbians. Still, the British and French
troops continued landing, in spite of the "protest" from the Greek
Government.
Beginning on October 3, 1915, the fire of the Austro-German artillery
became doubly insistent, thundering up and down the whole front with
increasing vigor. Again the Teutons began poking their pontoons out
into the river, and again they were smashed by the Serbian guns. The
fighting waxed hottest at Ram, Dubrovitza, and Semendria, on the
Danube, and in and about Ciganlia Island (Island of the Gypsies), at
Obrenovatz, Shabatz, and Jarak on the Save, where it is joined by the
Drina. Ram and Semendria, both fortified places, guarded the mouth of
the Morava Valley, and these Gallwitz subjected to an especially heavy
fire. By October 5, 1915, the shelling became heaviest in this sector:
the enemy's guns and howitzers belched forth a steady hail of big
shells.
Belgrade, also, became the object of an increasingly tremendous effort
on the part of the Austro-German artillery. Here they had brought up
long-range guns, and with these inflicted heavy damage.
Nevertheless, the Serbians in Belgrade gave a good account of
themselves. There were stationed there the big naval guns, 4.7-inch
and 6-inch, sent into the country by Great Britain, France, and
Russia, and served by their expert gunners. For several days the
foreign gunners, under command of Rear Admiral Troubridge, swept the
broad surface of the Danube and the Save, sinking two of the enemy's
gunboats that happened to come within range.
On October 5, 1915, the German fire on Belgrade intensified and became
terrific. They no longer satisfied themselves with pouring their
deadly fire on the fortress of Belgrade and the neighboring positions
at Zamar, but they began a systematic bombardment of the city itself,
hurling vast quantities of inflammatory bombs, as though they meant to
burn down every building before attempting to take it. Into the
suburbs beyond, through which ran the highways leading into the
interior, they rained a curtain of fire which made flight for the
inhabitants almost impossible.
On October 6, 1915, the Austro-German forces finally managed to effect
a crossing which the Serbians were not able to repulse; at several
points they landed on the opposite bank, including Belgrade itself.
The first attempts had been made at Jarak, Podgorska Island, and
Zabrez, and had been driven back again and again, but this time the
enemy put such energy behind his efforts that eventually the Serbians
were no longer able to drive him back. Gypsy Island, too, a short
distance from Belgrade, was captured, whence a landing was made under
the Lower Fortress and on the Danube Quay in the city itself. In the
first attempt all the Austrians or Germans who landed under the Lower
Fortress were either killed or captured. Finally the invaders
established themselves permanently on the quay. During that day the
fighting was of a bloodier character than had as yet taken place.
Next day, October 7, 1915, the Austro-Germans pushed on to further
success; their big guns raked the river shore up and down and tore
down all defensive works, making them untenable for the defenders. And
on the day following, October 8, 1915, the Austro-Hungarian troops of
Koevess penetrated into the northern sections of the city, taking the
citadel by storm. At the same time a German contingent, attached to
Koevess's command, landed west of the city and took the heights in that
section, fighting its way to the Konak and finally to the Royal
Palace, in the center of the city, over which they hoisted the German
and Austrian flags. Though there was still much to do, Belgrade was
now practically in their hands.
Little by little the foreign naval guns in Belgrade had been silenced
by the big shells of the German howitzers. In the afternoon General
Zikovitch, seeing that the city was now lost and hoping to save it
from complete destruction, ordered his forces to retire on the
fortified positions lying behind and south of the capital. Several
detachments of the defenders, however, had already been cut off and
were obliged to remain. Some fought grimly to the bitter end,
inflicting heavy losses on the invaders; others were obliged to
surrender. In some of the streets the fighting took on a bloody,
hand-to-hand character, in which some of the civilians took part. All
through the night Mannlicher rifles sputtered back and forth,
interspersed here and there with the deeper detonation of the hand
bombs which the Serbians hurled in the skirmishes from street to
street and from terrace to terrace. When morning dawned the last of
the firing died down and the greater part of Belgrade was a vast field
of charred timbers and tumbled-down stones.
Belgrade was taken, as the official German and Austrian reports
announced joyously next day, but its taking had been at an enormous
cost and, aside from the political value of its possession, with very
little gain. The official list specified the war material captured as
only 9 naval guns, and 26 unmounted field pieces, the prisoners
amounting to 10 officers and 600 men, many of whom were wounded. The
Serbian Government had been established in Nish since the beginning of
the war.
What had happened at Belgrade was typical of the fighting at a number
of other points along the banks of the three rivers. On the same day
that Belgrade was taken the Austro-Germans crossed the Danube between
Gradishte and Semendria, near the village of Zatagna and the small
fort called Kosolatz. Ram, too, after having been heavily bombarded,
was taken. Then, from these points they tried to blast their way
through farther south, away from the river into the interior, but the
Serbians held them back from the neighboring heights.
In the west, on the Save, toward the mouth of the Drina, the invaders
were not so successful. In this area were some of the best of the
Serbian soldiers, among them the Shumadia Division, which especially
distinguished itself during all the later fighting. Here Marshal
Mishitch, who had led his men so ably during the third invasion ten
months previously, was in command. He also had charge of the defenses
along the lower Drina, and opposite Badovintse he drove back the
Austrians with bloody slaughter.
Between Obrenovatz and Kratinska, on the Save, the Austro-Germans had
delivered heavy attacks for three nights successively, but were
effectively checked. The operations were directed specially against
Zabrez. On October 10, 1915, this Serbian position was still holding
out. In the afternoon of that date the Austrians bombarded heavily,
using great quantities of asphyxiating bombs. Then they charged in
solid masses, believing that the gases had thrown the Serbians into
disorder. The latter, however, were provided with masks, and when the
enemy charged they sprang from their trenches and met them on the open
ground in hand-to-hand bayonet fighting, driving them back in panic.
Again the Austrians showered gas shells on the Serbians; then, toward
dusk, came on again, but the Serbians once more broke through the
Austrian ranks and captured many prisoners.
[Illustration: The Beginning of the German-Austro-Bulgar Campaign
against Serbia.]
But in spite of these local successes by the Serbians, the fighting
was beginning to go against them; the invaders had crossed the
frontier and could no longer be dislodged. On October 11, 1915, the
official German dispatches were able to announce that Mackensen's
forces were in possession of the Serbian banks of the Danube and the
Save between Gradishte and Shabatz, a stretch of over a hundred miles.
On the Drina too, the Austrians had been able to cross over in
several places. To all these points they hurried large bodies of
reserves to push their advantages and so continue a vigorous offensive
east, south, and west of Belgrade, in a wide, sweeping movement along
the entire front.
The main effort was made in the east, to secure possession of the
Morava Valley and its railroad. Near Semendria, Gallwitz's right wing
was in touch with Koevess's left. The plan was that they should advance
up the Morava together, each covering one side of the valley. But it
was first necessary to reduce the Serbian forts at Semendria and
Pojarevatz.
It was now two weeks since the heavy artillery had begun playing on
Semendria. By October 11, 1915, the invaders had succeeded in taking
Semendria, the garrison retiring to Pojarevatz. Here a very severe
battle was fought, but finally the Serbians were forced back, though
not without inflicting the heaviest losses that the enemy had as yet
suffered. After two days the fort was taken and the Serbians retired
to the hills beyond. Thus the invaders were now ready to begin their
advance down the Morava Valley.
But just then there came a pause in the fighting. The Serbians
observed that Gallwitz waited. What he waited for was not immediately
obvious to them. Within a few days they were to know.