THE TEUTONIC INVASION ROLLS ON
Meanwhile, Bulgaria having plunged into the fighting, the Teutonic
allies in the north resumed their efforts to advance southward. But
for some time they had all they could do to maintain themselves on the
banks of the rivers. Before them rose the rock-ribbed hills skirting
the mountains of the interior, and along these hills the Serbians had,
during the previous ten months, built up line after line of strong
intrenchments, one behind the other. To carry one line was only to
gain a few hundred yards of territory.
Just as soon as Koevess felt his hold on Belgrade secure, he began an
attack on the heights to the south. After three days of intense
bombardment he succeeded in taking Mount Avala, an eminence some 1,600
feet in height and ten miles from the city. On the same day, October
18, 1915, Obrenovatz fell into his hands, and Shabatz three days
later. However, these two places were still only on the banks of the
river.
The chief efforts of the invaders, however, were directed toward
making an advance down the Morava Valley. Their first assault was made
against the Serbian positions in the mountainous country of the
Podunavlie. Gallwitz here had an exceedingly difficult task, for the
ground rose in rocky, steplike formation, offering all the advantages
to the defenders. But the bombardment from the heavy artillery had its
effect and slowly the Germans advanced. By October 23, 1915, they had
reached the southern bank of the Jesenitza, not far from Palanka and
had passed Rakinatz on the road to Petrovatz on the Mlava.
During this same period the German left wing, having smashed Tekia
with gunfire, crossed the Danube near Orsova and succeeded in taking
the heights overlooking the river. On the extreme western front the
Austrians crossed the Drina at Vishegrad. Thus all the rivers forming
the frontiers had passed completely into the hands of the invaders.
But it had been a costly gain. By this time the Austro-German forces
had lost very heavily. The Serbians also had had heavy losses, but not
half so many as the enemy.
It was the policy of General Putnik, the Serbian Chief of Staff, to
prolong the fighting as much as possible, for during this time the
transports of the Allies were disembarking troops in Saloniki, at the
rate of 5,000 men a day, and there was hope that eventually they would
be able to advance northward, and at least save the Serbians from the
Bulgarians. This same hope had stiffened the resistance of the
soldiers in every skirmish. Then came word that the Russians would
relieve the pressure by attacking the Bulgarians, either through
Rumania, or by landing troops in either Bourgas or Varna. And once
indeed the Russian ships did bombard Varna, but without any attempt at
disembarking troops.
As the days passed and no help from outside came, the belief began
gradually to dawn on the Serbian people that they were doomed as a
nation. This feeling first manifested itself in the flight of the
civil population. At first the noncombatants had merely retired with
the fighting line. The first three invasions had shown that the
Austrians did not always refrain from committing atrocities,
especially when their armies had suffered unusually. Nor was there any
reason to suppose that the Germans were any kindlier to civilians.
Thus it was that hardly any of the civil population remained behind in
conquered territory.
Then, gradually, came the conviction that Serbian soldiers alone must
face the enemy, and even the most patriotic realized what a hopeless
fight it was. The whole population began moving southward; along every
available road trailed long lines of slowly moving ox carts, loaded
with the few movable belongings of their peasant owners. South
continued the exodus and then--the Bulgarians blocked the way. The
roads to Greece were closed. There remained nothing for them to do but
to turn toward the awful mountain wilderness intervening between them
and the Adriatic sea coast, infested by fierce bands of Albanian
brigands and tribesmen.
The weather was bad; rain fell heavily and incessantly, the roads were
deep in mud and the plight of these people, most of them old men and
women and children, became intensely miserable.
The Austro-German lines in the north continued their slow but
persistent southward advance; the invasion rolled on, the Serbians
retiring before them step by step. During the last week of the month
Gallwitz came to the heights east of Banitzina, south of Jesenitza,
and began storming them. Then followed another spurt of severe
fighting and Livaditza and Zabari, on the Morava River, fell into
their hands, after which they occupied the region south of Petrovatz.
By the 28th they had gained Svilajnatz, beating down the Serbian
resistance by sheer weight of men and guns, and by the last day of the
month they were within a day's march of Kragujevatz, in which was
located Serbia's chief arsenal. Situated on the Lepenitza, a branch of
the Morava, it lay about half way between Belgrade and Nish, on a
branch line of the main railroad. It was a point well worth defending,
and the Serbians did defend it stubbornly, but on November 1, 1915,
they were compelled to evacuate it, after first destroying the arsenal
and all the materials it contained.
It was here that the Shumadia Division especially distinguished
itself. The regiments of that unit had been recruited in this section;
it was literally defending its native soil. During the first part of
the fighting it had been intrenched in the hills to the north of the
town. The day was wet and dense mists rolled through the mountain
passes down over the hills. The Germans had effectually shelled the
positions of the Shumadians and were under the impression that they
had retired, wherefore they advanced upward to occupy the deserted
trenches.
And then, suddenly, wild yells and shouts burst out from the rolling
mist and the Shumadians fell upon the invaders with set bayonets. The
latter, who had been growing accustomed to the purely defensive
tactics of their enemy, were completely taken by surprise and thrown
into disorder.
The first line of the Teutons wavered, then broke and scattered.
Coming up against reenforcements behind, they re-formed and advanced
again. And again the Shumadians burst down on them and engaged them
hand to hand. Fighting like savages, they drove the invaders before
them for a considerable distance, taking over 3,000 prisoners and
several guns. When finally they retired just as the main body of the
advancing foe was coming up, they left behind them hundreds of enemy
dead, the fallen literally covering the ground in heaps.
The mixed forces of Koevess, keeping in touch with Gallwitz's right
wing, had been advancing more or less in line with the Germans,
marching along the railroad from Belgrade and Obrenovatz toward the
Western Morava. South of Belgrade the Serbians had put up a stout
resistance at Kosmai, but were finally dislodged by the heavy
artillery fire. On October 25, 1915, Koevess arrived at Ratcha, south
of Palanka, on the right side of the Morava. After a hard fought
battle at Gorni Milanovatz, he reached Cacak on November 1, 1915, a
few miles west of Kragujevatz. Here it was that he struck the Western
Morava and the railroad passing along it eastward from Ushitze to its
junction with the main line. Farther to the westward his cavalry, on
October 26, 1915, had occupied Valievo on the Upper Kolubara and one
of his divisions had crossed the Maljen Mountains, where the Austrians
had been so humiliatingly defeated the year before. Farther west, but
more to the south, the Austrians, who had pushed on from Vishegrad,
arrived in Ushitze on November 2, 1915, and presently effected a
junction with the main body.
Meanwhile, a day or two before the end of the month, an incident up in
the northeast foreshadowed the attainment of the main objective of the
Austro-German forces. The Serbians had, naturally, withdrawn from this
section and now a German cavalry patrol, scouting in advance of its
own lines, met with a body of Bulgarian scouts. The Bulgarian and the
Teutonic forces had come in contact with each other. But the chief
significance of this fact was that now the road was open for
communication between Germany and Turkey. Even if the railroad running
from Belgrade to Constantinople, by way of Sofia, should be
temporarily cut, or should not be captured throughout its entire
length for some time, shipments of war material could already be made
to Turkey by way of the Danube down to Rustchuk in northern Bulgaria
and thence by railroad. Thus the Turks at Gallipoli, who had been
running short of ammunition, could now be relieved.
This opening of communication with Turkey was made much of in the
German official reports and some of the newspapers began referring to
Mackensen's army as "the army of Egypt."
On the first day of November, 1915, Mackensen could really say that he
had conquered all of northern Serbia. But the fact remained that the
Serbian army was still in the field; not even a part of it had as yet
been captured or annihilated. And it is a military axiom that no
matter how far an army may retreat and no matter how much territory
may have been conquered, no battle is decisive until the enemy has
been destroyed, either entirely or in large part. The Germans were to
be reminded of this fact more than once on the Russian front.
Up till this time Boyadjieff, at the head of his Bulgarian army, was
attacking the Serbians from two directions: along the Timok against
Kniashevatz, Zaichar, and Negotin, and along the Nishava against
Pirot. Both movements were directed ultimately toward Nish, but the
more northerly had also the purpose of effecting a junction with the
left wing of the Germans under Gallwitz, which was advancing from
Tekia, in the northeast corner of Serbia. Negotin and Prahovo, the
latter a port on the Danube, had been taken on October 25, 1915. Lower
down, the Bulgarians, who were in overwhelming strength, occupied both
Zaichar and Kniashevatz on the 28th. Meanwhile, the Serbians were also
compelled to abandon the commanding heights of Drenova Glava, fifteen
miles northwest of Pirot, and on the 28th Pirot fell, though not
without heavy fighting. With Pirot on the south and Kniashevatz on the
north in the hands of the Bulgarians, the situation of Nish became
very precarious. The Serbian Government was now shifted to Kralievo.
Down in Macedonia the Second Bulgarian Army, under Todoroff, seemed to
have come to an end of its initial success. After its occupation of
Uskub it had advanced to Katshanik Pass, which was occupied by the
Serbians under General Bojovitch. Todoroff at once began a violent
attack and by October 28, 1915, part of the defile seemed to have been
cleared of the Serbians. But presently the Serbians were reenforced
by two regiments of the Morava Division and two of the Drina Division,
whereupon Bojovitch suddenly turned and once more possessed himself of
the pass.
Again and again the Bulgarians attacked, determined to take the pass,
but as often as they hurled themselves up the defile, just so often
the Serbians drove them back with fire and bayonet.
During this same period another Serbian force under Colonel Vassitch
was fighting farther south. On October 22, 1915, he succeeded in
recapturing Veles, which, it will be remembered, Todoroff had taken in
his rapid advance during the first few days of his fighting. Here it
was that the Serbians expected to make a juncture with the French
forces under Sarrail, and for several days they could even hear the
thunder of the French guns repelling a Bulgarian attack, so close
together were they.
For a whole week Vassitch held Veles against the overwhelming attacks
of the Bulgarians; then, finally, on the 29th, he was compelled to
retire to the Babuna Pass, the narrow defile also known as the Iron
Gate, through which passed the highway from Veles to Monastir, by way
of Prilep. By the first of November, 1915, the Serbians were still
holding this pass, which was all that prevented the Bulgarians from
driving in the wedge that was to separate Upper Serbia from Macedonia.
While it was true that no important part of the Serbian army had as
yet been eliminated from the field; that it was, as a whole, still
intact, yet it was now evident that the little nation had come very
near to the end of her resistance. By this time it was quite obvious
that no real help could be expected from the Allies. Great Britain had
offered the island of Cyprus to the Greeks, if they would stand by
their agreement by joining the Serbians, against the Bulgarians, at
least. But even that tempting offer would not induce them to risk
themselves in a fight whose outcome seemed so doubtful. On October 20,
1915, Italy had given her moral support by declaring war against
Bulgaria, but for the time being she offered nothing more material. On
October 21, 1915, British and French ships bombarded the Bulgarian
port of Dedeagatch, on the Gulf of Enos, and also a junction of the
railroad connecting Saloniki with Constantinople, but this had no
material result in deterring the Bulgarians from pressing their
campaign against the Serbians in Macedonia. On October 28, 1915,
Russian ships bombarded Varna, on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria.
This was done, not so much for any material damage that could be done
to Bulgaria, but for the moral effect it might have on the population,
which was supposed to have very deep feelings of regard for Russia,
because she had freed them from the Turks in 1878. But the Bulgarian
troops previously stationed at this point had been replaced by Turkish
forces, so that it is probable that the Bulgarian population was not
much affected.
On land, the French troops under Sarrail had advanced farthest north;
on October 23, 1915, they defeated the Bulgarians severely at Rabrova
and pushed on to Krivolak, where they again engaged the Bulgarians on
the 30th and repulsed their attack. By November 2, 1915, the French
were at Gradsko, where the Tcherna joins the Vardar River, hoping to
get in touch with the Serbians who were defending the Babuna Pass and
whose guns they could hear pounding over the ten miles of intervening
mountain ridges. The British bore little of this fighting, having made
their advance over toward Lake Doiran.
But though the French had arrived within hearing of the Serbian guns,
they lacked the numbers that would give them the strength to push
farther. The French, indeed, had done well in their efforts to support
the Serbians in their distress. It was Great Britain that had not
lived up to her promise of affording "our Allies all the material
assistance in our power." So obviously had the British military
authorities failed that much public sentiment in Great Britain was
worked up against them, which became all the more acute when a
telegram from M. Pachitch, the Serbian premier, was published, in
which he said: "Serbia is making superhuman efforts to defend her
existence, in response to the advice and desire of her great ally. For
this she is condemned to death.... In spite of the heroism of our
soldiers, our resistance cannot be maintained indefinitely. We beg
you to do all you can to insure your troops reaching us that they may
help our army...."
On the same day this was published in the London papers, there was
also printed a speech made by Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords, in
which he stated that the British had landed in Saloniki a force of
only 13,000 men.
In France the sentiment in favor of assisting the Serbians was so
strong that the Cabinet, which did not approve of a Balkan campaign,
was forced to resign. The French president thereupon found a new prime
minister in M. Briand, the ex-Socialist, who once before had been
premier, and, associating with himself M. Viviani and other
ex-ministers, he formed a Cabinet which was prepared to push the
campaign in aid of Serbia to the fullest extent. On the following day,
October 29, 1915, General Joffre went to London to consult with the
British Government and to persuade them to take more energetic
measures with regard to transporting troops to Saloniki. Apparently
his mission was successful, for after that large forces were sent to
the Near East, but so far as any effectual help to Serbia was
concerned, it was now too late.
At about this time Greece was showing a decided change of attitude.
Evidently this change was not a little due to the success of the
Austro-Germans and the Bulgarians in the north, and the nearer they
came to her own frontier, the less cordial became Greece to the
Allies. Every obstacle, short of armed interference, was put in the
way of transportation of troops and supplies to the front up in
Macedonia. This attitude was to continue until the Serbians were
finally swept out of their native land and the question came up of
retiring the allied troops back to Saloniki, across Greek territory,
when the British and French took very severe measures against the
Greek authorities.
Meanwhile, the invasion of Serbia was rolling onward. Having taken
Kragujevatz, where they began restoring the arsenal to working order
with feverish haste, the Austro-Germans crossed the Cacak-Kragujevatz
road and continued onward. Koevess advanced over the Posetza and the
Germans entered Jagodina on November 3, 1915.
By this time the Serbian headquarters at Kralievo was seriously
threatened; in fact, the Serbian Government was able to withdraw just
in time to prevent capture and establish itself in Rashka. On came the
enemy, along both banks of the Western Morava. In the streets of
Kralievo there was fierce fighting, at times hand-to-hand, between the
defenders and the Brandenburg troops of the invaders, but finally, on
November 5, 1915, the town was taken.
Here the invaders made their first large capture of war material,
which included 130 guns, though most of them were said to be of an
obsolete pattern, the others being without breech-blocks. Within
forty-eight hours the Germans had reached Krushevatz, where 3,000
Serbian soldiers were captured, not counting 1,500 wounded lying in
the hospital.
The whole Western Morava was now in the hands of the invaders. To the
eastward Gallwitz pressed on until he came to the hills south of
Lugotzni, where he was held up for a short space by the Serbian rear
guards. Finally, the heights were taken by storm. On November 4, 1915,
Parachin on the railroad was taken; from this point a branch line runs
back to Zaichar, already in possession of the Bulgarians, so that now
the two armies, German and Bulgarian, were almost in touch with each
other. And next day, in fact, their lines joined up at Krivivir, which
was taken that night by an assault under cover of darkness. Their
lines were now only thirty miles from Nish.
During this time other large bodies of Bulgarians under Boyadjieff
were also advancing on Nish; one from Pirot, in a southerly direction,
and another along the road from Kniashevatz, marching north. They were
now closing in on that city in overwhelming strength.